I'm not over 90--I'm only going to be 80 on my birthday in February--but I'm not going to take a nap. Instead, I'm going to join others--elders, middle-aged family and friends, and young people--and we're all going to do our best to keep Mr. Miller and his contemptuous--or do I mean contemptible?--ilk from taking over our government.
I can do both. As an old hippie, my bell bottoms are bigger, and the tie-die is my own (natural colour dyeing from plants). I'm still in my 70's & still learning & protesting...
Hm. That's an idea. One reason the anti-war protests of the Viet Nam era had momentum was the tie in (pun?) of fashion. Even those who were too young or too frivolous to have much interest in the tragedies of the war sported the accoutrements of the hippie culture and that visually promoted the over all movement.
I will be 80 next year as well and I'm with you all the way. We Boomers (and there are a lot of us) have a lot to say! Stephen Miller, do not underestimate "old hippies."
AND - while commiserating with these poor guys. "So sorry the President is making you do this. We understand you'd rather be off somewhere else doing something else."
Yes but pick your trooper carefully. As HCR said in a recent discussion, as those who are not politically aligned with this regime retire and resign etc. we will have more and more violent extremists in these positions in the police, the National Guard and the military.
My sons think I'm an old hippie. But I am the child of blue-collar parents. The hippie movement didn't have much appeal, especially at the beginning. I'm an old woman. Life experience and a lifetime of learning has taught me much. I definitely became more liberal as I grew older.
Our social safety net and our infrastructure are essential to making and keeping our country strong. I am very much grounded in practical solutions.
What is absolutely insane is the cult worship of a craven, demented, idiot. And the billionaires and techbros fighting to end the very democracy and economic system that allowed them to start the businesses that resulted in the wealth and power that is destroying our government. If they succeed in destroying our democracy and economy, it will have a worldwide impact. Angry, hungry, uneducated and sick people are not going to buy their products, aren't going to be able to do the work that needs to be done to keep society and their businesses going.
Besides they don't work and play well with others. They will start tearing each other apart, sooner rather than later.
Until just recently everything we hippies' fought for (saving the environmental, racial equality, organic foods), had become mainstream. Now America is a kleptocracy led by a criminal billionaire. Restoring our democracy will take a lot of hard work, and quite a bit of good luck. I'm in!
The " They" are Chicken SHITS! That is why they call in the National Guard
and the Marines to face the masses! I am not speaking of ICE, they are dangerous and that is why they wear masks. But look in the face of the soldiers and you will see most are kids between 18 and 25 they look bored but that is to cover up their fear, especially because they might come face to face with their Grandma or Auntie.
Give them the flowers and a We The People Button and keep on marching and holding your sign high.
Think he only wishes he had something/ someone of value to be near him. But, his brain is underdeveloped emotionally so, he can't be repaired. He's just mean!
And we tend to have a better grasp of the (official) English language. (The further it goes, the sillier it gets.) How about everyone getting out in the most "dangerous" streets in DC, walking in bunches, masked and wearing black from head to foot?
I’m feelin’ a song coming from that historic expose. Well there is a good chance I’ll have my 15 minutes of performance time in their open mic gig at the Congressional Black Caucus Convention week of Sept 23-27.
You know the more they talk the sillier they sound. 90 year old hippies? At 90, they would have to be beatniks not hippies. As a hippie in the 1960s my older comrades were beatniks from the late 1950s to early 1960s. When I capture Steven Miller, I’m going to have his hair shaved off. Oppsie it’s already been done.
Exactly. That's what I just commented elsewhere. Steven Miller is obviously as poor at his cultural history as he is at his social and political history (or math).
They were chemically primed readers of Jack Kerouac and known as the Beat Generation, until Sputnik in 1958, when we were all out in the streets at night trying to see the star that was moving. Stalin was dead, and we were fascinated by Russia.
SO AM I. I am almost 82, and napping is not for me. Oh, and I am a white guy. I write letters and postcards, send emails, attend demonstrations. THIS ADMINISTRATION MUST GO. SOON.
I'm guilty of napping, but I prefer to call it a siesta. My internal clock is messed up. I go to bed around 10 and wake up between 4 and 5. After a big lunch that my sister-in-law cooks for us everyday I couldn't stay awake if I tried. My mother-in-law needs someone available to assist her 24/7 and so my sister-in-law moved in with us during covid when the printing company she was working for closed up for 3 months in TX.
There are millions of caregivers across the country that are forced to choose between putting their loved ones in a nursing facility or quitting their jobs. For this sacrifice, Trump and the Fascist Republicans are cutting the Medicaid benefits of caregivers that they say are too lazy to work.
Tina, white supremacy was the province of Democrats back in the 1860s, while Republicans of that day maintained a philosophy that closely resembled that of today's Democrats. The two parties began swapping platforms in the 1950s. The exchange was complete when Republicans launched "The Southern Strategy" to capture the white grievance that had been simmering in Southern states since their defeat in the Civil War.
The roots of American fascism formed in American evangelicalism in the 1950s, when U.S. evangelicals became alarmed that they were losing control of American culture and to a lesser degree, government, as a result of the new affluence among whites and the growing civil rights movement.
Evangelicals created the myth that the U.S. was founded as a "Christian nation," and believed all Americans should be subject to their Protestant beliefs and mores. They began an underground campaign to infiltrate government at all levels with "born again Christians."
In the 1960s, Republican operatives identified the powerful evangelical voting bloc and formed alliances with evangelical leaders to help them elect GOP candidates. Ronald Reagan was the first fruit of that effort.
Yes. HCR makes these points often. Today, she said “businessmen, furious at the idea of regulation and taxes, set out to destroy the liberal consensus that they believed stopped them from accumulating as much money as they deserved. They made little headway until the Supreme Court in 1954 unanimously decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.” Then the Republicans used “bussing” as their mantra for bringing out the angry vote, and morphed to all manner of dog whistles after Nixon/Atwater initiated the Southern Strategy in 1968. They no longer need dog whistles. It’s racism straight, no chaser now.
Dale, I agree with much of what you say here, but there were certainly U.S. fascists in the 1930s, if not before. Look up the America First movement from that period.
I am 70 retired woman. I take care of my community and care for those who cannot do it alone. I do this for free b/c elders cannot get this care and stay home on a fixed income. We all need to keep this country going. How much more money do trillionaires need? They cannot own it all or take it with them when they’re gone. Just saying.
For trillionaires or billionaires, money is an addiction. They need more to keep going, just like a drug addict. And just like someone whose primary focus is on getting their next hit/dose, they don't care a whit about anybody or anything else.
Susan, they also think their money will save them from the ongoing climate crises. It won't in the long run. I keep thinking of those huge houses on Jupiter Island in Florida and wonder how long they will be above water. Also after tornados, wildfires, etc. I see plenty of destroyed houses that are not in the poor neighborhood.....see plenty of those too.
Of course their money won't save them. Wherever they are, they are sure to be adding to the climate change fiasco. IMO they will get what they deserve. I'm sorry they are taking the rest of us along for the ride.
Janice, I think we are already well on our way to being a 3rd world country. And I know that my city will be far worse off when those redistricting maps go through, here in Texas. We are a low income city to start with, and when we lose representation, we would probably do better returning to be a part of Mexico.
Of course they do - that's why their focus is on AI helping them live forever and establish a colony on Mars or elsewhere. And why they use none of their bezonillions on saving planet earth. They see themselves as the elites who will survive the end of the world - as Heather says - they see the rest of us merely as "mudsills", the worker bees enabling them to achieve their long range goals. They are insane of course, but who's to stop them? Clearly not the Trump regime.
Well, or they think their money will protect them through their one lifespan and they really don't care about their children or their grandchildren. They really don't. Narcissists only care about people who provide directly for their comfort and personal pride and only to the extent and so long as those others serve that specific function.
From an OLD HIPPIE, I can no longer continue to give to a political party. Like so many in the last three years I am drained, tapped out on my fixed income, can no longer afford to give. Especially when having serious doubts about an Election being held much less a free and fair election. With this redistricting they are already cheating with unbelievable boldness! The Regime is saying loud and clear, we will not accept any outcome other than an overwhelming win for Facism followed by one for the same Fascist President. I really am not sure that we should recognize an election under these terms. Cheating, by overtly rigging the election to be held in less than two years? At that point WHAT is THE POINT. Isn't that what we see happening all over the world with these Authoritarian Regimes? Then seems at some point they murder the opposing party and have no election anyway.
Nobody needs to defend taking a nap, or being a certain age (Congress is no spring chicken), or speaking their mind. This is the kind of argument used by those without good reasoning.
Gary, I agree with you about caregivers. I can say with pride that my wife and I were full-time caregivers for my Alzheimer's-afflicted mother for seven years, and ended our business (at least partly) in order to do it. After she became eligible for Medicaid benefits, we got her into a facility to give us respite for a month. Within three weeks Covid shut down all facilities, and my mum remained in one until she died, three years ago (not of Covid.) Despite how difficult it became towards the end of those seven years, we still believe we made the right decision for her to live with us. Continued shame on this maladministration for its treatment of people.
Doug, During Covid we lost over 1/2 our healthcare workers thru illness or death or leaving most never came back. In the 1st administration as President. Now it’s Healthcare and hospitals closing. We are in real trouble if we can’t stop this. One old RN.
I agree, Janice. The small nonprofit facility (32 beds) we got my mum into just before Covid shut everything down managed to keep it out until August 2021, but when it finally hit it they lost the Administrator, the Exec Director and the Head Nurse within several months, not to mention several care staff. They all primarily left due to burnout, having to work extended hours while other staff was out, etc. Before she left, we were lucky to have the Head Nurse advocate on our behalf to get my mum in a larger facility, jumping the line (she loved my mum.)
My wife is also a former nurse (visiting, then clinical, then an administrator for case management for a not-for-profit BC/BS in our state until it became for-profit. Long story short, she ended up leaving health care for good nearly 30 years ago because she disagreed with the for-profit model in insurance.
Doug, worked as a nurse from age 19 - 68. Got Covid before vaccines arrived. Lost ability to walk in one leg. After 8 months of therapy got use of leg back. Don’t let anyone say vaccines don’t work. Now deal with long Covid at times . I wonder who will care for me when needed. It is so hard this leader got back in. What were people thinking? Go Blue. We need to turn this page and soon.
Doug, I left nursing 2019 @ 64 yoa in large part because I watched the "non- profit" company, Heritage (NY based) suck up as much $ as they could, cutting staffing protocols, charging more for care & leaving some very elderly folks looking for a Medicaid- funded facility. At the same time, insurances were denying care claims. My soul couldn't take it any more! Thank you & your wife for the service towards your Mom.
We see this happening all the time and in eastern Oregon where many rural hospitals are, we saw the loathsome Cliff Benz defending death star because there's Medicaid fraud you know, and some people make too much money to be on it. Many of his constituents are not happy with him. When I visited my doctor recently I was lucky to get to see him and I commented on that. He said doctors are not be recruited here and five doctors at his clinic had retired and were not replaced. We had to change our long time health insurance recently because they and the local hospital could not come to an agreement.
On our way to lose 3 human rights, Shelter, food, Healthcare. Air B&B investor shelter, 5 star restaurants food, private Healthcare for rich. There we have the future. Rest of us working until we die.
Sorry GJ, I don't believe the current batch of Republicans care at all about the plight of patients and their caregivers. They might respond that you should have chosen more affluent or healthy parents. It's *your* fault that you need more extensive Healthcare. Or, as worldclass philosopher Joni Ernst put it, "We're all going to die sometime". Besides, the Republicans need that Healthcare money to give huge tax cuts to people who don't need them.
We never will grasp how very many people there are that are caregivers of some sort & the cost both financially & mentally. Yeah, I suppose they could find some menial task to earn $ during their few moments of rest. I just hope & pray that those people will vote!
I am in the US right now, but the city I live in in Germany has the group "Omas gegen Rechts" which is Grandmas against the right wing, in almost every city. They take popular tunes that no longer have copyright and put political words on them, and lead sing alongs and give speeches at most demonstrations. I live back and forth and am politically active in both countries, since I am a member of Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad as well as Indivisible Chicago. In the Indivisible Abroad in our political chat groups I get to connect with Americans living around the world and hear how things are playing out for them in the countries they are living in. Today’s Martha Pugh, the International Director of Democrats Abroad send out a letter to us telling us to inform our elected reps to protect our right to vote by mail.
My Democrats Abroad political book club group read historian Jefferson Cowie's "Freedom's Dominion," in which he lays out a struggle for voting rights, as well as the necessity for Blacks and Native Americans to have Federal support to enforce their legal rights, and how the Feds repeatedly failed them in a county in Alabama. Cowie also gave 2 talks that I attended. In one he told us only a populist would win, and then when we asked us to clarify by talking to our group, he did and then told us that he was surprised that the Democrats had not done more to protect voting rights. I wrote a piece after each talk.
My 91-year-old mother might have been described as a hippie, but I think of her as a human rights supporter. She had me gathering money for the NAACP when I was 3, as well as attending marches, and we went to Soldier Field in Chicago to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr speak. She worked for prisoner rights, and environmental causes, as well as civil rights. I followed in her footsteps and was involved in the anti-Apartheid movement in college, attended demonstrations to get the US out of Central America, and took my own child to her first rally for immigrants with over 100,000 people, when she was 18 months, in a pack on my back. We went on environmental marches, women's marches, and she grew up knowing that going to a protest was like going to a concert to hear a musician you want to hear, it takes priority over every day life. Right on for the old hippies and young hippies, who are taking up the fight! ✌🏽
Absolutely! What you write - what you lay out in the story of your activism, is inspirational. What happened to Grandmothers for Peace? I don't know if I am an old hippie, or not, but at 82 I have been politically active my whole life. Do we want good roads? Do we want a library? Do we want decent schools for our children? Do we want healh care for ourselves and our loved ones? Of course we do. And all that depends on "politics".
Penny, you hit the nail on the head. You should be talking to high school civics classes if they even exist. I am worried that they have been replaced by coding, and computer programing and things like that, and the aspects of learning that prepare people to participate in a democracy are being neglected.
Just to reassure you, Linda: my oldest grandchild is 16 - a high school junior. She lives in a very Conservative/Trump-loving part of the state. She has an excellent American History/Civics teacher. Now that she can drive, she borrows the car and drives to Protests. She recently bought a “controversial T-shirt and is contemplating whether to wear it to school. She has joined a church that is very “in to” the protest movement. I recently asked her if she knew that she was following in Papa’s Pathway. “Yes, Protest Papa, I am, but you are only 80 years old, so get back on the streets and bring your guitar!” Shheessshh!!
Yup, her mother, our daughter, a Leftie, indeed, and has converted her Conservative husband. Also, our granddaughter is now playing guitar, too, and protest songs are gettin’ strummed! Too bad she’s only 16, but give her a couple of years and she will be in the Voters’ Booth!!
PPP, I love it. And because she has a legacy that says how to be, she knows what to do. That is lived civics. An important part of the whole learning experience of being in a participatory democracy.
So correct, Linda! As a retired schoolteacher (35 years in total - elementary and middle school), I appreciate what teachers can do in the classroom and, at least when I was teaching, teachers were told to keep their political views to themselves. (Thumb-taking the Ten Commandments to the walls of each classroom seems to run counter to that edict, and, I am aware that politics and religion are two separate things? Well, used to be. Plus, what the Ten Commandments spell out, to me, is a pretty solid way to live a good, honest life. I must ask, however, does Trump have the Ten Commandments thumbtacked to the Oval Office walls and in his ketchup stained lunchroom? How about Mike Johnson’s office? How about all of Trump’s toilets - like opposite his potty…. OK, Papa, settle down!!)
Yes, Lived Civics! A great two words that I will remember! Thanks, Linda!
Thank you, Yehawes! As you can probably tell, I am very connected to my grandkids (4 of them). They are my and our future and, as I get “elderly,” I treasure watching them pursue their varied interests - and college and career choices and VOTING are coming soon. I was fortunate enough to have been able to babysit all of them - from diaper changing to escorting them to the bus stop. And, yup, the HS kid is a SPUNKY one, indeed. But, of course, she can’t play guitar like I can (Papa knows and can do everything!), but, a line from Pete Seeger’s song “Quite Early Morning,” sticks in my brain: “And when these fingers can strum no longer, hand the old guitar to young ones stronger.”
Two things - 1.) Pete sings “banjo” while I sing “guitar” 2.) It ain’t just guitars or banjos that get handed to young ones stronger.
I belong to advocacy group Bread for the World. The very young who don't receive sufficient food, grow stunted brains, even here in America. They will not be functioning adults! Our tRump Maga generation is "kicking that can" down the road for someone else to fix.... Let's focus on the things that can be achieved today!
If he does away with voting by mail, he will disenfranchise every single man and woman serving in the Armed Forces overseas. I don't see this being too popular with them or their families.
Janet, I was just discussing this with a friend whose husband is in the service. They live in Germany. She is in my book club. She is concerned that Trump is saying you must live in the place you vote from. Since US bases around the world are technically the US, would he call each base a state? It makes no sense when we have a perfectly good way of voting right now.
Yes. Of course. But many feel that if you are not living in the states you should not have the right to vote, but we still have to file taxes in the US and if our income comes from here we have to pay taxes here, so no taxation without representation.
In fact, the older Republicans largely vote by mail which all of the Republican governors are going to remind Trump of come the time and he will have to walk it back. Of course many people for health reasons vote by mail.
Ally, as you know we here in Oregon have long voted by mail. It has worked remarkably well. Now we have some jerks trying to get a measure on the ballot to do away with it. They know very well that it is a form of voter suppression. I would love one of them to ask me to sign their damn petition. But not likely, since I am never in a good place to get those kinds of signatures. Probably being circulated at places like the local fundy church down the street.
Including tribal nations. They are aware this is a threat to their ability to vote, much as limits on allowing helpers to carry their sealed ballots to the polls has been.
I guess that is what Trump is thinking, but it doesn't work that way anyway. There are people who have to file and sometimes even pay taxes in the US just because they were born abroad to an American parent or parents. So, they may have never set foot in the US, but once they earn money they have to file in their residence country and the US, which is costly and a hassle and still doesn't prevent Billionaires from not paying US taxes. The rule where I am is that if I paid less in either country than I would have in their country, I have to pay the difference. Not fun.
As long as we are taxed we should have representation too. That is in our constitution.
If you read the bill, the military is excluded. They are concentrating in reducing the Democratic votes, since there are probably more Democrat expats then Republicans.
Just remember, it is the States & Congress only who can change the way elections are handled. Hopefully, enough folks in congress will see that a massive change in voting will be extremely expensive & cost many of them the chance to continue in politics. WA is all mail in votes & have told my politicians to REFUSE a change.
Here in the US we have a similar group called Raging Grannies. They can wear funny hats and aprons while singing for freedoms, social justice, economic equality the environmrnt. Through singing and humor they get their point across. This group is nation wide and in Canada too where it was first started.
They might be in the crowd demonstrating, but they have not organized a singing group in honor of making the world a better place for their grandchildren.
Linda, I *love* this. Your mom brought you up right, and you have continued the work she started. My mum brought us up right as well: to respect one another, especially those with less (and we didn't have a lot), and to talk to strangers (which took me until I was past middle age to do.) But she was far more meek than your mum, and as I came of age in 1973 and headed off to college, she dissuaded me from taking part in campus demonstrations.
I now saying "Screw it!" and attend demonstrations when I can. I also talk regularly to strangers, and keep space in my heart for the travails of others, no matter their circumstances.
So Doug, your mom raised you right, and you figured out the deeper message of what she was saying to you, which is do what is right! Keep it up. We march. We vote. That is one of the biggest things we do as well.
Yes, Linda! I wish I were as engaged as you, although I do what I can. I wish my dear wife were as engaged as I am, but alas, she is not -- even as she is appalled at what is going on.
The American version of what you describe as the Omas is The Grannies. We are international and I joined a 'Gaggle' this year. Our primary focus
Is peace and close second is justice. We get lots of
Requests to perform our satire and recently, we
Sing weekly in front of our state office of the republicans making sure motorists know the GOP protects pedophiles, takes food and education money away from Children and gives it to billionaires and is taking rights away from women and POC. We have been BUSY. Our local Big10 university is incorporating our stories into a University Press book for use in classes to help students learn about the realities of misogyny that we have experienced and how our rights are in retreat.
It would be great if these groups would really hook up around the world. We need more democratic global alliances. This is the perfect group to do it, although it could have different names in different cultures.
