To some fanfare, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign today launched Republicans for Harris, which will kick off with events this week in the swing states of Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
I've been wondering when, if ever, the moderate Republicans would stand up to Trump and come together to join Democrats to save our Democratic Republic. I thought it would have been after January 6th 2021, but only a few of them had the courage and commitment to speak out. This will be interesting to watch. Thank you for all the background on this, Heather. What a busy week lies ahead of us!
THANK YOU. This is a VERY big deal. People like my sister and some of my family and friends need to feel that it's ok as a Republican to not vote for Trump. That it's not only ok to vote for Harris...but the RIGHT thing to do is this moment.
It’s not about “identity” - it’s about baseline policies. For example, we cannot keep taking in irregular “migrants” and letting them establish themselves in the US before their claims have been approved. It’s not sustainable and it’s very bad for national security (60+ terrorists caught so far, and who knows how many got thru). Soft-heartedness applied to public policy = soft-headedness.
To me that is far more important for the future of my students, children, friends, and neighbors than unrestricted abortion rights in all states.
The new thing to be concerned about is how far the markets will go down. Will we enter a long delayed recession? Will there be a disquieted constituency? The MAGAs will blame the huge debt I can already hear it. I always thought this debt was too much and I understand it was caused by the Trump tax reductions. So it goes. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.
About six months ago my broker told me to hunker down and keep enough cash or liquid assets on hand to live on for 3 years and so I liquidated some stock.
It seems like every time the Fed meets going back to late 2023 the market expects Powell to drop the rate and when he doesn't people panic.
This month is especially troubling for many nervous nellies because several other countries have lowered their rate. Sometimes it takes a week to come back and sometimes a month, but so far it has always come back strong.
"Potter not selling -- Potter's buying" - George Bailey
As I wrote in a comment to Adam Kinzinger’s Substack about supporting Ms Harris, and concerning this group (he’s a member,) the word ‘Conservative’ now encompasses folks we despise. Perhaps it is is time for another term to use, or even a distinct new political party which emphasizes the traditional notion of Conservatism, yet distances itself from the Christianist taint.
We have a term for democratic conservatives. We are Blue Dog Democrats. There, fixed it. But more fully speaking for myself, I’m radical on some issues, progressive on others, and conservative on still other matters. I don’t follow the scripts of others. I could never once figure out why we were supposed to follow others on Twitter since I don’t follow anyone and no one was following me so I quit.
Thank you, Ellen!! Using these labels, I'm conservative because I believe in the separation of Church and State but most of my friends call me Liberal Lucy to my face ;)
Guess I’m A blue dog, but I followed some wonderful people on twit before I got banned. A community of sanity was a blessing as it is here. However, would never go back since the devil has declared X a haven for the dividers.
I considered my grandfather (and many others) "Egalitarian Capitalists" which sounded right though I'm still not sure what it means to others. They looked out for each other, their customers, their neighbors, enhanced their land and didn't inflict waste upon others.
Perhaps "Egalitarian Conservative" could be used to differentiate them from what I earlier suggested, calling the worst of the Conservatives CINOs (Conservative In Nam Only),
I have felt for a long time that today's R's are not in any way conservative! For example, I can clearly recall when, back in the 60's or 70's, R's used to say that 'with rights come responsibilities'. They don't seem to believe that anymore, especially with regard to 'gun rights'. MAGA really needs to be a separate political party -- they are radical extremists, not conservatives!
Why would one need permission from anybody to reject chump. I know repubs, they all know the difference between right and wrong. But the lies help assuage the conscience, if there is one to assuage. Some lost theirs long ago. The cult made the conscience irrelevant. Are there any repubs left who didn’t sign on to the cult. They have been mighty quiet.
JD I think that there are a LOT of long time Repubs who don't like Trump for POTUS, but they have been fed so much dis-information by Fox, Rush, etc that that fear Dems so much they don't want to vote for one. Loyalty is also a factor. We have to help them get out of their echo chamber. I'm working with an old high school friend right now...through a Facebook Post to get her to read HCR's letter from today about "Republicans for Harris" I asked her to reach out to me afterwards. I want to see if that moves the needle at all.
Mike, Agree completely, "they have been fed so much dis-information by Fox, Rush, etc that that fear Dems so much they don't want to vote for one." Propaganda against Dems started long before Fox, probably 100 years or more. And this deep seated, almost subconscious fear, is why they will vote for anyone (tffg!) instead of a Democrat.
Good for you. I watched my very smart, bff follow her smart but moronic husband down the Foxhole. True that demonization of Dems has been their go to since Nixon, exacerbated under Reagan and de rigueur since Gingrich. I wish you luck, logic and reason were useless.
They are resting on their “Lincoln and Eisenhower laurels” and they don’t have that right anymore. They lost it under Reagan when they changed the rules. They also had an immigration of Dixiecrats when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. So they are actually the party of Dixiecrats.
And it’s not just voting for Kamala. We need to replace the extremism that is in control now. That is the only way to put in place the laws that protect our democracy. The voting Republicans don’t need to vote blue down ticket, but I hope they realize they need to vote out their extremist and replace them with those Republicans that are willing to cross the aisle. The “one party,one vote” rule, put in place by Gingrich and John Boehner, helped create this chaos.
Thanks EK! Here's another idea we have to push: it's not just that we have to convince people who typically vote "Republican" that they are not obligated to vote for CFDT. They need to understand that they ARE OBLIGATED to vote--up and down the ticket--for people who will protect the Rule of Law and the Constitution. Although staying home and failing to engage in the one act as a citizen that has real meaning seems to be what Americans (on both sides of the aisle) continue to think is the opposite of voting for CFDT and his minions in Congress, sitting this election out is not an option. People wonder how did we get here? We got here because an appallingly small percentage of people actually vote and by not doing so, they cede the field to the extremists and christofascists. AND they don't confront the wannabe autocrats who want to restrict access to voting, especially the access of the working poor, BIPOC, and women to the ballot box. Australia has a system of fines for people who fail to vote. This means that refusal to take part in the plebiscite is considered not just dumb, but dangerous. And complaining about the government when you don't exercise your rights as a citizen is empty whining.
JD, I admit that people on the "other side" don't usually talk to me at all! My reputation precedes me . . . But I do have thoughtful friend whose views are more conservative than mine who, fortunately, are appalled by CFDT.
Thank you so much, in fact, all of yous🫶 I am so excited to see the real get down and enlightenment given another fresh start …credence! America has always risen to the task of pulling together and here we are …excellent links TY
Lets see after a a few weeks to post Dem Convention or so if this is implicitly reflecting in the polls... i suspect the sheer enthusiasm and outreach at the Convention in a few weeks is going to gather more anti-Trump voters from - well, all sides of the electorate. I'm not sure how well polls tap into that grey zone of maybe i will maybe i wont potential voters.
Early this morning, 2-3 am, I participated in a Zoom that Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, noted fascism expert, held. She had invited a woman on from the Seneca Project to be her guest. This woman was a Black Independent who had been a Republican until Trump ran, and now votes for the Democratic Candidates. She said that this is an existential crisis and with women's health care on the line, this is a fight for women not to go back. Well, women have gone back all over the country, particularly if they live in States that have outlawed abortion. But, even in states that have protected abortion when Catholic Health Services take over all the hospitals in a state, as they are doing in many states, and refuse to provide treatment to pregnant women who need an abortion to save their lives, then we know that we have gone back. I know that there is an organization called Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT). They are either voting for Harris or not voting at all. Perhaps some of them will vote for Kennedy, but I did not hear anyone say that. I think if they are aware enough to see through Trump, they are aware enough to see through Kennedy. Here are the testimonials of 5 who made these after Harris was announced.
What I am wondering is how many Republican politicians who say they are voting for Trump, will actually not vote for him. He has cowed and insulted so many of them personally. I believe that the ones who are Christian Nationalists and particularly The New Apostolic Republic will vote for him because their end of days beliefs necessitate a leader that will bring about certain conditions on earth for them to be saved. For the NAR this is clearly more important, thus members like Mike Johnson and Sam Alito abuse their positions of authority for goals that have nothing to do with following the constitution. Read this comparison of the 2 groups end of days ideas by Andra Watkins, in her discussion of NAR she compares the two groups. https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation
You begin to wonder when or if Trump will ever have a moment like Joe McCarthy did when he was exposed for all the public to see. I had read of one of Trump’s recent rallies in which Trump started mispronouncing and garbling his words, so it makes me wonder if the press will start asking about his mental fitness. Trump never was suitable to be president and he would destroy the nation. We have to avoid that, then get out and vote for VP Harris.
Kathy, if it is one thing this election has taught me is that the press that I used to trust, I can no longer trust. No NYT. Even if people had not started pointing out the gaff with the false claim that there was a debate between Harris and Trump on August 4 on Fox News, I have not found them trustworthy this entire election cycle. Furthermore, knowing that the spoiled, petulant, immature oligarchic owner Sulzberger would tank US democracy just because Joe Biden did not sit down for a one-on-one with him, and therefore instead carried a Biden is old narrative and absolutely nothing else about the election, I am totally turned off of that publication including even no longer doing their games. I would like to see a moment where the NYT is destroyed too, although I know that Trump is the most likely to do it, and don't want that. I am hopeful for Harris, but know how ugly our press can be, and we cannot count on them to get the story out, so we must do it.
I too am very disappointed in the NYT - I am still a subscriber and there are still some great journalists there -- but just scanning their article headlines has me scratching my head. The paper of record? Sadly, no more.
If those journalists are so great, why would they choose to stay with an organization cooperating in the demise of their chosen field? If they don't see the damage being inflicted by the NYT, then, in my humble opinion, they're not such great journalists. Nope, my money will go to those working to keep us alive and informed, like HCR, Jay Kuo, Jessica Craven, Joyce Vance, Robert Hubbell, and a host of others. WaPo and NYT can, as the Funkadelics so elegantly stated, "Drown in their own shit"!!
Laurie, I was a long time NYT reader & left in 2023. Digitally tracking individual authors has worked very well for me as I now get frequent reports from Carol Leonnig, Anne Applebaum, Professors HCR & Joyce Vance, Andrew Weismann, Dr. Bandy X. Lee, Steve Vladek & many others.
Laurie, I resisted cancelling my all-access subscription until just after the debate, when the NYT editorial board said that Biden should withdraw, without also asking the convicted felon to do the same. That didn't for me -- I cancelled and sent email explaining my reasons why I could no longer support the paper. To their credit, I did receive one back, and it was a lengthy defense of their coverage, saying that they were balanced.
I've kept the email, but haven't relented. Perhaps one day I will re-subscribe, but not until it becomes palatable again.
They also got lengthy defenses of their reporting as being balanced, but they never addressed my critiques of their polling or of them for polling. It was just so much blah, blah, blah. I have no respect for anyone who has written to me from the NYT as being anything other than arrogant little brats. All of them should be sent to North Korea because that is the life they are willingly imposing on us with their pro-Trump journalism.
AI headlines? The eye-ball counting minion use headlines, and some fairly poor writing, to gin up the readers! It gets eye-balls, in WaPo George writes a real stupid piece and gets more clicks, eye-balls, advertising. The economic system needs a better public entity.
After watching this interview on the Left Hook https://substack.com/home/post/p-147326115 I see that, aside from the axiom 'follow the money' is another which sometimes explains a driving force behind the scenes, 'follow the use of micro-dosing with psychedelics by people with a lot of money'. When current events look like science fiction, I do wonder (and it's not a value judgment or disrespect of skillful therapeutic/ceremonial uses of micro-dosing).
I don't buy this. I micro dose sometimes and it makes me happy, not wanting to be a fascist taking away the rights of others. No I think it's the obscene amount of money these nazis have, they think they a god...let's bring back the 90% tax bracket and tax these greedy fascists into the middle class.
I hear you Joan. We hear this used about a lot of the tech bros in the game. They are as a category, White, male, spoiled, petulant, and they could solve a lot of the the world's problems with the money they waste on drugs and partying. However, this drugging is tied to money, so I think the axiom is still appropriately "follow the money." Thanks for sharing the link.
I support Amy Goodman on 'Democracy Now' channel. Yesterday she exposed
Project 2025's Ziklag. Now we need Republican lawyer, Cleta Mitchell's Election Integrity Network (to be exposed. She’s now leading an effort — through her Election Integrity Network — to train partisan activists to use AI to search for voting irregularities.
Ziklag Exposed: Secretive Christian Nationalist Network Tries to Purge Voters in Battleground States
Someone who compares White Christian Nationalists and The New Apostolic Reformers End of Days beliefs, which are markedly different is Andra Watkins of How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life Substack and some books. Ziklag sounds more like NAR, than just Christian Nationalists. NAR is who supposedly Alito and Mike Johnson belong to. Their mission on earth it to make the entire planet follow the rules to get God to Return to Earth and then they will be saved. If people don't agree with them, then will impose it on them, even if their values defy the constitution.
wow! THANKS for your cool info. We can’t let up on the throttle- my main effort is for my grandson’s future in the time clock of Climate Crisis.
my next deep dive is our Military Industrial Complex- the Tech sector wants part of the billions of $$$ generated. The Republican Heritage Foundation expects to spend enormous tax dollars on building up our war chest, as they remove social programs funding.
For years we have supplied our allies with war equipment, and now if China wants to come at us…our inventory (to defend our Democracy) is low. The ships, airplanes, submarines are not quick to rebuild.
Kamala needs to review what if we get pushed in a corner, and can she be tough while building relationships. War Sucks, and the next scarce commodity is FRESH WATER.
I too am disappointed in the press. They are afraid to call out Trump and call him out as the sociopathic narcissist incompetent he is. Trump is not above ginning up people to literally attack reporters he dislikes.
I've been learning more about the broligarchs, the tech billionaires behind campaigns and media. Now when I ask myself, how can this be happening (?!!) I have more plausible explanations: https://substack.com/home/post/p-147326115 .
