Last night, Jane Mayer of the New Yorker reported that Trump’s choice for secretary of defense, Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth, had been forced to leave previous leadership positions at the advocacy groups Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America because of serious allegations of “financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.”
The GOP is behind the election of a man so corrupt that he has been found guilty of numerous felonies related to his first campaign for president, a man who violated national security, stealing secret documents and sharing them with we don't know who, a adjudicated rapist who associated with Jeffery Epstein and whose lawsuit - by a woman who was 13 years old when she says he and Epstein raped her - ended when he became President last time, a man who organized a violent uprising against the US government which lead to the deaths of five people... do I need to go on? The GOP nominated this man for President, and since they got what they wanted, and he has once again won election to the highest position in the country, none of them should ever again complain about corruption. It's what they voted for. It's what they and the rest of us are going to get. Listening to them whine about Biden pardoning his son is not very convincing.
Grover Norquist said he wanted to shrink the federal government until it would be small enough to drown in a bathtub. And isn't the whole point of the neoliberal movement to shrink the federal government? "And don't it always seem to go that we don't know what we've got 'til it's gone?!"
Barbara, exactly. Does anybody seriously believe that Musk's aggressive approach to make government more "efficient" will call for an end to both NASA and U.S. space endeavors? Of course not.
But his conflicts of interest may kill his competitor Blue Horizon -- because you know - monopoly to the taxpayer treasury and unlimited contracts from NASA to Space X. The stock price is already gaining on the idea of influenced corruption giving a windfall.
I am really beyond my wits at how brazenly corrupt they are - IN OUR FACES about it.
I'm at my wits end at how brazenly IN OUR FACES they are and yet some people STILL DON'T RECOGNIZE what they're seeing. It totally blows me away. Ignorance? Stupidity? Brainwashed? Or could there really be that many evil people in our country?
Like the people I heard in a local grocery store (a VERY red community) Standing around complaining about Biden and the government. 4 out of the 5 were obese and couldn't understand why their "disability" checks hadn't arrived yet.
"When President Trump took office in 2017, the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense survived the transition intact. Its mission was the same as when I was asked to lead the office, established after the Ebola epidemic of 2014: to do everything possible within the vast powers and resources of the U.S. government to prepare for the next disease outbreak and prevent it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic.
One year later, I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like covid-19.
The U.S. government’s slow and inadequate response to the new coronavirus underscores the need for organized, accountable leadership to prepare for and respond to pandemic threats.
In a health security crisis, speed is essential. When this new coronavirus emerged, there was no clear White House-led structure to oversee our response, and we lost valuable time."
The 'mis' leaders know what they mean and why, and also separately, a special narrative story for followers is my thought. My tact is to keep them talking and explaining - as though I'm perhaps interested in joining up if they can convince me. I get to learn that way.
It is the perceived “prize” that is the motivating engine behind corruption. That ancient disease of “insatiable need”,(greed for money, power, attention, etc.). Such affected players can never win by the established rules. Thus follows the rule-of-lies, buying up media and distorting reality. Didn’t we see this coming? We failed to protect against Big Money, we honored “free”speech— and are paying dearly.
How does our present culture now capture a system that upholds facts, allows “opinion and entertainment” when identified as such? The now required dire warning on tobacco products only followed the many decades fight against moneyed interests and millions of needless early deaths. Fake news is just as lethal— if not more so. Yes?
Barry, as a woman, it isn't just corruption that worries me and many other women who are posting about it, but the misogyny and its appeal to rape culture, plus the demeaning of anyone who is not white, male, hetero, and a certain brand of "Christian." Also this may be the nail in the coffin for doing anything about climate change and making it worse.
Indeed, this simmers for me all the time. I am a long time gardener and so i pay attention to these type of changes. I notice all the natural disasters happening all over the world. We have been making tiny steps, not nearly enough though, which will be reversed by the incoming greed and power administration. It won't be just the price of eggs that will be the problem.
Just yesterday a relative posted a chilling account of harassment on public transit, pointed at him for being an 'effing fag'. Bystanders stood by while the aggressor verbally abused him from stepping onto the train until he stepped off at the next stop to escape the harassment. I fear this will become much more frequent. This cousin is queer looking but not over the top. I haven't been harassed in years for my appearance (and what people see in me), but I expect it to begin again. And that's just the queer part, not the female part... Not excited for that to come around either.
Misogyny and "rape culture" is just one form of that "power-hungry" insatiable vacuum. I think of Gabor Mate, MD and his theories of early trauma and irreparable "holes" in the psyche. All that I speak of originates in trauma -- the perpetrators were also likely victims. Not an excuse for, just understanding of etiology.
I am not familiar with this person; however, I have thought something like this for a long time. I would say, based on my work in education, that family dynamics can be hard to overcome. I am not sure all perpetrators are victims, but they probably did grow up in a cultural milieu that mirrored that behavior.
Yes, climate change is the big big problem which renders all others almost moot. I sometime wonder when people talk about something happening years from now what they are thinking.
I often believe that the realisation that we are headed toward extinction is influencing the current trama manifest in the populace. Almost everything we do in our daily lives contributes and hastens our demise. You can choose to deny and double down in that negative culture or struggle against it . I think maga knows human nature and are grabbing all they can before the bill comes due. The dems knows human nature and chooses to work for a managed future.
I’m beginning to think the “shrinking the federal government”is, indeed, a smokescreen. The same goes for “turn it back to the states.” Trump wants POWER, and when you “shrink” something, it becomes less powerful.
I always got the feeling Grover had no idea what he was talking about. Shrink the Government is indeed a smokescreen. It really means take over the government.
Norquist hasn't made a peep about the government's expansion into women's health care. Catch phrases from the right like "drain the swamp" or "shrink the government" or "get rid of fraud and waste" are pure doublespeak. They mean the opposite.
Make America Great Again (MAGA) means Burn It Down (BID), and a criminal lunatic has won the bid.
Nancy, Yes! And the next phrase is "Pave Paradise, put up a parking lot", which I decided not to include, because the example of bulldozing Paradise is not really necessary.
Hey, Ned. Thank You! A day or two ago I spent some time looking at the pictures of the places you visited, and I read your stories. I've never been near any of those places. Fascinating. I am deeply grateful for the diversity we enjoy here in the USA. I think the best antidote to all the prejudicial talk about illegal immigration and deportation is for us to express what is in our hearts, that we love and cherish diversity among our friends and neighbors. The bigots are wrong. They are spiritually malnourished. They try to put prejudice and Christianity in the same sentence. And thank you for mentioning Mr. Douglass! Cheers!
Wow, David. Thank you for honouring me. A compliment like yours from a gentleman of your evident calibre leaves me speechless. And thank you for the reminder of Frederick Douglass who still had a capacity for love despite enduring so much physical torture and hatred. You inspire me.
If polite society were to devolve into chaos, we would all be dancing on the edge of a slippery slope, with a high wind from the wrong direction. They think they can manage chaos. Hah! "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold".
Jane Meyer wrote all about this in Dark Money.........I have been telling everyone for years about it the book........nobody really listened.........now the gates of hell have opened wide.......Malcolm Nance has been yelling from the mountain top for years!!! Zero reaction
Because by then it was already too late. The financial system, media and government were already infiltrated. I believe that one day if we are lucky enough to survive this coup intact as a Democracy we will learn how complicit the media has been on a deep level.
Heather, that's an excellent account of the Hunter Biden case! The media's presentation of it is outrageous. We are lucky to have you to set the facts straight.
Dr. Richardson has over a million subscribers. She is a graduate of Harvard with multiple degrees, has taught at MIT and is currently a Professor at Boston College. She has authored 7 books, interviewed President Biden twice. She has risen to acclaim as an accomplished voice in America.
Much of the media is owned by the villains. So you know what the outcomes will be. Look at Bezos (and other fat cats) pulling WAPO's potential endorsement of Kamala.
There is a growing cache of writing post this election examining the role the media played in the is election. It is a disaster. We have been drenched in a toxic brew of hatred, lies and disinformation.
The media created a false reality aimed at electing fascists.
Bought and paid for. Bezos refusal for WAPO to post its editorial position before Nov 5th was abjugated responsibility and "obeying in advance" to the perceived threat of DJT and ilk's returns.
I could never have believed how lethal to our Democracy they have become - especially to the buffoon.
Think about it though, we have never really had true “democracy” for all. People of color, other than white, have been denied of their rights as citizens for over 200+ years. Women of all ages, sizes, and color, have bern sexually trampled on and denied places at the table until recently. But hey, Kamala’s failed, they say! I think not. She scared the machismo right outta men so they had to deny her the right to govern a sane society.
When I screamed, T and FB banned me and people in my orbit just thought I was too radical. One very dear friend even said I sounded like his Fox nut friends. He had ex-military buddies who had already been foxified. Guess he was too.
JD, I, for one, do not think you are too radical. A lot of people I know, most of them old, have decided they are not going to shut up and are going to say what they think. I say to you, bravo.
I hope I’m too old to be intimidated. But this is not how I hoped to spend my dotage. Must still care for my grands and other young people, but sometimes energy is as depleted as finances…. Thank you, fellow radical
And I've been posting a lot, with links, about "Democracy in Chains", "The deep history of radical right's stealth plan for America", Nancy MacLean,
a factual historical troll through the RW apparatus since the 80's (at least) to implement Milton Freeman "Profit above ALL things" including voting by the general public which they decry as taking from them by Gov't taxation for voted programs. Norquest on steroids - very fascist.
It's the most heinous version of the gilded lot wanting power to rule and lock out the general public from their ill-gotten gains and rights in political freedoms by voting. Hence, all the voting suppression tactics. they know they don't have public support. Lies steal the votes of the naive MAGA.
Malcolm? Malcolm Gladwell? Why, he's at the Tipping Point, as are all the rest of us. The Great 2025 American Tipping Point, coming right up! Buckle up, and let us work, and hope, that sanity prevails as history waits for no one.
JD, nicely put as surely this will come back to harm ordinary people no matter who they are. I know we will all suffer, but I am probably going to take some pleasure from the R voters who start complaining about higher prices, etc.
I think it's valid for some people to complain about higher prices or the price of eggs. Some can truly not afford those higher prices. I was astounded last year when I went into a supermarket in Phoenix and the eggs were $10/dozen. Wowza! But to choose a president based on the price of eggs and food prices when one hasn't done one's homework? That's a whole other ballgame.
Revolution/takeover is much easier than governing. The more they destroy, the more they engender hatred from the "governed." This nation will become much weaker in all senses as they destroy the Federal government. I wonder how long big business will put up with the resulting chaos?
Someone wise once said, 'You can't fight the system, you need to create a new system which makes the old one redundant.' The old system is legacy media, fake news generators like Fox, social media platforms owned by billionaires. The resistance, the new system, has begun with platforms like Bluesky and Substack. People need to vote with their feet and their wallets - abandon anything that serves the incoming govt and it's profiteers.