Melissa, that sounds wonderful and just like "Omas gegen Rechts". It would be nice if we could get this going around the country. What state are you in. I will let people in Democrats Abroad know. ✌🏽
That’s quite a family history! I would like to see more young people speaking out and fighting for democracy. As I recall, during the Vietnam War, marching and closing down college classes was mostly done by male students worried about the draft, but there was a big women’s liberation effect too. We elders need some help now from the next generations—it’s your future and it looks pretty bleak. Read up on fascism and Hitler please and WAKE UP!!
I'm pretty sure the college students that were protesting and speaking out at various colleges - the ones losing their ability to continue at those colleges and the ones being arrested do qualify as young people speaking out.
But they werent being backed up by older generations for the most part. Accused of anti-semitism, and supporting terrorism.
Kind of sounds like Viet Nam days and those college protests.
She is an expert on fascism, and her book "Strongmen" is really helpful to understand modern day fascist leaders, as well as Anne Applebaum's book, "Autocracy, Inc" both books have longer titles, but you can find them under these names.
Again, thank you. So many comments/threads trip my "Papa, Charlie hat gesagt....." trigger. Locking the Texas legislator in the chamber for refusing to sign a "permission" paper, and then threatening to charge her with a felony, because she used her telephone, seems to me to be too close to Hans and Sophie Scholl's fate. Where is the outrage?!?
Linda W, if you ever get a hold of video of the Grandmas, I would love to see it! Governments HATE to see/ hear old men & women protest & march. Not much they can say to them to change their minds. Go Grandma!
I assume that even though you are older, you are still an American. I have noticed that they really are shrinking who they want to define as a 'real American'. Now I guess any white American over 50 who objects to Trump stealing from us and trying to turn us into virtual slaves is not a 'real American' either. I wonder why the AARP isn't up in arms about this?
The AARP lost me when they opposed ObamaCare. “Where you stand depends on where you sit" and AARP started out as an old folks insurance company. I don’t need ACA, but I know it’s vital for many of my fellow citizens.
Yup, AARP lost me when they endorsed the "W" Bush Medicare Part D plan for drug coverage. It is a convoluted conspiracy to make as much money for the pharmaceutical companies as possible. It is an annual nightmare to navigate. It is an example of Oligarchy running what should be a public program for everyone. It is a scam just like Medicare Advantage plans.
Long past time for "Medicare for All"!
AARP is just a marketing arm for the morbidly rich.
Obama had to compromise with Republicans to get anything passed.
Republican Amendments: While the ACA was drafted, nearly 190 Republican amendments were adopted by the Democrat-controlled House and Senate committees.
However, the passage of the ACA WITHOUT BIPARTISAN support highlighted the deep partisan divisions surrounding healthcare reform in the United States
Kent, I admire what Obama accomplished, but I always got upset by his “bargaining”. I certainly know nothing about what went on out of public view, but it seemed he always started his public bargaining by going halfway to the Republican position! This was true of the ACA as well as other programs he proposed.
I do not disagree. The feeling at that time was that something was better than nothing. And it was. But now we are about to be reminded what nothing looks like to the detriment of 20 million Americans.
AARP used its considerable political power to help pass Obamacare in 2010, despite the opposition of many members ― about 400,000 left the organization in protest:
Dana, I liken AARP to the NRA. Both organizations started out to be about benefitting their members. Now, both have lost sight of their original missions and exist only to raise revenues.
Betsy, I say Steven Miller is downright evil. When I see or hear him speak, chills run up and down my 77 year-old spine. I'm proud to say that I found my spine the minute Trump decided he was so popular that he could say or do anything and it would be accepted. I found mine, and the Republican Congress members lost theirs. They're accepting Steven Miller's and others' cruel and evil words and actions.
Pam, I agree! I just saw some footage of Miller walking through the Central Station with JDV, and people yelling at JDV, but they should have been yelling at Miller who is behind so much of what is going on. He looked evil walking there with a sullen look that I seem to always see. This is a regime of the mentally disturbed.
Miller is right out of "Central Casting" for villains. He would fit right in as an officer of the Empire in a Star Wars film. Evil guy. Sick, depraved and vicious.
As a brown-skinned German I would say, not all Germans are cut from the same cloth. However, Jewish Miller is quite the fascist. This is what his uncle says about him.
Pam, I prefer to avoid the word "evil" because it has religious connotations. I guess it works if you're religious, but I think a more accurate description is "misanthropic psychopath."
Miller hates humankind. He has allowed his hatred for humankind to direct his every thought and action. This is not the result of childhood abuse or any other outside influence. His mind is broken. He should be treated for antisocial personality disorder. If treatment is unsuccessful, he should be locked up so he's not a danger to society.
I agree with your assessment of Miller...a hate monger..antisocial personality disorder...should be locked up and treated. I disagree with the use of the word evil having only religious connotations. I am utterly non-religious and use the word evil, absolutely, to described Miller and many others in the trump regime.
Penny, I don't think "evil" has ONLY religious connotations, but those do exist. It's a convenient shortcut word, but as I noted, there are more accurate descriptors.
TREASON IN PLAIN SIGHT: THE CONFEDERATE IDEOLOGY BEHIND MAGA
''The Confederacy never died. It metastasized into the modern Republican Party, cloaking itself in cowboy hats, free markets, and Christian nationalism.''
What Trump is doing is not politics, it is treason. By attacking the truth of slavery and dismantling voting rights, he is reviving the Confederate dream of an oligarchy where only wealthy white men rule. This is not just about history, it is about our survival as a democracy. Every time voting rights are stripped, every time women and people of color are silenced, America loses another piece of its soul. We cannot shrug this off as rhetoric or partisanship. It is the deliberate destruction of government by the people. If we love this country, if we honor those who fought for freedom, we must act now. Register, organize, protest, and vote. Silence in this moment is surrender.
Take a nap !?! I have trouble falling asleep at night because I'm so worked up over all this buffoonery.
Each day the maga cult just increases their level of hypocrisy. CA maga representative says "voters of CA should decided their congressional districts" yet its OK for TX to do it with out voter approval. DC is lawless, yet the maga states that sent NG troops have higher crime rates. Vaccines ... my body, my choice yet ladies ... you don't get a choice.
... and the list goes on and on
I'm putting my campaign donation budget towards senate races for the mid-terms (if we even have them) because best to my knowledge, a governor can't gerrymander a state.
BTW .... PLEASE stop calling them MAGA republicans. They're maga cult members. The GOP is as extinct as a dinosaur
OK LFAA Community, we just received yet another "Best Ever" HCR letter.
On 8/20/85, yesterday, the California Supreme Court refused to stop Newsom's 'Response Act to counter the openly racist Texas REDMAP. California Voters, like me, will decide in the upcoming November 2025 election.
Thursday Update: The California Assembly has approved the 11/4/25 Redistricting Vote.
Game On.
**********
Attention Voters in (CA-10) & (MA-2). There is a "Town Hall" in Lafayette, CA tonight at 6:30 PM with Massachusetts Rep, Jim McGovern & my House Representative, Mark Desaulnier.
You must RSVP but anyone can attend digitally on YouTube or Facebook.
I don’t live in California. I live in a solid Trump state, but damn that’s nice of you to give a head’s up about a town hall for your folks. I generally hear about them in Kentucky on the news the night after.
Contemptuous or contemptible . . . the bottom line is the entire administration is evil!
There are two "playing fields" - the rat pack has no rules and the dems insist on playing by the rules. Unfortunately, millions of protesters have not moved the dial. Gov. Newsom is on the correct path by taking off the gloves. Gerrymander the heck out of states to benefit democrats and win the House to set up at least one guardrail.
The rest of trump's miserable EO's and disastrous actions and vitriol (that is being kept visible, front and center by all of us "burned out hippies" -LOL) will go a long way to fostering trump's self-destruction. Stay the course!!
I turn 79 next month. I’m a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and the last time I voted for a Republican was —NEVER. I am a patriot for the freedom of everyone to make a choice.
Trump’s attack on voting rights directly impacts servicemen in overseas duty stations.
His attack on the VA has already resulted in the loss of 1200 nurses and made my healthcare at my local VA hospital take longer. Doctor’s are rushing through examinations. Last week my annual checkup consisted of my doctor listening to my heart and grabbing one of my ankles to check on my lymphedema, then sending me to the lab to get blood work.
Then on the nineteenth of this month I received a letter from the VA reminding me I had an appointment on the fourteenth. The letter was postmarked on the fifteenth.
The wording of the VA’s promise to serve all veteran’s on its website used to contain verbiage about health care workers not denying service for political views. That has now been removed and care can be denied for religious reasons is acceptable.
Mr. Bone Spurs, his spurious reason for not serving in Vietnam, has gutted services to veterans. He likes to brag about getting revenge. He needs to be reminded that a lot of veterans have PTSD. They are angry. And most have been trained to use firearms unlike the amateur who tried to shoot him in Pennsylvania last year.
TO clarify, it is the people in the halls of the government doing this. The people are the government, they might have the handles of power, but WE are the government.
"Trump is working to erase women and minorities from the public sphere while openly calling for a system that makes it impossible for voters to elect his opponents."
And he will use all the levers of power and brute violence to make this happen if we allow him to.
While the bloodless comment was about their "revolution" in the US, and resistance to it. When the Israeli government lured starving people with food, then guned them down it was hardly bloodless.
It’s more than a clue, JD. They are telling us in no uncertain terms that unless we are willing to shed blood, ours and theirs, there is no stopping their takeover. And they are correct. To put it even more bluntly, unless and until we are prepared to kill and be killed, we will live under their fascism. And that is true. History repeatedly has shown us that. The question is, where is the breaking point, because we’re a long way from that at the moment.
I was thinking more in terms of organized armed resistance. How many more cities must be occupied before the dam breaks? Recently read a terrific book on the French Resistance following the Nazi occupation of Paris in the 4 years prior to VE Day. There were thousands of true patriots who worked every day to blunt what the Germans were inflicting upon them. Many died. If it comes to it, I would hope we do the same. I’m in my late 70’s, but I’m in if it happens.
Trump is absolutely doing that. I think this also has to do with the fascist idea of history as a foundational personal and national myth. One so holy to them they will sacrifice their democratic rights and dignity to maintain the comforting lies which provide them identity. This is intimately bound up in whiteness, the idea that being white makes you a member of an elite group. Ta-Nehisi Coates and James Baldwin have talked about this. I wrote about it too in relation to Trump's false comments on World War II.
In short, it's all narcissism. They will not part with the historical myths they love as it would kill their idea of themselves, and they will lay waste to anyone and anything trying to tell the truth. I believe James Baldwin said it best if I properly recollect the quote, "and they have brought the world to the edge of destruction, because they think they are white."
I think it is even more than narcissism, because where does the narcissism come from? I think it is a pathological fear of death and a violent revulsion at anything that implies the deluded is mortal, and living in a universe that is far larger, older and complex than they can comprehend. That's why they hate science so much--it reminds them of just how little agency and importance they have. They hate equality and freedom because equality and freedom diminish their own sense that they are special, blessed and privileged above other humans (and living things for that matter).
You are on to something. IMHO, Harris lost because SHE, as a BLACK /ASIAN WOMAN being President would have changed the world, turned it upside down, to too many millions of MEN. It would represent the loss of self-respect, self-identity, their social status... I'm talking about the value of the penis. Especially a white pens, OMG! Truth is when I wore my Harris tee shirt to the store in my very Democratic district I was approached by men several different times who said they were Democrats BUT could not vote for a woman for President. It all had to do with "WAR." One guy summed it up, "No man will ever march into war by order of a woman Commander in Chief" he said. I almost fell on my ass when he said that. I responded saying "But Trump is a felon." He threw his hands into the air. I still cannot process it. My mind went blank. The problem really is, to paraphrase President Johnson when he was speaking to the issue of racist white men being validated to gain their votes as Goldwater and Nixon were doing, I will address the issue of sexism with his wisdom, If you can convince the lowest man he's better than the best woman, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.
Albert, You made me smile, As long as we have patriarchal paternalistic religion, men will always feel superior to woman, The Abrahamic religions are one of the worse cons ever perpetrated on humans.
This is a country where in all statistics from all countries on Earth, Japan hasn't ever even come close to cracking the 100 best countries for women's rights.
When you consider that ALL religions originated in the imaginations of old MEN of ancient days, sitting around their fires, under pressure to explain the inexplicable in their cultures, it's not surprising that all religions reinforce the paternalism and patriarchies from whence they came.
Language plays heavily into it as well. There is an obsessive focus on sex in language. For example, “he is handsome” vs. “she is beautiful.” In Spanish all nouns have a gender. In Spanish "el" means “the” and used for masculine nouns while "la" also means “the” but used for feminine nouns. Thus “el coche” (the car), "coche" is masculine and “la casa’ (the house), "casa" is feminine. The language a child learns shapes the way they perceive and interact with people. Parents and teachers need to adjust their language for children and perhaps be more androgynous.
Interesting post Albert. The same thing happened in 2016 in WI, MI and PA.
Johnson was right about the "lowest man". And Trump had hundreds of millions to get his message spread across the country. While most people were giving Harris $5 - $1000, about 20 oligarchs were giving millions, including the evil Elon Musk who has screwed over thousands of Federal workers many of whom are veterans. But, most of the Federal workers Trump and his cadre of fools fired were not the lowly, they were dedicated and competent civil servants.
And the oligarchs won bigly with the OBBBA. I guess that's one of P2025's biggest pickpockets?
I recall a sociology class I took where our Professor ended every class asking "So what is it? Is it Race? Is it sex? Is it religion? Is it national origin?..." I answered it is the corporate business model which uses the divide and conquer strategy to create a caste system. Social stratification, or social hierarchy, is in the interest of employers. Assigning certain types of occupations within the group thereby limiting the amount of pay for each group creates higher profits for share holders. Maybe?
Albert, you have (perhaps unintentionally) identified one of the primary collective psychopathies of the United States. We are a nation of violence. Violence is part of our national DNA.
The United States is the result of white Europeans who could not get along with their neighbors in their home countries crossing the Atlantic and invading North America. They took land from the indigenous peoples, at first bloodlessly, then violently.
The U.S. was created from violence, when white Europeans shot and killed their own countrymen in a bloody revolution against The Crown.
When Americans in primarily the North objected to slavery in the South, another bloody war ensued. Even after the Civil War supposedly settled the question, violence continued.
When there wasn't enough violence within our borders, we went in search of violence around the world, justifying it as "defense of democracy."
Mix inherent patriarchy with a visceral need for violence, and you get a bunch of American men – and women – who judge a potential leader by whether she could instigate and perpetuate violence.
The few men who talked with me in parking lots were focused on having served in the military and how they saw the importance of a person's sex in giving orders. Listening to them reminded me of a road trip I once took with a few guys who I knew were all politically well enlightened. I was reading as they sat and played cards while and drinking beer in our hotel room. They were joking and laughing after each hand of cards as they threw empty cans across the room into the sink and sang "Men, Men, Men, ...Men...." from "Stout Hearted Men." I never heard the song before and had to look it up.
Great post, Albert R Killackey, Esq. But..."No man will march into war by order of a woman"?? They don't learn world history any more, do they. Elizabeth I of England? Catherine the Great of Russia? Empress-Queen Maria Theresa of the Holy Roman Empire? Queen Victoria? I am, sir, yrs respectfly.
Hello Ecstatic... If you watch DJT closely, DJT has been declining for over a Year... As of late, DJT has been talking about being Worried about going to Heaven... Seems to me that DJT is raging against the coming Darkness.... Pray for Divine Intervention....
And the lame stream media almost never mentions his mental and physical decline.
He is still freaking out about the Epstein files. I don't listen to Christian broadcasting but a guest on Nicole Wallace's show yesterday said that many evangelicals have turned on Trump because of him being a pedi and a sex trafficker.
If Trump and the Cons lose the white Christian Nationalists, it matters not how they redesign the Congressional maps.
Hello G L... "Quit teasing us Apache"... ? .... The Astrologers, and the Spiritual Indigenous, have predicted that DJT will have a Serious Health Crisis ~October this Year... The MSM doesn't cover that because without DJT for the past 10-Years, what would they talk about?... DJT is Bad for Us, but Good for the MSM...
I hope you're right. JD will get zero respect if he becomes President. He is a slimy white Christian skank. I would hope he would get rid of Trump's cabinet and bring in his own, just because I don't see how anyone could be more incompent than, well, all of them.
I'd be very interested in how they divine this. There is a lot that we don't understand. Something as simple as thinking of someone and having them call.
As much as I want donald to go, I don't think it's going to matter. The carnival barker has been useful but they've achieved something like 70% of the P2025 agenda so feel when fully in place it may be irreversible. Or so they think.
MLM, I understand that. Except that by basing their identity on the Christian Bible, that is who they are. No, they are not Christlike, nor do they follow Jesus teachings. But when someone tells me their Christian God tells them I am an abomination, then they are representing Christian dogma of one variety.
Kathryn, when you pray do you ask your God to open the hearts and minds of the white Christian nationalists to see the damage Trump is doing to the disadvantaged, to the poor, to people of color, and to women?
When I pray, I pray for “Thy will be done”, period…meaning whatever God deems correct, is fine by me. My idea of God is not one of supplication, but rather a force for GOOD in the Universe, a force similar to electricity or gravity with laws that govern its behavior and nature. That ever-present, eternal, all-knowing force for good is within each of us, easily activated by our individual free will. Humans are, according to Christian scripture, made in the likeness of God, and are on an eternal path, so each of us is responsible for our own enlightenment and salvation. Above all, God is LOVE, so anyone pushing a scenario based in hate, discord, division, chaos and exclusion is the antithesis of God/Good/Love.
GJ, that is the top of the list in praying. Asking that their souls be troubled & they get no rest or peace. Kinda sound like how DJ is feeling right now.
I worked with a religious sister I loved. (She would have loathed 47’s return.) she used to say with a sweet smile about people who were, shall we say, destructive, “I wish him a happy death.” Who could argue with that sentiment?
There is actually a subreddit on Reddit called Trump666, where Christians (and non-Christians) discuss the signs in Revelation as they apply to Trump & co. Fanciful or not, the parallels are fascinating.
I am sure DJ has horrible visions & voices interfering with any chance for him to speak like he has a functioning brain. Maybe this is why he stays up most of the night- afraid to go to sleep because the devil may come for him.
Religion explains everything. Just believe. Science has the last word on nothing, so much to ponder. Magats want certainty and magats promise that, which is a joke from the git go
Yes,Ecstatic. The rise of fundamentalist religion goes right along with the mindset that allows white men to continue feeling superior. The mindset that caused one Civil War so far, and could very well cause another.
Our myths are powerful. “idea that being white makes you a member of an elite group.” has been a powerful and destructive myth since the beginning of this country and imstead of finding ways to coexist with the current inhabitants, Indigenous peole we demonized, seen as inferior, justifying their genocide. All of the Abrahamic religions are based on paternalistic patriarchal myths justifying the demonization and inferior status of women. Christian Nationalists are trying to void out the 19th amendment , denying women the right to vote, they have already succeeded in reversing Roe taking away a woman’s right to autonomy over her own body,
Yahweh was initially part of a polytheistic pantheon before becoming the central deity of Israelite religion. Early Israelites, like other Near Eastern cultures, worshipped multiple gods, including Yahweh. Over time, Yahweh gradually rose to prominence, eventually eclipsing other deities and becoming the sole god of Israel.
Religions are all built on myths try and understand our world,
but there is no anthropomorphized deity running things any more than there is an Ira Glass Big chicken in the sky, but the world over, these myths have allowed the subjugation and brutal treatment of woman, Taliban now perverting the translations of Sharia Law will only allow woman to have one eye uncovered, Woman in many countries still are victims of acid burning their bodies because of some supposed shame because they “allowed” themselves to be raped, 34 states still allow child marriage in the United States.states,
When we speak of myths, they are powerful, but I wish we would realize that they have often been used by a few to maintain control and power over many, Religion has perverted the feelings of connectedness to an energy, a belongness to all of life, the heartstrings of energy thst connect us all and called thst a male anthropomorphized god. I wish we would all examine our unconscious biases and ask ourselves where do these ideas really come from. Maybe then we would value and respect the equal rights of all regardless of skin color, gender, or sex and see our interdependent roles in supporting each other and all Life on this planet,
Certainly the commandment "Thou shalt have no other God before me" indicates the presence of other gods. Yes, people will argue that it refers to things like gold or power, but if you're going to take the Bible literally, it says no other God. (Interesting that autocorrect insists on capitalizing God.)