I know. The Republicans made HRC look like Lady Macbeth in a pantsuit. She was damned for not leaving Bill Clinton and for being a feminist who took advantage of the opportunities newly available to young women in the 1970s. The Republicans have been blaming the MSM for some time for being “unfair” with them, and the game they’ve been playing is called “working the refs.” The MSM thinks they have to engage in a false balance that presumes that both sides, Republicans and Democrats alike, are engaging in dubious activity. It requires them to ignore the very real danger to the country with Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party and its abandonment of the concept of government of, for and by the people. The mainstream media outlets treat politics as a horse race, and they fail to inform their viewers and readers of the very real policy differences between the parties and the dire consequences if Trump receives another term in office.
HRC was hated for staying with Bill so much more than he was hated for his infidelity. Go figure. “Working the refs” sounds exactly right. Exactly what a real election does not need. Chump’s danger is so obvious that I find it hard to tolerate anyone, and I mean anyone, who excuses his goal of destroying what we have worked for since the founders struggled to put together a workable government of US.
To paraphrase Heather, I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd that nowhere accredited dogma of someone like J.D. Vance backer billionaire Peter Thiel, that governments derive their powers from force and continued by force.
My interpretation of Jesus' commandments in all four Gospels is that nothing but good comes from assuming that the intrinsic value of any one human life is equal to the intrinsic value of every human life, and nothing but harm has ever come from assuming that people have power because they are more important than the people that don't.
I left the Catholic church a half century ago because it was trying to control my life for its benefit. Now I know that the word "Catholic" (like the word "conservative") means something good, and I no longer think poorly of the institution just because there are so many hypocrites in positions of power within the institution.
For the record, Catholic is from the Greek word for universal, implying that we are all equal. We too often remember that "rules are made to be broken" while forgetting that the "treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle is made to be adhered to in every context. But the bottom line is that there are exhausted ideas, Mr. Thiel, and those ideas are yours, and not democracy.
The bishops have become republicans, divided, too powerful, too abortion-obsessed, misogynist, unwilling to be pastors, etc. My faith is fine; it’s the institution I deplore.
I understand your point. Some institutions are irredeemable. I have faith that America and the Catholic church are redeemable. I can't say for sure because the only guarantee is that pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I act based on the belief that I won't catch a fish, then I won't fish, and then I won't catch a fish. But I can't fault you for deploring a institution that behaves deplorably.
I agree with your position and hope the institution can be rehabbed. I know many good priests, and they too suffer when the bishops fight among themselves and embarrass all of us. But my own experience working in the church and their unnuanced position on women’s reproductive health care—of which they have no experience with wives or daughters—finally led me to leave.
I find your comment about Catholic hospitals interesting. Recently a co-worker of my daughter, a woman in her early 40’s discovered she was very unexpectedly pregnant. She discussed having a tubal ligation after the birth with her doctor but was told that would not be possible because at the Catholic hospital where she would give birth they would not perform the procedure. I was shocked that it’s not just abortion that is opposed, but also this method of birth control. 😢😡
Yes Cathy. In the US I live in Chicago, where many hospitals have been taking over by Catholic Heath Care, though fortunately mine belongs to a secular university and is not in danger of this any time soon. Still, I have read that all or almost all of Ohio's hospitals are taken over by Catholic Health services by now, and this might be true in other Midwestern states, which means in essence, that unless you have access to a private clinic that will provide you with birth control, or a planned Parenthood, you are out of luck for your health care needs in these place. My daughter's friend did not attend University in Ohio for that very reason. You cannot tell by the names so you have to look up whether they are run by a Catholic organization. This link is from 2020. It has some stats and a pdf to the full report.
Not sure where things are going, but it is quite scary, because the Catholic Church is also getting around the laws, which are increasingly designed to support them in imposing their religious views on people. They are also getting huge amount of our tax dollars from medicare and medicaid patients, who are provided limited services because of their Catholic mission. When I was at Uni, one of my coworkers attended a Catholic university in Chicago, so I got to hear from her first hand what sorts of supports she got from her student health. No birth control was one of them. So, she became pregnant and we were all poor students, so I suggested that she borrow $5 from everyone she knew to raise the money for her abortion, which was around $200 back then. She went to Planned Parenthood. My thinking was, and I had recommended this to other young women who found themselves with an unwanted pregnancy back in high school, and did not want to tell their parents, was that $5 is a low enough amount that if you cannot pay it back, you won't really be harming anyone, and most people can cough up that much. The Catholic Church should not be tax exempt! Nor should any religious organization. Here is a discussion of Catholic Hospitals that are for profit. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/05/16/catholic-hospitals-profit-mission-247913
Interesting story: In the 1980’s- 1990’s I worked as a Registered Nurse in the OB/GYN clinic at a County Hospital which was also a teaching hospital. Our residents rotated around the other city hospitals. A resident physician came back from his time at a catholic hospital with a story that tubal ligations did indeed happen. They were cleverly called “Uterine Isolations”. I was flabbergasted. Not sure if hospital management was aware.
It was the same 25 years ago. I was 40+ when I had a uterine polyp removed at a Catholic hospital. The nurse said a hysterectomy would make sense given my age, being done with having kids, and the chance of more polyps forming. Then she immediately followed up with it wasn't an option at that hospital.
"I've been wondering when, if ever, the moderate Republicans would stand up to Trump and come together to join Democrats to save our Democratic Republic." (Deb)
The Lincoln Project has been standing up to Trump since 2015 and tens of thousands of us joined them. George Conway, Michael Steele, Stuart Stevens, Tara Setmeyer, Rick Wilson and many other former Republicans have made it their mission to defeat Trump.
They release new ads multiple times a week and they are available on You Tube. These are people that worked to get Republicans elected since Reagan and realized how dangerous Trump is.
So has Adam Kinzinger. Kinzinger didn’t want to run as a Republican in Donald Trump’s Republican Party, and it’s a good thing there are Republicans who can see that Donald Trump is bad news. Trump has turned the Republicans into his own cult of personality.
"cult of personality". I like that. My problem with DonOld is that for every scumbag he praises, he denigrates 10 other people. And oftentimes, because they made one comment that he disagreed with or they did one thing that he felt he should have gotten credit for. Like Roe for instance. Has he ever credited Alito for writing the terrible miserynistic rambling opinion? He' criticized many Republicans judges just because they were people of color.
Kindness and empathy have never been part of his repertoire or those of his Fascist speechwriters like Stephen Miller.
How despicable an act did he commit the other day by praising the bloodthirsty Putin for releasing US citizens who had done nothing wrong?
At 78, he is WAY TOO OLD to be running for President. He should be out golfing. /S
Having talked to many Republicans, their Loyalty is stronger to their Party, than to the Union... Many will only vote Republican regardless of who they are voting for... Bear in mind as well, that as Mitt Romney revealed, many of the Republicans, and their Families have been threatened by the MAGAs....
I have talked with many who see themselves as conservatives who are not a part of the MAGA cult...but they have been lifelong Republicans...I was one until I wasn't. They went too far for me and that was well before DJT arrived on the scene. During the Gore vs Bush campaign I was still a swing vote...and in the end I had enough of the Clintons, sex in the Oval...etc etc and went with Bush. Today I really regret that one.
All of these people have been life long Republicans too. The other night, at a Beer garden in Germany, my group Democrats Abroad met for dinner and drinks and after having an article about DA in the local paper, more people came out. One of the men has American parents but has never himself lived in the US, and never voted in the US until this election which he considers so important he wants to vote. He and his wife are much more conservative then me, but as most Europeans who are not part of the Left, or the Right, they see a potential for WWIII if Trump is elected. Another guy who has been a lifelong Republicans just became an independent and is going to vote Democratic in this election. So, a lot of lifelong Republicans are turning because they are unwilling to vote for Trump for the same reasons many Democrats are. Country above Party! Congrats!
Trumps "party" his backers are MAGA. I believe the "Republican" party is almost dead...there are remnants to be sure...but they live in the shadows now. Any hint of Ike, Teddy, Abe, even Bush I are pretty faint. Liz Cheney is a Rhino...Mitt Romney...John McCain...people who have some integrity.
From Matthew 6:24: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Translation: We are all loyal to some one thing. I suggest that the question we all need to ask ourselves is, what is that one thing?
Personally, I'm loyal to the "treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle in literally every context. Based on their actions, I believe that Biden, Harris, and the people in leadership positions within the Democratic party are also loyal to that same master.
So, why don't people support Democrats? Because they perceive the illusion that doing so is supporting an exclusive interest that excludes them, but the good news is that there are a good number who are open to having that perception challenged.
Yes, I agree. And neither does Bernie Sanders. If he did, he wouldn't be angry about capitalism. He'd be angry about people who identify as capitalists while adhering to Milton Freidman's "theory of IMMORAL sentiments" (documented in his 1961 book, Capitalism and Freedom) in lieu of adhering to the real capitalist principle, which is documented in Adam Smith's book, The Theory of MORAL Sentiments" (1759).
Trump has been enamored and encouraging of violence from day 1. He lies to make people angry and afraid so they feel justified in committing violence. I find it interesting that one young man turned his violence against Trump.
I wonder if this is another of those regional things? My daughter lived in Chicago for several years and they have a weird system based on what they call Aldermen that have enormous local power: people voted as they were told to vote by their alderman.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-republican-party-gop-whigging-out-you-make-call-ned/ An essay written almost seven years ago. Back then, I did not know to connect the dots between the sluicing of money and an oligarchy bent of taking control. Governor Hogan, now a Senatorial candidate should be one to join Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinszinger. I suspect that Senator Romney will, too.
I think Hogan already said he would support Trump. I can not and will not vote or support a single Republican that's running for any office. The Republican Party is dead to me.
Praising Liz Cheney for what she did on the 9/11 committee is like praising W. for him providing help to 9/11 victims. He absolutely knew ahead of time that something was afoot and did nothing to stop it.
I never have. I looked hard at John McCain, as he was an honorable man. His politics were often wrong, but he nixed the repeal of the ACA. I wouldn't have expected him to do that.
To think this was his party.
I am ashamed to say when I was younger and foolish I voted libertarian. The vp candidate was Chuckie Koch.
B.L.U.F. (bottom-line, up-front): if nothing else, the third vid. of five minutes is really worth watching from a historical perspective.
First, I have nothing to say about Representative Cheney for I have no knowledge of what she knew -- I am not a mind-reader -- or what she might have said or done based upon that assumed knowledge. Second, I understand that Governor Hogan said he would support the G.O.P. nominee. President Trump has endorsed Governor Hogan. Governor Hogan has not embraced that endorsement, nor did he attend the G.O.P. convention.
Most of all he is the son of the only G.O.P. Representative to vote in favor of all three articles of impeachment against President Nixon reported out of the Judiciary Committee fifty years ago.
Apologies for the sarcasm, Gary; that was harsh and unnecessary. My basic reaction is this one: ¿what should Representative Cheney said or done on 05jan21 or earlier? The fact that she sacrificed a safe seat in the House -- as did Representative Kinzinger -- to serve on the Jan6 Committee speaks volumes on behalf of Representative Cheney. That is, of course, NOT to overlook the statesmanship with which Representative Thompson chaired that select committee.
P.S. all of these fracking edits; ugggg. Getting old and trigger-happy.
Reps. Thompson and Cheney conducted themselves with a great deal of courtesy and dignity. That seems to be something that MTG, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz are incapable of learning.
When we have politicians with the backbone that Kevin McCarthy exhibited, we are toast. He should be a nationwide example and put on a poster of a traitor. We could have been free of the cretin chump. But no, Kevin is still a hero to fools. And we have made division a goal for any future that is possible.
Kevin sold his soul to the Devil to become Speaker, and it wasn’t too long before the Devil in the form of Matt Gaetz came around to collect on his deal and McCarthy was ousted as Speaker.
Deb, our neighbor, formerly a R county commissioner, is now registered as an I and mostly votes D. I know several Rs who did not or will not vote for death star.
You would have thought that the real Republicans would have stood up to tRump, but the painful fact was and is that they have no backbone and are much in tune with tRump's agenda, which is to destroy everything this country stands for. And those cowards shall not be forgotten..
Superb recounting of how they powerful and wealthy few attempted to control or enslave the many. Now it is this generation’s duty to defend democracy, so that those who died to preserve our nation will not have died in vain.
We must remember why many Republican Congresspeople did not vote for the impeachment of Donald Trump - they feared for the safety of their families. We should also remember the steadfast election officials who endured harassment from threatening mobs outside their homes. We must remember the bullets fired into the house of an election official that ripped through a wall and passed harmlessly over a sleeping eight-year-old daughter. It is the bravery of unsung heroes like these people who stood for democracy, the rule of law and the ideals of freedom when it mattered the most.o
They may say they "feared for the safety of their families," because that sounds more reasonable than "we were trying to protect our access to power," but color me skeptical. Throughout our history abolitionists, women's rights activists, labor organizers, and civil rights organizers (among others) risked their lives and sometimes lost them, all to expand the reach of U.S. democracy. And didn't the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledge "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor"? Yes, we absolutely should remember all the election officials that held the line, and hold members of Congress to that standard.
Suffragettes? How many women were jailed, beaten, starved and yes, died fighting for voting rights for women. Out of our 248 years as a country, woman have had the right to vote for only 104 years. My grandmother was born in 1893, she didn’t have any right to anything unless a man (her father) to oversee all aspects of her life. Education, money, a job, a husband. My great grandfather spoiled her and she became a strong, educated woman. She was 27 and a mother of 2 when she cast her first vote. She went on to run the polls in her voting district. She passed away in 1981. We are not going back!
My grandmother was born in 1905, and when her husband started molesting her oldest daughter she threw him out. Ran a cafe in her small town the rest of her life, and Golda'sTwists were a must for every event, wedding graduation whatever.
How she managed without credit is something I never thought about. Wow.
And women's access to credit happened in my lifetime. When I was a teenager, "help wanted" ads were still listed as either "male" or "female." You can guess what jobs were in each category. And when I was 14 (1965), Bill Baird was arrested for passing out birth control *information* on the streets of Boston. Not going back for sure!
And isn't it time we went forward? Women have their own credit and there are laws saying we have equal rights in the marketplace. Those laws can be overturned quickly. We do not yet have legal status as full citizens until we have full control over our own bodies.
