Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

Standards are for Other People

“The immigrants are coming! The immigrants are coming! They’ll rape your wives and daughters!” So goes the chant of the right at the moment. There’s hate-filled rhetoric oozing out of right-wing talking points on every single speech on the right, including and especially the speeches by Donald Trump. What’s the problem? A lot of us are afraid for our wives, daughters, and sons and husbands for that matter. Immigrants have committed crimes before, especially in a high-profile recent act.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

What Makes a News Cycle

Turn on the news, and listen to the headlines. What do you hear? If you’re like me, you’re hearing about the rematch between two older white men in trying to be the president of the United States. You’ll hear about how much older one seems than the other, you’ll hear about how much one group is leading the other. What won’t you hear about? How one of those politicians tried to overthrow our nation. Here at Right and Freedom, we don’t lambast the media. As for profit organizations, we get that they need to make money. The best way to make money is to represent the political battles as heavyweight fighting championships.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

“Wrapped in the Flag and Carrying a Cross”

This flag was used the last time that religious extremists took control of our nation and installed their agenda. Remember when that was? Prohibition, 1915. Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933. Why use this flag? Because what led to prohibition (and the subsequent rise in violent crime due to organized mob activity) was an upswell in religious fervor that overpowered our political system. It was very similar in what we’re seeing today, only the stakes are much higher. Today, one political party is advancing a candidate who has promised to be a dictator on day one. That’s how bad it is right now.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

Fascists Unite a.k.a. CPAC

The president of El Salvador is widely credited for solving their intrinsic gang problems through the use of vigilante justice. He has been known to act violently against citizens based on rumors and obligations. Perhaps that's appropriate for El Salvador, I don't know the extent to which he scans have been a problem. I can say that in a nation that prides itself on the rule of law, and a nation that holds not only our citizens but also our public sector employees accountable, such tactics are not only ineffectual but are a direct assault on our democratic principles.

Take, for example, our current situation at the southern border. There are those who would have you believe that it is this all out assault on America. There are those who acts as though every person who comes across our border it's a threat and someone intent on causing us harm. The truth is that there are no criminals who may come across our border who are more dangerous than we are to ourselves. It is the Americans who shoot up our schools. It is Americans who have stolen away women's rights, who consistently enact violence against marginalized groups. Americans outpace immigrants and committing crimes by significant margin. We have to be honest about who we are before we pick apart those who seek safety on our shores. On Right and Freedom, we talk about exactly who we are.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

Grade of the Union

The polls are in and the answer is that most Americans don't understand what Biden is done for this country. Job numbers are up, economies looking great, consumer price index is going up. So why is this happening? Makes us grade Donald Trump on a curve? When you see in the headlines that Biden stumbles over speech, do you also see headlines about Donald Trump? Have you seen anything from any of his rallies so far? And, do you even understand what his platform is?

What I understand, from observation, is it the grass is always greener. Recorded this podcast, Nikki Haley was still in the race. And we were watching as the primaries we're just getting started. Therefore some of the questions in this podcast been answered. We know for example the Republicans didn’t rally around Nikki Haley. Instead, they rallied around the man who tried to overthrow our government. And that's what it's come down to. We have someone who is correcting massive problems that he inherited from an incompetent administration on the one hand. On the other hand we have that incompetent administration and to overthrow our democracy. The choice couldn't be simpler. Just the fact that Joe Biden didn't try to overthrow democracy, he already outpaces Trump. But if that's not enough, look at the economic indicators. If those aren’t enough, look at the infrastructure plan and the student debt forgiveness that he's trying to provide. Place blame or blame goes. Place hope or hope goes. And I hope that you'll see through this episode clearly where each belong.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

The Biggest Loser

So…America. We should probably really talk. There are a lot of claims that Donald Trump makes about how amazing he is. Whether his wealth or mental acuity, Donald Trump claims to be the best at everything. Well, he’s got one more to add to his list: losing. That’s right! Out of all of his circle, Donald Trump has stolen the mantle of losership from one Rudy Giuliani, previous holder at a whopping $149 million fine. Donald Trump’s number? $355 million. Hilarious!

