One interesting aside that I read or heard somewhere: When the Harris/Walz team wins, MN Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, will become the first Indigenous Governor in the United States.
Yes, it’s remarkable, isn’t it? A Black and Asian candidate for President of the USA is a woman who is married to a Jewish guy, chooses a running mate who is a real patriot and a decent fellow, who turned his state into the happiest one in the Union, and whose Lt. Governor, a Native American woman, will become his state’s governor!
I am really impressed with Gov. Walz. He's the perfect pick. Time to go "walzing" with Kamala and Tim. I was in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas in the 5th grade. I saw Latino kids who didn't have the money to pay for the state-subsidized lunch (15 cents.) They were malnourished. That has haunted me for 74 years. When I read about what Gov. Walz did in Minnesota tears welled up inside. "Even as you do it unto the least of these . . ." That's why we are Democrats.
Richard, I am impressed too. Minnesota sounds more like Scandinavia than the USA. Trump should be modeling more states off of Minnesota if he wants Norwegians to move to the USA. In the meantime, let us hope some of the Scandi largess can be spread around. Even in Germany, for Early childhood education I understand from a friend that they pay less then the government gives them for food for their children whose daycare is free otherwise. She says the food is really good quality too.
Sharon that is great. Is that because your county is poor and everyone qualifies for federal free meals, or is it because your county pays for it, or both?
Interesting, Linda. That's what came to my mind - Scandinavia, where they put pragmatic capitalistic practices to work. It is criminal that 800 wealthy Americans have the same amount of wealth as one-half of the American population, 800 = 170,000,000 (Eight hundred versus one hundred and seventy million people.) They have plundered the American economy and that is why we have a national debt of $35 trillion, making our successors indentured servants with unconscionable debt passed on to them.
I agree 100% with your summation. We have reached the crossroads here. We either veer into authoritarianism or we bring politics back to the center. I’m a centrist. Let’s stop the goofball things on the far left it doesn’t sell. I’m optimistic for the first time. Can’t wait until we nominate 4 more Supreme Court justices.
I'm not sure what you mean by "and get out of the way." Yes, our kids need food and quality education, but they also need clean air and water, among many other necessities of life that we rely on the government to provide since the 800 richest folks don't care about the rest of us at all.
I am 75 and from Carbondale, Pa. I remember kids in my grade school like the ones you describe. Wonderful and kind. Never complained. They were good friends and contributed to our society and community in so many ways. What some call a hand out, I call an investment in a democracy for all.
Thank you for this, Sharon. The older I get the more mindful I am of those who need a helping hand. I love this group- bright, intelligent people who care for others.
Linda, joy is the operative word! I love Joe Biden, and he has done remarkable work during his term in office, but the specter of Donald Trump and his band of thugs, doing the horrible damage that they are determined to wreak on our democracy has haunted me since 2016. Many of our voters were blind to Biden's strengths and could see only his slow gait and halting speech, refusing to believe that he had restored our standing in the world and saved our economy. Their blindness was so frustrating for those of us who could see how lucky we were. For the first time since the orange menace came on the scene, I believe that we now have a joyful team that can effectively turn the toxic, narcissistic right wing into dust! I have suddenly become joyful at the prospect of overcoming this evil with Kamala and Tim at the helm using good humor and strength as their main weapons against what has always been a paper tiger. Maybe we can even hope to see Jake Tapper's worried frown and constant harping against those who will save our democracy disappear from our television screens. I believe we finally have the antidote to our country's inability to handle the threat.
Nancy, I totally agree with you that Biden is wonderful. I have said he is the best president in my lifetime. Prof. Timothy Snyder says Biden is the best natural negotiator he has ever seen. We have benefitted from this both domestically and internationally. It will be missed. Not to say Kamala and Walz will not be great, but Biden has experiences that cannot be replaced. She will bring different strengths, and Biden has been sending her out to deal with things internationally so that is to our advantage. Nothing Trump has done or will do internationally or domestically is to our advantage. Americans Abroad are suddenly waking up to the fact that living Abroad with the US out of NATO as is planned and not sharing any intelligence with our NATO allies is a scary thought. I guess unless they pay for it through expensive nights in Trumps fleabag hotels. In other words, open to the highest bidder. So, imagine my relief last night when Kamala and Tim spread joy and laughter about the campaign, which is an about face from the doom and gloom we have been facing. We have been victims of the press that likes to only spread bad news, although not about Trump. The NYT will not be purchased by me or any of my offspring for generations to come as it has been so coopted by that Neo-Fascist Sulzburger as he was willing to tank our entire nation and planet just because Biden would not do an interview with him. That being said, it is a new day, and we have freedom, joy and hope on the horizon. I'M ALL IN!
Linda, ever since wonder-worker Joe Biden was elected, I've been frustrated by the coverage of our "liberal" press, and that despite the fact that some of us understood his amazing talents of statesmanship, it became clear that his reelection was not in the cards. With Kamala and Tim, as you said, we will have the advantage of a younger, fearless team in place, and my guess is that that they will call on Biden for advice on strategy and statesmanship when necessary. I worried that another term in office would have killed him, but with the pressure off, he can assist from the wings when they will benefit.
I've been surprised that, because of the horrible possibility of the right wing gaining traction, there has been little discussion of the fact that Kamala Harris will be our first woman president, not to mention that she is of Black and Asian heritage. If the threat of Trump wasn't so great, this would be headline news! I well remember the handwringing over Jack Kennedy being Catholic.
Yes, Biden's negotiating talents seem unmatched but I'm hoping, as you say, he is in the wings and even available to represent our country at times calling for such negotiations.
The euphoria that I keep hearing alarms me. We all need to be mindful of the fact that Project 2025 didn't just appear overnight--it was years in the making, and it will not go away. Yes, we have our Republic, but we always need to be aware that keeping it demands our active participation.
Betsy, you're right, of course, and if we don't win this election, including a majority in the House and Senate, it will be the end of our democracy. All of us need to be vocal and active to achieve that end.
I haven't felt euphoric after Trump was elected until now. My guess is that most on this site are well aware of the danger all around us, so don't begrudge us our euphoria.
May the orange T fade into obscurity, possibly on some remote island that will sink under the ocean as climate change continues to melt the poles of the earth.
Well, although it would be poetic justice for OT to flail around when his remote island sinks (he wouldn't sink with all of that hot air), none of us want climate change to succeed. I think that the current trend to treat him like a very small paper tiger and ignore him and J.D. Vance as they stumble off the stage is the best way for this to end.
Well-said, well-said, Nancy. Thank you. My thoughts, too -- love Joe Biden for all he has done and now he has passed the torch along to be carried by Harris and Walz. Harris' choice of Walz shows the Dems political savvy, especially given the excellence of the three top contenders they had to choose from. Walz will appeal to midwestern folks who like his straight forward way of speaking, no political razzmatazz. Tell it like you see it, Tim!
I love the spontaneous humor that both Walz and Harris employ (i.e., "Say it to my face" and "yes, I'm a monster, seeing that kids have full bellies so they can learn").
Downhill since the orange menace took the down escalator and downhill for America since then. Now it's turnaround time. It's blowing in the wind for all to witness.
As a second generation, Californian, so happy that I chose Minnesota as my second home, nearly 30 years ago! We’ve had many great leaders here in this state, both Democratic and Republican! This is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” and the place to get shit done! USA
Isn't MN where Sears used to test those "Die Hard" batteries? MN is grass-roots outboard boat racing country too. Let's stock up on popcorn so we can watch the lunatics in MAGA-world as they stumble around in their weirdly manner. Stock up.
I love all this too. However i personally am most overjoyed by having strong, intelligent,reasonable,candidates. Two well spoken humans who believe in the rule of law. People who will make our great nation better! If We focus on demographic diversity, we are guilty of exactly what the magats accuse us for. Just saying…
What is too much Ayn Rand? Here's American screenwriter John Rogers' answer:
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
I don't know whether J. D. Vance, Elon Musk, and/or Peter Theil read Ayn Rand when they were fourteen, but symptoms are the same.
What can a rational person do to convince a delusional person to be rational when the delusional person is convinced that the rational person is delusional? Not much. Catch 22. I guess the best thing the rational person can do is hope that time heals all wounds.
In my opinion a rational person shouldn’t spend time trying to change the mind of the delusional. Instead go find two or more rational people and register them to vote. :). Maybe by example the delusional will see a different picture.
James A, it is obvious you get informed by right-wing media that lies and distorts what is really happening. I live in Florida around people who live on a constant diet of Fox and are convinced of these opinionated versions of actual facts that suit their MAGA agenda.
There is absolutely no evidence that the Democrats are weaponizing the FBI or DOJ against political opponents. It is a projection of what MAGA has done and wants to continue to do to their opponents.
Social media companies are not being forced by the Dems to censor Americans! Dems believe in first amendment rights. But when violence is advocated, it is essential to interfere.
“Turning America into a police state during the pandemic” is an absurd statement. A lot of lives were saved because of the precautions put into place. There are plenty of facts to back this up.
There also is absolutely no evidence that secret service protections for opponents have been reduced or eliminated. If you cared enough to really understand what happened at Trumps’s rally, you would discover how much time has been invested by our present administration into figuring out why the sniper was able to take the shots he did.
There are mountains of evidence to support that Democrats believe in the rule of law far more than current Republicans.
The contractually bound Substack Troll "Author' & Reader's 6 False statements & 2 of which thinly disguised as 2Q's have been reported.
I admire your factual response but, Substack Inc has specific contractual duties that the Corp itself devised for this Platform for the 2024 digital environment.
Both Mueller, Durham, and Inspector General found that the FBI had improperly spied on the Trump campaign. "Operation "Crossfire Hurricane" Was improperly started. "They got FISA warrants relying on the Steele dossier. They falsified documentation. In fact the Steele dossier was invented and paid for by the Clinton campaign.
STOP LYING
We were lied to about the effect of the virus, the efficacy about the vaccine, the efficacy of the booster, the efficacy of masks, and its effects on children. PFizer admitted THEY NEVER TESTED the vaccine before its release.
Minnesota were the worst two states for lockdowns. People were fired from their jobs and censored.
"Top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday, according to four people familiar with the requests."
As for RFK protection until after the Trump assassination attempt. RFK's dad and uncle were assassinated.
Trump was denied counter sniper teams for two years until the Butler Rally.
For two years anyone couldn't gotten on a roof, and building window and the Secret Service could have done NOTHING to take out the sniper.
There isn't MOUNTAINS of evidence on Rule of Law. NAME ONE?
They don’t, Walz let MN burn and Kamala bailed out the arsonists and rioters and let the wealthy come in and gobble up all that real estate.
All of the A list Democrats are staying on the back burner, waiting for 2028. Biden screwed Obama and now Obama got Holder to screw Kamala. Too far left, the socialist ticket is done. They can try and spin Kamala and Walz as centerist, but their records and previous comments can not be scrubbed, posts on the internet are forever.
Sean, I sense your fair warning. My concern regarding Shame (Brene Brown has researched) as a misunderstood and misguided visceral reactive emotion is important to understand. Naming and truth telling are not as effective when unbridled Shaming as a strategy sticks a foot in the door and all hell breaks loose. A little goes a long way.
Yes. As I have said elsewhere if they implement Project 2025 as it is written, filled with all of its contradictions, continual whining and lying about Biden, and chaos making at every level, including basically ending Public education in favor of doling out big incomes to Home Schooling Christian Nationalists and their subsequent charter schools, setting their Thug Nazi Militias on the rest of us, will stir up a South Sudan like chaos that I do not want to be around for.
Can you believe they put it all in writing 🧐? I think that’s what Kamala said as she names and explains truthfully everything and provides hope for what people powered actions can and must do to stop it in its tracks.
We are all part of a social system. Every individual has a perception of who and what is included in and excluded from that system. My term for that perception is the individual's "circle of concern." Everything outside of that circle will be perceived as an opportunity to be exploited, or a threat to be neutralized, and otherwise irrelevant.
The ideal time to help an individual expand their too-small circle of concern (aka cognitive maturation) from the outside of their circle is before the individual is physically mature. Later is a less-than-ideal time.
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." —Fredrick Douglas.
A classmate of mine, lives in Minneapolis and his representative in Ilhan Omar. He is an old white guy married to an old white woman and they just love her.
The Democrats get things done while the Republicans fight among themselves for power and fame. They want the America of Project 2025.
The evil Leonard Leo and Charles Koch have poured millions into Project 2025. We need to reject it by sending VP Harris and the Coach to DC.
I look upon the Project 2025 as more like throwing spaghetti at the wall more to confuse people who don't have the time or desire to read it (like those terms and conditions they don't expect you to read, just give up and by default agree to.
At least the old Cato Institute "research" I read back in the 80s looked honest and thorough, some of it even matched what I discussed with oil field workers and a guy who's truck I fixed, who's job it was to take instrumentation trailers out to oil field equipment. He described the company only paying the lease holders for about a 3rd of the oil or gas extracted, (and only a sixth for the Native American lease holders. My only problem was the policies they recommended, supposedly based on the research seemed greatly at odds with the research that showed some of the cheating.
"...On July 11, 1988, the president of Koch Industries, Bill Hanna, sent a companywide memo informing employees how to handle company records. He reminded employees at the oil company that there was a code of secrecy for internal records. Then, he ordered that “written materials which would be useful to our competitors should be destroyed by shredding, burning, or some equally effective method.”
At any other time, Hanna’s memo might have been standard advice for a secrecy-minded company. Coming when it did, it could also be seen as a license to destroy evidence..."
There's plenty more in the story in the link than I can add at the moment.
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS (the more the better as far as the mismatch between lots of "research").
Marlene and Betsy, all of this makes me so happy. My husband has Lakota relatives and they are psyched. As one person said, "It's about damn time." Who would have predicted this a month ago.
Don't forget Deb Haaland... She is the first Indigenous U.S. Cabinet Member... The Department of Interior which handles Indigenous Affairs no less... There are pictures of her being sworn in attired in Traditional Attire... She is a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico... She is active in the Betterment of the Indigenous Communities....
