I am so moved that you wrote this when you were out of power. Your devotion to the truth, to history, and to your readers, is a bulwark against our deepest fears.
In November, Mainer's voted on several propositions one of which was whether the state of Maine could authorize a public utility to be established to replace two out of country utility companies which "service" most of the state of Maine. Between the two companies, CMP and Versant they spent almost $40 million to defeat Proposition 3. Of course they lied and made up stories about what would happen if a public run utility took over.
20% of the residential customers serviced by Versant have had their power turned off in the past year because they chose to eat and have a roof over their heads over electricity. With CMP, it was a little over 10%. Meanwhile the two companies enjoyed profits which they sent to Calgary, Alberta and the governments of Spain and Norway. The electric rates in ME are 4th highest in the US and the service provided by Versant ranks dead last in customer satisfaction.
I'm not sure where HCR lives in ME, obviously along the coast. I suspect she has been without power for over 48 hours as we were around Bar Harbor, ME. As usual Versant, did a lousy job of managing the repairs from the storm.
And BTW, the proposition was soundly defeated 67 - 33%. It seems advertising works. It should be noted that the state Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce stood with the utility companies.
Why should there be profits for companies (or individuals who own shares in such companies) when the objective, the raison d'etre, is to provide the public with an essential service? What a boneheaded idea!
And by logical and compassionate extension, why should anyone "profit" from education or illness of others?
I am a dyed in the wool capitalist, business dude. There are a zillion ways for private citizens to make money producing goods and services for consumers.
But the basics of life in a civilization should and could be provided at "cost" quite easily.
Health care is, IMO, the starkest example of corporate greed overwhelming public good. Our ridiculously expensive, uneven and unfair, health care “system” is slowly collapsing as pharmaceutical and insurance companies rake in record profits. We are the only industrialized country putting profits ahead of citizens’ well-being. And, of course, we are increasingly unhealthy and life expectancy is declining. American exceptionalism, indeed.
Proposing that we are one of the greatest countries in the world. We have the highest infant mortality rate, the worst healthcare, the sickest people. While insurance companies rule over doctors and deny coverage for whatever reason they choose. We’ve given way too much power to insurance companies, and they rake in the dough and charge a fortune, and a lot of people can’t even afford healthcare, even with Obamacare.
Or even with Medicare. Even in a big city with public transportation where seniors are not only not a priority but also not supposed to exist. Ageism is epidemic in America.
I just saw a item on TV, on NBC's national news, about how patients in certain corporate owned hospitals died, because the corporate owner did not provide enough people to monitor the equipment reading the patients' vitals. In one case, if I am remembering correctly, the monitoring was done in a central location in another building. Some entities should not be run for share holders or obscene salaries for top management.
It would help if the US Food Industry would quit putting crap in our food that serves company profits over the health of the American people. We know about the additives injected into our food to support longer shelf life etc. Many Americans suffer from food allergies that seem to disappear when dining on whatever they want in Europe! It’s expensive to have to buy organic all the time or only eat bakery items or pastas made with imported flour. It’s no wonder American life expectancy is in decline!
Look for sodium benzoate. I was doing a food demo for real maple syrup. I was comparing the ingredients. I used Vermont Maid which I have used for years. I liked the picture on it. It only had 2% maple syrup in it. In my newest ingredient check, there was only maple flavor-no maple syrup. To make things worse, I found sodium benzoate in it. hmmm sounded familiar- Yes in my shampoo. I have seen it many other foods. I believe it is a preservative.
Not if it’s well run. Many hospitals, universities, schools, roads, etc are run privately. And well (and some not so well).Public utilities are as easily corrupted as any other organization. The state of Florida does not do a good job choosing its Public Service Commission, and you see that in the way utilities run. It’s not disastrous, but not efficient or sufficiently forward looking, in my opinion.
There are people in this world whose nature is to corruptly scheme and they can end up anywhere.
Public utilities can certainly be corrupted and poorly run. But their leaders, as employees of the public, can be fired - dismissed.
When was the last time the leaders of private healthcare companies were relieved of duty or prosecuted for their theft and fraud? Maybe we should ask the Sacklers ... or "Senator" Rick Scott?
As I remember it, Sen Scott was fired by his board. Following that he paid a very large fine, and his hospital corporation paid one of the largest fines in U. S. history.
I’m not arguing that private corporations are better than public utilities. I am saying that being a public utility cannot prevent corruption.
