On Tuesday, March 26, Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s election interference case, put Trump under a gag order to stop his attacks on court staff, prosecutors, jurors, and witnesses.
Republicans in Congress should indeed have to answer for Trump's violent rhetoric and pay the price by losing elections. After all, they are the ones who have been enabling and empowering him. They had a chance to convict him - twice - in the Senate and refused. They deserve to be thrown out of Congress.
Jl, as Judge Merchan ominously said, "The threat is very real." Indeed. Trump is beyond pathetic, and I think you have it backwards: it's he who makes his enablers dangerous. His leash must be shortened.
It works both ways, doesn't it? The "GOP" has been stitching this monster together for decades, and even as it breaks it's tether, few of them will renounce it, even as it tears at the core of "The American Experiment".
The addiction to the pull of sociopathic unaccountable power is too strong. That attachment to unbalanced power is likely as old as our species, and is evident in the original sins of native genocide and black slavery, but even in my lifetime has been evident swirling around our society, including it's more salient forms as Jim Crow, McCarthyism, and repression and abuse of women and gays.
It became a more widely organized form of crime under the Powell Memo, the "GOP" embrace of fanatic racists cast off by the Dems, and the lies and "dirty tricks" of Nixon and Reagan. It's gerrymandering, it's the GOP thumbing their nose at justified impeachment, toadies placed in SCOTUS (even preceding TFFG), it's calling insurrectionists heroes and hostages, and a fair and free election fake, it's protecting and advancing the whims of the criminal rich, etc., etc., etc.
Trump could wake up dead tomorrow from one too many Big Macs, and that wave of corruption would still be threatening democracy; the new BOSS quite possibly as bad or worse than the last. Look at their primaries. Only the worst need apply.
Are you saying jailing him like any of us would of been sitting in jail for the last 3 years? If not, I did and am flabbergasted that the supposedly law and order/family values have not ousted him from their party along with the so called Christians.
Julie, family values only apply to controlling women and indoctrinating children. Law and order is for people they don't like such as migrants and the houseless.. The "Christians" who support him have no idea of what Jesus taught. They would crucify Christ again if he showed up; that is, if they would let him into the country.
And assassinate Lincoln. The press and the public have yet to acknowledge how Orwellian so-called "Republicans" have become, starting with their contempt for a functioning republic. Trump called himself "your law and order president". If you think about it, virtually everything they say is the exact opposite of what they do.
We should wonder what would it take, in our putative classless society, to treat a former President the same way the rest of us would surely be treated if we were causing trouble in our neighborhood, not to mention trying to wreck our nation?
Surely he is getting away with it because of the fear of violence he has been trying to instill in us. About two weeks ago he said something like "If I don't get elected there will be a bloodbath...that will be the least of it..." He is queuing up violence in the streets for election day and beyond. A reasonable citizen would surely conclude that such speech is a credible threat, and therefore should not be tolerated. His bail should be revoked, and he should be restrained, and held incommunicado in a secure facility, like Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he could amuse himself by fondling gold bullion.
But not slobber on it. I think we as a society have become sloppy in our thinking about what democratic leadership means. The presidency or other office is not a grant of personal privilege; it is a license to use the powers of the office for their intended purpose within intended boundaries. A financial officer is entitled to move company money on a company's behalf. Not to embezzle. A doctor is not responsible if trauma patient dies, so long as he or she acted within due diligence.
Behaviors that are inconsistent with the job description merit NO professional protection. To claim they do is bananas. President's are NOT immune from prosecution of all behavior, otherwise Nixon would have had no need for a pardon. There are governments where those in power immorally enrich themselves, and harass and assassinate those who oppose them. We call them "Tyrannies".
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” -CNN
We suspect that the bullies and the people threatening political violence think it would be easy. Their logic and reason fail to persuade us that they have the right idea, so they turn to threats of violence and "bloodbath", hoping we will concede the arguments in favor of democracy.
It is possible to be strong, and courageous, and to be willing to risk our lives to defend the Constitution, yet still wish fervently to live our lives in peace and civility.
I wonder what happened to the 2 candidates who were anti Ukrainian war and were not allowed to run in the election. It is said that one of them said he hoped Putin won. Really?
We suspect he would not actually read a Bible, except perhaps the more lurid parts. He might get interested if we could find a version with the nasty parts illustrated in color.
I encounter self-identified Christians whose values are the antithesis of MAGA. I wonder why they seems so silent as a social faction? "Trump" "Christians" are defaming the label for decades to come.
Lauren you are correct; he is dangerous AND pathetic. See, HCR's last paragraph. Many anchors & readers of Judge Merchan's "Decision and Order" missed the important Court findings of fact.
Pay attention to the decisions and the Judge's findings. Judge Merchan recited the Defendant's necessary intent to commit crimes (mens rea). The former president can be charged with those crimes particularly if the worst happens.
Per the Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute (LLI) when a New York Judge rules on a Motion ( expanding the Gag Order) Judge Merchan does NOT need to state his findings or conclusions. NY Rule 52(a)(3).
But, Judge Merchan DID state his findings of fact & his conclusions. The Defendant has not & will not in my opinion challenge th sufficiency of the Court's evidence.
I agree with Andrew Weissmann; do not wait for the worst. Move forward with a Criminal counts now.
I generally agree with Weismann. I don't know law beyond 30 years fandom of Law and Order, but it's common sense that TFG has inspired violence from the guy stalking Obama, to the one sending anthrax to his hit list, to the guy that shot up the FBI office, to the woman that threatened Chutkan, not to mention Jan 6. That orange fizzie opens his yap and the minions open fire. That repulsive tub o lard is in desperate need of a trachea full of sock, preferably dirty sweaty gym sock. Anyone with the power to turn off the flood of lies, venom, and invective please step up and shut him the f _k up.
That's what I used to tell Jurys,"Listen to all the facts & follow the Law as instructed by this Court" ( then gesture with deference to the Judge and say) " ... follow your Common Sense."
Common sense here is to proceed with the Criminal Trial in 13 days,. Meanwhile convene a Grand Jury & present all evidence including Judge Merchan's findings of fact.
What is scary is the drastic increase in threats to the judges and their families. Something like 70% of judges have accepted the US Marshal Services' offer of electronic security.
Haters gonna hate. I don't mean to be glib, Karen. My only thought is vote all the R's out of office. Big thumping defeats. Send them back to the minors (there's no hope of ever getting them out of our system completely).
And when they do speak, they say things like Jan 6th being "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse" and to reject the evidence of your eyes and of your ears.
Not only "give them the door", but hang one of the worst defeats suffered by any political party. I realize this is a dream at this point, but Trump keeps opening his mouth, pouring out irrational crap. My hope is that voters will finally take notice in the next six months and run from him like the plague.
It's more than a dream because there are hundreds if not thousands of grassroots groups all over the country of folks like me who finally got that there are real actions we can and must take to preserve our democracy - starting with working for Dems to win as many up and down ballot elections as possible. If you don't already have such a group, you can start with the one I belong to markersfordemocracy.org - where I get guidance/tools/connections for writing postcards, making phone calls, knocking on doors etc. It feels so much better than doing nothing - alone!!! Blessings,
Charles, at this point, I wonder how much his handlers are doing. It is clear that on his own, he can't string together coherent sentences. Maybe he is only capable of expressing violent anger at this point.
There are die hards that love the irrational crap, but a vast majority that finds it revolting. The fact that nobody can turn off the spigot, including the spewer himself, just means that they do our work for us. They'll proudly show the hog-tied Biden video, and the general public will go "eeeuuuwww" all the way to the ballot boxes.
He has given them lots of chances to see how delusional he is, how unintelligent he is, but they are not recognizing it. Trump will lose the war with his I know everything attitude. When a drug addled Hitler took complete control of the army, he lost..literally sleeping at the wheel in one case. No one wanted to wake him up to give orders. I believe that was in the beginning of the battle of Normandy.
Jen, you're correct. However, remember that every pollster was predicting a "red tsunami," meaning that we'd lose a huge number of House seats and perhaps the Senate as well. That didn't happen, and with even the right being upset about the House dysfunction because of the insanity of their own Freedom Caucus, I believe sanity is attainable. What other option do we have?
The Dobbs decision has kicked in and women are really suffering now. I was impressed with the recent win in Alabama. If we can get and keep Dems in office long enough for the good stuff to kick in and folks see thru all the lies maybe things will make a solid turn for the better. Everyone on deck for 11/24!! 💙🌊🙏🤞🏼
Jen, this is one of the reasons we can't get any sensible gun laws. The oligarchs want certain peons well armed while they sit back and watch the fight.
This is exactly what Isaiah Berlin writes about in his essays on Nationalism -- create the massive split between haves and have nots so that the have nots are made desperate and bitter, easily provoked to violence and extremist views begging for the dictators to 'save' them.
I imagine that once the peons do the dirty work and the oligarchs have control they will then take away the guns to avoid being on the wrong side of the barrels.
I can see him as a paranoid megalomaniac as Vikund Quisling was described (except Quisling was better educated and had some semblance of proper order).
Yes, Quisling is the poster child for traitors following the early part of WWII. As evil as he was, I consider him smarter than Trump, and at least a tiny bit more concerned with the rules and protecting some of the people from the worst that Hitler would have done to them. He was bad enough to face a firing squad after being tried and convicted.
Please note it was not even his money with which he paid his bond, some questionable old rich person with ties to Axos which happens to be trump's bank.
And members of the GOP who are quitting are the good ones. It's the rabble rousers like MTG, Matt Gaetz, Gym Jordan and Ron Johnson who are staying inflated with new bursts of Trump's helium.
Hope the Dems win. But Buck, despite his flaws, was leagues better than those who seem to be calling the tune: Gaetz, MTG, Jordan, Comer, Johnson, and, God spare us, Lauren Boebert.
They are the less openly obnoxious ones. Most anyone today who remains a R is suspect. Our R neighbor, a former local pol, is now an I and I know he supports many Ds.
Yes,I totally agree with you.If Republicans in Congress had only done their job and impeached and removed Trump, we would not be having all of these problems today. Smh.
That sure would have done some good but remember we have a lot of "trump-lite" in the background of all this crap. Too many of the "jordan-grassley-green-gaetz" crew are being re-elected every election!
I have to add - Democrats in the Senate & Congress need to stand up and speak out too. That doesnt always happen. If enough of us write to our representatives & tell them how we feel (just did that again over the mealy mouthed reaction to the nomination of a Muslim judge which the Repugs were harassing) hopefully it will make some small difference!
If we can only get a blue senate and house, we can pass election law that only non-partisan boards can define the districts. Some of the safe seats will stay safe, but a lot more will become open. Then the Gyms and MTGs will have to have actual ideas.
I agree. However, I think Republicans actually knew he would be charged by DOJ for insurrection and they were stupid about what the Trump/Putin cabal REALLY wanted, which was Trump not stopping Putin. I don't think they thought he would run again. They didn't think Putin would invade without Trump's support. But Now they know they were self deluded, short sighted, and wooed by McConnel's siren song. They didn't see COVID coming in-between impeachments (you might talk about divine intervention here if you believe in divine intervention). There truly is a bubble in DC that makes people here seem to be the last to know when things are going off the rails. In the meantime impeachment is purely political not judicial and it is therefore a charade. It has never ended with a vote in favor of removing a president. Nixon was told to go before they had one. Those Republicans and Democrats knew it would outrage their constituents one way or the other if they impeached Nixon. So it was self preservation to persuade him he would be disgraced (don't forget, he could not have run for President again anyway) and that resignation was the gentleman's way out (sweetened by a pardon promise). Impeachment should be a call for a snap trial in front of a court of law followed by a decision by the people, for the people. We need a way to handle criminally minded presidents. In addition, remember Clinton won a second term after being impeached but not convicted ....it did bring out the party loyals and Perot gave an out to those that were disgusted but didn't think the impeachment was right.
They may know what's what in their heart of hearts, but I doubt that many can acknowledge even to themselves that they were duped by Putin and his puppet. Nobody likes to admit they were wrong, and in this instance the implications of betrayal of country, constitution, and basic values are more than they can face.
Our best hopes are the legal system and the election. If we can hold them criminally responsible and purge public offices of their ilk we can restore and perhaps improve the norms of our form of government. We'll have to go cautiously and guard against our own extremist over-reach. But I live in hope.
They sold themselves on backing Trump for the good of the team and the conservation movement. What really happened is they didn't want to take a stand and get their heads out of the sand.
We wouldn’t be having to vote against him, true, but the same people who support him in order to stave off being taxed and accountable are still fighting.We have to mentally stop giving that rat bait any power, and turn to the issues he so miserably represents.
That is the only way we get out of this political cesspool. Those who coddle Trump have to lose, and lose badly. I sure hope that Marylyn Lands win in Alabama is a preview of coming attractions in November 🙏
and once they are voted out, massive legislation to prevent this from ever happening again. For too long, American has been too forgiving of traitors that abuse our system hiding behind free speech
2 - Put enforceable ethics rules AND term limits on SCOTUS
3 - Make a federal law that separates government from all citizens' medical decisions.
4 - Mandate non-partisan election boards to district every state.
5 - Return to the talking filibuster.
6 - Reinstate the Brady law permanently
7 - Create a law that upholds absolutely and automatically Amendment 14 - 3.
8 - Pass sensible immigration legislation. (I have to admit I no longer know what that is, but something that catches drugs, adjudicates asylum seekers within 30 days of arrival, prevents human trafficking, and gets the dreamers legitimized.)
Then we can get to work on climate change, the tax code, healthcare, and public education.
I like the idea of term limits for SCOTUS but it would also should be applied to Senators and Congressmen. Age limits. No one over 70 should be president.
Judge Walton commented that " I think it's important in order to preserve our democracy that we remember the rule of law." That is too weak a statement. It's MORE than important. It's imperative, necessary, crucial, vital, and critical that we do more than REMEMBER the rule of law. That's the trouble. Not enough ACTION to stop the craziness of Donald Trump!!
Taking away his jet and a social media would be great. And now he has one of his trials televised? More free whining. Poor pitiful me being picked on OR people will see what a deranged person he is with all of his court room antics.
It really is the American voters that have been enabling and empowering him, not Congress. It is Congress that is following that base. If that base was to have flipped to Nikki, Congress would have followed to that side.
Just remember Jan 7th. Strong words until they realized the base was still with Trump.
Political parties and their reps are given huge latitude in what they can say and do. Remember McCarthyism, all the terrible rhetoric, and spawn violence, over racial integration in the South? and more ... dysfunction is an understatement for what is happening in the GOP these days. It has virtually bowed out from democracy ie majority rule itself - the unbalanced SC is a pivotal, but only one indication of that. Tossing out reps en masse would be a political catastrophe. We're back in the Civil War era when that happens.
That "sane" members of the Republican Party can dare to leave their elected posts seem highly inappropriate and their request to step down should be rejected out of hand. In my opinion, they were elected to serve a full-term, so serve it with at least an ounce of honor. Their party is in chaos. If they are truly senior elected members, then their last contribution should be to vote down every lunatic proposition of the extreme members. To protect this democracy, it should be a sign of honor to join with their traditional opposition to move legislation regardless of the extremes that control their ranks. Walking away now is walking away from their oaths to preserve the nation over the interests of a cult and would raise any of them in my eyes as well as those of the good Republicans whom they claim to represent. You were part in making the mess, you must, in honor, do everything to move legislation through. Just saying.
The MAGAfascists may have more serious punishments coming down the line as war criminals.
"The International Criminal Court in The Hague has already issued arrest warrants for two Russian military commanders in connection with earlier Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure. While Russia alone bears responsibility for these war crimes, the West’s continued failure to supply Ukraine with adequate air defenses makes them complicit in the unfolding humanitarian crisis."
Good for Judge Merchan. If I remember correctly what I recently read elsewhere about NY state law, when, not if, Trump violates the gag order and the judge cites him for contempt, the judge has the option of fining him $1,000 or sentencing him to 30 days in jail. Those are the only two options. $1,000 is nothing to Trump. I would love it if Judge Merchan were to sentence him to the 30 days. It might be grounds for an appeal, but the state could put the shoe on the other foot and slow-roll the appeal. A guy can dream.... Imagine the Orange Abomination in orange for 30 days.
I can imagine Trump in jail. What I can't imagine is how how the transition from his being free to being jailed would occur and how the cult would react.
Exactly what would happen Dave (Dalton). The guy is a total POS, but he says things the MAgators say amongst themselves particularly when they have an audience they can shock. He needs to have the shit kicked out of him. Where the hell is Clark Kent? We need him!
I'll go one better.., I'm gonna give Tanya Harding a ring. She does knees. Spike Lee will be called in next. A Kung-Foo experience, while still on crutches would probably necessitate dental surgery and wiring his jaw shut. Of course employing an 'immigrant' anesthesiologist for the knee surgery repair might do the trick. Huh?
Better yet, ,no phones or internet or tv. He’d probably be in solitary due to his propensity to run his mouth, or pledge he’d free all the other inmates…..
Just dreamin' -- some form of house arrest (limit square footage to basics) with no internet, no phone access, and no news? Add carefully monitored outdoor time once daily for driving golf balls.
Cross between crass comedy and god knows this might drag some extremists out of their caves.... I do wonder, if that's an overdone worry. Trump's incendiary against Jean Carroll pretty much went "quiet" when the cost hit 86 million and he's had to post bond for that amount plus interest and fees, which he's likely for forego.
“the judge has the option of fining him $1,000 or sentencing him to 30 days in jail“
The judge also has the option of doing both (fining him AND putting him in jail).
Unfortunately sentencing would likely be house arrest (vs an actual jail cell). Although I know many here (including myself) would prefer to see him in a jail cell.
It will be another press release. As long as people say the name, the corporate raiders don’t care what he does. They want resources and tax breaks and VOTES to keep them free from taxes.
Stop begging him to behave. No Schitt Sherlock. I’m so sick of his whining and the slaps on the wrist and tsk tsk, behave yourself admonitions. We are being held hostage by a clown with a flamethrower. At some point, hostage negotiators will have to unite and act. So far they are dispersed and on the defensive. Was Judge Cannons comments an April fools joke or more than a slap on the wrist?
Yes, TY for bringing this up. While everyone is distracted by his delusional ranting, calls for violence, attacks on judges and their families, posting bond, etc, etc. he and their cult are actually dismantling religion itself. The pure blasphemy of slandering Easter with comparisons to Jesus is beyond the pale. The term "Christian nationalism" is far too lenient. They are now attempting to merge their perversion of Christianity with their cult.
He is a clown ENABLER. That is the rotten part. He is nothing without the big money followers, the corrupt owners that want to finally kill the vote. .. who will instantly do damage to earth’s resources if their minions “support” him .
