Thursday, September 12, 2024

Head Of Presidential Debates Commission Shreds ABC Debate Moderators

  YouTube

Explain America - YouTube


ABC Debate Scandal Explodes - Moderator's Shock   "The fact that Kamala Harris was anxious to debate President Trump on ABC, even though he never agreed to after Joe Biden was removed from the campaign trail, should tell you everything you need to know about her. She is a weak and unethical candidate who needed to rely on network surrogates to assist her in unfairly bashing Donald Trump. The two moderators, who repeatedly fact-checked Donald Trump while giving Harris a pass after she consistently lied against him should be fired and this debate should be dismissed!"

The 10 Harris Lies Moderators Let Slide at the ABC Debate


 Victoria Taft  . . . "Muir's self-love could have made Tuesday night the most cringetastic event of the election cycle, second only to Joe Biden blubbering through the first debate, but for the selection of questions and the fact that only one candidate was required to answer them. Only one candidate was interrupted five times for "fact checks" in the middle of his exposition, which were not factual at all. Guess which candidate that was? Trump was on his own to fact-check Kamala Harris—if he got a chance, that is. 

"Harris was allowed to lie with impunity, recite non-facts, and not participate in a "debate" to explain her positions. Her only tactic was to bait Trump. 

"The game was afoot at the beginning when it was clear that the two moderators, Muir and some chick I've never heard of, asked Kamala Harris if the economy is better now than it was four years ago. They let her escape without answering. Now we know that "chick," Linsey Davis, was Kamala Harris's sorority sister. 

"ABC News never mentioned it on debate night, but this video making the rounds on Thursday reveals that Davis was asked about their bond on the day Harris was sworn in." . . .

ABC Moderators Were Lying: EIGHT ‘Aborted’ Babies Were Born Alive & Then Left to Die in Minnesota – PJ Media 

“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” said ABC debate moderator Linsey Davis, as she smugly “fact-checked” the Republican nominee. “Madam vice president, I want to get your response to President Trump.”

“ 'Well, as I said, you’re going to hear a bunch of lies,” eagerly agreed Kamala Harris. And then she proceeded to tell a bunch of lies.

"But in this exchange, the first lie was told by ABC’s Linsey Davis. And either ironically or coincidentally, one of the places where babies can legally be killed post-birth is in the state of Minnesota — where her running mate, Tim Walz, is currently governor.

"The Daily Signal examined several years of data from the Minnesota Department of Health: At least eight babies who survived abortions — and were thus born alive — were later killed, or left to die. 

"In fact, during the narrow timeframe of January 1, 2021, through December 21, 2021 (one year), five babies were born post-abortion operation. Of those five infants:" . . . Read more...

Either Linsey Davis — and by extension, ABC News — is guilty of an astonishing level of incompetence and flubbed a critically important fact during a presidential debate, or they were deliberately lying to the American people, hoping to trick us into voting for their preferred candidate. If the former is true, then they’re airheads who deserve to be fired. But if the latter is true, then they’ve become the literal embodiment of Fake News and misinformation. 

"So it turns out the totally unbiased ABC moderator Linsey Davis and Kamala Harris are sorority sisters!" Linsey Davis and Kamala Harris sorority sisters

WHOA: ABC Whistleblower Reportedly Coming Forward With Deets Proving Kamala Had Questions BEFORE Debate – Twitchy

   . . ."Sounds like there is an ABC whistleblower ready to come forward with proof that Kamala did indeed have the questions before the debate which basically tells us everything else we needed to know about this dumpster fire of an outlet." . . .

Hate on 9/11: Footage of Palestinians Celebrating the Attacks Aired on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News

 Hate on 9/11: Footage of Palestinians Celebrating the Attacks Aired on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News (youtube.com)

"Hate on 9/11: Actual footage of some Palestinians celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001. This footage was shown on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News. Still today, there are voices in Palestinian society who repeatedly embrace and praise terrorism - and it's not exclusive to Palestinian communities. There are voices of extremism throughout the Middle East and the world who praise and celebrate terrorism against Western countries. If we are ever to defeat the plague of terrorism, we must expose and speak out against not only hate, but the celebration of hate. #September11 #Honor911Make

Woman Who Made Career Singing About Her Bad Choices Endorses Kamala


Babylon Bee

"U.S. — A singer who has made her entire career out of writing songs detailing her horrifically bad choices has announced her choice for President: Kamala Harris.