Many private power companies exist and are well run, but operate within the authority of a public service commission.
Yes. The company paid a big fine. But it was allowed to continue as a legal entity. What if it had been dissolved and its officers jailed? Someone steals some groceries and goes to the slammer. Rick Scott oversees one of the great white collar crimes of our time and he is not only not jailed...but allowed to run for public office. And he is still rich! Sounds like Florida to me!
But back to your well taken point. What if a utility were a private non-profit enterprise under the supervision of a public service commission? A hybrid where the focus of the enterprise was delivering the service - not wealth accumulation for a few?
A very large public utility in the country ran corruptly for years. It’s executives cooked up a years-long scheme to sell it to a larger utility based on years of highly misleading information to the residents. Prosecutions await.
Yes, both can have issues. But you have, in theory, the ability to influence, and potentially reform, public-owned entities to a far greater degree than private ones.
Agreed. We have SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) for electricity and PG&E for gas. Thankful I don't live where PG&E is my only option for electricity. As a private corporation beholden to profits over people, PG&E has not taken the time to maintain their grid as well as SMUD. Now, after multiple lawsuits related to fires in CA, they have no choice but to get their act together. The new CEO, a woman, is doing a really good job.
Utilities, education, and healthcare should not be privatized. Profit hungry corporations always put their interests, making money, over the quality of service we pay for.
Yes! Privatizing is a trickledown “plot” that is giving US much grief: a mercenary (non-draft army which deprives those of draft age of the democratic protection of their country essential to a democracy) military, a corrupt and ineffective health care system, fragmented public schools, which has led to disintegration and Trump.
We were out 28 hours but our town still has about 50% without power. Governor Mills (D) also supported Versant and CMP retaining control of the electric grid. Maybe this referendum wasn't the best devised plan but surely the concept of Mainers gaining ownership of our utilities is much wiser than being at the mercy of these two companies. Versant (our supplier) .may have the worst customer service but I believe CMP was the next lowest. Our bills are slated to increase January 1st...no doubt for them to recover the millions they spent trying to prevent a sale. Last Christmas Downeast Maine was without power for three days. Mainers are hardy and have a generous and adventurous spirit but get those lights and the heat back on! It was 19 degrees last night and not everyone has a generator. Thankfully, we do. In the spirit of the season, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! And, Heather, I hope you get your electricity back soon and thank you for "powering on" with your essay.
When I went off to college in Vermont in 1964 there were reportedly parts of the State that were just then getting electricity. I was amazed that someplace on the east coast could be that backwards; I had always thought the east coast was far ahead of Oregon. Too many years reading The New Yorker I suppose.
So how did Maine get electrical utilities owned by Canadians? Didn't they have water power since the 1600s?
Reminds me a little of the TX grid which is privately owned and not linked to the national grid. All for money. They were told 10 years ago that the grid needed repaired, but chose profits over repairs. The electric bills for these people after/during their freeze were in the thousands. They were gauged beyond imagination.
Maine has "out of country" power providers ?! I've never heard of such a thing. I live in Sacramento, CA. We have a choice of (2) providers - one of which is non-profit. I love my non-profit provider and they do 1000% better service and price wise than the statewide standard power company! People of Maine - make the change! You will be the winners!
I lived in Davis and then Sacramento in the late 1970's. We had PG&E for about six months before moving to Sacramento where we had SMUD. To this day, SMUD is the best electric company we've had--and we've had 11 different ones. PG&E was not very good. Of course, SMUD was publicly owned. Fortunately, most of the companies we've had were public utilities and really cared about their customers. But why wouldn't they since the executives and most of the staff lived in the service area.
In San Diego, where we are documented as having the highest kWh + transmission rate in the U.S., we are just now collecting signatures on a citizens initiative for the City of San Diego to create a public utility for electricity. San Diego Gas & Electric is investor-owned and their profits are immense, much sent to Sempra - SDG&E's parent company in Texas!
As for HCR's situation, I keep thinking of my mother's elderly friend in Maine, living alone, when power went out for a week and everything was buried in snow (probably 30 years ago). Barb barely survived.
I came here to say the same! Thank you for your dedication, and for this informative and well-written post. I hope you are cozy and that your power is back on soon. Xx
Lorraine, so beautifully put. I was going to say this as well - so now I can just join this amazing community - responding to our amazing leader. Blessings, Heather, may your external power soon reflect again the inner power that you share with us. Much love,
Interesting. I don't think Abbott or the Texas GOP legislators realize that this state law has the (most likely) unintended consequence of giving the arrestees due process rights under our Constitution -- something they don't have under our federal immigration laws.
