In a sign of just how rough things have been lately, I read the news today and thought, “Oh, good. Nothing much has happened today, so tonight’s Letter can focus on tonight’s Democratic National Convention.” Here’s the “nothing much”: This morning, Trump urged Americans not to buy Goodyear tires because of a rumor that the company had banned MAGA hats. Goodyear tweeted that its policy had been misconstrued, but Goodyear stock dropped more than 2% after the president’s tweet. The company’s headquarters are in Akron, Ohio, a city in an important swing state for the upcoming election. Goodyear employs about 63,000 people. But if his call for a boycott hurts the company, Trump said, workers will “be able to get another good job."
Stealing a line from a great movie with a bit of modernization: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy 76 nights." It's gping to get worse and worse and worse, and we'd best be willing to do what Thomas Friedman wrote in today's NYT (can't believe I am quoting him):
“Personally, I will walk, I will jog, I will skip, I will crawl, I will slither, I will bike, I will hike, I will hitchhike, I will drive, I will ride, I will run, I will fly, I will roll, I will be rolled, I will be carried, I will trek, I will train, I will trot, I will truck, I will strut, I will float, I will boat, I will ramble, I will amble, I will march, I will bus, I will taxi, I will Uber, Lyft, scooter, skateboard or motorcycle — and I will wear a face mask, a face shield, gloves, goggles, a hazmat suit, a spacesuit or a wet suit — but I damn well will get to my neighborhood polling station to see that my vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is cast and counted.”
President Obama gave a somber, powerful speech that left me frozen and speechless in its implications. It was the speech of a senior statesman, not a politician. It was a speech of someone who loves this country and its people. It reminded me of President Lyndon Johnson's speech where he said he would not run for reelection and would focus on ending the Vietnam War. He became a statesman in that moment. President Obama became a true statesman this evening. We need him.
I bused to and from DC for the Women's March on January 21, 2017. My young adult grand-daughter marched with me/us. I remember the massive display of outrage and disgust about the horrible election outcome. That day, fear was more an undercurrent than the driving force. The naïve hope among many of us was that Republican-elected trump would surround himself with top-drawer experts, if for no other reason than to make himself look presidential. What the more naïve among us (raises hand) did not fully understand was the depth and breadth of treachery that has led to trump's rise to abusive power.
Giving the devils their due, far right-Republicans (long before they knew trump would be their vehicle, making them trump-Republicans) were brilliant in their decades-long undermining of our democracy. Engineering appointments/elections of judges and down-ticket radicals in states, counties, cities. Patiently eye-balling and setting the stage for eventual majorities in the FCC, the USPS board of governors, etc., etc.
Meanwhile, most (though not all) Americans breezed along or valiantly struggled in our own lives, our own small segments of the population as a whole.
I believe the DNC was complicit in what has morphed into an epic crisis. Mostly via its myopic obsession with perpetuating the same old, same old. I'm pretty sure I know only part of that story, even though I was an entrenched Party animal for a very long time.
So there's my mini-retrospective, blame, regret.
At this late date, the only weapon we have is The Vote. That's no small thing. But once again, even knowing treachery is happening, even our voting is being seriously compromised. It's hard to keep hope springing eternal.
I trust that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will, for the most part, do the right things, given the chance. I will vote for them, no matter the obstacles. The Convention seems to be igniting a spark of hope. But it's not an eternal flame. We're having four days of close encounters with what we believe to be the right side of history. Powerful stuff. But at least literally, that support system ends tonight.
What comes to mind is this Zen saying: After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. On we go.
Yes, it's heartening with the hope for Biden/Harris despite their centrist stances. But at least two things stand in the way, not including Trump's (and the RNC's) voter suppression. First, we have the DNC still pushing centrist agendas and attempting to sideline AOC and other young progressives who speak for a huge portion of the country. Alienating this group may end up losing votes to apathy.
Secondly, Dark Money from corporations and who-knows whom. And Heather, if you see my post, I'd love a post on the Dark Money, the history and such. This is really unbelievable. This must be stopped. One way, as I mentioned before in a post two weeks ago or so, would be to simply limit campaign spending for all candidates. This is done here in Austria, where I reside, and in the last elections, one party was fined for overspending. (FPÖ, basically the Austrian Tea Party).
But what is strange to me (although typical in the modern USA), I donated money to Omar's campaign as well as Rashida Tlaib's campaign when I realized the DNC was trying to oust them. And in the process, the Act Blue site reminds that we are limited to a certain amount as to what we can donate. And I thought, WTF? (Excuse the "language.) Does Citizen's United only apply to corporate pseudo-individuals? I am limited in what I can donate but the Koch Brothers are not?