Let us not forget Lena Khan, tirelessly fighting monopolies who got a win against Google yesterday. What Matt Stoller of the anti-monopoly Substack Big said about that is that even though Google is going to appeal, he doubts the judge will allow a stay until then, so that means that all of the lawyers in all of the corporations are going to be advising their people to adjust their business practices to reflect the substance of the ruling! Yay! So many wonderful women in government under this administration, and the glass ceiling may be broken for the highest job in the land thanks to Biden's support and choices, paving the way for all women, including Women who are not considered "White!" to rise along side the men who support us and our nation! Yay Harris! Yay Walz! Joy, Freedom and Hope!
Yes, so many important issues and people are on the ballot with Harris/Walz. Kahn is one of those people. After years of corporate acquisitions, the monopolistic behaviors of some corporate juggernauts crush competition, limit entrepreneurship, suppress worker rights/pay/benefits and funnel increasing profits to executives and shareholders. This only adds to inequities in our Country that have been fueling the grievances Donald Trump has been exploiting. Kahn has been working to limit monopolistic behaviors of firms like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, etc.
Now we have billionaire megadonors associated with some of these firms pressuring Harris to fire Kahn. Reid Hoffman and Barry Diller are more overtly and less overtly, respectively, hinting that their big campaign donations are at risk unless Harris pledges to fire Kahn. Hopefully, Harris will soon say that unlike her competitor she does not accept, much less request like Trump did from big oil executives, quid pro quo offers of campaign funds.
Yes. I read about the Reid Hoffmann request and wrote that I would support Harris even if she felt she needed his money. She has reminded me of AOC in the amount of grassroots fundraising she is doing. Like you I hope she will be able to maintain independence. Good news is that Germany's second largest Drugstore chain Rossmann, owned by a billionaire, has made a public announcement yesterday that his business will no longer be buying Teslas because Elon Musk is funding Donald Trump. We walk a fine line in Germany as Democrats Abroad, the Voting Organization I belong to, to not mix US and German politics when we are working for Democrats Abroad. However, as we try to recruit and support Americans with registering to vote from abroad Germans come to our venues and are very supportive of our work to get a Democratic president back into the White House. Pro-democracy work is global. So glad to see a German corporation taking the lead in saying no to fascism.
Monopolies are why we Americans pay more for slower Internet speed and mediocre cellular service compared to countries like those In Europe, South Korea and Japan.
A friend, who is of Estonian heritage, explained how that country became the most WiFi connected. When the Soviet's pulled out in the early '90s, they took all the phone infrastructure with them. The Estonians, who almost literally sang the Russians out, had no alternative but to go wireless. And they did it to a Tee!
“Hopefully, Harris will soon say that unlike her competitor she does not accept, much less request like Trump did from big oil executives, quid pro quo offers of campaign funds.”
This means we work even harder to GOTV ! We have a Fl Rep who takes NO corporate donations. Anna has solid, middle-class roots with parents who immigrated from Iran.She is brilliant and boots-on-the-ground with a major grassroots effort and is hugely popular. Rep Anna is a thorn in DeSantis’ side ….and all the bought-and-paid for millionaire FL legislators who she talks/debates circles around. She reminds me of a certain VP nominee.💙
I think about monopolies every time I order something from Amazon. My concern is that I can't find some items I regularly use in a brick and mortar store in my area. Ex. chicken bouillon, a very mundane ingredient for cooking. I ordered it from Amazon after checking all the grocery stores in my area. I don't want to add to Bezos's bottom line, but does anyone have a suggestion?
Jenn, we buy Better Than Bouillon (chicken or beef) at the member-owned Costco, which has a good record of treating their employees well. Do you have one , or perhaps another membership wholesale club, near you?
Doug Gagne -- We have a great Costco here in Halifax-Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I've spoken with several employees there asking what it's like to work there -- they're all supremely happy because they're consulted on things and are paid very well! It's so good to hear and know this, about such a large organization.
Let us write him today and suggest it. I noticed last week, when I wrote to him, that it is no longer Biden and Kamala with separate links to write to, it is now a unified Biden and Harris link.
Money can't buy enthusiasm and hope. Each Harris/Walz rally needs to be an upbeat party in contrast to convicted felon's same old lies and whining. Harris and the Coach will get their digs in like Kamala has been doing for weeks now. She can tell DonOld to shove it up his keister in the nicest way possible and so can Coach. And people will continue to walk out on DonOld sooner and sooner.
I saw that as well. But they may not be able to do much in 90 days, especially given that the repugnantkins are running a convicted felon whose brain is missing in action. Psychobabble is not likely to win many new votes. 💥🙏
Some of the most brilliant people I know and have known are females with amazing accomplishments. And I ask myself: “Why should saying this even be necessary?” We still have work ahead but this is one helluva step forward.
She is so real. I've seen her brush away tears while telling a story or introducing someone. She is awesome and has been doing a fantastic job, like almost all of Biden's cabinet.
Walz across the Midwest/rust belt. Represents small town America. Same genealogy as the rural population in the blue wall states.
Was a successful football coach. Coaches for Harris Walz. Knows there is no "I" in "team."
I'm hoping he'll sway some of those Norwegian bachelors, repressed Lutherans and other denizens of states like the Dakotas, Nebraska and Iowa. I support stealth senate candidate Katrina Christensen, who is a female Walz.
Trumps Vance-- same genealogy to contest with hyperactive collective racist subconscious. Can invoke the magic words, "not suckers or losers." Can tell SS beneficiaries "don't slit your own throat."
Garrison Keillor's schtick. About 25 years ago I taught a class in Minnesota. Told my usual retinue of jokes pus local references. Nobody laughed. But in the teacher evaluations I got high marks. "Highly humorous," said the reclusive Norwegian bachelors.
And imagine a man so sure of himself that he can support a woman as his boss!! (My son tells me the best bosses he’s had have been women. But we knew that, didn’t we? 😙
Millions of Americans can't quit smiling over the Harris/Walz ticket. The rally in Philly was electric. Shades of Obama/Biden in 2008. Laughter, singing and dancing.
Walz grew up close to perhaps the most famous Nebraskan, although at different times -- Johnny Carson. You can see the same folksy Nebraska nice in both of them. Most of my family is still in Nebraska and maybe, just maybe, Nebraska can at least turn Purple again like it was when Bob Kerrey was governor and Debra Winger was living with him in the governor's mansion.
I am surprised that HCR didn't mention that Walz taught school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation since she wrote extensively about the area in her book "Wounded Knee." Maybe she's saving that for another Letter.
Yes. "Peggy Flanagan is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and currently the country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office" (from Walz' website) She would take over for Walz if Harris-Walz are elected.
Joan: Thank you very much for sharing the link! Another example of the wonderful things I receive from my fellow readers and writers on Substack! Wonderful!
Word murder! Gay comes to mind: the "gay" nineties.., boink. Discriminate comes to mind, Ex: to be discreet.., exercise discrimination.., in-discriminate behavior.., poor choice (indiscriminate).., indiscreet! Discriminate - the act of choosing wisely. Queer. Bi-. Trans-. Black. And, finally.., christian?. Ooops... forgot one. It's like the only thing #45.., the (R)SS-hole-in-chief has sad that is remarkable.., yup., "black jobs". But, I've got to hand it to Simone Biles. She nailed him badly the other day when she stated she was going to do her "black job".., ie., being the absolute supreme athlete (that has recently walked this planet - my words), which she is. Nicely done Simone!
Let's face it.. when we treat someone unfairly, that's plain cruel. We're a cruel bunch, us humans. Particularly when we behave like animals. And, it's learned behavior. We didn't come out of the womb like that.
I do like "Cooperative Conservatism" (for all), better than my thought of "Egalitarian Conservative." When I look back at how my grandparents helped the community, it seems they were more like cooperative minded Quakers than those among the Puritans who wanted religious freedom for themselves, but not much for any others that followed and didn't agree with them.
My mother as a 16 year old that worked as a maid for preservationist, Clara Endicott Sears, listening to her and her guests at "The Pergolas" that once stood above the Fruitlands Museum, seemed to show it was a very thought provoking experience.
I would count her as an egalitarian conservative viewing the benefits of cooperative utopians in a bit of a better balance of the two.
Jim, as word pairings go, (and I've had trouble with the morphing meanings of word labels so common as Republican and Democrat for more than 5 decades), I like "Cooperative Conservatism" and when I heard Van Jones describe Walz as a "Positive Populist" last night, it rang true and useful at this time when "Negative Populism" was used to describe the Trump/Vance ticket.
Great point, there, Joan. Even as a young conservatively inclined college graduate, I could not vote for President Reagan. My parents had grown up in Republican families but supported the idea of a Great Society. Governor Walz obviously cares for his constituents; an ideal example -- as a coach, teacher, Representative, or Governor -- of the servant-style of leadership. The more boats that rise, the better for us all.
Yeah, Mom! What a wonderful heritage into which you were created. What terms like "cooperative conservatism" or "cooperative liberalism" mean, for me at least, is a political inclination balanced among:
> pragmatically placing principles before personalities;,
> remembering why we are all here; and,
> a devotion to the truth as best as one can attain it.
Cheekily, I like to joke, "There is no one more closed minded than an open minded liberal and no one so crazy as a cranial conservative." Or as a conservative mentor once stated to me, "Ideology breeds idiocy."
The conservativism I came from was primarily pragmatic. The liberals would put forth a policy and conservatives would make it fiscally sustainable. When a policy clearly did not work, conservatives might try to change it, and, failing that, lead, with pragmatic liberals, to its repeal.
I read that as well and like being a woman of color running for President - it’s about time. From Deb Haaland to Kamala Harris to Peggy Flanagan - I am feeling a liberation of my spirit.
And the good news keeps on rolling. Yes, Peggy Flanagan would be the nation’s first Indigenous governor. Couldn’t be prouder or more joyful at the prospect!
As a Philly resident invited to the rally tonight, I can say that the line to get into the Liacorus Center on the Temple University Campus was long and running into the thousands! As in thousands inside, and thousands that could not fit in! The atmosphere was electric, and the Harris/Walz energy brought down the house several times. If you watch the end of Walz’s speech you’ll see Kamala mouthing the words: “You killed it!”
With the charisma of a midwestern dad who grew up on a farm, the bravery of a sergeant major, the grit of a high school football coach, and the decency and determination of a middle class kid who grew up in this American meritocracy, Walz delivered! His line about Vance getting off the sofa to debate him was hilarious.
My only consolation for not getting in the front door of the rally was being part of the hopeful energy bursting outside, plus maybe I avoided a case of Covid!
Be careful with Act Blue. I signed up for a one time donation and THEY informed me I was signed up as a monthly donor. I wish I could afford that, but as a retiree with low SS I cannot. Getting it corrected made me jump through hoops. Very unhappy experience
I’m sorry to hear that. I too am on SSI and mistakenly donated $100 which I can’t afford. So I went on their site & had my $100 refunded within 3 days. Np. No hoops to jump thru. I explained that I only donate $5 at a time. And to candidates all over the country. So if they didn’t return my money, I wouldn’t be able to make the other donations.
That should be the default, but as with most subscriptions the default is "recurring". American free enterprise at work folks! (and hardly just American)
Wasn't for me, i.e., the "one-time only" donation box was auto-selected when I reached that stage. Granted, they implored me to select "recurring," several times.
The default had been one time donation — until the shortness of the new campaign period came about with the party’s new standard bearer. So do be careful and take a few more seconds to review the entire donation page before clicking. It be changed, just look at and remember to review your receipt and also you can look at and review all of your ActBlue donations and it will show if your donations were one time or are likely still recurring. Hey … Be Careful Out There!
In my experience ActBlue has been very responsive to requests for changes in donation status from monthly to one-time, also to refund a donation made in error. It's not automated so it takes time for the humans to process the requests.
I signed up, I thought, through Act Blue, for monthly donations to Harris/Walz and then was directed to another page to fill out my same information again, I guess they were unhappy that I refused to send them a "tip" after filling out the repeat information I discovered I'd been conned into "giving" Act Blue another monthly donation of equal amount. It seems every Democrat has been scammed into using Act Blue for their donations, when in fact Act Blue is just out to make themselves billionaires like the Silicon Valley rotters.
We all do, from whatever, this is free enterprise in action. I signed up with my local Liberal Party in NB, Canada, and after a few weeks of continuous "ad on" promotions, disengaged. They even half-apologized for so much solicitation, but didn't offer a "see less" option.
I am so sick of it. Free enterprise my arse, it’s a good reason to disengage. Sad that they think it’s our only option, and it is. Even other places that I donate yearly to, now want monthly. This cash cow has less and is totally disgusted.
I recommend setting up a separate email for lists and shopping etc, and one for personal. You can also click UNSUBSCRIBE to the repeat emails you don't want.
Same.... I'm already very engaged, I don't need another 50 emails a day lol. Even signing up to see less emails doesn't change anything. I end up unsubscribing even when I'm donating monthly.
There is absolutely no danger that I will ever vote Repub again, yet they seem to think that I am undecided. I know that they don’t wake up in a new world every day, so WTH
I donated thru Act Blue but always 1 time and have never had a problem. As.to the scores of emails every day that I receive, I don’t have time to research all to see what organizations give 90% to the candidate, so I go to the Harris, Tester, Kelly, Vindman, Lucas, Dunn, etc. websites to donate; they all use Act Blue.
Same here. I set up an account with ActBlue several years ago, and use it exclusively. I get text messages from about 10 other organizations, and have become adroit at “Delete and Report Junk.” 😉 They may be legit, but their names and discourse styles make my spidey sense tingle. They read like ads for bogus products that I’d rather live without.
My gripe (not necessarily with Act Blue only) is beyond the thousands of requests, in that they still have me listed as in California, still assume I am a Democrat (went back to Independent after the 2016 election), so I could try to talk sense with so many others that can't let go of their too strong attachment to a party they find so many faults with. I get that they face a lot of peer pressure to stay under the label, but seem to have some impact getting them to at least stop voting straight ticket Republican. I'm encouraged by the ones that at least become independent, even if they don't vote 99.9% Democrat like I have done since 2016.