I agree with you completely. They’re nothing but cowards afraid to lose their perch.. right or wrong be god dammed.. its always about power with the modern day Republicans.
Thank you for reminding me of Medgar Evers. He was murdered the month after I was born, but his widow Myrlie Evers-Williams carried on her husband’s battle for civil rights. Project 2025 would take all of that away.
The people, including democrats, who voted for impeachment were subjected to the exact same fears, and did the right thing anyway. They are cowards, all, or they are complicit.
The ultra wealthy few have tried to subjugate the rest of humanity for eons. Such a tragic betrayal and such a tragic waste, The ongoing battle could conceivably end in human extinction if we don't become wiser.
The refusal by polluting entities to take responsibility for the long term consequences of their drive to maximize profits while ignoring the negative impacts of their processes, and refusing to mitigate those consequences, or change their processes, is changing the earth’s fragile life zones, damaging the zone humans need for living, and making the earth much less hospitable to humans. This is some greedy short sighted humans causing the destruction of humanity’s habitat on this planet. We can’t blame impersonal forces-we are doing this to ourselves.
Our communities were built so that people need a car to live and work. In the fifties, the major American car companies paid their employees bonuses if an employee was elected to city council where they advocated and voted for roads, highways and parking lots instead of public transportation and trains. It is not an accident that it is difficult to live in a city and not own a car. It was built right into city planning.
The Earth will "cause" human extinction because humans have and continue to damage the Earth's systems beyond sustainability. I doubt that humans ever had a chance to make it until our sun changes enough to start a demise of our solar system.
The arc of history has seen absolute rulers either removed by their subjects or forced by them to share power. Their rule has given way to forms of government which lie on a spectrum from authoritarian one party rule to the various constitutional models of representative democracy. However, there has been a constant in the governing power structures throughout history: the presence of wealthy elites exploiting those structures to protect and advance their interests. The mega billionaires of today have such immense wealth and influence that they become untouchable, akin to demigods. How do your curb the power of demigods?
They may know how to make $$ but many of them are really not very smart otherwise. The greater majority of them are unable to pass that particular skill to their heirs along with their $$ who eventually melt back into the crowd. The only way to control these idiots is to tax them like we used to. Fairly but sufficiently to curtail the power of their $$.
Thanks Terry. I agree that heirs often dissipate fortunes. There may be a difference where mega billions are involved. There is so much money that heirs will no doubt be swimming in it, and that money may well be squandered. But large amounts of money can also be put into trusts which distribute money to causes good and bad, giving a mega billionaire influence from beyond the grave.
I agree that tax is a key tool. However, that will require cooperation with other countries because corporate income can be transferred to countries with low tax rates. Billionaires can retain the best tax advisers on the planet.
It seems to boil down to this, that there are two kinds of people: one who says “let’s share and live in harmony” and the other who says “I will not share a single penny of my wealth with someone else and I will use violence to protect that penny AND obtain more of them from my neighbours, they are all inferior anyway….”
"Broligarchs"... I didn't know the term up 'til now, but it describes them perfectly: entitled boys thinking they are gods and therefore have the RIGHT to all the riches in the world, whilst profiting off everything else they didn't provide for - I mean, where do they get their drinking water, their antibiotics, and the materials with which they build their bunkers and space ships? The rich tech bros didn't make a single one of these things themselves. We, the 'common' people made them.
We have much work to do to save ourselves from the Trump Republicans. Our nation is not the play thing for modern day oligarchs. November will tell the tale and we will prevail and continue to move the United States forward … certainly not backwards.
I think the Republican party as we know it - and it is NOT the party of Lincoln - is now broken. This is not the party that rose from the ashes at the time of Civil War. That
party committed Seppuku on 1/6/21 when it denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election. It is now the Maga party, which, like the pre-Civil War Democratic party, reveres enslavement, either through Supreme Court decisions or state legislatures. Using the judiciary to restrict basic rights.
I strongly believe that the faux former Appalachia resident is channeling Franklin Pierce and George Fitzhugh.
It appears to me that the Republican party that fought for a democratic republic died a death of a thousand cuts over the decades from the election of Reagan. Nixon was corrupt, but republicans were ready to convict him. The pardon was a monstrous mistake. Reagan was fundamentally contemptuous of the form of government Lincoln hoped would never perish from the earth. Since Reagan, total domination by any means has increasingly replaced concern for our nation's common interests as their raison d'etre.
Exactly. I recommend Dana Milbank's THE DESTRUCTIONISTS: The 25-Year Crack-up of the Republican Party, which sees the rise of Newt Gingrich as key. But it goes back further than that, at least to Nixon's "southern strategy". Everything since has been about the preservation of white power, white supremacy, and too many USians still don't get it.
Susanna-You’re so right about Americans not being able to see that preserving racism based on skin color is the primary driving force for MAGAs. Why else would anyone vote for someone like DJT?
His promise to “save” them from the “browning of America” trumps all other issues. Racism is entrenched. Imagine where we’d be if skin color wasn’t an issue.
Yes indeed, and it predates Trump. It's what Nixon's "southern strategy" was all about -- turning white Southern Democrats into Republicans. And the Reagan "revolution" was mainly a reaction against the progress that women and people of color had made from the mid-60s onward. An excellent book on what this has cost us is Heather McGhee's THE SUM OF US: What Racism Costs All of Us and How We Can Prosper Together. She's got a strong background in economics, which makes this even more valuable.
Do you mean Richard Ben Cramer? Trying to find it, I instead discovered Cramer's HOW ISRAEL LOST, which unbelievably was published in 2005 and which I now want to read anyway. Cramer died in 2013.
It’s not a “party” — it is a cult!!! … and then you have the “supreme court” trying to gift “herr leader” - trump - additional powers through the granting of immunities from prosecution for his acts.
Oligarchs yearn to rescind may hard won human rights, as suits their authoritarian agenda, but even so, the past is past, and their momentum would appear to take us into dangerous and uncharted territory, conceivably even to the point of human extinction if we don't wise up fast.
Lincoln got that about faux conservatism: "Not one of all your various plans can show a precedent or an advocate in the century within which our Government originated.”
Thank you for this column. I was a Moderate registered Republican until 12/18/2020, when I registered Democratic. I left for two reasons: 1) Democratic Governor Andy Beshear did a great job on COVID & Trump did not.
2) Trump’s and Elected Republicans’ lies about the “stolen election!”
I will do everything I can to defeat Trump and Trumpism.
In a sense, Trump Republican leaders and their oligarchic backers support a form of economic enslavement for the masses. It stems from grossly high and artificially manipulated costs for rent, childcare, college education, and other needs. All of it enables them to make ever-more money. Imagine how worse things will get if corrupt autocrats rule.
We see that in how hedge funds and some banks drive up housing and medical costs by investing in foreclosed housing, medical practices, and health insurance. If American businesses are to remain competitive, they have to dump Milton Friedman’s bad economic ideas, start thinking about the long term, and the government has to start enforcing antitrust and antimonopoly laws again.
Michael-You’ve put your finger on the history of America.-“economic enslavement” has been the foundation of our nation. Slavery based on skin color was ideal and worth fighting for with so many lives lost. Unions arose because of the ways that labor was treated. Again so many lives lost.
We need to change the relationship between capital and labor in our democracy. Our current system based on racism and sexism allows capitalists to continue their divide and conquer strategies. No more Black jobs or women jobs!
Student loans that become lifelong indentures are another way of reining in that dangerous activity, people thinking freely for themselves.
Keep 'em at the treadmill, no free time in which to ask awkward questions or think through their ideas... That way they're kept well-formated, properly conditioned servants of the status quo.
We can all use Heather's primer on those who first fought the "elite enslavers" nearly 200 years ago.
But we can also use a reminder of how their criminality then has now expanded in a network far beyond that of today’s orange felon.
It goes to Egypt’s Sisi and his money laundering. To Putin, his oligarchs, their money laundering, opioid trade, arms shipments, and their eastern Orthodox priests ever parading long beards, long skirts, lengthy coils of jewelry as they intone their chants for murder, nationalism, repression of women. All match U.S. “rapture” evangelicals for Handmaid’s Tale east and west.
They join Alito, Clarence, and crew always ruling for more dark money, ever-lowered taxes on the rich, and chucked-off regulations so the billionaires can widen U.S. wealth gaps, damn workplace safety, worsen climate change, and further prop up Putin, Trump, Sisi, Orban, Netanyahu, Maduro, Assad, Modi, Kim, Erdogan, the mullahs, Chinese cadres, and Mohammed bin Bone Saw.
In her newest book, Anne Applebaum calls these alliances “Autocracy Inc.”
I call it what comes when schools worldwide dehumanize (put testing first).
And the world’s people – who voted out the far-right recently in France? – who voted them out also recently in Britain? – and Americans energized, volunteered for Kamala – our campaign?
Maybe we can contest the dark money U.S. and its world-allied Vulgar, Inc
But even if Kamala, Dems win: how much of a victory is it if our schools keep out the personal, with the machinery of testing still dehumanizing all, similarly to those "elite enslavers" of 200 years ago?
When we do "address the school testing issue," Robert -- one thing.
It's a giant fabric quantifying, commodifying all life. In it, nothing ever appears human or personal. All gets turned into units, abstracted categories, and the various packages which ghouls can "manage," count, divide and sub-divide into other packages, other-labeled categories.
As such, the world stays in the hands of the living dead who've all graduated from schools depersonalized, denatured, dehumanized -- ready to serve those best at naming, labeling, and manipulating. To the top, then, rise the most control-freak ogres, autocrats, secret police trackers, and amoral, immoral bankers and all that tribe of finance perversion.
There's another world, Robert. That's where the humanities, the personal, and the human (and its corollary, the natural) center all.
The schools of Finland became the world's best when they kicked out the testing (assembly line) fabric, and put teachers -- the best teachers -- at the heart of everything.
Schools don't educate children in isolation. Knowing what we know about schools, it's up to caregivers at home to not abdicate raising their kids to think critically, develop empathy, and be civic minded.
At the same time, I do agree we may win the battle but lose the war by continuing the bipartisan attrition in public education funding that has been going on since Reagan. It's not a coincidence that Project 2025 wants to eliminate the Department of Education.
I think it is true that we need to focus on the election at the moment, but we also need long term strategy so we don't keep fighting similar battles endlessly until, perhaps, all may be lost. We need to keep our eyes on the prize of the election and beyond.
Does anybody remember that Bill Moyers, in addition to
being politically astute and fair, also loved literature and had so many programs on poetry, and social issues. I still remember his enthusiasm for poetry and he was a great influence on me. He was also an early target of Rupert’s vitriol.
Phil, you have highlighted the threat posed by the oligarchs and autocrats who seek to undermine democracy around the world. Trump wants to join the club but has to pay his dues by ditching Ukraine and resiling from America's commitments to its allies: Amerika Uber Alles and the Devil take the hindmost. All democracies have to combat the threat from authoritarian regimes. Critically, this requires democracies to repair and strengthen their political and other national institutions. Authoritarian regimes will continue to exploit weaknesses in these institutions to damage democracies.
The problem in 1865 is that all the traitors, starting with Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and working down, weren't arrested for treason - defined in the Constitution as "waging war on the United States" which they had all done - tried and hanged. Every enslaver should have been dispossessed of everything but the clothes on their backs and turned out on the road. The traitor South should have been broken and the Patriot South - those who maintained their allegiance to the Old Flag, and the freed slaves, should have been supported, not abandoned. All the fine Republicans of 1860 had reverted to money-grubbing Whig "negotiators" by 1872.with few exceptions who were notable for their rarity.
It's an interesting fact that not only was George W. Bush a president who was the son of a president, he was the direct descendant of Franklin Pierce through his mother, Barbara Bush. "Worthless assswipe" must indeed be transmissible in DNA.
TC, I want to try to amplify your point that the people who decided to secede from the United States, at the beginning of the Civil War, were traitors, despite their attempts to make it sound lofty and principled. "...The problem in 1865 is that all the traitors...weren't arrested for treason...tried and hanged..." I think that some people, perhaps many people, don't fully understand how serious a crime it is to attempt to overthrow our nation's lawfully elected and constituted government. When I served in the Army I always assumed that anyone who was convicted of trying to violently overthrow the US government would either be hanged or die by firing squad.
In the past day or so I was admonished or chastised here by a reader/writer for discussing the possibility that the 45th president would lead another coup attempt if he is not legally elected in November. The writer suggested that my evident "panic" was doing a disservice against the efforts to unite the American electorate. After several critical paragraphs, he concluded his comments with this: "...The division must end here and now. Today! And the end of division begins within each of us." I responded politely. The point I want to make is that apparently too many people fail to comprehend how very important it is that the government of the United States of America must not be overthrown by violence or any sort of illegal activity. And it should be made clear to everyone who may be plotting another coup attempt that anyone who attempts to violently or illegally overthrow the US government should be prepared to face the death penalty. I don't know how else to say how serious this is.
When a small child throws a fit, we say "Use your words." To anyone who feels frustrated, and who thinks that violence is the only way to achieve change, we should say "Use your words. Use reason and logic to make your arguments. If your arguments seem to have no effect, keep trying to figure out why, until the words begin to get more votes."
That reader's attitude was the same as the attitude afterthe civil war - which allowed the unreconstructed Confederates to "win" the war after they lost it, with "The Lost Cause" BS and Jim Crow.
David, the old adage, “the word is mightier than the sword” is ringing in my head as I read the comments here today…I love your admonition to all of us to “Use your WORDS”! We must not fail to speak up every chance we have…we all have a platform! Your last paragraph inspires me! Thank you!
They say join us or else. Unite with us or else. I say piss on you traitors. I use traitor a lot. I read somewhere that it means giving aid and comfort to America’s enemies. There are more who are now proud to give aid and comfort to those planning the demise of our democracy. They are traitors.
Those who lose their patience and resort to violence are, I believe, the root cause of every war and bar fight in the whole history of civilization.
On the other side of the equation are the people -- probably the vast majority of people -- who do not want to fight. The big mistake that the bellicose people make is that they misinterpret the other side's desire to avoid fighting as a sign of weakness. It is not weakness, or cowardice, or fear. It is the civilized desire to work out our differences of opinion patiently, methodically, gently if possible.