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That is because it is not a crime to be in this country without authorization. It is a civil matter, which is why people who are detained for immigration violations have no right to an attorney along with other rights that they would be afforded if it were a crime.
If this nation can once again get a rational Supreme Court that isn't owned by the wealthy, we may get fair re-districting around the country. At least, I can dream about it. And then we could get the power-crazy out of office.
I can't wait. Just joking Mike. I feel entitled to do that since it appears that I'm older than you. I agree with Lynn. And the word dream was used. In addition to that, dreams can last a long time. We are still working on MLK's dream.
The sickening part of this situation to me is that Biden could tomorrow put forward 2 new Supreme Court nominees. Based on the Senate rule changes made by McConnell/the GOP in the last decade, 50 Democratic senators (+ Harris) could then approve those 2 appointments to the Supreme Court. The Court would then have 11 members, and be far more balanced.
Republicans would, of course, scream bloody murder about Democrats doing this, even though they themselves stole 2 Supreme Court seats in recent years. So, Dems would benefit greatly from having a strong shield against that fury.
For that, I've proposed, in an OpEd, that Biden and the Democrats carry out this expansion, AND at the same time put forward a constitutional amendment that would correct all of the historical weaknesses in the Court (term limits, age limits, etc.). It would also return the Court to 9 members permanently. Such a proposed amendment, even if it had zero chance of passing at the moment, would show what Democrats are trying to accomplish - a far more balanced and functional SCOTUS for generations to come.
Last year I had no luck getting this OpEd/proposal published in multiple large national newspapers. So I gave up. Maybe I'll revise the draft and try again in 2025, if Dems win the Senate and WH again. 🤞🏼🤞🏼
There is a MAGA organization --Mother Against Governor Abbott -- that is doing a lot to get rid of him. The abortion law might be the thing. Check out their web site.
The case for Immediate Injunctive Relief is Immigrant Advocacy Center & El Paso County et al filed in the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas, Case No. 1-23-cv-1537 .
Until a TRO is entered travelers in adjacent states should heed the ACLU warning of the possibility of unconstitutional acts by the state of Texas which is actionable at law.
What is amazing is that almost the identical clearly unconstitutional statute was authorized in Arizona about a decade ago, and attempted to be enforced with the usual racist zeal exhibited by the dimwitted caricature from a Smoky and the Bandit movie, Joe Arpaio. The Supremes struck it down with more powerful zeal, citing the obvious constitutional supremacy of the federal government over immigration.
Beyond Abbott's god awful reckless racism, I suspect that the Dobbs decision may have empowered him to sign this preposterous statute. Remember, Dobbs started off not as an attempt to reverse Roe, but to ratchet back the time within which States could regulate the right to an abortion. Only after Amy "Coney Island" Barrett was appointed to the Court in stark opposition to Machiavellian Mitch McConnell's previous edict that no new Justices could be appointed in a Presidential election year, did Mississippi modify their claim for relief to the complete reversal of Roe.
As HCR pointed out, the Tejas Republicans are open about running a clearly unconstitutional argument up the flagpole because of the three Trump appointed Justices' presence on the Court.
At no previous time in history has a group of advocates attempted such an openly politicized move seeking reward from an openly politicized court.
This is truly shameful, and whether via TRO, or other remedy, should be stopped in its tracks
The Supreme Court has been a weapon against the minority since the United States was formed by John Adams writings and later the Constitutional Convention.
Using the Supreme Court to hold down minority populations in the US is normal and has existed since the inception of a tripartite government with a co-equal judicial branch.
Also, the John Roberts Supreme Court has upheld Gerrymandering laws that limit minority participation in voting through packing that Republicans do all the time.
In fact, I would say that supporting slavery/segregation, then Jim Crow, and sustaining all white admissions to colleges and now the slow repeal of the 1965 Civil Rights legislation has been a CONSTANT Goal of the Supreme Court throughout US History.
Perhaps at no time in history has so much of American government and its courts been so blatantly on sale and its political parties been such willing sellers.
And Texans will pay the legal costs to defend a blatantly unconstitutional law in the Supreme Court for a political stunt, just like we Ohioans have done repeatedly over the last decade with abortion laws. That money could be way better spent in improving their electrical grid.