"Pop icon Taylor Swift, who has written a veritable library of songs about her being a poor judge of character, made the announcement last night. "I know I'm internationally renowned for regretting every major decision in my life, but this choice will turn out different, I just know it," said Swift. "She's the one!"

"A longtime Democrat, Swift's songwriting is known for chronicling how each man she thought would be the one turned out to be a total scumbag, but she was too blind to see it. More recently, her writing has evolved to explaining how she's mentally unstable and makes terrible, destructive decisions about other things in her life outside of romantic relationships.

" 'Who better than Taylor Swift to decide if a person will work out or not?" said Swift fanatic David Muir. "If you stacked all of her ex-boyfriends on top of each other, you could reach Neptune, okay? That's what we call 'experience'. She's got so much experience making wrong decisions, who better to decide what's right?"

"At publishing time, Swift had reportedly begun penning a breakup song after learning that Kamala is really more of a Britney fan."   Maybe. Maybe not.

Are Harris supporters ignorant or do they just hate Trump more than they love this country?

 Patricia McCarthy - American Thinker 

"On Israel, she stupidly spoke of a two-state solution!  Where has she been?  It is Hamas that refuses any cease-fire because they want Israel destroyed.  Anyone still dreaming about a two-state solution is an ignorant fool." . . .

Israelis visited by Hamas

"Given everything we know about Kamala Harris by now, it is astonishing that a single American would consider voting for her.  She is clearly way out of her depth, and until she suddenly became the designated candidate of the Democrat party, most people on both sides of the aisle considered her to be unqualified.  She did virtually nothing as Biden’s vice president these past three-and-a-half years beyond casting tie-breaking votes on numerous bills that have led to destructive inflation and trillions more in our national debt.  Most everyone agrees that she was the most radical of leftist senators while she held that office; she is to the left of Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist.  Harris is, and would govern as, a communist. The record of her political beliefs, going back to her terms first as San Francisco DA and then state AG, proves just how radical she is.  Now she claims she has “changed her mind” on all those annoying issues like defunding the police, ending all fracking, decriminalizing all drug offenses, no border wall, the decriminalization of all illegal entries into the U.S., mandated gun confiscation, etc., and she claims as well that “her values have not changed.”  She wants to have it both ways.

"Now we have heard the one and only debate during which the two ABC moderators clearly sought to cover for Harris’s many, many lies. To those of us who follow the campaign closely, just about every word out of her mouth was a lie.  So, one has to assume that those people who support Kamala Harris are wholly ignorant of her plans to complete Obama’s transformation of America into a Marxist nation without any constitutional protections.  If they continue to support her after the debate, then they are so deeply indoctrinated they are unable to think critically." . . . 

Ms. McCarthy leaves us with this quote from Deitrich Bonhoeffer back in the Nazi era in Germany:

And so the Nazis killed him.

. . ."For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous."

Much more at the Tunnel Wall 

Email mishap exposes Biden-Harris spokesman ridiculing American veterans, saying there’s ‘no use’ in responding to their concerns over Afghanistan exit

 Olivia Murray - American Thinker   

This is one more real “suckers and losers” scandalous moment, spoken from the mouths of progressive Democrats, as always.


"Talk about a fail of epic proportions: John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, hit “reply all” on an email thread, not realizing that reporters were in on the conversation, and exposed himself, putting into writing his own dismissive attitude toward our nation’s veterans who are displeased and deeply upset over the way Biden, Harris, Kirby, and anyone else involved in the decision, decided to leave Afghanistan. Let me just emphasize again with what these veterans take issue: A haphazard and poorly-planned exit leaving a wake of chaos and death, including the needless loss of life of thirteen precious American soldiers, and more than $80 billion in equipment going right into the hands of the terrorists these veterans had been fighting, for twenty years.