I think I only vote for one Republican for a water board (in a supposed nonpartisan election where candidates didn't state their party). He came to my house twice after his campaigner had stopped by and told me how the existing board had scheduled meetings they knew he couldn't attend and did other dirty tricks much like the Republican I knew of in North Carolina pulled. After I checked with others, I did vote for him and he won with less than 400 votes.
Otherwise I have vote against even Republicans I would have preferred, but not when they give my old party a corrupt majority, no matter how honest (but ineffective) they would be in the office.
There is never a place to say I'm an Independent that leans 99.9% Democractic (only slightly less if there are good Independent candidates like Angus King and Bernie Sanders).
Down side is at least in MD you can't vote for any race i n the Primary except for the nonpartisan School Board races (Repubs started being partisan in the last 2-4 years.)
So sorry that people are having troublewith Act Blue. I have been donating on that website for a number of years. Just take your time as you go through the webpages. I donate via my phone so I don’t know if it looks different on a computer. At least they don’t default to “make it monthly.“ You have to specifically select a Weekly or monthly donation.
ActBlue always works well for me and I have no reservations about using it. I'm sorry that other people have had problems with it. Definitely take your time when checking the boxes and inputting your info.
I agree. I like to see Democrats do things smarter. What act Blue out to do is develop profiles for their donors Where we can specify that we want to focus on a specific region or a specific issue and then send us an email with options once a month. I get so many embarrassing pleas for money I regret sometimes haven’t given in the first place. Do better. And we don’t have to accept that as the only way! What are we? Republicans?
Oops. I need to review before clicking “post” next time. I hope people could follow my thoughts! That last message looks almost as bad as some of the all-caps missives ActBlue pols send me. “Marie! Democracy is on the line! The only way to save it is to send $27 right now!” My immediate thought is always, “Really? Because I thought the other $27 was supposed to solve that? And btw, didn’t I help you get elected to your JOB where you’re supposed to be saving democracy for a healthy salary on a full-time schedule every day?”
I’m surprised: they’re usually so good and responsive. Once I donated $500 by mistake (meant $50) and they quickly and easily corrected it. I love ActBlue and give them a small monthly donation.
I too had to work to get back donations I did not authorize. They did however return all the money they did not get permission to have. Act Blue woke up!!
We are Jumping for Joy, Bryan! But MUCH work to be done. We have a SUPERB candidate for Michigan's 1st U.S. District, Callie Barr! She won the primary yesterday. The real win was that we had two excelllent Dems running in what has been a conservative region, and with Callie we have a good chance to oust trumper Bergman.
Hasn't the whole "couch" story been proved to be false--that it was not something Vance did or said, but cooked up by someone else? I wish Dems would stop using it as a verbal meme.
Actually, it's a logical impossibility to prove a negative, so, while we do not have evidence that the supposed conduct actually happened, we also cannot have evidence that it didn't. And indeed it is said that AP retracted its story denying the couch incident on exactly those grounds: "we don't know for sure that it DIDN'T happen".
Personally, I'd rather take LBJ's advice about calling a politician a pig-fucker than suffer under a fascistoreligious dictatorship, even if that requires mocking the mascared misogynist Vance for a possibly invented post-adolescent Onanism.
We need to keep up the enthusiasm for three months and support ALL of the down ballot Democrats and Independents.
There's a Senatorial candidate in Nebraska trying to unseat the "do nothing know nothing" Deb Fisher. Oddly enough she is from the same part of Nebraska as the Coach. Anyway, he is within the margin of error and having the Coach join Harris could put him over the top.
Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Desi Lydic, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, and Jimmy Fallon are all statesmen, no? -- just the sort with access to humanities and the vernacular.
I could feel the energy from WA state, sitting here crying in my living room watching that rally. Feels exciting and real, what we can do if we band together and get this done. We won't go back!
Your Substack posts on Covid are fantastic. I’m not a physician, I read everything on Covid when it first appeared, and became a layman’s expert on it. It’s tough out there, to fight the ignorance, so I appreciate your efforts to provide fact-based advice.
Mark, have you followed Dr. Jenna on "Your Local Epidemiologist" on Substack? She's written some great stuff, and her area of expertise is with gun violence as an epidemic. She is my "go to" source for Covid info.
Thanks so much, Mark! Hard to keep up with everything, but I try to broadcast some of the news and studies, even as most people have changed the channel
The contrast could not be more stark. Or more succinctly summed up by Joy Reid: “One side wants 10-year-olds to have babies … the other side wants 10-year-olds to have lunch.”
It was absolutely glorious day! Shapiro was fiery and effective as he got the crowd very excited. The mere sight of Kamala and Walz approaching the mic brought the packed house down! Kamala is so capable, such a bright light and to add Governor Walz to the ticket, is a home run. “When we fight, we win”. Let’s keep politicians out of our doctor’s offices because “it’s none of their DAMN BUSINESS”!! What’s not to love? 💙
Walz is an excellent speaker. Different style but at least as effective as Shapiro and more compatible as a campaigner with Harris than Shapiro would have been. No need for two firebrands.
Folksy but also serious, and effective. Socially invested state surpluses, among the most business friendly states in the USA, led by Democrats! Walz truly fits in with those who inspire Americans to be "the better angels of our natures".
EDIT: would like to have said my lone concern, a minor one, . . . .
My lone concern is that both candidates on the Democratic ticket will be sixty on election day, giving Senator shady J.D. (and nom-du-jour) Vance a possible line of attack. 🤔 On the other hand, come the time of the debates, no one will believe Senator Vance's high decibel scheiße anyways, except those who have bought and paid for him already. 🥳
Excuse me, but I’m about to turn 62, and I’m hardly ready for the grave! 60 years old is nowhere near 78 years old, the age of Donald Trump. JD Vance has nothing to say because he’s only been in government for 18 months. And has no experience that would make him qualified to lead the free world. The fact that he’d be one big Mac and Diet Coke away from the oval office truly frightening.
Ned, with respect, I must say the difference between 60 and 78 is a lot.
When I was 59, I walked cement floors supervising 300 employees - 60 hours a week. I could not do that now. When I was 60 I was physically remodeling an old building to become an Inn. I was replacing toilets, carrying the old ones to the street, climbing ladders to repair roofs...you get the picture. I was a maintenance staff of one as well as managing every other aspect of the new business. Chef, webmaster, marketing expert, landscape gardener, house painter...all in a young man's long day of work. 60 was the new 50 for me.
I consider myself to be in optimal health now that I am 77 and I think the brain is OK. But I want a nap every day and certain names and words seem to elude me. I am grateful to be here but I also remember my sixties as prime time. I had experience and energy. Now I am watching my peers have body parts replaced, struggle with Alziemers or Parkinson's (trending big time now) and regularly repeat stories over and over again.
If you are looking for political vulnerability, look no further than the 78 year old criminal who was demented enough to select JD Vance. Maybe the fact that he is a fake attracted him.
So I hear your concern - but I think we have the team age factor advantage!
Not only that, but the 34 felony count candidate is openly exercising quid pro quo as he wheedles large corporate donations by vilifying their products on his campaign trail (ex: electric vehicles etc) only to meet with them privately and subsequently, (surprise surprise!!!) he then begins to publicly sing their praises. Once again he is forecasting how he intends to make a second term even dicier and dirtier than the first! There "gotta be a law" .......?????
That is not the point I am seeking to make; in fact I am substantially older than the Governor. I am saying that Senator Vance is thirty-nine and may take a swipe at Governor Walz by saying he is out of touch with younger voters. A candidate in his forties would have been ideal.
The good news remains all that is great about Governor Walz: nuts-&-bolts committee assignments when he served as a Representative; the antithesis of a 'insider' persona; success in other and unrelated careers; success in leadership positions; and, most of, successful liberalism in Minnesota.
In Canada, "back when", Pierre Trudeau in promoting gay rights famously said "the State has no business in the bedrooms of the nation". Sadly, Canada is likely apt to get another spell of Conservative rule, political capital by whatever party does get expended, and the social conservatives and anti-abortionists ensconced in the party's entrails will again be champing at the bit, despite leadership "promises" to the contrary.
It was hard not to tear up during the Harris and Walz speeches. They snapped me out of a long malaise and gave me feelings that seemed so unfamiliar — hope tinged with joy and a sense that we are going to end up all right.
And the fact that almost ALL of the Republicans including SCOTUS are on board with Project 2025.
I am not on board with living in a forced theocracy where the warped interpretation of Christianity practiced by the white Christian Nationalists will required and the Ten Commandments are hanging in every classroom when the leader of their party has violated every one of them.
I have to believe most of them wouldn't be on board with Project 2025 if they understood what it really is. Too many may just be impressed with the size of it but don't begin to read or understand it, much like the Cullen Hoback movie "Terms and Conditions May Apply."
My wife and I attended a screening of it on Embassy Row in DC (with Cullen explaining a lot more than just that shown in the movie). It was soon after I retired and started going to a lot more protests and gatherings.
We were again impressed with his "What Lies Upstream" prominently featuring the 2014 chemical spill into the Elk River from a leaking Freedom Industries chemical plant storage tank that affected the drinking water for 300,000 people in West Virginia. He tried to sample a lot more water along the "Chemical Valley as I seem to recall, but couldn't find anywhere near the chemical traces expected. I believe a local told him that was because the Clean Waters Act outlawed dumping in the water but didn't ban dumping it on land.
I don't remember many details but do think it was like the use of mixtures of oil and chemical waste that were spread on dirt roads every couple of months like the situation that wiped Times Beach Missouri off the map as a populated place (dioxin spray not spill).
A few days ago I realized that this strange, unfamiliar feeling I suddenly have regarding politics was hope. It is a bit like the feeling watching Ted Lasso brought.
I was heartbroken when Biden bowed out. He’s been the best president of my lifetime, and I thought he didn’t deserve the pile on. He didn’t, but I was wrong to be so worried about it. This is exciting, and I’m beginning to think we might finally throw off the millstone that’s been around our necks for almost a decade. Team Normal here, I believe.
At Ft Benning, GA, when I was in Basic Training, and right after, in Advanced Training (United States Army), the Command Sergeant Major of the battalion I served in was an absolutely awesome person! He was tough as nails, but his heart was overflowing with love for the troops! His relationship with the Colonel who was the commander of the battalion was as solid as a granite rock. I know this because I served at Battalion HQ’s. (Although I was only an E2, the Command Sergeant Major referred to me as the Battalion’s “Command Private Major” (LOL). Tim Walz (soon-to-be Vice President of the United States of America) served 24 years in our nation’s military, retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. Walz, a solid choice as (soon-to-be President of the United States of America) Harris’ running mate, is smart, humble, and dedicated to serving our nation. He is from a rural background, he is a former educator, a coach, a former US Congressperson, a two-term Governor of the State of Minnesota, and a champion of the middle class.
Loved your post, Joel. My dad was a Pvt. 1st class in the Army in WWII (medic awarded 4 Bronze Stars etc.). He was a proud, humble American. I have a HUGE soft spot for our veterans who keep us safe. We owe them (and you) a debt of gratitude. Same goes for our next VP Tim Walz!
Being a California Democrat I'm not familiar with Shapiro or Walz. At first Shapiro seemed like Manchin but with a second look he improved.
Either way I'm all in for Kamala. I don't have much money but I've made my first donation and will start phone banking. A second Trump term scares me down to my toes.
I bid a good night to my fellow Dems. Let's get to work.
Waking up here (Sweden) with a smile and tears to see that the day has dawned with so much more optimism than I felt even yesterday when I was thrilled to learn that Walz was the choice!
Relief here in Ireland. The dark forces driving MAGAts desire for the destruction of rule of law and incitement of civil war are, for the moment, exposed and on the back foot. Words of caution, be prepared. Their response to this enlightening political rising will be to go darker.
A qualified ‘like’ Monnina….not supporting the return/backlash of the empire but I too have been swatting away this jinx-dread of the inevitable caustic response. I have been practicing enjoying the moment although I am a fair weather Buddha when it comes to US politics. I just think this is our best chance in such a long time to counter the dread inducing narcissistic chaos of MAGA leadership with a positive and meaningful - dare I suggest fun and humorous—outlook on what good government can be. Walz kept stressing Harris’s joy… I have notes on my reading of the Dali Lama’s and Arch Bishop Tutu’s book by that name and the pillars are: perspective, humor, humility, generosity, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion and acceptance. I think this expansion of the contours of ‘joy’ can be helpful of those of us facing the next 90 days hoping the US elections will be another rebuff of authoritarianism’s and oligarchy in favor of democracy and all its imperfections.
Most of America is way way ready for some sincerely expressed "joy". There will always be those who live darkly. Angry, fearful other blamers.
And there are always those who are naively and obliviously having a good time.
But most people live in the middle - with the ups and downs of life. For several years all manner of media has been serving up downers - delivered by tortured angry souls. I think most of us who live in that middle region of normality are sick of the hate and tired of the bullying.
I feel a Blue Tsunami of positiveness coming - a huge wave of overwhelmingly attractive JOY.
Tim Walz may be the best messenger VP Harris could have found. I love his accomplishments. And I love how he speaks the truth without vitriol. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
I live in Northern Ireland. The political corruption, state abuses of power and/ or victim blaming neglect and ongoing social dysfunction continue to worsen unabated. So my perspective will be skewed by my daily lived experiences here. And JD is also correct 🐈⬛
Indeed. Only the evil believe in political final solutions to life itself which is always a crazy kaleidoscope of perpetual challenging change. Surf it’s waves or be pushed under by them 🌊
In certain areas things are definitely better than in the 1970s, however in others, particularly in areas that were already seriously impoverished, they are substantially worse. The ever comfortable middle class, the duopoly obsessed political ruling class, sinecured older reactionary civil servants and rogue elements in local British Intelligence have benefitted greatly from stopping shared political and social progress. It’s exhausting.