I would venture a further opinion, that the rage and frustration of the minions of the orange menace are focused on the wrong targets. A few real villains control most of the money in our society. The drunken mob can't get at the real villains. So old Don-Old re-directs the wrath of the disgruntled citizens toward their fellow citizens, who are much more available as targets of frustration and rage.
There is a great scene in a movie about Robert the Bruce (Mel Gibson, if I recall). The British army got the Scots and the Irish lined up to face each other in battle. They charge toward each other, shouting fierce war cries. But when the two sides meet, they laugh and embrace each other like old friends and family. And then they all turn their attention to the British soldiers who made all the arrangements.
In our current reality, Old Don-OId's minions among the common people could become aware that they would all have bigger paychecks if their employers would skim off a smaller portion of the money for themselves.
Thanks for that. Don’t forget Prescott Bush and the Coup of 1933. My sis was so enamored with Mama Barbara until I nearly puked at her adoration. She said “how could anybody hate Barbara Bush.” I said, she is the one that W is most like. Puke on them both.
Fortunately, there are still the documents of history to serve as primary-source material so we can learn for ourselves what was done and said. There are also books based on these documents that we can use to inform ourselves. We must be on guard in case some individual or organization tries to erase such resources from history because those who control the past can also control the future. Historians are an essential resource.
Support Libraries! Go to the research library at your closest University and learn how to look stuff up. Access to information requires initiative and action.
Notes, I have a dear friend who was a trombone DMA student at the U of O; her misogynist professor made her perform a recital too soon after a medically critical hysterectomy. She has become a reference librarian, and absolutely loves it; playing trombone on the side has been wonderful for her as well.
Exactly what has been done in Texas and elsewhere for decades! Get control of school boards and cut out any aspect of history that doesnt serve your groupthink. Go watch some youtube videos of the Texas schoolbook committee hearings. Draconian, frightening. Sorry i am running really late this morning because i was mesmerized by this article and the comments, no time to find citations for you.
I have seen articles and research on what is happening in Texas and elsewhere, much of it organized by the Koch-funded, so-called Moms for Liberty. There's even a Canadian branch -Moms for Liberty Canada. The Bucks County Beacon has a June 26 podcast "The Signal" on a well-organized secret attack on one small-town library. Just jaw-dropping. You can see what big-time funding and organization can do, seemingly spontaneously. It's an account of how one ordinary Dad fought back. It's representative of the level of what and who is behind these attacks and the power they can bring to bear. Highly-recommended.... and motivating. These people are ver serious.
The egg that becomes the worm in the apple was laid just under the skin of the apple as it developed. The fly that laid the egg developed in the apples that fell to the ground and were ignored.
And I didn't make time in my life to learn on my own. It took until my 8th decade to realize how important it would have been and is to know my own country's history.
Would like it if you could comment on Rachel Maddow's recent observations that Trump doesn't think he needs votes because he has it rigged. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9OP_a6MNg
That's going to be their solution. Mike Johnson had Alito lined up to write the injunction to throw the election to the House after the 2020. They are ready to do it again and Johnson is the Speaker and can gum up the works. Pelosi called the House back into session as soon as the halls were cleare and got the votes counted before Alito could do the injunction.
Great job done by Pelosi that horrible night. If she had not called the vote right then , it scary to think what could have happened if Trump had the supreme Court decide he was president.
Marc Elias is on it, Janet. "So what are pro-democracy advocates like me supposed to do about it? Already, we’re fighting back. We’re in court to prevent Republicans from changing the rules so they can cheat later on. The excitement generated by Democratic candidates from top to bottom is aiding in our own volunteer efforts. And, there are dozens of election officials of both parties who take pride in their work and want a free and fair election.
"I am glad that people have awoken to the genuine threat posed by election deniers. It is an opportunity for people to remember to check their voter registration status and make a plan to vote. For people with the time, it may motivate them to volunteer as a poll worker or help a local campaign."
Wonderful history lesson, and so relevant IF Republicans for Harris become truly influential. Their X (Twitter) feed has jumped from about 30,000 to 75,000 followers in 24 hours. The many ways the Trump campaign is imploding, at the very least showing negative momentum and losing altitude, is heartening. https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/kamala-harris-has-big-mo-will-it
It's still an unsettlingly close race in the six swing states, however. Harris could win the popular vote by millions and lose by 80,000 votes in three states, as Hillary did in 2016. That would be a nightmare.
Doesn't that make glaringly clear that the Electoral College should be abolished ... or changed. Ranked choice voting nationally should be our first step.
We could keep the Electoral College if it weren't an all or nothing proposition. If each candidate got electoral votes reflecting their percentage of the popular vote I suppose that would be fine. And the Electoral College would be entirely superfluous.
State legislatures are pledging that their electoral college delegates would be required to vote for the national popular vote winner. I fear, though, that even if a majority of states representing the 270 electoral college votes needed to win an election passed such legislation, the currently-constituted Supreme Court might declare it unconstitutional. It has been adopted by 17 states representing 209 electoral votes. It could certainly be in place well in advance of the 2028 election.
I would like to see a HCR column on the Supreme Court. Have we ever had a court as ideological and corrupt as this one? If Harris wins the presidency, the reform of the SCOTUS should be a top and stubbornly adhered to priority.
Yes, requirement that all Electoral College votes go for the national winner is good. I actually prefer the notion of within the state, each candidate getting the percentage of Electoral College votes that he received in their state election. It seems a better reflection of the people. The result is the same with, I think, important public transparency. Divisions would show without having to look very deep. Most people don't look very deep. And none of us can look deeply at everything. I, for instance, "should" be feeding the chickens and mowing fields now ...
It is oddly comforting to learn that we Americans have been here before. Thank you, Heather, for placing current events in the context of America’s history. Defenders of democracy have prevailed before; we surely can do it again, now.
Progress is an illusion. There are just pendulum swings, spirals, circles, runaway tangents, changing trajectories ... Because the concept of "progress" requires a point of view. And we don't share a point of view.
Yep, I was raised liking Ike and knew first hand of the sacrifices of the war that came after the war that was supposed to end all wars. “Progress is an illusion” is pretty devastating to one who thought it was possible to learn the lessons of the past. Seems the lesson of our past is that progress is indeed an illusion. One I hope we can repeat, even if it’s just a pendulum swing.
it's nice when the pendulum swings your way. What's odd is when folks like Hitler and Trump can sell folks the idea that they will swing the pendulum their way when a rational analysis shows exactly the opposite.
I've been wondering when, if ever, the moderate Republicans would stand up to Trump and come together to join Democrats to save our Democratic Republic. I thought it would have been after January 6th 2021, but only a few of them had the courage and commitment to speak out. This will be interesting to watch. Thank you for all the background on this, Heather. What a busy week lies ahead of us!
Republicans endorsing Kamala Harris is a big deal. Here are the trailblazers, and more need to join. Tell any Republicans you know!
https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-republicans-endorse-1934338
https://x.com/RepsForHarris/status/1819129127259328549
https://www.threads.net/@republicans_for_harris/post/C9_URP6uoMj/?xmt=AQGz-n7pdUGSviIiXCU8lIeCTtDEcgnl8rqmWnr6FNBIMA
THANK YOU. This is a VERY big deal. People like my sister and some of my family and friends need to feel that it's ok as a Republican to not vote for Trump. That it's not only ok to vote for Harris...but the RIGHT thing to do is this moment.
Exactly--feed the groundswell of permission to keep one's identity as a Republican while voting for Harris, and maybe even down ballot.
Down ballot is a critical component if Dems want to expand their political footprint in Congress. Period.
Republican voters against Trump. https://rvat.org/
"Trump hates dogs" repeated daily on Republican sites works.
Better. Register Democrats -- save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Oh… I comment of Fox News often. I’ll use it.
Agreed, Frank, but I tend to doubt the anti-Trumpers in 2024 will prefer a solid Democratic government. But here's to hoping that at least some will.
Count on it. The lies have worked for Rush and Rupert since god was a pup.
Some are not very bright....
Vote Harris but stick to local loyalties.... gridlock tend to continue
Republicans need to take a step back and question their identity.
What an incredible history lesson...and wake up call....
It’s not about “identity” - it’s about baseline policies. For example, we cannot keep taking in irregular “migrants” and letting them establish themselves in the US before their claims have been approved. It’s not sustainable and it’s very bad for national security (60+ terrorists caught so far, and who knows how many got thru). Soft-heartedness applied to public policy = soft-headedness.
To me that is far more important for the future of my students, children, friends, and neighbors than unrestricted abortion rights in all states.
On to November to elect President Kamala Harris. I will have for dinner curried chicken and a bowl of black-eyed peas and grits.
The new thing to be concerned about is how far the markets will go down. Will we enter a long delayed recession? Will there be a disquieted constituency? The MAGAs will blame the huge debt I can already hear it. I always thought this debt was too much and I understand it was caused by the Trump tax reductions. So it goes. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.
About six months ago my broker told me to hunker down and keep enough cash or liquid assets on hand to live on for 3 years and so I liquidated some stock.
It seems like every time the Fed meets going back to late 2023 the market expects Powell to drop the rate and when he doesn't people panic.
This month is especially troubling for many nervous nellies because several other countries have lowered their rate. Sometimes it takes a week to come back and sometimes a month, but so far it has always come back strong.
"Potter not selling -- Potter's buying" - George Bailey
I'm also concerned that the Fed may be delaying needed cuts to interest rates in order to help Trump get elected!
Trump did publicly ask them to delay same as border legislation. He is really bad.
I will imbibe a lot of alcohol and bang on pots....
As I wrote in a comment to Adam Kinzinger’s Substack about supporting Ms Harris, and concerning this group (he’s a member,) the word ‘Conservative’ now encompasses folks we despise. Perhaps it is is time for another term to use, or even a distinct new political party which emphasizes the traditional notion of Conservatism, yet distances itself from the Christianist taint.
We have a term for democratic conservatives. We are Blue Dog Democrats. There, fixed it. But more fully speaking for myself, I’m radical on some issues, progressive on others, and conservative on still other matters. I don’t follow the scripts of others. I could never once figure out why we were supposed to follow others on Twitter since I don’t follow anyone and no one was following me so I quit.
I find these terms - conservative, liberal, and of course radical (used to define anyone who doesn't agree with you!) - to be meaningless these days.
Thank you, Ellen!! Using these labels, I'm conservative because I believe in the separation of Church and State but most of my friends call me Liberal Lucy to my face ;)
Guess I’m A blue dog, but I followed some wonderful people on twit before I got banned. A community of sanity was a blessing as it is here. However, would never go back since the devil has declared X a haven for the dividers.
My husband still reads posts on Twitter and gets good information and clips. I don't go there unless he finds something noteworthy.
Arff… Arff… or Ruff… Ruff
I considered my grandfather (and many others) "Egalitarian Capitalists" which sounded right though I'm still not sure what it means to others. They looked out for each other, their customers, their neighbors, enhanced their land and didn't inflict waste upon others.
Perhaps "Egalitarian Conservative" could be used to differentiate them from what I earlier suggested, calling the worst of the Conservatives CINOs (Conservative In Nam Only),
I have felt for a long time that today's R's are not in any way conservative! For example, I can clearly recall when, back in the 60's or 70's, R's used to say that 'with rights come responsibilities'. They don't seem to believe that anymore, especially with regard to 'gun rights'. MAGA really needs to be a separate political party -- they are radical extremists, not conservatives!
Democrats are true conservatives. Republicans want only to waste the planet, pollute the environment, and steal the people’s money.
Democrats
Why would one need permission from anybody to reject chump. I know repubs, they all know the difference between right and wrong. But the lies help assuage the conscience, if there is one to assuage. Some lost theirs long ago. The cult made the conscience irrelevant. Are there any repubs left who didn’t sign on to the cult. They have been mighty quiet.
JD I think that there are a LOT of long time Repubs who don't like Trump for POTUS, but they have been fed so much dis-information by Fox, Rush, etc that that fear Dems so much they don't want to vote for one. Loyalty is also a factor. We have to help them get out of their echo chamber. I'm working with an old high school friend right now...through a Facebook Post to get her to read HCR's letter from today about "Republicans for Harris" I asked her to reach out to me afterwards. I want to see if that moves the needle at all.
Mike, Agree completely, "they have been fed so much dis-information by Fox, Rush, etc that that fear Dems so much they don't want to vote for one." Propaganda against Dems started long before Fox, probably 100 years or more. And this deep seated, almost subconscious fear, is why they will vote for anyone (tffg!) instead of a Democrat.
Rupert followed the Goebbels playbook. No sweat. Worked like a charm.
Good for you. I watched my very smart, bff follow her smart but moronic husband down the Foxhole. True that demonization of Dems has been their go to since Nixon, exacerbated under Reagan and de rigueur since Gingrich. I wish you luck, logic and reason were useless.
They are gullible!
And self-righteous, greedy, racists, and misogynistic. At least some I know. And how dare anyone mention the obvious…
They are resting on their “Lincoln and Eisenhower laurels” and they don’t have that right anymore. They lost it under Reagan when they changed the rules. They also had an immigration of Dixiecrats when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. So they are actually the party of Dixiecrats.
AMEN!
And it’s not just voting for Kamala. We need to replace the extremism that is in control now. That is the only way to put in place the laws that protect our democracy. The voting Republicans don’t need to vote blue down ticket, but I hope they realize they need to vote out their extremist and replace them with those Republicans that are willing to cross the aisle. The “one party,one vote” rule, put in place by Gingrich and John Boehner, helped create this chaos.
Thanks EK! Here's another idea we have to push: it's not just that we have to convince people who typically vote "Republican" that they are not obligated to vote for CFDT. They need to understand that they ARE OBLIGATED to vote--up and down the ticket--for people who will protect the Rule of Law and the Constitution. Although staying home and failing to engage in the one act as a citizen that has real meaning seems to be what Americans (on both sides of the aisle) continue to think is the opposite of voting for CFDT and his minions in Congress, sitting this election out is not an option. People wonder how did we get here? We got here because an appallingly small percentage of people actually vote and by not doing so, they cede the field to the extremists and christofascists. AND they don't confront the wannabe autocrats who want to restrict access to voting, especially the access of the working poor, BIPOC, and women to the ballot box. Australia has a system of fines for people who fail to vote. This means that refusal to take part in the plebiscite is considered not just dumb, but dangerous. And complaining about the government when you don't exercise your rights as a citizen is empty whining.