Gotta hand it to those old Jewish farts, sitting around their fires in the ancient Middle East, conjuring up a deity who insisted on being Number One and went on a smiting rampage against anyone who said otherwise.
They seriously shamed the Greeks, Romans and Scandinavians who'd concocted puny gods that couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time.
Then, to raise the stakes and give the Judaic deity unassailable primacy, Emperor Constantine's religious posse down in Nicea declared him to be a "trinity," an opaque concept that cannot be explained, only accepted on "faith." Beat that, Islam!
No other gods refers to things that cause one's mind to wonder from the good & true. Love of money- lots of people worship it while destroying their family is one example.
Excellent assessment. The reliance on superstition and religious nonsense that is twisted for purposes of domination and control is so obviously primitive, illogical, unscientific, unfair and nonsensical as to be ridiculous.
If there is an all knowing, all powerful "Magic Man" in the "heavens" how come it allows so much suffering and horror on the planet? I call bullshit.
Religions are tools for control. There are some exceptions, of course. But they seem to be mostly silent now.
I remember priests like the Beringers leading protests... now they are being shuffled around to new assignments to escape accountability for assaults on minors.
People to Church Leaders: "If a member of your cult commits a crime, call the damn cops! If you cover it up, you are an accomplice for the crime. And if you are preaching hate and exclusion from the pulpit, go look in a mirror. You will see fascist monster."
Yes yes thank you both and HCR of course, indeed we are all connected and interdependent not only on every human being now on earth, but to all the living creations flying crawling swimming existing. As well as to our ancestors and to the future generations. And Myths are stories that we created to understand the vast ineffable nature of life. By naming something beyond our ability to control it, I believe it’s our attempt to gain access to it, to make it useful to us. That same reflex is now weaponized by slither mill and small hands walking backwards as if an undertow will work against growth. Yesterday the news reported that Target was underwater because people were boycotting it due to its adoption of anti DEI. I was ecstatic. BOYCOTTS WORK.
How are the maggots going to use force to make us spend money at companies like Target, Amazon or Home Depot? Apparently CVS is another benefactor to maga.
I’m starting a small group here to boycott companies that display ‘skirts’ defined as those flags hung outside windows and etc…
They (mostly white males of lower-than-average intelligence) are terrified of losing their status as heads of households, leaders of businesses, lawmakers and judges. Why has the issue of WHITE PRIVILEGE vanished from our conversations? Because it is too emotional devastating for these incredibly ignorant white men to think, possibly, that someone other than a white male is intelligent and possesses the knowledge necessary to lead in the 21st century.
That is really what the 2024 election was about - white privilege blinded by their own incompetence. "So now these effin' liberals think they're gonna put a black woman in the WH? OH, HELL NO! We'll show 'em!"
Don't even get me started on the issue of white females having no such white privilege. We're supposed to obey our white overlords and bear their children. "F" that!
I live in a very safe Democratic district in Calif. Sounds like maybe I, and hundreds of other retired Democrats from my district need to relocate to Texas during a few months before the election with a "genuine intent to establish residency." We could protest against the Neo Nazi Trumpers, maybe work at the local Democratic headquarters and register to vote in one of the rigged Texas districts. Yea, cannot be registered in two places at once. All we need is an address. Maybe a small room for rent? Maybe a few thousand of us older retired people renting a room from local Democrats who live in Texas, in each of these rigged districts, would swing Texas in the right direction. What we need is a connection to Dems with a room to rent. Staying after the election to establish residency could be fun also. Imagine the talks at the coffee shops. Hey, even stay until after 2028 election.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is making all kinds of huffy noises indicating his displeasure with Newsom's threat (now, no longer a threat) to temporarily end California's citizen redistricting commission, using the defense that he was responsible for bringing it into being in the first place. Understandable, but....
Tell Ahnold that if he really wants to protect non-partisan redistricting, he needs to start in *Austin* not Sacramento. Fly directly to Abbott's home turf and have a massive rally denouncing the pip-squeak confederate loonies who just showed the world they really believe Democratic state legislators are nothing but property that ran away from the plantation and had to be brought back by force.
Have him denounce any Republican governor who dares follow suit, telling the crowds "THESE assholes just destroyed my legacy in California. Don't you dare let them do it in your state!" And be damn sure Fox News covers it.
I would suggest if you’re serious about this that you focus your efforts on registering and getting the black vote out in Texas since they are the majority.
I just don’t see Texas gerrymandering working like they planned especially at the polls. They can’t win purely on the white vote.
Yes, registering new Democrats and then once the ballots are out hold gatherings to assure everyone votes Lockstep Blue. And finally, get everyone to the correct polling place. In other words adopt a few block area within a rigged district and get to know who is who.
Or … blue state residents can support Blue Tennessee, Blue Missouri or Blue Ohio, who are working to make now R-dominated state races competitive. Www.bluetennessee.org. We have members from outside TN, but we are a young org that needs support to grow.
There is no penalty or even requirement to cancel your voter registration when you move at least we've rarely done that as part of our move. You just can't vote in two places although I'm guessing many people do.
Thank you for the links. The 'find a protest' works well... and I'm going to make sure the local Indivisible groups get their weekly protests on it. Much obliged.
This is really all I have left to say James. We can sit all day on comments boards like this one analyzing, hating on him and talking, talking, talking or we can get up and do something.
Your reply posts as 3 AM. Don't know how much active protesting I can do while lying in bed. I wake in the middle of the night and don't want to get up (would wake other family members) or read anything heavy so I jump on Substack.
Spreading news about where there are protests is activism. I could have been playing Solitare for my sleeplessness. Instead, I was researching protest sites and spreading that information. I don't know your activism circle, but we must spread protest information. I also post something everyday on my FB page on the Resistance. I've also been having a quiet sidebar conversation with another person commenting here today on a protest method and discussing how to spread information on this.
If you want something quiet in the middle of the night read Erica Chenoweth's work on the 3/5 rule on protesting. Or you can research facts on how this regime's economic maneuvers are affecting prices and shar that information. Facts are weapons.
Hope this helps. We all can contribute something. Nothing is too small. Or too quiet.
We can’t change our history, but we can make sure we fight for the right future.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic.
Megan, as I’ve said before, that spreadsheet is a crowbar. Thank you.
As most of ya’ll already know, Dr. Richardson has been walking us through Reconstruction for years, brick by brick. She taught you the pattern. First shrink the story of slavery so the guilty look noble. Then shrink Black political power so the noble keep the keys. Same playbook, new font.
Look at her receipts. Texas is about 60 percent people of color, yet the new map hands white voters control of 26 of 38 seats. It takes roughly 445,000 white votes to win a seat, but 1.4 million Latino votes or 2 million Black votes to match it. That is not math. That is a damn mugging in a spreadsheet. Add troopers tailing legislators and locked doors while the vote moves. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you have to lock the doors to pass a map, you did not win the argument. You stole the room.
Heather already gave you the language. Say it out loud when you call, write, or email using Megan’s link. Oppose any map that makes Black and Latino voters pay triple at the ballot box. Condemn trooper “escorts” on lawmakers. Put your position in writing.
Teach two terms while you work. Habeas corpus means when the state grabs the body, the court unlocks the door. Times, Places, and Manner is the constitutional lane for protecting the vote. Share Heather’s post with one person new to Reconstruction. Then drop your call result here so the next person has a path.
We are not stuck in a loop if we name the pattern and break it. www.xplisset.com
Thanks for this, X. (If allowed, I would call you "X-Man" as a term of respect).
Professor Richardson* has given us the language and the methodology. It is up to us to use it.
*Early on, someone asked the Professor how she liked to be addressed. Her reply was that as a Professor, she insists on being called Dr. Richardson or Professor by the undergraduates. She said she would rather her graduate students call her "Heather" but it usually takes a while to get them there. I view this LFAA page as us Readers auditing a graduate level history class; the Comments are us going out for coffee/beer after class and discussing the lecture. Since I come from a paramilitary law enforcement background where the deputies I "grew up with" moved up the chain of command and I did not (yes, there's a story there), in public I'd call them "Sarge", "LT" or "Captain" in public and by name in private. The last two Sheriffs in my agency were explorer scouts and rode with me in their teens, and I did the background investigation on the current Sheriff when he joined the reserves). Out of respect, I refer to her here as Professor; if I ever get to go have a cuppa coffee with her, I'll call her Heather.
You’re right to flag it Ally. I slipped into first-name mode because I read her daily. In this classroom, it’s Professor Richardson. Thanks for the correction and the respect you model. And X-Man it is👍
I fear calling members of Congress is not effective at this point. We cannot wait for an incompetent Democratic party to save us. We must save ourselves. We need to assert our own power, form unions, and ready a general strike. We need to be ready to provide mutual aid and community self-defense as was done during Reconstruction and the old labor movement days. We need much more aggressive forms of protest that turn off this economy so that if it is not a democracy it does not function. In short, shut this shit down.
While I agree, I think we should still be as loud as possible while the rest gets set up. I signed up for the general strike a couple months ago.
I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), but we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. I think we can cause ripples to push news organizations to be more honest and maybe even a bit accusatory about what’s happening. As a collective, our volume matters. And, at the end of the day, if we just annoy and overwhelm some staffers working for people hurting the average American, I’m ok with that too 🙃
I'm curious Matthew. What are the Democrats doing or not doing, that makes you call them incompetent?
My state Senator and House representative are both incredibly competent as is my Governor and the other state officers. They have gotten so much done while Trump's little Johnson has forced through Trump's agenda and blocked any legislation that Democrats could support.
The Democrats have managed to block many of Trump's nominations, but because the oligarchs bought Senate seats in MT, OH and PA they didn't have the votes to stop the OBBBA.
I 100% AGREE! And not only do we need to act enmass to shut things down, we need to do it NOW! They are gaining ground daily while we talk on social media. We MUST be OUT THERE in their faces disrupting and demanding our rights. The old rules don’t apply.
Here's what else you can do, and I'd argue must do.
Laugh. Ridicule them. Constantly. Yes, they're a bunch of fascists, but don't just rely on moral outrage -- with so many people, outrage no longer works. (Hillary found that out when she called these assholes "deplorables" and they started wearing t-shirts with "deplorable" on them just to spite her).
So protest by all means. But make fun of the twits. Troll them the way Newsom is doing. Remind people what a Fuckupocracy this all is. Last week, a hotel worker in Anchorage found and photographed 8 or so Above Top Secret classified pages left in a copier about the famous Alaskan Meal That Never Was. Talk about fuck-ups...
Can't think of anything funny to say about Crème Brûlée and Filet Mignon tossed in the trash? Well, before that fuck-up, it was the on-line Houthi Chat Group Pete Kegsbreath fuck-up organized on his non-secure phone messenger app and sent to a reporter from "The Atlantic" by error. Tomorrow's uncovery du jour in a forgetter copier somewhere will be....what?
(1) The draft of "Operation Fig Leif" --- the American re-conquest of Greenland.
(2) Stephen Miller Secret Memo -- "The Joys of Using Technology to Perfect Autocracy"
(3) Proposed bill renaming the Smithsonian's Museum of African-American History and Culture the "Scarlet O'Hara War Memorial" (architectural specs re-shaping a building inspired by three-tiered Yoruban crowns into a three-tiered hoop skirt to follow).
(4) Project 2025's "Martial Law for Dummies" plan to suspend the 2026 mid-terms after a ham sandwich is placed....er, discovered in a paper bag left front of the White House.
The possibilities are endless. Let's get to work....
Heather, yesterday you talked about “flooding the zone” as an antidote to lies and misinformation. I’m all in with that. Let’s create gigantic posse of word warriors to hit MAGA’s propaganda machine on social media. Be relentless. Be persistent. Be punchy. Be smart. Outnumber them. It’s time to fight fire with fire. Heather, lead us on and I will follow! What platforms? What realities to hammer home? How can I help recruit your posse?
Karla, my contribution to this is to post things on my Facebook page (Yes, I am still there, and am discovering it is no longer a good way to stay in contact with younger people). Mostly I get called names, accused of being an idiot, and the like. Their "information sources" are lies and propaganda, which they accuse mine of being.
So us old white hippies need to go home and take a nap Stephen? I like the phrase “you poked the bear”. Better watch out Stephen we may be old but we ain’t dead and we know how to protest. We’re just getting started.
Love the song! I have been wondering where are our protest songs? Back in the day we were inspired to act by the likes of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, etc. We need more protest songs!
This evening, I posted on social media that the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum (which I opened in Stroud, OK in June of 2023) proudly celebrates the Black female mathematicians that helped get us to the Moon, the Black actress Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame who was hired by NASA to recruit astronauts who were not white males, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. They are some of the many Americans who helped our nation boldly go where it had never gone before. And there’s no way the GOP is going to get my museum to stop celebrating these real-life Wonder Women!
Every time that odious little SS wannabe, Stephen Miller, opens his mouth, the results are odious. The march of three stooges, Miller, Hegseth, and Vance through Union Station was met with all the derision and disparagement they deserved. If they are the finest the MAGA party has to offer? I am a bit relieved. The Felon, with each passing moment, becomes more addled and weaker. If these three are the future? There is hope. We just need to remember not only are the economic numbers working against them but also more and more citizens are waking up to who and what they are.
There are more of us than there are of them. We are louder, brighter, and more resilient. The lower courts will continue to be the greatest line of defense. We just need to be vocal, to call and support our members of Congress and support those who are on the front lines.
Heather said Trump wants a world where people of color, minorities of all kinds, poor people and women should step aside in favor of elite white men. She forgot to add "really DUMB" white men. Honestly, most of these jokers have the IQ of a doughnut.
Carole, it was not even close to "all" the derision and disparagement they deserved. They need to experience real disobedience. They just smirked and laughed. We need to "Stand in their Way".
Gestapo Miller, j.d. Vance, and Hegseth made this unannounced visit to Union Station supposedly to thank the National Guard troops stationed there(read photo op). They were severely heckled and yelled at as they went into a Shake Shack(real classy) with the Guard members. That's where they gave their lame speeches and left within an hour because of the raucous atmosphere and loud protests against their presence.
Yes there are so many more of us than these dimwitted fascists that are ruining this republic and destroying our democracy. The power of the people is greater than the people in 'power'...
You can see bits and pieces of them now all over Washington. Yesterday, leaving from my home Metro, there were two Guardsmen just standing there (doing nothing). One of them smiled at me -- not because he found me cute, I'm sure, but because I fit the demographic profile he was told he was "protecting." Had my complexion been a few shades darker, my eyes brown, and I were years younger, I'm sure that smile wouldn't have been there. Three more at George Washington University metro, standing in a little circle-jerk, looking at their cell phones --- again, doing nothing.
Performative fascism on a popsicle stick. ICE, however -- another story.
Heather, since 1969 I have (and many others too) have been protesting. My first was taking to the streets in Washington, DC to march against the Vietnam War. Since then, it was burning my bra, volunteering for free clinics so that women could get birth control or abortions, witnessing Roe V. Wade passing, then the Voting Rights Act took effect. I have watched our military men and women give their all to us. They, in turn, were able to provide to their families, healthcare, education, and stability. Yes, I am a boomer and yes, I was a proud hippie unlike the bald-eagle-eyed monster in this regime, who wasn’t born at that time.
As a former southerner, I can tell you about the KKK and white supremacy because I witnessed that too. These people are ugly in their demeanor, come in all sizes, and will tell you how their pappy or grandpappy proudly fought as a Confederate soldier. Americans like us, have tried really hard to be kind, considerate, and push for equality. That’s what us white folks think but if you were to ask Black Americans, we have failed along the way. Observing the courage of Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier, the other Democrats stood by her and tore up their agreement forms that were to let armed police officers follow them everywhere they go. Hell, were these officers told to follow them into their bathrooms also? MAGA is the party of paranoia and absurdity. We fight at dawn!
We need to back up Collier with every thing we’ve got. Point man/woman is dangerous and she needs to know this nation is her backup. Not just Texans, but she is in chains for all of us.
Even if you didn’t, I’ll plug your book “How the South Won the Civil War” as a great work to expand on this Letter, professor Richardson. Your ability to explain the twisted, winding path our country’s seemingly endless supply of propagandists take when wrapping themselves in emotionally compelling yet naively narrow and frankly stupid is second to none. Tonight you went for the marathon, and I’m grateful you condensed so many years into so little space.
More than that, the “saying the silent part out loud” just gets more blatant to those who harbor complicit thinking to Trump’s ugly and untenable view of life in this country. Deporting our people and diverse cultures, and oppressing the races and gender targeted as inferior is a monumental slap across the faces of all of us. As those of us who do not assent to this view can say, another intolerable minute of a Karoline Leavitt spewing her forced rhetoric from the podium, or Stephen Miller framing a worldview that should sicken - not embolden - us is like dragging us over hot coals and broken glass. WE need the nexus of capable men and women who want to lead to convene on the Democratic Party and run the old guard out of town so we can co-opt their infrastructure and stop the nonsense of Ken Martin style tweaking that has gotten us nowhere.
Thank you for writing this, and sorry for the length of my comment. I feel like there must be some reason opposition is not more vocal, yet I can’t find it.
With no disrespect meant at all, this is rumination. There are, what, about 400 days left to the mid-term elections, so get on with it. Resistence is often unglamourous and not in Big Gestures. Is there an election for your local school board? Then find a candidate to support or run yourself; ascertain what the voter ID requirements are and support one, five, ten people to acquire the specific document/s; help people get registered to vote.
Volunteers are needed to help with voter registration. Your local chapters of Indivisible, League of Women Voters, and the Democratic Party; and, your local community are looking for election workers. Voter registration and helping your friends and neighbors get to the polls is an essential component to the midterms and 2026.
There are opportunities available for whatever you are able to do.
The American cowboy is a myth. He was Mexican. While Blacks and Native Americans and whites joined the genre, the culture was vaquero. Www.okhistory.org
That possibility would never enter their minds. If Project 2025 had been planned during trump 1.0? It might have succeeded, if those surrounding the Felon who were more cognizant of how government works had been against democracy. Thankfully, those who counted, weren't. trump 2.0? He is surrounded by the idiots of numerous villages and try as they might, in the end, they will fail. Thank God.
Unfortunately, Carol-Ann, they hold majorities in all federal government and the Supreme Court right now, and it looks like they will do whatever it takes to retain that power. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if right-wingers refuse to concede any election they lose. They will never willingly give up the power they have now.
Their power is transitory. Not give up power? What power? The people on the street in every state, even the "red" ones, in Union Station, tell a different story. I will not concede to their "power."
Do you honestly think the bedbug aka J.D. Vance (is that his name this week?) will ever again be able to win an election?
Do you think the perpetual alcoholic Hegseth, will, if push comes to shove, ever be obeyed? Why do you think the flag ranks are suddenly getting thinner and thinner? These officers took an oath to the Constitution, not a perpetual drunk and an adjudicated rapist.
As for the Reinhard Heydrich mini-me? The other two slugs are protected by advice and consent, he is not. He's just a mere employee, he can be removed.
It's going to take a long time to right this ship of state, it will be done, but not by conceding power to those who do not represent the will of the people.
Project 2025 has been in The making for decades. They can’t win a majority and they know that. Do not forget more people voted for someone other than Trump both times.
They have known their true ideas are unpopular so they lie about them. Their power c meds from the House and the courts where they can fix the minority rule into place. And we mustn’t rely on SCOTUS. Don McGham and Leonard Leo handpicked the latest three from the ranks of the Heritage. Thy certainly weren’t going to chance putting someone ina lifetime position that they knew wouldn’t be more than willing to rewrite the constitution without the input of the people.
It is going to take a miracle where Father Time steps in and cuts off the head of the snake bevause no one else will be able to pull the crap Trumo does. Most of MAGA are loyal to Trump, not any ideology. They ain’t following Vance to storm the Vapitol.
Sadly, Vance will have to use the military to do that and we have real problems. I wouldn’t count on this American electorate to rise up, educate the,selves on why democracy is “like” a good idea and resist.
SCOTUS has riled in Trump favor every time on Executive orders.
18 cases on shadow docket on EO it’s been 18 out of 18 for authoritarianism.
No miracle. Perserverance. This kind of autocratic think has been around since the country was founded. Vance is not someone who will be obeyed. There's no there, there. He lacks charisma, decency, and integrity. It's fine to be the adjudicated rapist's errand boy and shill, that doesn't make you presidential material. We've learned out lesson. There are cockroaches who have higher positive ratings than he does.
