Governor Walz's speech sounded like something Knute Rockne would have said had he been a politician. So glad the Democratic Party is opening the tent to R.I.N.O.es like me. Check out this four minute vid., if you have conservative kin who dislike the former President.
EDIT: there is no link for 'R.l.N.O.'; the last dot followed by es (domain for Spain, I suspect) confused the computer. Yeah! Cheap victory, but it is mine! If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
The Republican Party, the party of Conservatism, is gone. I left it when Ronald Reagan began the war on the Middle Class, fired the Air Traffic Controllers, turned the mentally and emotionally ill out onto the streets and began the massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the large corporations, resulting in transforming the USA into today's oligarchy.
Thank you for summing this up. I was an Independent for years, and often split my ticket. I keep bringing up Reagan. There is a direct line from his policies to the massive problem we have today with homelessness. And the Republican Party of today is directly responsible for the division we have not only in this country but within our families. As I keep telling people, this is not your fatherтАЩs Republican Party. LetтАЩs just send them to the woodshed in November so that they finally can get their act together.
HCR makes it very , very clear, IMO, that the contest is between the oligarchs and the rest of us. It's been that way since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. The tension between capital and labor is omnipresent. The fix must invariably be political. Without labor, there would/could be no capital. Lincoln summed it up nicely: "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights."
I neglected to reference HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War," which makes it clear that the war with the oligarchs is on-going. They (the oligarchs) are the "new South." They've virtually enslaved us in the 21st century with 806 American billionaires having the accumulated wealth equal to 1/2 of the American population. That's 806 vs. 163,000,000. Fewer than one thousand vs. one hundred and sixty-three million. Folks, we're an oligarchy, but we aren't the oligarchs.
I commented to a friend this week about how, when we were kids (the 50s & 60s) a designated very rich person was a millionaire, or maybe a 'multi-millionaire', but not a billionaire. I said I doubt most Americans can even CONCEIVE of how much wealth a billion dollars is. We think it's maybe like being a multi-millionaire in 1960 was. And we still think these are people who MAKE things we need and want. We haven't truly grasped that these are people who make their money off MONEY, and are aided by the lax tax laws and tax havens that have multipled like mushrooms after rain.
Richard, I'll mention the other thing you've neglected to mention, which is that Adam Smith agrees with you and Abraham Lincoln.
In his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Smith proposes using morality as the foundation for an economic system that he described in more detail in his next book, The Wealth of Nations (1776). I think of them as volumes 1 & 2 of the "capitalist manifesto."
Make sure that every fifth-grade student understands that the most important lesson is that we must all treat each other the way we would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot in every context. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, but less important. Result: every sixth grade student understands what Karl Marx and Bernie Sanders don't understand: it's NOT okay to be angry about capitalism. Instead, it's okay to be angry about the hypocrite oligarchs and their defenders who refer to themselves as capitalists without knowing the first thing about the subject.
Then along came Newt Gingrich. I remember noting how viscous he talked and wondering "what is this"? Now we know. He introduced the zero-sum game of anything goes in politics. He is the forerunner of the MAGA people today. He and Roger Stone of the Nixon era schooled the Republican Party leaders of today.
Barbara, I hope you'll appreciate this little story. We met Gingrich at Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls, VA almost 30 years ago. My feisty (and best) friend noticed he and his sour-faced wife coming into the restaurant and raised her arm. "Mr. Speaker," she called out. He came right over (wife glared and went to their table) and we actually had a friendly conversation about our mutual love for France. Today, I would have confronted him and there would have been a scene lol! Back then I wasn't particularly political. How that has changed....
In Heathers " To Make Men Free", it was when Newt comes on the scene that I found it impossible to read further. What a perfect name for a very small man with minuscule ideas.
The ante in the discord between the oligarchs and the workers has been raised significantly.
Now with the manifesto Project 2025 the stakes are higher than ever.
Do we want to live in a Russian dystopian authoritarian like Country? Because that is where the Republican Party wants to take us. And this is not hyperbole.
As many know, the official DJT presidential campaign is on Elon Musk's platform under the name of "Trump War Room" taking Bannon's digital banner "War Room" while Stevie is in jail.
I will be reporting this development for possible individual criminal acts under DOJ guidelines.
In the longer speech, Governor Walz described Project2025 as a play-book, saying, in effect, that, as a coach, he knew that when a team had a play-book, it used it. Taking it public shows to me what bubbles we live in. It was not a smart idea to release that paly-book with so much fan-fare. With so much reinforcement inside the echo-chamber, the authors and promoters seemed to think it would be well received. WRONG.
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
Was thinking about this before getting up this morning and how we've found ourselves in this situation. I believe a shift in values partially enabled hero worship of those accumulating extraordinary amounts of money; further, I believe it accelerated with Reagan.
Been that way since the Civil WarтАФactually since the inception, but was rejected in the Civil war then reinstated with Jim Crow and Industrial, now tech and oil/gas, oligarchs.
The USA turned its back on The Great Society, i remember in Canada they called it a "taxpayers' revolt", some mimicking of the USA in Canada, putting Canada's recently developed Medicare in some jeopardy with two-tier service proposals, extra billing, and hospital med fees. Thankfully that got "somewhat resolved". As in the US, deregulation became a mantra, the only thing it did was enrich the already well to do. And yes, de-institutionalizing the mental institutions based on a Charter of Rights mantra only dumped people haphazardly into underfunded homecare scenes. Many just ended on the streets. This was the era that soup kitchens began, and they have only grown since then. Churchwork, but not to begrudge that unique reservoir of good works in modern society.