Well said, Linda. It isn't just about the guy at the top of the ticket. It is also about promoting the rest of Project 2025.
Excellent post, Linda!
Hopefully the people you talk to have ears
JD, I admit that people on the "other side" don't usually talk to me at all! My reputation precedes me . . . But I do have thoughtful friend whose views are more conservative than mine who, fortunately, are appalled by CFDT.
Agreed. Alas, here in these United States of America, mandating voting won’t likely happen any more than mandating common sense gun laws. Or will it?
Thank you, by the way, for today’s word of the day, “plebiscite.” May we hold a referendum on DJT and Project 2025.
Thank you so much, in fact, all of yous🫶 I am so excited to see the real get down and enlightenment given another fresh start …credence! America has always risen to the task of pulling together and here we are …excellent links TY
Thank you, Ellie! I/we can always count on you to give us the right tools!
OLIVIA TROYE is such a trail blazer -- one of the first 'never trumpers'.
Thanks Ellie. Will save on a tab.
Lets see after a a few weeks to post Dem Convention or so if this is implicitly reflecting in the polls... i suspect the sheer enthusiasm and outreach at the Convention in a few weeks is going to gather more anti-Trump voters from - well, all sides of the electorate. I'm not sure how well polls tap into that grey zone of maybe i will maybe i wont potential voters.
Thanks for the links!
Thank you, Ellie Kona, I shared this information. ♥️
I dream
Early this morning, 2-3 am, I participated in a Zoom that Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, noted fascism expert, held. She had invited a woman on from the Seneca Project to be her guest. This woman was a Black Independent who had been a Republican until Trump ran, and now votes for the Democratic Candidates. She said that this is an existential crisis and with women's health care on the line, this is a fight for women not to go back. Well, women have gone back all over the country, particularly if they live in States that have outlawed abortion. But, even in states that have protected abortion when Catholic Health Services take over all the hospitals in a state, as they are doing in many states, and refuse to provide treatment to pregnant women who need an abortion to save their lives, then we know that we have gone back. I know that there is an organization called Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT). They are either voting for Harris or not voting at all. Perhaps some of them will vote for Kennedy, but I did not hear anyone say that. I think if they are aware enough to see through Trump, they are aware enough to see through Kennedy. Here are the testimonials of 5 who made these after Harris was announced.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLPbECI-Q45WdmDcEglQaPrsKqqZibDZTi
Here are the testimonials of 18 who recorded this 2 months ago when Biden was still the candidate.
https://youtu.be/0-Rr8UhaZ9Y?si=L4RXWCYmVDi-C5k8
What I am wondering is how many Republican politicians who say they are voting for Trump, will actually not vote for him. He has cowed and insulted so many of them personally. I believe that the ones who are Christian Nationalists and particularly The New Apostolic Republic will vote for him because their end of days beliefs necessitate a leader that will bring about certain conditions on earth for them to be saved. For the NAR this is clearly more important, thus members like Mike Johnson and Sam Alito abuse their positions of authority for goals that have nothing to do with following the constitution. Read this comparison of the 2 groups end of days ideas by Andra Watkins, in her discussion of NAR she compares the two groups. https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation
You begin to wonder when or if Trump will ever have a moment like Joe McCarthy did when he was exposed for all the public to see. I had read of one of Trump’s recent rallies in which Trump started mispronouncing and garbling his words, so it makes me wonder if the press will start asking about his mental fitness. Trump never was suitable to be president and he would destroy the nation. We have to avoid that, then get out and vote for VP Harris.
Kathy, if it is one thing this election has taught me is that the press that I used to trust, I can no longer trust. No NYT. Even if people had not started pointing out the gaff with the false claim that there was a debate between Harris and Trump on August 4 on Fox News, I have not found them trustworthy this entire election cycle. Furthermore, knowing that the spoiled, petulant, immature oligarchic owner Sulzberger would tank US democracy just because Joe Biden did not sit down for a one-on-one with him, and therefore instead carried a Biden is old narrative and absolutely nothing else about the election, I am totally turned off of that publication including even no longer doing their games. I would like to see a moment where the NYT is destroyed too, although I know that Trump is the most likely to do it, and don't want that. I am hopeful for Harris, but know how ugly our press can be, and we cannot count on them to get the story out, so we must do it.
I too am very disappointed in the NYT - I am still a subscriber and there are still some great journalists there -- but just scanning their article headlines has me scratching my head. The paper of record? Sadly, no more.
If those journalists are so great, why would they choose to stay with an organization cooperating in the demise of their chosen field? If they don't see the damage being inflicted by the NYT, then, in my humble opinion, they're not such great journalists. Nope, my money will go to those working to keep us alive and informed, like HCR, Jay Kuo, Jessica Craven, Joyce Vance, Robert Hubbell, and a host of others. WaPo and NYT can, as the Funkadelics so elegantly stated, "Drown in their own shit"!!
100% , though I do subscribe to the Guardian for more unbiased reporting.
Jennifer Rubin has been consistently on target.
The MAGA Maggots of Maggot Brain? Cool! Thanks for the memory…
Laurie, I was a long time NYT reader & left in 2023. Digitally tracking individual authors has worked very well for me as I now get frequent reports from Carol Leonnig, Anne Applebaum, Professors HCR & Joyce Vance, Andrew Weismann, Dr. Bandy X. Lee, Steve Vladek & many others.
I wish Anne Applebaum would have a Substack so we could directly subscribe to her.
Laurie, I resisted cancelling my all-access subscription until just after the debate, when the NYT editorial board said that Biden should withdraw, without also asking the convicted felon to do the same. That didn't for me -- I cancelled and sent email explaining my reasons why I could no longer support the paper. To their credit, I did receive one back, and it was a lengthy defense of their coverage, saying that they were balanced.
I've kept the email, but haven't relented. Perhaps one day I will re-subscribe, but not until it becomes palatable again.
They also got lengthy defenses of their reporting as being balanced, but they never addressed my critiques of their polling or of them for polling. It was just so much blah, blah, blah. I have no respect for anyone who has written to me from the NYT as being anything other than arrogant little brats. All of them should be sent to North Korea because that is the life they are willingly imposing on us with their pro-Trump journalism.
AI headlines? The eye-ball counting minion use headlines, and some fairly poor writing, to gin up the readers! It gets eye-balls, in WaPo George writes a real stupid piece and gets more clicks, eye-balls, advertising. The economic system needs a better public entity.
I was even more shocked that The Atlantic ran 4-5 stories/day on the “Biden is Too Old” trope.
After watching this interview on the Left Hook https://substack.com/home/post/p-147326115 I see that, aside from the axiom 'follow the money' is another which sometimes explains a driving force behind the scenes, 'follow the use of micro-dosing with psychedelics by people with a lot of money'. When current events look like science fiction, I do wonder (and it's not a value judgment or disrespect of skillful therapeutic/ceremonial uses of micro-dosing).
I don't buy this. I micro dose sometimes and it makes me happy, not wanting to be a fascist taking away the rights of others. No I think it's the obscene amount of money these nazis have, they think they a god...let's bring back the 90% tax bracket and tax these greedy fascists into the middle class.
I hear you Joan. We hear this used about a lot of the tech bros in the game. They are as a category, White, male, spoiled, petulant, and they could solve a lot of the the world's problems with the money they waste on drugs and partying. However, this drugging is tied to money, so I think the axiom is still appropriately "follow the money." Thanks for sharing the link.
Holy cow!!! Thanks for posting this, Joan. Forces arrayed against democracy are coming from many directions, and we all need to be aware.
I support Amy Goodman on 'Democracy Now' channel. Yesterday she exposed
Project 2025's Ziklag. Now we need Republican lawyer, Cleta Mitchell's Election Integrity Network (to be exposed. She’s now leading an effort — through her Election Integrity Network — to train partisan activists to use AI to search for voting irregularities.
Ziklag Exposed: Secretive Christian Nationalist Network Tries to Purge Voters in Battleground States
https://youtu.be/hIh6X_sXAr4?si=eeimw5LQ6sz2aBWU
Thanks Kathleen. I had read about them in ProPublica. The corruption within the Republican Party and the White Christian Nationalist Church is appalling. https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ziklag-secret-christian-charity-2024-election
Someone who compares White Christian Nationalists and The New Apostolic Reformers End of Days beliefs, which are markedly different is Andra Watkins of How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life Substack and some books. Ziklag sounds more like NAR, than just Christian Nationalists. NAR is who supposedly Alito and Mike Johnson belong to. Their mission on earth it to make the entire planet follow the rules to get God to Return to Earth and then they will be saved. If people don't agree with them, then will impose it on them, even if their values defy the constitution.
wow! THANKS for your cool info. We can’t let up on the throttle- my main effort is for my grandson’s future in the time clock of Climate Crisis.
my next deep dive is our Military Industrial Complex- the Tech sector wants part of the billions of $$$ generated. The Republican Heritage Foundation expects to spend enormous tax dollars on building up our war chest, as they remove social programs funding.
For years we have supplied our allies with war equipment, and now if China wants to come at us…our inventory (to defend our Democracy) is low. The ships, airplanes, submarines are not quick to rebuild.
Kamala needs to review what if we get pushed in a corner, and can she be tough while building relationships. War Sucks, and the next scarce commodity is FRESH WATER.
Cleta Mitchell’s dubious activities caused her former law firm to ask her to leave the firm.
I too am disappointed in the press. They are afraid to call out Trump and call him out as the sociopathic narcissist incompetent he is. Trump is not above ginning up people to literally attack reporters he dislikes.
I've been learning more about the broligarchs, the tech billionaires behind campaigns and media. Now when I ask myself, how can this be happening (?!!) I have more plausible explanations: https://substack.com/home/post/p-147326115 .
If the MSM had treated him like they did HRC, we would never have had the nightmare to contend with.
I know. The Republicans made HRC look like Lady Macbeth in a pantsuit. She was damned for not leaving Bill Clinton and for being a feminist who took advantage of the opportunities newly available to young women in the 1970s. The Republicans have been blaming the MSM for some time for being “unfair” with them, and the game they’ve been playing is called “working the refs.” The MSM thinks they have to engage in a false balance that presumes that both sides, Republicans and Democrats alike, are engaging in dubious activity. It requires them to ignore the very real danger to the country with Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party and its abandonment of the concept of government of, for and by the people. The mainstream media outlets treat politics as a horse race, and they fail to inform their viewers and readers of the very real policy differences between the parties and the dire consequences if Trump receives another term in office.
HRC was hated for staying with Bill so much more than he was hated for his infidelity. Go figure. “Working the refs” sounds exactly right. Exactly what a real election does not need. Chump’s danger is so obvious that I find it hard to tolerate anyone, and I mean anyone, who excuses his goal of destroying what we have worked for since the founders struggled to put together a workable government of US.
To paraphrase Heather, I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd that nowhere accredited dogma of someone like J.D. Vance backer billionaire Peter Thiel, that governments derive their powers from force and continued by force.
My interpretation of Jesus' commandments in all four Gospels is that nothing but good comes from assuming that the intrinsic value of any one human life is equal to the intrinsic value of every human life, and nothing but harm has ever come from assuming that people have power because they are more important than the people that don't.
I left the Catholic church a half century ago because it was trying to control my life for its benefit. Now I know that the word "Catholic" (like the word "conservative") means something good, and I no longer think poorly of the institution just because there are so many hypocrites in positions of power within the institution.
For the record, Catholic is from the Greek word for universal, implying that we are all equal. We too often remember that "rules are made to be broken" while forgetting that the "treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle is made to be adhered to in every context. But the bottom line is that there are exhausted ideas, Mr. Thiel, and those ideas are yours, and not democracy.
The bishops have become republicans, divided, too powerful, too abortion-obsessed, misogynist, unwilling to be pastors, etc. My faith is fine; it’s the institution I deplore.
I understand your point. Some institutions are irredeemable. I have faith that America and the Catholic church are redeemable. I can't say for sure because the only guarantee is that pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I act based on the belief that I won't catch a fish, then I won't fish, and then I won't catch a fish. But I can't fault you for deploring a institution that behaves deplorably.
I agree with your position and hope the institution can be rehabbed. I know many good priests, and they too suffer when the bishops fight among themselves and embarrass all of us. But my own experience working in the church and their unnuanced position on women’s reproductive health care—of which they have no experience with wives or daughters—finally led me to leave.
I have problems with the American bishops especially, and I am a churchgoing Catholic who is Democratic.
Pope Francis should fire every American bishop and replace them with young, Jesuit priests.
Excellent. My sentiments exactly, James.
In the Episcopal Church we call ourselves small C catholic; universal church but not Roman.
I find your comment about Catholic hospitals interesting. Recently a co-worker of my daughter, a woman in her early 40’s discovered she was very unexpectedly pregnant. She discussed having a tubal ligation after the birth with her doctor but was told that would not be possible because at the Catholic hospital where she would give birth they would not perform the procedure. I was shocked that it’s not just abortion that is opposed, but also this method of birth control. 😢😡
Yes Cathy. In the US I live in Chicago, where many hospitals have been taking over by Catholic Heath Care, though fortunately mine belongs to a secular university and is not in danger of this any time soon. Still, I have read that all or almost all of Ohio's hospitals are taken over by Catholic Health services by now, and this might be true in other Midwestern states, which means in essence, that unless you have access to a private clinic that will provide you with birth control, or a planned Parenthood, you are out of luck for your health care needs in these place. My daughter's friend did not attend University in Ohio for that very reason. You cannot tell by the names so you have to look up whether they are run by a Catholic organization. This link is from 2020. It has some stats and a pdf to the full report.
https://communitycatalyst.org/resource/bigger-and-bigger-the-growth-of-catholic-health-systems/
Not sure where things are going, but it is quite scary, because the Catholic Church is also getting around the laws, which are increasingly designed to support them in imposing their religious views on people. They are also getting huge amount of our tax dollars from medicare and medicaid patients, who are provided limited services because of their Catholic mission. When I was at Uni, one of my coworkers attended a Catholic university in Chicago, so I got to hear from her first hand what sorts of supports she got from her student health. No birth control was one of them. So, she became pregnant and we were all poor students, so I suggested that she borrow $5 from everyone she knew to raise the money for her abortion, which was around $200 back then. She went to Planned Parenthood. My thinking was, and I had recommended this to other young women who found themselves with an unwanted pregnancy back in high school, and did not want to tell their parents, was that $5 is a low enough amount that if you cannot pay it back, you won't really be harming anyone, and most people can cough up that much. The Catholic Church should not be tax exempt! Nor should any religious organization. Here is a discussion of Catholic Hospitals that are for profit. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/05/16/catholic-hospitals-profit-mission-247913
Good Lord. Another reason to avoid male gods
WOW!!
