Eric, The first order of business for this country, from my point of view, is to confront The Lie. We have several outstanding big lies, but as perpetrated by Trump and much of the Republican party, the one delegitimizing our elections, at the root of democracy, is the most immediate, to be dealt with. This is where January 6th's Commi…
Eric, The first order of business for this country, from my point of view, is to confront The Lie. We have several outstanding big lies, but as perpetrated by Trump and much of the Republican party, the one delegitimizing our elections, at the root of democracy, is the most immediate, to be dealt with. This is where January 6th's Commission, the Department of Justice, the free press and several stalwarts, such as Nancy Pelosi, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Jim Clyburn, Bernie Sanders, Stacy Abrams, Beto O’Rourke and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others, will be crucial players. Select Committee members such as Liz Cheney, Jamie Raskin, Adam Schiff, Adam Kinzinger, Stephanie Murphy and the rest will set the stage.
Our country has suffered greatly from the loss of local newspapers and the domination of social media. It will be up the remaining free-press and pressure exerted on Zuckerberg for channels within Facebook to reach most of the American people about the causes and actors behind the attempted insurrection of the country.
I think it worthwhile to provide some biographical information about Merrick Garland, whose mild outward demeanor and lack of charisma have led some to underestimate him. Garland's grandparents 'left the Pale of Settlement within the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century, fleeing anti-semitic pogroms and seeking a better life for their children in the United States.' Garland knows the trials of the 'other' and the cost of lies, such as those being embedded here. He grew up in Jewish family of modest means and was president of the student council of his high school'. 'He graduated in 1970 as the class valedictorian. Garland was also a Presidential Scholar and National Merit Scholar. He graduated from Harvard in 1974 as class valedictorian with an A.B. summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa'. 'During law school, Garland was a member of the Harvard Law Review. As an articles editor, Garland assigned himself to edit a submission by U.S. Supreme Court justice William Brennan on the topic of the role of state constitutions in safeguarding individual rights. This correspondence with Brennan later contributed to his winning a clerkship with the justice.' 'Garland graduated from Harvard Law in 1977 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude.' (Wikipedia)
I will not crowd this space with more of Garland's accomplishments. Our country is particularly fortunate at this time to have an Attorney General who sees and feels our abyss, while knowing the importance of safeguarding the people's rights. Merrick Garland is one of our protectors.
For the People Act is part of our first order of business. Pivotal actors in our government are deeply engaged in bringing it forward.
Eric, I am a citizen who would most like to attend a couple of symposiums about the United States of American. Our social and civic fabric has been torn. The family, education, the church, economic security, sense of community and mutual understanding have been shorn.
You and I, along with other subscribers will explore if and how the country's foundation can be awakened and mended. I am eager for your response and to know what area or areas of pursuit you are interested in pursuing next.
Hi Fern. Late back to you. We are travelling again in Canada. Finally! So we’ve taken the opportunity to fly to Toronto and visit our twin granddaughters and celebrate their first birthday. This is a real bonus as we have not seen them and one has had successful open heart surgery. So - my apologies again, but the week has been busy.
Where to start? First of all thank you for your confidence and thank you as well for the background to Merrick Garland. I knew only what one vaguely hears, so your paragraph was especially appreciated. I too can safely assume that there is an honorable man running the DOJ. Whether he is bold in his actions time will tell. His first few were disconcerting because in the moment they favored the Republicans. But he was protecting a fundamental of law that will at some time benefit Democrats as well. So his early work had the consolation of being evenhanded. And his recent decisions, especially the one where the DOJ ruled that government employees could not justify actions on J6 by claiming immunity were most welcome. The statement on tax returns was as well. It seems to me that the DOJ is laying the groundwork for future action.
I am tossing around our comments on freedom of the press. You indicated skepticism about whether or not Americans actually do support the concept near universally.
I think I may have worded my point clumsily. Your point caused me to think of the hatred so many on the right have expressed towards CNN and the NYT in particular. And the left of course has its bête noire in Fox. Few on our side would mourn if it was sharply reined in.
I think, after reading your brief point, that the vast majority of Americans support the *concept* of free speech. And I would hope that, if push comes to shove, the vast majority of Americans would not support the shutting down of an entire journalistic organ - on either side of the spectrum.
I well remember the uproar when the WH banned Jim Acosta of CNN from press gaggles. The uproar and subsequent reversal of the order were reassuring.
I think this, like many other issues, will end up at the Supreme Court if the Republicans regain power. It will not be a case of outright closure, but it will be an attempt to gag an outlet on a specific issue. The government, in other words, will run a test case before attempting more dramatic repression.