Jesus said, "the poor will always be with us". I like to say "the rich will always be with us". An additional truth is that they DON'T need a leg up. Whatever the era, the rich have already found a way to take advantage of the system. Thus, they don't need regulatory or governmental help to increase their wealth or leverage. It's those who struggle to negotiate the system and thrive within it that deserve our attention and assistance.
In fact, if my shrinking grey matter serves at all (sic), the President tied for number-2 in my memory had a program of mainstreaming unthreatening and competent mental hospital long-term patients into half-way houses to leade lives of enhanced dignity. When he lost re-election, President Reagan cut the funding for the half-way houses. Great response, as always, Frank! Many thanks.
My mother who had worked in the dining facilities at Mt Holyoke College and the Belchertown State School (where my sister had worked in the office staff), saw the gut wrenching results of clearing out facilities that did once provide the best care for clients that was possible. My mother described the earlier reforms in such care came about largely from what I believe were the Amish and Menonite Conscientious Objectors during WWII that were given alternative service in mental institutions (while others were "allowed" to become test cases in clinical trials). My mother described the problems seeming to come when the dedicated and effective Conscientious Objector types finally retired and were too often replaced by what she called hippie incompetent, uncaring, new employees that had radical dreams about setting the clients free.
Many of the client's families couldn't begin to care for them and, though a number of family members would visit regularly, many didn't seem to have any family members visit. Before the School got its terrible reputation, they had established good relations with the townspeople in Belchertown, and were able to bring well chaperoned groups into events in town throughout the year. To hear the older dedicated workers describe the clients behaviors, you would think that they were at most 7 years old. Occaionally friends visiting our home would ask about people like one client who would, if allowed, into the kitchen and just start stuffing as much bread into his mouth as possible. In that case the visitor asked how old he was (expecting 7years old), but shocked to learn he was 64.
I believe my mother described 400,000 people in mental institutions when my mother worked at the school, and around 250,000 were de-institutionalized, with half of them dying "in the streets" while another half largely ended up filling prisons as the numbers grew.
My Uncle was very surprised to find one of his coworkers at an aerospace company had one child (of 4), that he and his wife had kept locked in a closet under the stairs for most of her 8 years (like some described in the Atlantic article).
Jim, I generally love Frontline, but stories like this that list individual horror stories about people with mental illness living independently do make me see red. The article mentioned that about 5% of 700+ people died and 5% moved into a higher level of care. That suggests 90% were living independently, which fits more closely with what I have seen over the past 40 years.
Yet the article focuses on a litany of the failures. Believe me when I say that one could provide a list of the similarly shocking failures in so-called adult care homes, which are poorly-regulated and have few standards of care, little staff and often no staff training or supervision.
The truth is that institutionalizing people creates vulnerable, exploited people. Supportive, scattered-site housing should be coupled with the funding, staffing, training and supervision that allows for individualized supports that titrate up and down based on the personтАЩs needs.
There will be failures. Anyone who has worked in protective services could offer many examples of people living independently who harm themselves and/or others who are not all mentally ill, nor have the majority been тАЬdeinstitutionalized.тАЭ
IтАЩm afraid that just as there has been a backlash against civil and womenтАЩs rights we may see a movement back to the тАЬgood old daysтАЭ of mass institutionalization. Especially when such care is privatized and profitable.
The Republican party of Dwight Eisenhower no longer exists. Nixon had a very selfish mindset. Then along came Reagan, who seemed affable and was good at delivering speeches. His policies were terrible for ordinary Americans. My husband, who worked for an industrial manufacturer, was very worried about keeping his job during recessions and layoffs, caused by Republican policies. I recall that people in Reagan's administration wanted to declare catsup to be a vegetable in school lunches. That's just plain greed. Reagan was supported by that mean, nasty bigot, Jesse Helms, who was MAGA ahead of the curve. Adulterous Newt Gingrich schooled Republicans in using extremist combative language to describe Democratic people and policies. He was great at soundbites. The party moved more to the libertarian side. Best I can tell, libertarians don't want any rules at all to govern their behavior. The Republicans promote policies favoring those who already have a goodly portion of the nation's resources. They are motivated by greed and a lust for power. They could care less about the country.
That Eisenhower Party is what my parents adhered to, though they liked Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. I have been like my mother more than my father: one foot on each side of the continental divide between liberalism and conservatism.
Trumps "speech"....or the jet stream of bullshit he spewed last night.......had to be the final nail in the coffin of the GOP. Thank the good Lord above for sites like this that are keeping truth, dignity and respect for humanity alive.
I wonder if Satan will even allow Donable Lector into hell even????
Reagan was the first of the frauds installed by corporate power as a tool to take over the country.
From him we got perhaps the last patriotic Republican HW, with his own problems. And screaming downhill to the moron W and the completion of the theft with the mentally ill drumpf.
Yes. Reaganomics, etc. never worked. Financial class gap widened creating disillusioned Americans that would vote in a want to be authoritarian like drumpf.
I have always thought the same of the Reagan administrations' policies. They were the wrong direction for a Democracy depending on participation of it's citizens.
Thank you, Richard! So well said. The party of Conservatism has morphed into the party of greed--a haven of sorts to self-serving people who care more about how much cash they have or can accumulate, who care only about someone's welfare if he's white, wealthy, and male. I remember very well the air traffic controller debacle and the homeless situation that evolved in Washington during the 1980's. I'll never forget meeting Mitch Snyder at his homeless shelter when I took my teenage daughters down to donate their winter coats. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. We've lost so much to so few....