Is there anyone here who, having observed what Trump has done and is doing, is not convinced that Trump is now a lunatic? This is lunacy. Trump is not of sound mind.
The false equivalencies are outlandish. The Faux outrage over Hunter is ridiculous. In the first case, Trump would have done precisely the same for one of his kids. In the second, Trump pardoned far, far worse miscreants: Manafort, Stone, and Jared's Dad, Charles. Give me a F**king Break!
I tried to figure out Trump, over and over, and finally became resigned to his being mentally ill. Thank you, courageous psychiatrist Bandy Lee.
But, as you say here, what's with the media piling on Biden over the pardon? It's partly immaturity, I guess. Going with the crowd. Biden's such an easy target for them. And some of it has to be fear of the MAGA machine. "Obeying in advance." I'm grateful for this group.
Yes, hypocrisy and revenge. The "clutching of the pearls" reactions that Biden changed his mind, and thus lied, seems to be the opposite reaction to all those Republicans who vehemently criticized Trump in 2016, calling him a Nazi, etc.,but now are bowing down to him.
Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and the future vice-president, JD Vance cannot justify their loss of integrity, but that's okay. No, the critics of Biden's pardon of his son, not only "clutched their pearls", but added another strand.
I truly believe that Biden was sincere in saying that he would not pardon Hunter and let it play out with the DOJ when he believed that Harris would win. But with an obviously corrupt DOJ percolating and having his son sentenced to prison when trump, a convicted felon of multiple crimes, not only has evaded prison but will become US president again was too hard to swallow....
This was all in “the plan”. The seeds were set in the ground in the 80’s when Reagan was prez. Putin realized that he needed compliant agents to do his bidding. He waited over 30 years to unleash them and now they have taken over Congress, the media, and now the presidency. Like Jasmine Crockett said, Democrats always bring a butter knife to the fight. We need cannons.
Sharing documents in terrible, but sharing who our operatives are in Europe and Asia with Putin and others is despicable. Once he is back in office, he will do it again in a heart beat.
It's not just a case of the pot calling the kettle black—it's more like an entire pantry calling a tiny speck of dust on a kettle black. We're living in a dystopia fueled by the relentless nonsense of right-wing media. If their audience weren't so massive, their absurdity could be dismissed. But the new civil war is here, and it's a media war. The Democrats need to bring out their heavy artillery to counter the flood of right-wing misinformation.
The GOP backed a man guilty of felonies, endangering national security, and inciting deadly violence. Their hypocrisy on corruption while supporting him is staggering. They own this chaos—and the consequences are on their hands.
Biden's pardon of his son is the beginning of the civil war, unexpectedly but a war always begin like this. Medias are with the Trump side for the obvious reason of their survival. Mr. Biden has one month to win. What strategy should he take? This is the topic we need to discuss, no more criticism of Trump and MAGA.
Interesting (and scary) idea about this being the beginning of the civil war. And good point - we should be talking about what Biden should do. I think he should repeat and repeat his clear and concise reasoning for why the pardon.
Angela, they are hypocrites on steroids. Hunter's problems came from addiction. He has paid the taxes and penalties. It is clear to anyone who knows what is coming why Biden pardoned his son. Rs will go on a witch hunt anyway and their targets will not just be the Bidens. Death star is a criminal and a traitor, the worst president ever and is without one redeeming characteristic. I agree that they should never complain about corruption. They are the party of death.
Well, if there were ever an opportunity to re-balance the powers of the Congress and the Executive, this rogues gallery of senior U.S.G. nominees is it. 🤞
Messrs Hunter Biden and Hegseth are alcoholics and substance abusers. They need help. Mr Biden is getting help and making amends, both in righting past wrongs and remaining clean for five years this far. Mr Hegseth has not. ⚖️
Mr Hegseth may get the help he needs and should be supported in doing so. Yet he still has to face up to the consequences of his behavior and certainly should NOT be SecDef. 🤔
Last evening, Deutsche Welle, a former Assistant Special Prosecutor on Watergate said that, had Vice President Harris won, Mr Biden would not have been pardoned. I quite agree. 💔
P.S., this statement, from Joyce Vance in yesterday's 'Week Ahead' essay, says it all: "Look at how quickly MAGA dropped its focus on Hunter Biden once Joe Biden left the ticket."
Not only did the GOP nominate him, enough people in this country supported him to get him elected, KNOWING the chaos he brings. A bigger question is what is wrong with US, collectively
After flipping thru the MSM "news" sites at lunch today, it seems that most of them are stridently expressing outrage that "Binden said, many times, he would not pardon Hunter" . None of the talking heads said anything about the fact that the conditions have changed since President Binden made those remarks, namely the appointment of the radical Kash Patel to head the FBI. Patel has vowed to use that office as a weapon to press criminal charges against journalists, reporters, and specifically Hunter Biden.
Where are the voices of reason, like Brinkley, Brokaw, Cronkite, Koppel, ...
Trump is responsible for the security of all Americans. His nomination of Secretary of Defense is contrary to this principle. Hopefully the Senate can stop, but if they give him a free pass, Biden should declare a martial law. Take a lesson from South Korea.
No way. I live in Trump territory. These people have guns. Some are paranoid, and suspect the government has been wanting to fight them all along. Declaring martial law would certainly start a civil war, in my opinion.
Many have detailed Biden and his amazing administration's accomplishments in spite of having two terrible do-nothing Speakers working to derail everything he has proposed in the since they took over the House.
On Inauguration Day in 2021, Trump pardoned 237 of the most heinous criminals and there was barely a mention of this in the corporate media. Four of the pardoned defrauded Medicare/Medicaid for a combined $2 billion.
The average family of four earns around $3 million in their lifetime and then they collect a few thousand a month from the SS they paid into. And these 4 convicted felons stole what 650 families make in their lifetime from us.
How many of us have seen a single story about Trump's pardons? And yet the corporate media is all over the Hunter pardon.
Corporate media has been on the "dark side" since the day it accepted the first advertisement, in Europe in the 1600s. In other words, it has always been on the dark side in the American Colonies which eventually became the United States. Corporate media has always been motivated by revenue, not journalistic integrity. And the lion's share of revenue has always come from advertising, not subscriptions. Advertising rates charged are justified by "audience share." The more eyeballs and/or ears an outlet captures, the more it can charge for advertising. This obsessive, relentless drive for audience share led to approaches such as "If it bleeds, it leads."
In fact, corporate media is just one factor of the disease that has plagued the U.S. since its inception: Capitalism without Conscience.
The Trump cult (formerly known as the Republican Party, formerly known as the Democratic Party) are not the disease; they are a symptom of the disease.
As with most consumptive diseases, Capitalism without Conscience has devoured Democracy. Presently, corporate media amplifies the sounds of the death rattle.
The Faux outrage over Hunter is ridiculous. In the first case, Trump would have done precisely the same for one of his kids. In the second case, he did. Trump pardoned far, far worse miscreants: Manafort, Stone, and Jared's Dad, Charles. Give me a F**king Break! I wish Gym Jordan and James Comer and Sean Hannity would just shut up.
I wish the Democrats would shut up myself. Michael Bennet, Tim Kaine 2 of the worst calling Biden a liar- I do not believe he was lying but the situation changed when Trump was elected and Kash Patel could easily be the new FBI director who would make Hoover look like an angel. I really don’t believe under the same circumstances any of these Pearl clutchers wouldn’t do the same. Besides Hunter had paid back all the taxes he owed plus interest. Also only a very small number of those in similar circumstances are prosecuted especially criminally - many believe had Hunter’s last name not been Biden such charges would never been brought.
To defeat Joe Biden, Donald Trump, the GOP et al tried to destroy Joe Biden's troubled son Hunter Biden. They did their worst. They failed. Republicans will never forgive Joe Biden for defeating Donald Trump. Democrats will never forgive Joe Biden for not defeating Trump twice.
Joe Biden has risked his complicated legacy to save his son - from Trump, Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, the captured Supreme Court et al. Good on Biden. No matter what they throw at us. And they will. Hopefully we can be as strong as the Bidens. We'll need to be.
Overall Biden has supported, repaired, and strengthened our institutions. Any comparisons equating Biden and Trump, or implying that Biden has enabled Trump's abuses, are specious rhetoric in service of normalizing Trump. An unforced error with worse implications and potential for worse harm to our institutions than anything Biden has done - including putting Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. As we consider Trump's nominees - that unforced error should come to mind.
lin•, you hit the nail on the head. Biden issues one pardon (of his son) following the floated appointment of a replacement FBI director who has NO BUSINESS directing anything and who will go after any and every one from Biden's administration and there is gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. tfg issues pardons left and right, nominates absolute criminals to be leading law enforcement agencies, and by gum by gods, Biden is far, far worse for "going back on his word".
Guaranteed, there would be no problem if the incoming administration was Harris/Walz.
"If Hunter and the Biden family are upstanding citizens it should not matter who is in Oval Office or head of FBI."
Please let me rephrase that for you. Were this a typical transition and typical incoming administration, then no citizen would need fear who is in the Oval Office or head of the FBI.
Our system ought make sure that both 'upstanding citizens', law breakers, and everyone in between, has the benefit of an independent judiciary. This was not the case in the first Trump administration, and by all evidence from Trump and his nominees, it will not be the case now.
"Mr. Trump has been clear in what he is trying to do with a nominee like Mr. Patel: He wants to bend and break the bureau and weaponize it against those he sees as his political enemies and domestic critics."
I was thrilled at the news that Biden pardoned Hunter. I wrote a comment to the Whitehouse asking him to do what he can to protect all of Trump’s “enemies “ including himself. Blanket pardon for all democrats?
Someone with a presidential pardon cannot be prosecuted, right? But I don’t think it will stop Patel from pursuing Hunter. When was the last time you saw the COF and his cultists play by the rules?
I had absolutely no reason to doubt President Biden’s full pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, given Trump’s statements over the years and the individuals he has nominated to fill the judicial system’s cabinet positions within his administration. Well done, Joe! And yes, where has the press been in its lack of appropriate coverage of all Trump does including his pardons that all reck of political corruption?
My feelings EXACTLY! Thank you Nanci. AND HEATHER!! The media , even Peter Baker, whom I’ve always put at the top of the list of dependable keepers of history, betrayed the truth by completely ignoring the context of the birth of trump’s ‘evil empire’. In such a context it takes more courage & humility to break one’s word than to keep it. Joe Biden is indeed a man of incomparable courage… of great stature… a mentor for us all.
I wrote to Peter Baker (an email) when the fiasco about Biden's age was top news. I pointed out the huge focus the NYTimes placed on Biden while ignoring all the fumbles and age-related missteps, the denigration of people, etc. (you all know the list), of Trump.
Peter responded! He defended reporting on what the public cares about. A non-answer, for sure, but if the fact that he responded gives any of you the idea to also write to him, do it. His email is available when you click on his name.