"This man can’t properly avoid hitting “reply all” but he’s supposed to be trusted with classified information? It’s amazing we’ve actually lasted this long under a Biden-Harris administration."...

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was met with intense criticism Wednesday after he inadvertently emailed a reporter that there is ‘no use in responding’ to veteran concerns about the Harris-Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Kirby, 61, apparently intended to send his dismissive response to White House staffers but accidentally hit ‘reply all’ on an email chain that included the Fox News reporter making the inquiry. 

‘Obviously no use in responding. A ‘handful’ of vets indeed and all of one stripe,’ read Kirby’s email, according to the outlet. . . . 

The Media Lies Add Up

Victor Davis Hanson (dailysignal.com)

. . ."As they continue, they have all but destroyed democracy, ruined the reputation of the media, alienated the public—and embarrassed their country before the world."

"The public is exhausted after a decade of chronic untruth from the left-wing and its media.

"The 2016 presidential campaign will be long remembered for the false allegation that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to warp the election.
"Citing the bogus “Steele dossier,” loser Hillary Clinton and other Democrat grandees claimed that the victorious Trump was an “illegitimate” president.
"Almost immediately, the Left and media then pushed for the appointment of special prosecutor Robert Mueller. He assembled a “dream team” of partisan prosecutors to prove Trump-Russian collusion.
"Some 22 months later, Mueller found no evidence that Trump improperly won the 2016 election with help from any colluding Russians.
"More hysteria followed when Trump was impeached in December 2019.
"The Left claimed Trump had pressured the Ukrainian government to look into the family of Joe Biden (then a potential 2020 election opponent) for its corruption with Ukrainian oligarchs—as a condition for releasing military aid designated to Kyiv.
"Yet Hunter Biden was paid nearly $1 million a year by a Ukrainian energy company to enlist his father, Vice President Joe Biden, for quid pro quo services.
"In turn, Joe Biden himself later bragged that he had pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor, Victor Shokin —who happened to be looking too closely into the various shady schemes of the Biden family." . . .

Think back, if you will, to this 2020 Twitter comment by Former Vice President Dick Cheney and this comment by Liz Cheney regarding Kamala Harris:

It is strongly evident that ABC values the reputation of this leftist politician over that of their own image as a source of journalism.

 "My take is that voters in this poll say she “won” the debate because she mostly stayed on script, got out her memorized lines, and didn’t have any major brain malfunctions. Trump, however, came across to some as a little agitated and angry (with good reason—he was ambushed in a three-on-one scrum)." Bob Hoge

AfterMath

Again I say: It is strongly evident that ABC values the reputation of any leftist politician over that of their own image as a source of journalism. TD

"Is the liberal media blissfully unaware of Kamala Harris’ extremism or intentionally neglectful? For Hill reporters, there’s zero excuse, but the national pundit class seems aghast and perplexed that Harris supports taxpayer-funded genital mutilation surgeries for illegal transgenders. That’s not some misconstrued take either—it’s what she supports."

Trump Tells Harris She 'Did a Good Job' During 9/11 Memorial Day After Debate   This article quotes Elon Musk, who said:  "While I don’t think the debate hosts were fair to [Trump], [Harris] exceeded most people’s expectations tonight.
That said, when it comes to getting things done, not just saying nice-sounding words, I strongly believe that Trump will do a far better job. After all, if Kamala can do great things, why hasn’t she? Biden rarely shows up for work, so she’s basically in charge already. The question comes down to this: do you want current trends to continue for 4 more years or do you want change?

CNN Flash Poll Claims Harris Debate Victor But Reveals Truth About Who Is Really Ahead - TFPP Wire . . ."While the Harris campaign may be feeling good about her overall performance, the survey delved deeper into and the results were not so great for the sitting Vice President.

"The survey sampled five key issues including the economy, immigration, protecting democracy, being commander-in-chief, and abortion. Let’s take a look at each category.

"Economy: Respondents were asked whom they trusted more on the economy, Harris or Trump, the results were dramatic. While Trump led Harris by 16 points prior to the debate, 53%-37%, his lead soared post-debate to 20%, 55%-35%." . . .