Charity is really about the heart of the giver. Are you, as someone with more, willing to share with someone who has less? Charity, at best, is a band-aid on complex problems. Charity alone cannot carry the burden of addressing the need for a social safety net. The social safety net is evidence of how a society cares for its vulnerable citizens. Ayn Rand, the author whom Paul Ryan thought was brilliant on governmental funding issues, said, "Why should we look after the stupid people?" At the end of her life, she needed government benefits because her resources had dwindled. Ayn Rand was a selfish, mean spirited bitch.
My family is split on this issue of the role of private charity. I do not think private charity is enough, yet the impulse toward charity can and should inform policies. One thing of which I remain mindful is that these billionaires and others worth more than some level (e.g., $10 million) have much of the wealth tied up in options that can not be exercised in the short term. That reduces some of the capacity to pay for a welfare state.
Totally true. If one reads back during Bush years they too helped тАЬprivatizeтАЭ our Medicare so now it is completely run by big deeply crooked Insurance. Insurance that means they get rich and insure that you wonтАЩt!
My 40-something daughter tells me her younger friends also place the blame for it all going horribly wrong on Ronnie Raygun! I told her her granddad would be tickled to hear it. I can still see him on Sunday mornings, yelling at Face the Nation or the like, over Reagan. :p)
Well said. With the exception of H.W. Bush, the Republican presidents starting with Reagan were nothing but shills for the monied oligarchs. They went so far with Trump, most Americans, especially the younger generations, are beginning to see through their lies and scare tactics.
Hear, hear, Richard! I remember that from all the way "up" in Canada East, I could never stomach his "evil empire" rhetoric, and him a vote getter genius, sweeping on his 2nd term.
You , me. Twins! And donтАЩt forget ReaganтАЩs pettiness in defunding Legal Aid. I had the pleasure and honor to work with some of these dedicated and hard working defenders of justice back in the 1970тАЩs.
I first registered as a R because my father was standing over me. As I did, I thought I was not going to vote for many Rs. I never did in Indiana and only a few like Mark Hatfield here in Oregon. I have special loathing for Ray Gun exactly because of what Carol S. mentions. He also did in low income housing. My father lived long enough to listen to Rush, so I am thinking that at least in part, this is his R party. I have always wondered what he would think of death star.
He also dramatically cut support for education , social services, & job training programs, throwing millions of people out of work, including myself. Plus he cut work study benefits, which impacted my husband, who was a student during Reagan's tenure. I vowed during that time I would never vote for a Republican again.
Thank you for putting that fiasco in print. It needs to be there like a тАЬSmokey the BearтАЭ, billboard of the old days on highway adds.
So many are still sure Reagan was that sweet, jovial cowboy who was there for themтАж obviously just a puppet for the far тАЬdeepтАЭ right to steal and lie state.
I too was horrified at the monetizing of American values that occurred during the Regan years. I heartily endorse the following comments, which show that others were also noticing the leavening of the upper crust ...
Between them Kamala and Tim have created a slogan rich campaign, with meat behind the teeth, sales of t shirts, cups, posters, banners, signs , billboards, whatever and wherever. Do Dems go, RINOs of course most welcomed Ned. Who knows this might shift your general political universe a notch or more. Jesus was almost a radical "communist" after all, right?
Jesus was a radical communist for his time. It seems the true interpretation of Jesus teachings are radical and communist for our time, when they should be everyday norms.
How is "welcoming the stranger" ...."taking care of the widow"....."feeding the poor"......any part of being a communist??? Where in the teachings of Jesus does he praise "mass deportations"...."executing political enemies".....he never mentioned abortion once.
If anything, Jesus was a radical liberal of his day.
Susan, you are on the right track and there are no wrong answers here. Nobody on this site has any right to judge you at all. Empathy is so important........the far right has no concept of that. You are searching for the truth....keep going...you will find it.
Well in Acts the earliest disciples lived communally, and you know the fate of the married couple who "held back".... that didnt last. Paul never mentions anything like it. Then again, later on, monks arose living in isolation, and eventually orders practicing personal poverty, chastity and ... obedience!
Ned, I saw recently it referred to as тАЬKamalotтАЭтАж.nice ring to it! Tho I am a bit concerned that тАЬweтАЭ are so thirsty/needy of a fair and caring administration that we hang too many hopes & expectations upon their shoulders. Those who share this vision of a brighter future must be ready and willing to man the oars and do our part help propel us forwardтАж.as Joyce Vance says тАЬweтАЩre all in this togetherтАЭ!
Barbara, very wise counsel. The locus of power lies in the Congress. Presidential candidates who generate excitement often disappoint people when they assume the office. One can only do so much and the expectations fly right on by, heedless of this basic constraint.
Thank you! I love that he builds on тАЬweirdтАЭ to say the cruelty and corruption of the MAGAs is тАЬnot just weird,тАЭ calling them out on their litany of ills. I also love that he talks about food, which connects people to each other and to their memories. Genius. I had to look up Runza!!!
In actuality I thought all three speeches -- at least the ones I saw -- by Mrs Walz, Governor Walz, and his former student were worth a listen.
EDIT: Governor Walz is a great speaker. I wonder if President Lincoln Or William Jennings Bryan had that home-spun tone to their rhetoric. If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
Thanks, Ned. After watching it myself, I did send that on to someone who is not voting Trump, and feels kind of lost. He's warming to the Harris/Walz ticket.