That yesterday was considered a "slow news day" shows how much damage Trump has done to the national psyche. He calls for a boycott of an American company based on a fake story; he loves that QAnon - a tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy cult - considers him a hero; the USPS Board of Governors are refusing to disclose what should be public information; the USPS Postmaster General is refusing to reverse disastrous policies in the face of public outrage; and the evidence that the Trump campaign did, in fact, collude with Russia, as per a Republican-led Intelligence Committee report, just keeps piling up - without any Republicans in the House or Senate standing up to demand answers. Trump's awful and illegal words and actions are so many, none can get traction before something more awful or illegal comes out. Thanks you, Heather, for keeping track - you are recording the answers to the question Senator Harris asked last night: "Where were you when the stakes were so high?"
In regard to "Senate Intelligence Report on connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives is beginning to attract...media notice..." there is terrible breaking news just as Heather posted this Letter.
Alexei Navalny is a Russian anti-Putin activist who founded the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and sought to expose Paul Manafort's boss's connection to Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election. Today on a flight from Siberia to Moscow, Navalny became ill and is currently hospitalized, unconscious and on a ventilator, apparently from having been poisoned.
Thank you, Heather, for the summary of the daily diet of outrageous dreck from OOO-45 and minions. And thank you for closing by reminding me of how I felt during and after the convention tonight. I feel hopeful again. I know there are barriers, and I thoroughly appreciated Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton naming Mitch McConnell as one of the architects of our current horror show, reminding us that the policies discussed tonight and last night will not be easy to win. But I am hopeful, for a change. I AM hopeful.
My first thoughts go back to the 2 world Wars of the 20th C. Firstly to Britain's 1914-18 Lord Kitchener army recruitment poster "Your Country Needs You" and to Churchill's post-Dunkirk speech "We wil go on to the end,...we will fight on the beaches, we'll fight in the streets...we will fight with growing confidence and growing strength, we shall defend...at what ever cost...we will never surrender ..untill the New World steps forward, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the old" (please excuse the minor editing for the occasion).
The enemy is the same..only now it is here in the USA.
1. Given that “Trump has remade the Republican Party in his image“ then the GOP will crumble when Trump is gone. All they are is Trump, a reality TV actor, starring in his one-man show. Trump’s not a typical party leader. He has no guiding philosophy, no sense of his place in history, no strategy. He’s just a black hole of ego, greed and corruption, around which the Republican party circles. When the Oval Office Apprentice show is canceled, there won’t be any spin-offs. With Trump gone there’ll be nothing left behind.
2. I’m tired of headlines that cry, “Trump refuses to address Russian election interference”. Of course he does. Trump and the Russians are on the same team, they want the same things. For Trump and Putin, the enemy is the Democrats, the free press and non-white voters. The Trump team - Trump administration minions (like DeJoy, Ratcliffe, and McCarthy) plus McConnell, Putin, Barr, Lindsey, Nunes, Ron Johnson, et al - will do everything they can to cheat: publish false stories on social media and in the Trumpian media, suppress opposition voting and drum up false charges against their enemies. Trump is not about to acknowledge or address Russian election interference - it’s a critical part of his campaign.
3. Similarly, Trump is not about to reject or even question Qanon. Again to the media, stop with the naive headlines. A significant portion of Trump’s base is made up up ignorant conspiracy mongers. Birthers, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers (the left has some of these idiots too, granted), 3 Percenters, etc. Qanon fits right in. You think Trump is going to tell 10 or 20 or 30% of his base that they’re a bunch of dopes? Nope, not gonna happen. Trump “loves the uneducated”, without them he’d be down in Florida selling condos to Russian mafiosi.
Unfortunatuly, the chaos won't stop until the 45th President is voted out and all his enablers. Also, the President is definitely not smart enough to think of all this destruction up. But the House of Cards are starting to fall and the draining of the swamp is continuing. Best news today, Steve Bannon arrest and the Judge in Mantattan OK's Trumps tax returns! I for one can't wait for this President, his family and all of his pocket friends to be gone. Thanks Heather again for your concise letters.
There was a report on Nicole Wallace yesterday that the Senate report also noted that there was evidence that the Russians had some dirt on tRump having a fling with Ms Moscow in 2013, at the time he was working on a hotel deal there. Add this to the list of reasons Putin can use tRump as his puppet. Russian intelligence is more deeply embedded in America than I think we realize. And if tRump isn't fully and astoundingly defeated in 75 days, who knows how much deeper Russia will infiltrate this country. As most at the DNC have said....it's more important than ever that we VOTE!
How unnerving that we now think of today's events as "nothing much", and how supportive of President Obama's warning! As always, thank you for organizing the chaos into something comprehensible for us.