I have to say, I am so sick and tired of the Eeoyre brigade telling me how we can't win, how all is lost, how the Supreme Court.....blah, blah, blah.
Have you notice the demonstrations and the town halls? Those people have not genuflected, so why are the Eeoyres? I guess the Texas Democrats and Gavin Newsom are figments the imagination? They really don't exist. They don't represent the majority of this country that is saying enough is enough.
As for the Supreme Court? They have been defied before and they will be again. When only one party plays by the rules? There are no rules. It's goose and gander time.
It just popped into my mind. A way to remind us that there are many perspectives. I remember watching it with my wife and kids and we were all laughing but captured by its originality.
God doesn't meddle in this kind of nonsense. And those that invoke him or her? They are hypocrites and the anti-Christ. Mark Twain wrote an amazing short story, "The War Prayer." The following quote has the earmarks of everything Project 2025 extolls.
"“For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!"
I know that story and have often thought of it since a teen slight older than I read it to us. I have thought of it often, and have thought that genuine justice is based on knowing and acknowledging the WHOLE story, insofar as we humans are able to gather and process it. It seems to me that recognizing what most matters and "big picture" of how things fit are pillars of wisdom. War is mass murder and there is no honest denial of that. I think we had to fight Hitler, but violence is never "clean".
I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, but grew up respecting values that Jesus preached, though I'm too self-indulgent for his ascetic lifestyle. We casually use the word "love" to mean to "like", but the deeper sense of "love" is to care about somebody else. Even people one does not like. Jesus made that explicit.
MAGA seems to celebrate motives that seem opposite to Jesus' sympathies for the poor and abused, rejection of material wealth, and rejection of serious violence, yet historically, "The Church" has done many horrifying things, as well as ennobling and liberating initiatives. They can't be both right, and it seems to me that the scriptural Jesus came out on the side of love.
As has often been said about the MAGA muck, they aren't really Christians, they are more in tune with the Old Testament God or even better, the Code of Hammurabi. They represent the worst of Calvinism - Oliver Cromwell, the theology behind the Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials. To their mind? The teachings of Jesus is for suckers.
You may believe there is no God...that's fine, your choice of course but you don't seem to realise maybe how much of this authoritarian/fascist administration is so incredibly powered by this belief. What makes me nuts is them even evoking the name of Christ when they are behaving in NO WAY WHATSOEVER by any principles he taught. I totally respect your belief but would encourage you to read one of the many books out there just to see how widespread and embedded these hypocrites/morons are not only in USA but the world. BTW, Jesus called out religious hypocrites almost more than anyone else. One book I could recommend is The Violent Take It By Force by Matthew Taylor. He is a Christian BUT his goal is not to prosteletize but rather shine a big light on how deep and dark this goes. Believe in God or not but that choice won't make this go away just because you do not believe in God. Their twisted white supremacist view of God is sooo blinding to even themselves...somehow....that they don't seem to realise the Jesus they claim to follow was more than likely historically, a brown man. I understand if none of this seems worth your time to look into but just because you do not believe doesn't mean you shouldn't take it seriously. If a person didn't believe in gravity, how would that work out for them if they decided to walk on the edge of The Empire State Building to prove it? DEAD PERSON.........will we end up with a DEAD DEMOCRACY just by refusing to believe in "their" God ? I am a Christian and I have no idea what God they think they're serving but I see about NO PART of Jesus in what they're doing...but they are not going to stop and many have said...and we are ALREADY SEEING...they WILL increase the violence IF THEY CHOOSE. So, just saying, believe what you choose to believe but don't dismiss in ignorance what their beliefs are capable of doing......we're only 7 months in. Take care. Be safe
Margaret, you need to know your enemy. These people (known as TFP in some circles, with the "F" standing for whatever profanity you find that fits). Their god is a vengeful god who has given them the absolute belief in their righteousness.
They absolutely refuse to see that perspective. I tried it in 2016 and asked my father-in-law what he would think if Hilary Clinton had said she could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it (remember those heady days?). He absolutely refused to even try, and instead spouted Russian propaganda at me. When I told him he was repeating Russian propaganda fed to him on his steady diet of Faux Noise he called me a liar and a communist. Sigh.
Just to give another perspective on the generational gap in politics: My father fought in WWII and was completely susceptible to the heavy Communist propaganda spread in America afterwards. As an impudent college socialist (I am now an impudent socialist older person), I argued the benefits of non-capitalism. On one occasion, he shut me down, saying, "They didn't build the Berlin wall to keep people out. They built it to keep people in." He was right about that and as far as he was concerned, that just about summed the entire matter up. I thought about what he had said and didn't bring up the subject . . . until the next day! and we started in again. But we never saw eye to eye, and sadly, found we couldn't even discuss the issues with each other anymore because we both got so angry. So we stopped.
I had a brother-in-law who was a Navy Airman. Quite skilled, i would imagine. Retired he would watch Fox for hours on end, the same stories over and over, fuming the whole time. At least in part, he could not defend his beliefs with specific evidence, but told me that "people I trust" said it was so.
It seems that to the far right anything they don't favor is "communist". I doubt many could correctly define the word. My guess is that if you wrote down many less repeated thoughts of the founders and certainly Lincoln, attributed anonymously, many would call that "Communist" as well. In fact someone did essentially that in the 1960s and (at least from some got that response. I read about it long ago in our local newspaper.
Hello J L... If you watch DJT closely, DJT has been declining for over a Year... As of late, DJT has been talking about going to Heaven... Seems to me that DJT is raging against the coming Darkness.... Pray for Divine Intervention....
Why don't the Democrats create a shadow government, headed by Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, when he is available. There would be a shadow cabinet, resembling the one that Vice President Harris and Governor Gipper may have had in mind. This shadow government would not only answer Trump's antics, but also function by proposing the policies it would have pursued.
Nope. Not the way Snyder suggests, and other countries have had for a long time. They are sitting on their asses, because they are afraid to put the operational infrastructure in place that is required for the shadow cabinet to act in anticipation. Way too late anyways now. I told them they have at most until April 1, 2025.
I did not know that Dr Snyder had suggested this. Thanks, Bruce. More than likely, I read this idea somewhere and forgot about it; then the little seed planted popped out of some crevasse of the mind, fooling me into thing it was original. Accordingly, I invoke the George Harrison disclaimer.
Well, Ned calls it arrogance. There was probably some of that. I have a healthy portion mixed in too. But he, like I was criticizing their approach, so he was asked to stop, they had a reelection for Vice Chairs and he didn't run. He now heads "Leaders We Deserve", which endorses and supports candidates aligned with his progressive values in Democratic primaries.
Like so many democrats, he seems to have not quite grasped that the biggest threat is that there may not be a 26 or 28 election. All Donnie has to do is tripple down on his fictitious "fight against Crime ridden cities" and declare "war" on those criminals and our Republic is shut down. So again...We need MASSIVE Civil Disobedience everywhere, peacefully STRIKES everywhere. We don't have a lot of time. Be prepared.
One thing that would occur with this idea, apparently already in the discussion domain, is that it would force the Democratic Party, with David Hogg, to build a coalition across ideas, regions, generations.
I think a good first step in that direction would be for the Dems in Congress to follow the lead of their colleagues in the Texas Legislature and get up and walk out, en masse.
They are not being allowed to participate in any meaningful governance, what might have at one time been respected by the majority in the spirit of loyal opposition, gets only begrudging brief and patronizing hearing. The arrogance of the MAGApublicans in that regard is truly shameful. So what is the point in hanging around going through the motions and enduring that abuse when nothing is gained by it?
Is the current regime going to send their stormtroopers to peek into rest rooms looking for these "felons?" Even if they do eventually return to their seats, either by choice or compulsion, that action will show more morale boosting courage than they have shown thus far. Marathon filibustering and such are all very well, but still, here we are.
And: I DEMAND TO SEE THE ENTIRE UNEXPURGATED, UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES.
I wrote my congress critters months ago that they should have walked out of the T**** address to Congress when Al Green was ejected. The lot of them. They didn't respond.
Yes. Following Green (a Black member of congress) out would have been a powerful visual record of a big FU to the trajectory that HCR outlined in her essay today.
James, I had the same experience when Al Green was ejected. Do you remember when Joe Wilson called Obama a liar during his State of the Union speech? He’s still in Congress and will be starting his annual South Carolina state bus tour. Wish I lived there so I could call him a liar to his face. 🤮💩🤡
Being a student of history, as I am, (and as Stephen Miller obviously is not) I cannot help but see parallels with the posture of appeasement taken by Chamberlain, et al, in Munich in 1938. We know how THAT worked out.
It causes me no end of shame to think of the Dems as going down in history as the party of appeasement.
I don’t agree with “any kind of disobedience”. Too fraught with violent vigilantism. That’s EXACTLY what the regime wants, Bruce! They want blood to be shed. That’s a big HELL NO for me.
Unfortunately, based on what I have read and experienced, it's the only way. People get hurt standing up to bullies. Try little disobediences to start, in your town/environment. Every little bit helps. Just say No!
Tell that to the 500,000 in Israel, The 100,000's in Poland, Hungary, India and so forth. Read Gandhi...Peaceful Protest doesn't work without disobedience. Too bad, we'll miss you in Jail.
the difficulty here is whether or not we are headed toward widespread violence, perhaps organized into a civil war. We are that pregnant moat after Dred Scot and Bleeding Kansas in which the Great Civil War of 1861-65 was very likely, if not quite yet inevitable,
Protests matter. Stephen Miller wouldn’t bother denigrating protesters if we weren’t effective. So thanks, Stephen, for your vote of confidence. I’ll be taking my 75 year old self to protest after protest, no nap required, and if he doesn’t like it he can lump it in jail where he belongs. I hope to see Trump, Pam Bondi, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, Kevin Roberts and the rest of these lying, power grasping, corrupt traitors in jail. It can’t happen soon enough.
I'm with you. I've had dreams of perp walks, dozens of them, of all the Congressional Republicans and every Cabinet member and the Orange Menace himself, silver bracelets flashing in the sun as they are escorted by a phalanx of US Marshals or FBI agents. The trials will be expensive and take time, but the citizenry is due justice for the damage they have done and the lives they have taken with their indifference.
“Republicans have taken away the liberty, and now the voice, of a Black woman elected by voters to represent them in the government. This is a crisis far bigger than Texas.”
Attacking political opponents is a hallmark of authoritarianism. We are rapidly approaching a tipping point where we are going to either going to lose almost a century of progress in America, or have to fight like hell to keep it.
Everything, including this insane insinuation about slavery not being bad, is designed to do one thing and one thing only. Make us forget the EPSTEIN FILES!
The full Epstein files may not even exist at this point if Trump has his way, but yes, we need to keep it alive, and there are patent side issues such as witness tampering
I believe that right-wingers will not concede any loss in the 2026 elections. They will not give up power and will attempt to end our democracy, and because they hold power over the government now, they don't intend to ever give it up.
My book discussion group just read MASTER SLAVE HUSBAND WIFE about a couple of slaves, Ellen and William Craft, who escaped in an incredibly ingenious way from slavery in Georgia in 1848. None of us well-educated and well-read folks had ever heard of the Crafts, not even those who had been American history or literature majors. None of the lawyers, doctors, and Ph.D.s amongst us. Are accounts of their lives part of the history that Trump is trying to erase? The fact that we'd never heard of them makes it clear that most of us won't have learned enough throughout our years and years of education to miss the bravery of the Crafts and others like them if they disappear from the Smithsonian museums, if they're even chronicled there.
The Fugitive Slave Act kept appearing in their story, and it seemed like a case of "plus ça change." Today we call them ICE agents.
As I said: Slavery still exists, BIG TIME. We currently count approximately 52,000,000 slaves in this world 2024. In our America there are 1,200,000 modern day slaves, still. Women and children in forced commercial sexual exploitation constitute 78% of victims. Yep, slavery has grown from an estimate of 32,000,000 globally in 2010 to the current number.
I'm not over 90--I'm only going to be 80 on my birthday in February--but I'm not going to take a nap. Instead, I'm going to join others--elders, middle-aged family and friends, and young people--and we're all going to do our best to keep Mr. Miller and his contemptuous--or do I mean contemptible?--ilk from taking over our government.
Amen sister! I just turned 80 and that’s what I’m doing with my life right now.
You GO, girl! From a 70-year-old gay guy not quite ready to roll over and die on Stephen Miller's command.
Lets wear tie die and bellbottoms!!!
Yes! (I just turned 70. The bell bottoms are long gone, but I have a tie dyed T!)
Still have mine, but the likelihood of me fitting into them is zero
tie a headband around your hair, don some love beads, and use an eyebrow pencil to draw a peace sign on your cheek.
Can you just imagine the VISUALS this would make if ALL the protestors wore tie dye and "hippie" attire?!?
We used to "bell" our pants by slitting the last foot or so and adding in a wedge of fabric. Paisley sometimes...
Sad, isn't it, Barbara? And yet one tends to live in hope, and keep them. My son's made me a couple of nice tie-dyes, though.
Ha! If I still had them I would SO not be able to fit into them!
Oh - better yet, go armed with a Subway sandwich.
A three-days old one.
I can do both. As an old hippie, my bell bottoms are bigger, and the tie-die is my own (natural colour dyeing from plants). I'm still in my 70's & still learning & protesting...
I still have my pin stripe Carnaby Street jacket and black swade Beatle boots.
In those days I was living in Italy, selling the stuff from my shop. I should perhaps say, "trying to sell".
Hm. That's an idea. One reason the anti-war protests of the Viet Nam era had momentum was the tie in (pun?) of fashion. Even those who were too young or too frivolous to have much interest in the tragedies of the war sported the accoutrements of the hippie culture and that visually promoted the over all movement.
And cover our hair with bandanas!
I will be 80 next year as well and I'm with you all the way. We Boomers (and there are a lot of us) have a lot to say! Stephen Miller, do not underestimate "old hippies."
I think I've figured out my next protest sign: Old Hippies Don't Die; We Just Protest LOUDER!!
Is this why I keep envisioning people handing flowers to the Fed troops in DC and elsewhere???
AND - while commiserating with these poor guys. "So sorry the President is making you do this. We understand you'd rather be off somewhere else doing something else."
Yes but pick your trooper carefully. As HCR said in a recent discussion, as those who are not politically aligned with this regime retire and resign etc. we will have more and more violent extremists in these positions in the police, the National Guard and the military.
Boy, I wish they would start doing that. They can't shoot everybody that hands out flowers!
Love it, Eileen. What a great sign idea!
DO IT! WRITE IT!
and VOTE !!
Love it! Will make some see red.
I LOVE that can I use it!?
Of course!!
Love it! From a 93 year old who can think! This is a horrible government until 2026 when they will die!!!
Those “old hippies” brought an end to the stupidity of the Vietnam war. Never underestimate this generation of activists.
My sons think I'm an old hippie. But I am the child of blue-collar parents. The hippie movement didn't have much appeal, especially at the beginning. I'm an old woman. Life experience and a lifetime of learning has taught me much. I definitely became more liberal as I grew older.
Our social safety net and our infrastructure are essential to making and keeping our country strong. I am very much grounded in practical solutions.
What is absolutely insane is the cult worship of a craven, demented, idiot. And the billionaires and techbros fighting to end the very democracy and economic system that allowed them to start the businesses that resulted in the wealth and power that is destroying our government. If they succeed in destroying our democracy and economy, it will have a worldwide impact. Angry, hungry, uneducated and sick people are not going to buy their products, aren't going to be able to do the work that needs to be done to keep society and their businesses going.
Besides they don't work and play well with others. They will start tearing each other apart, sooner rather than later.
Dog eat dog is truly what we will see. They each want a bigger piece of the pie.
Each one of them want the WHOLE pie. As long as there is someone who has more than they do, they will lie,cheat and steal until they are the richest.
There will never be enough money or power to fill the hole in their souls.
He's a dumb punk Nazi.
Them hippies were right!
Until just recently everything we hippies' fought for (saving the environmental, racial equality, organic foods), had become mainstream. Now America is a kleptocracy led by a criminal billionaire. Restoring our democracy will take a lot of hard work, and quite a bit of good luck. I'm in!
Stephen Miller, don’t underestimate old “ FEMALE” white hippies.
The " They" are Chicken SHITS! That is why they call in the National Guard
and the Marines to face the masses! I am not speaking of ICE, they are dangerous and that is why they wear masks. But look in the face of the soldiers and you will see most are kids between 18 and 25 they look bored but that is to cover up their fear, especially because they might come face to face with their Grandma or Auntie.
Give them the flowers and a We The People Button and keep on marching and holding your sign high.
Think he only wishes he had something/ someone of value to be near him. But, his brain is underdeveloped emotionally so, he can't be repaired. He's just mean!
It's only of value if it "makes him look good".
And we tend to have a better grasp of the (official) English language. (The further it goes, the sillier it gets.) How about everyone getting out in the most "dangerous" streets in DC, walking in bunches, masked and wearing black from head to foot?
Stephen Miller do not underestimate old female white hippies.
Ditto at 83
I’m feelin’ a song coming from that historic expose. Well there is a good chance I’ll have my 15 minutes of performance time in their open mic gig at the Congressional Black Caucus Convention week of Sept 23-27.
You know the more they talk the sillier they sound. 90 year old hippies? At 90, they would have to be beatniks not hippies. As a hippie in the 1960s my older comrades were beatniks from the late 1950s to early 1960s. When I capture Steven Miller, I’m going to have his hair shaved off. Oppsie it’s already been done.
Exactly. That's what I just commented elsewhere. Steven Miller is obviously as poor at his cultural history as he is at his social and political history (or math).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BSaG6I77RU
Enjoy one of my tributes to the one not in charge. "The Shit Hole Song."
Question for anyone: I have blocked Rick Sender so I dont see any of his entries. Is he posting these days? Just curious.
I blocked him about ten days ago in accordance with the instructions, and he does indeed seem to have disappeared.
Stephen "Fritz the Kapo" Miller, mini-me in waiting makes his move but has lots of competition for psychophant in chief ...
LOL
They were chemically primed readers of Jack Kerouac and known as the Beat Generation, until Sputnik in 1958, when we were all out in the streets at night trying to see the star that was moving. Stalin was dead, and we were fascinated by Russia.
I remember that evening well even though I was only 5 years old. Can we return to 1958 and begin again?
If only.
Me at 82!
Me, too.
Same here....80 and dedicated to saving our democracy!!!
SO AM I. I am almost 82, and napping is not for me. Oh, and I am a white guy. I write letters and postcards, send emails, attend demonstrations. THIS ADMINISTRATION MUST GO. SOON.
I'm guilty of napping, but I prefer to call it a siesta. My internal clock is messed up. I go to bed around 10 and wake up between 4 and 5. After a big lunch that my sister-in-law cooks for us everyday I couldn't stay awake if I tried. My mother-in-law needs someone available to assist her 24/7 and so my sister-in-law moved in with us during covid when the printing company she was working for closed up for 3 months in TX.
There are millions of caregivers across the country that are forced to choose between putting their loved ones in a nursing facility or quitting their jobs. For this sacrifice, Trump and the Fascist Republicans are cutting the Medicaid benefits of caregivers that they say are too lazy to work.
Thank you for bringing that simple message constantly to everyone's attention. Cruelty on a saltine cracker.
The cruelty is the point with this gang. (I refuse to dignify them with the term “administration.”)
Robert Reich calls it the "regime," and I agree with that nomenclature.
I’ve been using “Reich”.
Regime.
The GOP is the fascist party. Has been since 1968
I think since the Civil war
Tina, white supremacy was the province of Democrats back in the 1860s, while Republicans of that day maintained a philosophy that closely resembled that of today's Democrats. The two parties began swapping platforms in the 1950s. The exchange was complete when Republicans launched "The Southern Strategy" to capture the white grievance that had been simmering in Southern states since their defeat in the Civil War.
The roots of American fascism formed in American evangelicalism in the 1950s, when U.S. evangelicals became alarmed that they were losing control of American culture and to a lesser degree, government, as a result of the new affluence among whites and the growing civil rights movement.
Evangelicals created the myth that the U.S. was founded as a "Christian nation," and believed all Americans should be subject to their Protestant beliefs and mores. They began an underground campaign to infiltrate government at all levels with "born again Christians."