I’ve been mulling in my mind - for several weeks now - what kind of Civilized War we should wage during these times! Will mass exodus from X have any effect? I know….there is a deep desire to post “contrary” messages that reflect The Truth, but, ultimately, that seems to go nowhere. Now, if we started to see Used Car Lots filling up with used Teslas….hmmmm!
“Hit ‘em in the wallet!” They let you do that if you are an Important Person!!
NYT historically has gone all in on fascism. The paper initially be supported Hitler despite clear evidence of his intentions. Peterson Baker has always been a milquetoast journalist.
I remember being told in school that they had to teach to the "lowest common denominator". That's exactly what the response you got says: they are producing a newspaper for the lowest common denominator.
You are right Mary Ellen. My wife has wondered many times, why each student isn't allowed to progress at their own rate instead of at the rate of the lowest common denominator.
Personally, I was very slow at reading and writing, but above average at math. I probably slowed down some of the others in my class with my reading ability but I was slowed down by others math abilities.
The one-room school house where students K-12 are in one class may actually be superior to many classrooms today.
I'm so glad to hear that you wrote to him. Journalists need to hear that we see what they are doing, and not doing, that we know that this both-side-ism madness is helping those who are working to destroy everything we hold dear in this country.
It's interesting that he wrote back to you, only to give you meaningless non-answer, as you called it. What the public cares about? He, and the media in general, help shape "what the public cares about." If only he had steered the public toward what they needed desperately to care about if they wanted to save us from where we are right now.
The media did not cover the true outrages because they fell into the trap of covering Trump's more recently gratuitous b.s. he learned that being entertaining is rewarded more than being "good".
Maybe that's the trouble with society: we've gotten so comfortable that we've become bored. Democracy combined with regulated capitalism has been too successful, it seems.
I think the type and scope of regulation matters. Much regulation is needed to temper natural greed or normal ignorance or misunderstanding of unintended consequences of commercial actions - much like traffic laws and street signs and markings help roads be safer. However, some regulations go too far, and those lead to lawsuits about government overreach which, during the current Supreme Court, lead to anti-regulatory rulings.
Yes, Capitalism needs controls, but they need to be flexible and based on science, economics, and also pass the common sense test.
The media is Doug the talking dog in Up spotting a squirrel. Or a baby who can be distracted by jangling keys. The pearl clutching is beyond nauseating and dangerous. It's a violation of Timothy Snyder's admonition: DO. NOT. OBEY. IN. ADVANCE.
I have no problem with Biden pardoning his son. If Biden is a good man, he will pardon Leonard Peltier the Native Indian activist political prisoner falsely accused of aiding and abetting the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. A longtime to be in prison. Here is my treatment of the incident in one of my songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ell2BLzNA
Biden is a good man. It would be nice if he would have the courage to pardon Peltier. At the very least he could consider a commutation so that Leonard could leave prison.
Yes! I learned in the process of reading this reporting that Biden has pardoned fewer people than most presidents. This might be an opportunity to take another look at Pelltier and others whose convictions were unjust. Until yesterday, I did not know that 400 FBI agents protested the release of Peltier when President Clinton wanted to pardon him. I am concerned that of all government agencies, the FBI risks becoming a tool of oppression.
They always have been. Remember what J Edgar did to the Civil Rights activists in the 1960s. Maybe Petal is correct and close the FBI down. Maybe just a thought.
Absolutely for Peltier! Thanks for reminding us about this injustice. And a HUGE thanks to Heather for such a clear, and encompassing, summary of recent news reports about pardons.
Whoosh Heather, You have really given us an amazing tie-it-all-together here and boy does the hypocrisy of the MAGA republicans ooze out of the seams. By far the best wholistic take on the relative importance of the Biden pardon and the Trump transition I have seen. And, keeping with the distorted coverage the MSM provided during the election season and in the wake of the election result, the headlines and talking heads have failed miserably in providing perspective and context.
I am so glad Biden pardoned his son. He is sticking by the family that has stuck by him, and honoring his wife as well as protecting his son. I think he should help his son get a house in Ireland to further protect him.
As for the legacy media, I have been saying since Musk bought the Twitter platform that it was time to leave. Right on for European Media. Yesterday I read a disturbing story about Trump's benefitting from a Chinese National being investigated for corruption investing heavily into Trump's crypto currency business. https://popular.info/p/a-chinese-national-charged-with-fraud?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This was not covered in the legacy media. Trump the Supreme grifter will put everything in the US for sale as long as he can profit from it.
BlueSky is refreshing. And growing rapidly. The revolution, resistance or renaissance - whatever it gets called - may be launched from there. The exodus from X is only increasing as it gets more and more toxic.
Thank you Heather. I am just trying to get people to realize that it is not just the people who walked barefoot from South and Central American countries to the US with almost nothing who can decide to leave where they are, but we can too.
Agreed. I can find most of the "trusted ones" are there. It feels really good at Blue sky. I notice that there is some degree of "troll catching" by members that so far has kept it clean. BlueSky may be the beacon we need. It also could be where the big change is launched.
And more of the trusted ones show up every day. It's going to take a while for me to build up the follower list I had on the other place, but I want to be where the big change is launched, helping it launch.
Heard an NPR interview Sunday or Monday with an expert on autocracy-building (my label). She laid out the pattern of necessities involved, which includes exactly what is happening with these cabinet choices...even down to deliberately choosing those whose behaviors are criminal and/or have made them unemployable otherwise. Fascinating!
Yes, it was....mostly caught the last half, I think - here's a part that stood out for me:
"...one of the things is that authoritarianism replaces rule of law, with rule by the lawless. And who is a criminal and who is a patriot undergoes a profound transformation. One of the reasons that authoritarians use pardons as soon as they get to power, like I'll give you two examples, Mussolini, he declared a dictatorship after being prime minister of a democracy.
And the first thing he did was to pardon all the political criminals who had helped him get to power since the days of squadrism. So all the thugs, all the killers, all the lawyers who transgressed, they all got pardons. And Pinochet, after the coup in Chile, did the same thing. And it's very interesting.
He pardoned not only everybody who had human rights abuses for torturing people, but he also pardoned concealers of the abuses who had wiped the military records clean of the abuse allegations. So you have to free up criminals, liars, propagandists to serve the party and serve the government. And so in this sense, so that's where we have the, we will see, probably the pardoning of all the January 6th criminals.
And they will become patriots, and they've already become patriots in Trump's campaign. There's a January 6th prison choir and that sacralizes violence. "
Yes to this report! Last night I tried to watch PBS and had to turn it off because they were so focused on dissecting Biden’s action of pardoning his son. When I heard about the pardon I was happy that our great president had been brave enough to do this. I had to turn off PBS— it’s like they’re stuck in an echo chamber. This FBI appointment is terrifying.
We stopped watching it years ago as well. It went down hill fast after Jim Lehrer retired. His replacement wasn't bad, but he seemed to get worse over time.
Criminality. Vulgarity. Racism. Misogyny. Bankruptcy. Fraud. Americans voted for this.
Convicted criminal.
We can’t be surprised that he now openly intends the crime of destroying American institutions that till now have (somewhat) held back billionaire criminality.
He’s an adjudicated sex abuser – rapist (serial rapist, if we take seriously the more than two dozen women who have named him for attacking them). So it makes perfect sense that as high officials he’s openly nominating some of the worst sex predators in the land.
He’s a convicted fraud – all his life a con man, grifter, liar, cheat. It makes sense he’d pal around with the worst of the U.S.’s and the world’s oligarchs and massively corrupt billionaires.
He’s a multiple bankrupt. Of course he’ll bankrupt the U.S. Treasury to give more deep tax cuts to the U.S. rich.
He’s a racist. Of course he wants to create as much pain for as many brown, black, ebony, and yellow colored people as might be undocumented in the U.S. He campaigned on that vitriol. Tens of millions of Americans voted for the racist and xenophobe pain he may cause.
Americans also voted for his opponent almost as often, but the biggest offenders are those who failed to exercise their Constitutional right to cast a ballot.
Yes, I know the money those far-right foundations spent, and the strategies they perfected to kill the humanities from any public uses.
But those who run our schools -- admin, bureaucrats, standardized testers, corporate textbook packagers -- didn't dehumanize for any reasons consonant with the civilized world.
Yes. But it is parents who decide who will run their schools. So while I agree many of our problems could be solved if schools were run differently, they are also a reflection of our current cumulative values.
We want our kids to learn how to make money. Which is essential, of course. But as you have so often pointed out, there is so much more.
The mission of the new DNC leader must be to find enough of those 90 plus million who have checked out - who don't trust anybody. We need a brand new economic message to be delivered by someone with an incredible charisma.
I hate to say it, but most people don't vote for quality. They vote for someone who convinces them they will deliver change and a better life.
I don't disagree; I also think that what tfg* did was let their hatred and anger become normalized, and paved the way for White Christian Nationalism, which they want with all their stone cold hearts.
*in my desire never to use the word that is also his last name, I've resorted to "nicknames" as it were. I was particularly fond of "fpotus" which was the diminutive of what the Secret Service refers to as "Former President of the United States". My use of "tfg" now stands for "that f-ing guy" and not President Biden's "the former guy".
Sandra — Not the "majority of the country!" As alien chords says above: "Just over 1/3 of eligible American voters voted for this." It's vital that we understand the difference.
Monday, as I listened to the outrage of the media towards Biden’s pardoning of his son, I was angry and continue to feel betrayed by the media. They focus on Biden, rather than what we will have incoming.. Is this what the higher ups at all of the cable news told them to do to stay on Trump’s right side? Be aware of what is coming, as we have been warned.
What proves them all certifiable - Trump et al., is that the world they will shamelessly be destroying, is the world they and their children and grandchildren will have to live in too. It's called shitting in your own nest. They think they'll be looking down from on high sipping ambrosia, but when you marginalise 99% of the population, you better watch your back.
I just signed up for Bluesky. @geocdn.bsky.social. I was never a Twitter or X user, and frankly don't even like the Social Apps. I don't use FB anymore (2 years now). And, I don't know if I will use Bluesky, frankly for the long term. Unless it turns into something useful in the coming resistance to the Trump Regime and his misfits. I am very concerned about how our military will react to unlawful (in our time) orders from The Trump Regime. DO. NOT. OBEY. IN. ADVANCE
Today (12/02/24) DemCast had an organizing Zoom webinar call on what to do now and next year. You can follow DemCast on their Subststack newsletter and on BlueSky:
I'm so glad Biden pardoned his son. Saved him from Trump. People say there are many things Biden should do in the few weeks remaining. I won't hold my breath
The LWV has put out an action email to send to Biden & Harris .In the United States, women are still not guaranteed equal rights. We have seen the devastating consequences of this reality. Yet, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which will update the US Constitution to protect the equality of rights under the law regardless of sex, can be added to the Constitution with one action. With just months left in office, we are urging President Biden to act to ensure that the ERA is published.