The bishops have been interfering with the practice of medicine for some time.
Interesting story: In the 1980’s- 1990’s I worked as a Registered Nurse in the OB/GYN clinic at a County Hospital which was also a teaching hospital. Our residents rotated around the other city hospitals. A resident physician came back from his time at a catholic hospital with a story that tubal ligations did indeed happen. They were cleverly called “Uterine Isolations”. I was flabbergasted. Not sure if hospital management was aware.
I guess where there is a will, there is a way!
I had a tubal ligation at a big C Catholic Hospital...
No, it was not sanctioned and was not recorded.
I had a second caesarean delivery and while my very understanding doctor was in there...
This was 1974.
Why can’t women just have what they need. No Tidally Winks
It was the same 25 years ago. I was 40+ when I had a uterine polyp removed at a Catholic hospital. The nurse said a hysterectomy would make sense given my age, being done with having kids, and the chance of more polyps forming. Then she immediately followed up with it wasn't an option at that hospital.
All forms of birth control.
Linda,This is EXACTLY what Andra is talking about…
The Gospel of Matthew Trewhella: How a Militant Anti-Abortion Activist Is Influencing Republican Politics
https://www.propublica.org/article/matthew-trewhella-pastor-activist-republican-politics
This is a tax violation if he is claiming tax exempt status. I hope that ProPublica has reported him to the IRS complaint line.
Trewhella has been a dangerous kook for some time.
"I've been wondering when, if ever, the moderate Republicans would stand up to Trump and come together to join Democrats to save our Democratic Republic." (Deb)
The Lincoln Project has been standing up to Trump since 2015 and tens of thousands of us joined them. George Conway, Michael Steele, Stuart Stevens, Tara Setmeyer, Rick Wilson and many other former Republicans have made it their mission to defeat Trump.
They release new ads multiple times a week and they are available on You Tube. These are people that worked to get Republicans elected since Reagan and realized how dangerous Trump is.
https://lincolnproject.us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD-TJAoRZ3M
So has Adam Kinzinger. Kinzinger didn’t want to run as a Republican in Donald Trump’s Republican Party, and it’s a good thing there are Republicans who can see that Donald Trump is bad news. Trump has turned the Republicans into his own cult of personality.
"cult of personality". I like that. My problem with DonOld is that for every scumbag he praises, he denigrates 10 other people. And oftentimes, because they made one comment that he disagreed with or they did one thing that he felt he should have gotten credit for. Like Roe for instance. Has he ever credited Alito for writing the terrible miserynistic rambling opinion? He' criticized many Republicans judges just because they were people of color.
Kindness and empathy have never been part of his repertoire or those of his Fascist speechwriters like Stephen Miller.
How despicable an act did he commit the other day by praising the bloodthirsty Putin for releasing US citizens who had done nothing wrong?
At 78, he is WAY TOO OLD to be running for President. He should be out golfing. /S
He can’t do that from jail. So he must continue his quest to avoid jail.
We will convert a cell with astroturf and a drain hole…he can putt, putt, putt all he wants.
Winning to his heart's content.
Would love to live to see that.
With no one to cheat against at golf.
Yes. I just read in the Chicago Sun Times today that the Harris Campaign is reaching out to Republicans who do not want to vote for Trump.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2024/08/04/republicans-kamala-harris-launches-illinois-gopers-edgar-lahood-kinzinger-walsh-politicians-endorsement?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_chicago&stream=top
Having talked to many Republicans, their Loyalty is stronger to their Party, than to the Union... Many will only vote Republican regardless of who they are voting for... Bear in mind as well, that as Mitt Romney revealed, many of the Republicans, and their Families have been threatened by the MAGAs....
Their loyalty is actually to a cult of personality and not a party and this is why their lives are threatened.
I have talked with many who see themselves as conservatives who are not a part of the MAGA cult...but they have been lifelong Republicans...I was one until I wasn't. They went too far for me and that was well before DJT arrived on the scene. During the Gore vs Bush campaign I was still a swing vote...and in the end I had enough of the Clintons, sex in the Oval...etc etc and went with Bush. Today I really regret that one.
Knowing what to regret has been my trip to sanity.
Good point. I don't regret a lot...but a few are doozies.
Same here. When I messed up I didn’t mess around.
Mike, there is a group called Republicans Voting Against Trump (RVAT). Here are five testimonials from just after Harris announced.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLPbECI-Q45WdmDcEglQaPrsKqqZibDZTi
And here are 18 people who announce this about 2 months ago when Biden was still the candidate.
https://youtu.be/0-Rr8UhaZ9Y?si=L4RXWCYmVDi-C5k8
All of these people have been life long Republicans too. The other night, at a Beer garden in Germany, my group Democrats Abroad met for dinner and drinks and after having an article about DA in the local paper, more people came out. One of the men has American parents but has never himself lived in the US, and never voted in the US until this election which he considers so important he wants to vote. He and his wife are much more conservative then me, but as most Europeans who are not part of the Left, or the Right, they see a potential for WWIII if Trump is elected. Another guy who has been a lifelong Republicans just became an independent and is going to vote Democratic in this election. So, a lot of lifelong Republicans are turning because they are unwilling to vote for Trump for the same reasons many Democrats are. Country above Party! Congrats!
The term “Republican” means nothing that it used to mean. Maybe that will make them feel better. It’s just a different party.
Trumps "party" his backers are MAGA. I believe the "Republican" party is almost dead...there are remnants to be sure...but they live in the shadows now. Any hint of Ike, Teddy, Abe, even Bush I are pretty faint. Liz Cheney is a Rhino...Mitt Romney...John McCain...people who have some integrity.
Brain MAGGOTs! And the mother of them all is Donny-John and his offspring.
I think that Ike would be spinning in his grave, considering how TFG has demolished that party.
Cowards all. How Hitler came to power. Ike would spit on them.
Ike would also have seen them for the fascists they are.
Ike was known for disciplining rogue soldiers. Maybe he would do more than spit…
From Matthew 6:24: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Translation: We are all loyal to some one thing. I suggest that the question we all need to ask ourselves is, what is that one thing?
Personally, I'm loyal to the "treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle in literally every context. Based on their actions, I believe that Biden, Harris, and the people in leadership positions within the Democratic party are also loyal to that same master.
So, why don't people support Democrats? Because they perceive the illusion that doing so is supporting an exclusive interest that excludes them, but the good news is that there are a good number who are open to having that perception challenged.
Who will challenge Rupert’s lies. our MSM just got in line at the trough…
Is our MSM in line at the trough? Yes.
Who will challenge Citizen Murdoch's lies? We, the people. Same as it ever was.
But he has the megaphone. I’m old enough to remember Before Murdoch (BM). The MSM had some truth tellers with no Fox. Seems like heaven now.
🙏🏻
Because they don’t know what the real meaning of “socialist “ is.
Yes, I agree. And neither does Bernie Sanders. If he did, he wouldn't be angry about capitalism. He'd be angry about people who identify as capitalists while adhering to Milton Freidman's "theory of IMMORAL sentiments" (documented in his 1961 book, Capitalism and Freedom) in lieu of adhering to the real capitalist principle, which is documented in Adam Smith's book, The Theory of MORAL Sentiments" (1759).
Friedman’s economic nostrums have damaged many companies and their former employees whose futures were destroyed to enrich a fortunate few.
Trump has been enamored and encouraging of violence from day 1. He lies to make people angry and afraid so they feel justified in committing violence. I find it interesting that one young man turned his violence against Trump.
Which may mean that publicly they are MAGA and privately they vote otherwise.
I wonder if this is another of those regional things? My daughter lived in Chicago for several years and they have a weird system based on what they call Aldermen that have enormous local power: people voted as they were told to vote by their alderman.
Study the history of machine politics and its most successful practitioner, the late Richard J. Daley of Chicago.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-republican-party-gop-whigging-out-you-make-call-ned/ An essay written almost seven years ago. Back then, I did not know to connect the dots between the sluicing of money and an oligarchy bent of taking control. Governor Hogan, now a Senatorial candidate should be one to join Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinszinger. I suspect that Senator Romney will, too.
That "sluicing of money" is key, and I wish more USians realized it.
I think Hogan already said he would support Trump. I can not and will not vote or support a single Republican that's running for any office. The Republican Party is dead to me.
Praising Liz Cheney for what she did on the 9/11 committee is like praising W. for him providing help to 9/11 victims. He absolutely knew ahead of time that something was afoot and did nothing to stop it.
I never have. I looked hard at John McCain, as he was an honorable man. His politics were often wrong, but he nixed the repeal of the ACA. I wouldn't have expected him to do that.
To think this was his party.
I am ashamed to say when I was younger and foolish I voted libertarian. The vp candidate was Chuckie Koch.
So I've been wrong before,
Me too, but Chuckie Koch. Bless you. My wrong never went that far. ha
I went through a phase of rebellion. I had no idea who he was. Shame on me, but it's an insight into the "none of the above" mindset.
I guess I knew about him from the John Birch nuts that I knew about. Interesting story about the John Birch dude
B.L.U.F. (bottom-line, up-front): if nothing else, the third vid. of five minutes is really worth watching from a historical perspective.
First, I have nothing to say about Representative Cheney for I have no knowledge of what she knew -- I am not a mind-reader -- or what she might have said or done based upon that assumed knowledge. Second, I understand that Governor Hogan said he would support the G.O.P. nominee. President Trump has endorsed Governor Hogan. Governor Hogan has not embraced that endorsement, nor did he attend the G.O.P. convention.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/politics/larry-hogan-trump-endorsement-maryland-senate/index.html
He has now criticized Senator Vance openly.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/no-question-jd-vance-has-a-problem-with-women-republican-senate-candidate-larry-hogan-says/ar-AA1oh6rb
Most of all he is the son of the only G.O.P. Representative to vote in favor of all three articles of impeachment against President Nixon reported out of the Judiciary Committee fifty years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/GovLarryHogan/videos/fifty-years-ago-today-with-those-words-larry-hogan-srmy-fatherbecame-the-first-r/811008941171508/
The apple may fallen to the right of the tree but, I doubt, not that far from it.
Apologies for the sarcasm, Gary; that was harsh and unnecessary. My basic reaction is this one: ¿what should Representative Cheney said or done on 05jan21 or earlier? The fact that she sacrificed a safe seat in the House -- as did Representative Kinzinger -- to serve on the Jan6 Committee speaks volumes on behalf of Representative Cheney. That is, of course, NOT to overlook the statesmanship with which Representative Thompson chaired that select committee.
P.S. all of these fracking edits; ugggg. Getting old and trigger-happy.
Reps. Thompson and Cheney conducted themselves with a great deal of courtesy and dignity. That seems to be something that MTG, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz are incapable of learning.
Chairman Thompson reminded me of the solemnity of Chairman Rodino of the Judiciary Committee in 1974.
When we have politicians with the backbone that Kevin McCarthy exhibited, we are toast. He should be a nationwide example and put on a poster of a traitor. We could have been free of the cretin chump. But no, Kevin is still a hero to fools. And we have made division a goal for any future that is possible.
Kevin sold his soul to the Devil to become Speaker, and it wasn’t too long before the Devil in the form of Matt Gaetz came around to collect on his deal and McCarthy was ousted as Speaker.
Mob loyalty
I think the ridiculous giant cut-up Depends on his ear on the stage with the odious JD Vance maybe was the turning point.
Or pictures of the hypocrite Vance with his south Asian wife. What is wrong with these people?
I'm hopeful the wind is in the sails of Republicans for Harris.
What a busy week of lies ahead!
Deb, our neighbor, formerly a R county commissioner, is now registered as an I and mostly votes D. I know several Rs who did not or will not vote for death star.
Good to hear!
Harris represents three factors: first woman presidency, saving the Constitution, and respect for Biden's country first decision.
You would have thought that the real Republicans would have stood up to tRump, but the painful fact was and is that they have no backbone and are much in tune with tRump's agenda, which is to destroy everything this country stands for. And those cowards shall not be forgotten..
Superb recounting of how they powerful and wealthy few attempted to control or enslave the many. Now it is this generation’s duty to defend democracy, so that those who died to preserve our nation will not have died in vain.
We must remember why many Republican Congresspeople did not vote for the impeachment of Donald Trump - they feared for the safety of their families. We should also remember the steadfast election officials who endured harassment from threatening mobs outside their homes. We must remember the bullets fired into the house of an election official that ripped through a wall and passed harmlessly over a sleeping eight-year-old daughter. It is the bravery of unsung heroes like these people who stood for democracy, the rule of law and the ideals of freedom when it mattered the most.o
They may say they "feared for the safety of their families," because that sounds more reasonable than "we were trying to protect our access to power," but color me skeptical. Throughout our history abolitionists, women's rights activists, labor organizers, and civil rights organizers (among others) risked their lives and sometimes lost them, all to expand the reach of U.S. democracy. And didn't the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledge "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor"? Yes, we absolutely should remember all the election officials that held the line, and hold members of Congress to that standard.