Permanently cut off his internet sources. There must be some tech geniuses who could cut him off. Sort of a science fiction cloud about him that is a black hole that stays offline. (Our internet provider manages to do it to us enough times.)
The threat is VERY real indeed. We are on the precipice. It will take very little to tip US into Dante's Inferno: a malstrom we will not be able to survive soon, or maybe at all.
Power tends to corrupt, and money is a form of power. In fact, in a corrupt society, money, political power, and violence are all muddled together, and highly interchangeable.
The judges think that too. And they are trying to strike a balance between reining in a sociopath, and giving the sociopath the martyr status he craves.
Mine, too, Jeri! And then the creek (Ohio River) did rise, reinforcing that bit of wisdom. Mom was 13 when she learned that you can’t deliver on promises if the creek decides otherwise!
The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, 385 people died, one million people were left homeless and property losses reached $500 million ($10.2 billion when adjusted for inflation as of September 2022).
Lock him up. dotard will be a PITA everyday until he's expired. Maybe even somehow after that. He's a disgusting pox. So he might as well be made to follow the rules/laws, regardless of whether the dotardians are riled or not. It would be a sad damn event for a former, though completely awful, U.S. president to be jailed, but if any former president was asking for that, dotard should be the one to set that precedent. Nixon was coddled. He shouldn't have been. It's also a mistake to coddle the crybaby, dotard.
Anyone who has grown up around bullies knows that you don't make them stop by accommodating them. They just bully harder, trying to find your limits and trying to get away with as much as they possibly can.
Bullies also find out that many of their supporters disappear when their bluff is called.
Trump will be jailed sooner or later, unless the Devil gets him first. Better to call contempt, jail him now and take the inevitable pain from his supporters, who will be fewer in number when they realize he can be punished and isn't the untouchable superman he makes himself out to be.
That's why we need to get the 1st criminal trial going and get him convicted.
Hopefully it will be televised so the Repressive Regressives won't be able to lie about what's happening in court. Let me rephrase -- so when they lie about what's happening in court there will be video evidence to refute their lies.
He just needs to go to jail. Anyone else who defied a gag order like that, even if it fell in a loophole, would be in jail. Because what judge would put up with his daughter being terrorized by that piece of sh**. I am so sick of this two tiered justice system.
And what was up with lowering his bond. I have yet to hear a explanation on why that happened.
And yes, Garland needs to get on Jim Jordan, and Ron Johnson....very fishy activities. As well as Comer.
Unfortunately, I think he perceives going to jail for awhile as offering him two positives - at least: it would likely help him with fundraising and possibly even more prestigious for him; he’d now [or then] be able to add another first to his of dubious accolades something more that former President Obama doesn’t have!
chump trump write a book … surely you jest - have you seen some of his tweets and other posts - but then again, his target supporters didn’t attend elite colleges and universities!
Right! He’s functionally illiterate, and writes at the level of a third grader. What will he do in jail if his ghost writers aren’t given visiting rights and the Orange Menace can’t have a smartphone? Oh, I want to fantasize about this for awhile!
Precisely what he is angling for-inciting violence by being locked up-he so desperately wants martyrdom status. Only his supporters will give him that-the problem may be what comes with it. The former Republican Party was afraid to push back forming the new Autocratic Party of today. Will we have the courage and the will to push back and deal with the blowback from his supporters? I do believe so-time for accountability and all the consequences that come with it.
Lock the insipid bastard up like any other criminal that preys on society, he will soon be forgotten about as a political force, he’s an aberration and always has been, speaking of has been’s.
Jail time will make him a martyr in the eyes of his followers. The judge is between a rock and a hard place. What can he do to preserve the integrity of the court? Warnings intensify the rhetoric; fines mean nothing because somehow Trump gets the money from guys like Hankey. Everything that happens to him is turned into campaign fodder. If the judge's daughter is physically hurt by a MAGA acolyte, Trump stays at arm's length. We failed to legally "cause and effect" his rhetoric and the Jan6 insurrection, despite the House Committee's brilliant development of the case against him. What options- short of an Act of God- are left to stop him?
Will anyone actually enforce the gag order? No one has done anything to deter Trump yet. Can't help but feel that no one else would get away with all Trump has said and done. Pathetic!
Jesus did not identify as a victim and did not seek pity for his persecution. Instead, in his innocence, he said “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. While in agony on the cross, Jesus prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" as an expression of extraordinary mercy toward his adversaries. (The essence of Jesus's teachings can be found in his Sermon on The Mount, Matthew Chapters 5-7).
The evidence is clear that we should beware the Christian Nationalists that, presenting themselves as sanctimonious prophets, bear "rotten fruits". The "Big Lie" and other deceptions, promoting idolatry, seeking revenge and cloaking anti-democratic political violence as righteous are all examples of their spoils. The truth appears to be their enemy.
"Trumpism" promotes Christian Nationalism. The Trumplican's (led into temptation by DJT and his handlers) are asked to give up their most precious democratic freedom, the freedom of dissent! They must conform and not only display loyalty to their leaders, but also refuse to forgive those who voice opposition or that trespass against them. To be a Trumplican is to be a "loyal subject" vs. an "active citizen" and live by the rule of a man and not by the rule of law. In the absence of moral authority, the only option to gain control is to use force.
In contrast to Jesus Christ's modesty and self-control, DJT, as a bombastic nihilistic performance artist, is playing both the victim and the savior. Through a narcissistic "pity ploy" for his perceived persecution, he is demonizing his enemies and demanding retribution.
Timothy Alberta, journalist and author of "The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory", observed that the question that is uncomfortable for many evangelicals/Christian Nationalists to answer is: "Have they entertained the possibility that the rise of Trumpism was the actual test chosen for them in this moment in time to measure their fidelity to their beliefs and convictions as followers of Jesus Christ"? If that is the case, can they then withstand the testing of their political identity, that has taken them further and further away from the teachings of Christ, to become followers of a political agenda that is intended to demolish the wall of separation between Church and State?
Do not listen to what the Trumplican's say, watch what they do 😳
My church-going maga family member told me he voted for trump because he thought we needed a cleansing. A cleansing that would occur while I was an active caregiver to my late husband who was undergoing chemo when trump got elected. He purports to love his family and simply can't understand why I would resent him for simply voting differently while his decision to vote for that monster has put my gay son and my daughter who has type 1 diabetes in harm's way. To make matters worse, I think the state of Georgia is going to place a 100k lien on my house for my late husband's outstanding medical bills. I wait with bated breath because only time will tell.
My "like" was in support. Nobody should be financially ruined or threatened with bankruptcy over a health care problem or challenge. Health care is a human right - especially in the richest nation to have ever existed. Much poorer countries have national health care coverage for everyone. Because every human has the same value.
It is long overdue that we have a peaceful financial revolution. There is over $50 trillion sitting in the hands of just a few people. The national treasure of this nation has been stolen and hoarded. Claw back time!
Medical bills are reported to be the number-one cause of U.S. bankruptcies. One study has claimed that 62.1% of bankruptcies were caused by medical issues.Another claims that over two million people are adversely affected by their medical expenses.
(I’ve met people in a homeless shelter who lost their housing due to medical bills.)
Thank you for your kind words. My husband passed away 12/4/22. He was called back to work after the great recession but they cut his hours to 30 hours week and offered no benefits whatsoever anymore. That's why he landed on medicaid when he got sick in 2015. I think I'm out of the woods, but still worry sometimes because the state can take your house after your surviving spouse passes away. If I haven't heard from them by now I'm probably not going to. Regardless, I know I have a lot to be grateful for. So many people are far worse than I am. I have good health, I have decent benefits through my job and my children are doing well. I just hope and pray that fascism doesn't take hold permanently. I just can't bear watching people suffer, especially children.
Tracy, so sorry for your loss. But I admire your attitude. And I agree, letting kids suffer seems like something any species of animal would not do. It is astounding to me that we still think like tribes instead of a species.
Sounds like you also live in MA. I can't see how the state could take away your house - as long as it was also in your name. A person can qualify for Medicaid - even move to a care facility and still retain ownership of a home. My understanding is that a home is protected. But it would probably be a good idea to get a legal opinion. Most towns have an attorney who volunteers to offer basic advice for one or two questions.
That is truly heartbreaking— to have that kind of parental betrayal in light of everything you’ve gone through! Our country needs to do better by its citizens.
I'm not holding my breath. And I'm one of the lucky ones. The hard luck cases I saw at the clinic while my Patrick was going through chemotherapy were heart wrenching.
“Like” equals sorrow for you and righteous anger for the situation you are in. I think everyone on this page stands behind you and are fighting the power now in the hands of selfishness, hypocrisy, and evil. Bless you and your family.
I have found that HCR's followers are the smartest, kindest and most insightful people I've come across since this whole sordid mess came to be. I appreciate your kind words. Thank you.
That is just awful, Tracy. I am watching the ridiculous dance my MNJ friends are doing to call every criticism of fpotus "TDS". These are, for the most part, Christian men/women. I just do not understand their adoration.
I'm not in any way religious either but I'll be damned if I haven't become full throttled anti religious since trumpism took hold. I want churches taxed to hell and back now.
It would be nice if there was a huge fine associated with violation of the Johnson amendment as well. Tax these hypocrites out of existence and use the churches to house and feed the homeless.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven". The whole evangelical whitewash of the first Beatitude is nothing less than disgusting. It says what it means. Nothing is a more hypocritical and counterfactual than the display of obscene "spiritual wealth" made obvious by the alter calls and hand-raising that goes with bad church - and now bad Trump. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew what to do. We don't.
Marilyn, Christofascists throughout history have failed that test. Over and over. As so many people have mentioned, if Jesus were to show up today--a dark-haired, darker-skinned person from the Middle East preaching peace, self-exploration, inclusivity, and forgiveness--he would be roundly rejected by the large majority of people who claim to be "Christians" in America. I'm not a Christian but I am a medieval historian whose work has taken her through all the evolutions of "Christianity" from its origins to the present day and I can safely say that Jesus has been ignored by most of the institutions that claim to be his followers.
Christ followers are where you find them. And some of his followers don't even know they are followers; they simply know that active love is the highest purpose for humans. I have five friends nearby who are 'de facto' disciples. Only two attend church, only one regularly. Three others don't identify with Jesus but are not afraid of picking up heavy loads and carrying them long distances for others. "Active love is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to the love in your dreams." (Dostoyevsky-Bros K) There's an awful lot of dreaming in evangelism. They need to wake up.
Marilyn, as a somewhat lapsed Catholic; I hear you. I respect all faiths and believe in a higher power, and in an immortal soul. I am horrified by the way in which MAGA have succumbed to a false prophet, and do believe they are trading their soul for a red hat.
One thing that stands out is the MAGAfascists' lust for cruelty, their savoring of bitterness, and their cultivation of hate -- clearly at odds with any notion of Christianity, where they seem to realize and actually delight in the deviation that so blatantly conflicts with their purported allegiance.
Marilyn, you bring out the essential difference between following Trump and following Christ. Many wonder about the Antichrist and say they can’t understand how millions will follow that most Satanic of leaders. Well, guess what, folks: Trump’s entire political career is a dress rehearsal for the coming of the Antichrist. 81 million people who basically worship the King James Bible but don’t actually read it enough to know much beyond John 3:16 fell for a world class con artist and put Trump in the White House.
Heather writes today quite on-target as to many combined threats facing the republic.
First and most fulsome, of course, is the fat orange demagogue and his vulgarity, steadily spewing out of control. Courting violence. Courting more yet more hatreds.
Close behind is the Clarence court, with its contempt for America's large public opinion defending the rights of women and their families to make their own family and health decisions.
They're out of touch, the fat orange guy and the justices set back in medieval times, but looming large today for their contempt for the people, contempt that let several of them justify perjuring themselves, not just for their medieval ideology, but for today's billionaires -- that they can isolate themselves further from America by their clear and present danger agenda to kill health, safety, and environmental agencies.
As in William F. Buckley's Ivy League predecessors so largely invested in Hitler's Waffen SS?
Leading U.S. banks, communications giants, and car, rubber, and petroleum companies hugely allied with Hitler through the 1930s -- almost all these elites legacies from the Ivy League.
And today -- in fact since the early 1990s, when Ivy Leaguers led the charge by U.S. finance to invest in the Soviet Union's former nomenklatura -- today, same Ivy League sees just about half its students graduating with degrees in finance.
We worry about the fat orange guy vying to lead a new, poisonous religion now in the U.S. But haven't our billionaires been doing that since the Powell memo from 1971 on has had them converting our schools ("higher" and K-12) to their vulgarities?
Still, yes, lin -- point well taken as to William F. Buckley vs. James Baldwin.
Just like he must have his putrid name on all his conquests (that he acknowledges). Should go back to Drumpf. Claim your ancestry, but trump does fit as this old definition proves. “Trump’er-y, n. Fraud, deceit; anything calculated to deceive by false show; anything externally splendid but intrinsically of little value; things worn out and of no value…”. Maybe old Friedrich Drumpf made the change with malice afore thought and a smirk for all descendents.
I used to watch William F. Buckley, Jr. on Firing Line, not because I agreed with any of what he said, but to see what those he was willing to bring on with very different views had to say. I much preferred Bill Moyers for those he could bring on his programs, carefully enough to maintain access to so many others in powerful positions by enabling extended conversations a bit differently than Tim Russert could do more aggressively (while still effectively making it difficult to avoid appearing on his Meet the Press show).
Then there is Kelly Corrigan, whom I really appreciate for her far kinder way of bringing out the better parts of humanity in individuals across a pretty full spectrum of individuals I can either almost totally agree with as well as ones I feel have created or worsened problems I have strong feelings about the results of, no matter how well they were intended (most do seem to have at least meant well).
My wife and I, independently came to the same conclusion about the William F. Buckley, James Baldwin Debate though. We both found it the most sickening performance by Buckley we had seen or even could imagine. After we spent a few hours playing it and replaying portions to try to grasp just how bad it was, we simultaneously said we wished Buckley had been born Black and under similar circumstances (sort of like some children who were captured by Native Americans and didn't want to come back to the White society).
I couldn't get through Atlas Shrugged (even if I considered flogging myself), but with my wife's help was able to finally get through that most disgusting of his interviews.
I forgot Phil Donahue, who's access seems an early example of more aggressive cancel culture than used on Bill Moyers. Matt Taibbi was another I watched before he was effectively cancelled on MSM.
P.S. I do like having gone back to Firing Line sporadically to see Margaret Hoover into a far more questioner of those "conservatives" many might assume she would be closer to.
So, which is it? Are US “elite” universities bastions of soulless capitalism or of socialist “cancel culture?” Or just a bunch of really smart strivers trying to figure out how to save the world and be happy at the same time? It’s all of the above. Let’s not pigeonhole the best and the brightest - they really are our hope for the future and we need our institutions to be as diverse and inclusive as possible.
"The Best and the Brightest (1972) is an account by journalist David Halberstam of the origins of the Vietnam War published by Random House. The focus of the book is on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in President John F. Kennedy's administration, and the consequences of those policies in Vietnam. The title referred to Kennedy's "whiz kids"—leaders of industry and academia brought into the administration—whom Halberstam characterized as insisting on "brilliant policies that defied common sense" in Vietnam, often against the advice of career U.S. Department of State employees."
Thank you, lin, from a former U.S. Army Vietnamese translator/interpreter.
Before I went into the Army (2 Sept. 1969) I tended to believe our elites, a tendency which experience totally reversed for me by the time I came out (4 April 1972).
I am glad you were able to complete your mission and come home. ThankYou for your continuing engagement.
My public high school was renowned for producing Westinghouse Science winners. And sending middle-class Brooklyn kids to the Ivies and other schools of excellence.
These students certainly would fit the moniker 'best and brightest.' Some went on to do big and some to do good things. Many found a niche which fit them. Some crashed and burned. Not all that different from the majority of us who were not singled out as spectacular by the reigning standards.
The construct of 'elites' and how it has been deployed by propagandists is another story.
Yes 🙌 see it ! James Baldwin vs William F Buckley: A legendary debate from 1965. The legendary debate that laid down US political lines on race, justice and history. Republished with...
Thank you for posting that! Buckley's attempt to gain the upper hand by using semantics had no power over Baldwin who spoke from the heart and experience!
Buckley's strategy was to deploy markers of American snobism and coded racism, presuming a kinship and clubbishness with his Oxford audience. They didn't buy it. Buckley, so used to lording it over his crowd, failed to read the room.
Baldwin spoke from and about his personal experience. He did not directly argue his side of the debate, as much as demonstrate its truth.
Thanks, National Educational Television…. This country has become so immersed in vulgarity via money driving media that norms have devolved.
Oxford Debates has another one about the morality of nuclear weapons between the Prime Minister of New Zealand vs a representative of the US, Jerry Falwell, ha. Friends in NZ told me about it but such doesn’t generate sponsors here, so no broadcast. The internet saves such but only for curious minds. Thanks again for the link
As it paid Hitler, handsomely. To a land where political language had hitherto been modeled on the funeral oration, he brought the language of the beer hall and the barrack room. And how well it worked...
Likewise Putin, setting out on his national career with a threat to dunk Chechen terrorists "in the latrines".
Vulgarity pays.
Violence pays. That and the mere threat of violence.
Crime pays -- and nothing pays like crime.
That is -- and always has been -- the principle behind all the actions of this would-be mafia Don.
Commenting on Hitler after observing him at close quarters, C.G. Jung remarked that the man himself was nothing. What made him was his ability to voice the depraved depths of the German people's collective unconscious.
And now, worldwide, we are once again faced with the upwelling of these same satanic forces that brought death and devastation to countless millions.
I was born into this. All my life, it has been the one thing I have feared.
Vulgarity, violence, and crime all pay - until they don't. Then they cost dearly. The destruction of a country, political party, or one's own moral fiber, is the price.
Your quote from Auden rings frighteningly true here, Peter.
So much I regret the barbarism Auden saw in "September 1, 1939" -- and which the world very directly then saw massively.
Must we be mere onlookers again as the depraved take over again?
When we most need Dem candidates to voice humanities, to show that the humane has its place among some of us (many of us?), can some of our Dems rise to that? Can some model our best resources to center the individual human, stave off this "gathering storm"?
Or is Putin's nuke rhetoric escalating seriously as is our orange fat guy's stochastic terrorism, his self-aggrandizing, his now more furious calls for more hate, more violence?
Sorry, Peter, but I just don't have the glib surety of some Dems, that their old status quo will somehow just take advantage of our many obvious loonies, as if our billionaires weren't again dead serious as to supporting serious dictators, demagogues, enablers of corruption, and the self-perjured and takers of bribes on the Clarence court.
Talking of glibness, Phil, before the Republican Party was hijacked by intelligent conspirators who had understood that, in America, swastika armbands would get them nowhere... but the name of Grandma's Old Party was a guarantee of success for oligarchic tyranny, I used to see American politics as:
The Heartless Party vs. The Spineless Party...