Trying to figure out why I had very little reaction to tonight's Letter, it occurs to me that Heather hasn't included any history that gives us perspective and sheds light on today's news. Is there nothing in our past that could help us understand the thoroughly despicable nature of Trump's entirely unqualified, immoral, and cruel nominees? Learning aspects of our history from these Letters that I never learned in school has always made me understand that we have been through challenging times before, but that, despite the struggles, we have always found our way back to our democratic principles. How bleak is our current situation? How close to the brink of losing sight of the wisdom and genius of our founders are we? I gain some hope from the folks in the various groups that I belong to who are working on the assumption that that we can make a difference on the local level, but I can't help wondering if that will be enough.
Turn to Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Joan Didion, Ross Macdonald, Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Philip K. Dick, Ira Levin, Helen Eustis.
Plenty of Americans have pondered, written about, nailed the corruption that's always been in the U.S., over the U.S.
That's one reason all the far-right foundations built on the Powell memo first killed humanities in all American schools, then turned their attention to fattening the billionaires, offshoring the working-class jobs, and growing the wealth gap steadily for the past half century. While feeding Americans pabulum reality TV. And much worse.
May I suggest c. Day Lewis writing as Nicholas Blake, 1939, "The Smiler With A Knife"?
"
A sinister plot to establish a dictatorship in England."
"Like many highly intelligent people, Georgia was inclined to under-estimate the enormous potential strength of stupidity. . . though the last ten years had given them so many object lessons in the way a few really determined, unscrupulous men can exploit this stupidity and apathy . . . the scheme only need be coherent enough to hold water for a few weeks, while it's making an impact on public opinion . . . The man in the street doesn't give two damns for expert verdicts. . . he'll say to himself, 'Here at last is someone making constructive proposals on the three subjects that've been most on my mind - "
And. Aharon Appelfeld, "Badenheim 1939"
Written after the facts. A demonstration of how things change so gradually, and people adapt so thoroughly, that eventually - they are willfully self-deporting, boarding trains to Poland.
"Trying to figure out why I had very little reaction to tonight's Letter, it occurs to me that Heather hasn't included any history that gives us perspective and sheds light on today's news. . . I gain some hope from the folks in the various groups that I belong to who are working on the assumption that that we can make a difference on the local level, but I can't help wondering if that will be enough."
HCR routinely does all the things you complain she has not done here. And although she hasn't done a deep historical dive here, she certainly has provided sufficient context to put things in perspective. So it occurs to me that your flat reaction is on you. Yes, we rely on others to help us feel hopeful, we are doing what we can to make a difference, and we are wondering whether it will be enough. But ultimately we generate and sustain our own hopefulness.
Couldn’t agree more. Seems that some expect another book when she doesn’t cover EVERY aspect of every topic. Just appreciate what she posts. It is truth, with references, and with enough context to not be confused by some obscure point. Sorry for the pig reference, she does indeed provide plenty of trimmings. Her “crumbs” are jewels. No sleight intended.
The lack of historical reference was not a complaint, it was an observation. In the past, learning the historical facts that had been left out of my education gave me a perspective on the possibilities beyond our current situation. Are there analogies that would help me understand where we are now and how in the past others moved forward?
Betsy, one of the things that Professor Richardson is doing in these Letters is documenting for historians looking at the US 150 years from now what a current historian thinks is important. Many of her Letters do manage to have a reference to familiar historical events (oft referred to as "I never learned THAT in my school history classes" Letters). I profoundly hope that there is someone working somewhere in journalism that would be able to do the same thing with reference to the previous position of "Legacy Media" to it's current "Corporate Media" positions.
In one of HCR's recent Facebook Chats, she described the democracy-threatening period leading to the Civil War and our subsequent recovery. It might have been her Chat on 11/26/24:
Not sure about that. I worked with quite a few politicians in my professional life and for most of them stands out that they have an exaggerated feeling of self-importance, need for power and all seem to be at least slightly narcissistic. I think sadly our system, which seems broken anyway, particularly attracts this sort of people.
Exaggerated feeling of self-importance, need for power, at least slightly narcissistic - that sounds like a pretty good characterization of a substantial portion of the American character.
Speaking of American character, this is a well written book with considerable insight. It builds on Woodard’s book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. It builds on Kevin Phillips’ perspective of looking at major movements of peoples and episodes of settlement.
“ American Character A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty & the Common Good
by Colin Woodard”
“The struggle between individual rights and the good of the community as a whole has been the basis of nearly every major disagreement in our history, from the debates at the Constitutional Convention and in the run up to the Civil War to the fights surrounding the agendas of the Federalists, the Progressives, the New Dealers, the civil rights movement, and the Tea Party. In American Character, Colin Woodard traces these two key strands in American politics through the four centuries of the nation s existence, from the first colonies through the Gilded Age, Great Depression and the present day, and he explores how different regions of the country have successfully or disastrously accommodated them. The independent streak found its most pernicious form in the antebellum South but was balanced in the Gilded Age by communitarian reform efforts; the New Deal was an example of a successful coalition between communitarian-minded Eastern elites and Southerners.
Woodard argues that maintaining a liberal democracy, a society where mass human freedom is possible, requires finding a balance between protecting individual liberty and nurturing a free society. Going to either libertarian or collectivist extremes results in tyranny. But where does the sweet spot lie in the United States, a federation of disparate regional cultures that have always strongly disagreed on these issues? Woodard leads readers on a riveting and revealing journey through four centuries of struggle, experimentation, successes and failures to provide an answer. His historically informed and pragmatic suggestions on how to achieve this balance and break the nation s political deadlock will be of interest to anyone who cares about the current American predicament political, ideological, and sociological.”
The GOP is behind the election of a man so corrupt that he has been found guilty of numerous felonies related to his first campaign for president, a man who violated national security, stealing secret documents and sharing them with we don't know who, a adjudicated rapist who associated with Jeffery Epstein and whose lawsuit - by a woman who was 13 years old when she says he and Epstein raped her - ended when he became President last time, a man who organized a violent uprising against the US government which lead to the deaths of five people... do I need to go on? The GOP nominated this man for President, and since they got what they wanted, and he has once again won election to the highest position in the country, none of them should ever again complain about corruption. It's what they voted for. It's what they and the rest of us are going to get. Listening to them whine about Biden pardoning his son is not very convincing.
The whole point is to burn down the federal government.
Grover Norquist said he wanted to shrink the federal government until it would be small enough to drown in a bathtub. And isn't the whole point of the neoliberal movement to shrink the federal government? "And don't it always seem to go that we don't know what we've got 'til it's gone?!"
"Shrink the Government" is one of those phrases like "woke" and "the economy". No one has any idea what it really means.
Shrink the government? "Sure! As long as it doesn't impact me!" say all the voters.
Barbara, exactly. Does anybody seriously believe that Musk's aggressive approach to make government more "efficient" will call for an end to both NASA and U.S. space endeavors? Of course not.
But his conflicts of interest may kill his competitor Blue Horizon -- because you know - monopoly to the taxpayer treasury and unlimited contracts from NASA to Space X. The stock price is already gaining on the idea of influenced corruption giving a windfall.
I am really beyond my wits at how brazenly corrupt they are - IN OUR FACES about it.
I'm at my wits end at how brazenly IN OUR FACES they are and yet some people STILL DON'T RECOGNIZE what they're seeing. It totally blows me away. Ignorance? Stupidity? Brainwashed? Or could there really be that many evil people in our country?
Amazing arrogance for sure.
Who needs to end poverty and hunger when we can spend billions of dollars flying to Mars?
100Panthers: I believe we can do both, if we had the will.
Like the people I heard in a local grocery store (a VERY red community) Standing around complaining about Biden and the government. 4 out of the 5 were obese and couldn't understand why their "disability" checks hadn't arrived yet.
Wonder how they will feel if soon they never get a disability check or a dramatically reduced check.
How did this 'shrinkage' work out for you? Us?!
"When President Trump took office in 2017, the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense survived the transition intact. Its mission was the same as when I was asked to lead the office, established after the Ebola epidemic of 2014: to do everything possible within the vast powers and resources of the U.S. government to prepare for the next disease outbreak and prevent it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic.
One year later, I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like covid-19.
The U.S. government’s slow and inadequate response to the new coronavirus underscores the need for organized, accountable leadership to prepare for and respond to pandemic threats.
In a health security crisis, speed is essential. When this new coronavirus emerged, there was no clear White House-led structure to oversee our response, and we lost valuable time."
https://wapo.st/3VmBiN0
Yes. I know.
The 'mis' leaders know what they mean and why, and also separately, a special narrative story for followers is my thought. My tact is to keep them talking and explaining - as though I'm perhaps interested in joining up if they can convince me. I get to learn that way.
They won’t shrink it, they will redirect it. In ways that are familiar in places like Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda…
It is the perceived “prize” that is the motivating engine behind corruption. That ancient disease of “insatiable need”,(greed for money, power, attention, etc.). Such affected players can never win by the established rules. Thus follows the rule-of-lies, buying up media and distorting reality. Didn’t we see this coming? We failed to protect against Big Money, we honored “free”speech— and are paying dearly.
How does our present culture now capture a system that upholds facts, allows “opinion and entertainment” when identified as such? The now required dire warning on tobacco products only followed the many decades fight against moneyed interests and millions of needless early deaths. Fake news is just as lethal— if not more so. Yes?
Barry, as a woman, it isn't just corruption that worries me and many other women who are posting about it, but the misogyny and its appeal to rape culture, plus the demeaning of anyone who is not white, male, hetero, and a certain brand of "Christian." Also this may be the nail in the coffin for doing anything about climate change and making it worse.
Makes me more concerned than ever about an unimaginable Climate Catastrophe, as far as humans are concerned.
Indeed, this simmers for me all the time. I am a long time gardener and so i pay attention to these type of changes. I notice all the natural disasters happening all over the world. We have been making tiny steps, not nearly enough though, which will be reversed by the incoming greed and power administration. It won't be just the price of eggs that will be the problem.
I think we should all be concerned. Climate catastrophes are already happening. Just ask North Carolina.
Just yesterday a relative posted a chilling account of harassment on public transit, pointed at him for being an 'effing fag'. Bystanders stood by while the aggressor verbally abused him from stepping onto the train until he stepped off at the next stop to escape the harassment. I fear this will become much more frequent. This cousin is queer looking but not over the top. I haven't been harassed in years for my appearance (and what people see in me), but I expect it to begin again. And that's just the queer part, not the female part... Not excited for that to come around either.
Ohhh Steph I’m so sorry you relative had to experience that. 😢What saddens me more is no one called out the bully.
That's terrible. I don't even know what to say, except that I am disgusted with the direction this country is going in!
Horrible. We all have to be fierce allies. I would NEVER sit still for this happening to anyone.
Misogyny and "rape culture" is just one form of that "power-hungry" insatiable vacuum. I think of Gabor Mate, MD and his theories of early trauma and irreparable "holes" in the psyche. All that I speak of originates in trauma -- the perpetrators were also likely victims. Not an excuse for, just understanding of etiology.