In the 1960s, Republican operatives identified the powerful evangelical voting bloc and formed alliances with evangelical leaders to help them elect GOP candidates. Ronald Reagan was the first fruit of that effort.
Yes. HCR makes these points often. Today, she said “businessmen, furious at the idea of regulation and taxes, set out to destroy the liberal consensus that they believed stopped them from accumulating as much money as they deserved. They made little headway until the Supreme Court in 1954 unanimously decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.” Then the Republicans used “bussing” as their mantra for bringing out the angry vote, and morphed to all manner of dog whistles after Nixon/Atwater initiated the Southern Strategy in 1968. They no longer need dog whistles. It’s racism straight, no chaser now.
1930's was the start of the platform switch.
Sick how so many keep pushing the BS that USA is a "Christian nation". That is NOT what our founders said or allowed to be part of the Constitution.
Dale, I agree with much of what you say here, but there were certainly U.S. fascists in the 1930s, if not before. Look up the America First movement from that period.
As Heather's letters teach us.
Thank you Steve Harvey Radio.
Steve Harvey radio? Or did you mean Paul Harvey. Explain who Steve Harvey is.
I am 70 retired woman. I take care of my community and care for those who cannot do it alone. I do this for free b/c elders cannot get this care and stay home on a fixed income. We all need to keep this country going. How much more money do trillionaires need? They cannot own it all or take it with them when they’re gone. Just saying.
For trillionaires or billionaires, money is an addiction. They need more to keep going, just like a drug addict. And just like someone whose primary focus is on getting their next hit/dose, they don't care a whit about anybody or anything else.
Susan, they also think their money will save them from the ongoing climate crises. It won't in the long run. I keep thinking of those huge houses on Jupiter Island in Florida and wonder how long they will be above water. Also after tornados, wildfires, etc. I see plenty of destroyed houses that are not in the poor neighborhood.....see plenty of those too.
Of course their money won't save them. Wherever they are, they are sure to be adding to the climate change fiasco. IMO they will get what they deserve. I'm sorry they are taking the rest of us along for the ride.
Susan, If we lose we will be on our way to 3rd World Country. No 3 basic human needs: shelter, healthcare, food. One old RN.
Janice, I think we are already well on our way to being a 3rd world country. And I know that my city will be far worse off when those redistricting maps go through, here in Texas. We are a low income city to start with, and when we lose representation, we would probably do better returning to be a part of Mexico.
I get the sense the bezonillairs think they're immortal.
Of course they do - that's why their focus is on AI helping them live forever and establish a colony on Mars or elsewhere. And why they use none of their bezonillions on saving planet earth. They see themselves as the elites who will survive the end of the world - as Heather says - they see the rest of us merely as "mudsills", the worker bees enabling them to achieve their long range goals. They are insane of course, but who's to stop them? Clearly not the Trump regime.
Do you suppose they will feel disappointment when they find out?
Well, or they think their money will protect them through their one lifespan and they really don't care about their children or their grandchildren. They really don't. Narcissists only care about people who provide directly for their comfort and personal pride and only to the extent and so long as those others serve that specific function.
Ha Ha Ha! Waiting for their response to terminal illness diagnosis.
From an OLD HIPPIE, I can no longer continue to give to a political party. Like so many in the last three years I am drained, tapped out on my fixed income, can no longer afford to give. Especially when having serious doubts about an Election being held much less a free and fair election. With this redistricting they are already cheating with unbelievable boldness! The Regime is saying loud and clear, we will not accept any outcome other than an overwhelming win for Facism followed by one for the same Fascist President. I really am not sure that we should recognize an election under these terms. Cheating, by overtly rigging the election to be held in less than two years? At that point WHAT is THE POINT. Isn't that what we see happening all over the world with these Authoritarian Regimes? Then seems at some point they murder the opposing party and have no election anyway.
The road to hell is paved with riches.
Nobody needs to defend taking a nap, or being a certain age (Congress is no spring chicken), or speaking their mind. This is the kind of argument used by those without good reasoning.
Gary, I agree with you about caregivers. I can say with pride that my wife and I were full-time caregivers for my Alzheimer's-afflicted mother for seven years, and ended our business (at least partly) in order to do it. After she became eligible for Medicaid benefits, we got her into a facility to give us respite for a month. Within three weeks Covid shut down all facilities, and my mum remained in one until she died, three years ago (not of Covid.) Despite how difficult it became towards the end of those seven years, we still believe we made the right decision for her to live with us. Continued shame on this maladministration for its treatment of people.
Doug, During Covid we lost over 1/2 our healthcare workers thru illness or death or leaving most never came back. In the 1st administration as President. Now it’s Healthcare and hospitals closing. We are in real trouble if we can’t stop this. One old RN.
I agree, Janice. The small nonprofit facility (32 beds) we got my mum into just before Covid shut everything down managed to keep it out until August 2021, but when it finally hit it they lost the Administrator, the Exec Director and the Head Nurse within several months, not to mention several care staff. They all primarily left due to burnout, having to work extended hours while other staff was out, etc. Before she left, we were lucky to have the Head Nurse advocate on our behalf to get my mum in a larger facility, jumping the line (she loved my mum.)
My wife is also a former nurse (visiting, then clinical, then an administrator for case management for a not-for-profit BC/BS in our state until it became for-profit. Long story short, she ended up leaving health care for good nearly 30 years ago because she disagreed with the for-profit model in insurance.
Doug, worked as a nurse from age 19 - 68. Got Covid before vaccines arrived. Lost ability to walk in one leg. After 8 months of therapy got use of leg back. Don’t let anyone say vaccines don’t work. Now deal with long Covid at times . I wonder who will care for me when needed. It is so hard this leader got back in. What were people thinking? Go Blue. We need to turn this page and soon.
Doug, I left nursing 2019 @ 64 yoa in large part because I watched the "non- profit" company, Heritage (NY based) suck up as much $ as they could, cutting staffing protocols, charging more for care & leaving some very elderly folks looking for a Medicaid- funded facility. At the same time, insurances were denying care claims. My soul couldn't take it any more! Thank you & your wife for the service towards your Mom.
We see this happening all the time and in eastern Oregon where many rural hospitals are, we saw the loathsome Cliff Benz defending death star because there's Medicaid fraud you know, and some people make too much money to be on it. Many of his constituents are not happy with him. When I visited my doctor recently I was lucky to get to see him and I commented on that. He said doctors are not be recruited here and five doctors at his clinic had retired and were not replaced. We had to change our long time health insurance recently because they and the local hospital could not come to an agreement.
On our way to lose 3 human rights, Shelter, food, Healthcare. Air B&B investor shelter, 5 star restaurants food, private Healthcare for rich. There we have the future. Rest of us working until we die.
Welcome to my world.
Sorry GJ, I don't believe the current batch of Republicans care at all about the plight of patients and their caregivers. They might respond that you should have chosen more affluent or healthy parents. It's *your* fault that you need more extensive Healthcare. Or, as worldclass philosopher Joni Ernst put it, "We're all going to die sometime". Besides, the Republicans need that Healthcare money to give huge tax cuts to people who don't need them.
We never will grasp how very many people there are that are caregivers of some sort & the cost both financially & mentally. Yeah, I suppose they could find some menial task to earn $ during their few moments of rest. I just hope & pray that those people will vote!
My NEW SIGN after the POTUS SAYS 'THE SMITHSONIAN focuses too much on how bad slavery was"
WE ARE FOCUSING SOLELY ON HOW BAD A FACIST GOVERNMENT IS
IT MUST GO!!!
I am in the US right now, but the city I live in in Germany has the group "Omas gegen Rechts" which is Grandmas against the right wing, in almost every city. They take popular tunes that no longer have copyright and put political words on them, and lead sing alongs and give speeches at most demonstrations. I live back and forth and am politically active in both countries, since I am a member of Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad as well as Indivisible Chicago. In the Indivisible Abroad in our political chat groups I get to connect with Americans living around the world and hear how things are playing out for them in the countries they are living in. Today’s Martha Pugh, the International Director of Democrats Abroad send out a letter to us telling us to inform our elected reps to protect our right to vote by mail.
My Democrats Abroad political book club group read historian Jefferson Cowie's "Freedom's Dominion," in which he lays out a struggle for voting rights, as well as the necessity for Blacks and Native Americans to have Federal support to enforce their legal rights, and how the Feds repeatedly failed them in a county in Alabama. Cowie also gave 2 talks that I attended. In one he told us only a populist would win, and then when we asked us to clarify by talking to our group, he did and then told us that he was surprised that the Democrats had not done more to protect voting rights. I wrote a piece after each talk.
Voting Rights Come Before All Others.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/voting-rights-come-before-all-others?r=f0qfn
Is Populism the Way to Go?
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/is-populism-the-way-to-go?r=f0qfn
My 91-year-old mother might have been described as a hippie, but I think of her as a human rights supporter. She had me gathering money for the NAACP when I was 3, as well as attending marches, and we went to Soldier Field in Chicago to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr speak. She worked for prisoner rights, and environmental causes, as well as civil rights. I followed in her footsteps and was involved in the anti-Apartheid movement in college, attended demonstrations to get the US out of Central America, and took my own child to her first rally for immigrants with over 100,000 people, when she was 18 months, in a pack on my back. We went on environmental marches, women's marches, and she grew up knowing that going to a protest was like going to a concert to hear a musician you want to hear, it takes priority over every day life. Right on for the old hippies and young hippies, who are taking up the fight! ✌🏽
Absolutely! What you write - what you lay out in the story of your activism, is inspirational. What happened to Grandmothers for Peace? I don't know if I am an old hippie, or not, but at 82 I have been politically active my whole life. Do we want good roads? Do we want a library? Do we want decent schools for our children? Do we want healh care for ourselves and our loved ones? Of course we do. And all that depends on "politics".
Penny, you hit the nail on the head. You should be talking to high school civics classes if they even exist. I am worried that they have been replaced by coding, and computer programing and things like that, and the aspects of learning that prepare people to participate in a democracy are being neglected.
Just to reassure you, Linda: my oldest grandchild is 16 - a high school junior. She lives in a very Conservative/Trump-loving part of the state. She has an excellent American History/Civics teacher. Now that she can drive, she borrows the car and drives to Protests. She recently bought a “controversial T-shirt and is contemplating whether to wear it to school. She has joined a church that is very “in to” the protest movement. I recently asked her if she knew that she was following in Papa’s Pathway. “Yes, Protest Papa, I am, but you are only 80 years old, so get back on the streets and bring your guitar!” Shheessshh!!
She was brought up right! Or, left, really!)
We lefties are the only ones in their right minds.
Yup, her mother, our daughter, a Leftie, indeed, and has converted her Conservative husband. Also, our granddaughter is now playing guitar, too, and protest songs are gettin’ strummed! Too bad she’s only 16, but give her a couple of years and she will be in the Voters’ Booth!!
PPP, I love it. And because she has a legacy that says how to be, she knows what to do. That is lived civics. An important part of the whole learning experience of being in a participatory democracy.
So correct, Linda! As a retired schoolteacher (35 years in total - elementary and middle school), I appreciate what teachers can do in the classroom and, at least when I was teaching, teachers were told to keep their political views to themselves. (Thumb-taking the Ten Commandments to the walls of each classroom seems to run counter to that edict, and, I am aware that politics and religion are two separate things? Well, used to be. Plus, what the Ten Commandments spell out, to me, is a pretty solid way to live a good, honest life. I must ask, however, does Trump have the Ten Commandments thumbtacked to the Oval Office walls and in his ketchup stained lunchroom? How about Mike Johnson’s office? How about all of Trump’s toilets - like opposite his potty…. OK, Papa, settle down!!)
Yes, Lived Civics! A great two words that I will remember! Thanks, Linda!
“We Shall Overcome, Someday”
This is the small personal story I need to hear right now. Hugs to Protest Papa and his brave, adorable and spunky granddaughter.
Thank you, Yehawes! As you can probably tell, I am very connected to my grandkids (4 of them). They are my and our future and, as I get “elderly,” I treasure watching them pursue their varied interests - and college and career choices and VOTING are coming soon. I was fortunate enough to have been able to babysit all of them - from diaper changing to escorting them to the bus stop. And, yup, the HS kid is a SPUNKY one, indeed. But, of course, she can’t play guitar like I can (Papa knows and can do everything!), but, a line from Pete Seeger’s song “Quite Early Morning,” sticks in my brain: “And when these fingers can strum no longer, hand the old guitar to young ones stronger.”
Two things - 1.) Pete sings “banjo” while I sing “guitar” 2.) It ain’t just guitars or banjos that get handed to young ones stronger.
Just trying to turn young people into computer chips in- the- flesh. We all need to demand a return of Civics classes to all school!
How about do we want to vote as women? How can any woman be a member of the republican party?
republicans=nasty
Add = do we want to feed the children?
I belong to advocacy group Bread for the World. The very young who don't receive sufficient food, grow stunted brains, even here in America. They will not be functioning adults! Our tRump Maga generation is "kicking that can" down the road for someone else to fix.... Let's focus on the things that can be achieved today!
If he does away with voting by mail, he will disenfranchise every single man and woman serving in the Armed Forces overseas. I don't see this being too popular with them or their families.
Janet, I was just discussing this with a friend whose husband is in the service. They live in Germany. She is in my book club. She is concerned that Trump is saying you must live in the place you vote from. Since US bases around the world are technically the US, would he call each base a state? It makes no sense when we have a perfectly good way of voting right now.
I had a friend ask that question. Not just military; disabled, people who don't/can't drive, people traveling. Others as well.
Yes. Of course. But many feel that if you are not living in the states you should not have the right to vote, but we still have to file taxes in the US and if our income comes from here we have to pay taxes here, so no taxation without representation.
In fact, the older Republicans largely vote by mail which all of the Republican governors are going to remind Trump of come the time and he will have to walk it back. Of course many people for health reasons vote by mail.
Yes Linda! If you make me pay taxes while working outside the US then you HAVE to respect my vote.
Ally, as you know we here in Oregon have long voted by mail. It has worked remarkably well. Now we have some jerks trying to get a measure on the ballot to do away with it. They know very well that it is a form of voter suppression. I would love one of them to ask me to sign their damn petition. But not likely, since I am never in a good place to get those kinds of signatures. Probably being circulated at places like the local fundy church down the street.
Including tribal nations. They are aware this is a threat to their ability to vote, much as limits on allowing helpers to carry their sealed ballots to the polls has been.
Maybe we should all return to the place we were born when voting.
I guess that is what Trump is thinking, but it doesn't work that way anyway. There are people who have to file and sometimes even pay taxes in the US just because they were born abroad to an American parent or parents. So, they may have never set foot in the US, but once they earn money they have to file in their residence country and the US, which is costly and a hassle and still doesn't prevent Billionaires from not paying US taxes. The rule where I am is that if I paid less in either country than I would have in their country, I have to pay the difference. Not fun.
As long as we are taxed we should have representation too. That is in our constitution.
So apparently, "taxation without representation" has come around again, hasnt it?
Since this bunch of ****** doesnt read or comprehend actual history
could it be they ""know not what they do"" possibly?
Sorry for the grammatical mess I made of that, but I think you get the gist!
If it was good enough for the B.C. Israelis, it's good enough for us! 🤣🙄😒
PTL!
How biblical, Al!
Imagine the boost to tourism!
Oh Bethlehem oh Bethlehem.....
New meaning to stabilizing the population.
If you read the bill, the military is excluded. They are concentrating in reducing the Democratic votes, since there are probably more Democrat expats then Republicans.
Just remember, it is the States & Congress only who can change the way elections are handled. Hopefully, enough folks in congress will see that a massive change in voting will be extremely expensive & cost many of them the chance to continue in politics. WA is all mail in votes & have told my politicians to REFUSE a change.
Excellent point!
You were brought up right, Linda! You're not wasting your life. Omas gegen Rechts, eh? What are the Opas doing?
Here in the US we have a similar group called Raging Grannies. They can wear funny hats and aprons while singing for freedoms, social justice, economic equality the environmrnt. Through singing and humor they get their point across. This group is nation wide and in Canada too where it was first started.
They might be in the crowd demonstrating, but they have not organized a singing group in honor of making the world a better place for their grandchildren.
Linda, I *love* this. Your mom brought you up right, and you have continued the work she started. My mum brought us up right as well: to respect one another, especially those with less (and we didn't have a lot), and to talk to strangers (which took me until I was past middle age to do.) But she was far more meek than your mum, and as I came of age in 1973 and headed off to college, she dissuaded me from taking part in campus demonstrations.
I now saying "Screw it!" and attend demonstrations when I can. I also talk regularly to strangers, and keep space in my heart for the travails of others, no matter their circumstances.
So Doug, your mom raised you right, and you figured out the deeper message of what she was saying to you, which is do what is right! Keep it up. We march. We vote. That is one of the biggest things we do as well.
Yes, Linda! I wish I were as engaged as you, although I do what I can. I wish my dear wife were as engaged as I am, but alas, she is not -- even as she is appalled at what is going on.
The American version of what you describe as the Omas is The Grannies. We are international and I joined a 'Gaggle' this year. Our primary focus
Is peace and close second is justice. We get lots of
Requests to perform our satire and recently, we
Sing weekly in front of our state office of the republicans making sure motorists know the GOP protects pedophiles, takes food and education money away from Children and gives it to billionaires and is taking rights away from women and POC. We have been BUSY. Our local Big10 university is incorporating our stories into a University Press book for use in classes to help students learn about the realities of misogyny that we have experienced and how our rights are in retreat.
Too bad our Raging Grannies don't need a sousaphone player. I cannot carry a tune in a bucket with a handle.
so get a bucket without a handle, girl . . .
Melissa, I found it. https://raginggrannies.org/
It would be great if these groups would really hook up around the world. We need more democratic global alliances. This is the perfect group to do it, although it could have different names in different cultures.
Melissa, that sounds wonderful and just like "Omas gegen Rechts". It would be nice if we could get this going around the country. What state are you in. I will let people in Democrats Abroad know. ✌🏽
Madison,Wisconsin. There is another group in Milwaukee.
That is great!
That’s quite a family history! I would like to see more young people speaking out and fighting for democracy. As I recall, during the Vietnam War, marching and closing down college classes was mostly done by male students worried about the draft, but there was a big women’s liberation effect too. We elders need some help now from the next generations—it’s your future and it looks pretty bleak. Read up on fascism and Hitler please and WAKE UP!!
I'm pretty sure the college students that were protesting and speaking out at various colleges - the ones losing their ability to continue at those colleges and the ones being arrested do qualify as young people speaking out.
But they werent being backed up by older generations for the most part. Accused of anti-semitism, and supporting terrorism.
Kind of sounds like Viet Nam days and those college protests.
I recommend Ruth Ben-Ghiats Substack Lucid. If you subscribe you can attend her weekly Zoom meetings which are wonderful.
https://lucid.substack.com/
She is an expert on fascism, and her book "Strongmen" is really helpful to understand modern day fascist leaders, as well as Anne Applebaum's book, "Autocracy, Inc" both books have longer titles, but you can find them under these names.
https://wwnorton.com/books/strongmen
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725302/autocracy-inc-by-anne-applebaum/
Linda Weide,
Thank you for sharing your wonderful life synopsis....and for continuing to give.
This is a great encouragement for me!
As an Oma, I fully support this movement!
Again, thank you. So many comments/threads trip my "Papa, Charlie hat gesagt....." trigger. Locking the Texas legislator in the chamber for refusing to sign a "permission" paper, and then threatening to charge her with a felony, because she used her telephone, seems to me to be too close to Hans and Sophie Scholl's fate. Where is the outrage?!?
Linda W, if you ever get a hold of video of the Grandmas, I would love to see it! Governments HATE to see/ hear old men & women protest & march. Not much they can say to them to change their minds. Go Grandma!
Cindy, here is a discussion of Omas gegen Rechts in the first one and the rest are Raging Grannies.
https://youtu.be/qJBzcjsL7zM?si=DDnrnsSGpFrhmS2G
https://youtu.be/GQU35tdA5z0?si=bpiIvYHbFav6kmw4
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/J3qq9EQsh2A
https://youtu.be/NGxonCD79F8?si=zQUSHiNDlqup68Bm
I assume that even though you are older, you are still an American. I have noticed that they really are shrinking who they want to define as a 'real American'. Now I guess any white American over 50 who objects to Trump stealing from us and trying to turn us into virtual slaves is not a 'real American' either. I wonder why the AARP isn't up in arms about this?