Yes, the Supreme Court too has been poisoned by t-rump. Perhaps there is a way to banish Thomas who has clearly sold himself. Where is the IRS in his case??
And it is just as bad or worse in Florida. Our governor/would be king has been stealing immigrants from Texas just to make his case for the ‘massive immigration numbers’ he says are threatening our state.
Federal immigration is a mess, and it is the fault of the Congress, not the POTUS! Dems need to emphasize that the desperate situations at the borders are a result of the Republicans in Congress who care more about fighting amongst themselves than getting any work done. Chaos seems to be their end game so they can blame the POTUS.
We need a big win politically in 2024, both in the executive and also the legislative branches of government to prevent the chaos goal of the tRumplicans!
My daughter recently had to replace her roof in FL in order to get homeowner's insurance. It was 17 years old and in great condition. The roof had weathered two hurricanes and countless other storms. But, if your roof is over 15 years old in FL and you switch carriers no matter the reason, you have to have your roof replaced otherwise they will not insure you.
FL has a state run homeowner's insurance company that is losing billions of dollars a year. The rates they charge go up every year some years by 20% or more. The Republican legislature only knows how to deal with issues like what should be taught in schools and nothing related to fiscal policy.
Mark my words, they will soon go to Uncle Sam to bail this state run company out. But DeSantis thinks he has what it takes to be President. He's a joke.
"Federal immigration is a mess"..."the desperate situations at the borders"...Really? The only situation I can see from here; 25 miles north of the Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona, is that the Border Patrol can't hire or keep enough agents to handle the paperwork of people who are coming to the border to ask for refuge from their corrupt governments. Governments that the US set up for failure either through the CIA or the MIlitary.
It's Christmas shopping season so we see lots of cars and buses taking people to Tucson or Phoenix to buy Christmas presents. And the Usual thousands of refrigerator trucks going north with fruits and vegetables for US grocery stores. And the thousands of people who cross the border to work every day -- both Mexican citizens working in the US and US citizens working in Mexico.
The "mess" and "desperate situation" is political more than real. And don't blame Biden for not getting the laws updated; there's a long history of attempts at immigration reform that were not allowed through Congress; both Democrats and Republicans have been trying for at least 50 years.
The first Federal Immigration law was passed in 1875 and it, like every other Federal Immigration law was based in racism.
From the day Biden took office, it's been very clear that immigration policies and procedures on our southern border were a total and cruel mess. I don't understand how we could have gotten to late 2023 without Team Biden having put forward a 10-15 point plan for comprehensive immigration reform.
Of course it would be controversial, and the Republicans would attack it like mad. BUT it would clearly show that Biden is taking this issue extremely seriously, knows that comprehensive reform is the only way forward, and has strong ideas. He could also use it to beat the GOP over the head for complaining, but doing nothing, for decades.
Remember, this is how Obama put forward the ACA. Much debate and revision occurred thereafter, but it became the law of the land eventually. It seems to me like political malpractice that the White House has not done this, meaning that there will be border drama and trauma constantly for the next year and Republicans will milk it for all it's worth.
My suspicion is that this very complex issue got put on a back burner, because of the threats to democracy, Ukraine, inflation, etc. But it's the job of the White House TEAM not to let critical issues (especially ones that can do great political damage) stay on the back burner for long. 😠
Read up on the history of attempts to update/reform/change Federal Immigration law.
There have been many attempts by both Republican and Democratic administrations in just the last 50 years. None have made it through the legislative process. They either don't make it out of committee or don't make it past more than one branch.
Immigration is much too valuable as a campaign issue let it be actually solved. Abortion was the same until Trump, who doesn't understand anything about how government actually works filled the Supreme Court with true believers. And look what a mess that has created for the Republicans!
I’ve heard teachers in other school districts with higher Hispanic populations, talk about children being followed home and leading to detainment of family members. It’s been happening for a very long time in Texas. A friend maybe five years ago said some students would be absent for days for fear of being followed home. What a horrible strain on children and families!
Reminds me of the Fugitive Slave laws only somewhat gotten around by buying or a slave and manumitted them like Grant did with his slave, William, "purchased" from his father-in-law.
It seems many Quakers also "owned" slaves as did Free Black Men, more to protect them from abuse by others since "Property" rights trumped human rights back then.