You are welcome, Sandra. I voted for Secretary / Senator Clinton in 2016; voted for Vice President Biden in 2020; and, would have voted for President Biden again in 2024 because I was already comfortable with a President Harris should that contingency arise.
Me too, Ned! For 2024, tho BidenтАЩs age became тАЬa thingтАЭ (not so much in my mind), I saw Biden/Harris as a kind of Mobius loopтАж.both sides becoming one, so was not worried. I became disgusted & disheartened by the MSMтАЩs relentless drumbeat of тАЬBidenтАЩs oldтАЭ. I must admit, however, when Biden passed the baton on to Harris, I felt a thrum and tingle of excitement & energy I hadnтАЩt been aware IтАЩd been lacking.
Yeah, I understand that, too, Barbara; Vice President Harris actually brings some joy to politics President Biden had impressed me as intending to serve for one term, so I was disappointed when he announced for re-election because he seemed so frail, not incapacitated. I am sure his ego is bruised and feelings are hurt; I hope President Biden can take solace from several of our better or more effective Presidents -- Presidents Polk, Taft, Ford, Carter, H.W. Bush, and, now, Biden -- serving four years or less.
Ned, IMHO, he hit it out of the ballpark with the 4 he has (still not done yet!!!). AND he did a solid in passing the torch to KamalaтАж.one for the history books for sureтАжwhat a legacyтАж.somewhere Beau is saying тАЬway to go Dad!!!тАЭ.
Thanks for the link, Ned. Great speech. I like welcoming RINOтАЩs but more than that we should listen to their views and take them into consideration. We Liberals and Progressives have our values, but not all the answers. LetтАЩs have a dialogue and find out where we have common ground and can move forward. That was the essence of TimтАЩs speech.
I agree. I wonder if Senator Vance will duck a debate. Governor Walz will castrate him on national television as the phoney opportunist that he is: 1,000% ambition and .1% principle. One of my best buds from my Southern college grew up in a professional family in Appalachia. At my frat-house reunion this summer, he nailed Senator Vance. ┬┐His take? "Appalachia is not uniformly like this. Okay, J.D., so you grew up in a dysfunctional family. Keep it to yourself., **s-hole.
There is just something about Vance that is so dark and brings out people's innate survival gut reaction of hatred for the guy. He functions as the exposure of the dark, dark place of the MAGA Republican Party. I think these people are evil. And I never throw that around casually. We must, must defeat them.
I regret to say that I can not keep up with these stimulating comments. ЁЯШп I am in transit. Many of y'all are speaking to one another and that is great. ЁЯШК While I lived in N.Y.C. long enough to know how to take credit where it is not due, this time I will 'permit' that credit to flow through to its proper object: Governor Walz. ЁЯШЙ
Plenty of Republicans are standing by. Those in states where Vice President Harris will win decisively may vote Libertarian so that Party can get matching funds. Democratic voters in deep red or blue states may vote for Dr Jill Stein.
If you want to hear the wole speech, you can click on the link above the title of the clip titled, "Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz Campaigns in Omaha, Nebraska."
Angela, as am I. I remember the 1968 convention very well. My husband and I were visiting my grandmother, who mainly slept, but awoke long enough to make a racist comment. Also saw Vidal/Buckley on TV before it was taken off.
Wow! What a stunning photo! Looking forward to hearing your observations of the convention.
Governor Walz's speech sounded like something Knute Rockne would have said had he been a politician. So glad the Democratic Party is opening the tent to R.I.N.O.es like me. Check out this four minute vid., if you have conservative kin who dislike the former President.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5128585/user-clip-governor-walzs-plea-traditional-republicans
EDIT: there is no link for 'R.l.N.O.'; the last dot followed by es (domain for Spain, I suspect) confused the computer. Yeah! Cheap victory, but it is mine! If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
The Republican Party, the party of Conservatism, is gone. I left it when Ronald Reagan began the war on the Middle Class, fired the Air Traffic Controllers, turned the mentally and emotionally ill out onto the streets and began the massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the large corporations, resulting in transforming the USA into today's oligarchy.
Thank you for summing this up. I was an Independent for years, and often split my ticket. I keep bringing up Reagan. There is a direct line from his policies to the massive problem we have today with homelessness. And the Republican Party of today is directly responsible for the division we have not only in this country but within our families. As I keep telling people, this is not your fatherтАЩs Republican Party. LetтАЩs just send them to the woodshed in November so that they finally can get their act together.
HCR makes it very , very clear, IMO, that the contest is between the oligarchs and the rest of us. It's been that way since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. The tension between capital and labor is omnipresent. The fix must invariably be political. Without labor, there would/could be no capital. Lincoln summed it up nicely: "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights."
I neglected to reference HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War," which makes it clear that the war with the oligarchs is on-going. They (the oligarchs) are the "new South." They've virtually enslaved us in the 21st century with 806 American billionaires having the accumulated wealth equal to 1/2 of the American population. That's 806 vs. 163,000,000. Fewer than one thousand vs. one hundred and sixty-three million. Folks, we're an oligarchy, but we aren't the oligarchs.
I commented to a friend this week about how, when we were kids (the 50s & 60s) a designated very rich person was a millionaire, or maybe a 'multi-millionaire', but not a billionaire. I said I doubt most Americans can even CONCEIVE of how much wealth a billion dollars is. We think it's maybe like being a multi-millionaire in 1960 was. And we still think these are people who MAKE things we need and want. We haven't truly grasped that these are people who make their money off MONEY, and are aided by the lax tax laws and tax havens that have multipled like mushrooms after rain.
