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Three Republican “Sister Senators” Did It Again – Vote Against Fetal Heartbeat Bill
“Sister Senators” Vote Against Fetal Heartbeat Bill
We know there is debate among pro-life advocates as to whether the Fetal Heartbeat Bill (H474) actually saves lives or not … we have pro-life friends on both sides of that issue so we won’t delve into that here today … but while many celebrate the passage of H474 yesterday by the SC Senate via a 27 to 19 vote, there is a little more to this story as it relates to three “Republican” Senators.
Just a few weeks ago, with the aid of 6 “Republican” Senators, a near total ban on abortions in South Carolina was voted down. Three of those “Republicans” then appeared on liberal media news talk shows all across America, culminating with a spread in liberal The New York Times.
For the national media tour they called themselves the “Sister Senators”.
It was clever and cute, if you are in to self promotion, but that 15 minutes of fame in the national spotlight must have been encouraging because yesterday they did it again, this time voting against a 6 week fetal heartbeat bill!
Folks can debate a near total ban … but a 6 week fetal heartbeat bill? Isn’t that going too far for a “Republican” legislator? Well, not for these “Sister Senators”.
There have already been rumblings that these three senators will be primaried in June 2024 … so why would they double down on a bill that was destined to pass even without their votes? Why would they double down when everyone expects constitutional legal challenges?
Well whatever the reason, kudos to the three “Sister Senators” for remaining steadfast to their convictions (or was it a desire for more national media attention?) … at least now the voters in their Republican districts will know exactly where they stand on the #1 Fundamental Principle of the SC Republican Platform … the Right to Life.
Senator Penry Gustafson (R – Kershaw)
Senator Sandy Senn (R – Charleston)
Senator Katrina Shealy (R – Lexington)
FITS 2024
Greenville County Republican Party Chair Sends September 20th, 2023 “Chairman’s Letter”
What are YOUR solutions to experts or authority figures who lie?
Greenville County Republican Party Chair sends another piece full of wisdom, interesting analogies and perspectives. Read, Learn & Enjoy …
September 20th, 2023
Dear Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committeemen, Body & Associates,
If someone told you that the two lines below were not the same length, would they be a liar?
If that same person told you they had a PhD from MIT in line measurement, would you bother to measure the lines for yourself? If someone you dislike intensely tells you the lines are the same length, what is your response?
If you haven’t bothered to measure the lines for yourself, which of the two people mentioned above are you more likely to believe?
If you are in a group with all your best friends and people you go to for advice and they all tell you the lines are different lengths, what is your response.
If you do measure the lines and find something different from what you have been taught to believe, what is your response?
Likely most if not all of you have seen this optical illusion before and know that the lines are actually of equal length. But isn’t it fascinating that even after you know this, you still see them as different.
This is an analogy to the power of lies. You can’t “unhear” or “unsee” them once they have been put into your mind. So even after you know the truth, a lie you heard still has some power. People who purposefully and routinely use the various forms of lying know this.
The questions I asked are simplistic, but they raise the important issues of the kinds of lies people tell, why they work on us and what we can do about it.
I thought you might get a kick out of a Newsmax summary of Biden lies below.
These lies of commission are so blatant and easily disproven one has to ask why tell them? But Biden is relying on his expert/authority power. Some of you may recall from a previous newsletter the statistic that up to 25% of the time, a co-pilot in a simulator flight will not challenge the pilot on a decision and the plane crashes. Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals encourages people to pretend they have expert power by teaching “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have”.
How many of us will question our doctor, a lawyer, or academics. How many of us will look up a candidate’s actual donation record in the FEC and find out about PAC donations. Not nearly enough-which is why lies can work. We are doing better as a delightful Riley Gaines video shows. She is speaking about the differences between male and female skeletons, some guy who calls himself the “expert in the room” disagrees and the room break into laughter. What are YOUR solutions to experts or authority figures who lie? Be courageous and willing to respectfully challenge anyone trying to influence or control you, get second opinions, don’t be rushed into decision making and do your own research.
Lies of omission are those that mislead you by intentionally leaving out relevant information or making suggestions. The person that tells you the lines above are different lengths because they look that way but doesn’t tell you he or she hasn’t measured them is leaving out relevant facts. We can expect these kinds of lies from people who need to convince themselves that their moral compass is intact or have convinced themselves their cause is so good, that the ends justify the means.
“They engage in something we call justified dishonesty,” said Shaul Shalvi, who runs the Behavioral Ethics Lab at the University of Amsterdam. It happens when people’s desire to be ethical clash with the desire to profit or get something. In that case people are willing to lie just a bit “as long as it seems legit,” Shalvi said (New York Post, April 2016). We protect ourselves against this kind of behavior by listening carefully and “peeling the onion”. Keep asking who, what, where when why questions until the truth is revealed. “Is Yvonne Julian one of those Krystle Matthews sleepers” as a Facebook post said recently, is this kind of lie.
Likeability, the human tendency of reciprocity and “we think” can make us believe liars, and sometimes with tragic consequences. The serial killer Ted Bundy was well known for his ability to convince women he needed help because of his looks and immediate likeability. It is unwise to assume that someone we dislike intensely can never tell the truth or have some knowledge we can put to good use.
A woman survived the Jonestown Massacre because she purposefully never took any of the special favors Jim Jones offered her, so didn’t feel obligated to reciprocate and comply when he asked her to drink the poisoned beverage that killed 900 people. “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”, “there is no such thing as a free lunch” and other bits of wisdom remind us that gifts can be used to make us accept lies out of obligation to the gift giver.
Even a group of people we like would be wrong if they told us the lines in our optical illusion are different lengths, but we would be less likely to dispute them. According to one research study, “people were willing to follow the norms of a group, even when they knew the norms to be unconnected to reality, provided they felt a strong shared identity within the group”. (Pryor, Perfors, & Howe, 2019).
Yes, it is just as easy to be a GOP Sweep bobblehead as a Jeff Davis bobblehead.
I hope you find this brief overview of how and why lies work and how we can fight their influence helpful. Lies are common currency in the political arena, so learning how to combat them is very important-especially for grassroots activists like many of us who do not want to develop lying skills as a tool to gain power, influence or money.
I know our HQ Republicats agree! I hope you do, too!
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