The AARP lost me when they opposed ObamaCare. “Where you stand depends on where you sit" and AARP started out as an old folks insurance company. I don’t need ACA, but I know it’s vital for many of my fellow citizens.
Yup, AARP lost me when they endorsed the "W" Bush Medicare Part D plan for drug coverage. It is a convoluted conspiracy to make as much money for the pharmaceutical companies as possible. It is an annual nightmare to navigate. It is an example of Oligarchy running what should be a public program for everyone. It is a scam just like Medicare Advantage plans.
Long past time for "Medicare for All"!
AARP is just a marketing arm for the morbidly rich.
Embarrassed to say I didn’t know about AARP’s opposition to the ACA. Thank you!
They didn’t see comment below
Obama had to compromise with Republicans to get anything passed.
Republican Amendments: While the ACA was drafted, nearly 190 Republican amendments were adopted by the Democrat-controlled House and Senate committees.
However, the passage of the ACA WITHOUT BIPARTISAN support highlighted the deep partisan divisions surrounding healthcare reform in the United States
Kent, I admire what Obama accomplished, but I always got upset by his “bargaining”. I certainly know nothing about what went on out of public view, but it seemed he always started his public bargaining by going halfway to the Republican position! This was true of the ACA as well as other programs he proposed.
I do not disagree. The feeling at that time was that something was better than nothing. And it was. But now we are about to be reminded what nothing looks like to the detriment of 20 million Americans.
I agree with your point. My only point was that he might have got more “something”, at least before 2011, by not going so far to the middle.
AARP used its considerable political power to help pass Obamacare in 2010, despite the opposition of many members ― about 400,000 left the organization in protest:
Further: https://press.aarp.org/2021-6-17-AARP-Statement-on-Supreme-Courts-Affordable-Care-Act-Ruling
Time to fact check this one
I did and see on the Internet that AARP supported ACA in 2010. I lived through the whole thing and remember their opposing it. Perhaps earlier?
Me, too! But I suspect a large part of their membership is MAGA. Being old doesn't necessarily make you wise (and I say this at 82).
AARP is an insurance company.
Watching Bernie Sanders yesterday, I learnt that he was born in America after his parents arrived from Poland.
Dana, I liken AARP to the NRA. Both organizations started out to be about benefitting their members. Now, both have lost sight of their original missions and exist only to raise revenues.
Betsy, I say Steven Miller is downright evil. When I see or hear him speak, chills run up and down my 77 year-old spine. I'm proud to say that I found my spine the minute Trump decided he was so popular that he could say or do anything and it would be accepted. I found mine, and the Republican Congress members lost theirs. They're accepting Steven Miller's and others' cruel and evil words and actions.
Pam, I agree! I just saw some footage of Miller walking through the Central Station with JDV, and people yelling at JDV, but they should have been yelling at Miller who is behind so much of what is going on. He looked evil walking there with a sullen look that I seem to always see. This is a regime of the mentally disturbed.
Yes.
Miller is right out of "Central Casting" for villains. He would fit right in as an officer of the Empire in a Star Wars film. Evil guy. Sick, depraved and vicious.
Saw a meme with Miller on one side and a rectal polyp on the other. Strikingly similar.....
Linda, mentally disturbed is right!
Pee-Wee German indeed.
As a brown-skinned German I would say, not all Germans are cut from the same cloth. However, Jewish Miller is quite the fascist. This is what his uncle says about him.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/
Pam, I prefer to avoid the word "evil" because it has religious connotations. I guess it works if you're religious, but I think a more accurate description is "misanthropic psychopath."
Miller hates humankind. He has allowed his hatred for humankind to direct his every thought and action. This is not the result of childhood abuse or any other outside influence. His mind is broken. He should be treated for antisocial personality disorder. If treatment is unsuccessful, he should be locked up so he's not a danger to society.
I agree with your assessment of Miller...a hate monger..antisocial personality disorder...should be locked up and treated. I disagree with the use of the word evil having only religious connotations. I am utterly non-religious and use the word evil, absolutely, to described Miller and many others in the trump regime.
Penny, I don't think "evil" has ONLY religious connotations, but those do exist. It's a convenient shortcut word, but as I noted, there are more accurate descriptors.
Boy Dale, I agree with you. He needs some heavy duty Mental Health intervention & a nice quiet room where he has only himself to talk to.
Just get in his way
TREASON IN PLAIN SIGHT: THE CONFEDERATE IDEOLOGY BEHIND MAGA
''The Confederacy never died. It metastasized into the modern Republican Party, cloaking itself in cowboy hats, free markets, and Christian nationalism.''
What Trump is doing is not politics, it is treason. By attacking the truth of slavery and dismantling voting rights, he is reviving the Confederate dream of an oligarchy where only wealthy white men rule. This is not just about history, it is about our survival as a democracy. Every time voting rights are stripped, every time women and people of color are silenced, America loses another piece of its soul. We cannot shrug this off as rhetoric or partisanship. It is the deliberate destruction of government by the people. If we love this country, if we honor those who fought for freedom, we must act now. Register, organize, protest, and vote. Silence in this moment is surrender.
Both words apply, Betsy.
You make me smile, Betsy. Thank you. With you 100%.
Take a nap !?! I have trouble falling asleep at night because I'm so worked up over all this buffoonery.
Each day the maga cult just increases their level of hypocrisy. CA maga representative says "voters of CA should decided their congressional districts" yet its OK for TX to do it with out voter approval. DC is lawless, yet the maga states that sent NG troops have higher crime rates. Vaccines ... my body, my choice yet ladies ... you don't get a choice.
... and the list goes on and on
I'm putting my campaign donation budget towards senate races for the mid-terms (if we even have them) because best to my knowledge, a governor can't gerrymander a state.
BTW .... PLEASE stop calling them MAGA republicans. They're maga cult members. The GOP is as extinct as a dinosaur
Agree, well said...MAGA cult members.
TJ, I guess I need to stop getting any political input by early afternoon. I'd like to see if it would help me go & stay asleep @ night.
OK LFAA Community, we just received yet another "Best Ever" HCR letter.
On 8/20/85, yesterday, the California Supreme Court refused to stop Newsom's 'Response Act to counter the openly racist Texas REDMAP. California Voters, like me, will decide in the upcoming November 2025 election.
Thursday Update: The California Assembly has approved the 11/4/25 Redistricting Vote.
Game On.
**********
Attention Voters in (CA-10) & (MA-2). There is a "Town Hall" in Lafayette, CA tonight at 6:30 PM with Massachusetts Rep, Jim McGovern & my House Representative, Mark Desaulnier.
You must RSVP but anyone can attend digitally on YouTube or Facebook.
Yippee! Now get “Ahnold” to join up or shut up.
He won't "Be Back".
I don’t live in California. I live in a solid Trump state, but damn that’s nice of you to give a head’s up about a town hall for your folks. I generally hear about them in Kentucky on the news the night after.
Contemptuous or contemptible . . . the bottom line is the entire administration is evil!
There are two "playing fields" - the rat pack has no rules and the dems insist on playing by the rules. Unfortunately, millions of protesters have not moved the dial. Gov. Newsom is on the correct path by taking off the gloves. Gerrymander the heck out of states to benefit democrats and win the House to set up at least one guardrail.
The rest of trump's miserable EO's and disastrous actions and vitriol (that is being kept visible, front and center by all of us "burned out hippies" -LOL) will go a long way to fostering trump's self-destruction. Stay the course!!
I turn 79 next month. I’m a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and the last time I voted for a Republican was —NEVER. I am a patriot for the freedom of everyone to make a choice.
Trump’s attack on voting rights directly impacts servicemen in overseas duty stations.
His attack on the VA has already resulted in the loss of 1200 nurses and made my healthcare at my local VA hospital take longer. Doctor’s are rushing through examinations. Last week my annual checkup consisted of my doctor listening to my heart and grabbing one of my ankles to check on my lymphedema, then sending me to the lab to get blood work.
Then on the nineteenth of this month I received a letter from the VA reminding me I had an appointment on the fourteenth. The letter was postmarked on the fifteenth.
The wording of the VA’s promise to serve all veteran’s on its website used to contain verbiage about health care workers not denying service for political views. That has now been removed and care can be denied for religious reasons is acceptable.
Mr. Bone Spurs, his spurious reason for not serving in Vietnam, has gutted services to veterans. He likes to brag about getting revenge. He needs to be reminded that a lot of veterans have PTSD. They are angry. And most have been trained to use firearms unlike the amateur who tried to shoot him in Pennsylvania last year.
". . . all going to do our best to keep Mr. Miller and . . . his ilk from taking over our government?
Sorry, Betsy, but they've already done that.
That's the U.S. government which rolls out the red carpet for genocidal murderer Putin.
That's the U.S. government which protects and covers up for all the child rapists.
That's the U.S. government which rehearses concentration camps and police state thugs.
That's the U.S. government which rigs state voting by gerrymandering in flagrante.
TO clarify, it is the people in the halls of the government doing this. The people are the government, they might have the handles of power, but WE are the government.
Yup! So, get up & do something to show your support for what is correct. My country. My government.
Such a good comment!
So, it's your fault the troops are on the streets!! 😉
"Trump is working to erase women and minorities from the public sphere while openly calling for a system that makes it impossible for voters to elect his opponents."
And he will use all the levers of power and brute violence to make this happen if we allow him to.
P2025 author already said that the revolution would be bloodless if the left allowed it. A clue, don’t you think…
Bibi and Trump are using starvation as a weapon. Of all of the heinous things they have both done I can think of none worse.
I guess this is bloodless JD.
Netanyahu has a genocidal amount of blood on his hands in addition to using starvation as a weapon in Gaza. Not bloodless, more like bloodlust.
While the bloodless comment was about their "revolution" in the US, and resistance to it. When the Israeli government lured starving people with food, then guned them down it was hardly bloodless.
This man wants us all dead by any means: shoot us, deport us, eliminate the NIH, CDC, medical research, vaccines, etc. Then whom will he govern?
Remember it was grants from NIH that developed Paxlovid. If only we hadn't given any to trump.
If only …
The pigs on Animal farm perhaps?
I imagine they were referring to to bloodless for American citizens since that’s all they derive power from
It’s more than a clue, JD. They are telling us in no uncertain terms that unless we are willing to shed blood, ours and theirs, there is no stopping their takeover. And they are correct. To put it even more bluntly, unless and until we are prepared to kill and be killed, we will live under their fascism. And that is true. History repeatedly has shown us that. The question is, where is the breaking point, because we’re a long way from that at the moment.
I believe there will be a flashpoint and that will take us to violence. 😮💨 I don’t see this ending peacefully and I’m scared as hell.
In Germany, the breaking point was Ike, we are far from recognizing where we are on the continuum.
I was thinking more in terms of organized armed resistance. How many more cities must be occupied before the dam breaks? Recently read a terrific book on the French Resistance following the Nazi occupation of Paris in the 4 years prior to VE Day. There were thousands of true patriots who worked every day to blunt what the Germans were inflicting upon them. Many died. If it comes to it, I would hope we do the same. I’m in my late 70’s, but I’m in if it happens.
The French made better progress than did German resistance. This time the path is for us alone to walk
My exact and immediate thought when that phrase was spoken. 👍
Trump is absolutely doing that. I think this also has to do with the fascist idea of history as a foundational personal and national myth. One so holy to them they will sacrifice their democratic rights and dignity to maintain the comforting lies which provide them identity. This is intimately bound up in whiteness, the idea that being white makes you a member of an elite group. Ta-Nehisi Coates and James Baldwin have talked about this. I wrote about it too in relation to Trump's false comments on World War II.
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/p/trumps-lies-about-the-world-wars
In short, it's all narcissism. They will not part with the historical myths they love as it would kill their idea of themselves, and they will lay waste to anyone and anything trying to tell the truth. I believe James Baldwin said it best if I properly recollect the quote, "and they have brought the world to the edge of destruction, because they think they are white."
-Mathew
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/
I think it is even more than narcissism, because where does the narcissism come from? I think it is a pathological fear of death and a violent revulsion at anything that implies the deluded is mortal, and living in a universe that is far larger, older and complex than they can comprehend. That's why they hate science so much--it reminds them of just how little agency and importance they have. They hate equality and freedom because equality and freedom diminish their own sense that they are special, blessed and privileged above other humans (and living things for that matter).
You are on to something. IMHO, Harris lost because SHE, as a BLACK /ASIAN WOMAN being President would have changed the world, turned it upside down, to too many millions of MEN. It would represent the loss of self-respect, self-identity, their social status... I'm talking about the value of the penis. Especially a white pens, OMG! Truth is when I wore my Harris tee shirt to the store in my very Democratic district I was approached by men several different times who said they were Democrats BUT could not vote for a woman for President. It all had to do with "WAR." One guy summed it up, "No man will ever march into war by order of a woman Commander in Chief" he said. I almost fell on my ass when he said that. I responded saying "But Trump is a felon." He threw his hands into the air. I still cannot process it. My mind went blank. The problem really is, to paraphrase President Johnson when he was speaking to the issue of racist white men being validated to gain their votes as Goldwater and Nixon were doing, I will address the issue of sexism with his wisdom, If you can convince the lowest man he's better than the best woman, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.
Albert, You made me smile, As long as we have patriarchal paternalistic religion, men will always feel superior to woman, The Abrahamic religions are one of the worse cons ever perpetrated on humans.
I live in the mountains of Kyushu, Japan, Linda.
This is a country where in all statistics from all countries on Earth, Japan hasn't ever even come close to cracking the 100 best countries for women's rights.
It's not the Abrahamic religions, Linda.
It is not "just" the Abrahamic religions.
When you consider that ALL religions originated in the imaginations of old MEN of ancient days, sitting around their fires, under pressure to explain the inexplicable in their cultures, it's not surprising that all religions reinforce the paternalism and patriarchies from whence they came.
Abrahamic religions are ONE of many who place no value on women, to use only to spread their last name!
Language plays heavily into it as well. There is an obsessive focus on sex in language. For example, “he is handsome” vs. “she is beautiful.” In Spanish all nouns have a gender. In Spanish "el" means “the” and used for masculine nouns while "la" also means “the” but used for feminine nouns. Thus “el coche” (the car), "coche" is masculine and “la casa’ (the house), "casa" is feminine. The language a child learns shapes the way they perceive and interact with people. Parents and teachers need to adjust their language for children and perhaps be more androgynous.
Interesting post Albert. The same thing happened in 2016 in WI, MI and PA.
Johnson was right about the "lowest man". And Trump had hundreds of millions to get his message spread across the country. While most people were giving Harris $5 - $1000, about 20 oligarchs were giving millions, including the evil Elon Musk who has screwed over thousands of Federal workers many of whom are veterans. But, most of the Federal workers Trump and his cadre of fools fired were not the lowly, they were dedicated and competent civil servants.
And the oligarchs won bigly with the OBBBA. I guess that's one of P2025's biggest pickpockets?
The major religion of every country is misogynist. It has to be, to feel it is privileged and deserving.
I don't think it's fear of death, I think it just simple greed and fear of loss of control. And of course death is that ultimate loss, so perhaps.
But I think it is fear of the unpredictable. Loss of control. Letting others move the needle.
It's very much a fear based philosophy. And women, with their power to create life, are the ultimate terrifying force.
I recall a sociology class I took where our Professor ended every class asking "So what is it? Is it Race? Is it sex? Is it religion? Is it national origin?..." I answered it is the corporate business model which uses the divide and conquer strategy to create a caste system. Social stratification, or social hierarchy, is in the interest of employers. Assigning certain types of occupations within the group thereby limiting the amount of pay for each group creates higher profits for share holders. Maybe?
So true, well said...couldn't agree more!!!
Yup. The two most qualified candidates by resume could not get elected because they were female.
Two of the most qualified candidates in American history by resume in terms of education and on the job work experience.
Exactly!
Albert, you have (perhaps unintentionally) identified one of the primary collective psychopathies of the United States. We are a nation of violence. Violence is part of our national DNA.
The United States is the result of white Europeans who could not get along with their neighbors in their home countries crossing the Atlantic and invading North America. They took land from the indigenous peoples, at first bloodlessly, then violently.
The U.S. was created from violence, when white Europeans shot and killed their own countrymen in a bloody revolution against The Crown.
When Americans in primarily the North objected to slavery in the South, another bloody war ensued. Even after the Civil War supposedly settled the question, violence continued.
When there wasn't enough violence within our borders, we went in search of violence around the world, justifying it as "defense of democracy."
Mix inherent patriarchy with a visceral need for violence, and you get a bunch of American men – and women – who judge a potential leader by whether she could instigate and perpetuate violence.
The few men who talked with me in parking lots were focused on having served in the military and how they saw the importance of a person's sex in giving orders. Listening to them reminded me of a road trip I once took with a few guys who I knew were all politically well enlightened. I was reading as they sat and played cards while and drinking beer in our hotel room. They were joking and laughing after each hand of cards as they threw empty cans across the room into the sink and sang "Men, Men, Men, ...Men...." from "Stout Hearted Men." I never heard the song before and had to look it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vjqfvZVReM
"We have enough [semen or seamen?] among us to sail a ship to the ends of the earth."
As I watched the clip, I had to chuckle at the quaint notions portrayed therein.
I was previously familiar with the song. I've sung it with a choir sometime in my youth, in a galaxy far, far away.
Great post, Albert R Killackey, Esq. But..."No man will march into war by order of a woman"?? They don't learn world history any more, do they. Elizabeth I of England? Catherine the Great of Russia? Empress-Queen Maria Theresa of the Holy Roman Empire? Queen Victoria? I am, sir, yrs respectfly.
Hello Ecstatic... If you watch DJT closely, DJT has been declining for over a Year... As of late, DJT has been talking about being Worried about going to Heaven... Seems to me that DJT is raging against the coming Darkness.... Pray for Divine Intervention....
Quit teasing us Apache. /S
And the lame stream media almost never mentions his mental and physical decline.
He is still freaking out about the Epstein files. I don't listen to Christian broadcasting but a guest on Nicole Wallace's show yesterday said that many evangelicals have turned on Trump because of him being a pedi and a sex trafficker.
If Trump and the Cons lose the white Christian Nationalists, it matters not how they redesign the Congressional maps.
Hello G L... "Quit teasing us Apache"... ? .... The Astrologers, and the Spiritual Indigenous, have predicted that DJT will have a Serious Health Crisis ~October this Year... The MSM doesn't cover that because without DJT for the past 10-Years, what would they talk about?... DJT is Bad for Us, but Good for the MSM...
I hope you're right. JD will get zero respect if he becomes President. He is a slimy white Christian skank. I would hope he would get rid of Trump's cabinet and bring in his own, just because I don't see how anyone could be more incompent than, well, all of them.
I'd be very interested in how they divine this. There is a lot that we don't understand. Something as simple as thinking of someone and having them call.
As much as I want donald to go, I don't think it's going to matter. The carnival barker has been useful but they've achieved something like 70% of the P2025 agenda so feel when fully in place it may be irreversible. Or so they think.
I will patiently wait for October. Though, if something happens earlier.....
The CNs aren’t really Christians.
MLM, I understand that. Except that by basing their identity on the Christian Bible, that is who they are. No, they are not Christlike, nor do they follow Jesus teachings. But when someone tells me their Christian God tells them I am an abomination, then they are representing Christian dogma of one variety.
I’m prayin’ and prayin’ and then prayin’ some more! Divine intervention is surely coming soon!
Kathryn, when you pray do you ask your God to open the hearts and minds of the white Christian nationalists to see the damage Trump is doing to the disadvantaged, to the poor, to people of color, and to women?
When I pray, I pray for “Thy will be done”, period…meaning whatever God deems correct, is fine by me. My idea of God is not one of supplication, but rather a force for GOOD in the Universe, a force similar to electricity or gravity with laws that govern its behavior and nature. That ever-present, eternal, all-knowing force for good is within each of us, easily activated by our individual free will. Humans are, according to Christian scripture, made in the likeness of God, and are on an eternal path, so each of us is responsible for our own enlightenment and salvation. Above all, God is LOVE, so anyone pushing a scenario based in hate, discord, division, chaos and exclusion is the antithesis of God/Good/Love.
GJ, that is the top of the list in praying. Asking that their souls be troubled & they get no rest or peace. Kinda sound like how DJ is feeling right now.
Thank You Kathryn!!!
Define intervention is taking its own sweet time.
You mean "divine."
Pray that those holy joes have an epiphany.