NEW POLL: Kamala Harris Won the Debate—yet It's Trump Who Gained a Point in Voter Support – RedState

Where is Sam Donaldson when we really need him? - Silvio Canto, Jr.

Liz Peek:  The biggest loser in the first (and likely only) presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump was ABC News, which hosted the faceoff. The moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, embarrassed themselves and their network by, among other things, fact-checking Trump in real time on more than one occasion – sometimes incorrectly – while allowing Harris to spout serial lies and distortions. Social media blew up early on in the debate with commentators on the right, in particular, calling Tuesday night’s faceoff the worst and most one-sided debate in history. 

RFK Jr. Blasts Kamala, Biased Debate Moderators; Says 'the Party That I Grew Up in Doesn't Exist Anymore'  "Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his presidential campaign in August and endorsed GOP nominee Donald Trump, was appalled by the blatant bias shown by ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis during Tuesday night’s presidential debate. Although the hosts—mostly Muir—frequently interrupted Trump and fact-checked him in real-time, they treated Harris like the reincarnation of Cicero and sat comfortably as she spewed lie after lie." . . .    BREAKING: RFK Jr is GOING OFF on the ABC moderators

The Debate Was Fixed - The American Spectator

 The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  

Dov Fischer:: "I can hardly wait for this election to end. It is so dirty. In my lifetime, I do not remember any politician ever so unworthy, unqualified, and brazenly dishonest as to reverse every single policy and stand she ever took over decades, all in the course of two weeks, with it obvious as plain day that she will revert right back to her true agenda the moment the race is over." . . . 

. . ."In many ways, really, it was a good debate. It really was — in many ways. They got to talk. Trump did not have a crowd to play to, so he remained serious throughout the 90 minutes, without the showmanship and off-topic stories. The mikes were shut off while the other person spoke, so he could not interrupt her. That was great because it is terrible graphics to see a tall, strong, white man interrupting a weak, small, colored (black, Indian) woman. If anything, it was she who interrupted him — twice — and, as I had hoped, he responded with: “Excuse me, I am speaking.”

"I hoped she would speak more extemporaneously, but she was well-scripted and rehearsed. Good for her. There are rules and tips, and she did what we recommend people to do when they cannot think under fire and speak wisely: just memorize your lines, as lunkheads do in Hollywood. The screenwriters and playwrights never get the full credit they deserve; no one gets to hear whom they endorse. Rather, the lunkheads at the award ceremonies get to lecture America. So she memorized her lines and spoke them well.

"Trump was good, too. He memorized some lines and clearly entered with broad themes to pursue in his own way: unmitigated illegal immigration, government-sponsored free sex-change operations for illegals, prices through the roof, Harris’ role as the deciding vote in the trillion-dollar injection of government paper money that has thrown the economy into both a sky-high upward spiral and freefall at the same time.

"The problem, as always — except in the prior Biden-in-a-Daze debate — was that the debate was fixed. Harris was asked easier questions. Trump was asked harder questions. The debate carefully did not end in the final minutes with the most crucial questions about the economy, gasoline prices, the impossibility of being a prospective new home buyer, Laken Riley and Rachel Morin and all the others, price controls, government defunding police and ICE, fracking, or the canceling of private health insurance. Instead, they saved the last half hour and final minutes for Jan. 6 and Harris’ skin color. Instead of getting that out of the way early, they wanted that to resound. Whereas Harris always was extended the courtesy of a response and a further response to a Trump response, Trump frequently was denied a similar response opportunity and had to call out to the “moderators” over his dead mike, demanding a fair chance to respond." . . .

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

This whole debate thing cries out for satire

 Democrats To Replace Kamala On Ballot With ABC Moderators | Babylon Bee

"U.S. — Following last night's debate in which David Muir and Linsey Davis employed an impressive strategy against former President Donald Trump, news broke that Democrats have decided to replace Kamala Harris on the ballot with the ABC moderators.

"Discussions began almost immediately after the debate to replace the Harris-Walz ticket with Muir-Davis based entirely on the moderators' ability to articulate Harris' positions and attack Trump better than she ever has.