It goes without question that this is a Supreme Court which will bite the Left far more often than the Right. But I am not yet persuaded that it would not rule on a free speech question on the merits only. I hope not to see, one way or another.
I agree that the Big Lie is the most pressing question of the time. It is an astonishing Gordian knot. A year ago, perhaps only my friends at the podcast Gaslit Nation would have predicted it. (Not sure if you listen to this - they have been astonishingly prescient about the former regime.)
To be truthful, my opinion is that there is a hard minority on either side which is actively exercised about it. Most people simply don’t follow politics with the close attention that this group does. And I think that is true of Trump supporters. The really hard core is there and dangerous. Then there is a highly significant number who “go along to get along”, but if they had a gun to their head could break either way.
On the Left it’s different. Even those only marginally interested in politics reject the big lie outright. However they are probably not so inclined to worry about its potential.
We have a large number of Americans who may not agree with one another, but simply don’t give much of a shit about it. They simply trust that in the ebbs and flows of politics, “things will work out”.
My son in Pittsburgh is in this category. He’s a prof at Carnegie Mellon. He’s highly informed about the political situation, even in its nuances. He is definitely on the political Left. But he is sanguine about America’s future. As a worry, he rated Covid as a 10 on a 1-10 scale. Trump++, he puts at about a 3. Worth watching, but not a mortal threat.
What I keep coming back to is future elections. If the Democrats go on a roll, I think Trump will fade from view and politicians on the Right will be less tethered to the Big Lie as time goes on.
But every indication points to the deck being increasingly stacked against the Democrats. My blood boils with each new increasingly audacious, retrograde state legislation systematically shaking the pillars of democracy. This is a clear and present danger, *the* clear and present danger.
For that reason I am somewhat frustrated by the inability of the Democrats to muscle through legislation which would preempt or undo the worst of what has happened in the last seven months. Infrastructure is wonderful, though I still suspect there will be many a slip twixt the cup and the lip before Biden’s signature is required - twice.
But it is confoundingly dismaying that one or two Democrats of no particular import could halt the bills in their tracks. That simply wouldn’t happen in Canada - the power of the Whip is much greater.
So the clock ticks. And if we are not fortunate we will be fighting the next election with one hand behind our back. And then, all hell will break loose.
Eric, I want to amend my point about communism. It is Stalin, Putin among others that I meant to highlight. Communism is a much more complicated subject.
Eric, The first order of business for this country, from my point of view, is to confront The Lie. We have several outstanding big lies, but as perpetrated by Trump and much of the Republican party, the one delegitimizing our elections, at the root of democracy, is the most immediate, to be dealt with. This is where January 6th's Commission, the Department of Justice, the free press and several stalwarts, such as Nancy Pelosi, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Jim Clyburn, Bernie Sanders, Stacy Abrams, Beto O’Rourke and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others, will be crucial players. Select Committee members such as Liz Cheney, Jamie Raskin, Adam Schiff, Adam Kinzinger, Stephanie Murphy and the rest will set the stage.
Our country has suffered greatly from the loss of local newspapers and the domination of social media. It will be up the remaining free-press and pressure exerted on Zuckerberg for channels within Facebook to reach most of the American people about the causes and actors behind the attempted insurrection of the country.
I think it worthwhile to provide some biographical information about Merrick Garland, whose mild outward demeanor and lack of charisma have led some to underestimate him. Garland's grandparents 'left the Pale of Settlement within the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century, fleeing anti-semitic pogroms and seeking a better life for their children in the United States.' Garland knows the trials of the 'other' and the cost of lies, such as those being embedded here. He grew up in Jewish family of modest means and was president of the student council of his high school'. 'He graduated in 1970 as the class valedictorian. Garland was also a Presidential Scholar and National Merit Scholar. He graduated from Harvard in 1974 as class valedictorian with an A.B. summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa'. 'During law school, Garland was a member of the Harvard Law Review. As an articles editor, Garland assigned himself to edit a submission by U.S. Supreme Court justice William Brennan on the topic of the role of state constitutions in safeguarding individual rights. This correspondence with Brennan later contributed to his winning a clerkship with the justice.' 'Garland graduated from Harvard Law in 1977 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude.' (Wikipedia)
I will not crowd this space with more of Garland's accomplishments. Our country is particularly fortunate at this time to have an Attorney General who sees and feels our abyss, while knowing the importance of safeguarding the people's rights. Merrick Garland is one of our protectors.
For the People Act is part of our first order of business. Pivotal actors in our government are deeply engaged in bringing it forward.