As fun as it is sitting here and typing that, the truth is if he gets re-elected, then all bets are off. If that happens, we get in the situation of having the leader of the free world with a very powerful incentive to tamper with the civil law. How? We don’t know. But what we do know is that he won’t stop trying until someone stops him. Let’s keep that kind of energy out of our White House. Deal?

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

All Your Heroes are Outlaws

And so, to gain it, they rationalized – insisting that the unfortunate Negro, being less than human, deserved and even enjoyed second class status … White men soon came to forget that the Southern social culture and all its institutions had been organized to perpetuate this rationalization. -Martin Luther King

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

The Nature of Things…

When we discuss human lives and the toll of war, we don’t talk about it in terms of dollars. We look at these things in context of human obligation, not finance. But when we talk about the nature conservation and global warming, the conversation has somehow gotten mired in dollars, though what’s really going on is we’re arguing about human life. Consider increasing asthma death rates as reported by the American Lung Association, which have been increasing in the United States at a statistically significant rates. It’s a hard argument to make, but sometimes, as dark as it may seem, it’s important to bring that price tag. Why? Listen and find out.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

The Kids Aren’t All Right

Child labor violations are up, and the Republicans are systematically responding by deregulating. That’s the opposite of what we need, and it’s not even the most asinine thing happening on the right at the moment. Learn more about MAGA beliefs, and how MAGA are like the tulip-market participants in the 1630s.

Yeah.

Kind of like that.

Listen and be shocked.

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Consequences Matter?

Last week, Trump lost a case to E. Jean Carroll, to the tune of $83 million. As the lawsuits stack up, they’re starting to actually have consequences. Will it hurt him? Probably not, given his current assets. But he’s not using his money anyway. There are all sorts of Republicans who are interested in giving Trump money to cover his legal bills. One example is a law proposal in Florida to use tax dollars to help pay Trump’s legal bills. (Probably the only thing we agree with DeSantis about is that this proposal is ridiculous.) The fact is that Trump may never feel the full impact of the law, and not because of his prowess or any thing like that. He’s got a nearly endless supply of suckers to pull money from, so as long as the recourse from the law is financial, he’ll be covered by his base. It’ll be interesting to see how many of his “campaign donations” are actually going toward his legal bills. Until we see a criminal consequence, i.e. imprisonment, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants to spend the money to pay the fines for.

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Andrew Sweet Andrew Sweet

Growing Pains

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a kingdom created. That kingdom professed to believe in the equality of all human beings. Within this kingdom, there were Royalty, Wizards, Orcs, Elves. Royalty, in their declaration of the values of the kingdom, actually had considered only all royalty as being equal. They’d given not even a thought to Wizards, Orcs, or Elves.

One day, the Wizards told Royalty that they needed to be included. Because Wizards were useful, and thus strength, Royalty declared that their equality now extended to the Wizards. As soon as the Wizards had real power, they turned it agains the Orcs.

The Orcs asked for inclusion next, and for a while, were laughed at, scorned, and ridiculed by both the Wizards and Royalty. Eventually, though, the Orcs, after years of petitioning and fighting, were included in the concept of equality. This was predominantly because the Royalty needed both the Wizards and the Orcs to continue oppressing the Elves. The Orcs were only too happy to join in on oppressing the Elves.

When the Elves approached, Wizards and Orcs joined the Royalty in fighting against the Elves, and managed to keep them isolated and powerless. It wasn’t until many of the Orcs and Wizards convinced Royalty to include the Elves, that the Elves were included in the definition of equality. But as soon as that happened, many Orcs and Wizards and Royalty continued to mistreat the Elves. In fact, they were so offended by the Elves being included, that they tortured and murdered elves en masse.

This is the history of the United States: every time an advancement in human rights and inclusion is made, a boomerang effect follows. Leaf through your history, and when you’re done, take a listen to this episode to find out why it this sort of thing happens.

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