In WWII -- praise the lord and pass the ammunition.
Force Congressional Republicans to get ready meet their maker.
I worked with a religious sister I loved. (She would have loathed 47’s return.) she used to say with a sweet smile about people who were, shall we say, destructive, “I wish him a happy death.” Who could argue with that sentiment?
Second coming of the wrong kind. The evil kind.
There is actually a subreddit on Reddit called Trump666, where Christians (and non-Christians) discuss the signs in Revelation as they apply to Trump & co. Fanciful or not, the parallels are fascinating.
I am sure DJ has horrible visions & voices interfering with any chance for him to speak like he has a functioning brain. Maybe this is why he stays up most of the night- afraid to go to sleep because the devil may come for him.
Hello Cindy... Mary Trump, his Niece, says that DJT is Terribly Insecure because DJT knows that DJT is a Fraud....
Another reason many evangelicals and other fundamentalist cling to the idea that the Earth is only thousands of years old.
Religion explains everything. Just believe. Science has the last word on nothing, so much to ponder. Magats want certainty and magats promise that, which is a joke from the git go
Yes,Ecstatic. The rise of fundamentalist religion goes right along with the mindset that allows white men to continue feeling superior. The mindset that caused one Civil War so far, and could very well cause another.
They have already challenged the 14th Amendment. The 13th will be next.
It might be quicker to mention the Amendments they haven't challenged or outright ignored.
Second
Sadly.
Well said. I think that fits a lot of the people I know that are MAGAts.
Mathew,
Our myths are powerful. “idea that being white makes you a member of an elite group.” has been a powerful and destructive myth since the beginning of this country and imstead of finding ways to coexist with the current inhabitants, Indigenous peole we demonized, seen as inferior, justifying their genocide. All of the Abrahamic religions are based on paternalistic patriarchal myths justifying the demonization and inferior status of women. Christian Nationalists are trying to void out the 19th amendment , denying women the right to vote, they have already succeeded in reversing Roe taking away a woman’s right to autonomy over her own body,
Yahweh was initially part of a polytheistic pantheon before becoming the central deity of Israelite religion. Early Israelites, like other Near Eastern cultures, worshipped multiple gods, including Yahweh. Over time, Yahweh gradually rose to prominence, eventually eclipsing other deities and becoming the sole god of Israel.
Religions are all built on myths try and understand our world,
but there is no anthropomorphized deity running things any more than there is an Ira Glass Big chicken in the sky, but the world over, these myths have allowed the subjugation and brutal treatment of woman, Taliban now perverting the translations of Sharia Law will only allow woman to have one eye uncovered, Woman in many countries still are victims of acid burning their bodies because of some supposed shame because they “allowed” themselves to be raped, 34 states still allow child marriage in the United States.states,
When we speak of myths, they are powerful, but I wish we would realize that they have often been used by a few to maintain control and power over many, Religion has perverted the feelings of connectedness to an energy, a belongness to all of life, the heartstrings of energy thst connect us all and called thst a male anthropomorphized god. I wish we would all examine our unconscious biases and ask ourselves where do these ideas really come from. Maybe then we would value and respect the equal rights of all regardless of skin color, gender, or sex and see our interdependent roles in supporting each other and all Life on this planet,
Certainly the commandment "Thou shalt have no other God before me" indicates the presence of other gods. Yes, people will argue that it refers to things like gold or power, but if you're going to take the Bible literally, it says no other God. (Interesting that autocorrect insists on capitalizing God.)
even autocorrect ha unconscious biases?????
I’ve had to “teach” mine not to capitalize god.
Gotta hand it to those old Jewish farts, sitting around their fires in the ancient Middle East, conjuring up a deity who insisted on being Number One and went on a smiting rampage against anyone who said otherwise.
They seriously shamed the Greeks, Romans and Scandinavians who'd concocted puny gods that couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time.
Then, to raise the stakes and give the Judaic deity unassailable primacy, Emperor Constantine's religious posse down in Nicea declared him to be a "trinity," an opaque concept that cannot be explained, only accepted on "faith." Beat that, Islam!
No other gods refers to things that cause one's mind to wonder from the good & true. Love of money- lots of people worship it while destroying their family is one example.
Excellent assessment. The reliance on superstition and religious nonsense that is twisted for purposes of domination and control is so obviously primitive, illogical, unscientific, unfair and nonsensical as to be ridiculous.
If there is an all knowing, all powerful "Magic Man" in the "heavens" how come it allows so much suffering and horror on the planet? I call bullshit.
Religions are tools for control. There are some exceptions, of course. But they seem to be mostly silent now.
I remember priests like the Beringers leading protests... now they are being shuffled around to new assignments to escape accountability for assaults on minors.
People to Church Leaders: "If a member of your cult commits a crime, call the damn cops! If you cover it up, you are an accomplice for the crime. And if you are preaching hate and exclusion from the pulpit, go look in a mirror. You will see fascist monster."
Linda & Kathy,
Yes yes thank you both and HCR of course, indeed we are all connected and interdependent not only on every human being now on earth, but to all the living creations flying crawling swimming existing. As well as to our ancestors and to the future generations. And Myths are stories that we created to understand the vast ineffable nature of life. By naming something beyond our ability to control it, I believe it’s our attempt to gain access to it, to make it useful to us. That same reflex is now weaponized by slither mill and small hands walking backwards as if an undertow will work against growth. Yesterday the news reported that Target was underwater because people were boycotting it due to its adoption of anti DEI. I was ecstatic. BOYCOTTS WORK.
How are the maggots going to use force to make us spend money at companies like Target, Amazon or Home Depot? Apparently CVS is another benefactor to maga.
I’m starting a small group here to boycott companies that display ‘skirts’ defined as those flags hung outside windows and etc…
plus the larger companies I named.
Oh Linda. Cannot thank you Enough for this.
Very well said, Linda.
They (mostly white males of lower-than-average intelligence) are terrified of losing their status as heads of households, leaders of businesses, lawmakers and judges. Why has the issue of WHITE PRIVILEGE vanished from our conversations? Because it is too emotional devastating for these incredibly ignorant white men to think, possibly, that someone other than a white male is intelligent and possesses the knowledge necessary to lead in the 21st century.
That is really what the 2024 election was about - white privilege blinded by their own incompetence. "So now these effin' liberals think they're gonna put a black woman in the WH? OH, HELL NO! We'll show 'em!"
Don't even get me started on the issue of white females having no such white privilege. We're supposed to obey our white overlords and bear their children. "F" that!
I live in a very safe Democratic district in Calif. Sounds like maybe I, and hundreds of other retired Democrats from my district need to relocate to Texas during a few months before the election with a "genuine intent to establish residency." We could protest against the Neo Nazi Trumpers, maybe work at the local Democratic headquarters and register to vote in one of the rigged Texas districts. Yea, cannot be registered in two places at once. All we need is an address. Maybe a small room for rent? Maybe a few thousand of us older retired people renting a room from local Democrats who live in Texas, in each of these rigged districts, would swing Texas in the right direction. What we need is a connection to Dems with a room to rent. Staying after the election to establish residency could be fun also. Imagine the talks at the coffee shops. Hey, even stay until after 2028 election.
Here's what you can do right from California.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is making all kinds of huffy noises indicating his displeasure with Newsom's threat (now, no longer a threat) to temporarily end California's citizen redistricting commission, using the defense that he was responsible for bringing it into being in the first place. Understandable, but....
Tell Ahnold that if he really wants to protect non-partisan redistricting, he needs to start in *Austin* not Sacramento. Fly directly to Abbott's home turf and have a massive rally denouncing the pip-squeak confederate loonies who just showed the world they really believe Democratic state legislators are nothing but property that ran away from the plantation and had to be brought back by force.
Have him denounce any Republican governor who dares follow suit, telling the crowds "THESE assholes just destroyed my legacy in California. Don't you dare let them do it in your state!" And be damn sure Fox News covers it.
I would suggest if you’re serious about this that you focus your efforts on registering and getting the black vote out in Texas since they are the majority.
I just don’t see Texas gerrymandering working like they planned especially at the polls. They can’t win purely on the white vote.
Yes, registering new Democrats and then once the ballots are out hold gatherings to assure everyone votes Lockstep Blue. And finally, get everyone to the correct polling place. In other words adopt a few block area within a rigged district and get to know who is who.
It might be better to register Independent to make it more difficult for the Fascists to rig the districts.
I think they have voting records
In moving to Texas I could get in touch with my inner cowgirl. Don't know if I could tolerate more than a few months, though. It's an intriguing idea.
"Texas is a state of mind". ~ John Steinbeck.
Or … blue state residents can support Blue Tennessee, Blue Missouri or Blue Ohio, who are working to make now R-dominated state races competitive. Www.bluetennessee.org. We have members from outside TN, but we are a young org that needs support to grow.
Interesting idea!
I prefer using the telephone or social media to voice my opinion right now.
There is no penalty or even requirement to cancel your voter registration when you move at least we've rarely done that as part of our move. You just can't vote in two places although I'm guessing many people do.
https://www.findaprotest.info/#:~:text=Join%20here-,find%20a%20protest,-Find%20protests%20and
This site is called find a Protest
and
"anti trump protest signs" on Amazon
and
https://indivisible.org/#:~:text=IN%20AMERICA%2C%20WE%20DON%E2%80%99T%20DO%20KINGS.
Thank you for the links. The 'find a protest' works well... and I'm going to make sure the local Indivisible groups get their weekly protests on it. Much obliged.
This is really all I have left to say James. We can sit all day on comments boards like this one analyzing, hating on him and talking, talking, talking or we can get up and do something.
Best Regards.
Your reply posts as 3 AM. Don't know how much active protesting I can do while lying in bed. I wake in the middle of the night and don't want to get up (would wake other family members) or read anything heavy so I jump on Substack.
Spreading news about where there are protests is activism. I could have been playing Solitare for my sleeplessness. Instead, I was researching protest sites and spreading that information. I don't know your activism circle, but we must spread protest information. I also post something everyday on my FB page on the Resistance. I've also been having a quiet sidebar conversation with another person commenting here today on a protest method and discussing how to spread information on this.
If you want something quiet in the middle of the night read Erica Chenoweth's work on the 3/5 rule on protesting. Or you can research facts on how this regime's economic maneuvers are affecting prices and shar that information. Facts are weapons.
Hope this helps. We all can contribute something. Nothing is too small. Or too quiet.
Best Regards.
Phone calls to Congress (https://5calls.org) can be done at any time. Just leave a message.
“ erase women and minorities “? Have you seen videos of his rallies ? Have you seen his cabinet members “. This evil is not for “ white men only “
We can’t change our history, but we can make sure we fight for the right future.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic.
Megan, as I’ve said before, that spreadsheet is a crowbar. Thank you.
As most of ya’ll already know, Dr. Richardson has been walking us through Reconstruction for years, brick by brick. She taught you the pattern. First shrink the story of slavery so the guilty look noble. Then shrink Black political power so the noble keep the keys. Same playbook, new font.
Look at her receipts. Texas is about 60 percent people of color, yet the new map hands white voters control of 26 of 38 seats. It takes roughly 445,000 white votes to win a seat, but 1.4 million Latino votes or 2 million Black votes to match it. That is not math. That is a damn mugging in a spreadsheet. Add troopers tailing legislators and locked doors while the vote moves. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you have to lock the doors to pass a map, you did not win the argument. You stole the room.
Heather already gave you the language. Say it out loud when you call, write, or email using Megan’s link. Oppose any map that makes Black and Latino voters pay triple at the ballot box. Condemn trooper “escorts” on lawmakers. Put your position in writing.
Teach two terms while you work. Habeas corpus means when the state grabs the body, the court unlocks the door. Times, Places, and Manner is the constitutional lane for protecting the vote. Share Heather’s post with one person new to Reconstruction. Then drop your call result here so the next person has a path.
We are not stuck in a loop if we name the pattern and break it. www.xplisset.com
Thanks for this, X. (If allowed, I would call you "X-Man" as a term of respect).
Professor Richardson* has given us the language and the methodology. It is up to us to use it.
*Early on, someone asked the Professor how she liked to be addressed. Her reply was that as a Professor, she insists on being called Dr. Richardson or Professor by the undergraduates. She said she would rather her graduate students call her "Heather" but it usually takes a while to get them there. I view this LFAA page as us Readers auditing a graduate level history class; the Comments are us going out for coffee/beer after class and discussing the lecture. Since I come from a paramilitary law enforcement background where the deputies I "grew up with" moved up the chain of command and I did not (yes, there's a story there), in public I'd call them "Sarge", "LT" or "Captain" in public and by name in private. The last two Sheriffs in my agency were explorer scouts and rode with me in their teens, and I did the background investigation on the current Sheriff when he joined the reserves). Out of respect, I refer to her here as Professor; if I ever get to go have a cuppa coffee with her, I'll call her Heather.
You’re right to flag it Ally. I slipped into first-name mode because I read her daily. In this classroom, it’s Professor Richardson. Thanks for the correction and the respect you model. And X-Man it is👍
Thanks! I believe we share a similar employment background.
I fear calling members of Congress is not effective at this point. We cannot wait for an incompetent Democratic party to save us. We must save ourselves. We need to assert our own power, form unions, and ready a general strike. We need to be ready to provide mutual aid and community self-defense as was done during Reconstruction and the old labor movement days. We need much more aggressive forms of protest that turn off this economy so that if it is not a democracy it does not function. In short, shut this shit down.
-Mathew
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/
While I agree, I think we should still be as loud as possible while the rest gets set up. I signed up for the general strike a couple months ago.
I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), but we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. I think we can cause ripples to push news organizations to be more honest and maybe even a bit accusatory about what’s happening. As a collective, our volume matters. And, at the end of the day, if we just annoy and overwhelm some staffers working for people hurting the average American, I’m ok with that too 🙃
Agree!!
Keep up the good fight, Megan. 💪
Yes, Megan! Power on. Thank you again for your handy spreadsheet!
Megan, please post info about a general strike. Thx.
This is the site I have been checking - https://generalstrikeus.com/
I'm curious Matthew. What are the Democrats doing or not doing, that makes you call them incompetent?
My state Senator and House representative are both incredibly competent as is my Governor and the other state officers. They have gotten so much done while Trump's little Johnson has forced through Trump's agenda and blocked any legislation that Democrats could support.
The Democrats have managed to block many of Trump's nominations, but because the oligarchs bought Senate seats in MT, OH and PA they didn't have the votes to stop the OBBBA.
-Not packing the Supreme Court.
-Failing to put Trump in prison.
-Supporting Israel's genocide and uplifting it even as Netanyahu supported Trump.
-Failing to hold Fox and Newsmax accountable even as they knowingly egged on an attempted overthrow of democracy.
-Failing to undermine Scotus on the Roe reversal by offering abortion care on federal land.
-Failing to aggressively destroy the far-right groups in this country.
-Demonizing the left.
-Failing to defund and reign in the police.
-Failing to abolish ice.
-Working with and empowering big tech elites and the military-industrial complex.
-Relying on norms and procedure to the point they couldn't fufill their campaign promises.
There are more, you get the idea.
I 100% AGREE! And not only do we need to act enmass to shut things down, we need to do it NOW! They are gaining ground daily while we talk on social media. We MUST be OUT THERE in their faces disrupting and demanding our rights. The old rules don’t apply.
Yes! (Now, does anybody actually know how to organise a general strike?)
There’s a website - https://generalstrikeus.com/
Stop criticizing someone's resistance work. You have no data on the effectiveness of calling.
Here's what else you can do, and I'd argue must do.
Laugh. Ridicule them. Constantly. Yes, they're a bunch of fascists, but don't just rely on moral outrage -- with so many people, outrage no longer works. (Hillary found that out when she called these assholes "deplorables" and they started wearing t-shirts with "deplorable" on them just to spite her).
So protest by all means. But make fun of the twits. Troll them the way Newsom is doing. Remind people what a Fuckupocracy this all is. Last week, a hotel worker in Anchorage found and photographed 8 or so Above Top Secret classified pages left in a copier about the famous Alaskan Meal That Never Was. Talk about fuck-ups...
Can't think of anything funny to say about Crème Brûlée and Filet Mignon tossed in the trash? Well, before that fuck-up, it was the on-line Houthi Chat Group Pete Kegsbreath fuck-up organized on his non-secure phone messenger app and sent to a reporter from "The Atlantic" by error. Tomorrow's uncovery du jour in a forgetter copier somewhere will be....what?
(1) The draft of "Operation Fig Leif" --- the American re-conquest of Greenland.
(2) Stephen Miller Secret Memo -- "The Joys of Using Technology to Perfect Autocracy"
(3) Proposed bill renaming the Smithsonian's Museum of African-American History and Culture the "Scarlet O'Hara War Memorial" (architectural specs re-shaping a building inspired by three-tiered Yoruban crowns into a three-tiered hoop skirt to follow).
(4) Project 2025's "Martial Law for Dummies" plan to suspend the 2026 mid-terms after a ham sandwich is placed....er, discovered in a paper bag left front of the White House.
The possibilities are endless. Let's get to work....
Laughing out loud at 5am; great way to start the day. Thank you!
If anyone needs outstanding examples of how to laugh at MAGA, I have suggestions:
https://www.jefftiedrich.com
https://www.theatlantic.com/author/alexandra-petri/
https://www.borowitzreport.com
https://www.youtube.com/@TraeCrowderLiberalRedneck
https://www.youtube.com/@RandyRainbowOfficial
Heather, yesterday you talked about “flooding the zone” as an antidote to lies and misinformation. I’m all in with that. Let’s create gigantic posse of word warriors to hit MAGA’s propaganda machine on social media. Be relentless. Be persistent. Be punchy. Be smart. Outnumber them. It’s time to fight fire with fire. Heather, lead us on and I will follow! What platforms? What realities to hammer home? How can I help recruit your posse?
Karla, my contribution to this is to post things on my Facebook page (Yes, I am still there, and am discovering it is no longer a good way to stay in contact with younger people). Mostly I get called names, accused of being an idiot, and the like. Their "information sources" are lies and propaganda, which they accuse mine of being.
Stand in their way disobediently, make them put us in their jails!
So us old white hippies need to go home and take a nap Stephen? I like the phrase “you poked the bear”. Better watch out Stephen we may be old but we ain’t dead and we know how to protest. We’re just getting started.
Stephen is scared of us. Let’s keep protesting in the streets to show him our power. Here is a no kings anthem we can sing together: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-kings-anthem
Love the song! I have been wondering where are our protest songs? Back in the day we were inspired to act by the likes of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, etc. We need more protest songs!
This evening, I posted on social media that the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum (which I opened in Stroud, OK in June of 2023) proudly celebrates the Black female mathematicians that helped get us to the Moon, the Black actress Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame who was hired by NASA to recruit astronauts who were not white males, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. They are some of the many Americans who helped our nation boldly go where it had never gone before. And there’s no way the GOP is going to get my museum to stop celebrating these real-life Wonder Women!
Bravo, Steve! This is how we fight back. Spread real history of real people. Thank you!
Thank you, Alexandra! Yes, we fight lies with truth!
We spent many hours at your fabulous museum. Loved it. Thank God for you.
Thank you for visiting! 😀
Every time that odious little SS wannabe, Stephen Miller, opens his mouth, the results are odious. The march of three stooges, Miller, Hegseth, and Vance through Union Station was met with all the derision and disparagement they deserved. If they are the finest the MAGA party has to offer? I am a bit relieved. The Felon, with each passing moment, becomes more addled and weaker. If these three are the future? There is hope. We just need to remember not only are the economic numbers working against them but also more and more citizens are waking up to who and what they are.
There are more of us than there are of them. We are louder, brighter, and more resilient. The lower courts will continue to be the greatest line of defense. We just need to be vocal, to call and support our members of Congress and support those who are on the front lines.
Heather said Trump wants a world where people of color, minorities of all kinds, poor people and women should step aside in favor of elite white men. She forgot to add "really DUMB" white men. Honestly, most of these jokers have the IQ of a doughnut.
Carole, it was not even close to "all" the derision and disparagement they deserved. They need to experience real disobedience. They just smirked and laughed. We need to "Stand in their Way".
I believe that is what I am advocating.
Gestapo Miller, j.d. Vance, and Hegseth made this unannounced visit to Union Station supposedly to thank the National Guard troops stationed there(read photo op). They were severely heckled and yelled at as they went into a Shake Shack(real classy) with the Guard members. That's where they gave their lame speeches and left within an hour because of the raucous atmosphere and loud protests against their presence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pwqWoexjv0
https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-pete-hegseth-national-guard-dc-shake-shack-2116482
Yes there are so many more of us than these dimwitted fascists that are ruining this republic and destroying our democracy. The power of the people is greater than the people in 'power'...