I am not familiar with this person; however, I have thought something like this for a long time. I would say, based on my work in education, that family dynamics can be hard to overcome. I am not sure all perpetrators are victims, but they probably did grow up in a cultural milieu that mirrored that behavior.
Yes, climate change is the big big problem which renders all others almost moot. I sometime wonder when people talk about something happening years from now what they are thinking.
I often believe that the realisation that we are headed toward extinction is influencing the current trama manifest in the populace. Almost everything we do in our daily lives contributes and hastens our demise. You can choose to deny and double down in that negative culture or struggle against it . I think maga knows human nature and are grabbing all they can before the bill comes due. The dems knows human nature and chooses to work for a managed future.
Spot on Michele. And if you are a woman and work in the sciences, double whammy!!
I don't and I am retired. However, I can imagine.
I’m beginning to think the “shrinking the federal government”is, indeed, a smokescreen. The same goes for “turn it back to the states.” Trump wants POWER, and when you “shrink” something, it becomes less powerful.
Is Grover’s notion the same as Donald’s?
I always got the feeling Grover had no idea what he was talking about. Shrink the Government is indeed a smokescreen. It really means take over the government.
Norquist hasn't made a peep about the government's expansion into women's health care. Catch phrases from the right like "drain the swamp" or "shrink the government" or "get rid of fraud and waste" are pure doublespeak. They mean the opposite.
Make America Great Again (MAGA) means Burn It Down (BID), and a criminal lunatic has won the bid.
David, all that.
I was just humming that song last night - it fits the times.
Volga Boatman is more appropriate, Tovarich.
😏
Except for the military! Its primary role is the defense of American capitalism, pretty much period.
I am not sure the military is at the top of the hit list. That money is now targeted to spaceX
That Norquist imagined drowning anyone in a bathtub speaks volumes about his own character.
That was my first thought the first time I heard that quote from Norquist. Murderer! Psychopath!
The quote is from Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell. https://jonimitchell.com 🙏🏽
Nancy, Yes! And the next phrase is "Pave Paradise, put up a parking lot", which I decided not to include, because the example of bulldozing Paradise is not really necessary.
Norquist was one of the earliest grifters, and one of the slimiest ones at that.
What is politics? Defined = Who gets the money!!!!!!!
Wondered when his name would be mentioned 🤦
Grover is likely orgasmic, but he will likely just take his cut and run. Unless the Heritage folks win over Putin and the magat crazies
hahaha. Shrink the government. Well, don't count on the taxes shrinking. The greedy will pocket it all and use it to fill their massive egos.
Really fine point there, David. Great to *read your Douglassesque pragmatism again! 🤝⚖️✌🏽
Hey, Ned. Thank You! A day or two ago I spent some time looking at the pictures of the places you visited, and I read your stories. I've never been near any of those places. Fascinating. I am deeply grateful for the diversity we enjoy here in the USA. I think the best antidote to all the prejudicial talk about illegal immigration and deportation is for us to express what is in our hearts, that we love and cherish diversity among our friends and neighbors. The bigots are wrong. They are spiritually malnourished. They try to put prejudice and Christianity in the same sentence. And thank you for mentioning Mr. Douglass! Cheers!
Wow, David. Thank you for honouring me. A compliment like yours from a gentleman of your evident calibre leaves me speechless. And thank you for the reminder of Frederick Douglass who still had a capacity for love despite enduring so much physical torture and hatred. You inspire me.
Thank You, Ned. I appreciate your kindness and generosity.
Not sure this will happen. Musk will still get funds.
If polite society were to devolve into chaos, we would all be dancing on the edge of a slippery slope, with a high wind from the wrong direction. They think they can manage chaos. Hah! "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold".
Fascism comes to the United States.
Jane Meyer wrote all about this in Dark Money.........I have been telling everyone for years about it the book........nobody really listened.........now the gates of hell have opened wide.......Malcolm Nance has been yelling from the mountain top for years!!! Zero reaction
Because by then it was already too late. The financial system, media and government were already infiltrated. I believe that one day if we are lucky enough to survive this coup intact as a Democracy we will learn how complicit the media has been on a deep level.
Heather, that's an excellent account of the Hunter Biden case! The media's presentation of it is outrageous. We are lucky to have you to set the facts straight.
Dr. Richardson has over a million subscribers. She is a graduate of Harvard with multiple degrees, has taught at MIT and is currently a Professor at Boston College. She has authored 7 books, interviewed President Biden twice. She has risen to acclaim as an accomplished voice in America.
Much of the media is owned by the villains. So you know what the outcomes will be. Look at Bezos (and other fat cats) pulling WAPO's potential endorsement of Kamala.
Yes, I know.
There is a growing cache of writing post this election examining the role the media played in the is election. It is a disaster. We have been drenched in a toxic brew of hatred, lies and disinformation.
The media created a false reality aimed at electing fascists.
Bought and paid for. Bezos refusal for WAPO to post its editorial position before Nov 5th was abjugated responsibility and "obeying in advance" to the perceived threat of DJT and ilk's returns.
I could never have believed how lethal to our Democracy they have become - especially to the buffoon.
Think about it though, we have never really had true “democracy” for all. People of color, other than white, have been denied of their rights as citizens for over 200+ years. Women of all ages, sizes, and color, have bern sexually trampled on and denied places at the table until recently. But hey, Kamala’s failed, they say! I think not. She scared the machismo right outta men so they had to deny her the right to govern a sane society.
Agree. This complicity of the media has been brewing since the oligarchs gobbled up local news, local papers and national news sources.
Because the zone has been flooded with so much sh@t. It’s hard to know which disaster needs attention.
I don't think we'll recover in my lifetime. People don't seem to care if they are good people or not.
When I screamed, T and FB banned me and people in my orbit just thought I was too radical. One very dear friend even said I sounded like his Fox nut friends. He had ex-military buddies who had already been foxified. Guess he was too.
JD, I, for one, do not think you are too radical. A lot of people I know, most of them old, have decided they are not going to shut up and are going to say what they think. I say to you, bravo.
I hope I’m too old to be intimidated. But this is not how I hoped to spend my dotage. Must still care for my grands and other young people, but sometimes energy is as depleted as finances…. Thank you, fellow radical
And I've been posting a lot, with links, about "Democracy in Chains", "The deep history of radical right's stealth plan for America", Nancy MacLean,
a factual historical troll through the RW apparatus since the 80's (at least) to implement Milton Freeman "Profit above ALL things" including voting by the general public which they decry as taking from them by Gov't taxation for voted programs. Norquest on steroids - very fascist.
It's the most heinous version of the gilded lot wanting power to rule and lock out the general public from their ill-gotten gains and rights in political freedoms by voting. Hence, all the voting suppression tactics. they know they don't have public support. Lies steal the votes of the naive MAGA.
WJB, “Dark Money” is a primer so sure
Agree, Dark Money should have been assigned reading for all.
Where is Malcolm?
Malcolm? Malcolm Gladwell? Why, he's at the Tipping Point, as are all the rest of us. The Great 2025 American Tipping Point, coming right up! Buckle up, and let us work, and hope, that sanity prevails as history waits for no one.
I was referring to Malcolm Nance. I’m surprised he’s not screaming from the rooftops.
They said it out loud, and people shrugged….
Or cheered.
Yep, sticking it to the libs. Hope some realize that all the epithets they aimed at Dems were really boomerangs…
JD, nicely put as surely this will come back to harm ordinary people no matter who they are. I know we will all suffer, but I am probably going to take some pleasure from the R voters who start complaining about higher prices, etc.
I think it's valid for some people to complain about higher prices or the price of eggs. Some can truly not afford those higher prices. I was astounded last year when I went into a supermarket in Phoenix and the eggs were $10/dozen. Wowza! But to choose a president based on the price of eggs and food prices when one hasn't done one's homework? That's a whole other ballgame.
A gay friend at my UU church is already enjoying family having regrets. Not so with my MAGAts. - yet…
And the rest of the country with it.
It will.
So the big corporations and robber barons can rob the country blind. They want to loot the country, like Putin, et. al. did to Russia.
Yes, and while everyone will be affected, the people who most need the protections our government affords us will suffer the most.
Revolution/takeover is much easier than governing. The more they destroy, the more they engender hatred from the "governed." This nation will become much weaker in all senses as they destroy the Federal government. I wonder how long big business will put up with the resulting chaos?
And then who's gonna run it after it's burned down? The guy with the buffalo horns on his head????
Someone wise once said, 'You can't fight the system, you need to create a new system which makes the old one redundant.' The old system is legacy media, fake news generators like Fox, social media platforms owned by billionaires. The resistance, the new system, has begun with platforms like Bluesky and Substack. People need to vote with their feet and their wallets - abandon anything that serves the incoming govt and it's profiteers.
Is there anyone here who, having observed what Trump has done and is doing, is not convinced that Trump is now a lunatic? This is lunacy. Trump is not of sound mind.
I'd say it's more like they'll chop it up and sell it for parts. Russia style.
And take the rest of us with it.
Oh, and also to enrich Trump and his cronies.
"Listening to them whine about Biden pardoning his son is not very convincing."
Keep track of who does the whining. It's very revealing.
The false equivalencies are outlandish. The Faux outrage over Hunter is ridiculous. In the first case, Trump would have done precisely the same for one of his kids. In the second, Trump pardoned far, far worse miscreants: Manafort, Stone, and Jared's Dad, Charles. Give me a F**king Break!
And he said he will pardon ALL of the Jan 6 insurrectionists.
I tried to figure out Trump, over and over, and finally became resigned to his being mentally ill. Thank you, courageous psychiatrist Bandy Lee.
But, as you say here, what's with the media piling on Biden over the pardon? It's partly immaturity, I guess. Going with the crowd. Biden's such an easy target for them. And some of it has to be fear of the MAGA machine. "Obeying in advance." I'm grateful for this group.
https://williambowles.info/2024/12/03/the-pardoning-of-hunter-bidens-crimes-in-ukraine/
Chump has been the master whiner all his life, who could come close
Hypocricy and revenge flow through their veins.
Yes, hypocrisy and revenge. The "clutching of the pearls" reactions that Biden changed his mind, and thus lied, seems to be the opposite reaction to all those Republicans who vehemently criticized Trump in 2016, calling him a Nazi, etc.,but now are bowing down to him.
Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and the future vice-president, JD Vance cannot justify their loss of integrity, but that's okay. No, the critics of Biden's pardon of his son, not only "clutched their pearls", but added another strand.
I truly believe that Biden was sincere in saying that he would not pardon Hunter and let it play out with the DOJ when he believed that Harris would win. But with an obviously corrupt DOJ percolating and having his son sentenced to prison when trump, a convicted felon of multiple crimes, not only has evaded prison but will become US president again was too hard to swallow....