Thank you for emphasizing the correct pronunciation of Tim Walz’s name! I will say, though, that I love the person who asked, “How do you do the Harris waltz? Two steps forward and no steps back!”
Yes yes, we all know how to pronounce his name. I lived in Minnesota for 18 years. It was just a play on words … but thanks for bringing up in case someone on this thread does not yet know.
Will wonders never cease! We are thrilled people in contrast to dismal DJT and MAGA minions. Hallelujah! "I have seen the promised land..." May the Harris-Walz team prevail over the dark and dreary Project 2025 folks, and may Vladimir Putin weep now that his dream is failing.
No no no - he's diversifying into international saviour - Counselling Iran not to go too far - must not kill civilians in Israel, where (he says) there are lots of Russian citizens... Preserve the balance in the Middle East! I've read this in three or four different sources.
Anne-Louise….sorry, but I am not understanding your comment….who is “he”? And can you cite your “three or four different sources” for the issue I am still unclear about….maybe I’m dense, but I’m not “getting” your comment!
Joanne is correct - "he" is Putin. I was checking Trump's "prediction" that Iran was going to strike Israel that night (last night), and I found myself on a news site which I now can't find. However, this report includes what I read there, and more. It was also covered in traditional news media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jfLak1fCX8
V=Vladimir, V=Viscious. Your point is a good one, but I was specifically referring to Trump's failing campaign and V's ambition to crush the US and NATO...which CFDT is only too willing to do for him. Also, even though Ukraine seems a slog, many small victories are wearing Putin thin. (Losing 1/3 of his naval fleet in the Black Sea, for one)
I wrote to some acquaintances from the dark side that I thought Putin making the prisoner swaps was evidence he has given up on Trump winning in November, and wants to be able to wiggle out of the Ukraine with some tiny bit of gain or not too much loss.
While they may think I'm dreaming, my reply is "yes," the most pleasant dream I can consider after the nightmares of November 2016.
Walz is our generation's Harry Truman!!! (Well JUST like him only different) He embodies Truman's desire for progressive ideas (he wanted to implement a National Healthcare Plan at the same time as Great Britain and much of Europe)
He's fair, compassionate, and filled with common sense with a progressive view of the future."
I made a meme of this today. And I have to say....I just CAN NOT get over the quote from Lincoln's speech that Heather used the other day!!! And when I saw that Vance had called Walz "radical"....I JUST couldn't resist!
The Same Old Thing, 160 Years Old!
“...the same qualities that led Walz to the Democratic ticket are already being used against him by Republicans who have…labeled him as “weird” and “radical."
1860 Democrats
Destruction of the Union and determined to base the United States
in enslavement while referring to Republicans as “radical”
2024 Republicans
Destruction of Democracy, and determined to rip away the rights , determined to base the United States in a misogynistic theocracy while referring to Democrats as “radical”
That speaks of ROOTEDNESS... and someone who's "rooted" is a NATURAL.
Qualities that don't go down well with ultra-weirdo UPROOTERS raring to grub up the Republic and replace it with their dimestore Reich, complete with Coney Island Caesar.
I must add, Terri, that for these MAGAMISFIT weirdos, all that's regular and natural is weird.
I'll admit to having spent a lifetime suspecting the word "normal" but the Drumpfified "New Normal" is the ultimate perversion of that poor concept, a conglomeration of every abnormality conceivable and inconceivable. But not, unfortunately, unprecedented.
Over the past weeks, Joe Biden stepped away frok his incumbency campaign to support Kamala Harris’s run for the presidency, while kicking diplomatic butt in releasing prisoners of Putin, and now, Harris chooses Tim Walz, who is basically Ted Lasso, all while I’m glued to Team USA at the Olympics! I’m positively patriotic. 🇺🇸
I had sent Kamala deep vibes about not picking according to the ticket (because historically that hasn't worked out, esp. when the country is not exactly united)
And she listened to me!!!! She heard US!!! She went toward the Democratic base and not the states that can bring the most votes route!!!
But her choice WILL in fact pull in the states that need to be won. It is virtually certain that Walz will help bring in votes in all three midwest swing states (Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania) and probably he will also help in Arizona. With Kamala helping herself in Georgia where we actually might win the general election as Biden did 4 years ago, that would more than provide enough electoral votes to get well over the 270 needed to win. And Nevada is a good possibility as could be North Carolina! I wasn't sure but it may turn out to be a tremendously inspired decision, which bodes well for this election AND for the long term of Kamala's Presidency.
Jon, exactly how it plays out. Once these states whose needs have long been ignored will finally feel like part of the family....so there is NO part of ANY dreamy longings for the past; feet firmly planted in the present, on the road that leads to a progressive future.
I hope our government can work in tandem to build back the middle class, improve our standing in the world community, and investigate and prosecute all those who would defile and destroy our nation's Constitution as we go on to modernize it and bring it up to speed while laying the foundation for it's continuing modernize as needed in the future.
Same here…I was sooo wanting the Walz pick over the pundit/Clinton neoliberal pollsters favorites …kowtowing to the supposed center that might chose Trump (gasp) if it wasn’t the likes of Shapiro or Kelly. And from what I am reading of the rally last night it just feels so right!
I was still pretty stupid in the 1st part of the 80s. I had just gotten out of a very short marriage with an Iranian, who thanks to me, ended up here with a Green Card, and I assume citizenship.
When Carter sought to rescue the captives in Iran, and the helicopters got plugged up from sand, I laughed at his effort to go INTO Iran and free the hostages.
Fast forward 2 Decades after Reagan, I got to see Jimmy Carter for who he really was...and I felt SO ashamed that I was so dumb earlier. I only wish I could apologize to him for my stupidity. I had also gotten out of the JWs after 9 yrs because I was getting migraine headaches from not being able to say "Yeah but, what about?"...and all the other crap in their organization.
Suffice it to say, I began to identify who I really was (actually, I turned out to be a very progressive thinking humanis!!) And I've been able to enjoy learning more about Jimmy. I THINK we saw the same type of person in Pres. Biden and will be seeing the same from Kamala and TIm.
Agreed, and don't beat yourself up about your early feelings about Farmer Jimmy. I doubt he would feel an apology is needed. We all spend time learning. I expect that Carter, amazingly decent man that he was, would be more than understanding.
And it is REALLY interesting that in '76, with Carter at the top of the ticket having been a Naval Academy graduate (non-Ivy), the VP for THAT ticket was Walter Mondale from (where else LOL?) Minnesota! How's that for a coincidence!
One interesting aside that I read or heard somewhere: When the Harris/Walz team wins, MN Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, will become the first Indigenous Governor in the United States.
Yes, it’s remarkable, isn’t it? A Black and Asian candidate for President of the USA is a woman who is married to a Jewish guy, chooses a running mate who is a real patriot and a decent fellow, who turned his state into the happiest one in the Union, and whose Lt. Governor, a Native American woman, will become his state’s governor!
It sounds like a win-win-win-win to me! Joy and Freedom! That is what I see ahead of me!
I am really impressed with Gov. Walz. He's the perfect pick. Time to go "walzing" with Kamala and Tim. I was in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas in the 5th grade. I saw Latino kids who didn't have the money to pay for the state-subsidized lunch (15 cents.) They were malnourished. That has haunted me for 74 years. When I read about what Gov. Walz did in Minnesota tears welled up inside. "Even as you do it unto the least of these . . ." That's why we are Democrats.
Richard, I am impressed too. Minnesota sounds more like Scandinavia than the USA. Trump should be modeling more states off of Minnesota if he wants Norwegians to move to the USA. In the meantime, let us hope some of the Scandi largess can be spread around. Even in Germany, for Early childhood education I understand from a friend that they pay less then the government gives them for food for their children whose daycare is free otherwise. She says the food is really good quality too.
https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/09/04/school-meals-in-europe-which-countries-provide-free-food-for-students
Here on this link it says that the US was serving up free lunches during Covid. I know my Blue State, Blue city was, but is that true in Red States too? https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/mar23-countries-have-universal-free-school-meals/
I agree with his statement on why we are Democrats too.
We have free breakfast and lunch to all students in Clay County. We are a very poor county in Indiana!
Sharon that is great. Is that because your county is poor and everyone qualifies for federal free meals, or is it because your county pays for it, or both?
Interesting, Linda. That's what came to my mind - Scandinavia, where they put pragmatic capitalistic practices to work. It is criminal that 800 wealthy Americans have the same amount of wealth as one-half of the American population, 800 = 170,000,000 (Eight hundred versus one hundred and seventy million people.) They have plundered the American economy and that is why we have a national debt of $35 trillion, making our successors indentured servants with unconscionable debt passed on to them.
I agree 100% with your summation. We have reached the crossroads here. We either veer into authoritarianism or we bring politics back to the center. I’m a centrist. Let’s stop the goofball things on the far left it doesn’t sell. I’m optimistic for the first time. Can’t wait until we nominate 4 more Supreme Court justices.
Food and quality education and get out of the way. An investment with immeasurable payback
I'm not sure what you mean by "and get out of the way." Yes, our kids need food and quality education, but they also need clean air and water, among many other necessities of life that we rely on the government to provide since the 800 richest folks don't care about the rest of us at all.
...and "mind your damned business" too.
I am 75 and from Carbondale, Pa. I remember kids in my grade school like the ones you describe. Wonderful and kind. Never complained. They were good friends and contributed to our society and community in so many ways. What some call a hand out, I call an investment in a democracy for all.
Richard you are very special and I am so glad to call you one of my HCR friends!
Thank you for this, Sharon. The older I get the more mindful I am of those who need a helping hand. I love this group- bright, intelligent people who care for others.
You might say that we Democrats try to follow the words that are written in red in the Bible.
Dear Richard, you have a compassionate heart, it has been growing in you since childhood. Bless you
Linda, joy is the operative word! I love Joe Biden, and he has done remarkable work during his term in office, but the specter of Donald Trump and his band of thugs, doing the horrible damage that they are determined to wreak on our democracy has haunted me since 2016. Many of our voters were blind to Biden's strengths and could see only his slow gait and halting speech, refusing to believe that he had restored our standing in the world and saved our economy. Their blindness was so frustrating for those of us who could see how lucky we were. For the first time since the orange menace came on the scene, I believe that we now have a joyful team that can effectively turn the toxic, narcissistic right wing into dust! I have suddenly become joyful at the prospect of overcoming this evil with Kamala and Tim at the helm using good humor and strength as their main weapons against what has always been a paper tiger. Maybe we can even hope to see Jake Tapper's worried frown and constant harping against those who will save our democracy disappear from our television screens. I believe we finally have the antidote to our country's inability to handle the threat.
Nancy, I totally agree with you that Biden is wonderful. I have said he is the best president in my lifetime. Prof. Timothy Snyder says Biden is the best natural negotiator he has ever seen. We have benefitted from this both domestically and internationally. It will be missed. Not to say Kamala and Walz will not be great, but Biden has experiences that cannot be replaced. She will bring different strengths, and Biden has been sending her out to deal with things internationally so that is to our advantage. Nothing Trump has done or will do internationally or domestically is to our advantage. Americans Abroad are suddenly waking up to the fact that living Abroad with the US out of NATO as is planned and not sharing any intelligence with our NATO allies is a scary thought. I guess unless they pay for it through expensive nights in Trumps fleabag hotels. In other words, open to the highest bidder. So, imagine my relief last night when Kamala and Tim spread joy and laughter about the campaign, which is an about face from the doom and gloom we have been facing. We have been victims of the press that likes to only spread bad news, although not about Trump. The NYT will not be purchased by me or any of my offspring for generations to come as it has been so coopted by that Neo-Fascist Sulzburger as he was willing to tank our entire nation and planet just because Biden would not do an interview with him. That being said, it is a new day, and we have freedom, joy and hope on the horizon. I'M ALL IN!
Linda, ever since wonder-worker Joe Biden was elected, I've been frustrated by the coverage of our "liberal" press, and that despite the fact that some of us understood his amazing talents of statesmanship, it became clear that his reelection was not in the cards. With Kamala and Tim, as you said, we will have the advantage of a younger, fearless team in place, and my guess is that that they will call on Biden for advice on strategy and statesmanship when necessary. I worried that another term in office would have killed him, but with the pressure off, he can assist from the wings when they will benefit.
I've been surprised that, because of the horrible possibility of the right wing gaining traction, there has been little discussion of the fact that Kamala Harris will be our first woman president, not to mention that she is of Black and Asian heritage. If the threat of Trump wasn't so great, this would be headline news! I well remember the handwringing over Jack Kennedy being Catholic.
Yes, Biden's negotiating talents seem unmatched but I'm hoping, as you say, he is in the wings and even available to represent our country at times calling for such negotiations.
The euphoria that I keep hearing alarms me. We all need to be mindful of the fact that Project 2025 didn't just appear overnight--it was years in the making, and it will not go away. Yes, we have our Republic, but we always need to be aware that keeping it demands our active participation.
Betsy, you're right, of course, and if we don't win this election, including a majority in the House and Senate, it will be the end of our democracy. All of us need to be vocal and active to achieve that end.
I haven't felt euphoric after Trump was elected until now. My guess is that most on this site are well aware of the danger all around us, so don't begrudge us our euphoria.
May the orange T fade into obscurity, possibly on some remote island that will sink under the ocean as climate change continues to melt the poles of the earth.
Well, although it would be poetic justice for OT to flail around when his remote island sinks (he wouldn't sink with all of that hot air), none of us want climate change to succeed. I think that the current trend to treat him like a very small paper tiger and ignore him and J.D. Vance as they stumble off the stage is the best way for this to end.
I agree, you're right. Paper tiger it is.
Well-said, well-said, Nancy. Thank you. My thoughts, too -- love Joe Biden for all he has done and now he has passed the torch along to be carried by Harris and Walz. Harris' choice of Walz shows the Dems political savvy, especially given the excellence of the three top contenders they had to choose from. Walz will appeal to midwestern folks who like his straight forward way of speaking, no political razzmatazz. Tell it like you see it, Tim!