Eric, I am a citizen who would most like to attend a couple of symposiums about the United States of American. Our social and civic fabric has been torn. The family, education, the church, economic security, sense of community and mutual understanding have been shorn.
You and I, along with other subscribers will explore if and how the country's foundation can be awakened and mended. I am eager for your response and to know what area or areas of pursuit you are interested in pursuing next.
Hi Fern. Late back to you. We are travelling again in Canada. Finally! So we’ve taken the opportunity to fly to Toronto and visit our twin granddaughters and celebrate their first birthday. This is a real bonus as we have not seen them and one has had successful open heart surgery. So - my apologies again, but the week has been busy.
Where to start? First of all thank you for your confidence and thank you as well for the background to Merrick Garland. I knew only what one vaguely hears, so your paragraph was especially appreciated. I too can safely assume that there is an honorable man running the DOJ. Whether he is bold in his actions time will tell. His first few were disconcerting because in the moment they favored the Republicans. But he was protecting a fundamental of law that will at some time benefit Democrats as well. So his early work had the consolation of being evenhanded. And his recent decisions, especially the one where the DOJ ruled that government employees could not justify actions on J6 by claiming immunity were most welcome. The statement on tax returns was as well. It seems to me that the DOJ is laying the groundwork for future action.
I am tossing around our comments on freedom of the press. You indicated skepticism about whether or not Americans actually do support the concept near universally.
I think I may have worded my point clumsily. Your point caused me to think of the hatred so many on the right have expressed towards CNN and the NYT in particular. And the left of course has its bête noire in Fox. Few on our side would mourn if it was sharply reined in.
I think, after reading your brief point, that the vast majority of Americans support the *concept* of free speech. And I would hope that, if push comes to shove, the vast majority of Americans would not support the shutting down of an entire journalistic organ - on either side of the spectrum.
I well remember the uproar when the WH banned Jim Acosta of CNN from press gaggles. The uproar and subsequent reversal of the order were reassuring.
I think this, like many other issues, will end up at the Supreme Court if the Republicans regain power. It will not be a case of outright closure, but it will be an attempt to gag an outlet on a specific issue. The government, in other words, will run a test case before attempting more dramatic repression.
It goes without question that this is a Supreme Court which will bite the Left far more often than the Right. But I am not yet persuaded that it would not rule on a free speech question on the merits only. I hope not to see, one way or another.
I agree that the Big Lie is the most pressing question of the time. It is an astonishing Gordian knot. A year ago, perhaps only my friends at the podcast Gaslit Nation would have predicted it. (Not sure if you listen to this - they have been astonishingly prescient about the former regime.)
To be truthful, my opinion is that there is a hard minority on either side which is actively exercised about it. Most people simply don’t follow politics with the close attention that this group does. And I think that is true of Trump supporters. The really hard core is there and dangerous. Then there is a highly significant number who “go along to get along”, but if they had a gun to their head could break either way.
On the Left it’s different. Even those only marginally interested in politics reject the big lie outright. However they are probably not so inclined to worry about its potential.
We have a large number of Americans who may not agree with one another, but simply don’t give much of a shit about it. They simply trust that in the ebbs and flows of politics, “things will work out”.
My son in Pittsburgh is in this category. He’s a prof at Carnegie Mellon. He’s highly informed about the political situation, even in its nuances. He is definitely on the political Left. But he is sanguine about America’s future. As a worry, he rated Covid as a 10 on a 1-10 scale. Trump++, he puts at about a 3. Worth watching, but not a mortal threat.
What I keep coming back to is future elections. If the Democrats go on a roll, I think Trump will fade from view and politicians on the Right will be less tethered to the Big Lie as time goes on.
But every indication points to the deck being increasingly stacked against the Democrats. My blood boils with each new increasingly audacious, retrograde state legislation systematically shaking the pillars of democracy. This is a clear and present danger, *the* clear and present danger.
For that reason I am somewhat frustrated by the inability of the Democrats to muscle through legislation which would preempt or undo the worst of what has happened in the last seven months. Infrastructure is wonderful, though I still suspect there will be many a slip twixt the cup and the lip before Biden’s signature is required - twice.
But it is confoundingly dismaying that one or two Democrats of no particular import could halt the bills in their tracks. That simply wouldn’t happen in Canada - the power of the Whip is much greater.
So the clock ticks. And if we are not fortunate we will be fighting the next election with one hand behind our back. And then, all hell will break loose.
Gotta go - there are twins to see. :)
Eric, I want to amend my point about communism. It is Stalin, Putin among others that I meant to highlight. Communism is a much more complicated subject.