Thank you. That is exactly the situation
This was all in “the plan”. The seeds were set in the ground in the 80’s when Reagan was prez. Putin realized that he needed compliant agents to do his bidding. He waited over 30 years to unleash them and now they have taken over Congress, the media, and now the presidency. Like Jasmine Crockett said, Democrats always bring a butter knife to the fight. We need cannons.
We should know he probably shared all of the most important docs with Putin, second hand.
Sharing documents in terrible, but sharing who our operatives are in Europe and Asia with Putin and others is despicable. Once he is back in office, he will do it again in a heart beat.
We will be isolated, with his paws on the nukes. But his pal, Putin will take over.
will conscientious lower echelons keep critical information from TRump to prevent losing all our agents in the field?
Yes, and I also believe that trump and putin have already agreed on what happens to Ukraine....
I really fear for Ukraine.
It's not just a case of the pot calling the kettle black—it's more like an entire pantry calling a tiny speck of dust on a kettle black. We're living in a dystopia fueled by the relentless nonsense of right-wing media. If their audience weren't so massive, their absurdity could be dismissed. But the new civil war is here, and it's a media war. The Democrats need to bring out their heavy artillery to counter the flood of right-wing misinformation.
A good history of this on On the Media podcast The Divided Dial and podcast from Friday How Conservative Talk Radio Came to Dominate the Airwaves NPR.
The GOP backed a man guilty of felonies, endangering national security, and inciting deadly violence. Their hypocrisy on corruption while supporting him is staggering. They own this chaos—and the consequences are on their hands.
Top priority should be that Russia attacked us, using psy ops. But for that Trump wudda lost bigly. Are we still a sovereign nation?
What are psy ops? I keep reading the term but not sure of what it precisely means, Daniel.
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/specialty-careers/special-ops/psychological-operations
Biden's pardon of his son is the beginning of the civil war, unexpectedly but a war always begin like this. Medias are with the Trump side for the obvious reason of their survival. Mr. Biden has one month to win. What strategy should he take? This is the topic we need to discuss, no more criticism of Trump and MAGA.
Interesting (and scary) idea about this being the beginning of the civil war. And good point - we should be talking about what Biden should do. I think he should repeat and repeat his clear and concise reasoning for why the pardon.
Angela, they are hypocrites on steroids. Hunter's problems came from addiction. He has paid the taxes and penalties. It is clear to anyone who knows what is coming why Biden pardoned his son. Rs will go on a witch hunt anyway and their targets will not just be the Bidens. Death star is a criminal and a traitor, the worst president ever and is without one redeeming characteristic. I agree that they should never complain about corruption. They are the party of death.
"is not very convincing"
They are not interested in convincing us. Their only interest is in confirming their own toady loyalty to the Groper-in-Chief.
So how to we stop this?
Well, if there were ever an opportunity to re-balance the powers of the Congress and the Executive, this rogues gallery of senior U.S.G. nominees is it. 🤞
Messrs Hunter Biden and Hegseth are alcoholics and substance abusers. They need help. Mr Biden is getting help and making amends, both in righting past wrongs and remaining clean for five years this far. Mr Hegseth has not. ⚖️
Mr Hegseth may get the help he needs and should be supported in doing so. Yet he still has to face up to the consequences of his behavior and certainly should NOT be SecDef. 🤔
Last evening, Deutsche Welle, a former Assistant Special Prosecutor on Watergate said that, had Vice President Harris won, Mr Biden would not have been pardoned. I quite agree. 💔
P.S., this statement, from Joyce Vance in yesterday's 'Week Ahead' essay, says it all: "Look at how quickly MAGA dropped its focus on Hunter Biden once Joe Biden left the ticket."
Not only did the GOP nominate him, enough people in this country supported him to get him elected, KNOWING the chaos he brings. A bigger question is what is wrong with US, collectively
The most powerful man in the world. The whole earth shutters
After flipping thru the MSM "news" sites at lunch today, it seems that most of them are stridently expressing outrage that "Binden said, many times, he would not pardon Hunter" . None of the talking heads said anything about the fact that the conditions have changed since President Binden made those remarks, namely the appointment of the radical Kash Patel to head the FBI. Patel has vowed to use that office as a weapon to press criminal charges against journalists, reporters, and specifically Hunter Biden.
Where are the voices of reason, like Brinkley, Brokaw, Cronkite, Koppel, ...
Trump is responsible for the security of all Americans. His nomination of Secretary of Defense is contrary to this principle. Hopefully the Senate can stop, but if they give him a free pass, Biden should declare a martial law. Take a lesson from South Korea.
No way. I live in Trump territory. These people have guns. Some are paranoid, and suspect the government has been wanting to fight them all along. Declaring martial law would certainly start a civil war, in my opinion.
No bad timing president Biden. Trump nominated $ Patel as FBI director and you pardon your son, Hunter Biden.
Good for y,your family and the whole country. Thanks for warning us again of wwhat's comcoming.
Many have detailed Biden and his amazing administration's accomplishments in spite of having two terrible do-nothing Speakers working to derail everything he has proposed in the since they took over the House.
On Inauguration Day in 2021, Trump pardoned 237 of the most heinous criminals and there was barely a mention of this in the corporate media. Four of the pardoned defrauded Medicare/Medicaid for a combined $2 billion.
The average family of four earns around $3 million in their lifetime and then they collect a few thousand a month from the SS they paid into. And these 4 convicted felons stole what 650 families make in their lifetime from us.
How many of us have seen a single story about Trump's pardons? And yet the corporate media is all over the Hunter pardon.
The lame stream media has gone over to the dark side.
The Magacy Media.
They are corporate media. I no longer use mainstream media.
Corporate media has been on the "dark side" since the day it accepted the first advertisement, in Europe in the 1600s. In other words, it has always been on the dark side in the American Colonies which eventually became the United States. Corporate media has always been motivated by revenue, not journalistic integrity. And the lion's share of revenue has always come from advertising, not subscriptions. Advertising rates charged are justified by "audience share." The more eyeballs and/or ears an outlet captures, the more it can charge for advertising. This obsessive, relentless drive for audience share led to approaches such as "If it bleeds, it leads."
In fact, corporate media is just one factor of the disease that has plagued the U.S. since its inception: Capitalism without Conscience.
The Trump cult (formerly known as the Republican Party, formerly known as the Democratic Party) are not the disease; they are a symptom of the disease.
As with most consumptive diseases, Capitalism without Conscience has devoured Democracy. Presently, corporate media amplifies the sounds of the death rattle.
Yes! End stage predatory capitalism is devouring everything, democracy, the environment, our health and they will steal out wealth - just wait.
Terry, they've been there for a while.
The Faux outrage over Hunter is ridiculous. In the first case, Trump would have done precisely the same for one of his kids. In the second case, he did. Trump pardoned far, far worse miscreants: Manafort, Stone, and Jared's Dad, Charles. Give me a F**king Break! I wish Gym Jordan and James Comer and Sean Hannity would just shut up.
I wish the Democrats would shut up myself. Michael Bennet, Tim Kaine 2 of the worst calling Biden a liar- I do not believe he was lying but the situation changed when Trump was elected and Kash Patel could easily be the new FBI director who would make Hoover look like an angel. I really don’t believe under the same circumstances any of these Pearl clutchers wouldn’t do the same. Besides Hunter had paid back all the taxes he owed plus interest. Also only a very small number of those in similar circumstances are prosecuted especially criminally - many believe had Hunter’s last name not been Biden such charges would never been brought.
The scales have been tipped for some time. Rupert weighs a lot…
I beg all of you cartoonists , please publish your own news paper. I will subscribe. The only reason I get my local paper is for the comics
To defeat Joe Biden, Donald Trump, the GOP et al tried to destroy Joe Biden's troubled son Hunter Biden. They did their worst. They failed. Republicans will never forgive Joe Biden for defeating Donald Trump. Democrats will never forgive Joe Biden for not defeating Trump twice.
Joe Biden has risked his complicated legacy to save his son - from Trump, Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, the captured Supreme Court et al. Good on Biden. No matter what they throw at us. And they will. Hopefully we can be as strong as the Bidens. We'll need to be.
Overall Biden has supported, repaired, and strengthened our institutions. Any comparisons equating Biden and Trump, or implying that Biden has enabled Trump's abuses, are specious rhetoric in service of normalizing Trump. An unforced error with worse implications and potential for worse harm to our institutions than anything Biden has done - including putting Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. As we consider Trump's nominees - that unforced error should come to mind.
lin•, you hit the nail on the head. Biden issues one pardon (of his son) following the floated appointment of a replacement FBI director who has NO BUSINESS directing anything and who will go after any and every one from Biden's administration and there is gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. tfg issues pardons left and right, nominates absolute criminals to be leading law enforcement agencies, and by gum by gods, Biden is far, far worse for "going back on his word".
Guaranteed, there would be no problem if the incoming administration was Harris/Walz.
Yes. This!
Great comment Ally. Cause and effect. Why hasn't the corporate media picked up on this? (Rhetorical question obviously).
If Hunter and the Biden family are upstanding citizens it should not matter who is in Oval Office or head of FBI.
"If Hunter and the Biden family are upstanding citizens it should not matter who is in Oval Office or head of FBI."
Please let me rephrase that for you. Were this a typical transition and typical incoming administration, then no citizen would need fear who is in the Oval Office or head of the FBI.
Our system ought make sure that both 'upstanding citizens', law breakers, and everyone in between, has the benefit of an independent judiciary. This was not the case in the first Trump administration, and by all evidence from Trump and his nominees, it will not be the case now.
"Mr. Trump has been clear in what he is trying to do with a nominee like Mr. Patel: He wants to bend and break the bureau and weaponize it against those he sees as his political enemies and domestic critics."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/opinion/kash-patel-trump-fbi.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ek4.hbdA.330babp_GRD9&smid=url-share
Thank you, right on
Bless you
I was thrilled at the news that Biden pardoned Hunter. I wrote a comment to the Whitehouse asking him to do what he can to protect all of Trump’s “enemies “ including himself. Blanket pardon for all democrats?
Someone with a presidential pardon cannot be prosecuted, right? But I don’t think it will stop Patel from pursuing Hunter. When was the last time you saw the COF and his cultists play by the rules?
I had absolutely no reason to doubt President Biden’s full pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, given Trump’s statements over the years and the individuals he has nominated to fill the judicial system’s cabinet positions within his administration. Well done, Joe! And yes, where has the press been in its lack of appropriate coverage of all Trump does including his pardons that all reck of political corruption?
My feelings EXACTLY! Thank you Nanci. AND HEATHER!! The media , even Peter Baker, whom I’ve always put at the top of the list of dependable keepers of history, betrayed the truth by completely ignoring the context of the birth of trump’s ‘evil empire’. In such a context it takes more courage & humility to break one’s word than to keep it. Joe Biden is indeed a man of incomparable courage… of great stature… a mentor for us all.