I hope this insult is quite wrong, but there has long been such a culture of polite complacency, euphemism, hypocrisy, settled ignorance, turning a blind eye to uncomfortable realities, that the storm troopers and their dogs are once again standing by... impatiently... while the Teetotal Tamburlaine is working up their rage and lust for revenge against... their own country...
The danger is palpable. The enemy within already holds Congress hostage.
Readers of LFAA focus on voting in November. By which time, it may be too late. November's world may already be very different from the world today..
For as long as this man and his sidekicks walk free, our planet will be a very unsafe place, the survival of life forms under direct threat.
The truths you tell gall, hurt, and discomfort, Peter.
Do you think there's any way Dems can restore apt humanities to their language, and call for return of humanities in schools?
Or is it all just money? Money for phone banks. Money for door-knocking. Money for TV ads. Money for post card campaigns.
Can you cite any Dems who balk at the money status quo, and reach out by humanities for some things more?
Here's a list of my favorites. Any among them notable for you by their readiness for some things more? Or, more aptly, any likely to appear in public with any others on this list (or who should be on it) and together amplify humanities and so pointedly better call for the specific programs we need?
Jamie Raskin. Sheldon Whitehouse. Katie Porter. Dan Goldberg. Richard Blumenthal. Mallory McMorrow. Josh Shapiro. Madeleine Dean. Jared Moskowitz. Gretchen Whitmer. Ro Khanna. Abigail Spanberger. Robert Garcia. Jerry Nadler. Liz Warren. Pete Buttigieg. Shontel Brown. Ted Lieu. Amy Klobuchar. Gary Peters. Adam Schiff. Jasmine Crockett. Cory Booker. Hakeem Jeffries. Jena Griswold. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Maxine Waters. Raphael Warnock. Chris Murphy. Chris Coons. Mikie Sherrill. Pete Aguilar. Justin Jones. Maxwell Frost. Ilhan Omar. Wes Moore. Melanie Stansbury. Gavin Newsom. Summer Lee. Pramila Jayapal. Eric Swalwell. Zoe Lofgren. Bernie Sanders.
Phil you have amassed an enviable list of many of the heroes of our current congress, heroes who seem unsung in large part because they show common decency along with their intelligence, integrity and common sense, commodities which seem easy for the MSM to ignore in favor of ratings from the inflammatory rantings of the barbarians.
What do you think, Phil? Those truths gall me, they hurt and discomfort me.
Above all horrible facts like the powerlessness even of 9/11, even of DT with all his ravings and his permaputsch, to awaken Americans from their nightmare to the even more nightmarish reality we all face.
I keep thinking of Diogenes, carrying a lantern in brilliant Athenian daylight and, when asked what he thought he was doing, answering that he was "looking for a man".
Phil, since Katie Porter is not on the ballot this year, she will soon be off the list. I’d suggest a write-in campaign, but that might split the Democratic vote.
But Phil, isn't that exactly what Biden is trying to "model our best resources to center the individual human," to "stave off this gathering storm?" Our jobs as individual humans is to provide Biden a congress which can actually legislate more of those humane values which we used to call common decency!
Trying hard but, like the penitent at one Good Friday procession in Corsica, carrying a heavy cross and walking barefoot while dragging behind him massive chains attached to one foot.
No need to identify the cross borne by all Americans, but the chains are represented by a trusted ally, subverted by that ally's leadership which, to remain in power and keep the leader from having to face justice, has made the worst of the dreadful challenge thrown at him.
Over 30 000 dead, mostly women and children, total destruction of cities -- compare the ghetto, then the total destruction of Warsaw by Hitler, compare Putin's razing Grozny, and later, with Al-Assad, Aleppo...
And the worst of it, this is what Israel's mortal enemies expected and intended this man and his poisonous coalition government to do -- hence the deliberately vile provocation of their assault.
How is it possible that today, almost 80 years after the downfall of Nazi Germany, the militarists' Japan and the Axis powers, we should find ourselves having to face behavior horribly similar to that of the Nazis among those who suffered the most from their crimes?
I know that no one wants to face the destruction of Gaza, the wholesale killing, maiming and starving of its inhabitants. But what choice have we?
It is because I saw bombing as a small child, it is because of the sermon I received from my mother in 1948 after she and my father had received documentation and photos of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from my father's cousin, the British medical officer who opened up the camp during a typhus outbreak, that I write as I do.
I am not repeating the terms my mother used to qualify the greatest crimes man can commit.
The West's plodding response to Ukraine gave the go-ahead for Putin's further world-destabilization plots in the Middle East, setting up Hamas vs. Netanyahu in a no-holds-barred slaughterfest. Today, it's reported that workers for World Central Kitchen were killed trying to assist the victims between the bullies. We probably should be figuring out where next -- Poland?
I shall add that it was intensely painful to perceive the continuum between the inconceivable and unprecedented crimes of the Nazis and the conditioning to which those crimes have, inevitably, given rise among their victims.
The foulest thing about the Shoah is how the evil done besmirched victims and their memory.
It hurts to think this, let alone to say it. For a long time I could not even say it to myself.
But we are ordinary human beings, not saints. We cannot avoid the stain on the entire human race.
Repub elites were always vulgar to me. Why I’m a Dem. I think Rush was the first one that I remember that hung the ‘elite’ moniker on Dems. Convinced a lot of rank and file types that Dems were against them. Hope hell is hot enough for that cretin.
The "elite" label wouldn't stick, Jeri, wouldn't persist so, if Republicans hadn't . . ..
Well, several interlocking things going on here.
One, the standardized testing that made too many "feel like a number," as Bob Seger put it.
Two, the fact that, as the standardized testers were killing humanities, and numbering all life, the billionaire classes were offshoring literally millions of decent, U.S., working-class jobs. Goodbye union-made middle class. Hello tens of millions consigned to below-minimum-wage ill-health, obesity, gun addiction, workplace safety vicissitudes, and environmental predation.
Three, the Powell memo's far-right foundations destroyed humanities in what for over 100 years had been America's pride, its nation-wide system of near-free but high quality land grant public universities. State legislatures followed the ALEC game plan of lowering state subsidies, so tenure slots fell, tuition started going up, and the banks moved in for the kill. Increased competition for the few remaining tenure slots made them mega-specialized -- again for more wonk language, near total collapse of humanities.
Wendell Berry told the story of how the corporations began buying their proprietary stakes in what had been free and open research institutions ("The Unsettling of America," 1977). Diane Ravitch told how the standardized testers and corporate textbook writers debased, neutered all language ("The Language Police," 2003). Jane Mayer wrote the definitive history of "Dark Money" (2016). Minae Mizumura exactly got correct how the U.S. disease spread to the world ("The Fall of Language in the Age of English," (Columbia U Press trans. from the Japanese, 2016). And Sheldon Whitehouse recited the sorrowful litany of "The Scheme" (2022), whereby more far-right billionaire corruption went from the Powell memo of 1971 to today's bribed and perjured Clarence court.
Why the Republican vulgarity, Jeri? Answer comes in inverse proportion to how many times you've heard even our very best Dems cite any of this sordid history, or cite any of our humanities in touch with how too many Americans have become its collateral damage.
I disagree that it was the tests that were the problem. It was those that made a big deal about the test scores mattering.
From 1963 - 1973, our school district administered at least one standardized test every year. Our elementary teachers weren't graded on their performance and we were only given a few days notice of when the tests would be held. Several weeks after the tests were administered the results were passed out to each student who could do with them what they wanted.
One of my class mates and arch enemies because he was so frickin' good at taking tests always got straight 99's on the Iowa Basics and close to perfect marks on the Stanford-Binet's. He score 790/780 on the SAT's and attended the University of Nebraska on a full ride scholarship. To keep the scholarship he had to maintain a 2.5 GPA and receive no D's or F's. He lost the scholarship after his Freshman year. After he graduated he received two masters degrees and went on to a career as a cook in various nursing homes. After he retired from cooking he has worked part-time in big box stores.
His IQ is off the charts, but his MQ (motivational quotient) is very low. I don't blame the standardized tests for low MQ or his high IQ for that matter.
My daughter had to take the achievement tests in rural ME and then again in Jacksonville. None of her teachers dwelled on teaching to the tests in either place.
But I don't deny there were/are many schools and even states that focus on the tests instead of teaching the humanities, but I'm not sure we can blame the tests on this.
A friend of mine's dad was a high school math teach in Hancock County, ME. His dad often said, "Smart students make good teachers." Perhaps a little tongue in cheek, but teachers can't pick their students even if they are teaching the gifted students.
" . . . not sure we can blame the tests on this," Gary?
OK. How about blaming the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution, and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) which together allowed U.S. corporate and private billionaire post-Powell-memo plans to dehumanize the schools?
Dehumanizing the schools anesthetized America and its elites to be unaware of the more malicious plans to offshore the millions of working-class jobs, firm-up the Citizens United oligarchy in the U.S., and finally pervert the Supreme Court into today's Clarence court.
Sure, Gary, we can call the tests mere instruments, and cede real problem to the predators who today rule.
Especially so if we credit statements by such as Jean Bower and Mary Ellen Spicuzza, here, who as teachers testify to what happened to them.
Fair enough Phil. The tests SHOULD be a tool to determine the needs of each individual student not to vilify teachers or force them to teach all students exactly the same.
I happened to grow up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Omaha, where half of the dads worked blue collar jobs and the other half white collar jobs. This was in the 1960's and early 1970's. Judging by the number of students in our high school that went on to get college degrees (about 70%) I would say we had exceptional teachers and a very good curriculum.
My daughter had a similar experience in rural Maine although not quite as many went to college. Before her junior year in high school she transferred to Ponte Vedra High School in Ponte Vedra, FL. She had an amazing class both academically and athletically. Her Florida High School class ranked 2nd academically and 7th athletically in FL. Never once did her mother and I feel like she wasn't challenged by her teachers or the curriculum.
She graduated in 2012 from high school. I don't doubt that the educational system today suffers in many states. Fortunately, that wasn't my experience or my daughter's.
And as for offshoring jobs, yes that is a problem. I've competed with programmers from India, Russia, Ireland because we are considered interchangeable widgets. But that's a discussion for another time.
I taught 11th graders who were the ones tested. I did not follow the time-wasting school directives to spend time daily “teaching to the (shudder) test,” I continued with teaching of the English literature/ writing curriculum approved by the Board. What I did do was make it clear I wasn’t tolerating just filling in bubbles, not attempting to test seriously, or disturbances of any kind. I had a point system that allowed me to deduct from their quarterly grades if behavior detracted from learning. My class was made up of the average, not AP, students of several different ethnicities. They were in the highest performing classes of the school. This was in the 90’s when mandatory testing hit the high schools.
Having taught for 30 years in public schools, I would like to say a word about testing as a teacher. Toward the end of my career I found testing took so much time from teaching that it was actually disruptive. Funding was often dependent on test results. This fact sometimes resulted in “selective” test takers. At one time I was even required to grade some of those tests. Teaching to the test was inevitable. The status of the school financial and otherwise depended on good test results. In another respect: the office of the counselor became for much of the time, the office of test facilitator, which resulted in in availability to students who might be in need of immediate help. I felt that the tests turned kids into robots and parents into slaves to SAT scores. Just my perspective, but I can’t tell you how much I hated being chained by those tests.
Phil: To your point about standardized testing….Learning has been quantified. I think it must now be rare for students to enjoy learning. School is a gauntlet. Grades are the scores in an almost athletic contest. I learned to love learning after school was almost done for me. When I had slipped the tyranny of worrying about (and being ashamed of) my GPA I could finally enjoy learning new things. What does that say? I worry K-12 education will never be reformed. Public education is too far gone. It is monetized now. Higher Ed is a big money enterprise too. Consumerism and corporate thinking has overtaken education. It is heartbreaking. It is impossible to discuss with anyone. Teachers are now in a way employed by parents—teachers are employees and parents their bosses. School is an internship. The undertaking of education spoiled by corporate thinking. What a shame. A tragedy. We have overlain the maximization of profit on everything. I don’t see a way out.
How indeed did so many elites get so vulgar? There are many strands to this question. We may look at the elitism of university education these days which promotes radicalism rather than rationalism. We can go back thousands of years to see a human tendency to dominate. We can see how there always seems to be an entitled bunch who think themselves superior beings for whatever specious reasons. Which is why it was so hard to establish a democracy in the first place since people often hold those thoughts without thinking in any reasonable and broader context. Then there is child raising itself, what constitutes the law and order of it, and when, in the child's life. Then there are the fashionable and fad movements that try out this or that new concept of everything above. As if our constitution weren't a pretty good grounding to stand on. The renegade religious factions that do cheap interpretations of moral responsibility are not holding up, as if the very idea of real democracy is somehow offensive to them, limiting the hierarchical tendencies within. We so all do need to GTFU our culture and our country.
One thing I like in Heather's today is the balanced way she looks at courts at their best.
Decorum matters in court proceedings. Rules matters because they, like the law itself, spring from experience, from a considered history in how we may keep many freedoms, that based on some modicum of respect for each other.
I think too many of our elites have lost it because they've been to schools where no one accesses humanities for seeing others.
Where none has humanities (for public use), there emerge all the scoundrels, excesses you cite.
Courts, to go on reading Heather, may keep some balance. But courts unaided by schools to keep us apprised of each other?
We've Jane Mayer and others recording the self-poisoning of our billionaires. She, Sheldon Whitehouse, Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow -- all necessary.
But can we count on these few, if our schools as a rule just succumb to the billionaires' plans to keep our schools and thus most of us dehumanized, ready for the mobs which the Clarence court, the fat orange guy, and too many Republicans succor?
Too many of our 1% are trustifarians-- where their wealth was handed to them on a silver platter. They never had to think about what they want to be when they grow up, only where I can party when I get to college.
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and many others have worked their entire lives to build their empires and they don't consider themselves to be elites. And then there are the Betsy Devoses and the Linda Waltons who have never accomplished anything but yet they are part of the elite class.
As Warren Buffett says, "inheritance is welfare for the rich." He let his kids believe they would receive nothing from him and his wife, until they were productive citizens.
Thank you Heather. I am seeing a fatigue in law makers when there is no avenue of constructive dialogue because any ability to think critically and freely has been smothered by the presence of the prince of darkness, Trump! He has at this point so weekend the country by his manipulation of his Maga side whatever their grievance. He needs his followers until he doesn’t need them. He is treating our country the same way. The issue is with all his outrageous and malevolent speech and actions are applauded by a significant minority of this country and that is the real problem. We need to clarify and solve that problem.
From violent rhetoric to selling bibles; from noisy rallies to The Church of Trump; he's got a lot
of gall up his sleeve, in his head, out of his mouth and on his stages.
'The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement'
'Ending many of his rallies with a churchlike ritual and casting his prosecutions as persecution, the former president is demanding — and receiving — new levels of devotion from Republicans.' (NYT)
'Long known for his improvised and volatile stage performances, former President Donald J. Trump now tends to finish his rallies on a solemn note.'
'Soft, reflective music fills the venue as a hush falls over the crowd. Mr. Trump’s tone turns reverent and somber, prompting some supporters to bow their heads or close their eyes. Others raise open palms in the air or murmur as if in prayer.'
'In this moment, Mr. Trump’s audience is his congregation, and the former president their pastor as he delivers a roughly 15-minute finale that evokes an evangelical altar call, the emotional tradition that concludes some Christian services in which attendees come forward to commit to their savior.'
“The great silent majority is rising like never before and under our leadership,” 'he recites from a teleprompter in a typical version of the script.' “We will pray to God for our strength and for our liberty. We will pray for God and we will pray with God. We are one movement, one people, one family and one glorious nation under God.”
'The meditative ritual might appear incongruent with the raucous epicenter of the nation’s conservative movement, but Mr. Trump’s political creed stands as one of the starkest examples of his effort to transform the Republican Party into a kind of Church of Trump. His insistence on absolute devotion and fealty can be seen at every level of the party, from Congress to the Republican National Committee to rank-and-file voters.'
'Mr. Trump’s ability to turn his supporters’ passion into piety is crucial to understanding how he remains the undisputed Republican leader despite guiding his party to repeated political failures and while facing dozens of felony charges in four criminal cases. His success at portraying those prosecutions as persecutions — and warning, without merit, that his followers could be targeted next — has fueled enthusiasm for his candidacy and placed him, once again, in a position to capture the White House.' (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
Dearest Kathleen Allen, yes, the song, the past, the present and future; making music together, and your wonderful tapestry of space, water. earth, the stars and sun, the light and your delicious, smiling wink.🌳🌱😊🌻🦉🦉🕊️.
"Handed down from ancient times, the Hopi Prophesy delineates the path of peace, and harmony with nature. Where we have deviated from that path, the prophecy has correctly predicted the results. Which path lies before us? What does the future hold? Hear a message of tribal elders for our modern world."
*****
The Spirit of the Glacier Speaks
Ancestral Teachings of the Andean World for the Time of Natural Disorder
By the way, in case you missed this recent post ...:
I wonder if you might know people who could influence policy around nuclear waste (storage and further production) imposed on native lands in violation of treaty rights? The situation at Hanford in Washington State is critical in so many ways - including protecting waters of the Columbia River and associated waterways ... oh, not to mention health, safety and cultural rights of local indigenous people ... not to mention the impact on the whole body of life.
Once again, USDOE is imposing further violations - currently open to public comment until Friday, April 5. Could you please take a moment to review the letter that follows, and pass it on to anyone who might be able to make a difference?
As you read this, Hanford's radioactive contamination is flowing into the Columbia River at levels hundreds of times the Drinking Water Standard and at least 2 High-Level Nuclear Waste tanks are leaking.
Your comments are needed on the Hanford Cleanup Budget and USDOE's Priorities!!!
On Monday, Heart of America NW hosted 2 online workshops to help you understand and comment by April 5:
Heart of America Northwest's Executive Director Gerry Pollet discussed how the Budget Request for Hanford Cleanup cuts cleanup alongside the Columbia River and has no funding to respond to leaking High Level Nuclear Waste tanks, while seeking to add billions for nuclear weapons production and more nuclear reactors.
Really?!
Washington Ecology estimates that the request should be $1.5 billion more to meet all cleanup agreement and consent decree schedules and permit requirements.
Comments must be submitted Friday April 5.
If you missed the workshop, use this Comment Guide
USDOE should request funding to remove leakable liquids from the High Level Waste tanks that are currently leaking and to have the equipment, staffing and processes in place to promptly respond to new leaks. Requesting the funds is necessary to “do no further harm” and meet legal requirements.
USDOE is legally required to request from Congress the full amount of funding to meet compliance obligation requirements (e.g., cleanup agreement, consent decree and permit) for each year. Ecology estimates that this would be $4.56 billion in Fiscal Year 2025, not the $3 billion requested.