Stealing a line from a great movie with a bit of modernization: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy 76 nights." It's gping to get worse and worse and worse, and we'd best be willing to do what Thomas Friedman wrote in today's NYT (can't believe I am quoting him):
“Personally, I will walk, I will jog, I will skip, I will crawl, I will slither, I will bike, I will hike, I will hitchhike, I will drive, I will ride, I will run, I will fly, I will roll, I will be rolled, I will be carried, I will trek, I will train, I will trot, I will truck, I will strut, I will float, I will boat, I will ramble, I will amble, I will march, I will bus, I will taxi, I will Uber, Lyft, scooter, skateboard or motorcycle — and I will wear a face mask, a face shield, gloves, goggles, a hazmat suit, a spacesuit or a wet suit — but I damn well will get to my neighborhood polling station to see that my vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is cast and counted.”
President Obama gave a somber, powerful speech that left me frozen and speechless in its implications. It was the speech of a senior statesman, not a politician. It was a speech of someone who loves this country and its people. It reminded me of President Lyndon Johnson's speech where he said he would not run for reelection and would focus on ending the Vietnam War. He became a statesman in that moment. President Obama became a true statesman this evening. We need him.
I bused to and from DC for the Women's March on January 21, 2017. My young adult grand-daughter marched with me/us. I remember the massive display of outrage and disgust about the horrible election outcome. That day, fear was more an undercurrent than the driving force. The naïve hope among many of us was that Republican-elected trump would surround himself with top-drawer experts, if for no other reason than to make himself look presidential. What the more naïve among us (raises hand) did not fully understand was the depth and breadth of treachery that has led to trump's rise to abusive power.
Giving the devils their due, far right-Republicans (long before they knew trump would be their vehicle, making them trump-Republicans) were brilliant in their decades-long undermining of our democracy. Engineering appointments/elections of judges and down-ticket radicals in states, counties, cities. Patiently eye-balling and setting the stage for eventual majorities in the FCC, the USPS board of governors, etc., etc.
Meanwhile, most (though not all) Americans breezed along or valiantly struggled in our own lives, our own small segments of the population as a whole.
I believe the DNC was complicit in what has morphed into an epic crisis. Mostly via its myopic obsession with perpetuating the same old, same old. I'm pretty sure I know only part of that story, even though I was an entrenched Party animal for a very long time.
So there's my mini-retrospective, blame, regret.
At this late date, the only weapon we have is The Vote. That's no small thing. But once again, even knowing treachery is happening, even our voting is being seriously compromised. It's hard to keep hope springing eternal.
I trust that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will, for the most part, do the right things, given the chance. I will vote for them, no matter the obstacles. The Convention seems to be igniting a spark of hope. But it's not an eternal flame. We're having four days of close encounters with what we believe to be the right side of history. Powerful stuff. But at least literally, that support system ends tonight.
What comes to mind is this Zen saying: After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. On we go.
Yes, it's heartening with the hope for Biden/Harris despite their centrist stances. But at least two things stand in the way, not including Trump's (and the RNC's) voter suppression. First, we have the DNC still pushing centrist agendas and attempting to sideline AOC and other young progressives who speak for a huge portion of the country. Alienating this group may end up losing votes to apathy.
Secondly, Dark Money from corporations and who-knows whom. And Heather, if you see my post, I'd love a post on the Dark Money, the history and such. This is really unbelievable. This must be stopped. One way, as I mentioned before in a post two weeks ago or so, would be to simply limit campaign spending for all candidates. This is done here in Austria, where I reside, and in the last elections, one party was fined for overspending. (FPÖ, basically the Austrian Tea Party).
But what is strange to me (although typical in the modern USA), I donated money to Omar's campaign as well as Rashida Tlaib's campaign when I realized the DNC was trying to oust them. And in the process, the Act Blue site reminds that we are limited to a certain amount as to what we can donate. And I thought, WTF? (Excuse the "language.) Does Citizen's United only apply to corporate pseudo-individuals? I am limited in what I can donate but the Koch Brothers are not?
Well, this is interesting!! Just reported by the Washington Post, and New York Times:
Former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon indicted on conspiracy charges in alleged fundraising fraud for border wall, Justice Dept. says.
That yesterday was considered a "slow news day" shows how much damage Trump has done to the national psyche. He calls for a boycott of an American company based on a fake story; he loves that QAnon - a tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy cult - considers him a hero; the USPS Board of Governors are refusing to disclose what should be public information; the USPS Postmaster General is refusing to reverse disastrous policies in the face of public outrage; and the evidence that the Trump campaign did, in fact, collude with Russia, as per a Republican-led Intelligence Committee report, just keeps piling up - without any Republicans in the House or Senate standing up to demand answers. Trump's awful and illegal words and actions are so many, none can get traction before something more awful or illegal comes out. Thanks you, Heather, for keeping track - you are recording the answers to the question Senator Harris asked last night: "Where were you when the stakes were so high?"