Richard, I'll mention the other thing you've neglected to mention, which is that Adam Smith agrees with you and Abraham Lincoln.
In his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Smith proposes using morality as the foundation for an economic system that he described in more detail in his next book, The Wealth of Nations (1776). I think of them as volumes 1 & 2 of the "capitalist manifesto."
Make sure that every fifth-grade student understands that the most important lesson is that we must all treat each other the way we would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot in every context. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, but less important. Result: every sixth grade student understands what Karl Marx and Bernie Sanders don't understand: it's NOT okay to be angry about capitalism. Instead, it's okay to be angry about the hypocrite oligarchs and their defenders who refer to themselves as capitalists without knowing the first thing about the subject.
more like, I think, 806 vs. 330 million, unless you're counting registered voters or perhaps the active workforce.
That one should be required reading not in history but social studies.
It is much more powerful when you illustrate the actual numbers of humans as opposed to a percentage. Thanks Richard.
Thank you for jogging my memory to read this book, just ordered it!
Oops, didnтАЩt see this before replying to your previous, here amended, comment.
Then along came Newt Gingrich. I remember noting how viscous he talked and wondering "what is this"? Now we know. He introduced the zero-sum game of anything goes in politics. He is the forerunner of the MAGA people today. He and Roger Stone of the Nixon era schooled the Republican Party leaders of today.
Don't forget Grover Norquist, of No New Taxes fame.
Yes, I agree 100%. Gingrich's influence on American politics is ugly, harmful and counterproductive.
Oh, Barbara! Thanks for bringing up that toad. Yes, he set the tone that has brought us to Jim Jordan and Donald Trump.
Barbara, I hope you'll appreciate this little story. We met Gingrich at Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls, VA almost 30 years ago. My feisty (and best) friend noticed he and his sour-faced wife coming into the restaurant and raised her arm. "Mr. Speaker," she called out. He came right over (wife glared and went to their table) and we actually had a friendly conversation about our mutual love for France. Today, I would have confronted him and there would have been a scene lol! Back then I wasn't particularly political. How that has changed....
In Heathers " To Make Men Free", it was when Newt comes on the scene that I found it impossible to read further. What a perfect name for a very small man with minuscule ideas.
You got it Barbara.
The ante in the discord between the oligarchs and the workers has been raised significantly.
Now with the manifesto Project 2025 the stakes are higher than ever.
Do we want to live in a Russian dystopian authoritarian like Country? Because that is where the Republican Party wants to take us. And this is not hyperbole.
As many know, the official DJT presidential campaign is on Elon Musk's platform under the name of "Trump War Room" taking Bannon's digital banner "War Room" while Stevie is in jail.
I will be reporting this development for possible individual criminal acts under DOJ guidelines.
In the longer speech, Governor Walz described Project2025 as a play-book, saying, in effect, that, as a coach, he knew that when a team had a play-book, it used it. Taking it public shows to me what bubbles we live in. It was not a smart idea to release that paly-book with so much fan-fare. With so much reinforcement inside the echo-chamber, the authors and promoters seemed to think it would be well received. WRONG.
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
Yes! Do you think that the UAW endorsement of Harris/Walz is significant?
Was thinking about this before getting up this morning and how we've found ourselves in this situation. I believe a shift in values partially enabled hero worship of those accumulating extraordinary amounts of money; further, I believe it accelerated with Reagan.
In the case of the former President, more like zero-worship.
Been that way since the beginning of time or, at least, since land was divvied up among nobles.
Been that way since the Civil WarтАФactually since the inception, but was rejected in the Civil war then reinstated with Jim Crow and Industrial, now tech and oil/gas, oligarchs.
And railroad oligarchs.
that, more than anything else i've read, is a test for who gets to call themselves "the party of Lincoln". and it sure as Shinola ain't the GQP.
Thanks, Richard, for that great post.
The USA turned its back on The Great Society, i remember in Canada they called it a "taxpayers' revolt", some mimicking of the USA in Canada, putting Canada's recently developed Medicare in some jeopardy with two-tier service proposals, extra billing, and hospital med fees. Thankfully that got "somewhat resolved". As in the US, deregulation became a mantra, the only thing it did was enrich the already well to do. And yes, de-institutionalizing the mental institutions based on a Charter of Rights mantra only dumped people haphazardly into underfunded homecare scenes. Many just ended on the streets. This was the era that soup kitchens began, and they have only grown since then. Churchwork, but not to begrudge that unique reservoir of good works in modern society.
Jesus said, "the poor will always be with us". I like to say "the rich will always be with us". An additional truth is that they DON'T need a leg up. Whatever the era, the rich have already found a way to take advantage of the system. Thus, they don't need regulatory or governmental help to increase their wealth or leverage. It's those who struggle to negotiate the system and thrive within it that deserve our attention and assistance.
In fact, if my shrinking grey matter serves at all (sic), the President tied for number-2 in my memory had a program of mainstreaming unthreatening and competent mental hospital long-term patients into half-way houses to leade lives of enhanced dignity. When he lost re-election, President Reagan cut the funding for the half-way houses. Great response, as always, Frank! Many thanks.