I wrote to Peter Baker (an email) when the fiasco about Biden's age was top news. I pointed out the huge focus the NYTimes placed on Biden while ignoring all the fumbles and age-related missteps, the denigration of people, etc. (you all know the list), of Trump.
Peter responded! He defended reporting on what the public cares about. A non-answer, for sure, but if the fact that he responded gives any of you the idea to also write to him, do it. His email is available when you click on his name.
Good point, Melinda! “Non-answers….”
I’ve been mulling in my mind - for several weeks now - what kind of Civilized War we should wage during these times! Will mass exodus from X have any effect? I know….there is a deep desire to post “contrary” messages that reflect The Truth, but, ultimately, that seems to go nowhere. Now, if we started to see Used Car Lots filling up with used Teslas….hmmmm!
“Hit ‘em in the wallet!” They let you do that if you are an Important Person!!
NYT historically has gone all in on fascism. The paper initially be supported Hitler despite clear evidence of his intentions. Peterson Baker has always been a milquetoast journalist.
I remember being told in school that they had to teach to the "lowest common denominator". That's exactly what the response you got says: they are producing a newspaper for the lowest common denominator.
You are right Mary Ellen. My wife has wondered many times, why each student isn't allowed to progress at their own rate instead of at the rate of the lowest common denominator.
Personally, I was very slow at reading and writing, but above average at math. I probably slowed down some of the others in my class with my reading ability but I was slowed down by others math abilities.
The one-room school house where students K-12 are in one class may actually be superior to many classrooms today.
I'm so glad to hear that you wrote to him. Journalists need to hear that we see what they are doing, and not doing, that we know that this both-side-ism madness is helping those who are working to destroy everything we hold dear in this country.
It's interesting that he wrote back to you, only to give you meaningless non-answer, as you called it. What the public cares about? He, and the media in general, help shape "what the public cares about." If only he had steered the public toward what they needed desperately to care about if they wanted to save us from where we are right now.
Lorna, you didn't wasted a single word in your statement. 😉
They will go after Joe…
Indeed they will.
The media did not cover the true outrages because they fell into the trap of covering Trump's more recently gratuitous b.s. he learned that being entertaining is rewarded more than being "good".
Maybe that's the trouble with society: we've gotten so comfortable that we've become bored. Democracy combined with regulated capitalism has been too successful, it seems.
I think capitalism has not been regulated enough in our country. I see where you are coming from with the boredom idea though.
I think the type and scope of regulation matters. Much regulation is needed to temper natural greed or normal ignorance or misunderstanding of unintended consequences of commercial actions - much like traffic laws and street signs and markings help roads be safer. However, some regulations go too far, and those lead to lawsuits about government overreach which, during the current Supreme Court, lead to anti-regulatory rulings.
Yes, Capitalism needs controls, but they need to be flexible and based on science, economics, and also pass the common sense test.
The media is Doug the talking dog in Up spotting a squirrel. Or a baby who can be distracted by jangling keys. The pearl clutching is beyond nauseating and dangerous. It's a violation of Timothy Snyder's admonition: DO. NOT. OBEY. IN. ADVANCE.
I have no problem with Biden pardoning his son. If Biden is a good man, he will pardon Leonard Peltier the Native Indian activist political prisoner falsely accused of aiding and abetting the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. A longtime to be in prison. Here is my treatment of the incident in one of my songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ell2BLzNA
Biden is a good man. It would be nice if he would have the courage to pardon Peltier. At the very least he could consider a commutation so that Leonard could leave prison.
Yes! I learned in the process of reading this reporting that Biden has pardoned fewer people than most presidents. This might be an opportunity to take another look at Pelltier and others whose convictions were unjust. Until yesterday, I did not know that 400 FBI agents protested the release of Peltier when President Clinton wanted to pardon him. I am concerned that of all government agencies, the FBI risks becoming a tool of oppression.
They always have been. Remember what J Edgar did to the Civil Rights activists in the 1960s. Maybe Petal is correct and close the FBI down. Maybe just a thought.
Just wait for $ Patel to be in charge.
I so agree re Peltier.
Good for you Bill, creating songs and posting videos!
Absolutely for Peltier! Thanks for reminding us about this injustice. And a HUGE thanks to Heather for such a clear, and encompassing, summary of recent news reports about pardons.
Wow, that was great. Thank you. So glad I came upon your comment.
Whoosh Heather, You have really given us an amazing tie-it-all-together here and boy does the hypocrisy of the MAGA republicans ooze out of the seams. By far the best wholistic take on the relative importance of the Biden pardon and the Trump transition I have seen. And, keeping with the distorted coverage the MSM provided during the election season and in the wake of the election result, the headlines and talking heads have failed miserably in providing perspective and context.
Spot on, KSC. Your last sentence, especially.
Thank you for being right on.
I am so glad Biden pardoned his son. He is sticking by the family that has stuck by him, and honoring his wife as well as protecting his son. I think he should help his son get a house in Ireland to further protect him.
As for the legacy media, I have been saying since Musk bought the Twitter platform that it was time to leave. Right on for European Media. Yesterday I read a disturbing story about Trump's benefitting from a Chinese National being investigated for corruption investing heavily into Trump's crypto currency business. https://popular.info/p/a-chinese-national-charged-with-fraud?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This was not covered in the legacy media. Trump the Supreme grifter will put everything in the US for sale as long as he can profit from it.
Tens of thousands of journalists are on X because they feel it is a necessary part of their job. To this I say, "BULLSHIT."
There is so much that happens on Facebook, TikTok that is never reported, so get the fuck off of X.
BlueSky is refreshing. And growing rapidly. The revolution, resistance or renaissance - whatever it gets called - may be launched from there. The exodus from X is only increasing as it gets more and more toxic.
Bill, I didn’t use Twitter but am thinking of joining Bluesky simply to increase the number of users in opposition to Elonia Muck
I totally agree with you.
It was only about money. No morals. No ethics.
What was?
Elon Musk’s behavior makes me wonder if there should be a limit on wealth. He thinks he can do anything he wants.
The scary part is he can and does. He just bought our democracy for a song. And we (our country) is transferring it without a fight.
Why hasn't he been deported???
Linda, unfortunately too many people are going to need a house in Ireland...or elsewhere bu here.
And, I am a big proponent of doing just that. I wrote suggestions for people to leave at least Red States, but also the US if need be.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/a-plan-b-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn
Thank you, Linda. This is priceless information. I too am a dual citizen, living in Canada now after 29 years in California.
Thank you Heather. I am just trying to get people to realize that it is not just the people who walked barefoot from South and Central American countries to the US with almost nothing who can decide to leave where they are, but we can too.
Like a corporate raider, sell for parts.
“[A]mong the staff, the disgust for Pete was pretty high.” Amongst sane people, too. Kakistocracy is right.
Every day, more journalists I follow and trust join BlueSky. I'm really grateful for it.
Agreed. I can find most of the "trusted ones" are there. It feels really good at Blue sky. I notice that there is some degree of "troll catching" by members that so far has kept it clean. BlueSky may be the beacon we need. It also could be where the big change is launched.
And more of the trusted ones show up every day. It's going to take a while for me to build up the follower list I had on the other place, but I want to be where the big change is launched, helping it launch.
🦋
Heard an NPR interview Sunday or Monday with an expert on autocracy-building (my label). She laid out the pattern of necessities involved, which includes exactly what is happening with these cabinet choices...even down to deliberately choosing those whose behaviors are criminal and/or have made them unemployable otherwise. Fascinating!
It was Ruth Ben Ghiat!
LOVE HER!!!
Pax, was this the interview that you are referring to?
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2024/12/02/trump-authoritarianism-ruth-ben-ghiat-voters-strongmen
Yes, it was....mostly caught the last half, I think - here's a part that stood out for me:
"...one of the things is that authoritarianism replaces rule of law, with rule by the lawless. And who is a criminal and who is a patriot undergoes a profound transformation. One of the reasons that authoritarians use pardons as soon as they get to power, like I'll give you two examples, Mussolini, he declared a dictatorship after being prime minister of a democracy.
And the first thing he did was to pardon all the political criminals who had helped him get to power since the days of squadrism. So all the thugs, all the killers, all the lawyers who transgressed, they all got pardons. And Pinochet, after the coup in Chile, did the same thing. And it's very interesting.
He pardoned not only everybody who had human rights abuses for torturing people, but he also pardoned concealers of the abuses who had wiped the military records clean of the abuse allegations. So you have to free up criminals, liars, propagandists to serve the party and serve the government. And so in this sense, so that's where we have the, we will see, probably the pardoning of all the January 6th criminals.
And they will become patriots, and they've already become patriots in Trump's campaign. There's a January 6th prison choir and that sacralizes violence. "
Wish I could find it again.. sigh!
Yes to this report! Last night I tried to watch PBS and had to turn it off because they were so focused on dissecting Biden’s action of pardoning his son. When I heard about the pardon I was happy that our great president had been brave enough to do this. I had to turn off PBS— it’s like they’re stuck in an echo chamber. This FBI appointment is terrifying.
Same thing with NPR. I had to turn it off for the same reasons, Liz Ayer. It made me so angry!
I stopped watching the News Hour years ago, both-sidesism has found a home there or maybe alternative truths are given a loud voice.
We stopped watching it years ago as well. It went down hill fast after Jim Lehrer retired. His replacement wasn't bad, but he seemed to get worse over time.
Criminality. Vulgarity. Racism. Misogyny. Bankruptcy. Fraud. Americans voted for this.
Convicted criminal.
We can’t be surprised that he now openly intends the crime of destroying American institutions that till now have (somewhat) held back billionaire criminality.
He’s an adjudicated sex abuser – rapist (serial rapist, if we take seriously the more than two dozen women who have named him for attacking them). So it makes perfect sense that as high officials he’s openly nominating some of the worst sex predators in the land.
He’s a convicted fraud – all his life a con man, grifter, liar, cheat. It makes sense he’d pal around with the worst of the U.S.’s and the world’s oligarchs and massively corrupt billionaires.
He’s a multiple bankrupt. Of course he’ll bankrupt the U.S. Treasury to give more deep tax cuts to the U.S. rich.
He’s a racist. Of course he wants to create as much pain for as many brown, black, ebony, and yellow colored people as might be undocumented in the U.S. He campaigned on that vitriol. Tens of millions of Americans voted for the racist and xenophobe pain he may cause.
Americans voted for this.
Americans also voted for his opponent almost as often, but the biggest offenders are those who failed to exercise their Constitutional right to cast a ballot.
Let's not forget how nearly she won. In the agony there's too much casting of stones at her
And look what she did right from the start and with only about 3 months!
If truth ruled, she'd be president-elect today.
Absolutely!
Biggest offenders, progwoman, are the schools.
Yes, I know the money those far-right foundations spent, and the strategies they perfected to kill the humanities from any public uses.
But those who run our schools -- admin, bureaucrats, standardized testers, corporate textbook packagers -- didn't dehumanize for any reasons consonant with the civilized world.