To honor Treaty rights and federal environmental justice commitments, USDOE should be required to accelerate cleanup along the Columbia River. USDOE should be required to cleanup to levels that will protect Native Americans exercising Treaty rights along the River in the next decade rather than leaving contamination in place at levels that will greatly exceed standards for hundreds of years.
USDOE should be requesting more funding for River Corridor soil and groundwater cleanup instead of proposing to cut funding for cleanup along the Columbia River in 2025 and 2026.
Instead of seeking to increase spending by billions for nuclear weapons and reactors - creating more waste - USDOE's priority must be the cleanup of the contaminated legacy of nuclear weapons production at Hanford.
*******
Learn more about Hanford cleanup and how to take action:
The US Department of Energy does what it bloody well pleases - who stands at the helm of that powerful entity - who can stop or control them?
The "law"? The courts? The "people?"
Not from what I have seen so far - over half a century of advocating for responsible policy oversight and adherence to "THE LAW."
It seems more like the law has no teeth - and at this point, neither do I.
The US Constitution states that First Nations treaties are the "supreme law of the land." And yet, that law has been consistently violated since day one of this nation.
"USDOE’s plan tramples Treaty rights. Tribes have Treaty rights to fish and live along these lands in the Columbia River Corridor and to use the plants and animals in the “ceded lands.
"USDOE ignores Treaty rights and is relying on decades old documents (e.g., Hanford Land Use Plan(1999)) in which USDOE claimed that it unilaterally extinguished the Tribes’ Treaty rights!"
... excuse me?
Who or what powers give any entity the right to reverse and unilaterally extinguish the "SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND" ...?!
Here are some links referring to the cited "Hanford Land Use Plan":
... I would appreciate anyone who has wherewithal to wade through the complex legal jargon of those documents to pinpoint any ligitimate justification for that assertion. I do not have time, energy or mental acuity to accomplish that task - but it might help clarify the nature of this deadly game in which wee people are being played like pawns on a chessboard.
As Trump attempts to manipulate the Evangelical Radical Conservatives, The Florida Supreme Court goes ballistic on Abortion Rights ala DeSantis, but clumsily allows Abortion Right and Weed smoking on the Nov ballot AS TRUMP vacillates regarding his personal response to the Florida Court rulings
Abortion Rights is a hot button he wants avoid. He’s now stuck between his new target emphasis and the voters who will swarm to the polls to protect their freedoms
Thanks for the link Fern. The first image (in the article) is ghastly and terrifying. Heads bowed, hats doffed and all for the Antichrist, DJT! Much of the "Christian" propaganda is purported to originate from eastern European trolls. Clearly it falls on fertile ground. These deep divisions are developed and nurtured by Putin (et al) and serve him well.
Theocracy is the antithesis of democracy and a powerful minority seem perfectly fine with that.
Dear Bruce, the 'powerful minority' that you wrote of took my mind to the words 'deluded, 'lacking expansiveness'; 'turning their 'anger' and 'disappointment' against others. They are
the weak pawns gathered together by evil schemers bent on making the darkness and death
that lives in their lack of love and conscience; their demented need for 'power' and 'wealth'.
I of course agree with you that these folks are weak and deluded. But ... I think their movement is disproportionately powerful and we delude ourselves if we lose sight of that.
Trump, unbelievably, is running our foreign policy in Ukraine and he can only do this because of his cult following. This deluded mob can indeed destroy democracy and I think it behooves us to clearly recognize their power is real and horrifically dangerous.
Trump has sensed that the fishing boat is leaking and that his ability to walk on water is suspect.
Appealing now to the most faithful of the True Believer Church of No Return, he takes his final stab at his insistence for loyalty among those that have forsaken Christ in favor of his status as The Chosen Savior we see on TV
His blasphemy will be his downfall. There aren’t as many Religious Koolaid drinkers as he thinks
What worked for Reagan isn't working for Trump for many reasons.
1) Trump split up hundreds of churches leaving the far-right fearful haters. Not a great base.
2) Reagan's evangelical support was mostly in the south where he needed the support to win the electoral college. Reagan had a more positive message for the evangelicals than Trump's, "I hate everyone that doesn't believe I am the messiah."
3) It is ok to not go to church now, but not as accepted in 1980.
4) Reagan's version of racism was way more subtle that the white faux-Christians nationalists.
5) Reagan knew better than to push his views on abortion and didn't pack the Supreme Court with theocrats. Sandra Day O'Conner turned out to be a very good jurist and made the road for RBG a little easier.
6) Trump support the patriarchy and hates women. Reagan was more subtle.
Reagan's biggest win was in the framing -- government is the enemy was the destruction of faith in our institutions, something Isaiah Berlin and Timothy Snyder warn us about in our need to be vigilant in securing our democratic republic.
“This country has a savior, and it’s not me — that’s someone much higher up than me,” Mr. Trump said in 2021 from the pulpit at First Baptist Church in Dallas, whose congregation exceeds 14,000 people.
"On Friday, former president Trump shared on social media a video of a truck with a decal showing President Joe Biden tied up and seemingly in the bed of the truck, in a position suggesting he was being kidnapped."
Zoom in and look more closely. The image seems even worse. The image that I saw showed President Biden with his hands and ankles tied up AND HE HAS A RED BULLET HOLE IN HIS FOREHEAD.
Bullet hole or not, DJT must be convicted of SOMETHING, ANYTHING that will put him in prison for the rest of his life.
I am beyond tired of gag orders being imposed with trump quickly violating them without consequences. Last week Jamelle Bouie wrote a piece questioning whether trump was above the law. The inability, or unwillingness, of the legal system to hold him accountable for his flagrant disregard of efforts to prevent his threats against whomever he wants proves, in essence, that he is above the law. And with every day that his actions are not held to account the message to his hard core supporters is that might does make right and that they too can hope to be unaccountable for their actions. Most people, if not all, have some familiarity with bullies and know that they become more powerful when their power, or appearance of power, is unchecked, and trump is nothing but a bully so when he says that his first act when elected will be to pardon the J6 patriots they have good reason to believe him.
While I understand the ambivalence, or perhaps fear, of putting him in jail, there must be consequences. No other American citizen could get away with what he is saying and doing, so perhaps it is time to stop holding cynicism at bay and accept that our justice system IS the best money can buy and there is no equal justice. Perhaps it's time to accept that our form of capitalism is fundamentally corrupt and only money matters. Time to accept that our political system is not a democracy but a plutocracy so the huzzahs for the 25 million raised at the star studded fundraising gala are truly the appropriate response. Maybe it's time to finally admit that our so-called exceptionalism may have had merit once upon a time, but those days are gone.
Barbara, I disagree with you, but 'I feel your pain'! Other than Aileen 'Loose' Cannon, I think the legal system and judges are more than willing to put the orange clown into an orange jumpsuit. E.g. Notes Trump's huge losses on his defamation and fraud trials. What makes everyone give this POS every break pre-trial is that they don't want a conviction getting reversed, so they are making everything 'airtight'. The Fani Willis nonsense about conflict, Immunity Claim now in Supreme Court are all a joke no other defendant would be so indulged. But removing all foreseeable issues on appeal increases the chances that the trial is a 'one and done', go directly to jail.
What about reducing his bond obligation from $454 M to $175M post trial, post judgement? The guy is an eel. He always slips by. Until he is actually jailed I will continue to believe he’s going to get away with it. All of it.
If any other “citizen” in the United States would threaten a judge’s child, he/she would be thrown in jail. WHY does this not happen to Trump? So many times I have heard the prosecutors say “no one is above the law.” Trump is making a mockery of the court system. Throw his sorry ass in jail.
Thank you. Great summary. I don’t know how you do it. I’ve run out of words for how appalling it is that DT & his GOP serfs continue to get away with defying & circumventing the law. They just crawl along the precipice of legality, slinking along while tossing hand verbal grenades as they go. Twenty years ago, this would never have been tolerated by either party, let alone the SC. The moral bar has been set so low as to have become non existent. I wonder if we manage to dodge the DT bullet in 2024, if we’ll ever recover some sense of decency & normalcy.
Did you notice that no Trumplican's clapped at the SOTU Address when President Biden called for no political violence?
The Trumplican's live in fear. They have given up their most precious democratic freedom - the right of dissent! Ironically, they are the least free among us.
The Trumplican's have no interest in legislating when litigating supports their deceitful game plan. They have no interest in free and fair elections and will plot to seize power win or lose.Violence is a clear indicator of fascist RULE.
"But are the American people deeply divided? Or have Trump and his MAGA supporters driven the Republican Party off the rails?"
Is there an either/or here? The statements are not mutually exclusive. But I'd use a different metaphor.
Racist right wing religious extremists did not swallow the elephant whole. They ate it bite by bite before $#!tt!ng it out in their own image. A Trump presidency.
Meanwhile, big money donors who'd distanced themselves from Trump after Jan 6, are now back in the fold. Mitch McConnell is again hedging his bets on Trump. In anticipation, Leonard Leo is pouring millions into Project 2025. MAGA depends on true believers for whom Trump himself is transformational, opportunists for whom Trump is instrumental for the GOP agenda,, and those for whom a Trump win is irrelevant to their priorities.
Excellent point, lin -- the perception is what's winning, not reality. American people disagree about some things but are not in arms about them, understanding that dialog and compromise are better than obstructionism and impromptu recesses.
Our Republican rep in the House has stated he supports trump for President. He is a 77 year old retired Lt. Colonel. In my thinking, he should have the integrity and the where with all to believe our nation should not choose as its leader a sexual predator, a person who openly supports violence against our neighbors, nor a person who openly supports Putin and friends. Yet, he stands by him like a good little soldier. He and his ilk, who are our”leaders” disgust me. He has so much support in our district that he will probably be re-elected. When we have such lowlife invading the Halls of Congress, supporting a madman, how will we ever turn things around? I read these Letters and comments every day. I know there are many who don’t support this. I hope someday things will be different yet I still fear that Cheetolinni could be re-elected. I hope and pray that there are enough of us who don’t want this for America. I just don’t understand how so many in Congress, let alone our fellow citizens continue to support such a person.
I'm not so sure that they support the person, surely not the real person, so much as it's the "side" that must win at any cost that takes on a life of it own in human consciousness. And of course opportunities like Trump do all they can to stir irrational outrage and ride the wave. IN the end, the rank and file will be the losers. It reminds me of homicidal road rage, and other such tragically violent conflicts over basically noting more substantial than ego.
I disagree, JL, I think they DO support the person and not the side--Haley was Trump policies without his baggage and she could have gotten their votes. They aren't voting policy or party, they are voting personality: Trump.
They support their projection on the person. Trump could sell faith healing and they would flock. But the (anti) "Republican" Party has been building an authoritarian infrastructure for decades, and Trump is by no means the only "GOP" creep with a fanatic following.
Republicans in Congress should indeed have to answer for Trump's violent rhetoric and pay the price by losing elections. After all, they are the ones who have been enabling and empowering him. They had a chance to convict him - twice - in the Senate and refused. They deserve to be thrown out of Congress.
Trump would just be pathetic, but his enablers make him dangerous.
Jl, as Judge Merchan ominously said, "The threat is very real." Indeed. Trump is beyond pathetic, and I think you have it backwards: it's he who makes his enablers dangerous. His leash must be shortened.
It works both ways, doesn't it? The "GOP" has been stitching this monster together for decades, and even as it breaks it's tether, few of them will renounce it, even as it tears at the core of "The American Experiment".
The addiction to the pull of sociopathic unaccountable power is too strong. That attachment to unbalanced power is likely as old as our species, and is evident in the original sins of native genocide and black slavery, but even in my lifetime has been evident swirling around our society, including it's more salient forms as Jim Crow, McCarthyism, and repression and abuse of women and gays.
It became a more widely organized form of crime under the Powell Memo, the "GOP" embrace of fanatic racists cast off by the Dems, and the lies and "dirty tricks" of Nixon and Reagan. It's gerrymandering, it's the GOP thumbing their nose at justified impeachment, toadies placed in SCOTUS (even preceding TFFG), it's calling insurrectionists heroes and hostages, and a fair and free election fake, it's protecting and advancing the whims of the criminal rich, etc., etc., etc.
Trump could wake up dead tomorrow from one too many Big Macs, and that wave of corruption would still be threatening democracy; the new BOSS quite possibly as bad or worse than the last. Look at their primaries. Only the worst need apply.
Are you saying jailing him like any of us would of been sitting in jail for the last 3 years? If not, I did and am flabbergasted that the supposedly law and order/family values have not ousted him from their party along with the so called Christians.
Julie, family values only apply to controlling women and indoctrinating children. Law and order is for people they don't like such as migrants and the houseless.. The "Christians" who support him have no idea of what Jesus taught. They would crucify Christ again if he showed up; that is, if they would let him into the country.
And assassinate Lincoln. The press and the public have yet to acknowledge how Orwellian so-called "Republicans" have become, starting with their contempt for a functioning republic. Trump called himself "your law and order president". If you think about it, virtually everything they say is the exact opposite of what they do.
They are hypocrisy on steroids.
He didn't tell us that he meant he is the law.
This action could be (is) encouraged in the God Bless America Bible. Wait, i only dos the Old Testament with the blood baths, plagues, floods, etc.
Julie,
We should wonder what would it take, in our putative classless society, to treat a former President the same way the rest of us would surely be treated if we were causing trouble in our neighborhood, not to mention trying to wreck our nation?
Surely he is getting away with it because of the fear of violence he has been trying to instill in us. About two weeks ago he said something like "If I don't get elected there will be a bloodbath...that will be the least of it..." He is queuing up violence in the streets for election day and beyond. A reasonable citizen would surely conclude that such speech is a credible threat, and therefore should not be tolerated. His bail should be revoked, and he should be restrained, and held incommunicado in a secure facility, like Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he could amuse himself by fondling gold bullion.
But not slobber on it. I think we as a society have become sloppy in our thinking about what democratic leadership means. The presidency or other office is not a grant of personal privilege; it is a license to use the powers of the office for their intended purpose within intended boundaries. A financial officer is entitled to move company money on a company's behalf. Not to embezzle. A doctor is not responsible if trauma patient dies, so long as he or she acted within due diligence.
Behaviors that are inconsistent with the job description merit NO professional protection. To claim they do is bananas. President's are NOT immune from prosecution of all behavior, otherwise Nixon would have had no need for a pardon. There are governments where those in power immorally enrich themselves, and harass and assassinate those who oppose them. We call them "Tyrannies".
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” -CNN
Revised:
We suspect that the bullies and the people threatening political violence think it would be easy. Their logic and reason fail to persuade us that they have the right idea, so they turn to threats of violence and "bloodbath", hoping we will concede the arguments in favor of democracy.
It is possible to be strong, and courageous, and to be willing to risk our lives to defend the Constitution, yet still wish fervently to live our lives in peace and civility.
I wonder what happened to the 2 candidates who were anti Ukrainian war and were not allowed to run in the election. It is said that one of them said he hoped Putin won. Really?
Edit: Looking for humor in a humorless situation.
Agreed completely and for the life of me can't figured out why he wasn't jailed two plus years ago.
I like that, fondling gold bullion. Would they let him read one of his many Bibles he has at home?
We suspect he would not actually read a Bible, except perhaps the more lurid parts. He might get interested if we could find a version with the nasty parts illustrated in color.
I encounter self-identified Christians whose values are the antithesis of MAGA. I wonder why they seems so silent as a social faction? "Trump" "Christians" are defaming the label for decades to come.
The collar attached to the leash needs to be like the one on a vicious dog (that he is). Maybe that would shut him up with a few yanks!
A pinch collar -- yes!
This particular cur needs to stay in a very secure crate.
Oh, let's be generous J L - he's pathetic AND dangerous.
Lauren you are correct; he is dangerous AND pathetic. See, HCR's last paragraph. Many anchors & readers of Judge Merchan's "Decision and Order" missed the important Court findings of fact.
Pay attention to the decisions and the Judge's findings. Judge Merchan recited the Defendant's necessary intent to commit crimes (mens rea). The former president can be charged with those crimes particularly if the worst happens.
Per the Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute (LLI) when a New York Judge rules on a Motion ( expanding the Gag Order) Judge Merchan does NOT need to state his findings or conclusions. NY Rule 52(a)(3).
But, Judge Merchan DID state his findings of fact & his conclusions. The Defendant has not & will not in my opinion challenge th sufficiency of the Court's evidence.
I agree with Andrew Weissmann; do not wait for the worst. Move forward with a Criminal counts now.
I generally agree with Weismann. I don't know law beyond 30 years fandom of Law and Order, but it's common sense that TFG has inspired violence from the guy stalking Obama, to the one sending anthrax to his hit list, to the guy that shot up the FBI office, to the woman that threatened Chutkan, not to mention Jan 6. That orange fizzie opens his yap and the minions open fire. That repulsive tub o lard is in desperate need of a trachea full of sock, preferably dirty sweaty gym sock. Anyone with the power to turn off the flood of lies, venom, and invective please step up and shut him the f _k up.
That's what I used to tell Jurys,"Listen to all the facts & follow the Law as instructed by this Court" ( then gesture with deference to the Judge and say) " ... follow your Common Sense."
Common sense here is to proceed with the Criminal Trial in 13 days,. Meanwhile convene a Grand Jury & present all evidence including Judge Merchan's findings of fact.
What is scary is the drastic increase in threats to the judges and their families. Something like 70% of judges have accepted the US Marshal Services' offer of electronic security.
Haters gonna hate. I don't mean to be glib, Karen. My only thought is vote all the R's out of office. Big thumping defeats. Send them back to the minors (there's no hope of ever getting them out of our system completely).
Bingo!
Graham. No trump is dangerous and his enablers are pathetic.
Both are both, but yes in general.
Yes Tom. The silence of the republicans since he came down that escalator has been deafening.
And when they do speak, they say things like Jan 6th being "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse" and to reject the evidence of your eyes and of your ears.
And they have automatic weapons he urges to turns on " the woke libs".
I don't see a way out of this.
Jen, I see a way out - show him and his gang of thieves the door in November! We absolutely must win this time, or our democracy is finished.
Not only "give them the door", but hang one of the worst defeats suffered by any political party. I realize this is a dream at this point, but Trump keeps opening his mouth, pouring out irrational crap. My hope is that voters will finally take notice in the next six months and run from him like the plague.
It's more than a dream because there are hundreds if not thousands of grassroots groups all over the country of folks like me who finally got that there are real actions we can and must take to preserve our democracy - starting with working for Dems to win as many up and down ballot elections as possible. If you don't already have such a group, you can start with the one I belong to markersfordemocracy.org - where I get guidance/tools/connections for writing postcards, making phone calls, knocking on doors etc. It feels so much better than doing nothing - alone!!! Blessings,
Charles, at this point, I wonder how much his handlers are doing. It is clear that on his own, he can't string together coherent sentences. Maybe he is only capable of expressing violent anger at this point.