I love the spontaneous humor that both Walz and Harris employ (i.e., "Say it to my face" and "yes, I'm a monster, seeing that kids have full bellies so they can learn").
Linda, may this honeymoon last longer than any of trompy's.
Absolutely - but then when WAS there a trompy "honeymoon"? I dont remember any! It was downhill from the very beginning.
Downhill since the orange menace took the down escalator and downhill for America since then. Now it's turnaround time. It's blowing in the wind for all to witness.
MAJA--Make America Joyful Again!
Margaret, I love it! MAKE AMERICA JOYFUL AGAIN! In blue letters of course!
As a second generation, Californian, so happy that I chose Minnesota as my second home, nearly 30 years ago! We’ve had many great leaders here in this state, both Democratic and Republican! This is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” and the place to get shit done! USA
Isn't MN where Sears used to test those "Die Hard" batteries? MN is grass-roots outboard boat racing country too. Let's stock up on popcorn so we can watch the lunatics in MAGA-world as they stumble around in their weirdly manner. Stock up.
I love all this too. However i personally am most overjoyed by having strong, intelligent,reasonable,candidates. Two well spoken humans who believe in the rule of law. People who will make our great nation better! If We focus on demographic diversity, we are guilty of exactly what the magats accuse us for. Just saying…
DEI indeed, wear it proud, and the rich will still stay rich. What can be those billionaires' problem? Too much Ayn Rand?
DEI GOP style: Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka
This should be a Democratic campaign poster.
What is too much Ayn Rand? Here's American screenwriter John Rogers' answer:
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
I don't know whether J. D. Vance, Elon Musk, and/or Peter Theil read Ayn Rand when they were fourteen, but symptoms are the same.
Frank, they do not need Rand to be greedy and arrogant.
"Greed is good"
--Gordon Gekko
True, but she gives them her blessing.
Harris/Walz team will help to insure the rule of law and that ordinary folks have access to opportunities, not just the wealthy.
You weaponizing the FBI DOJ against their political enemies?
You mean forcing social media companies to censor Americans?
You mean turning America into a police state during the pandemic?
You mean reducing or eliminating Secret Service protection for opponents?
And on and on. You are delusional?
Explain how Democrats protect the rule of law?
What can a rational person do to convince a delusional person to be rational when the delusional person is convinced that the rational person is delusional? Not much. Catch 22. I guess the best thing the rational person can do is hope that time heals all wounds.
In my opinion a rational person shouldn’t spend time trying to change the mind of the delusional. Instead go find two or more rational people and register them to vote. :). Maybe by example the delusional will see a different picture.
Which reminds me of the reverse (many years ago): “Time wounds all heels.”
Delusions are fixed ideas that don't respond to reason, logic or evidence.
James A, it is obvious you get informed by right-wing media that lies and distorts what is really happening. I live in Florida around people who live on a constant diet of Fox and are convinced of these opinionated versions of actual facts that suit their MAGA agenda.
There is absolutely no evidence that the Democrats are weaponizing the FBI or DOJ against political opponents. It is a projection of what MAGA has done and wants to continue to do to their opponents.
Social media companies are not being forced by the Dems to censor Americans! Dems believe in first amendment rights. But when violence is advocated, it is essential to interfere.
“Turning America into a police state during the pandemic” is an absurd statement. A lot of lives were saved because of the precautions put into place. There are plenty of facts to back this up.
There also is absolutely no evidence that secret service protections for opponents have been reduced or eliminated. If you cared enough to really understand what happened at Trumps’s rally, you would discover how much time has been invested by our present administration into figuring out why the sniper was able to take the shots he did.
There are mountains of evidence to support that Democrats believe in the rule of law far more than current Republicans.
I think you are the delusional one!
The contractually bound Substack Troll "Author' & Reader's 6 False statements & 2 of which thinly disguised as 2Q's have been reported.
I admire your factual response but, Substack Inc has specific contractual duties that the Corp itself devised for this Platform for the 2024 digital environment.
You are delusional
STOP LYING
Both Mueller, Durham, and Inspector General found that the FBI had improperly spied on the Trump campaign. "Operation "Crossfire Hurricane" Was improperly started. "They got FISA warrants relying on the Steele dossier. They falsified documentation. In fact the Steele dossier was invented and paid for by the Clinton campaign.
STOP LYING
We were lied to about the effect of the virus, the efficacy about the vaccine, the efficacy of the booster, the efficacy of masks, and its effects on children. PFizer admitted THEY NEVER TESTED the vaccine before its release.
Minnesota were the worst two states for lockdowns. People were fired from their jobs and censored.
Stop Lying: Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/07/20/trump-secret-service-security-attempted-assassination/
"Top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday, according to four people familiar with the requests."
As for RFK protection until after the Trump assassination attempt. RFK's dad and uncle were assassinated.
Trump was denied counter sniper teams for two years until the Butler Rally.
For two years anyone couldn't gotten on a roof, and building window and the Secret Service could have done NOTHING to take out the sniper.
There isn't MOUNTAINS of evidence on Rule of Law. NAME ONE?
CRICKETS...........
Go troll somewhere else.
They don’t, Walz let MN burn and Kamala bailed out the arsonists and rioters and let the wealthy come in and gobble up all that real estate.
All of the A list Democrats are staying on the back burner, waiting for 2028. Biden screwed Obama and now Obama got Holder to screw Kamala. Too far left, the socialist ticket is done. They can try and spin Kamala and Walz as centerist, but their records and previous comments can not be scrubbed, posts on the internet are forever.
I keep forgetting: Wanting to be just a little more like Scandinavia means we are all Stalinist.
With definitions like this is it any wonder we are saying "Weird!"
Russian Bot!
exactly, that is what i am saying. It is the focus on the demographics that i am pointing out.
Sean, I sense your fair warning. My concern regarding Shame (Brene Brown has researched) as a misunderstood and misguided visceral reactive emotion is important to understand. Naming and truth telling are not as effective when unbridled Shaming as a strategy sticks a foot in the door and all hell breaks loose. A little goes a long way.
Gop has ALOT to be ashamed of, and they codified it all in project 2025!
Yes. As I have said elsewhere if they implement Project 2025 as it is written, filled with all of its contradictions, continual whining and lying about Biden, and chaos making at every level, including basically ending Public education in favor of doling out big incomes to Home Schooling Christian Nationalists and their subsequent charter schools, setting their Thug Nazi Militias on the rest of us, will stir up a South Sudan like chaos that I do not want to be around for.
Can you believe they put it all in writing 🧐? I think that’s what Kamala said as she names and explains truthfully everything and provides hope for what people powered actions can and must do to stop it in its tracks.
We are all part of a social system. Every individual has a perception of who and what is included in and excluded from that system. My term for that perception is the individual's "circle of concern." Everything outside of that circle will be perceived as an opportunity to be exploited, or a threat to be neutralized, and otherwise irrelevant.
The ideal time to help an individual expand their too-small circle of concern (aka cognitive maturation) from the outside of their circle is before the individual is physically mature. Later is a less-than-ideal time.
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." —Fredrick Douglas.
I am going to copy your perfect post and share it with people who need to hear it 🌺
A classmate of mine, lives in Minneapolis and his representative in Ilhan Omar. He is an old white guy married to an old white woman and they just love her.
The Democrats get things done while the Republicans fight among themselves for power and fame. They want the America of Project 2025.
The evil Leonard Leo and Charles Koch have poured millions into Project 2025. We need to reject it by sending VP Harris and the Coach to DC.
I look upon the Project 2025 as more like throwing spaghetti at the wall more to confuse people who don't have the time or desire to read it (like those terms and conditions they don't expect you to read, just give up and by default agree to.
At least the old Cato Institute "research" I read back in the 80s looked honest and thorough, some of it even matched what I discussed with oil field workers and a guy who's truck I fixed, who's job it was to take instrumentation trailers out to oil field equipment. He described the company only paying the lease holders for about a 3rd of the oil or gas extracted, (and only a sixth for the Native American lease holders. My only problem was the policies they recommended, supposedly based on the research seemed greatly at odds with the research that showed some of the cheating.
I certainly didn't know all the details but the ones I talked to seem to very much fit the story told at https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/22/kochland-excerpt-senate-investigation-oil-theft-native-american-tribes-227412/
"...On July 11, 1988, the president of Koch Industries, Bill Hanna, sent a companywide memo informing employees how to handle company records. He reminded employees at the oil company that there was a code of secrecy for internal records. Then, he ordered that “written materials which would be useful to our competitors should be destroyed by shredding, burning, or some equally effective method.”
At any other time, Hanna’s memo might have been standard advice for a secrecy-minded company. Coming when it did, it could also be seen as a license to destroy evidence..."
There's plenty more in the story in the link than I can add at the moment.
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS (the more the better as far as the mismatch between lots of "research").
Marlene, have you ever been more proud to be a Democrat?
Harris Walz, the Dance of Joy!
Happy Warrior Walz!
Yes, a timely choice.. A competent high school teacher/coach who can manage the school bullies and thugs.
Looks just like the United States--the kind of United States I want to live in!!!
Marlene Lerner-Bigley -- The Harris-Walz campaign should make the fourth movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Ode to Joy, their Campaign Theme Song!
Marlene and Betsy, all of this makes me so happy. My husband has Lakota relatives and they are psyched. As one person said, "It's about damn time." Who would have predicted this a month ago.
I really dropped the ball when I didn't mention Doug Emhoff and Minnesota's Peggy Flanagan. Imagine - our world is finally changing!
That sounds wonderful, makes me feel happy to wake up in this America !
Sounds wonderful to wake up in this America !
Don't forget Deb Haaland... She is the first Indigenous U.S. Cabinet Member... The Department of Interior which handles Indigenous Affairs no less... There are pictures of her being sworn in attired in Traditional Attire... She is a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico... She is active in the Betterment of the Indigenous Communities....
Let us not forget Lena Khan, tirelessly fighting monopolies who got a win against Google yesterday. What Matt Stoller of the anti-monopoly Substack Big said about that is that even though Google is going to appeal, he doubts the judge will allow a stay until then, so that means that all of the lawyers in all of the corporations are going to be advising their people to adjust their business practices to reflect the substance of the ruling! Yay! So many wonderful women in government under this administration, and the glass ceiling may be broken for the highest job in the land thanks to Biden's support and choices, paving the way for all women, including Women who are not considered "White!" to rise along side the men who support us and our nation! Yay Harris! Yay Walz! Joy, Freedom and Hope!
Yes, so many important issues and people are on the ballot with Harris/Walz. Kahn is one of those people. After years of corporate acquisitions, the monopolistic behaviors of some corporate juggernauts crush competition, limit entrepreneurship, suppress worker rights/pay/benefits and funnel increasing profits to executives and shareholders. This only adds to inequities in our Country that have been fueling the grievances Donald Trump has been exploiting. Kahn has been working to limit monopolistic behaviors of firms like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, etc.
Now we have billionaire megadonors associated with some of these firms pressuring Harris to fire Kahn. Reid Hoffman and Barry Diller are more overtly and less overtly, respectively, hinting that their big campaign donations are at risk unless Harris pledges to fire Kahn. Hopefully, Harris will soon say that unlike her competitor she does not accept, much less request like Trump did from big oil executives, quid pro quo offers of campaign funds.
Yes. I read about the Reid Hoffmann request and wrote that I would support Harris even if she felt she needed his money. She has reminded me of AOC in the amount of grassroots fundraising she is doing. Like you I hope she will be able to maintain independence. Good news is that Germany's second largest Drugstore chain Rossmann, owned by a billionaire, has made a public announcement yesterday that his business will no longer be buying Teslas because Elon Musk is funding Donald Trump. We walk a fine line in Germany as Democrats Abroad, the Voting Organization I belong to, to not mix US and German politics when we are working for Democrats Abroad. However, as we try to recruit and support Americans with registering to vote from abroad Germans come to our venues and are very supportive of our work to get a Democratic president back into the White House. Pro-democracy work is global. So glad to see a German corporation taking the lead in saying no to fascism.
Monopolies are why we Americans pay more for slower Internet speed and mediocre cellular service compared to countries like those In Europe, South Korea and Japan.
A friend, who is of Estonian heritage, explained how that country became the most WiFi connected. When the Soviet's pulled out in the early '90s, they took all the phone infrastructure with them. The Estonians, who almost literally sang the Russians out, had no alternative but to go wireless. And they did it to a Tee!
I’m surprised the Russians didn’t steal the plumbing as well 🤷♂️
Say it louder! Don’t get me started about Comcast.
Great point!
“Hopefully, Harris will soon say that unlike her competitor she does not accept, much less request like Trump did from big oil executives, quid pro quo offers of campaign funds.”
This means we work even harder to GOTV ! We have a Fl Rep who takes NO corporate donations. Anna has solid, middle-class roots with parents who immigrated from Iran.She is brilliant and boots-on-the-ground with a major grassroots effort and is hugely popular. Rep Anna is a thorn in DeSantis’ side ….and all the bought-and-paid for millionaire FL legislators who she talks/debates circles around. She reminds me of a certain VP nominee.💙
✍️📲💲🚶♀️👕🪧🇺🇸
Yes, yes, yes!!! Anna Eskamani! She is all you mentioned plus, not intiminated-- especially not by our pathetic governor!!!
I think about monopolies every time I order something from Amazon. My concern is that I can't find some items I regularly use in a brick and mortar store in my area. Ex. chicken bouillon, a very mundane ingredient for cooking. I ordered it from Amazon after checking all the grocery stores in my area. I don't want to add to Bezos's bottom line, but does anyone have a suggestion?
Jenn, we buy Better Than Bouillon (chicken or beef) at the member-owned Costco, which has a good record of treating their employees well. Do you have one , or perhaps another membership wholesale club, near you?
(Although we admittedly buy from Amazon as well.)
Doug Gagne -- We have a great Costco here in Halifax-Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I've spoken with several employees there asking what it's like to work there -- they're all supremely happy because they're consulted on things and are paid very well! It's so good to hear and know this, about such a large organization.