I was looking for the study that showed 1/3rd of all mentally ill "allowed" to live independently in their own subsidized apartment died with in a year. I believe it was in NYC, though I couldn't find that quotes in the Frontline story at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/mentally-ill-new-york-living-independently-housing/
My mother who had worked in the dining facilities at Mt Holyoke College and the Belchertown State School (where my sister had worked in the office staff), saw the gut wrenching results of clearing out facilities that did once provide the best care for clients that was possible. My mother described the earlier reforms in such care came about largely from what I believe were the Amish and Menonite Conscientious Objectors during WWII that were given alternative service in mental institutions (while others were "allowed" to become test cases in clinical trials). My mother described the problems seeming to come when the dedicated and effective Conscientious Objector types finally retired and were too often replaced by what she called hippie incompetent, uncaring, new employees that had radical dreams about setting the clients free.
Many of the client's families couldn't begin to care for them and, though a number of family members would visit regularly, many didn't seem to have any family members visit. Before the School got its terrible reputation, they had established good relations with the townspeople in Belchertown, and were able to bring well chaperoned groups into events in town throughout the year. To hear the older dedicated workers describe the clients behaviors, you would think that they were at most 7 years old. Occaionally friends visiting our home would ask about people like one client who would, if allowed, into the kitchen and just start stuffing as much bread into his mouth as possible. In that case the visitor asked how old he was (expecting 7years old), but shocked to learn he was 64.
I believe my mother described 400,000 people in mental institutions when my mother worked at the school, and around 250,000 were de-institutionalized, with half of them dying "in the streets" while another half largely ended up filling prisons as the numbers grew.
A more authoritative source is at https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/05/truth-about-deinstitutionalization/618986/
My Uncle was very surprised to find one of his coworkers at an aerospace company had one child (of 4), that he and his wife had kept locked in a closet under the stairs for most of her 8 years (like some described in the Atlantic article).
Jim, I generally love Frontline, but stories like this that list individual horror stories about people with mental illness living independently do make me see red. The article mentioned that about 5% of 700+ people died and 5% moved into a higher level of care. That suggests 90% were living independently, which fits more closely with what I have seen over the past 40 years.
Yet the article focuses on a litany of the failures. Believe me when I say that one could provide a list of the similarly shocking failures in so-called adult care homes, which are poorly-regulated and have few standards of care, little staff and often no staff training or supervision.
The truth is that institutionalizing people creates vulnerable, exploited people. Supportive, scattered-site housing should be coupled with the funding, staffing, training and supervision that allows for individualized supports that titrate up and down based on the personтАЩs needs.
There will be failures. Anyone who has worked in protective services could offer many examples of people living independently who harm themselves and/or others who are not all mentally ill, nor have the majority been тАЬdeinstitutionalized.тАЭ
IтАЩm afraid that just as there has been a backlash against civil and womenтАЩs rights we may see a movement back to the тАЬgood old daysтАЭ of mass institutionalization. Especially when such care is privatized and profitable.
Thank you, Frank. Shattering, to say the least.
Very well said and an interesting observation on the Canadian issue.
The Republican party of Dwight Eisenhower no longer exists. Nixon had a very selfish mindset. Then along came Reagan, who seemed affable and was good at delivering speeches. His policies were terrible for ordinary Americans. My husband, who worked for an industrial manufacturer, was very worried about keeping his job during recessions and layoffs, caused by Republican policies. I recall that people in Reagan's administration wanted to declare catsup to be a vegetable in school lunches. That's just plain greed. Reagan was supported by that mean, nasty bigot, Jesse Helms, who was MAGA ahead of the curve. Adulterous Newt Gingrich schooled Republicans in using extremist combative language to describe Democratic people and policies. He was great at soundbites. The party moved more to the libertarian side. Best I can tell, libertarians don't want any rules at all to govern their behavior. The Republicans promote policies favoring those who already have a goodly portion of the nation's resources. They are motivated by greed and a lust for power. They could care less about the country.
That Eisenhower Party is what my parents adhered to, though they liked Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. I have been like my mother more than my father: one foot on each side of the continental divide between liberalism and conservatism.
Trumps "speech"....or the jet stream of bullshit he spewed last night.......had to be the final nail in the coffin of the GOP. Thank the good Lord above for sites like this that are keeping truth, dignity and respect for humanity alive.
I wonder if Satan will even allow Donable Lector into hell even????
Reagan wanted govt to do lessтАФfor ordinary people, at least.
The line goes back further, to Goldwater, Nixon and the Southern Strategy that co-opted racism and made it respectable again.
Yes, thank you. An independent who sees truth.
Reagan was the first of the frauds installed by corporate power as a tool to take over the country.
From him we got perhaps the last patriotic Republican HW, with his own problems. And screaming downhill to the moron W and the completion of the theft with the mentally ill drumpf.
And much or most of Project2025 is Reaganism 2.0 with the typically snide asides from kulturkampfers.
Yes. Reaganomics, etc. never worked. Financial class gap widened creating disillusioned Americans that would vote in a want to be authoritarian like drumpf.
Also, so well said Carol (I just replied to Richard's post above yours).
I have always thought the same of the Reagan administrations' policies. They were the wrong direction for a Democracy depending on participation of it's citizens.
Thank you, Richard! So well said. The party of Conservatism has morphed into the party of greed--a haven of sorts to self-serving people who care more about how much cash they have or can accumulate, who care only about someone's welfare if he's white, wealthy, and male. I remember very well the air traffic controller debacle and the homeless situation that evolved in Washington during the 1980's. I'll never forget meeting Mitch Snyder at his homeless shelter when I took my teenage daughters down to donate their winter coats. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. We've lost so much to so few....