Charles, I believe that some dreams come true. I've been dreaming of a landslide for Dems in November, but don't tell anyone - afraid I'll jinx it. 😜
There are die hards that love the irrational crap, but a vast majority that finds it revolting. The fact that nobody can turn off the spigot, including the spewer himself, just means that they do our work for us. They'll proudly show the hog-tied Biden video, and the general public will go "eeeuuuwww" all the way to the ballot boxes.
He has given them lots of chances to see how delusional he is, how unintelligent he is, but they are not recognizing it. Trump will lose the war with his I know everything attitude. When a drug addled Hitler took complete control of the army, he lost..literally sleeping at the wheel in one case. No one wanted to wake him up to give orders. I believe that was in the beginning of the battle of Normandy.
We did in 2020 and we got a Republican House in 2022. We've been down this road, as Dr Richardson describes, so often.
Jen, you're correct. However, remember that every pollster was predicting a "red tsunami," meaning that we'd lose a huge number of House seats and perhaps the Senate as well. That didn't happen, and with even the right being upset about the House dysfunction because of the insanity of their own Freedom Caucus, I believe sanity is attainable. What other option do we have?
The Dobbs decision has kicked in and women are really suffering now. I was impressed with the recent win in Alabama. If we can get and keep Dems in office long enough for the good stuff to kick in and folks see thru all the lies maybe things will make a solid turn for the better. Everyone on deck for 11/24!! 💙🌊🙏🤞🏼
Jen, this is one of the reasons we can't get any sensible gun laws. The oligarchs want certain peons well armed while they sit back and watch the fight.
This is exactly what Isaiah Berlin writes about in his essays on Nationalism -- create the massive split between haves and have nots so that the have nots are made desperate and bitter, easily provoked to violence and extremist views begging for the dictators to 'save' them.
I imagine that once the peons do the dirty work and the oligarchs have control they will then take away the guns to avoid being on the wrong side of the barrels.
I am not sure they have thought beyond power and money.
Exactly
I can see him as a paranoid megalomaniac as Vikund Quisling was described (except Quisling was better educated and had some semblance of proper order).
Wasn't he a traitor?
Yes, Quisling is the poster child for traitors following the early part of WWII. As evil as he was, I consider him smarter than Trump, and at least a tiny bit more concerned with the rules and protecting some of the people from the worst that Hitler would have done to them. He was bad enough to face a firing squad after being tried and convicted.
I agree. Trump's only superpowers are excessive money and shamelessness. Otherwise he is an unstable useful idiot; especially to Putin.
Please note it was not even his money with which he paid his bond, some questionable old rich person with ties to Axos which happens to be trump's bank.
And there are a lot of them!
And members of the GOP who are quitting are the good ones. It's the rabble rousers like MTG, Matt Gaetz, Gym Jordan and Ron Johnson who are staying inflated with new bursts of Trump's helium.
Ken Buck was not one of the good ones. He was my representative and worthless and stupid.
Last night we selected the Democrat to run to replace him.
Expect to see Trisha Calvarese on talk shows.
Hope the Dems win. But Buck, despite his flaws, was leagues better than those who seem to be calling the tune: Gaetz, MTG, Jordan, Comer, Johnson, and, God spare us, Lauren Boebert.
I don't think she'll get the R nomination. The dude running to replace Buck til janary was mayor of my town and a useless tool. With DUIs
I think people are not too thrilled that Boebert was capable of deserting her former constituents to try to win somewhere else.
Gym & his insurrectionist cohorts are self-serving creeps who daily spit in the faces of loyal Americans. Yet, we are quiet for the most part! 🤷🏼♂️
Jordan ignored a subpoena from the J6 investigators. DOJ needs to get on that. Yes, to some it would look political but it’s not. “Justice matters.”
Jordan is a hypocrite! Another egomaniac as well!
Anyone watch his interview with Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes?
What slime. He tried to slip away from them, but he couldn't answer her repeated questions. Sickening.
He does the rest of us a dis-service
I don't think anyone that's been voting to force Americans to face the prospect of losing their homes when they get sick can be called a good one.
Swbv. Trump’s Helium ? #666 on the Elements Chart?
Declaring a MASS ‘VOTE THEM OUT’ 👈
They are the less openly obnoxious ones. Most anyone today who remains a R is suspect. Our R neighbor, a former local pol, is now an I and I know he supports many Ds.
The ones quitting will probably be replaced by even worse wing nuts.
Yes,I totally agree with you.If Republicans in Congress had only done their job and impeached and removed Trump, we would not be having all of these problems today. Smh.
That sure would have done some good but remember we have a lot of "trump-lite" in the background of all this crap. Too many of the "jordan-grassley-green-gaetz" crew are being re-elected every election!
I have to add - Democrats in the Senate & Congress need to stand up and speak out too. That doesnt always happen. If enough of us write to our representatives & tell them how we feel (just did that again over the mealy mouthed reaction to the nomination of a Muslim judge which the Repugs were harassing) hopefully it will make some small difference!
If we can only get a blue senate and house, we can pass election law that only non-partisan boards can define the districts. Some of the safe seats will stay safe, but a lot more will become open. Then the Gyms and MTGs will have to have actual ideas.
I agree. However, I think Republicans actually knew he would be charged by DOJ for insurrection and they were stupid about what the Trump/Putin cabal REALLY wanted, which was Trump not stopping Putin. I don't think they thought he would run again. They didn't think Putin would invade without Trump's support. But Now they know they were self deluded, short sighted, and wooed by McConnel's siren song. They didn't see COVID coming in-between impeachments (you might talk about divine intervention here if you believe in divine intervention). There truly is a bubble in DC that makes people here seem to be the last to know when things are going off the rails. In the meantime impeachment is purely political not judicial and it is therefore a charade. It has never ended with a vote in favor of removing a president. Nixon was told to go before they had one. Those Republicans and Democrats knew it would outrage their constituents one way or the other if they impeached Nixon. So it was self preservation to persuade him he would be disgraced (don't forget, he could not have run for President again anyway) and that resignation was the gentleman's way out (sweetened by a pardon promise). Impeachment should be a call for a snap trial in front of a court of law followed by a decision by the people, for the people. We need a way to handle criminally minded presidents. In addition, remember Clinton won a second term after being impeached but not convicted ....it did bring out the party loyals and Perot gave an out to those that were disgusted but didn't think the impeachment was right.
They may know what's what in their heart of hearts, but I doubt that many can acknowledge even to themselves that they were duped by Putin and his puppet. Nobody likes to admit they were wrong, and in this instance the implications of betrayal of country, constitution, and basic values are more than they can face.
Our best hopes are the legal system and the election. If we can hold them criminally responsible and purge public offices of their ilk we can restore and perhaps improve the norms of our form of government. We'll have to go cautiously and guard against our own extremist over-reach. But I live in hope.
Agreed. I think they knew they were being strategic. They made the wrong choice, party over country.
They sold themselves on backing Trump for the good of the team and the conservation movement. What really happened is they didn't want to take a stand and get their heads out of the sand.
Keep the goose (trump) who has the golden egg (his followers) so they can stay in power and make money.
We wouldn’t be having to vote against him, true, but the same people who support him in order to stave off being taxed and accountable are still fighting.We have to mentally stop giving that rat bait any power, and turn to the issues he so miserably represents.
That is the only way we get out of this political cesspool. Those who coddle Trump have to lose, and lose badly. I sure hope that Marylyn Lands win in Alabama is a preview of coming attractions in November 🙏
and once they are voted out, massive legislation to prevent this from ever happening again. For too long, American has been too forgiving of traitors that abuse our system hiding behind free speech
My legislative to do list:
1 - Restore the voting rights act
2 - Put enforceable ethics rules AND term limits on SCOTUS
3 - Make a federal law that separates government from all citizens' medical decisions.
4 - Mandate non-partisan election boards to district every state.
5 - Return to the talking filibuster.
6 - Reinstate the Brady law permanently
7 - Create a law that upholds absolutely and automatically Amendment 14 - 3.
8 - Pass sensible immigration legislation. (I have to admit I no longer know what that is, but something that catches drugs, adjudicates asylum seekers within 30 days of arrival, prevents human trafficking, and gets the dreamers legitimized.)
Then we can get to work on climate change, the tax code, healthcare, and public education.
I like the idea of term limits for SCOTUS but it would also should be applied to Senators and Congressmen. Age limits. No one over 70 should be president.
SOMETHING needs to change, there's no question.
Just think where we would be today had the Senate done its duty.
yes all the way back to the CIVIL WAR
Deserve is not the issue. It’d needed for the survival of the Republic.
Judge Walton commented that " I think it's important in order to preserve our democracy that we remember the rule of law." That is too weak a statement. It's MORE than important. It's imperative, necessary, crucial, vital, and critical that we do more than REMEMBER the rule of law. That's the trouble. Not enough ACTION to stop the craziness of Donald Trump!!
Exactly! Who are they kidding?! It's as if they wish he would quit being so obviously fascist until after the election.
100%!!!! The co conspirators to crimes and offenses deserve to permanently lose the privilege of a congressional seat.
And so it shall be….VOTE💙, end the COUP💙 it’s up to 🫵
Encourage everyone to GOTV…
It’s time to stop the lip service pussy footing -justice AND judges -around.
Put him in a long term confinement.
End the nonsense.
We also have to take away his access to social media. As long as he has that his voice and influence are not silenced.
Taking away his jet and a social media would be great. And now he has one of his trials televised? More free whining. Poor pitiful me being picked on OR people will see what a deranged person he is with all of his court room antics.
Great point , thanks
It really is the American voters that have been enabling and empowering him, not Congress. It is Congress that is following that base. If that base was to have flipped to Nikki, Congress would have followed to that side.
Just remember Jan 7th. Strong words until they realized the base was still with Trump.
Political parties and their reps are given huge latitude in what they can say and do. Remember McCarthyism, all the terrible rhetoric, and spawn violence, over racial integration in the South? and more ... dysfunction is an understatement for what is happening in the GOP these days. It has virtually bowed out from democracy ie majority rule itself - the unbalanced SC is a pivotal, but only one indication of that. Tossing out reps en masse would be a political catastrophe. We're back in the Civil War era when that happens.
Speech and Debate Clause abuse.
That "sane" members of the Republican Party can dare to leave their elected posts seem highly inappropriate and their request to step down should be rejected out of hand. In my opinion, they were elected to serve a full-term, so serve it with at least an ounce of honor. Their party is in chaos. If they are truly senior elected members, then their last contribution should be to vote down every lunatic proposition of the extreme members. To protect this democracy, it should be a sign of honor to join with their traditional opposition to move legislation regardless of the extremes that control their ranks. Walking away now is walking away from their oaths to preserve the nation over the interests of a cult and would raise any of them in my eyes as well as those of the good Republicans whom they claim to represent. You were part in making the mess, you must, in honor, do everything to move legislation through. Just saying.
The MAGAfascists may have more serious punishments coming down the line as war criminals.
"The International Criminal Court in The Hague has already issued arrest warrants for two Russian military commanders in connection with earlier Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure. While Russia alone bears responsibility for these war crimes, the West’s continued failure to supply Ukraine with adequate air defenses makes them complicit in the unfolding humanitarian crisis."
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russias-new-air-offensive-leaves-ukraine-facing-humanitarian-disaster/?mkt_tok=NjU5LVdaWC0wNzUAAAGSP5ZwswkVjvfRZ3N8LOA8zXt6hrJWfz4dsJKP1Rx_SzhFTZZD8sfAPnaSgZfEVWX3xH9KEAl4iP7vdkA7_SMA3rf5I0cL1jkTX-A1LP6LN0x4sw
Trump, longing to intensify his contrived role of aggrieved martyr, will keep testing the judge and the limits of the gag order.
Will he risk jail time for contempt of court to enrage his supporters to commit violence? And give him more money? Something must give.
Good for Judge Merchan. If I remember correctly what I recently read elsewhere about NY state law, when, not if, Trump violates the gag order and the judge cites him for contempt, the judge has the option of fining him $1,000 or sentencing him to 30 days in jail. Those are the only two options. $1,000 is nothing to Trump. I would love it if Judge Merchan were to sentence him to the 30 days. It might be grounds for an appeal, but the state could put the shoe on the other foot and slow-roll the appeal. A guy can dream.... Imagine the Orange Abomination in orange for 30 days.
Name me any other American who would 1) need a gag order to be civil and 2) not be thrown in the hoosegow for 30 days.
And is running for president of a country he despises.
hoosegow! My word of the day!
Roger Stone comes to mind!
I can imagine Trump in jail. What I can't imagine is how how the transition from his being free to being jailed would occur and how the cult would react.
Betsy, I’m sure the Cult will react, but based on J6 consequence, how far will they go? The leaders are already being scrutinized
Don’t Fear the Reaper, its only cowbells
Exactly what would happen Dave (Dalton). The guy is a total POS, but he says things the MAgators say amongst themselves particularly when they have an audience they can shock. He needs to have the shit kicked out of him. Where the hell is Clark Kent? We need him!
Where the hell is Merrick Garland? We have needed him all along
I’m calling on Underdog
I'll go one better.., I'm gonna give Tanya Harding a ring. She does knees. Spike Lee will be called in next. A Kung-Foo experience, while still on crutches would probably necessitate dental surgery and wiring his jaw shut. Of course employing an 'immigrant' anesthesiologist for the knee surgery repair might do the trick. Huh?
https://youtu.be/Pa1fH0SvGPg?si=2fgs5jllFTiTVHhS
Naw, let’s let a woman do it. That will really get his shorts in a bunch:
https://youtu.be/8wtDRs99leU?si=Nw1CTAun36dxIRGz
Imagine how the transition from jail back to freedom would play out!
"I am a MARTYR for you!"
lol, LET it
Better yet, ,no phones or internet or tv. He’d probably be in solitary due to his propensity to run his mouth, or pledge he’d free all the other inmates…..
Scary
With a shaved head, to prevent the spread of lice of course, and getting to shower with the rest of the inmates, just one more tweet please 🙏
Spare the other inmates the sight of the amoral orange creatures body!
Just dreamin' -- some form of house arrest (limit square footage to basics) with no internet, no phone access, and no news? Add carefully monitored outdoor time once daily for driving golf balls.
Name me any other American who would 1) need a gag order to be civil and 2) not be thrown in the hoosegow for 30 days.
Cross between crass comedy and god knows this might drag some extremists out of their caves.... I do wonder, if that's an overdone worry. Trump's incendiary against Jean Carroll pretty much went "quiet" when the cost hit 86 million and he's had to post bond for that amount plus interest and fees, which he's likely for forego.
“the judge has the option of fining him $1,000 or sentencing him to 30 days in jail“
The judge also has the option of doing both (fining him AND putting him in jail).
Unfortunately sentencing would likely be house arrest (vs an actual jail cell). Although I know many here (including myself) would prefer to see him in a jail cell.
That’s a start
It will be another press release. As long as people say the name, the corporate raiders don’t care what he does. They want resources and tax breaks and VOTES to keep them free from taxes.
These are the judges, not Dems per se. this could be a case of be careful what you wish for.
Lock him up! If it were you or I, no judge would put up with his nonsense. Stop begging him to behave.
Stop begging him to behave. No Schitt Sherlock. I’m so sick of his whining and the slaps on the wrist and tsk tsk, behave yourself admonitions. We are being held hostage by a clown with a flamethrower. At some point, hostage negotiators will have to unite and act. So far they are dispersed and on the defensive. Was Judge Cannons comments an April fools joke or more than a slap on the wrist?
Donald John Punk. 🤡💩🎃 is unfit for any public office.
Most appropriate name
The religious imp that he is texted 70 times from church during his sacred Easter service?
Yes, TY for bringing this up. While everyone is distracted by his delusional ranting, calls for violence, attacks on judges and their families, posting bond, etc, etc. he and their cult are actually dismantling religion itself. The pure blasphemy of slandering Easter with comparisons to Jesus is beyond the pale. The term "Christian nationalism" is far too lenient. They are now attempting to merge their perversion of Christianity with their cult.
Amanda Marcotte of Salon describes it well below:
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/02/fake-right-wing-panic-about-trans-easter-is-part-of-push-for-christian-nationalism/
That piece by Amanda Marcotte is indeed frightening.
Sacrilegious to the max. He is the ultimate Elmer Gantry, but without the faith of a quasi believer
I consider him the anti-Christ.
He's about as "anti" as one can get. He doesn't even have many human characteristics...
He is a clown ENABLER. That is the rotten part. He is nothing without the big money followers, the corrupt owners that want to finally kill the vote. .. who will instantly do damage to earth’s resources if their minions “support” him .
The earth quivers
Me, too, Jeri!! Me, too.
So glad there are others who heave at his name
Permanently cut off his internet sources. There must be some tech geniuses who could cut him off. Sort of a science fiction cloud about him that is a black hole that stays offline. (Our internet provider manages to do it to us enough times.)
He should have been in jail long ago. The special consideration and treatment he receives is outrageous.
The threat is VERY real indeed. We are on the precipice. It will take very little to tip US into Dante's Inferno: a malstrom we will not be able to survive soon, or maybe at all.
There is life in democracy yet, but we have to play it smart and we have to play it full.
And stop with the pussy-footing around
He's a chump, that Donald Trump. He's going to get caught, just you wait and see...
Worse than a chump, he's a bully. He's always been one. Daddy's money provided him shelter that few other Americans ever got.
Best lesson in horrific parenting, ever
Entitlement can be deadly.
Doesn't have to be. But certainly is in his case. And it doesn't look like his kids' apples have fallen too far from the tree
Power tends to corrupt, and money is a form of power. In fact, in a corrupt society, money, political power, and violence are all muddled together, and highly interchangeable.
Could go either way.
Yeah, just poetic convenience. He's an apparent "sociopath". Money can encourage that.
"Why's everybody always pickin' on me?"
James, cuz he’s a dick
“He’s gonna get caught, just you wait and see”
Some of us are old enough to remember that song. :-)
J L, he’d say “why’s everybody always picking on me?”
Yes, I really think Trump is doing this deliberately so he can go to jail. To instigate Trump voters.
The judges think that too. And they are trying to strike a balance between reining in a sociopath, and giving the sociopath the martyr status he craves.
So he wins either way?
of course he does... until he doesn't, the good lord willing and the creek don't rise.
aww, my mom used to use that saying all the time.
Mine, too, Jeri! And then the creek (Ohio River) did rise, reinforcing that bit of wisdom. Mom was 13 when she learned that you can’t deliver on promises if the creek decides otherwise!