Now, if Biden would sign the Equal Rights Amendment just before he heads home …. It’s all ratified and stuff.
Let us write him today and suggest it. I noticed last week, when I wrote to him, that it is no longer Biden and Kamala with separate links to write to, it is now a unified Biden and Harris link.
Stephanie Ruhl warned last night that this ruling is going to send gobs of tech money to Trump.
Money can't buy enthusiasm and hope. Each Harris/Walz rally needs to be an upbeat party in contrast to convicted felon's same old lies and whining. Harris and the Coach will get their digs in like Kamala has been doing for weeks now. She can tell DonOld to shove it up his keister in the nicest way possible and so can Coach. And people will continue to walk out on DonOld sooner and sooner.
We still have the right to vote.
I saw that as well. But they may not be able to do much in 90 days, especially given that the repugnantkins are running a convicted felon whose brain is missing in action. Psychobabble is not likely to win many new votes. 💥🙏
Somewhat lost amid the very well deserved hoopla of yesterday, the win against Google is a BFD! Thanks for bringing it up!
Some of the most brilliant people I know and have known are females with amazing accomplishments. And I ask myself: “Why should saying this even be necessary?” We still have work ahead but this is one helluva step forward.
Oh and the big boys DO NOT like Lena Khan! I say tough titties boys! I think she’s terrific!❤️💙👌🐈⬛🇺🇸
Deb Haaland’s place in history is so important and it was Joe Biden who placed her in the Interior Dept.
She is so real. I've seen her brush away tears while telling a story or introducing someone. She is awesome and has been doing a fantastic job, like almost all of Biden's cabinet.
AND the Congresswoman from the great state of Alaska! Mary Peltola!
Win, win, win!
Walz across the Midwest/rust belt. Represents small town America. Same genealogy as the rural population in the blue wall states.
Was a successful football coach. Coaches for Harris Walz. Knows there is no "I" in "team."
I'm hoping he'll sway some of those Norwegian bachelors, repressed Lutherans and other denizens of states like the Dakotas, Nebraska and Iowa. I support stealth senate candidate Katrina Christensen, who is a female Walz.
Trumps Vance-- same genealogy to contest with hyperactive collective racist subconscious. Can invoke the magic words, "not suckers or losers." Can tell SS beneficiaries "don't slit your own throat."
Walz loves all animals. Trump hates dogs.
Daniel, fill me in on "those Norwegian bachelors" please ...
Prairie Home Companion. https://www.prairiehome.org/
Garrison Keillor's schtick. About 25 years ago I taught a class in Minnesota. Told my usual retinue of jokes pus local references. Nobody laughed. But in the teacher evaluations I got high marks. "Highly humorous," said the reclusive Norwegian bachelors.
Not to mention the customers of Bertha's Kitty Boutique. https://www.prairiehome.org/story/2017/03/04/berthas-kitty-boutique-january-21-2008.html
50(?) years of delightfully charming storytelling ❤️ and I was a New Yorker!
It's a dark and stormy night in St. Paul.
this keeps getting better and better!
And imagine a man so sure of himself that he can support a woman as his boss!! (My son tells me the best bosses he’s had have been women. But we knew that, didn’t we? 😙
So proud to be Minnesotan! As an Ojibwe citizen, so proud to see my “sister” Peggy Flanagan as the next Governor here in Minnesota.
Millions of Americans can't quit smiling over the Harris/Walz ticket. The rally in Philly was electric. Shades of Obama/Biden in 2008. Laughter, singing and dancing.
Walz grew up close to perhaps the most famous Nebraskan, although at different times -- Johnny Carson. You can see the same folksy Nebraska nice in both of them. Most of my family is still in Nebraska and maybe, just maybe, Nebraska can at least turn Purple again like it was when Bob Kerrey was governor and Debra Winger was living with him in the governor's mansion.
I am surprised that HCR didn't mention that Walz taught school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation since she wrote extensively about the area in her book "Wounded Knee." Maybe she's saving that for another Letter.
There just isn't a downside to any of this is there? This is a lot of winning, I will never get tired of all this winning.
Not only that, but perhaps less spectacularly, the first female governor.
Yes. "Peggy Flanagan is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and currently the country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office" (from Walz' website) She would take over for Walz if Harris-Walz are elected.
https://jonathanbrownson.substack.com/p/coach?r=gdp9j
How Grace can flow❤️
A song for that, with bagpipes and native drumbeats--a version I love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09YZKv-f-RI
Joan: Thank you very much for sharing the link! Another example of the wonderful things I receive from my fellow readers and writers on Substack! Wonderful!
Agreed! I love this version.
Just wonderful!! Thank you!
All the more reason to shatter my erstwhile so we can return to cooperative conservatism. 🤞
“Conservatism” has been maligned to the max. It is no longer a viable description of anything except word murder.
Register more Democrats -- who needs "conservatives."?
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Guess they are Act Blue connected too. Clean up your act Act Blue
Word murder! Gay comes to mind: the "gay" nineties.., boink. Discriminate comes to mind, Ex: to be discreet.., exercise discrimination.., in-discriminate behavior.., poor choice (indiscriminate).., indiscreet! Discriminate - the act of choosing wisely. Queer. Bi-. Trans-. Black. And, finally.., christian?. Ooops... forgot one. It's like the only thing #45.., the (R)SS-hole-in-chief has sad that is remarkable.., yup., "black jobs". But, I've got to hand it to Simone Biles. She nailed him badly the other day when she stated she was going to do her "black job".., ie., being the absolute supreme athlete (that has recently walked this planet - my words), which she is. Nicely done Simone!
You have to admit that “conservative” has become the go to for the propaganda machine.
I am afraid that I do not follow you.
Let's face it.. when we treat someone unfairly, that's plain cruel. We're a cruel bunch, us humans. Particularly when we behave like animals. And, it's learned behavior. We didn't come out of the womb like that.
You gotta realize that progressive successes of today are just apt to become what you call "cooperative conservatism" of tomorrow, right?
I do like "Cooperative Conservatism" (for all), better than my thought of "Egalitarian Conservative." When I look back at how my grandparents helped the community, it seems they were more like cooperative minded Quakers than those among the Puritans who wanted religious freedom for themselves, but not much for any others that followed and didn't agree with them.
My mother as a 16 year old that worked as a maid for preservationist, Clara Endicott Sears, listening to her and her guests at "The Pergolas" that once stood above the Fruitlands Museum, seemed to show it was a very thought provoking experience.
I would count her as an egalitarian conservative viewing the benefits of cooperative utopians in a bit of a better balance of the two.
Jim, as word pairings go, (and I've had trouble with the morphing meanings of word labels so common as Republican and Democrat for more than 5 decades), I like "Cooperative Conservatism" and when I heard Van Jones describe Walz as a "Positive Populist" last night, it rang true and useful at this time when "Negative Populism" was used to describe the Trump/Vance ticket.
Great point, there, Joan. Even as a young conservatively inclined college graduate, I could not vote for President Reagan. My parents had grown up in Republican families but supported the idea of a Great Society. Governor Walz obviously cares for his constituents; an ideal example -- as a coach, teacher, Representative, or Governor -- of the servant-style of leadership. The more boats that rise, the better for us all.
Yeah, Mom! What a wonderful heritage into which you were created. What terms like "cooperative conservatism" or "cooperative liberalism" mean, for me at least, is a political inclination balanced among:
> pragmatically placing principles before personalities;,
> remembering why we are all here; and,
> a devotion to the truth as best as one can attain it.
Cheekily, I like to joke, "There is no one more closed minded than an open minded liberal and no one so crazy as a cranial conservative." Or as a conservative mentor once stated to me, "Ideology breeds idiocy."
A million thanks to each of you, Jim and Frank.
Absolutely. EDIT: great insight, there, Frank!
The conservativism I came from was primarily pragmatic. The liberals would put forth a policy and conservatives would make it fiscally sustainable. When a policy clearly did not work, conservatives might try to change it, and, failing that, lead, with pragmatic liberals, to its repeal.
I read that as well and like being a woman of color running for President - it’s about time. From Deb Haaland to Kamala Harris to Peggy Flanagan - I am feeling a liberation of my spirit.
WOW - that will be cool. About time I say. Now let's get to work to make this happen. GOTV for Harris/Walz.
And the good news keeps on rolling. Yes, Peggy Flanagan would be the nation’s first Indigenous governor. Couldn’t be prouder or more joyful at the prospect!
💛🌞🧡
How wonderful! Another Win/Win for everyone!
As a Philly resident invited to the rally tonight, I can say that the line to get into the Liacorus Center on the Temple University Campus was long and running into the thousands! As in thousands inside, and thousands that could not fit in! The atmosphere was electric, and the Harris/Walz energy brought down the house several times. If you watch the end of Walz’s speech you’ll see Kamala mouthing the words: “You killed it!”
With the charisma of a midwestern dad who grew up on a farm, the bravery of a sergeant major, the grit of a high school football coach, and the decency and determination of a middle class kid who grew up in this American meritocracy, Walz delivered! His line about Vance getting off the sofa to debate him was hilarious.
My only consolation for not getting in the front door of the rally was being part of the hopeful energy bursting outside, plus maybe I avoided a case of Covid!
https://mccormickmd.substack.com/p/july-in-covidlandia
Be careful out there!
Donated $100 Philly dollars tonight to say thanks for coming to PA!
Awesome write up, thank you!
In two minutes, I’m gonna go on ActBlueExpress and match your $100 donation!
Be careful with Act Blue. I signed up for a one time donation and THEY informed me I was signed up as a monthly donor. I wish I could afford that, but as a retiree with low SS I cannot. Getting it corrected made me jump through hoops. Very unhappy experience
I’m sorry to hear that. I too am on SSI and mistakenly donated $100 which I can’t afford. So I went on their site & had my $100 refunded within 3 days. Np. No hoops to jump thru. I explained that I only donate $5 at a time. And to candidates all over the country. So if they didn’t return my money, I wouldn’t be able to make the other donations.
You have to be very careful that you check the one time only box! Yes, there is always a box with that option
That should be the default, but as with most subscriptions the default is "recurring". American free enterprise at work folks! (and hardly just American)
Wasn't for me, i.e., the "one-time only" donation box was auto-selected when I reached that stage. Granted, they implored me to select "recurring," several times.
The default had been one time donation — until the shortness of the new campaign period came about with the party’s new standard bearer. So do be careful and take a few more seconds to review the entire donation page before clicking. It be changed, just look at and remember to review your receipt and also you can look at and review all of your ActBlue donations and it will show if your donations were one time or are likely still recurring. Hey … Be Careful Out There!
True 💯
In my experience ActBlue has been very responsive to requests for changes in donation status from monthly to one-time, also to refund a donation made in error. It's not automated so it takes time for the humans to process the requests.
I signed up, I thought, through Act Blue, for monthly donations to Harris/Walz and then was directed to another page to fill out my same information again, I guess they were unhappy that I refused to send them a "tip" after filling out the repeat information I discovered I'd been conned into "giving" Act Blue another monthly donation of equal amount. It seems every Democrat has been scammed into using Act Blue for their donations, when in fact Act Blue is just out to make themselves billionaires like the Silicon Valley rotters.
I try to find other means. Dems need to fix the crap that they do. I get horrendous amounts of emails when I donate, to anybody
We all do, from whatever, this is free enterprise in action. I signed up with my local Liberal Party in NB, Canada, and after a few weeks of continuous "ad on" promotions, disengaged. They even half-apologized for so much solicitation, but didn't offer a "see less" option.
I am so sick of it. Free enterprise my arse, it’s a good reason to disengage. Sad that they think it’s our only option, and it is. Even other places that I donate yearly to, now want monthly. This cash cow has less and is totally disgusted.
I recommend setting up a separate email for lists and shopping etc, and one for personal. You can also click UNSUBSCRIBE to the repeat emails you don't want.
Exactly, UNSUBSCRIBE. It just takes time. I usually take 10 minutes every month or 2 to unsubscribe to a whole bunch at the same time.
Oh, I do. Over and over and over. I resent Dems using the same abusive techniques that Repubs use.
Same.... I'm already very engaged, I don't need another 50 emails a day lol. Even signing up to see less emails doesn't change anything. I end up unsubscribing even when I'm donating monthly.
There is absolutely no danger that I will ever vote Repub again, yet they seem to think that I am undecided. I know that they don’t wake up in a new world every day, so WTH
.
I donated thru Act Blue but always 1 time and have never had a problem. As.to the scores of emails every day that I receive, I don’t have time to research all to see what organizations give 90% to the candidate, so I go to the Harris, Tester, Kelly, Vindman, Lucas, Dunn, etc. websites to donate; they all use Act Blue.
Same here. I set up an account with ActBlue several years ago, and use it exclusively. I get text messages from about 10 other organizations, and have become adroit at “Delete and Report Junk.” 😉 They may be legit, but their names and discourse styles make my spidey sense tingle. They read like ads for bogus products that I’d rather live without.
My gripe (not necessarily with Act Blue only) is beyond the thousands of requests, in that they still have me listed as in California, still assume I am a Democrat (went back to Independent after the 2016 election), so I could try to talk sense with so many others that can't let go of their too strong attachment to a party they find so many faults with. I get that they face a lot of peer pressure to stay under the label, but seem to have some impact getting them to at least stop voting straight ticket Republican. I'm encouraged by the ones that at least become independent, even if they don't vote 99.9% Democrat like I have done since 2016.
I think I only vote for one Republican for a water board (in a supposed nonpartisan election where candidates didn't state their party). He came to my house twice after his campaigner had stopped by and told me how the existing board had scheduled meetings they knew he couldn't attend and did other dirty tricks much like the Republican I knew of in North Carolina pulled. After I checked with others, I did vote for him and he won with less than 400 votes.
Otherwise I have vote against even Republicans I would have preferred, but not when they give my old party a corrupt majority, no matter how honest (but ineffective) they would be in the office.