Charity is really about the heart of the giver. Are you, as someone with more, willing to share with someone who has less? Charity, at best, is a band-aid on complex problems. Charity alone cannot carry the burden of addressing the need for a social safety net. The social safety net is evidence of how a society cares for its vulnerable citizens. Ayn Rand, the author whom Paul Ryan thought was brilliant on governmental funding issues, said, "Why should we look after the stupid people?" At the end of her life, she needed government benefits because her resources had dwindled. Ayn Rand was a selfish, mean spirited bitch.
My family is split on this issue of the role of private charity. I do not think private charity is enough, yet the impulse toward charity can and should inform policies. One thing of which I remain mindful is that these billionaires and others worth more than some level (e.g., $10 million) have much of the wealth tied up in options that can not be exercised in the short term. That reduces some of the capacity to pay for a welfare state.
Yes Linda,
Totally true. If one reads back during Bush years they too helped тАЬprivatizeтАЭ our Medicare so now it is completely run by big deeply crooked Insurance. Insurance that means they get rich and insure that you wonтАЩt!
My 40-something daughter tells me her younger friends also place the blame for it all going horribly wrong on Ronnie Raygun! I told her her granddad would be tickled to hear it. I can still see him on Sunday mornings, yelling at Face the Nation or the like, over Reagan. :p)
Well said. With the exception of H.W. Bush, the Republican presidents starting with Reagan were nothing but shills for the monied oligarchs. They went so far with Trump, most Americans, especially the younger generations, are beginning to see through their lies and scare tactics.
Gina, youтАЩd better hope so!!!!
Hear, hear, Richard! I remember that from all the way "up" in Canada East, I could never stomach his "evil empire" rhetoric, and him a vote getter genius, sweeping on his 2nd term.
So grateful for this beautiful summary--this really was the turning point, and those two cruel moves were a foreshadowing of what was to come.
I loath the word "conservatism" unless it refers to the planet we live on.
Well, l intend to read John Burke.
You , me. Twins! And donтАЩt forget ReaganтАЩs pettiness in defunding Legal Aid. I had the pleasure and honor to work with some of these dedicated and hard working defenders of justice back in the 1970тАЩs.
I first registered as a R because my father was standing over me. As I did, I thought I was not going to vote for many Rs. I never did in Indiana and only a few like Mark Hatfield here in Oregon. I have special loathing for Ray Gun exactly because of what Carol S. mentions. He also did in low income housing. My father lived long enough to listen to Rush, so I am thinking that at least in part, this is his R party. I have always wondered what he would think of death star.
Exactly how I remember it.
He also dramatically cut support for education , social services, & job training programs, throwing millions of people out of work, including myself. Plus he cut work study benefits, which impacted my husband, who was a student during Reagan's tenure. I vowed during that time I would never vote for a Republican again.
Dear Richard,
Thank you for putting that fiasco in print. It needs to be there like a тАЬSmokey the BearтАЭ, billboard of the old days on highway adds.
So many are still sure Reagan was that sweet, jovial cowboy who was there for themтАж obviously just a puppet for the far тАЬdeepтАЭ right to steal and lie state.
Amen! Well-stated brother. I to left the party because of Reagan's destruction years. Now a diehard Democrat.
I too was horrified at the monetizing of American values that occurred during the Regan years. I heartily endorse the following comments, which show that others were also noticing the leavening of the upper crust ...
Between them Kamala and Tim have created a slogan rich campaign, with meat behind the teeth, sales of t shirts, cups, posters, banners, signs , billboards, whatever and wherever. Do Dems go, RINOs of course most welcomed Ned. Who knows this might shift your general political universe a notch or more. Jesus was almost a radical "communist" after all, right?
Jesus was a radical communist for his time. It seems the true interpretation of Jesus teachings are radical and communist for our time, when they should be everyday norms.
How is "welcoming the stranger" ...."taking care of the widow"....."feeding the poor"......any part of being a communist??? Where in the teachings of Jesus does he praise "mass deportations"...."executing political enemies".....he never mentioned abortion once.
If anything, Jesus was a radical liberal of his day.
I guess communist applies to Jesus only in he believed in sharing whatever he had. Maybe my idea of communist is incorrect .
Susan, you are on the right track and there are no wrong answers here. Nobody on this site has any right to judge you at all. Empathy is so important........the far right has no concept of that. You are searching for the truth....keep going...you will find it.
Well in Acts the earliest disciples lived communally, and you know the fate of the married couple who "held back".... that didnt last. Paul never mentions anything like it. Then again, later on, monks arose living in isolation, and eventually orders practicing personal poverty, chastity and ... obedience!
I remember thinking, at my well-to-do college, ┬┐what would happen if J.C. went to a frat party?
┬┐Bring back Camelot with Kamala?
Ned, I saw recently it referred to as тАЬKamalotтАЭтАж.nice ring to it! Tho I am a bit concerned that тАЬweтАЭ are so thirsty/needy of a fair and caring administration that we hang too many hopes & expectations upon their shoulders. Those who share this vision of a brighter future must be ready and willing to man the oars and do our part help propel us forwardтАж.as Joyce Vance says тАЬweтАЩre all in this togetherтАЭ!
Barbara, very wise counsel. The locus of power lies in the Congress. Presidential candidates who generate excitement often disappoint people when they assume the office. One can only do so much and the expectations fly right on by, heedless of this basic constraint.
HereтАЩs a wonderful sermon speaking to this point about what Jesus taught versus the poison of Christian Nationalism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blph_2RSBno
The full speech is even better:
https://youtu.be/tZU1_r2e5N4?si=jDa_P4ib6CMCWgfq
Thank you. Tim is good, very good.