The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, 385 people died, one million people were left homeless and property losses reached $500 million ($10.2 billion when adjusted for inflation as of September 2022).
Lock him up. dotard will be a PITA everyday until he's expired. Maybe even somehow after that. He's a disgusting pox. So he might as well be made to follow the rules/laws, regardless of whether the dotardians are riled or not. It would be a sad damn event for a former, though completely awful, U.S. president to be jailed, but if any former president was asking for that, dotard should be the one to set that precedent. Nixon was coddled. He shouldn't have been. It's also a mistake to coddle the crybaby, dotard.
Anyone who has grown up around bullies knows that you don't make them stop by accommodating them. They just bully harder, trying to find your limits and trying to get away with as much as they possibly can.
Bullies also find out that many of their supporters disappear when their bluff is called.
Trump will be jailed sooner or later, unless the Devil gets him first. Better to call contempt, jail him now and take the inevitable pain from his supporters, who will be fewer in number when they realize he can be punished and isn't the untouchable superman he makes himself out to be.
I'm with you. My parents didn't coddle my bro who had a birth defect. . Poor and uneducated but way smarter than the chump parents.
That's why we need to get the 1st criminal trial going and get him convicted.
Hopefully it will be televised so the Repressive Regressives won't be able to lie about what's happening in court. Let me rephrase -- so when they lie about what's happening in court there will be video evidence to refute their lies.
Can the citizens make a class action suit against the government for not enforcing the rule of law on a clear and present danger?
Good question Marj
He just needs to go to jail. Anyone else who defied a gag order like that, even if it fell in a loophole, would be in jail. Because what judge would put up with his daughter being terrorized by that piece of sh**. I am so sick of this two tiered justice system.
And what was up with lowering his bond. I have yet to hear a explanation on why that happened.
And yes, Garland needs to get on Jim Jordan, and Ron Johnson....very fishy activities. As well as Comer.
me too
Unfortunately, I think he perceives going to jail for awhile as offering him two positives - at least: it would likely help him with fundraising and possibly even more prestigious for him; he’d now [or then] be able to add another first to his of dubious accolades something more that former President Obama doesn’t have!
Hitler wrote mein kampf in confinement. It’s all a weird fantasy.
chump trump write a book … surely you jest - have you seen some of his tweets and other posts - but then again, his target supporters didn’t attend elite colleges and universities!
Good point.
I guess that’ll make chump-trump a Hitler wannabe?
Right! He’s functionally illiterate, and writes at the level of a third grader. What will he do in jail if his ghost writers aren’t given visiting rights and the Orange Menace can’t have a smartphone? Oh, I want to fantasize about this for awhile!
Precisely what he is angling for-inciting violence by being locked up-he so desperately wants martyrdom status. Only his supporters will give him that-the problem may be what comes with it. The former Republican Party was afraid to push back forming the new Autocratic Party of today. Will we have the courage and the will to push back and deal with the blowback from his supporters? I do believe so-time for accountability and all the consequences that come with it.
He’d probably make a fortune if he dies for The Cause.
Lock the insipid bastard up like any other criminal that preys on society, he will soon be forgotten about as a political force, he’s an aberration and always has been, speaking of has been’s.
Jail time will make him a martyr in the eyes of his followers. The judge is between a rock and a hard place. What can he do to preserve the integrity of the court? Warnings intensify the rhetoric; fines mean nothing because somehow Trump gets the money from guys like Hankey. Everything that happens to him is turned into campaign fodder. If the judge's daughter is physically hurt by a MAGA acolyte, Trump stays at arm's length. We failed to legally "cause and effect" his rhetoric and the Jan6 insurrection, despite the House Committee's brilliant development of the case against him. What options- short of an Act of God- are left to stop him?
He is incapable of seeing himself as risking jail time. He has learned over and over again that he can skirt the law and he will continue to do so.
Will anyone actually enforce the gag order? No one has done anything to deter Trump yet. Can't help but feel that no one else would get away with all Trump has said and done. Pathetic!
New book The False White Gospel
Jesus did not identify as a victim and did not seek pity for his persecution. Instead, in his innocence, he said “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. While in agony on the cross, Jesus prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" as an expression of extraordinary mercy toward his adversaries. (The essence of Jesus's teachings can be found in his Sermon on The Mount, Matthew Chapters 5-7).
The evidence is clear that we should beware the Christian Nationalists that, presenting themselves as sanctimonious prophets, bear "rotten fruits". The "Big Lie" and other deceptions, promoting idolatry, seeking revenge and cloaking anti-democratic political violence as righteous are all examples of their spoils. The truth appears to be their enemy.
"Trumpism" promotes Christian Nationalism. The Trumplican's (led into temptation by DJT and his handlers) are asked to give up their most precious democratic freedom, the freedom of dissent! They must conform and not only display loyalty to their leaders, but also refuse to forgive those who voice opposition or that trespass against them. To be a Trumplican is to be a "loyal subject" vs. an "active citizen" and live by the rule of a man and not by the rule of law. In the absence of moral authority, the only option to gain control is to use force.
In contrast to Jesus Christ's modesty and self-control, DJT, as a bombastic nihilistic performance artist, is playing both the victim and the savior. Through a narcissistic "pity ploy" for his perceived persecution, he is demonizing his enemies and demanding retribution.
Timothy Alberta, journalist and author of "The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory", observed that the question that is uncomfortable for many evangelicals/Christian Nationalists to answer is: "Have they entertained the possibility that the rise of Trumpism was the actual test chosen for them in this moment in time to measure their fidelity to their beliefs and convictions as followers of Jesus Christ"? If that is the case, can they then withstand the testing of their political identity, that has taken them further and further away from the teachings of Christ, to become followers of a political agenda that is intended to demolish the wall of separation between Church and State?
Do not listen to what the Trumplican's say, watch what they do 😳
My church-going maga family member told me he voted for trump because he thought we needed a cleansing. A cleansing that would occur while I was an active caregiver to my late husband who was undergoing chemo when trump got elected. He purports to love his family and simply can't understand why I would resent him for simply voting differently while his decision to vote for that monster has put my gay son and my daughter who has type 1 diabetes in harm's way. To make matters worse, I think the state of Georgia is going to place a 100k lien on my house for my late husband's outstanding medical bills. I wait with bated breath because only time will tell.
My "like" was in support. Nobody should be financially ruined or threatened with bankruptcy over a health care problem or challenge. Health care is a human right - especially in the richest nation to have ever existed. Much poorer countries have national health care coverage for everyone. Because every human has the same value.
It is long overdue that we have a peaceful financial revolution. There is over $50 trillion sitting in the hands of just a few people. The national treasure of this nation has been stolen and hoarded. Claw back time!
Bill - I 100% agree that nobody should face ruin or bankruptcy due to a medical condition.
No one knows more about bankruptcy laws in the US than Elizabeth Warren and she fully agrees.
Warren had my vote in the presidential primary. She's one of the smartest and toughest legislators in the nation.
Same here. I too voted for in the primary.
Medical bills are reported to be the number-one cause of U.S. bankruptcies. One study has claimed that 62.1% of bankruptcies were caused by medical issues.Another claims that over two million people are adversely affected by their medical expenses.
(I’ve met people in a homeless shelter who lost their housing due to medical bills.)
And imagine it's only going to get a lot worse.
Thank you for your kind words. My husband passed away 12/4/22. He was called back to work after the great recession but they cut his hours to 30 hours week and offered no benefits whatsoever anymore. That's why he landed on medicaid when he got sick in 2015. I think I'm out of the woods, but still worry sometimes because the state can take your house after your surviving spouse passes away. If I haven't heard from them by now I'm probably not going to. Regardless, I know I have a lot to be grateful for. So many people are far worse than I am. I have good health, I have decent benefits through my job and my children are doing well. I just hope and pray that fascism doesn't take hold permanently. I just can't bear watching people suffer, especially children.
Tracy, so sorry for your loss. But I admire your attitude. And I agree, letting kids suffer seems like something any species of animal would not do. It is astounding to me that we still think like tribes instead of a species.
Sounds like you also live in MA. I can't see how the state could take away your house - as long as it was also in your name. A person can qualify for Medicaid - even move to a care facility and still retain ownership of a home. My understanding is that a home is protected. But it would probably be a good idea to get a legal opinion. Most towns have an attorney who volunteers to offer basic advice for one or two questions.
I am so sorry you have to be going through this horror.
Thank you, Marj.
I hate to "like" your post, but I truly feel for you!
I understand, Miselle. Thank you.
See if you can find a “patient advocate” to help you.
I don't think one would be very helpful now. Thank you for caring though. Much appreciated.
❤️
That is truly heartbreaking— to have that kind of parental betrayal in light of everything you’ve gone through! Our country needs to do better by its citizens.
I'm not holding my breath. And I'm one of the lucky ones. The hard luck cases I saw at the clinic while my Patrick was going through chemotherapy were heart wrenching.
I’m so sorry for the stresses you’ve faced due to health/insurance issues- and losing your husband. My warmest wishes for you and your family.
Thank you, Marge. You're too kind.
“Like” equals sorrow for you and righteous anger for the situation you are in. I think everyone on this page stands behind you and are fighting the power now in the hands of selfishness, hypocrisy, and evil. Bless you and your family.
I have found that HCR's followers are the smartest, kindest and most insightful people I've come across since this whole sordid mess came to be. I appreciate your kind words. Thank you.
😞😢
That is just awful, Tracy. I am watching the ridiculous dance my MNJ friends are doing to call every criticism of fpotus "TDS". These are, for the most part, Christian men/women. I just do not understand their adoration.
Truly awful people. Its beyond comprehension that we didn't notice their cold hearts before trump, but they are everywhere it seems.
I'm not in any way religious but even I liked what you just said, Marilyn W.
I'm not in any way religious either but I'll be damned if I haven't become full throttled anti religious since trumpism took hold. I want churches taxed to hell and back now.
I TOTALLY agree, Tracy!!!!!
Do it!
It would be nice if there was a huge fine associated with violation of the Johnson amendment as well. Tax these hypocrites out of existence and use the churches to house and feed the homeless.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven". The whole evangelical whitewash of the first Beatitude is nothing less than disgusting. It says what it means. Nothing is a more hypocritical and counterfactual than the display of obscene "spiritual wealth" made obvious by the alter calls and hand-raising that goes with bad church - and now bad Trump. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew what to do. We don't.
Republicans are rewriting the Constitution and the bible both.
And Trump has compiled both into HIS Bible which most of them are incapable of understanding even when it's read and explained to them.
Marilyn, Christofascists throughout history have failed that test. Over and over. As so many people have mentioned, if Jesus were to show up today--a dark-haired, darker-skinned person from the Middle East preaching peace, self-exploration, inclusivity, and forgiveness--he would be roundly rejected by the large majority of people who claim to be "Christians" in America. I'm not a Christian but I am a medieval historian whose work has taken her through all the evolutions of "Christianity" from its origins to the present day and I can safely say that Jesus has been ignored by most of the institutions that claim to be his followers.
Thank you, Linda. I love hearing your perspectives on these matters.
Thank you, AH: I appreciate that you comment on my comments! You, too, have an important perspective on all of these things.
Christ followers are where you find them. And some of his followers don't even know they are followers; they simply know that active love is the highest purpose for humans. I have five friends nearby who are 'de facto' disciples. Only two attend church, only one regularly. Three others don't identify with Jesus but are not afraid of picking up heavy loads and carrying them long distances for others. "Active love is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to the love in your dreams." (Dostoyevsky-Bros K) There's an awful lot of dreaming in evangelism. They need to wake up.
Keep your words coming, Marilyn.
Make us all think what, how we are dealing with our emotional reactions.
To Trump & his disruptive, destructive senate & house of reps followers. And his newest grab of ‘Christian’ ‘church-like’ endings to his
Marilyn, as a somewhat lapsed Catholic; I hear you. I respect all faiths and believe in a higher power, and in an immortal soul. I am horrified by the way in which MAGA have succumbed to a false prophet, and do believe they are trading their soul for a red hat.
Very very true Marilyn!!!I agree!!
Even the pastors/priests are afraid to refute Trump's vile and hateful speech.
Marilyn, have you had a chance to watch "God and Country" on Apple TV. It supports your statements above. Warning: It is scary stuff!
One thing that stands out is the MAGAfascists' lust for cruelty, their savoring of bitterness, and their cultivation of hate -- clearly at odds with any notion of Christianity, where they seem to realize and actually delight in the deviation that so blatantly conflicts with their purported allegiance.
Marilyn, you bring out the essential difference between following Trump and following Christ. Many wonder about the Antichrist and say they can’t understand how millions will follow that most Satanic of leaders. Well, guess what, folks: Trump’s entire political career is a dress rehearsal for the coming of the Antichrist. 81 million people who basically worship the King James Bible but don’t actually read it enough to know much beyond John 3:16 fell for a world class con artist and put Trump in the White House.
Heather writes today quite on-target as to many combined threats facing the republic.
First and most fulsome, of course, is the fat orange demagogue and his vulgarity, steadily spewing out of control. Courting violence. Courting more yet more hatreds.
Close behind is the Clarence court, with its contempt for America's large public opinion defending the rights of women and their families to make their own family and health decisions.
They're out of touch, the fat orange guy and the justices set back in medieval times, but looming large today for their contempt for the people, contempt that let several of them justify perjuring themselves, not just for their medieval ideology, but for today's billionaires -- that they can isolate themselves further from America by their clear and present danger agenda to kill health, safety, and environmental agencies.
How did so many elites get so vulgar?
"How did so many elites get so vulgar?
Get?
There is nothing more vulgar than William F. Buckley's attempted take down of James Baldwin in their Oxford debate.
https://youtu.be/5Tek9h3a5wQ?si=MAyoyqk86VrgwMsc
Easy, lin -- with the "nothing more vulgar" tilt.
How about, instead, just "as vulgar"?
As in William F. Buckley's Ivy League predecessors so largely invested in Hitler's Waffen SS?
Leading U.S. banks, communications giants, and car, rubber, and petroleum companies hugely allied with Hitler through the 1930s -- almost all these elites legacies from the Ivy League.
And today -- in fact since the early 1990s, when Ivy Leaguers led the charge by U.S. finance to invest in the Soviet Union's former nomenklatura -- today, same Ivy League sees just about half its students graduating with degrees in finance.
We worry about the fat orange guy vying to lead a new, poisonous religion now in the U.S. But haven't our billionaires been doing that since the Powell memo from 1971 on has had them converting our schools ("higher" and K-12) to their vulgarities?
Still, yes, lin -- point well taken as to William F. Buckley vs. James Baldwin.
ThankYou. Yes. Point taken. Good points. Best and Brightest. Ha!
Yes. Trump did not create today's GOP. He just put his brand on it.
Just like he must have his putrid name on all his conquests (that he acknowledges). Should go back to Drumpf. Claim your ancestry, but trump does fit as this old definition proves. “Trump’er-y, n. Fraud, deceit; anything calculated to deceive by false show; anything externally splendid but intrinsically of little value; things worn out and of no value…”. Maybe old Friedrich Drumpf made the change with malice afore thought and a smirk for all descendents.
HaHa! Thanks for 'Trumpery'.
Wish I could post the copy I found, part was good enough though
I used to watch William F. Buckley, Jr. on Firing Line, not because I agreed with any of what he said, but to see what those he was willing to bring on with very different views had to say. I much preferred Bill Moyers for those he could bring on his programs, carefully enough to maintain access to so many others in powerful positions by enabling extended conversations a bit differently than Tim Russert could do more aggressively (while still effectively making it difficult to avoid appearing on his Meet the Press show).
Then there is Kelly Corrigan, whom I really appreciate for her far kinder way of bringing out the better parts of humanity in individuals across a pretty full spectrum of individuals I can either almost totally agree with as well as ones I feel have created or worsened problems I have strong feelings about the results of, no matter how well they were intended (most do seem to have at least meant well).
My wife and I, independently came to the same conclusion about the William F. Buckley, James Baldwin Debate though. We both found it the most sickening performance by Buckley we had seen or even could imagine. After we spent a few hours playing it and replaying portions to try to grasp just how bad it was, we simultaneously said we wished Buckley had been born Black and under similar circumstances (sort of like some children who were captured by Native Americans and didn't want to come back to the White society).
The difficulty of watching it reminded me of when Buckley told Charlie Rose about the difficulty of reading Atlas Shrugged (I believe answering if he had read it), that he had, but had to flog himself to get through it. See https://www.openculture.com/2011/05/william_f_buckley_flogged_himself_to_get_through_iatlas_shruggedi.html
I couldn't get through Atlas Shrugged (even if I considered flogging myself), but with my wife's help was able to finally get through that most disgusting of his interviews.
I forgot Phil Donahue, who's access seems an early example of more aggressive cancel culture than used on Bill Moyers. Matt Taibbi was another I watched before he was effectively cancelled on MSM.
P.S. I do like having gone back to Firing Line sporadically to see Margaret Hoover into a far more questioner of those "conservatives" many might assume she would be closer to.
Buckley was the arrogant Repub that made my skin crawl, back in the day.
So, which is it? Are US “elite” universities bastions of soulless capitalism or of socialist “cancel culture?” Or just a bunch of really smart strivers trying to figure out how to save the world and be happy at the same time? It’s all of the above. Let’s not pigeonhole the best and the brightest - they really are our hope for the future and we need our institutions to be as diverse and inclusive as possible.
"The Best and the Brightest (1972) is an account by journalist David Halberstam of the origins of the Vietnam War published by Random House. The focus of the book is on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in President John F. Kennedy's administration, and the consequences of those policies in Vietnam. The title referred to Kennedy's "whiz kids"—leaders of industry and academia brought into the administration—whom Halberstam characterized as insisting on "brilliant policies that defied common sense" in Vietnam, often against the advice of career U.S. Department of State employees."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest
Thank you, lin, from a former U.S. Army Vietnamese translator/interpreter.
Before I went into the Army (2 Sept. 1969) I tended to believe our elites, a tendency which experience totally reversed for me by the time I came out (4 April 1972).
I am glad you were able to complete your mission and come home. ThankYou for your continuing engagement.
My public high school was renowned for producing Westinghouse Science winners. And sending middle-class Brooklyn kids to the Ivies and other schools of excellence.
These students certainly would fit the moniker 'best and brightest.' Some went on to do big and some to do good things. Many found a niche which fit them. Some crashed and burned. Not all that different from the majority of us who were not singled out as spectacular by the reigning standards.
The construct of 'elites' and how it has been deployed by propagandists is another story.
Yes 🙌 see it ! James Baldwin vs William F Buckley: A legendary debate from 1965. The legendary debate that laid down US political lines on race, justice and history. Republished with...
Durée de la vidéo: 59 min
Thank you for posting that! Buckley's attempt to gain the upper hand by using semantics had no power over Baldwin who spoke from the heart and experience!