There is never a place to say I'm an Independent that leans 99.9% Democractic (only slightly less if there are good Independent candidates like Angus King and Bernie Sanders).
I may change to independent after Nov. still, can’t imagine voting Repub ever again. They are Nazis in my book at this point.
Down side is at least in MD you can't vote for any race i n the Primary except for the nonpartisan School Board races (Repubs started being partisan in the last 2-4 years.)
So sorry that people are having troublewith Act Blue. I have been donating on that website for a number of years. Just take your time as you go through the webpages. I donate via my phone so I don’t know if it looks different on a computer. At least they don’t default to “make it monthly.“ You have to specifically select a Weekly or monthly donation.
Interesting , Act Blue gets a stellar rating by Charity Navigator.
Charity. Navigator likely loves the harassment if it beings in more. They have overdone the begging, tipping and monthly pressure crap in my book.
ActBlue always works well for me and I have no reservations about using it. I'm sorry that other people have had problems with it. Definitely take your time when checking the boxes and inputting your info.
Act Blue is the last place I want to donate. They spread info to any and all. Needs to clean house of crap practices
So do the campaigns to which we donate! I learned this only recently, which explains the avalanche of begging emails.
Yep, I donated to NC anti Virginia Fox. Lordy, you would think they have me confused with Elon
I agree. I like to see Democrats do things smarter. What act Blue out to do is develop profiles for their donors Where we can specify that we want to focus on a specific region or a specific issue and then send us an email with options once a month. I get so many embarrassing pleas for money I regret sometimes haven’t given in the first place. Do better. And we don’t have to accept that as the only way! What are we? Republicans?
Oops. I need to review before clicking “post” next time. I hope people could follow my thoughts! That last message looks almost as bad as some of the all-caps missives ActBlue pols send me. “Marie! Democracy is on the line! The only way to save it is to send $27 right now!” My immediate thought is always, “Really? Because I thought the other $27 was supposed to solve that? And btw, didn’t I help you get elected to your JOB where you’re supposed to be saving democracy for a healthy salary on a full-time schedule every day?”
I have occasionally gotten fundraising crap from repubs. Can’t tell much difference in the mailings, but I know the difference between lies and truth.
I’m surprised: they’re usually so good and responsive. Once I donated $500 by mistake (meant $50) and they quickly and easily corrected it. I love ActBlue and give them a small monthly donation.
If you’re overwhelmed, block them.
That’s what I’ve done and I still donate.
I love Act Blue, but yes it is annoying how they default to the monthly amount, and don't always make it clear. Very frustrating...
Sorry to hear that! It happened to me once, but I found it very easy to correct.
I too had to work to get back donations I did not authorize. They did however return all the money they did not get permission to have. Act Blue woke up!!
👌😃💪🇺🇸
I loved watching Harris try to stifle a guffaw when Walz cut loose with the "couch line."
Priceless. I think she’s having a great time with all of this. Who wouldn’t be!?
Happy politicians with positive social policy messages are a treat, for sure.
Dr. Heather Cox Richardson said in her podcast yesterday that fascist leaders need unhappy followers to succeed. So ENJOY! LAUGH! BE HAPPY!
TC, I never read Hillbilly Elegy much less JDV's pages 179-181. Gotta keep that Senator away from latex products.
Don't read H.E. It is B.S.
Got that for sure.
How is the LP & UP? The Kamala & Tim Team are headed your way.
We are Jumping for Joy, Bryan! But MUCH work to be done. We have a SUPERB candidate for Michigan's 1st U.S. District, Callie Barr! She won the primary yesterday. The real win was that we had two excelllent Dems running in what has been a conservative region, and with Callie we have a good chance to oust trumper Bergman.
https://callieforcongress.com/
It’s cool that she obviously didn’t vet his
speech and reacted genuinely in real time.
I loved it that he thanked her for bringing the joy back into politics. Yes! 🥰❤️👍
Had to teach him how to use the teleprompter . He’s really good without it.
I read that they
Hasn't the whole "couch" story been proved to be false--that it was not something Vance did or said, but cooked up by someone else? I wish Dems would stop using it as a verbal meme.
I agree Ann. Perpetuating an untruth should not be accepted, from ANYONE
Actually, it's a logical impossibility to prove a negative, so, while we do not have evidence that the supposed conduct actually happened, we also cannot have evidence that it didn't. And indeed it is said that AP retracted its story denying the couch incident on exactly those grounds: "we don't know for sure that it DIDN'T happen".
Personally, I'd rather take LBJ's advice about calling a politician a pig-fucker than suffer under a fascistoreligious dictatorship, even if that requires mocking the mascared misogynist Vance for a possibly invented post-adolescent Onanism.
I think JD needs to be ridiculed as much as possible!
I was 30ish minutes away, watching a live stream from the comfort of my home office and feeling taller than the rafters. HOT DAMN what a rally!!!
I'm with Coach Tim: "Thank you for bringing back the joy!"
I LOVED the moment when the camera pulled back from close up to bring in "the whole room" wow!
We witnessed a political homerun last night that saved American democracy.
homerun for now, Michael, one step at a time :) not complaining mind you
We need to keep up the enthusiasm for three months and support ALL of the down ballot Democrats and Independents.
There's a Senatorial candidate in Nebraska trying to unseat the "do nothing know nothing" Deb Fisher. Oddly enough she is from the same part of Nebraska as the Coach. Anyway, he is within the margin of error and having the Coach join Harris could put him over the top.
Oh, the comedians will have a field day this autumn.
". . . the comedians," Ned?
Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Desi Lydic, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, and Jimmy Fallon are all statesmen, no? -- just the sort with access to humanities and the vernacular.
Like that comment, there, Phil.
Phil,
I used to say that Jay Leno was the only foreign policy wonk whom I trusted. 😉
It shouldn't come to this, but being a football coach might just bring in some swing voters.
The high school football crowd especially.
The rabid ones in TX too?
Not sure I want some of them
whatever works? anyway, i'm not quite in on the "varsity vs JD" line that Tim dropped.
I thought it was "Varsity vs JV". I may have heard wrong.
But it is pretty clever if it's "Varsity vs JD."
Gary, I heard it as "Varsity vs JV" also. I think we should all call him "JV" from now on. :)
I got goosebumps reading your comment!
I got goosebumps watching the replay of the speeches! Let’s keep the joyful party going all the way through Election Day, right?!
Ryan, I truly hope that enthusiasm is infectious, or even bought and sold as a health tonic across the state, and of course, beyond...
I could feel the energy from WA state, sitting here crying in my living room watching that rally. Feels exciting and real, what we can do if we band together and get this done. We won't go back!
Had the same experience here in Oregon.
Your Substack posts on Covid are fantastic. I’m not a physician, I read everything on Covid when it first appeared, and became a layman’s expert on it. It’s tough out there, to fight the ignorance, so I appreciate your efforts to provide fact-based advice.
Mark, have you followed Dr. Jenna on "Your Local Epidemiologist" on Substack? She's written some great stuff, and her area of expertise is with gun violence as an epidemic. She is my "go to" source for Covid info.
Hi Ally. Always good to see you on Substack.
I found : Dr. Katelyn Jetelina on Substack “Your Local Epidemiologist”
So that to whom you are referring?
Thanks so much, Mark! Hard to keep up with everything, but I try to broadcast some of the news and studies, even as most people have changed the channel
“Be careful out there!” … wow, impressive - ironically, I used this same phrase in my comment today!
Hope and Optimism and we’re not going back!
Excellent...thank you
Thank you for this first-hand view!
I really appreciate your practical, informative writings on Covid. Keep them coming!
$100 Philly dollars lol. I love it. Definitely better than Trump nickels or Vance bucks.
The contrast could not be more stark. Or more succinctly summed up by Joy Reid: “One side wants 10-year-olds to have babies … the other side wants 10-year-olds to have lunch.”
Nailed it. Hope and positive energy vs. darkness and lies. I choose the first set.
Brilliant
Line of the night - hope the campaign picks it up!
Amen
Perfect quote, 🫶
love that! and about sums it up
Best comment of the night, that one. She nailed it.
It was absolutely glorious day! Shapiro was fiery and effective as he got the crowd very excited. The mere sight of Kamala and Walz approaching the mic brought the packed house down! Kamala is so capable, such a bright light and to add Governor Walz to the ticket, is a home run. “When we fight, we win”. Let’s keep politicians out of our doctor’s offices because “it’s none of their DAMN BUSINESS”!! What’s not to love? 💙
Walz is an excellent speaker. Different style but at least as effective as Shapiro and more compatible as a campaigner with Harris than Shapiro would have been. No need for two firebrands.
Folksy but also serious, and effective. Socially invested state surpluses, among the most business friendly states in the USA, led by Democrats! Walz truly fits in with those who inspire Americans to be "the better angels of our natures".
Yes! No politicians allowed in our examining rooms… except if they want help!
medical help, that is!
Hope for my granddaughters, the best is yet to come
Mine too.
This old cat lady has kid and grands, most of us do, I’d bet. 🐾🐾🐾
That was an excellent line that Wilz used. 👏
Yeah, Lawrence said it's the best line any Democrat has come up with to define the issue.
It's Walz. I have a feeling he's got a million of em'
EDIT: would like to have said my lone concern, a minor one, . . . .
My lone concern is that both candidates on the Democratic ticket will be sixty on election day, giving Senator shady J.D. (and nom-du-jour) Vance a possible line of attack. 🤔 On the other hand, come the time of the debates, no one will believe Senator Vance's high decibel scheiße anyways, except those who have bought and paid for him already. 🥳
Excuse me, but I’m about to turn 62, and I’m hardly ready for the grave! 60 years old is nowhere near 78 years old, the age of Donald Trump. JD Vance has nothing to say because he’s only been in government for 18 months. And has no experience that would make him qualified to lead the free world. The fact that he’d be one big Mac and Diet Coke away from the oval office truly frightening.
Ned, with respect, I must say the difference between 60 and 78 is a lot.
When I was 59, I walked cement floors supervising 300 employees - 60 hours a week. I could not do that now. When I was 60 I was physically remodeling an old building to become an Inn. I was replacing toilets, carrying the old ones to the street, climbing ladders to repair roofs...you get the picture. I was a maintenance staff of one as well as managing every other aspect of the new business. Chef, webmaster, marketing expert, landscape gardener, house painter...all in a young man's long day of work. 60 was the new 50 for me.
I consider myself to be in optimal health now that I am 77 and I think the brain is OK. But I want a nap every day and certain names and words seem to elude me. I am grateful to be here but I also remember my sixties as prime time. I had experience and energy. Now I am watching my peers have body parts replaced, struggle with Alziemers or Parkinson's (trending big time now) and regularly repeat stories over and over again.
If you are looking for political vulnerability, look no further than the 78 year old criminal who was demented enough to select JD Vance. Maybe the fact that he is a fake attracted him.
So I hear your concern - but I think we have the team age factor advantage!
Not only that, but the 34 felony count candidate is openly exercising quid pro quo as he wheedles large corporate donations by vilifying their products on his campaign trail (ex: electric vehicles etc) only to meet with them privately and subsequently, (surprise surprise!!!) he then begins to publicly sing their praises. Once again he is forecasting how he intends to make a second term even dicier and dirtier than the first! There "gotta be a law" .......?????
That is not the point I am seeking to make; in fact I am substantially older than the Governor. I am saying that Senator Vance is thirty-nine and may take a swipe at Governor Walz by saying he is out of touch with younger voters. A candidate in his forties would have been ideal.
The good news remains all that is great about Governor Walz: nuts-&-bolts committee assignments when he served as a Representative; the antithesis of a 'insider' persona; success in other and unrelated careers; success in leadership positions; and, most of, successful liberalism in Minnesota.
I think that's a false worry, Ned. They are still below the average age of members of Congress.
I agree with you. EDIT: Regret the remark; I was simply thinking out loud.
You can't even retire at age 60 Ned. Politicians need jobs too :))
🤣🤣🤣
Good one, Barbara!
It's because they're 60, that they have the depth and breadth of experience that they do.
Great point.
In Canada, "back when", Pierre Trudeau in promoting gay rights famously said "the State has no business in the bedrooms of the nation". Sadly, Canada is likely apt to get another spell of Conservative rule, political capital by whatever party does get expended, and the social conservatives and anti-abortionists ensconced in the party's entrails will again be champing at the bit, despite leadership "promises" to the contrary.
It was hard not to tear up during the Harris and Walz speeches. They snapped me out of a long malaise and gave me feelings that seemed so unfamiliar — hope tinged with joy and a sense that we are going to end up all right.
I cried myself tears of joy. I can't remember when we this enthusiastic except when Obama ran for President.
I worked on the Obama campaign 2007-08 - this is more enthusiastic than that was.
Maybe because it seems even more urgent than that was!
Maybe because it follows “American carnage” Mr doom and gloom.
Personally, I loved the line “Crime was up under Trump and that’s not even counting his crimes.”
Great, I'd add
"Who wants to tell them":
Trump campaign roasted over slamming Walz for helping to "Allow convicted felons to vote."
I. Love. That.
And the fact that almost ALL of the Republicans including SCOTUS are on board with Project 2025.
I am not on board with living in a forced theocracy where the warped interpretation of Christianity practiced by the white Christian Nationalists will required and the Ten Commandments are hanging in every classroom when the leader of their party has violated every one of them.
I have to believe most of them wouldn't be on board with Project 2025 if they understood what it really is. Too many may just be impressed with the size of it but don't begin to read or understand it, much like the Cullen Hoback movie "Terms and Conditions May Apply."
My wife and I attended a screening of it on Embassy Row in DC (with Cullen explaining a lot more than just that shown in the movie). It was soon after I retired and started going to a lot more protests and gatherings.
We were again impressed with his "What Lies Upstream" prominently featuring the 2014 chemical spill into the Elk River from a leaking Freedom Industries chemical plant storage tank that affected the drinking water for 300,000 people in West Virginia. He tried to sample a lot more water along the "Chemical Valley as I seem to recall, but couldn't find anywhere near the chemical traces expected. I believe a local told him that was because the Clean Waters Act outlawed dumping in the water but didn't ban dumping it on land.