Thank you! I love that he builds on тАЬweirdтАЭ to say the cruelty and corruption of the MAGAs is тАЬnot just weird,тАЭ calling them out on their litany of ills. I also love that he talks about food, which connects people to each other and to their memories. Genius. I had to look up Runza!!!
In actuality I thought all three speeches -- at least the ones I saw -- by Mrs Walz, Governor Walz, and his former student were worth a listen.
EDIT: Governor Walz is a great speaker. I wonder if President Lincoln Or William Jennings Bryan had that home-spun tone to their rhetoric. If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
Thanks, Ned. After watching it myself, I did send that on to someone who is not voting Trump, and feels kind of lost. He's warming to the Harris/Walz ticket.
That gives me hope...when a Trump leaning person begins to have doubts about Trump's messaging begins to hear the true meaning of freedom.
You are welcome, Sandra. I voted for Secretary / Senator Clinton in 2016; voted for Vice President Biden in 2020; and, would have voted for President Biden again in 2024 because I was already comfortable with a President Harris should that contingency arise.
Me too, Ned! For 2024, tho BidenтАЩs age became тАЬa thingтАЭ (not so much in my mind), I saw Biden/Harris as a kind of Mobius loopтАж.both sides becoming one, so was not worried. I became disgusted & disheartened by the MSMтАЩs relentless drumbeat of тАЬBidenтАЩs oldтАЭ. I must admit, however, when Biden passed the baton on to Harris, I felt a thrum and tingle of excitement & energy I hadnтАЩt been aware IтАЩd been lacking.
Yeah, I understand that, too, Barbara; Vice President Harris actually brings some joy to politics President Biden had impressed me as intending to serve for one term, so I was disappointed when he announced for re-election because he seemed so frail, not incapacitated. I am sure his ego is bruised and feelings are hurt; I hope President Biden can take solace from several of our better or more effective Presidents -- Presidents Polk, Taft, Ford, Carter, H.W. Bush, and, now, Biden -- serving four years or less.
Ned, IMHO, he hit it out of the ballpark with the 4 he has (still not done yet!!!). AND he did a solid in passing the torch to KamalaтАж.one for the history books for sureтАжwhat a legacyтАж.somewhere Beau is saying тАЬway to go Dad!!!тАЭ.
Born and raised in Kansas and as atheist and progressive as they come, I loved what he had to say.
Yes the Republican Party used to be respectable.
It's been taken over by a fascist movement at the behest of corporate power in the form of a mentally ill reality tv fraud.
And yes, freedom is having the government stay the hell out of personal decisions.
And I'll be damned if I'll pay for the religious indoctrination of innocent children. You want to do that, it's on you.
This Minnesotan is proud to contribute Governor Tim Walz to the fight! HeтАЩs the real deal. Thanks for the clip. ThatтАЩs our Gov! тЭдя╕П
Thanks for the link, Ned. Great speech. I like welcoming RINOтАЩs but more than that we should listen to their views and take them into consideration. We Liberals and Progressives have our values, but not all the answers. LetтАЩs have a dialogue and find out where we have common ground and can move forward. That was the essence of TimтАЩs speech.
Vice President Harris impresses me as being pretty open-minded. We shall see.
He's brilliant.
I agree. I wonder if Senator Vance will duck a debate. Governor Walz will castrate him on national television as the phoney opportunist that he is: 1,000% ambition and .1% principle. One of my best buds from my Southern college grew up in a professional family in Appalachia. At my frat-house reunion this summer, he nailed Senator Vance. ┬┐His take? "Appalachia is not uniformly like this. Okay, J.D., so you grew up in a dysfunctional family. Keep it to yourself., **s-hole.
There is just something about Vance that is so dark and brings out people's innate survival gut reaction of hatred for the guy. He functions as the exposure of the dark, dark place of the MAGA Republican Party. I think these people are evil. And I never throw that around casually. We must, must defeat them.
I regret to say that I can not keep up with these stimulating comments. ЁЯШп I am in transit. Many of y'all are speaking to one another and that is great. ЁЯШК While I lived in N.Y.C. long enough to know how to take credit where it is not due, this time I will 'permit' that credit to flow through to its proper object: Governor Walz. ЁЯШЙ
Thanks! I hope all your friends will vote this year and help turn this around! Dems cannot do it without Republican and Independents joining in.
Plenty of Republicans are standing by. Those in states where Vice President Harris will win decisively may vote Libertarian so that Party can get matching funds. Democratic voters in deep red or blue states may vote for Dr Jill Stein.
Mr McDoodle, thank you for the link of тАЬVice President тАЬ WalzтАЩs speech. Man what an inspiring and unifying speech.
If you want to hear the wole speech, you can click on the link above the title of the clip titled, "Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz Campaigns in Omaha, Nebraska."
Love Richard's Comment this am in response to listening to Tom Walz's talk on CSPAN reported in last night's LFAA and this short clip (offered by Commentor Ned) of Walz's talk. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5128585/user-clip-governor-walzs-plea-traditional-republicans
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
Thank you for sharing this.
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
Thank you, Ned. I just posted on FB.
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
Very inspirational C-SPAN video, with a lot of enthusiasm, from a rousing speech. Thanks for sharing.
If one wishes to hear the whole speech, here it is.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537741-1/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-tim-walz-campaigns-omaha-nebraska
This is soooo good I printed it out and it is now in my office. It's perfect.
Ditto!
Agree on both points
Angela, as am I. I remember the 1968 convention very well. My husband and I were visiting my grandmother, who mainly slept, but awoke long enough to make a racist comment. Also saw Vidal/Buckley on TV before it was taken off.