" 'They really got her strongest points across," said one top Democratic Party official. "We loved the way they fought back against any facts Trump was presenting. They've mastered the art of twisting reality and playing fast and loose with truth, which is exactly what we look for in our candidates. It was staring us right in the face. We talked it over and figured, why not just go with them instead?'"

"Muir and Davis were surprised but humbled by the news. "It will be an honor to serve," Muir said in a brief statement. "We have always done our very best to advance the cause of the Democratic Party, and now that we're being called upon to run for election, we would be shirking our responsibility as journalists not to answer the call. As members of the press, we always know what's best for all Americans. We can't wait to get into the White House."

"At publishing time, Muir and Davis released a statement that they were looking forward to their next debate against Trump, which they would moderate themselves."

On the debate; hits or misses?

The PR Fallout of the Trump-Harris Debate: A Disastrous Defeat, or the Rise of Sugar Ray Trump? – PJ Media   . . ."There’s more to the story, of course. There always is: Ironically enough, ABC’s moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis will help Trump’s post-debate PR. Had it been a fair, one-on-one fight, Trump’s performance would’ve looked even worse. But because ABC’s bias was so ridiculously heavy-handed, at least Trump has an excuse. (Frankly, Trump needs one. That wasn’t a good performance.) In particular, Muir was practically in Kamala’s handbag." . . .

In 3-On-1 Knife-Fight, Kalm, Konfident Kamala Koolly Kills (issuesinsights.com) . . ."All while commanding the screen as Trump spoke, with headshakes, smirks, smiles, and once, even a hand placed thoughtfully on her chin to further undermine her opponent’s credibility."
. . ."Steam poured out of the MAGA leader’s ears. Already coming across as sullen and angry compared to Harris’ practiced, deft touch, Trump shouted repeatedly into the microphone – far too hot for the “cool” broadcast medium.

And succumbed more deeply to the missteps and missed opportunities that plagued him the entire evening as he rose to Kamala’s cleverly laid bait:" . . .

. . ."The bottom line: the 3-on-1 disadvantage hindered Trump. But not as much as Kamala’s well-designed strategy. And Trump’s own angry-old-man posture and unforced errors.

Luck and design both ran Kamala’s way. As did the night.

Trump, Harris debate: Vice president couldn't answer the one question that mattered

 Voter Reactions to the ABC News Debate Were Not Good...for Kamala   "Donald Trump didn’t clinch a decisive win last night, though he had his chances. That’s what’s so frustrating. Kamala Harris wasn’t good, but also not a total disaster like Joe Biden was in June. She got under Trump’s skin, with the former president taking the bait on rally size and the 2020 election. Trump sounded and looked flustered over these topics, plus January 6 and the weaponization of the Justice Department. The more he spoke less about policy, the more comfortable Kamala became—that’s not good. There were chances to land a haymaker to knock her out, and Trump failed. Instead of demoralizing Democrats, we will now hear about how Kamala shifted the race." . . .

If you want to say it was a draw, that’s fair, but the fact Trump couldn’t bury Harris on policy is what irks me. It was there. Yet, as I noted earlier this morning, it might not matter. The CNN snap poll on who won showed Harris running away with it.

 CNN Poll Shows Trump Beat Harris on the Point That Matters Most to the American People – RedState

 In less than two minutes, Fox News' Trace Gallagher summed up the disparity:

 An excellent compilation of the ABC debate moderators' complete dereliction of duty from Trace Gallagher – RedState                                               @tracegallagher  pic.twitter.com/f5oPhJttEh

MUST SEE: Megyn Kelly Goes Nuclear on ABC After Rigged Trump Debate, Exposes Their 'Personal Friendship' to Kamala     . . ."This should be the last time the Republicans ever do this because those two moderators tried to sink Donald Trump tonight."

"The numerous fact-checks on what he said and none on what she said — none. I don’t remember a single fact-check of anything she said, and she lied repeatedly. She just got away with it in the moderators’ eyes.

"That was Donald Trump’s job to fact-check her. That’s correct, except you didn’t employ that same tactic when it came to Trump. And you accused him of lying, even when it was just your opinion that he lied.

"When Trump tried to say that his comment that he lost 2020 by a whisker was him being sarcastic, David Muir actually interjected, saying, “I didn’t hear sarcasm.' ” . . .