Buckley's strategy was to deploy markers of American snobism and coded racism, presuming a kinship and clubbishness with his Oxford audience. They didn't buy it. Buckley, so used to lording it over his crowd, failed to read the room.
Baldwin spoke from and about his personal experience. He did not directly argue his side of the debate, as much as demonstrate its truth.
Thanks, National Educational Television…. This country has become so immersed in vulgarity via money driving media that norms have devolved.
Oxford Debates has another one about the morality of nuclear weapons between the Prime Minister of New Zealand vs a representative of the US, Jerry Falwell, ha. Friends in NZ told me about it but such doesn’t generate sponsors here, so no broadcast. The internet saves such but only for curious minds. Thanks again for the link
The answer to your last question, Phil Balla:
Simple. Vulgarity pays.
As it paid Hitler, handsomely. To a land where political language had hitherto been modeled on the funeral oration, he brought the language of the beer hall and the barrack room. And how well it worked...
Likewise Putin, setting out on his national career with a threat to dunk Chechen terrorists "in the latrines".
Vulgarity pays.
Violence pays. That and the mere threat of violence.
Crime pays -- and nothing pays like crime.
That is -- and always has been -- the principle behind all the actions of this would-be mafia Don.
Commenting on Hitler after observing him at close quarters, C.G. Jung remarked that the man himself was nothing. What made him was his ability to voice the depraved depths of the German people's collective unconscious.
And now, worldwide, we are once again faced with the upwelling of these same satanic forces that brought death and devastation to countless millions.
I was born into this. All my life, it has been the one thing I have feared.
"The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again."
Vulgarity, violence, and crime all pay - until they don't. Then they cost dearly. The destruction of a country, political party, or one's own moral fiber, is the price.
Your quote from Auden rings frighteningly true here, Peter.
So much I regret the barbarism Auden saw in "September 1, 1939" -- and which the world very directly then saw massively.
Must we be mere onlookers again as the depraved take over again?
When we most need Dem candidates to voice humanities, to show that the humane has its place among some of us (many of us?), can some of our Dems rise to that? Can some model our best resources to center the individual human, stave off this "gathering storm"?
Or is Putin's nuke rhetoric escalating seriously as is our orange fat guy's stochastic terrorism, his self-aggrandizing, his now more furious calls for more hate, more violence?
Sorry, Peter, but I just don't have the glib surety of some Dems, that their old status quo will somehow just take advantage of our many obvious loonies, as if our billionaires weren't again dead serious as to supporting serious dictators, demagogues, enablers of corruption, and the self-perjured and takers of bribes on the Clarence court.
Talking of glibness, Phil, before the Republican Party was hijacked by intelligent conspirators who had understood that, in America, swastika armbands would get them nowhere... but the name of Grandma's Old Party was a guarantee of success for oligarchic tyranny, I used to see American politics as:
The Heartless Party vs. The Spineless Party...
I hope this insult is quite wrong, but there has long been such a culture of polite complacency, euphemism, hypocrisy, settled ignorance, turning a blind eye to uncomfortable realities, that the storm troopers and their dogs are once again standing by... impatiently... while the Teetotal Tamburlaine is working up their rage and lust for revenge against... their own country...
The danger is palpable. The enemy within already holds Congress hostage.
Readers of LFAA focus on voting in November. By which time, it may be too late. November's world may already be very different from the world today..
For as long as this man and his sidekicks walk free, our planet will be a very unsafe place, the survival of life forms under direct threat.
The truths you tell gall, hurt, and discomfort, Peter.
Do you think there's any way Dems can restore apt humanities to their language, and call for return of humanities in schools?
Or is it all just money? Money for phone banks. Money for door-knocking. Money for TV ads. Money for post card campaigns.
Can you cite any Dems who balk at the money status quo, and reach out by humanities for some things more?
Here's a list of my favorites. Any among them notable for you by their readiness for some things more? Or, more aptly, any likely to appear in public with any others on this list (or who should be on it) and together amplify humanities and so pointedly better call for the specific programs we need?
Jamie Raskin. Sheldon Whitehouse. Katie Porter. Dan Goldberg. Richard Blumenthal. Mallory McMorrow. Josh Shapiro. Madeleine Dean. Jared Moskowitz. Gretchen Whitmer. Ro Khanna. Abigail Spanberger. Robert Garcia. Jerry Nadler. Liz Warren. Pete Buttigieg. Shontel Brown. Ted Lieu. Amy Klobuchar. Gary Peters. Adam Schiff. Jasmine Crockett. Cory Booker. Hakeem Jeffries. Jena Griswold. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Maxine Waters. Raphael Warnock. Chris Murphy. Chris Coons. Mikie Sherrill. Pete Aguilar. Justin Jones. Maxwell Frost. Ilhan Omar. Wes Moore. Melanie Stansbury. Gavin Newsom. Summer Lee. Pramila Jayapal. Eric Swalwell. Zoe Lofgren. Bernie Sanders.
Phil you have amassed an enviable list of many of the heroes of our current congress, heroes who seem unsung in large part because they show common decency along with their intelligence, integrity and common sense, commodities which seem easy for the MSM to ignore in favor of ratings from the inflammatory rantings of the barbarians.
What do you think, Phil? Those truths gall me, they hurt and discomfort me.
Above all horrible facts like the powerlessness even of 9/11, even of DT with all his ravings and his permaputsch, to awaken Americans from their nightmare to the even more nightmarish reality we all face.
I keep thinking of Diogenes, carrying a lantern in brilliant Athenian daylight and, when asked what he thought he was doing, answering that he was "looking for a man".
You've named a few.
Phil, since Katie Porter is not on the ballot this year, she will soon be off the list. I’d suggest a write-in campaign, but that might split the Democratic vote.
But Phil, isn't that exactly what Biden is trying to "model our best resources to center the individual human," to "stave off this gathering storm?" Our jobs as individual humans is to provide Biden a congress which can actually legislate more of those humane values which we used to call common decency!
Trying hard but, like the penitent at one Good Friday procession in Corsica, carrying a heavy cross and walking barefoot while dragging behind him massive chains attached to one foot.
No need to identify the cross borne by all Americans, but the chains are represented by a trusted ally, subverted by that ally's leadership which, to remain in power and keep the leader from having to face justice, has made the worst of the dreadful challenge thrown at him.
Over 30 000 dead, mostly women and children, total destruction of cities -- compare the ghetto, then the total destruction of Warsaw by Hitler, compare Putin's razing Grozny, and later, with Al-Assad, Aleppo...
And the worst of it, this is what Israel's mortal enemies expected and intended this man and his poisonous coalition government to do -- hence the deliberately vile provocation of their assault.
How is it possible that today, almost 80 years after the downfall of Nazi Germany, the militarists' Japan and the Axis powers, we should find ourselves having to face behavior horribly similar to that of the Nazis among those who suffered the most from their crimes?
I know that no one wants to face the destruction of Gaza, the wholesale killing, maiming and starving of its inhabitants. But what choice have we?
It is because I saw bombing as a small child, it is because of the sermon I received from my mother in 1948 after she and my father had received documentation and photos of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from my father's cousin, the British medical officer who opened up the camp during a typhus outbreak, that I write as I do.
I am not repeating the terms my mother used to qualify the greatest crimes man can commit.
She was, and remains, my first spiritual teacher.
The West's plodding response to Ukraine gave the go-ahead for Putin's further world-destabilization plots in the Middle East, setting up Hamas vs. Netanyahu in a no-holds-barred slaughterfest. Today, it's reported that workers for World Central Kitchen were killed trying to assist the victims between the bullies. We probably should be figuring out where next -- Poland?
I hear you, Peter.
Thank you.
God bless your fine, fine mother.
I shall add that it was intensely painful to perceive the continuum between the inconceivable and unprecedented crimes of the Nazis and the conditioning to which those crimes have, inevitably, given rise among their victims.
The foulest thing about the Shoah is how the evil done besmirched victims and their memory.
It hurts to think this, let alone to say it. For a long time I could not even say it to myself.
But we are ordinary human beings, not saints. We cannot avoid the stain on the entire human race.
Onlookers is an accurate term, unfortunately!
Do I hear the rumblings of a more extensive “collective unconscious.” One of the multitudinous hordes who are sick of the depravity.
Repub elites were always vulgar to me. Why I’m a Dem. I think Rush was the first one that I remember that hung the ‘elite’ moniker on Dems. Convinced a lot of rank and file types that Dems were against them. Hope hell is hot enough for that cretin.
The "elite" label wouldn't stick, Jeri, wouldn't persist so, if Republicans hadn't . . ..
Well, several interlocking things going on here.
One, the standardized testing that made too many "feel like a number," as Bob Seger put it.
Two, the fact that, as the standardized testers were killing humanities, and numbering all life, the billionaire classes were offshoring literally millions of decent, U.S., working-class jobs. Goodbye union-made middle class. Hello tens of millions consigned to below-minimum-wage ill-health, obesity, gun addiction, workplace safety vicissitudes, and environmental predation.
Three, the Powell memo's far-right foundations destroyed humanities in what for over 100 years had been America's pride, its nation-wide system of near-free but high quality land grant public universities. State legislatures followed the ALEC game plan of lowering state subsidies, so tenure slots fell, tuition started going up, and the banks moved in for the kill. Increased competition for the few remaining tenure slots made them mega-specialized -- again for more wonk language, near total collapse of humanities.
Wendell Berry told the story of how the corporations began buying their proprietary stakes in what had been free and open research institutions ("The Unsettling of America," 1977). Diane Ravitch told how the standardized testers and corporate textbook writers debased, neutered all language ("The Language Police," 2003). Jane Mayer wrote the definitive history of "Dark Money" (2016). Minae Mizumura exactly got correct how the U.S. disease spread to the world ("The Fall of Language in the Age of English," (Columbia U Press trans. from the Japanese, 2016). And Sheldon Whitehouse recited the sorrowful litany of "The Scheme" (2022), whereby more far-right billionaire corruption went from the Powell memo of 1971 to today's bribed and perjured Clarence court.
Why the Republican vulgarity, Jeri? Answer comes in inverse proportion to how many times you've heard even our very best Dems cite any of this sordid history, or cite any of our humanities in touch with how too many Americans have become its collateral damage.
I disagree that it was the tests that were the problem. It was those that made a big deal about the test scores mattering.
From 1963 - 1973, our school district administered at least one standardized test every year. Our elementary teachers weren't graded on their performance and we were only given a few days notice of when the tests would be held. Several weeks after the tests were administered the results were passed out to each student who could do with them what they wanted.
One of my class mates and arch enemies because he was so frickin' good at taking tests always got straight 99's on the Iowa Basics and close to perfect marks on the Stanford-Binet's. He score 790/780 on the SAT's and attended the University of Nebraska on a full ride scholarship. To keep the scholarship he had to maintain a 2.5 GPA and receive no D's or F's. He lost the scholarship after his Freshman year. After he graduated he received two masters degrees and went on to a career as a cook in various nursing homes. After he retired from cooking he has worked part-time in big box stores.
His IQ is off the charts, but his MQ (motivational quotient) is very low. I don't blame the standardized tests for low MQ or his high IQ for that matter.
My daughter had to take the achievement tests in rural ME and then again in Jacksonville. None of her teachers dwelled on teaching to the tests in either place.
But I don't deny there were/are many schools and even states that focus on the tests instead of teaching the humanities, but I'm not sure we can blame the tests on this.
A friend of mine's dad was a high school math teach in Hancock County, ME. His dad often said, "Smart students make good teachers." Perhaps a little tongue in cheek, but teachers can't pick their students even if they are teaching the gifted students.
" . . . not sure we can blame the tests on this," Gary?
OK. How about blaming the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution, and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) which together allowed U.S. corporate and private billionaire post-Powell-memo plans to dehumanize the schools?
Dehumanizing the schools anesthetized America and its elites to be unaware of the more malicious plans to offshore the millions of working-class jobs, firm-up the Citizens United oligarchy in the U.S., and finally pervert the Supreme Court into today's Clarence court.
Sure, Gary, we can call the tests mere instruments, and cede real problem to the predators who today rule.
Especially so if we credit statements by such as Jean Bower and Mary Ellen Spicuzza, here, who as teachers testify to what happened to them.
Fair enough Phil. The tests SHOULD be a tool to determine the needs of each individual student not to vilify teachers or force them to teach all students exactly the same.
I happened to grow up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Omaha, where half of the dads worked blue collar jobs and the other half white collar jobs. This was in the 1960's and early 1970's. Judging by the number of students in our high school that went on to get college degrees (about 70%) I would say we had exceptional teachers and a very good curriculum.
My daughter had a similar experience in rural Maine although not quite as many went to college. Before her junior year in high school she transferred to Ponte Vedra High School in Ponte Vedra, FL. She had an amazing class both academically and athletically. Her Florida High School class ranked 2nd academically and 7th athletically in FL. Never once did her mother and I feel like she wasn't challenged by her teachers or the curriculum.
She graduated in 2012 from high school. I don't doubt that the educational system today suffers in many states. Fortunately, that wasn't my experience or my daughter's.
And as for offshoring jobs, yes that is a problem. I've competed with programmers from India, Russia, Ireland because we are considered interchangeable widgets. But that's a discussion for another time.
I had one standardized test eons ago, no big deal. They made it one and the anxiety of the kids skyrocketed. Unnecessarily
I taught 11th graders who were the ones tested. I did not follow the time-wasting school directives to spend time daily “teaching to the (shudder) test,” I continued with teaching of the English literature/ writing curriculum approved by the Board. What I did do was make it clear I wasn’t tolerating just filling in bubbles, not attempting to test seriously, or disturbances of any kind. I had a point system that allowed me to deduct from their quarterly grades if behavior detracted from learning. My class was made up of the average, not AP, students of several different ethnicities. They were in the highest performing classes of the school. This was in the 90’s when mandatory testing hit the high schools.
Having taught for 30 years in public schools, I would like to say a word about testing as a teacher. Toward the end of my career I found testing took so much time from teaching that it was actually disruptive. Funding was often dependent on test results. This fact sometimes resulted in “selective” test takers. At one time I was even required to grade some of those tests. Teaching to the test was inevitable. The status of the school financial and otherwise depended on good test results. In another respect: the office of the counselor became for much of the time, the office of test facilitator, which resulted in in availability to students who might be in need of immediate help. I felt that the tests turned kids into robots and parents into slaves to SAT scores. Just my perspective, but I can’t tell you how much I hated being chained by those tests.
Phil: To your point about standardized testing….Learning has been quantified. I think it must now be rare for students to enjoy learning. School is a gauntlet. Grades are the scores in an almost athletic contest. I learned to love learning after school was almost done for me. When I had slipped the tyranny of worrying about (and being ashamed of) my GPA I could finally enjoy learning new things. What does that say? I worry K-12 education will never be reformed. Public education is too far gone. It is monetized now. Higher Ed is a big money enterprise too. Consumerism and corporate thinking has overtaken education. It is heartbreaking. It is impossible to discuss with anyone. Teachers are now in a way employed by parents—teachers are employees and parents their bosses. School is an internship. The undertaking of education spoiled by corporate thinking. What a shame. A tragedy. We have overlain the maximization of profit on everything. I don’t see a way out.
Jeri, he’ll always have Strawberry Snapple
How indeed did so many elites get so vulgar? There are many strands to this question. We may look at the elitism of university education these days which promotes radicalism rather than rationalism. We can go back thousands of years to see a human tendency to dominate. We can see how there always seems to be an entitled bunch who think themselves superior beings for whatever specious reasons. Which is why it was so hard to establish a democracy in the first place since people often hold those thoughts without thinking in any reasonable and broader context. Then there is child raising itself, what constitutes the law and order of it, and when, in the child's life. Then there are the fashionable and fad movements that try out this or that new concept of everything above. As if our constitution weren't a pretty good grounding to stand on. The renegade religious factions that do cheap interpretations of moral responsibility are not holding up, as if the very idea of real democracy is somehow offensive to them, limiting the hierarchical tendencies within. We so all do need to GTFU our culture and our country.
Thank you, Robin.
One thing I like in Heather's today is the balanced way she looks at courts at their best.
Decorum matters in court proceedings. Rules matters because they, like the law itself, spring from experience, from a considered history in how we may keep many freedoms, that based on some modicum of respect for each other.
I think too many of our elites have lost it because they've been to schools where no one accesses humanities for seeing others.
Where none has humanities (for public use), there emerge all the scoundrels, excesses you cite.
Courts, to go on reading Heather, may keep some balance. But courts unaided by schools to keep us apprised of each other?
We've Jane Mayer and others recording the self-poisoning of our billionaires. She, Sheldon Whitehouse, Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow -- all necessary.
But can we count on these few, if our schools as a rule just succumb to the billionaires' plans to keep our schools and thus most of us dehumanized, ready for the mobs which the Clarence court, the fat orange guy, and too many Republicans succor?
Too many of our 1% are trustifarians-- where their wealth was handed to them on a silver platter. They never had to think about what they want to be when they grow up, only where I can party when I get to college.
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and many others have worked their entire lives to build their empires and they don't consider themselves to be elites. And then there are the Betsy Devoses and the Linda Waltons who have never accomplished anything but yet they are part of the elite class.
As Warren Buffett says, "inheritance is welfare for the rich." He let his kids believe they would receive nothing from him and his wife, until they were productive citizens.
Being born poor was a gift, at least I knew that I would have to earn what I got.
Thank you Heather. I am seeing a fatigue in law makers when there is no avenue of constructive dialogue because any ability to think critically and freely has been smothered by the presence of the prince of darkness, Trump! He has at this point so weekend the country by his manipulation of his Maga side whatever their grievance. He needs his followers until he doesn’t need them. He is treating our country the same way. The issue is with all his outrageous and malevolent speech and actions are applauded by a significant minority of this country and that is the real problem. We need to clarify and solve that problem.
66 million years ago our ancestors were rodents. LFAA& Co. give me hope (that we’re evolving).
From violent rhetoric to selling bibles; from noisy rallies to The Church of Trump; he's got a lot
of gall up his sleeve, in his head, out of his mouth and on his stages.
'The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement'
'Ending many of his rallies with a churchlike ritual and casting his prosecutions as persecution, the former president is demanding — and receiving — new levels of devotion from Republicans.' (NYT)
'Long known for his improvised and volatile stage performances, former President Donald J. Trump now tends to finish his rallies on a solemn note.'
'Soft, reflective music fills the venue as a hush falls over the crowd. Mr. Trump’s tone turns reverent and somber, prompting some supporters to bow their heads or close their eyes. Others raise open palms in the air or murmur as if in prayer.'
'In this moment, Mr. Trump’s audience is his congregation, and the former president their pastor as he delivers a roughly 15-minute finale that evokes an evangelical altar call, the emotional tradition that concludes some Christian services in which attendees come forward to commit to their savior.'