Yes. But it is parents who decide who will run their schools. So while I agree many of our problems could be solved if schools were run differently, they are also a reflection of our current cumulative values.
We want our kids to learn how to make money. Which is essential, of course. But as you have so often pointed out, there is so much more.
Check out this teacher:
https://carolkocivar.substack.com/p/books-to-help-ban-mischief-in-2025
Agreed!
The mission of the new DNC leader must be to find enough of those 90 plus million who have checked out - who don't trust anybody. We need a brand new economic message to be delivered by someone with an incredible charisma.
I hate to say it, but most people don't vote for quality. They vote for someone who convinces them they will deliver change and a better life.
"Americans voted for this"
No. They voted against a black female.
I don't disagree; I also think that what tfg* did was let their hatred and anger become normalized, and paved the way for White Christian Nationalism, which they want with all their stone cold hearts.
*in my desire never to use the word that is also his last name, I've resorted to "nicknames" as it were. I was particularly fond of "fpotus" which was the diminutive of what the Secret Service refers to as "Former President of the United States". My use of "tfg" now stands for "that f-ing guy" and not President Biden's "the former guy".
POS.
Just over 1/3 of eligible American voters voted for this
👏🏻👏🏻 well done! This piece is compulsive reading, truth telling at its best, and should be published… broadcast for those who don’t read … and vote.
It’s so depressing and unexpected!!! I still don’t trust thus election!!!
True all
And yet the majority of the country thinks he is better than democrats. What are we going to do to change that image?
Sandra — Not the "majority of the country!" As alien chords says above: "Just over 1/3 of eligible American voters voted for this." It's vital that we understand the difference.
Exile Rupert and his cronies. Him and Lachlan for a start
That's just it - they don't.
Monday, as I listened to the outrage of the media towards Biden’s pardoning of his son, I was angry and continue to feel betrayed by the media. They focus on Biden, rather than what we will have incoming.. Is this what the higher ups at all of the cable news told them to do to stay on Trump’s right side? Be aware of what is coming, as we have been warned.
The media are in many cases owned by right-leaning or -wing billionaires. They control what’s reported and how.
Only now you feel betrayed by the media?
Have for awhile
Hardly. This was just beyond the pale for me.
What proves them all certifiable - Trump et al., is that the world they will shamelessly be destroying, is the world they and their children and grandchildren will have to live in too. It's called shitting in your own nest. They think they'll be looking down from on high sipping ambrosia, but when you marginalise 99% of the population, you better watch your back.
I just signed up for Bluesky. @geocdn.bsky.social. I was never a Twitter or X user, and frankly don't even like the Social Apps. I don't use FB anymore (2 years now). And, I don't know if I will use Bluesky, frankly for the long term. Unless it turns into something useful in the coming resistance to the Trump Regime and his misfits. I am very concerned about how our military will react to unlawful (in our time) orders from The Trump Regime. DO. NOT. OBEY. IN. ADVANCE
Today (12/02/24) DemCast had an organizing Zoom webinar call on what to do now and next year. You can follow DemCast on their Subststack newsletter and on BlueSky:
https://www.digitaldrumbeat.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/demcastusa.bsky.social
thanks Ellie, I have signed up and am sending to others
bruce, I'm on as @540ally.bsky.social
A new adventure begins
I'm so glad Biden pardoned his son. Saved him from Trump. People say there are many things Biden should do in the few weeks remaining. I won't hold my breath
Sign the ERA would be a good one.
The LWV has put out an action email to send to Biden & Harris .In the United States, women are still not guaranteed equal rights. We have seen the devastating consequences of this reality. Yet, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which will update the US Constitution to protect the equality of rights under the law regardless of sex, can be added to the Constitution with one action. With just months left in office, we are urging President Biden to act to ensure that the ERA is published.
I agree yet don’t forget Hunter is the biggest fool if there ever was one.
Might you want to rethink your comment?
I have dealt with a severe addiction, it’s a rough road and affects way more than fools.
Hunter used his father and is himself responsible for the fact that Biden's lie that he would not pardon his son will now be part of Biden's legacy.
Only if you follow mainstream media’s fallacy rather than realize the action was due to a change in circumstances.
Precisely. Patel is a Nazi who would have pursued Hunter Biden while winking at his crooked con man creepy boss.
Trying to figure out why I had very little reaction to tonight's Letter, it occurs to me that Heather hasn't included any history that gives us perspective and sheds light on today's news. Is there nothing in our past that could help us understand the thoroughly despicable nature of Trump's entirely unqualified, immoral, and cruel nominees? Learning aspects of our history from these Letters that I never learned in school has always made me understand that we have been through challenging times before, but that, despite the struggles, we have always found our way back to our democratic principles. How bleak is our current situation? How close to the brink of losing sight of the wisdom and genius of our founders are we? I gain some hope from the folks in the various groups that I belong to who are working on the assumption that that we can make a difference on the local level, but I can't help wondering if that will be enough.
Yes, Betsy, lots.
Turn to Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Joan Didion, Ross Macdonald, Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Philip K. Dick, Ira Levin, Helen Eustis.
Plenty of Americans have pondered, written about, nailed the corruption that's always been in the U.S., over the U.S.
That's one reason all the far-right foundations built on the Powell memo first killed humanities in all American schools, then turned their attention to fattening the billionaires, offshoring the working-class jobs, and growing the wealth gap steadily for the past half century. While feeding Americans pabulum reality TV. And much worse.
Till now. The worst.
May I suggest c. Day Lewis writing as Nicholas Blake, 1939, "The Smiler With A Knife"?
"
A sinister plot to establish a dictatorship in England."
"Like many highly intelligent people, Georgia was inclined to under-estimate the enormous potential strength of stupidity. . . though the last ten years had given them so many object lessons in the way a few really determined, unscrupulous men can exploit this stupidity and apathy . . . the scheme only need be coherent enough to hold water for a few weeks, while it's making an impact on public opinion . . . The man in the street doesn't give two damns for expert verdicts. . . he'll say to himself, 'Here at last is someone making constructive proposals on the three subjects that've been most on my mind - "
And. Aharon Appelfeld, "Badenheim 1939"
Written after the facts. A demonstration of how things change so gradually, and people adapt so thoroughly, that eventually - they are willfully self-deporting, boarding trains to Poland.
Thanks, lin•
ThankYou always!
"Trying to figure out why I had very little reaction to tonight's Letter, it occurs to me that Heather hasn't included any history that gives us perspective and sheds light on today's news. . . I gain some hope from the folks in the various groups that I belong to who are working on the assumption that that we can make a difference on the local level, but I can't help wondering if that will be enough."
HCR routinely does all the things you complain she has not done here. And although she hasn't done a deep historical dive here, she certainly has provided sufficient context to put things in perspective. So it occurs to me that your flat reaction is on you. Yes, we rely on others to help us feel hopeful, we are doing what we can to make a difference, and we are wondering whether it will be enough. But ultimately we generate and sustain our own hopefulness.
In her Facebook chats on Tuesdays, she answers questions she has received.
She cannot lead pigs to the trough, we have to seek and she will throw us the necessary crumps, not a feast with all the trimmings.
"She cannot lead pigs to the trough, we have to seek and she will throw us the necessary crumps, not a feast with all the trimmings."
Yikes! Pigs? Crumps?
Please rewind and re-think.
HCR's Letters are a national treasure. Yes - a feast with all the trimmings (citations and links!)
Couldn’t agree more. Seems that some expect another book when she doesn’t cover EVERY aspect of every topic. Just appreciate what she posts. It is truth, with references, and with enough context to not be confused by some obscure point. Sorry for the pig reference, she does indeed provide plenty of trimmings. Her “crumbs” are jewels. No sleight intended.
The lack of historical reference was not a complaint, it was an observation. In the past, learning the historical facts that had been left out of my education gave me a perspective on the possibilities beyond our current situation. Are there analogies that would help me understand where we are now and how in the past others moved forward?
Betsy, one of the things that Professor Richardson is doing in these Letters is documenting for historians looking at the US 150 years from now what a current historian thinks is important. Many of her Letters do manage to have a reference to familiar historical events (oft referred to as "I never learned THAT in my school history classes" Letters). I profoundly hope that there is someone working somewhere in journalism that would be able to do the same thing with reference to the previous position of "Legacy Media" to it's current "Corporate Media" positions.
In one of HCR's recent Facebook Chats, she described the democracy-threatening period leading to the Civil War and our subsequent recovery. It might have been her Chat on 11/26/24:
https://fb.watch/weBAO6FNHK/
Thanks, Ellie. I hope to join the chat today live, instead of realizing at 1:45 local that I wanted to tune in. I have an alarm set...
It's essential. It will grow to be enough.
I think sometimes there's so much news she needs to note for history that it takes up all her word limit..
Whenever you think the political class of the US can't sink any lower, they surprise you.
The political class are a reflection of the population.
Not sure about that. I worked with quite a few politicians in my professional life and for most of them stands out that they have an exaggerated feeling of self-importance, need for power and all seem to be at least slightly narcissistic. I think sadly our system, which seems broken anyway, particularly attracts this sort of people.
Exaggerated feeling of self-importance, need for power, at least slightly narcissistic - that sounds like a pretty good characterization of a substantial portion of the American character.
Speaking of American character, this is a well written book with considerable insight. It builds on Woodard’s book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. It builds on Kevin Phillips’ perspective of looking at major movements of peoples and episodes of settlement.
“ American Character A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty & the Common Good
by Colin Woodard”
“The struggle between individual rights and the good of the community as a whole has been the basis of nearly every major disagreement in our history, from the debates at the Constitutional Convention and in the run up to the Civil War to the fights surrounding the agendas of the Federalists, the Progressives, the New Dealers, the civil rights movement, and the Tea Party. In American Character, Colin Woodard traces these two key strands in American politics through the four centuries of the nation s existence, from the first colonies through the Gilded Age, Great Depression and the present day, and he explores how different regions of the country have successfully or disastrously accommodated them. The independent streak found its most pernicious form in the antebellum South but was balanced in the Gilded Age by communitarian reform efforts; the New Deal was an example of a successful coalition between communitarian-minded Eastern elites and Southerners.
Woodard argues that maintaining a liberal democracy, a society where mass human freedom is possible, requires finding a balance between protecting individual liberty and nurturing a free society. Going to either libertarian or collectivist extremes results in tyranny. But where does the sweet spot lie in the United States, a federation of disparate regional cultures that have always strongly disagreed on these issues? Woodard leads readers on a riveting and revealing journey through four centuries of struggle, experimentation, successes and failures to provide an answer. His historically informed and pragmatic suggestions on how to achieve this balance and break the nation s political deadlock will be of interest to anyone who cares about the current American predicament political, ideological, and sociological.”
https://www.powells.com/book/american-character-a-history-of-the-epic-struggle-between-individual-liberty-the-common-good-9780143110002