Harris survived the debate (with a huge assist from the moderators) but Trump scored crucial points (nypost.com)   . . ."Donald Trump got to Kamala Harris’ core problem in his debate close, waving off all her promises about what she’d do in office: “Why hasn’t she done it already?”

"Hard to think of a better riposte to her “We won’t go back” slogan — which aims to appeal to Americans’ desperate desire for change from the Biden policies she shares.

"Harris had a pretty smooth night: She did her homework for once, including prepping lines guaranteed to get under Trump’s skin — some of which plainly did put him off-balance.

"And of course she had backup from the moderators, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis — who targeted far more tough questions at Trump than at Harris, and all of their “fact-checking.”

"Worse: Whenever she started to babble in trying to defend her own record, they rescued her by changing the subject." . . .

Kamala Harris . . . gambling that good vibes will propel her to White House  "Vice President Kamala Harris came out of her debate with former President Donald Trump armed with confidence she could win the White House with an aspirational message light on specifics. In the weeks since she has become the Democratic Party’s nominee, Ms. Harris has talked about joy, vision, and values, but has been bereft of policy ideas." . . .

ABC's David Muir Lied About Crime Falling Under Biden-Harris   . . ."In fact, Trump was correct about the increase in crime under Biden. While violent crime fell by 17 percent under Trump, Biden has seen it rise by 43 percent.

"Muir doesn’t understand what the FBI is measuring. The FBI counts the number of crimes reported to police. Trump was right that less than half of police departments are now giving that data to the FBI, but, more importantly, Trump was discussing what was happening to total crime, not just the number of crimes reported to police." . . .

Some undecided voters not convinced by Harris after debate with Trump | Reuters   "I still don't know what she is for," said Mark Kadish, 61, an entrepreneur in Florida. "There was no real meat and bones for her plans."

"Four of the voters are women and six are men; eight are white and two are Black. All have voted for both Democratic and Republican candidates in the past.

"Harris did mention some policy specifics, including her plan to offer tax benefits to families and small businesses. But she focused much of the debate on attacking Trump rather than laying out detailed policies.

"Robert Wheeler, 48, a security firm executive in Nevada, was leaning toward Harris before the debate. He now says if the election were held tomorrow he would vote for Trump, largely because he thought Harris didn't provide clarity on her policies.

" 'I felt like the whole debate was Kamala Harris telling me why not to vote for Donald Trump instead of why she's the right candidate," Wheeler said." . . .

Dear Kamala, We Want To Go Back. And So Should Everyone Else

 Issues & Insights

Lets go back before our own people shouted "death to America!" on our own streets

Kamala Harris used the same "we're not going back" line when she ran for president in 2019.

"We want to go back to a time before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wrecked the economy, before they unleashed the inflation monster, before they threw open the border, let criminals run free, and exuded weakness abroad.

"In other words, we want to go back to a time when a tax-cutting, pro-growth, anti-regulation, strong defense president was in the White House and America was prosperous and the world at peace.

"What we don’t want is to go forward with the Biden-Harris disaster, which is what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will give us, good and hard.

"So, as a reader service, we’ve gathered a brief sampling of reasons why the public should join us in desperately wanting to go back to the “failed policies” we had under Trump, and not continue with the “leadership” we’ve seen under Biden-Harris. (Readers are invited to add to this list using the comment section below.)" . . .

One item on the list is this particularly critical one:

National security. Under Trump, ISIS was quickly routed, Iran was on its knees, Russia made no moves against its neighbors, and Israel was signing peace deals with its neighbors. The Biden-Harris disaster in Afghanistan resulted in 13 dead American soldiers and left the Taliban with billions of dollars worth of U.S. weapons. Biden-Harris also unfroze billions of dollars in Iranian funds, which this terrorist nation then used to run a spy ring in the Biden administration, finance attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and shipping in the Red Sea, and train Hamas for its ambush of Israel. Russia invaded Ukraine. China felt free to send a spy balloon across the entire U.S. And Hamas still holds Americans captive after almost a year of Biden-Harris dithering.

"So, please, for the love of God, take us back!"