Who presumes to effectively "own" women enough to have them be treated as fugitives that must be returned or persecuted in the states they have to flee to get true human justice.
Great point, Yvette Joy Liebesman, being here without legal documents is not crime. QUESTION: What's really the core motivating factor for Texas Governor Abbott and the rest of the MAGA/KKK Republicans? ANSWER: Fear that their precious "white blood" will be contaminated by that of the immigrants. This is rank racism, pure and simple. So, here we are again, engaged in another struggle to determine whether a nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. President Lincoln: we're not going down without one helluva fight. Thank you for your insight.
It's Juan Crow. Which historically includes not just Texas, but also California, Arizona, Alabama and Georgia. Also sounds a lot like what we've heard from Florida recently.
Yes, in addition to Texas, California, Arizona, Alabama and Georgia for Juan Crow, Florida jumps to the front with Texas. Florida has become a Nazi stronghold.
There is more sadness to go with the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln - he was only 56 years old when he died, 26 years younger than what I am now. My two daughters were right many, many years ago: Life is unfair.
Yvette, I once heard that the feds could stop most anyone in Florida & search them without cause since the penisula is so narrow and their jurisdiction is within 100 miles from the coast.
From Wikipedia:
In United States criminal law, the border search exception is a doctrine that allows searches and seizures at international borders and their functional equivalent without a warrant or probable cause. Generally speaking, searches within 100 miles of the border are more permissible without a warrant than those conducted elsewhere in the U.S. The doctrine also allows federal agents to search people at border crossings without a warrant or probable cause. The government is allowed to use scanning devices and to search personal electronics. Invasive bodily searches, however, require reasonable suspicion.
Wow. Businessmen. Power, greed, enslavement. I guess some things never change. They all want to be kings. Thank you for an amazing enlightenment tonight Professor... we must vote. Peace, life, liberty, and the simple pursuit of happiness. Why do they make it so hard? And so much hatred. I do believe we are all one for the country. It is always a time of compassion. And more so right now. Share with others in need, and we will rise above. Be kind….it feels good.
I think these days they're shooting for Galactic Emperor, but yes, it's an ongoing battle.
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
That’s it... and because we have been taught to love our imperfect union we are ready to help keep it growing and developing.
The fear mongers who relish cynicism and negativity won’t quit but they do not represent the majority of us. They’ll continue to try to delay our progress and drag us away from good and workable solutions to problems dealing with gun control, voting, fair taxes, climate and environmental threats, heathcare reforms, innovation, immigration and many others that we want to see implemented by vital new legislation.
Like so many of you have said time and again, the only way we can start seeing solutions implemented is to use our precious right to vote to achieve solid democratic majorities in local, state and federal elections. We will succeed if we do so.
"That’s it... and because we have been taught to love our imperfect union we are ready to help keep it growing and developing. "
Exactly it. The final movement of Beethoven's 9th invariably moves me as it has since I was a child. My wife showed me a 10,000 voice Japanese performance of it (a tradition there) which was spectacular. But Beethoven is long dead. So is Shakespeare, and yet his work is still performed with many updated interpretations, including Bernstein's West Side Story. Similarly, the authors of the Constitution are dead, but we breath life into it with every generation.
Unlike these works of art, It charts the course of our democracy in the present day as a practical matter, not our present is not informed by our legacy of arts, but in the sense that navigational charts need updating and application to new sorts of and larger vessels.
We can't self-govern on autopilot. We can gather much that we need from the past, but the unfolding of the Big Bang continues, and we cannot successfully adapt to changing circumstances by blind repetition.
A much needed comment. Thank you. After reading about the creepy, hate-filled Reputation “leaders” in Texas, it’s refreshing to go out into the world and have a friendly exchange with a stranger. Just go outside and look up at the sky. It astounds me that so many people seem to revel in hate. What a waste.
Even confronting an enemy, there is responsibility. We had to stop Hitler, but even in war there is a duty to avoid unnecessary harm. we had to respond to the thoroughly evil 9/11 attack, but many were tortured and many killed without need or making us safer. Violence is sometimes necessary, but it is never "good".
Just anger is not undisciplined, nor is it blind road rage hatred. Adult, focused anger is on task to restoring balance. It can be very intimidating in it's focused composure, and can be very effective. Like, I would not want to be on the bad side of Jack Smith.
Both are predicated on caring for people and things beyond one's self. Self-care is essential but insufficient. In extreme, to exclusion of any other consideration, it becomes dangerous and ultimately evil.