Suffragettes? How many women were jailed, beaten, starved and yes, died fighting for voting rights for women. Out of our 248 years as a country, woman have had the right to vote for only 104 years. My grandmother was born in 1893, she didn’t have any right to anything unless a man (her father) to oversee all aspects of her life. Education, money, a job, a husband. My great grandfather spoiled her and she became a strong, educated woman. She was 27 and a mother of 2 when she cast her first vote. She went on to run the polls in her voting district. She passed away in 1981. We are not going back!
My grandmother was born in 1905, and when her husband started molesting her oldest daughter she threw him out. Ran a cafe in her small town the rest of her life, and Golda'sTwists were a must for every event, wedding graduation whatever.
How she managed without credit is something I never thought about. Wow.
And women's access to credit happened in my lifetime. When I was a teenager, "help wanted" ads were still listed as either "male" or "female." You can guess what jobs were in each category. And when I was 14 (1965), Bill Baird was arrested for passing out birth control *information* on the streets of Boston. Not going back for sure!
I’m old enough to remember
I saw a few of those as a teen when searching for a job in 1973.
And isn't it time we went forward? Women have their own credit and there are laws saying we have equal rights in the marketplace. Those laws can be overturned quickly. We do not yet have legal status as full citizens until we have full control over our own bodies.
I agree with you completely. They’re nothing but cowards afraid to lose their perch.. right or wrong be god dammed.. its always about power with the modern day Republicans.
Like the men murdered at Colfax, LA, Viola Liuzzo, Dr. King, Vernon Dahmer, and Harry and Harriette Jones.
And Medgar Evers . . . The list is very long.
Thank you for reminding me of Medgar Evers. He was murdered the month after I was born, but his widow Myrlie Evers-Williams carried on her husband’s battle for civil rights. Project 2025 would take all of that away.
Myrlie, Coretta, and all the sisters -- those were some amazing women.
Well said. Anybody else wonder what they would have done in pre-war Germany. Maybe a thought in that direction would clarify things.
If they'd been in the U.S., they would have been all America First, and often fans of Hitler like Charles Lindbergh.
Exactly, we’ve been down that road before. Wish more remembered where that road ended up.
Both can be true.
The people, including democrats, who voted for impeachment were subjected to the exact same fears, and did the right thing anyway. They are cowards, all, or they are complicit.
When the violence is the Republican platform, it’s time for capitulation or risking all…
Capitulation is not an option. Not going back.
Risking all it is then…
The ultra wealthy few have tried to subjugate the rest of humanity for eons. Such a tragic betrayal and such a tragic waste, The ongoing battle could conceivably end in human extinction if we don't become wiser.
Don't worry about that JL. The earth will cause our extinction, first.
The refusal by polluting entities to take responsibility for the long term consequences of their drive to maximize profits while ignoring the negative impacts of their processes, and refusing to mitigate those consequences, or change their processes, is changing the earth’s fragile life zones, damaging the zone humans need for living, and making the earth much less hospitable to humans. This is some greedy short sighted humans causing the destruction of humanity’s habitat on this planet. We can’t blame impersonal forces-we are doing this to ourselves.
Those of us who drive a car are not blameless...
Our communities were built so that people need a car to live and work. In the fifties, the major American car companies paid their employees bonuses if an employee was elected to city council where they advocated and voted for roads, highways and parking lots instead of public transportation and trains. It is not an accident that it is difficult to live in a city and not own a car. It was built right into city planning.
There is some change...
Western cities are newer and much more car-dependent than older eastern cities.
I now have friends who live in Portland, Oregon without a car.
I'M NOT!
It’s neck and neck
But probably not without our help, at least in the near term.
The Earth will "cause" human extinction because humans have and continue to damage the Earth's systems beyond sustainability. I doubt that humans ever had a chance to make it until our sun changes enough to start a demise of our solar system.
The arc of history has seen absolute rulers either removed by their subjects or forced by them to share power. Their rule has given way to forms of government which lie on a spectrum from authoritarian one party rule to the various constitutional models of representative democracy. However, there has been a constant in the governing power structures throughout history: the presence of wealthy elites exploiting those structures to protect and advance their interests. The mega billionaires of today have such immense wealth and influence that they become untouchable, akin to demigods. How do your curb the power of demigods?
They may know how to make $$ but many of them are really not very smart otherwise. The greater majority of them are unable to pass that particular skill to their heirs along with their $$ who eventually melt back into the crowd. The only way to control these idiots is to tax them like we used to. Fairly but sufficiently to curtail the power of their $$.
Thanks Terry. I agree that heirs often dissipate fortunes. There may be a difference where mega billions are involved. There is so much money that heirs will no doubt be swimming in it, and that money may well be squandered. But large amounts of money can also be put into trusts which distribute money to causes good and bad, giving a mega billionaire influence from beyond the grave.
I agree that tax is a key tool. However, that will require cooperation with other countries because corporate income can be transferred to countries with low tax rates. Billionaires can retain the best tax advisers on the planet.
don't believe in them
It seems to boil down to this, that there are two kinds of people: one who says “let’s share and live in harmony” and the other who says “I will not share a single penny of my wealth with someone else and I will use violence to protect that penny AND obtain more of them from my neighbours, they are all inferior anyway….”
We can’t afford the latter attitude if human beings are to survive.
If only the Musks and Thiels of the world would realize that. But they think they are so superior, they can survive without the rest of us.
No, they will use us as servants and workers. Screw that equality crap.
Yeah... There's mudsillsm and there are gods, right?
And how dare the lessers think otherwise
never just binary
There are actually many attitudes in between. Not everything is dichotomous.
✨ 🦄 ✨
"Democracy and freedom are not compatible" - Peter Thiel
...by which he of course means the freedom for himself to become even more insanely rich.
He is the black heart twin to Elon
You could definitely say that, they are both equally entitled, next-level narcissistic and downright insane.
Nailed them
What ever happened to the concept of Camelot???
It was drowned in narcissism, I guess...
The antidemocratic politics of having it all https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/tech-bro-male-billionaire-anti-democratic/679267/?gift=9dOpEiona8wXBsZYf73Pf55KrfN2ZC3oRxLg5frKaUM&utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social
"Broligarchs"... I didn't know the term up 'til now, but it describes them perfectly: entitled boys thinking they are gods and therefore have the RIGHT to all the riches in the world, whilst profiting off everything else they didn't provide for - I mean, where do they get their drinking water, their antibiotics, and the materials with which they build their bunkers and space ships? The rich tech bros didn't make a single one of these things themselves. We, the 'common' people made them.
Read Autocracy Inc.
I plan to do so. Anne Applebaum has written some good books about what she’s seeing in the world around us.
It is still the powerful and wealthy who want to rule over and control the many, the masses, all of us.
We have much work to do to save ourselves from the Trump Republicans. Our nation is not the play thing for modern day oligarchs. November will tell the tale and we will prevail and continue to move the United States forward … certainly not backwards.
I think the Republican party as we know it - and it is NOT the party of Lincoln - is now broken. This is not the party that rose from the ashes at the time of Civil War. That
party committed Seppuku on 1/6/21 when it denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election. It is now the Maga party, which, like the pre-Civil War Democratic party, reveres enslavement, either through Supreme Court decisions or state legislatures. Using the judiciary to restrict basic rights.
I strongly believe that the faux former Appalachia resident is channeling Franklin Pierce and George Fitzhugh.
Plus ça change plus c'est la même chose.
It appears to me that the Republican party that fought for a democratic republic died a death of a thousand cuts over the decades from the election of Reagan. Nixon was corrupt, but republicans were ready to convict him. The pardon was a monstrous mistake. Reagan was fundamentally contemptuous of the form of government Lincoln hoped would never perish from the earth. Since Reagan, total domination by any means has increasingly replaced concern for our nation's common interests as their raison d'etre.
Exactly. I recommend Dana Milbank's THE DESTRUCTIONISTS: The 25-Year Crack-up of the Republican Party, which sees the rise of Newt Gingrich as key. But it goes back further than that, at least to Nixon's "southern strategy". Everything since has been about the preservation of white power, white supremacy, and too many USians still don't get it.
Susanna-You’re so right about Americans not being able to see that preserving racism based on skin color is the primary driving force for MAGAs. Why else would anyone vote for someone like DJT?
His promise to “save” them from the “browning of America” trumps all other issues. Racism is entrenched. Imagine where we’d be if skin color wasn’t an issue.
Yes indeed, and it predates Trump. It's what Nixon's "southern strategy" was all about -- turning white Southern Democrats into Republicans. And the Reagan "revolution" was mainly a reaction against the progress that women and people of color had made from the mid-60s onward. An excellent book on what this has cost us is Heather McGhee's THE SUM OF US: What Racism Costs All of Us and How We Can Prosper Together. She's got a strong background in economics, which makes this even more valuable.
Racism and misogyny go hand in hand with the prosperity gospels
Maybe the dedicated public teachers could create their own educational constitution for the country...
Richard Ben Israel's WHAT IT TAKES...
Do you mean Richard Ben Cramer? Trying to find it, I instead discovered Cramer's HOW ISRAEL LOST, which unbelievably was published in 2005 and which I now want to read anyway. Cramer died in 2013.
It’s not a “party” — it is a cult!!! … and then you have the “supreme court” trying to gift “herr leader” - trump - additional powers through the granting of immunities from prosecution for his acts.
Oligarchs yearn to rescind may hard won human rights, as suits their authoritarian agenda, but even so, the past is past, and their momentum would appear to take us into dangerous and uncharted territory, conceivably even to the point of human extinction if we don't wise up fast.
Lincoln got that about faux conservatism: "Not one of all your various plans can show a precedent or an advocate in the century within which our Government originated.”
Sure about that, Rosemary?
Yep.
In my life, I've never seen a group of one party start a group for the other party.
Sounds like you're on the wrong substack.
Yes, actually.
I agree, just not sure that Our Oligarchs are not laughing all the way to their offshore accounts and gold hordes.
Thank you for this column. I was a Moderate registered Republican until 12/18/2020, when I registered Democratic. I left for two reasons: 1) Democratic Governor Andy Beshear did a great job on COVID & Trump did not.
2) Trump’s and Elected Republicans’ lies about the “stolen election!”
I will do everything I can to defeat Trump and Trumpism.
You are hopefully a good representative of the American "conservative": one who sees truth and can change their mind. Good for you.
Welcome to reaity, Chuck.
I so admire a non-magat
Thank you for coming over, Chuck. I hope that you can continue to find a home in this milieu, and maybe help us along the way!
In a sense, Trump Republican leaders and their oligarchic backers support a form of economic enslavement for the masses. It stems from grossly high and artificially manipulated costs for rent, childcare, college education, and other needs. All of it enables them to make ever-more money. Imagine how worse things will get if corrupt autocrats rule.
We see that in how hedge funds and some banks drive up housing and medical costs by investing in foreclosed housing, medical practices, and health insurance. If American businesses are to remain competitive, they have to dump Milton Friedman’s bad economic ideas, start thinking about the long term, and the government has to start enforcing antitrust and antimonopoly laws again.
And monopolistic control of markets (and politics), which they Orwellianly refer to a "Free Trade".
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-republican-party-gop-whigging-out-you-make-call-ned/ Written almost seven years ago. Back then, I did not know to connect the dots between the sluicing of money and an oligarchy bent of taking control.
Possibly worse than the original enslavement, in that there is no responsibility for the economically enslaved.
The politics and economics of Cain -- Am I my brother's keeper?
Reducing many to the status of vermin in our shared household.
Michael-You’ve put your finger on the history of America.-“economic enslavement” has been the foundation of our nation. Slavery based on skin color was ideal and worth fighting for with so many lives lost. Unions arose because of the ways that labor was treated. Again so many lives lost.
We need to change the relationship between capital and labor in our democracy. Our current system based on racism and sexism allows capitalists to continue their divide and conquer strategies. No more Black jobs or women jobs!
Student loans that become lifelong indentures are another way of reining in that dangerous activity, people thinking freely for themselves.
Keep 'em at the treadmill, no free time in which to ask awkward questions or think through their ideas... That way they're kept well-formated, properly conditioned servants of the status quo.
That's their program.
Thank you, Heather! Always appreciate your history lessons.
Accompanied by a sort of forensic analysis of how things got to be the way they now are, essential for informed attempts to influence our future.
Insightful, Eye-Opening
We can all use Heather's primer on those who first fought the "elite enslavers" nearly 200 years ago.
But we can also use a reminder of how their criminality then has now expanded in a network far beyond that of today’s orange felon.
It goes to Egypt’s Sisi and his money laundering. To Putin, his oligarchs, their money laundering, opioid trade, arms shipments, and their eastern Orthodox priests ever parading long beards, long skirts, lengthy coils of jewelry as they intone their chants for murder, nationalism, repression of women. All match U.S. “rapture” evangelicals for Handmaid’s Tale east and west.
They join Alito, Clarence, and crew always ruling for more dark money, ever-lowered taxes on the rich, and chucked-off regulations so the billionaires can widen U.S. wealth gaps, damn workplace safety, worsen climate change, and further prop up Putin, Trump, Sisi, Orban, Netanyahu, Maduro, Assad, Modi, Kim, Erdogan, the mullahs, Chinese cadres, and Mohammed bin Bone Saw.
In her newest book, Anne Applebaum calls these alliances “Autocracy Inc.”
I call it what comes when schools worldwide dehumanize (put testing first).
And the world’s people – who voted out the far-right recently in France? – who voted them out also recently in Britain? – and Americans energized, volunteered for Kamala – our campaign?
Maybe we can contest the dark money U.S. and its world-allied Vulgar, Inc
But even if Kamala, Dems win: how much of a victory is it if our schools keep out the personal, with the machinery of testing still dehumanizing all, similarly to those "elite enslavers" of 200 years ago?
First, we save our democracy, then, we address the school testing issue. focus!
When we do "address the school testing issue," Robert -- one thing.
It's a giant fabric quantifying, commodifying all life. In it, nothing ever appears human or personal. All gets turned into units, abstracted categories, and the various packages which ghouls can "manage," count, divide and sub-divide into other packages, other-labeled categories.