I don't remember many details but do think it was like the use of mixtures of oil and chemical waste that were spread on dirt roads every couple of months like the situation that wiped Times Beach Missouri off the map as a populated place (dioxin spray not spill).
Though now 42 years later, see https://www.stlmag.com/Remember-Times-Beach-The-Dioxin-Disaster-30-Years-Later/
Yes!
A few days ago I realized that this strange, unfamiliar feeling I suddenly have regarding politics was hope. It is a bit like the feeling watching Ted Lasso brought.
I was heartbroken when Biden bowed out. He’s been the best president of my lifetime, and I thought he didn’t deserve the pile on. He didn’t, but I was wrong to be so worried about it. This is exciting, and I’m beginning to think we might finally throw off the millstone that’s been around our necks for almost a decade. Team Normal here, I believe.
Nicely summed up, KR. Your feelings mirror mine, both from Biden bowing out, and about throwing off the millstone. Team Normal, indeed.
AMEN!
Stick with it Michael.
At Ft Benning, GA, when I was in Basic Training, and right after, in Advanced Training (United States Army), the Command Sergeant Major of the battalion I served in was an absolutely awesome person! He was tough as nails, but his heart was overflowing with love for the troops! His relationship with the Colonel who was the commander of the battalion was as solid as a granite rock. I know this because I served at Battalion HQ’s. (Although I was only an E2, the Command Sergeant Major referred to me as the Battalion’s “Command Private Major” (LOL). Tim Walz (soon-to-be Vice President of the United States of America) served 24 years in our nation’s military, retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. Walz, a solid choice as (soon-to-be President of the United States of America) Harris’ running mate, is smart, humble, and dedicated to serving our nation. He is from a rural background, he is a former educator, a coach, a former US Congressperson, a two-term Governor of the State of Minnesota, and a champion of the middle class.
HARRIS-WALZ 2024 !!!
Loved your post, Joel. My dad was a Pvt. 1st class in the Army in WWII (medic awarded 4 Bronze Stars etc.). He was a proud, humble American. I have a HUGE soft spot for our veterans who keep us safe. We owe them (and you) a debt of gratitude. Same goes for our next VP Tim Walz!
♥️🐾
Being a California Democrat I'm not familiar with Shapiro or Walz. At first Shapiro seemed like Manchin but with a second look he improved.
Either way I'm all in for Kamala. I don't have much money but I've made my first donation and will start phone banking. A second Trump term scares me down to my toes.
I bid a good night to my fellow Dems. Let's get to work.
Good for you !!!! It's small donors like us that make a difference.
Having a large number of small donors is crucial for building confidence in campaigns.
Going to sleep tonight with a smile on my face.
Waking up here (Sweden) with a smile and tears to see that the day has dawned with so much more optimism than I felt even yesterday when I was thrilled to learn that Walz was the choice!
Relief here in Ireland. The dark forces driving MAGAts desire for the destruction of rule of law and incitement of civil war are, for the moment, exposed and on the back foot. Words of caution, be prepared. Their response to this enlightening political rising will be to go darker.
A qualified ‘like’ Monnina….not supporting the return/backlash of the empire but I too have been swatting away this jinx-dread of the inevitable caustic response. I have been practicing enjoying the moment although I am a fair weather Buddha when it comes to US politics. I just think this is our best chance in such a long time to counter the dread inducing narcissistic chaos of MAGA leadership with a positive and meaningful - dare I suggest fun and humorous—outlook on what good government can be. Walz kept stressing Harris’s joy… I have notes on my reading of the Dali Lama’s and Arch Bishop Tutu’s book by that name and the pillars are: perspective, humor, humility, generosity, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion and acceptance. I think this expansion of the contours of ‘joy’ can be helpful of those of us facing the next 90 days hoping the US elections will be another rebuff of authoritarianism’s and oligarchy in favor of democracy and all its imperfections.
KSC, what a terrific comment. Thank you.
Most of America is way way ready for some sincerely expressed "joy". There will always be those who live darkly. Angry, fearful other blamers.
And there are always those who are naively and obliviously having a good time.
But most people live in the middle - with the ups and downs of life. For several years all manner of media has been serving up downers - delivered by tortured angry souls. I think most of us who live in that middle region of normality are sick of the hate and tired of the bullying.
I feel a Blue Tsunami of positiveness coming - a huge wave of overwhelmingly attractive JOY.
Tim Walz may be the best messenger VP Harris could have found. I love his accomplishments. And I love how he speaks the truth without vitriol. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Evil never sleeps
I live in Northern Ireland. The political corruption, state abuses of power and/ or victim blaming neglect and ongoing social dysfunction continue to worsen unabated. So my perspective will be skewed by my daily lived experiences here. And JD is also correct 🐈⬛
Indeed. Only the evil believe in political final solutions to life itself which is always a crazy kaleidoscope of perpetual challenging change. Surf it’s waves or be pushed under by them 🌊
I thought that things were better there. I can’t imagine the stress of competing righteousness. In Texas, I’m getting a taste.
In certain areas things are definitely better than in the 1970s, however in others, particularly in areas that were already seriously impoverished, they are substantially worse. The ever comfortable middle class, the duopoly obsessed political ruling class, sinecured older reactionary civil servants and rogue elements in local British Intelligence have benefitted greatly from stopping shared political and social progress. It’s exhausting.
Thank you, Monnia. As someone with the lived experience, I appreciate your words.
Thank you, for caring 🙏
Same waking up here in Japan, KSC.
Same here in France. 😅
Ditto
Nothing like a good old Waltz when you’re ready to dance.
It's actually pronounced "Walls" (as they made clear today in emails)
Thank you for emphasizing the correct pronunciation of Tim Walz’s name! I will say, though, that I love the person who asked, “How do you do the Harris waltz? Two steps forward and no steps back!”
Yes yes, we all know how to pronounce his name. I lived in Minnesota for 18 years. It was just a play on words … but thanks for bringing up in case someone on this thread does not yet know.
Yes. I call it the Harris Walz!
Will wonders never cease! We are thrilled people in contrast to dismal DJT and MAGA minions. Hallelujah! "I have seen the promised land..." May the Harris-Walz team prevail over the dark and dreary Project 2025 folks, and may Vladimir Putin weep now that his dream is failing.
No no no - he's diversifying into international saviour - Counselling Iran not to go too far - must not kill civilians in Israel, where (he says) there are lots of Russian citizens... Preserve the balance in the Middle East! I've read this in three or four different sources.
Aww, playing peacemaker while murdering thousands
Yes....you might call it the "broad brush" approach.
I call it hypocrisy to the max. Or Goebbels propaganda
Anne-Louise….sorry, but I am not understanding your comment….who is “he”? And can you cite your “three or four different sources” for the issue I am still unclear about….maybe I’m dense, but I’m not “getting” your comment!
Joanne is correct - "he" is Putin. I was checking Trump's "prediction" that Iran was going to strike Israel that night (last night), and I found myself on a news site which I now can't find. However, this report includes what I read there, and more. It was also covered in traditional news media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jfLak1fCX8
Thanks Anne-Louise, I’ll check it out!!!
Long expected and dreaded.
I think they’re referring to Putin, but I’m not sure what these sources are. I assume they’re not traditional news media
V=Vladimir, V=Viscious. Your point is a good one, but I was specifically referring to Trump's failing campaign and V's ambition to crush the US and NATO...which CFDT is only too willing to do for him. Also, even though Ukraine seems a slog, many small victories are wearing Putin thin. (Losing 1/3 of his naval fleet in the Black Sea, for one)
Uh Oh.
Uh Oh Indeed!
I wrote to some acquaintances from the dark side that I thought Putin making the prisoner swaps was evidence he has given up on Trump winning in November, and wants to be able to wiggle out of the Ukraine with some tiny bit of gain or not too much loss.
While they may think I'm dreaming, my reply is "yes," the most pleasant dream I can consider after the nightmares of November 2016.
Oh M.G.!!!
Walz is our generation's Harry Truman!!! (Well JUST like him only different) He embodies Truman's desire for progressive ideas (he wanted to implement a National Healthcare Plan at the same time as Great Britain and much of Europe)
He's fair, compassionate, and filled with common sense with a progressive view of the future."
Truman is who came to my mind as well when Walz was picked.
Great minds think alike!
Me too, even before the choice.
Harris/Walz💙
I made a meme of this today. And I have to say....I just CAN NOT get over the quote from Lincoln's speech that Heather used the other day!!! And when I saw that Vance had called Walz "radical"....I JUST couldn't resist!
The Same Old Thing, 160 Years Old!
“...the same qualities that led Walz to the Democratic ticket are already being used against him by Republicans who have…labeled him as “weird” and “radical."
1860 Democrats
Destruction of the Union and determined to base the United States
in enslavement while referring to Republicans as “radical”
2024 Republicans
Destruction of Democracy, and determined to rip away the rights , determined to base the United States in a misogynistic theocracy while referring to Democrats as “radical”
I still remember some Latin.
RADIX = a ROOT.
That speaks of ROOTEDNESS... and someone who's "rooted" is a NATURAL.
Qualities that don't go down well with ultra-weirdo UPROOTERS raring to grub up the Republic and replace it with their dimestore Reich, complete with Coney Island Caesar.
I must add, Terri, that for these MAGAMISFIT weirdos, all that's regular and natural is weird.
I'll admit to having spent a lifetime suspecting the word "normal" but the Drumpfified "New Normal" is the ultimate perversion of that poor concept, a conglomeration of every abnormality conceivable and inconceivable. But not, unfortunately, unprecedented.
Consider Nazi "normality".
[in general, refer to Gabor Maté's book, The Myth of Normal. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/12/the-trauma-doctor-gabor-mate-on-happiness-hope-and-how-to-heal-our-deepest-wounds]
Over the past weeks, Joe Biden stepped away frok his incumbency campaign to support Kamala Harris’s run for the presidency, while kicking diplomatic butt in releasing prisoners of Putin, and now, Harris chooses Tim Walz, who is basically Ted Lasso, all while I’m glued to Team USA at the Olympics! I’m positively patriotic. 🇺🇸
I like the Lasso parallel
A great choice! Here’s to Harris/Walz!
I had sent Kamala deep vibes about not picking according to the ticket (because historically that hasn't worked out, esp. when the country is not exactly united)
And she listened to me!!!! She heard US!!! She went toward the Democratic base and not the states that can bring the most votes route!!!
And their campaign logo? "Back to Basics"!!!!
But her choice WILL in fact pull in the states that need to be won. It is virtually certain that Walz will help bring in votes in all three midwest swing states (Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania) and probably he will also help in Arizona. With Kamala helping herself in Georgia where we actually might win the general election as Biden did 4 years ago, that would more than provide enough electoral votes to get well over the 270 needed to win. And Nevada is a good possibility as could be North Carolina! I wasn't sure but it may turn out to be a tremendously inspired decision, which bodes well for this election AND for the long term of Kamala's Presidency.
Jon, exactly how it plays out. Once these states whose needs have long been ignored will finally feel like part of the family....so there is NO part of ANY dreamy longings for the past; feet firmly planted in the present, on the road that leads to a progressive future.
I hope our government can work in tandem to build back the middle class, improve our standing in the world community, and investigate and prosecute all those who would defile and destroy our nation's Constitution as we go on to modernize it and bring it up to speed while laying the foundation for it's continuing modernize as needed in the future.
My opinion also. I think Walz is the perfect choice. A straight talker who gets things done.
Same here…I was sooo wanting the Walz pick over the pundit/Clinton neoliberal pollsters favorites …kowtowing to the supposed center that might chose Trump (gasp) if it wasn’t the likes of Shapiro or Kelly. And from what I am reading of the rally last night it just feels so right!
How far back need we go, KSC, for a top ticket with no one from anywhere in the Ivy League?
I remember a rally in Bangor, Maine in ‘75 shaking hands as a 10 year old with a Georgian peanut farmer.
I was still pretty stupid in the 1st part of the 80s. I had just gotten out of a very short marriage with an Iranian, who thanks to me, ended up here with a Green Card, and I assume citizenship.
When Carter sought to rescue the captives in Iran, and the helicopters got plugged up from sand, I laughed at his effort to go INTO Iran and free the hostages.
Fast forward 2 Decades after Reagan, I got to see Jimmy Carter for who he really was...and I felt SO ashamed that I was so dumb earlier. I only wish I could apologize to him for my stupidity. I had also gotten out of the JWs after 9 yrs because I was getting migraine headaches from not being able to say "Yeah but, what about?"...and all the other crap in their organization.
Suffice it to say, I began to identify who I really was (actually, I turned out to be a very progressive thinking humanis!!) And I've been able to enjoy learning more about Jimmy. I THINK we saw the same type of person in Pres. Biden and will be seeing the same from Kamala and TIm.
Agreed, and don't beat yourself up about your early feelings about Farmer Jimmy. I doubt he would feel an apology is needed. We all spend time learning. I expect that Carter, amazingly decent man that he was, would be more than understanding.
SO UNLIKE TRUMP.
Chump never learned anything, except how to get more, more, more
We all have lived and learned, except maybe MAGAts.
And it is REALLY interesting that in '76, with Carter at the top of the ticket having been a Naval Academy graduate (non-Ivy), the VP for THAT ticket was Walter Mondale from (where else LOL?) Minnesota! How's that for a coincidence!
I think Walz has more charisma than Mondale. But those were different times and the political discourse very different.
1964 - LBJ: Southwest Texas State Teacher's College - Hubert Humphrey: University of Minnesota. 1976: Carter, USNA - Mondale Univ of Minn
Looks like the university of Minnesota, in my chosen state, put out some pretty good VPs!
2020 - Joe Biden - University of Delaware. Go Blue Hens!
1980 was Carter / Mondale. Per TC, LBJ and Humphrey in 1964.
I think that is something she learned from Joe Biden. Pick someone you can trust, absolutely, and whose opinions are something that you will need.