You can see bits and pieces of them now all over Washington. Yesterday, leaving from my home Metro, there were two Guardsmen just standing there (doing nothing). One of them smiled at me -- not because he found me cute, I'm sure, but because I fit the demographic profile he was told he was "protecting." Had my complexion been a few shades darker, my eyes brown, and I were years younger, I'm sure that smile wouldn't have been there. Three more at George Washington University metro, standing in a little circle-jerk, looking at their cell phones --- again, doing nothing.
Performative fascism on a popsicle stick. ICE, however -- another story.
Heather, since 1969 I have (and many others too) have been protesting. My first was taking to the streets in Washington, DC to march against the Vietnam War. Since then, it was burning my bra, volunteering for free clinics so that women could get birth control or abortions, witnessing Roe V. Wade passing, then the Voting Rights Act took effect. I have watched our military men and women give their all to us. They, in turn, were able to provide to their families, healthcare, education, and stability. Yes, I am a boomer and yes, I was a proud hippie unlike the bald-eagle-eyed monster in this regime, who wasn’t born at that time.
As a former southerner, I can tell you about the KKK and white supremacy because I witnessed that too. These people are ugly in their demeanor, come in all sizes, and will tell you how their pappy or grandpappy proudly fought as a Confederate soldier. Americans like us, have tried really hard to be kind, considerate, and push for equality. That’s what us white folks think but if you were to ask Black Americans, we have failed along the way. Observing the courage of Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier, the other Democrats stood by her and tore up their agreement forms that were to let armed police officers follow them everywhere they go. Hell, were these officers told to follow them into their bathrooms also? MAGA is the party of paranoia and absurdity. We fight at dawn!
MAGA fights for the right to bully. To stop such s#it, governments are formed WITH the AGGREGATE CONSENT of the governed.
We need to back up Collier with every thing we’ve got. Point man/woman is dangerous and she needs to know this nation is her backup. Not just Texans, but she is in chains for all of us.
Even if you didn’t, I’ll plug your book “How the South Won the Civil War” as a great work to expand on this Letter, professor Richardson. Your ability to explain the twisted, winding path our country’s seemingly endless supply of propagandists take when wrapping themselves in emotionally compelling yet naively narrow and frankly stupid is second to none. Tonight you went for the marathon, and I’m grateful you condensed so many years into so little space.
More than that, the “saying the silent part out loud” just gets more blatant to those who harbor complicit thinking to Trump’s ugly and untenable view of life in this country. Deporting our people and diverse cultures, and oppressing the races and gender targeted as inferior is a monumental slap across the faces of all of us. As those of us who do not assent to this view can say, another intolerable minute of a Karoline Leavitt spewing her forced rhetoric from the podium, or Stephen Miller framing a worldview that should sicken - not embolden - us is like dragging us over hot coals and broken glass. WE need the nexus of capable men and women who want to lead to convene on the Democratic Party and run the old guard out of town so we can co-opt their infrastructure and stop the nonsense of Ken Martin style tweaking that has gotten us nowhere.
Thank you for writing this, and sorry for the length of my comment. I feel like there must be some reason opposition is not more vocal, yet I can’t find it.
With no disrespect meant at all, this is rumination. There are, what, about 400 days left to the mid-term elections, so get on with it. Resistence is often unglamourous and not in Big Gestures. Is there an election for your local school board? Then find a candidate to support or run yourself; ascertain what the voter ID requirements are and support one, five, ten people to acquire the specific document/s; help people get registered to vote.
400 days. The clock is ticking.
Volunteers are needed to help with voter registration. Your local chapters of Indivisible, League of Women Voters, and the Democratic Party; and, your local community are looking for election workers. Voter registration and helping your friends and neighbors get to the polls is an essential component to the midterms and 2026.
There are opportunities available for whatever you are able to do.
The American cowboy is a myth. He was Mexican. While Blacks and Native Americans and whites joined the genre, the culture was vaquero. Www.okhistory.org
How would MAGA feel about creating a one-party system when that one party was not their party?
That possibility would never enter their minds. If Project 2025 had been planned during trump 1.0? It might have succeeded, if those surrounding the Felon who were more cognizant of how government works had been against democracy. Thankfully, those who counted, weren't. trump 2.0? He is surrounded by the idiots of numerous villages and try as they might, in the end, they will fail. Thank God.
Unfortunately, Carol-Ann, they hold majorities in all federal government and the Supreme Court right now, and it looks like they will do whatever it takes to retain that power. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if right-wingers refuse to concede any election they lose. They will never willingly give up the power they have now.
Their power is transitory. Not give up power? What power? The people on the street in every state, even the "red" ones, in Union Station, tell a different story. I will not concede to their "power."
Do you honestly think the bedbug aka J.D. Vance (is that his name this week?) will ever again be able to win an election?
Do you think the perpetual alcoholic Hegseth, will, if push comes to shove, ever be obeyed? Why do you think the flag ranks are suddenly getting thinner and thinner? These officers took an oath to the Constitution, not a perpetual drunk and an adjudicated rapist.
As for the Reinhard Heydrich mini-me? The other two slugs are protected by advice and consent, he is not. He's just a mere employee, he can be removed.
It's going to take a long time to right this ship of state, it will be done, but not by conceding power to those who do not represent the will of the people.
Project 2025 has been in The making for decades. They can’t win a majority and they know that. Do not forget more people voted for someone other than Trump both times.
They have known their true ideas are unpopular so they lie about them. Their power c meds from the House and the courts where they can fix the minority rule into place. And we mustn’t rely on SCOTUS. Don McGham and Leonard Leo handpicked the latest three from the ranks of the Heritage. Thy certainly weren’t going to chance putting someone ina lifetime position that they knew wouldn’t be more than willing to rewrite the constitution without the input of the people.
It is going to take a miracle where Father Time steps in and cuts off the head of the snake bevause no one else will be able to pull the crap Trumo does. Most of MAGA are loyal to Trump, not any ideology. They ain’t following Vance to storm the Vapitol.
Sadly, Vance will have to use the military to do that and we have real problems. I wouldn’t count on this American electorate to rise up, educate the,selves on why democracy is “like” a good idea and resist.
SCOTUS has riled in Trump favor every time on Executive orders.
18 cases on shadow docket on EO it’s been 18 out of 18 for authoritarianism.
No miracle. Perserverance. This kind of autocratic think has been around since the country was founded. Vance is not someone who will be obeyed. There's no there, there. He lacks charisma, decency, and integrity. It's fine to be the adjudicated rapist's errand boy and shill, that doesn't make you presidential material. We've learned out lesson. There are cockroaches who have higher positive ratings than he does.
I have to say, I am so sick and tired of the Eeoyre brigade telling me how we can't win, how all is lost, how the Supreme Court.....blah, blah, blah.
Have you notice the demonstrations and the town halls? Those people have not genuflected, so why are the Eeoyres? I guess the Texas Democrats and Gavin Newsom are figments the imagination? They really don't exist. They don't represent the majority of this country that is saying enough is enough.
As for the Supreme Court? They have been defied before and they will be again. When only one party plays by the rules? There are no rules. It's goose and gander time.
Unthinkable. God's (allegedly) on their side.
The gods must be crazy
It just popped into my mind. A way to remind us that there are many perspectives. I remember watching it with my wife and kids and we were all laughing but captured by its originality.
God doesn't meddle in this kind of nonsense. And those that invoke him or her? They are hypocrites and the anti-Christ. Mark Twain wrote an amazing short story, "The War Prayer." The following quote has the earmarks of everything Project 2025 extolls.
"“For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!"
We can't follow this "prayer."
I know that story and have often thought of it since a teen slight older than I read it to us. I have thought of it often, and have thought that genuine justice is based on knowing and acknowledging the WHOLE story, insofar as we humans are able to gather and process it. It seems to me that recognizing what most matters and "big picture" of how things fit are pillars of wisdom. War is mass murder and there is no honest denial of that. I think we had to fight Hitler, but violence is never "clean".
I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, but grew up respecting values that Jesus preached, though I'm too self-indulgent for his ascetic lifestyle. We casually use the word "love" to mean to "like", but the deeper sense of "love" is to care about somebody else. Even people one does not like. Jesus made that explicit.
MAGA seems to celebrate motives that seem opposite to Jesus' sympathies for the poor and abused, rejection of material wealth, and rejection of serious violence, yet historically, "The Church" has done many horrifying things, as well as ennobling and liberating initiatives. They can't be both right, and it seems to me that the scriptural Jesus came out on the side of love.
As has often been said about the MAGA muck, they aren't really Christians, they are more in tune with the Old Testament God or even better, the Code of Hammurabi. They represent the worst of Calvinism - Oliver Cromwell, the theology behind the Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials. To their mind? The teachings of Jesus is for suckers.
You may believe there is no God...that's fine, your choice of course but you don't seem to realise maybe how much of this authoritarian/fascist administration is so incredibly powered by this belief. What makes me nuts is them even evoking the name of Christ when they are behaving in NO WAY WHATSOEVER by any principles he taught. I totally respect your belief but would encourage you to read one of the many books out there just to see how widespread and embedded these hypocrites/morons are not only in USA but the world. BTW, Jesus called out religious hypocrites almost more than anyone else. One book I could recommend is The Violent Take It By Force by Matthew Taylor. He is a Christian BUT his goal is not to prosteletize but rather shine a big light on how deep and dark this goes. Believe in God or not but that choice won't make this go away just because you do not believe in God. Their twisted white supremacist view of God is sooo blinding to even themselves...somehow....that they don't seem to realise the Jesus they claim to follow was more than likely historically, a brown man. I understand if none of this seems worth your time to look into but just because you do not believe doesn't mean you shouldn't take it seriously. If a person didn't believe in gravity, how would that work out for them if they decided to walk on the edge of The Empire State Building to prove it? DEAD PERSON.........will we end up with a DEAD DEMOCRACY just by refusing to believe in "their" God ? I am a Christian and I have no idea what God they think they're serving but I see about NO PART of Jesus in what they're doing...but they are not going to stop and many have said...and we are ALREADY SEEING...they WILL increase the violence IF THEY CHOOSE. So, just saying, believe what you choose to believe but don't dismiss in ignorance what their beliefs are capable of doing......we're only 7 months in. Take care. Be safe
Margaret, you need to know your enemy. These people (known as TFP in some circles, with the "F" standing for whatever profanity you find that fits). Their god is a vengeful god who has given them the absolute belief in their righteousness.
I am in your non-theist camp, btw.
They absolutely refuse to see that perspective. I tried it in 2016 and asked my father-in-law what he would think if Hilary Clinton had said she could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it (remember those heady days?). He absolutely refused to even try, and instead spouted Russian propaganda at me. When I told him he was repeating Russian propaganda fed to him on his steady diet of Faux Noise he called me a liar and a communist. Sigh.
Just to give another perspective on the generational gap in politics: My father fought in WWII and was completely susceptible to the heavy Communist propaganda spread in America afterwards. As an impudent college socialist (I am now an impudent socialist older person), I argued the benefits of non-capitalism. On one occasion, he shut me down, saying, "They didn't build the Berlin wall to keep people out. They built it to keep people in." He was right about that and as far as he was concerned, that just about summed the entire matter up. I thought about what he had said and didn't bring up the subject . . . until the next day! and we started in again. But we never saw eye to eye, and sadly, found we couldn't even discuss the issues with each other anymore because we both got so angry. So we stopped.
I quit trying with him. He was an Air Force guy; flew helicopters with 5th SFG in Cambodia.
He was always an angry man. Fox just fed that anger
I had a brother-in-law who was a Navy Airman. Quite skilled, i would imagine. Retired he would watch Fox for hours on end, the same stories over and over, fuming the whole time. At least in part, he could not defend his beliefs with specific evidence, but told me that "people I trust" said it was so.
It seems that to the far right anything they don't favor is "communist". I doubt many could correctly define the word. My guess is that if you wrote down many less repeated thoughts of the founders and certainly Lincoln, attributed anonymously, many would call that "Communist" as well. In fact someone did essentially that in the 1960s and (at least from some got that response. I read about it long ago in our local newspaper.
Count me in as a stupid white hippie! I’m only 79, and I may need a nap, but be back to the protest again after my snooze.
Some age more gracefully than others. I think debauchery and Big Macs are catching up with Trump.
Hello J L... If you watch DJT closely, DJT has been declining for over a Year... As of late, DJT has been talking about going to Heaven... Seems to me that DJT is raging against the coming Darkness.... Pray for Divine Intervention....
Where can we send worms?
Why don't the Democrats create a shadow government, headed by Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, when he is available. There would be a shadow cabinet, resembling the one that Vice President Harris and Governor Gipper may have had in mind. This shadow government would not only answer Trump's antics, but also function by proposing the policies it would have pursued.
Because the DNC is sitting on their scared asses and won't even consider Tim Snyder's wise counsel.
No they were on their way to creating one.
Nope. Not the way Snyder suggests, and other countries have had for a long time. They are sitting on their asses, because they are afraid to put the operational infrastructure in place that is required for the shadow cabinet to act in anticipation. Way too late anyways now. I told them they have at most until April 1, 2025.
I did not know that Dr Snyder had suggested this. Thanks, Bruce. More than likely, I read this idea somewhere and forgot about it; then the little seed planted popped out of some crevasse of the mind, fooling me into thing it was original. Accordingly, I invoke the George Harrison disclaimer.
Yes, it was Prof Snyder who suggested this months ago. https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/shadow-cabinet?r=3ff5b&utm_medium=ios
DNC had David Hogg for a while. What happened?
Well, Ned calls it arrogance. There was probably some of that. I have a healthy portion mixed in too. But he, like I was criticizing their approach, so he was asked to stop, they had a reelection for Vice Chairs and he didn't run. He now heads "Leaders We Deserve", which endorses and supports candidates aligned with his progressive values in Democratic primaries.
Like so many democrats, he seems to have not quite grasped that the biggest threat is that there may not be a 26 or 28 election. All Donnie has to do is tripple down on his fictitious "fight against Crime ridden cities" and declare "war" on those criminals and our Republic is shut down. So again...We need MASSIVE Civil Disobedience everywhere, peacefully STRIKES everywhere. We don't have a lot of time. Be prepared.
Arrogance.
One thing that would occur with this idea, apparently already in the discussion domain, is that it would force the Democratic Party, with David Hogg, to build a coalition across ideas, regions, generations.
Ned, If you can get at Hogg. Tell him he needs to get people out into the streets, disobeying.
I think a good first step in that direction would be for the Dems in Congress to follow the lead of their colleagues in the Texas Legislature and get up and walk out, en masse.
They are not being allowed to participate in any meaningful governance, what might have at one time been respected by the majority in the spirit of loyal opposition, gets only begrudging brief and patronizing hearing. The arrogance of the MAGApublicans in that regard is truly shameful. So what is the point in hanging around going through the motions and enduring that abuse when nothing is gained by it?
Is the current regime going to send their stormtroopers to peek into rest rooms looking for these "felons?" Even if they do eventually return to their seats, either by choice or compulsion, that action will show more morale boosting courage than they have shown thus far. Marathon filibustering and such are all very well, but still, here we are.
And: I DEMAND TO SEE THE ENTIRE UNEXPURGATED, UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES.
I wrote my congress critters months ago that they should have walked out of the T**** address to Congress when Al Green was ejected. The lot of them. They didn't respond.
Yes. Following Green (a Black member of congress) out would have been a powerful visual record of a big FU to the trajectory that HCR outlined in her essay today.
James, I had the same experience when Al Green was ejected. Do you remember when Joe Wilson called Obama a liar during his State of the Union speech? He’s still in Congress and will be starting his annual South Carolina state bus tour. Wish I lived there so I could call him a liar to his face. 🤮💩🤡
Being a student of history, as I am, (and as Stephen Miller obviously is not) I cannot help but see parallels with the posture of appeasement taken by Chamberlain, et al, in Munich in 1938. We know how THAT worked out.
It causes me no end of shame to think of the Dems as going down in history as the party of appeasement.
Yeah, that pissed me off too!
That would have been perfect.
Step 1: I agree completely, any kind of disobedience!
Step 2: Anything that makes the MAGA crowd angry at Trump is good
But they also need to be a voice in the public that SCREAMS : Get out there, strike, get in their way disrupt any where you can!
I don’t agree with “any kind of disobedience”. Too fraught with violent vigilantism. That’s EXACTLY what the regime wants, Bruce! They want blood to be shed. That’s a big HELL NO for me.
Unfortunately, based on what I have read and experienced, it's the only way. People get hurt standing up to bullies. Try little disobediences to start, in your town/environment. Every little bit helps. Just say No!
Tell that to the 500,000 in Israel, The 100,000's in Poland, Hungary, India and so forth. Read Gandhi...Peaceful Protest doesn't work without disobedience. Too bad, we'll miss you in Jail.
Marlen and Bruce,
the difficulty here is whether or not we are headed toward widespread violence, perhaps organized into a civil war. We are that pregnant moat after Dred Scot and Bleeding Kansas in which the Great Civil War of 1861-65 was very likely, if not quite yet inevitable,
You may find this interview to be interesting, Bob. https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/epstein-survivor-jess-michaels-tells
My erstwhile Party acts in this manner because it is grabbing what it can, while it can, consigning most of us to the sh*t-can.
Protests matter. Stephen Miller wouldn’t bother denigrating protesters if we weren’t effective. So thanks, Stephen, for your vote of confidence. I’ll be taking my 75 year old self to protest after protest, no nap required, and if he doesn’t like it he can lump it in jail where he belongs. I hope to see Trump, Pam Bondi, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, Kevin Roberts and the rest of these lying, power grasping, corrupt traitors in jail. It can’t happen soon enough.
I'm with you. I've had dreams of perp walks, dozens of them, of all the Congressional Republicans and every Cabinet member and the Orange Menace himself, silver bracelets flashing in the sun as they are escorted by a phalanx of US Marshals or FBI agents. The trials will be expensive and take time, but the citizenry is due justice for the damage they have done and the lives they have taken with their indifference.
“Republicans have taken away the liberty, and now the voice, of a Black woman elected by voters to represent them in the government. This is a crisis far bigger than Texas.”
Attacking political opponents is a hallmark of authoritarianism. We are rapidly approaching a tipping point where we are going to either going to lose almost a century of progress in America, or have to fight like hell to keep it.
A crisis bigger than Texas indeed…
Everything, including this insane insinuation about slavery not being bad, is designed to do one thing and one thing only. Make us forget the EPSTEIN FILES!
The full Epstein files may not even exist at this point if Trump has his way, but yes, we need to keep it alive, and there are patent side issues such as witness tampering
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/20/ghislaine-maxwell-prison-transfer-epstein
Yet this scheisseShow attacks on many fronts, exposing attendant vulnerabilities, and those too warrant attention.
I believe that right-wingers will not concede any loss in the 2026 elections. They will not give up power and will attempt to end our democracy, and because they hold power over the government now, they don't intend to ever give it up.
My book discussion group just read MASTER SLAVE HUSBAND WIFE about a couple of slaves, Ellen and William Craft, who escaped in an incredibly ingenious way from slavery in Georgia in 1848. None of us well-educated and well-read folks had ever heard of the Crafts, not even those who had been American history or literature majors. None of the lawyers, doctors, and Ph.D.s amongst us. Are accounts of their lives part of the history that Trump is trying to erase? The fact that we'd never heard of them makes it clear that most of us won't have learned enough throughout our years and years of education to miss the bravery of the Crafts and others like them if they disappear from the Smithsonian museums, if they're even chronicled there.
The Fugitive Slave Act kept appearing in their story, and it seemed like a case of "plus ça change." Today we call them ICE agents.
As I said: Slavery still exists, BIG TIME. We currently count approximately 52,000,000 slaves in this world 2024. In our America there are 1,200,000 modern day slaves, still. Women and children in forced commercial sexual exploitation constitute 78% of victims. Yep, slavery has grown from an estimate of 32,000,000 globally in 2010 to the current number.
Of course it does. We wouldn't have Trump, we're it not for the slaves (innthe Hegelian mastwr/slave dialectic Sense )
I only learned of The Green Book when I visited the African American Museum. I was fascinated. How much more do I not know? How much could be lost?