“The great silent majority is rising like never before and under our leadership,” 'he recites from a teleprompter in a typical version of the script.' “We will pray to God for our strength and for our liberty. We will pray for God and we will pray with God. We are one movement, one people, one family and one glorious nation under God.”
'The meditative ritual might appear incongruent with the raucous epicenter of the nation’s conservative movement, but Mr. Trump’s political creed stands as one of the starkest examples of his effort to transform the Republican Party into a kind of Church of Trump. His insistence on absolute devotion and fealty can be seen at every level of the party, from Congress to the Republican National Committee to rank-and-file voters.'
'Mr. Trump’s ability to turn his supporters’ passion into piety is crucial to understanding how he remains the undisputed Republican leader despite guiding his party to repeated political failures and while facing dozens of felony charges in four criminal cases. His success at portraying those prosecutions as persecutions — and warning, without merit, that his followers could be targeted next — has fueled enthusiasm for his candidacy and placed him, once again, in a position to capture the White House.' (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/us/politics/trump-2024-religion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hU0.CDGC.qizfxTRwiB_z&smid=url-share
IMHO the former president is going nowhere with his dysfunctional and soon to be broke party of MAGA.
I like your story, Jack, and, hopefully, it is prescient.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uc5lyJDiyEI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PMz_zplGza0
☺️🌤✨🌊🐳🌎🐳🌊✨☀️😉
Could it be that yesterday's rabble rousers are today's silent majority?
"Come Senators/Congressmen, please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway; don't block up the hall!"
Thanks, Kathleen!
... silent for now - not silenced!!
" ... for, when we listen, silence speaks. Be still and know ...."
(( Source unknown ))
Yes, yes, that's what I mean!
The Sound Of Silence by Wuauquikuna | Panflute | Toyos |
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ndUCNnhH03Q
http://www.wuauquikuna-official.com
https://wuauquikunamusic.bandcamp.com
👌😊✋😊👌
Morning, Lynell!
"For he that gets hurt will be he that has stalled"
We can't have any more stalling..Morning, Ally!
Dearest Kathleen Allen, yes, the song, the past, the present and future; making music together, and your wonderful tapestry of space, water. earth, the stars and sun, the light and your delicious, smiling wink.🌳🌱😊🌻🦉🦉🕊️.
Thank you!
... here are just a few nudges to redirect attention toward regeneration, healing and transformation ... now is the time!!
*********
COLORES | Hopi Prophecy | New Mexico PBS
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p1m0nLSOHi4
http://www.newmexicopbs.org
"Handed down from ancient times, the Hopi Prophesy delineates the path of peace, and harmony with nature. Where we have deviated from that path, the prophecy has correctly predicted the results. Which path lies before us? What does the future hold? Hear a message of tribal elders for our modern world."
*****
The Spirit of the Glacier Speaks
Ancestral Teachings of the Andean World for the Time of Natural Disorder
Arkan Lushwala
https://disruptionbooks.com/books/the-spirit-of-the-glacier-speaks
*****
My Octopus Teacher
https://archive.org/details/my-octopus-teacher-2020
********
By the way, in case you missed this recent post ...:
I wonder if you might know people who could influence policy around nuclear waste (storage and further production) imposed on native lands in violation of treaty rights? The situation at Hanford in Washington State is critical in so many ways - including protecting waters of the Columbia River and associated waterways ... oh, not to mention health, safety and cultural rights of local indigenous people ... not to mention the impact on the whole body of life.
Once again, USDOE is imposing further violations - currently open to public comment until Friday, April 5. Could you please take a moment to review the letter that follows, and pass it on to anyone who might be able to make a difference?
As you read this, Hanford's radioactive contamination is flowing into the Columbia River at levels hundreds of times the Drinking Water Standard and at least 2 High-Level Nuclear Waste tanks are leaking.
Your comments are needed on the Hanford Cleanup Budget and USDOE's Priorities!!!
On Monday, Heart of America NW hosted 2 online workshops to help you understand and comment by April 5:
Heart of America Northwest's Executive Director Gerry Pollet discussed how the Budget Request for Hanford Cleanup cuts cleanup alongside the Columbia River and has no funding to respond to leaking High Level Nuclear Waste tanks, while seeking to add billions for nuclear weapons production and more nuclear reactors.
Really?!
Washington Ecology estimates that the request should be $1.5 billion more to meet all cleanup agreement and consent decree schedules and permit requirements.
Comments must be submitted Friday April 5.
If you missed the workshop, use this Comment Guide
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AucvNtucDPulcznHWxJ4qfNb5e2nWZjK/view
to understand and submit comments to CleanupPriorities@rl.gov
*****
Please cc or copy and send your comments to your US Senators, US Reps, any and all concerned individuals and agencies, and office@hoanw.org.
Highlights from Our Guide and Suggested Comments:
Use these bullets to send comments to:
CleanupPriorities@RL.gov
Suggested comments:
USDOE should request funding to remove leakable liquids from the High Level Waste tanks that are currently leaking and to have the equipment, staffing and processes in place to promptly respond to new leaks. Requesting the funds is necessary to “do no further harm” and meet legal requirements.
USDOE is legally required to request from Congress the full amount of funding to meet compliance obligation requirements (e.g., cleanup agreement, consent decree and permit) for each year. Ecology estimates that this would be $4.56 billion in Fiscal Year 2025, not the $3 billion requested.
To honor Treaty rights and federal environmental justice commitments, USDOE should be required to accelerate cleanup along the Columbia River. USDOE should be required to cleanup to levels that will protect Native Americans exercising Treaty rights along the River in the next decade rather than leaving contamination in place at levels that will greatly exceed standards for hundreds of years.
USDOE should be requesting more funding for River Corridor soil and groundwater cleanup instead of proposing to cut funding for cleanup along the Columbia River in 2025 and 2026.
Instead of seeking to increase spending by billions for nuclear weapons and reactors - creating more waste - USDOE's priority must be the cleanup of the contaminated legacy of nuclear weapons production at Hanford.
*******
Learn more about Hanford cleanup and how to take action:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AucvNtucDPulcznHWxJ4qfNb5e2nWZjK/view
*******
The US Department of Energy does what it bloody well pleases - who stands at the helm of that powerful entity - who can stop or control them?
The "law"? The courts? The "people?"
Not from what I have seen so far - over half a century of advocating for responsible policy oversight and adherence to "THE LAW."
It seems more like the law has no teeth - and at this point, neither do I.
The US Constitution states that First Nations treaties are the "supreme law of the land." And yet, that law has been consistently violated since day one of this nation.
"USDOE’s plan tramples Treaty rights. Tribes have Treaty rights to fish and live along these lands in the Columbia River Corridor and to use the plants and animals in the “ceded lands.
"USDOE ignores Treaty rights and is relying on decades old documents (e.g., Hanford Land Use Plan(1999)) in which USDOE claimed that it unilaterally extinguished the Tribes’ Treaty rights!"
... excuse me?
Who or what powers give any entity the right to reverse and unilaterally extinguish the "SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND" ...?!
Here are some links referring to the cited "Hanford Land Use Plan":
The Hanford Site
https://hanford.gov/page.cfm/LandManagement
*****
EIS-0222: Hanford Comprehensive Land-Use Plan
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/eis-0222-hanford-comprehensive-land-use-plan
*****
Hanford Comprehensive Land-Use Plan EIS Helps DOE Preserve Unique Resources
MARCH 2, 2000
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/hanford-comprehensive-land-use-plan-eis-helps-doe-preserve-unique-resources
*****
Final Hanford Comprehensive Land-Use Plan Environmental Impact Statement, Hanford Site, Richland, Washington
10/01/1999
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/768420/
*****
Record of Decision: Hanford Comprehensive Land-Use Plan, Environmental Impact Statement
9/26/2008
https://regulations.vlex.com/vid/hanford-comprehensive-impact-statement-42935317
*****
... I would appreciate anyone who has wherewithal to wade through the complex legal jargon of those documents to pinpoint any ligitimate justification for that assertion. I do not have time, energy or mental acuity to accomplish that task - but it might help clarify the nature of this deadly game in which wee people are being played like pawns on a chessboard.
"ENERGY MATTERS"
https://kathleenallen.substack.com
*********
... courage, strength and deep thanks to all,
Kathleen
... peace in one breath ...
... one breath at a time ...
As Trump attempts to manipulate the Evangelical Radical Conservatives, The Florida Supreme Court goes ballistic on Abortion Rights ala DeSantis, but clumsily allows Abortion Right and Weed smoking on the Nov ballot AS TRUMP vacillates regarding his personal response to the Florida Court rulings
Abortion Rights is a hot button he wants avoid. He’s now stuck between his new target emphasis and the voters who will swarm to the polls to protect their freedoms
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/trump-wont-commit-on-florida-abortion-vote?r=34x82&utm_medium=ios
Did somebody say Antichrist?
Craig For Trump is Antichrist related to Judas Christ?
Thanks for the link Fern. The first image (in the article) is ghastly and terrifying. Heads bowed, hats doffed and all for the Antichrist, DJT! Much of the "Christian" propaganda is purported to originate from eastern European trolls. Clearly it falls on fertile ground. These deep divisions are developed and nurtured by Putin (et al) and serve him well.
Theocracy is the antithesis of democracy and a powerful minority seem perfectly fine with that.
Dear Bruce, the 'powerful minority' that you wrote of took my mind to the words 'deluded, 'lacking expansiveness'; 'turning their 'anger' and 'disappointment' against others. They are
the weak pawns gathered together by evil schemers bent on making the darkness and death
that lives in their lack of love and conscience; their demented need for 'power' and 'wealth'.
Hi Fern,
I of course agree with you that these folks are weak and deluded. But ... I think their movement is disproportionately powerful and we delude ourselves if we lose sight of that.
Trump, unbelievably, is running our foreign policy in Ukraine and he can only do this because of his cult following. This deluded mob can indeed destroy democracy and I think it behooves us to clearly recognize their power is real and horrifically dangerous.
Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you.
Trump has sensed that the fishing boat is leaking and that his ability to walk on water is suspect.
Appealing now to the most faithful of the True Believer Church of No Return, he takes his final stab at his insistence for loyalty among those that have forsaken Christ in favor of his status as The Chosen Savior we see on TV
His blasphemy will be his downfall. There aren’t as many Religious Koolaid drinkers as he thinks
What worked for Reagan isn't working for Trump for many reasons.
1) Trump split up hundreds of churches leaving the far-right fearful haters. Not a great base.
2) Reagan's evangelical support was mostly in the south where he needed the support to win the electoral college. Reagan had a more positive message for the evangelicals than Trump's, "I hate everyone that doesn't believe I am the messiah."
3) It is ok to not go to church now, but not as accepted in 1980.
4) Reagan's version of racism was way more subtle that the white faux-Christians nationalists.
5) Reagan knew better than to push his views on abortion and didn't pack the Supreme Court with theocrats. Sandra Day O'Conner turned out to be a very good jurist and made the road for RBG a little easier.
6) Trump support the patriarchy and hates women. Reagan was more subtle.
Reagan's biggest win was in the framing -- government is the enemy was the destruction of faith in our institutions, something Isaiah Berlin and Timothy Snyder warn us about in our need to be vigilant in securing our democratic republic.
And Nancy's "Just Say No!" doubled down on the "Welfare Queen" callousness -- total repudiation of charity/tolerance so essential to society.
I gasping for air !! I’m shocked 😳 😮
omg… « ..praying FOR god » !!??!? wtf 🤬 it’s too much and hopefully 🙏 no it Must Not Be too late. Yikes 😱
Separation of church and state?
“This country has a savior, and it’s not me — that’s someone much higher up than me,” Mr. Trump said in 2021 from the pulpit at First Baptist Church in Dallas, whose congregation exceeds 14,000 people.
"On Friday, former president Trump shared on social media a video of a truck with a decal showing President Joe Biden tied up and seemingly in the bed of the truck, in a position suggesting he was being kidnapped."
Zoom in and look more closely. The image seems even worse. The image that I saw showed President Biden with his hands and ankles tied up AND HE HAS A RED BULLET HOLE IN HIS FOREHEAD.
Bullet hole or not, DJT must be convicted of SOMETHING, ANYTHING that will put him in prison for the rest of his life.
I am beyond tired of gag orders being imposed with trump quickly violating them without consequences. Last week Jamelle Bouie wrote a piece questioning whether trump was above the law. The inability, or unwillingness, of the legal system to hold him accountable for his flagrant disregard of efforts to prevent his threats against whomever he wants proves, in essence, that he is above the law. And with every day that his actions are not held to account the message to his hard core supporters is that might does make right and that they too can hope to be unaccountable for their actions. Most people, if not all, have some familiarity with bullies and know that they become more powerful when their power, or appearance of power, is unchecked, and trump is nothing but a bully so when he says that his first act when elected will be to pardon the J6 patriots they have good reason to believe him.
While I understand the ambivalence, or perhaps fear, of putting him in jail, there must be consequences. No other American citizen could get away with what he is saying and doing, so perhaps it is time to stop holding cynicism at bay and accept that our justice system IS the best money can buy and there is no equal justice. Perhaps it's time to accept that our form of capitalism is fundamentally corrupt and only money matters. Time to accept that our political system is not a democracy but a plutocracy so the huzzahs for the 25 million raised at the star studded fundraising gala are truly the appropriate response. Maybe it's time to finally admit that our so-called exceptionalism may have had merit once upon a time, but those days are gone.
Barbara, I disagree with you, but 'I feel your pain'! Other than Aileen 'Loose' Cannon, I think the legal system and judges are more than willing to put the orange clown into an orange jumpsuit. E.g. Notes Trump's huge losses on his defamation and fraud trials. What makes everyone give this POS every break pre-trial is that they don't want a conviction getting reversed, so they are making everything 'airtight'. The Fani Willis nonsense about conflict, Immunity Claim now in Supreme Court are all a joke no other defendant would be so indulged. But removing all foreseeable issues on appeal increases the chances that the trial is a 'one and done', go directly to jail.
What about reducing his bond obligation from $454 M to $175M post trial, post judgement? The guy is an eel. He always slips by. Until he is actually jailed I will continue to believe he’s going to get away with it. All of it.
I agree with you and disagree with 100Panthers. I have no faith that the legal system will actually hold Trump responsible.
If any other “citizen” in the United States would threaten a judge’s child, he/she would be thrown in jail. WHY does this not happen to Trump? So many times I have heard the prosecutors say “no one is above the law.” Trump is making a mockery of the court system. Throw his sorry ass in jail.
Thank you, as always, Professor.
Thank you. Great summary. I don’t know how you do it. I’ve run out of words for how appalling it is that DT & his GOP serfs continue to get away with defying & circumventing the law. They just crawl along the precipice of legality, slinking along while tossing hand verbal grenades as they go. Twenty years ago, this would never have been tolerated by either party, let alone the SC. The moral bar has been set so low as to have become non existent. I wonder if we manage to dodge the DT bullet in 2024, if we’ll ever recover some sense of decency & normalcy.
Did you notice that no Trumplican's clapped at the SOTU Address when President Biden called for no political violence?
The Trumplican's live in fear. They have given up their most precious democratic freedom - the right of dissent! Ironically, they are the least free among us.
The Trumplican's have no interest in legislating when litigating supports their deceitful game plan. They have no interest in free and fair elections and will plot to seize power win or lose.Violence is a clear indicator of fascist RULE.
Every dictator or wannabee dictator glorifies violence.
"But this morning the company released its 2023 financial information, showing revenues of $4.1 million last year and a net loss of $58.2 million. "
Sounds like Reaganomics.
"But are the American people deeply divided? Or have Trump and his MAGA supporters driven the Republican Party off the rails?"
Is there an either/or here? The statements are not mutually exclusive. But I'd use a different metaphor.
Racist right wing religious extremists did not swallow the elephant whole. They ate it bite by bite before $#!tt!ng it out in their own image. A Trump presidency.
Meanwhile, big money donors who'd distanced themselves from Trump after Jan 6, are now back in the fold. Mitch McConnell is again hedging his bets on Trump. In anticipation, Leonard Leo is pouring millions into Project 2025. MAGA depends on true believers for whom Trump himself is transformational, opportunists for whom Trump is instrumental for the GOP agenda,, and those for whom a Trump win is irrelevant to their priorities.
Your description of the creation of the last presidency is SPOT ON!!
Excellent point, lin -- the perception is what's winning, not reality. American people disagree about some things but are not in arms about them, understanding that dialog and compromise are better than obstructionism and impromptu recesses.
Our Republican rep in the House has stated he supports trump for President. He is a 77 year old retired Lt. Colonel. In my thinking, he should have the integrity and the where with all to believe our nation should not choose as its leader a sexual predator, a person who openly supports violence against our neighbors, nor a person who openly supports Putin and friends. Yet, he stands by him like a good little soldier. He and his ilk, who are our”leaders” disgust me. He has so much support in our district that he will probably be re-elected. When we have such lowlife invading the Halls of Congress, supporting a madman, how will we ever turn things around? I read these Letters and comments every day. I know there are many who don’t support this. I hope someday things will be different yet I still fear that Cheetolinni could be re-elected. I hope and pray that there are enough of us who don’t want this for America. I just don’t understand how so many in Congress, let alone our fellow citizens continue to support such a person.
I'm not so sure that they support the person, surely not the real person, so much as it's the "side" that must win at any cost that takes on a life of it own in human consciousness. And of course opportunities like Trump do all they can to stir irrational outrage and ride the wave. IN the end, the rank and file will be the losers. It reminds me of homicidal road rage, and other such tragically violent conflicts over basically noting more substantial than ego.
I disagree, JL, I think they DO support the person and not the side--Haley was Trump policies without his baggage and she could have gotten their votes. They aren't voting policy or party, they are voting personality: Trump.
They support their projection on the person. Trump could sell faith healing and they would flock. But the (anti) "Republican" Party has been building an authoritarian infrastructure for decades, and Trump is by no means the only "GOP" creep with a fanatic following.
Thanks Dr. Richardson. It seems to me the GOP has been driven off the rails and we will find out for sure in November, if not sooner.
In the ramp-up to November encourage everyone VOTE BLUE.
A "wait and see" approach isn't going to do the job this time around. It's time to get aggressive.
Correct! This is what drives me to write postcards and letters to voters!!
If every like minded reader here could commit to just 5 or 10 to voters in swing states we could make a huge difference.
It takes only about 30 minutes of your time!
Please send that message to the DOJ and state prosecutors. I agree we have to out vote them. Vote Blue.
I agree with you Gary!!Vote💙💙💙💙!!!
About 3 years ago one of the faithful tried it for real...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-intentionally-derails-train-usns-mercy-navy-hospital-ship-port-los-angeles-coronavirus-crisis-feds/