As such, the world stays in the hands of the living dead who've all graduated from schools depersonalized, denatured, dehumanized -- ready to serve those best at naming, labeling, and manipulating. To the top, then, rise the most control-freak ogres, autocrats, secret police trackers, and amoral, immoral bankers and all that tribe of finance perversion.
There's another world, Robert. That's where the humanities, the personal, and the human (and its corollary, the natural) center all.
The schools of Finland became the world's best when they kicked out the testing (assembly line) fabric, and put teachers -- the best teachers -- at the heart of everything.
Schools don't educate children in isolation. Knowing what we know about schools, it's up to caregivers at home to not abdicate raising their kids to think critically, develop empathy, and be civic minded.
At the same time, I do agree we may win the battle but lose the war by continuing the bipartisan attrition in public education funding that has been going on since Reagan. It's not a coincidence that Project 2025 wants to eliminate the Department of Education.
I think it is true that we need to focus on the election at the moment, but we also need long term strategy so we don't keep fighting similar battles endlessly until, perhaps, all may be lost. We need to keep our eyes on the prize of the election and beyond.
Does anybody remember that Bill Moyers, in addition to
being politically astute and fair, also loved literature and had so many programs on poetry, and social issues. I still remember his enthusiasm for poetry and he was a great influence on me. He was also an early target of Rupert’s vitriol.
Be cool, Phil. Solving the main issue will save the space to address the other issues that require our attending to.
Phil, you have highlighted the threat posed by the oligarchs and autocrats who seek to undermine democracy around the world. Trump wants to join the club but has to pay his dues by ditching Ukraine and resiling from America's commitments to its allies: Amerika Uber Alles and the Devil take the hindmost. All democracies have to combat the threat from authoritarian regimes. Critically, this requires democracies to repair and strengthen their political and other national institutions. Authoritarian regimes will continue to exploit weaknesses in these institutions to damage democracies.
I don't know that I would equate testing in schools with slavery...but your earlier analysis is spot on.
Keeping a mind from being free to develop in all the ways that minds can create realities, is definitely a form of enslaving.
Yes, Kerry, slavery was a most unique institution.
Or, as Kenneth M. Stampp put it (1956), "The Peculiar Institution."
That's why, for analogy, I'd compare the vast machinery (and profits) of standardized testing instead to assembly lines.
One step at a time. Don't forget the moron W.
TRUMP’S ‘HONEST’ CAMPAIGN SONG
Kamala has Beyoncé’s FREEDOM as a campaign song.
So far, Bone Spur Donnie doesn’t have a campaign song.
I have a suggestion:
ONWARD CRETIN SOLDIERS
MARCHING OFF TO HELL
WITH THE CROSS OF JUDAS
TO MITIGATE THE SMELL
DONNIE THE ME ME CULTIST
LEADS AGAINST DEMOCRACY
FORWARD INTO BATTLE
THAT CRUSHES HIS THEOCRACY
Hahahahahahahahaha…oh Keith, you never disappoint! You made him a song out of paper maché. 👏
Oh, my goodness, Keith. You're a singing poet; I never knew! I'll be humming your tune all day!
Morning, Lynell. I agree, Keith has won the internet with this one!
Morning, Ally... Have a great Monday!
You too!!
Lynell The NYT rejected y poetry! [tant pis—a French phrase that doesn’t mean exactly what you think]
"Oh, well!"
Love this!
He knows how to make a hell of our home.
Keith, you win the internet today with this!!
Soaring post, Heather. What a Monday morning inspiration.
The problem in 1865 is that all the traitors, starting with Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and working down, weren't arrested for treason - defined in the Constitution as "waging war on the United States" which they had all done - tried and hanged. Every enslaver should have been dispossessed of everything but the clothes on their backs and turned out on the road. The traitor South should have been broken and the Patriot South - those who maintained their allegiance to the Old Flag, and the freed slaves, should have been supported, not abandoned. All the fine Republicans of 1860 had reverted to money-grubbing Whig "negotiators" by 1872.with few exceptions who were notable for their rarity.
It's an interesting fact that not only was George W. Bush a president who was the son of a president, he was the direct descendant of Franklin Pierce through his mother, Barbara Bush. "Worthless assswipe" must indeed be transmissible in DNA.
TC, I want to try to amplify your point that the people who decided to secede from the United States, at the beginning of the Civil War, were traitors, despite their attempts to make it sound lofty and principled. "...The problem in 1865 is that all the traitors...weren't arrested for treason...tried and hanged..." I think that some people, perhaps many people, don't fully understand how serious a crime it is to attempt to overthrow our nation's lawfully elected and constituted government. When I served in the Army I always assumed that anyone who was convicted of trying to violently overthrow the US government would either be hanged or die by firing squad.
In the past day or so I was admonished or chastised here by a reader/writer for discussing the possibility that the 45th president would lead another coup attempt if he is not legally elected in November. The writer suggested that my evident "panic" was doing a disservice against the efforts to unite the American electorate. After several critical paragraphs, he concluded his comments with this: "...The division must end here and now. Today! And the end of division begins within each of us." I responded politely. The point I want to make is that apparently too many people fail to comprehend how very important it is that the government of the United States of America must not be overthrown by violence or any sort of illegal activity. And it should be made clear to everyone who may be plotting another coup attempt that anyone who attempts to violently or illegally overthrow the US government should be prepared to face the death penalty. I don't know how else to say how serious this is.
When a small child throws a fit, we say "Use your words." To anyone who feels frustrated, and who thinks that violence is the only way to achieve change, we should say "Use your words. Use reason and logic to make your arguments. If your arguments seem to have no effect, keep trying to figure out why, until the words begin to get more votes."
That reader's attitude was the same as the attitude afterthe civil war - which allowed the unreconstructed Confederates to "win" the war after they lost it, with "The Lost Cause" BS and Jim Crow.
Indeed
David, the old adage, “the word is mightier than the sword” is ringing in my head as I read the comments here today…I love your admonition to all of us to “Use your WORDS”! We must not fail to speak up every chance we have…we all have a platform! Your last paragraph inspires me! Thank you!
They say join us or else. Unite with us or else. I say piss on you traitors. I use traitor a lot. I read somewhere that it means giving aid and comfort to America’s enemies. There are more who are now proud to give aid and comfort to those planning the demise of our democracy. They are traitors.
Well said, David. Thank you.
We fell for the same bull when Ford pardoned Nixon.
The trouble is when their words fail there will always be those individuals, and increasingly larger groups, who resort to physical force.
'Twas ever thus.
Those who lose their patience and resort to violence are, I believe, the root cause of every war and bar fight in the whole history of civilization.
On the other side of the equation are the people -- probably the vast majority of people -- who do not want to fight. The big mistake that the bellicose people make is that they misinterpret the other side's desire to avoid fighting as a sign of weakness. It is not weakness, or cowardice, or fear. It is the civilized desire to work out our differences of opinion patiently, methodically, gently if possible.
I would venture a further opinion, that the rage and frustration of the minions of the orange menace are focused on the wrong targets. A few real villains control most of the money in our society. The drunken mob can't get at the real villains. So old Don-Old re-directs the wrath of the disgruntled citizens toward their fellow citizens, who are much more available as targets of frustration and rage.
There is a great scene in a movie about Robert the Bruce (Mel Gibson, if I recall). The British army got the Scots and the Irish lined up to face each other in battle. They charge toward each other, shouting fierce war cries. But when the two sides meet, they laugh and embrace each other like old friends and family. And then they all turn their attention to the British soldiers who made all the arrangements.
In our current reality, Old Don-OId's minions among the common people could become aware that they would all have bigger paychecks if their employers would skim off a smaller portion of the money for themselves.
As I read this a very clear picture of the evil hordes attacking in Jackson's Lord of the Ring Trilogy came to mind!
[edit: on 6 Aug 2024 12:26 pm]
My OP in this space was about war being forced on people who do not want war. Too long, too personal.
Thanks for that. Don’t forget Prescott Bush and the Coup of 1933. My sis was so enamored with Mama Barbara until I nearly puked at her adoration. She said “how could anybody hate Barbara Bush.” I said, she is the one that W is most like. Puke on them both.
What should have happened didn’t happen.
Yet another history lesson we should have gotten in school, but instead learned the NAMES of Presidents but nothing about what most of them did.
Fortunately, there are still the documents of history to serve as primary-source material so we can learn for ourselves what was done and said. There are also books based on these documents that we can use to inform ourselves. We must be on guard in case some individual or organization tries to erase such resources from history because those who control the past can also control the future. Historians are an essential resource.
Support Libraries! Go to the research library at your closest University and learn how to look stuff up. Access to information requires initiative and action.
Notes, I have a dear friend who was a trombone DMA student at the U of O; her misogynist professor made her perform a recital too soon after a medically critical hysterectomy. She has become a reference librarian, and absolutely loves it; playing trombone on the side has been wonderful for her as well.
Exactly what has been done in Texas and elsewhere for decades! Get control of school boards and cut out any aspect of history that doesnt serve your groupthink. Go watch some youtube videos of the Texas schoolbook committee hearings. Draconian, frightening. Sorry i am running really late this morning because i was mesmerized by this article and the comments, no time to find citations for you.
Good point.
I have seen articles and research on what is happening in Texas and elsewhere, much of it organized by the Koch-funded, so-called Moms for Liberty. There's even a Canadian branch -Moms for Liberty Canada. The Bucks County Beacon has a June 26 podcast "The Signal" on a well-organized secret attack on one small-town library. Just jaw-dropping. You can see what big-time funding and organization can do, seemingly spontaneously. It's an account of how one ordinary Dad fought back. It's representative of the level of what and who is behind these attacks and the power they can bring to bear. Highly-recommended.... and motivating. These people are ver serious.
As you say, seemingly spontaneous. The worm is in the apple.
The egg that becomes the worm in the apple was laid just under the skin of the apple as it developed. The fly that laid the egg developed in the apples that fell to the ground and were ignored.
And I didn't make time in my life to learn on my own. It took until my 8th decade to realize how important it would have been and is to know my own country's history.
Would like it if you could comment on Rachel Maddow's recent observations that Trump doesn't think he needs votes because he has it rigged. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9OP_a6MNg
That's going to be their solution. Mike Johnson had Alito lined up to write the injunction to throw the election to the House after the 2020. They are ready to do it again and Johnson is the Speaker and can gum up the works. Pelosi called the House back into session as soon as the halls were cleare and got the votes counted before Alito could do the injunction.
Great job done by Pelosi that horrible night. If she had not called the vote right then , it scary to think what could have happened if Trump had the supreme Court decide he was president.
So in retaliation the court made him king.
Marc Elias is on it, Janet. "So what are pro-democracy advocates like me supposed to do about it? Already, we’re fighting back. We’re in court to prevent Republicans from changing the rules so they can cheat later on. The excitement generated by Democratic candidates from top to bottom is aiding in our own volunteer efforts. And, there are dozens of election officials of both parties who take pride in their work and want a free and fair election.
"I am glad that people have awoken to the genuine threat posed by election deniers. It is an opportunity for people to remember to check their voter registration status and make a plan to vote. For people with the time, it may motivate them to volunteer as a poll worker or help a local campaign."
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-fight-to-certify-elections-has-already-begun/
Thank you for another informative and inspirational letter. We continue to learn much from you and appreciate it.
Cheers.
Amazing history lesson. The comparison to the present is startling.
Wonderful history lesson, and so relevant IF Republicans for Harris become truly influential. Their X (Twitter) feed has jumped from about 30,000 to 75,000 followers in 24 hours. The many ways the Trump campaign is imploding, at the very least showing negative momentum and losing altitude, is heartening. https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/kamala-harris-has-big-mo-will-it
It's still an unsettlingly close race in the six swing states, however. Harris could win the popular vote by millions and lose by 80,000 votes in three states, as Hillary did in 2016. That would be a nightmare.
Doesn't that make glaringly clear that the Electoral College should be abolished ... or changed. Ranked choice voting nationally should be our first step.
We could keep the Electoral College if it weren't an all or nothing proposition. If each candidate got electoral votes reflecting their percentage of the popular vote I suppose that would be fine. And the Electoral College would be entirely superfluous.
True. But it is very difficult to eliminate the electoral college or make it superfluous. The most practical proposal I have seen is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact.
State legislatures are pledging that their electoral college delegates would be required to vote for the national popular vote winner. I fear, though, that even if a majority of states representing the 270 electoral college votes needed to win an election passed such legislation, the currently-constituted Supreme Court might declare it unconstitutional. It has been adopted by 17 states representing 209 electoral votes. It could certainly be in place well in advance of the 2028 election.
I would like to see a HCR column on the Supreme Court. Have we ever had a court as ideological and corrupt as this one? If Harris wins the presidency, the reform of the SCOTUS should be a top and stubbornly adhered to priority.
Yes, requirement that all Electoral College votes go for the national winner is good. I actually prefer the notion of within the state, each candidate getting the percentage of Electoral College votes that he received in their state election. It seems a better reflection of the people. The result is the same with, I think, important public transparency. Divisions would show without having to look very deep. Most people don't look very deep. And none of us can look deeply at everything. I, for instance, "should" be feeding the chickens and mowing fields now ...
It is oddly comforting to learn that we Americans have been here before. Thank you, Heather, for placing current events in the context of America’s history. Defenders of democracy have prevailed before; we surely can do it again, now.
Not for me. Just means that the battle is never-ending. Will continue for our progeny it seems
Progress is an illusion. There are just pendulum swings, spirals, circles, runaway tangents, changing trajectories ... Because the concept of "progress" requires a point of view. And we don't share a point of view.
Yep, I was raised liking Ike and knew first hand of the sacrifices of the war that came after the war that was supposed to end all wars. “Progress is an illusion” is pretty devastating to one who thought it was possible to learn the lessons of the past. Seems the lesson of our past is that progress is indeed an illusion. One I hope we can repeat, even if it’s just a pendulum swing.
it's nice when the pendulum swings your way. What's odd is when folks like Hitler and Trump can sell folks the idea that they will swing the pendulum their way when a rational analysis shows exactly the opposite.
But Rupert says… and the asses bray. Reason and logic are Jack Schitt to cult nuts/magats