In regard to "Senate Intelligence Report on connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives is beginning to attract...media notice..." there is terrible breaking news just as Heather posted this Letter.
Alexei Navalny is a Russian anti-Putin activist who founded the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and sought to expose Paul Manafort's boss's connection to Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election. Today on a flight from Siberia to Moscow, Navalny became ill and is currently hospitalized, unconscious and on a ventilator, apparently from having been poisoned.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1296329658238205953?s=20
Thank you, Heather, for the summary of the daily diet of outrageous dreck from OOO-45 and minions. And thank you for closing by reminding me of how I felt during and after the convention tonight. I feel hopeful again. I know there are barriers, and I thoroughly appreciated Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton naming Mitch McConnell as one of the architects of our current horror show, reminding us that the policies discussed tonight and last night will not be easy to win. But I am hopeful, for a change. I AM hopeful.
My first thoughts go back to the 2 world Wars of the 20th C. Firstly to Britain's 1914-18 Lord Kitchener army recruitment poster "Your Country Needs You" and to Churchill's post-Dunkirk speech "We wil go on to the end,...we will fight on the beaches, we'll fight in the streets...we will fight with growing confidence and growing strength, we shall defend...at what ever cost...we will never surrender ..untill the New World steps forward, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the old" (please excuse the minor editing for the occasion).
The enemy is the same..only now it is here in the USA.
Don't forget the fires in CA. We are short of Human Resources because the fire fighters are often inmates and the prisons are on Covid lock down. 45 has said zilch about the fires because, well who cares about CA, bunch of democrats. Governor Newsom has declared a state of emergency. https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article243977827.html?fbclid=IwAR0tmA2BVhbz0xN0PmoNHqgzqrouKTF9b-Cji2oQrEU2QtzUP-VUGcG2BBE
I came off the DNC last night heavily fortified with hope, resolve and a penchant for good trouble making.
We are ready for this.
Three things:
1. Given that “Trump has remade the Republican Party in his image“ then the GOP will crumble when Trump is gone. All they are is Trump, a reality TV actor, starring in his one-man show. Trump’s not a typical party leader. He has no guiding philosophy, no sense of his place in history, no strategy. He’s just a black hole of ego, greed and corruption, around which the Republican party circles. When the Oval Office Apprentice show is canceled, there won’t be any spin-offs. With Trump gone there’ll be nothing left behind.
2. I’m tired of headlines that cry, “Trump refuses to address Russian election interference”. Of course he does. Trump and the Russians are on the same team, they want the same things. For Trump and Putin, the enemy is the Democrats, the free press and non-white voters. The Trump team - Trump administration minions (like DeJoy, Ratcliffe, and McCarthy) plus McConnell, Putin, Barr, Lindsey, Nunes, Ron Johnson, et al - will do everything they can to cheat: publish false stories on social media and in the Trumpian media, suppress opposition voting and drum up false charges against their enemies. Trump is not about to acknowledge or address Russian election interference - it’s a critical part of his campaign.
3. Similarly, Trump is not about to reject or even question Qanon. Again to the media, stop with the naive headlines. A significant portion of Trump’s base is made up up ignorant conspiracy mongers. Birthers, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers (the left has some of these idiots too, granted), 3 Percenters, etc. Qanon fits right in. You think Trump is going to tell 10 or 20 or 30% of his base that they’re a bunch of dopes? Nope, not gonna happen. Trump “loves the uneducated”, without them he’d be down in Florida selling condos to Russian mafiosi.
Unfortunatuly, the chaos won't stop until the 45th President is voted out and all his enablers. Also, the President is definitely not smart enough to think of all this destruction up. But the House of Cards are starting to fall and the draining of the swamp is continuing. Best news today, Steve Bannon arrest and the Judge in Mantattan OK's Trumps tax returns! I for one can't wait for this President, his family and all of his pocket friends to be gone. Thanks Heather again for your concise letters.
There was a report on Nicole Wallace yesterday that the Senate report also noted that there was evidence that the Russians had some dirt on tRump having a fling with Ms Moscow in 2013, at the time he was working on a hotel deal there. Add this to the list of reasons Putin can use tRump as his puppet. Russian intelligence is more deeply embedded in America than I think we realize. And if tRump isn't fully and astoundingly defeated in 75 days, who knows how much deeper Russia will infiltrate this country. As most at the DNC have said....it's more important than ever that we VOTE!
To borrow a line from “Hamilton”:
“History has its eyes on you.”
How unnerving that we now think of today's events as "nothing much", and how supportive of President Obama's warning! As always, thank you for organizing the chaos into something comprehensible for us.