Why do they make it so hard? Fear. They are little greedy people full of fear. All types of fear. Fear of others, whoever that is. Fear that next year's profits will be less than this year's. Fear that the neighbor has one more gun or bullet than they do. Fear, fear, fear. Sad lives devoid of love but overflowing with fear.
Tapping into people's vulnerabilities and insecurities is the gift that keeps on giving to keep the grifters afloat. Fear is primal. Politicians use this for power, control, oppression and ownership. It's as old as time itself. It's about division and hate. It is an abusive system that a government and the wealthy exploit for their own gains. Our politicians need to go through a vetting process. Waving ones freak flag shouldn't be grounds for being elected.
And most of the haters, if asked, would claim to be "good Christians". A supreme irony in a season where we are celebrating the birth of a baby in a stable, because there was no room at the inn.
Most people find God when their nuts are in a vice. And then they go right back to being an Ahole. Growing up I witnessed men beat their wives and kids get drunk and pass the plate on Sundays with a few amens. It's all bullshit.
Thank you. I watched it. My dearest friend went down the rabbit hole. For her Agent Orange saved babies. That means he's a man of God. What's funny about these women who love him also make excuses for their cheating husband's. Pollyanna purist bullshit. The cognitive dissonance in this country is like a Pandemic virus.
I know them too. Even heard one brag on TV (2000 primary with McCain and Bush) about how they could lie on Sat and get forgiven on Sun. Apparently, this strategy works for lots of things.
It is weird (and Orwellian) that MAGAs champion pretty much the opposite of Jesus's ethics, toward the poor and despised, toward material greed, toward regard for one's enemies, and even toward paying taxes, yet claim to endorsed by what Jesus taught.
Jl….i basically agree with you on the Jesus’s values opposite of MAGAS but there are a couple folks who were ‘religious advisors’ to Obama that in one case I know personally and have worked with and in the other case just respected …Sister Simone Campbell (Nuns on the Bus) sister of the Holy Family, lawyer, trained at UC Davis, I worked with her in inner city projects in the formation of JERICHO and she’s the real thing…value wise….so is Jim Wallis…Sojunners liberal evangelical minister (yes it’s a contradiction in terms) he’s stunning, currently at Georgetown running the faith and politics stuff….and a super choice in my view…NOT ALL RELIGIOUS SOLD OUT. Obama had very good taste!
I doubt that Obama chose any even resembling the current MAGAts. The “religious” folks chump had in the WH probably doubled the atheist numbers in the country. Embarrassing to watch the phony BS
There is such a grab bag of motives stirred into the pot of our images of Jesus. At Christmas we hear "A child, A child, shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold". Is that age appropriate? Did it bring comfort? And from what we know of Jesus, did he ever show an interest in riches or socioeconomic status? But Trump sure does.
Yes: it's "far easier to dominate a state legislature than the federal government."
That why over the past 50 years ALEC has been so successful drafting far-right legislation which would then coast through most U.S. state legislatures.
This, the American Legislative Exchange Council, has kept America racist, gerrymandered, subject to automatic weapon massacres in all public venues, narcotized, and -- I'd say, worst -- dumb. Millions of Americans got this way thanks to these mostly Republican, easily bought legislatures defunding schools, overworking teachers, and gutting humanities as key to turning them all over primarily to the standardized testing billionaires.
Heather Cox Richardson has got the key larger history -- the tensions between federal and state. But it's the billionaires behind what Jane Mayer calls "Dark Money," and what Sheldon Whitehouse calls "The Scheme" which explains the deeper vulgarity rampant across the land.
All this reminds me of Ukraine. What I heard this evening is that, while many in this country are fighting with the far right in the House of Representatives, to release funding for Ukraine's self-defense, there is a *coalition* of national governments which have been taken over by delegations from the far, far right, and are working, together with those in this country, to simply cut off ALL funding to UKRAINE and to make it impossible for the brave population of that country to fight back, thus ending that war for Ukraine, so that Russia very simply annexes both the territory and those of the Ukrainians who are still alive...From this viewpoint, everything that happened in Gaza was a sideshow, put in place to distract Western attention from Ukraine.
At this point, Linda, I wouldn't know how to unravel the tentacles that interweave Putin's genocidal oligarchs, Saudi royal murderers, Israeli far-right settlers, nationalists from Erdogan to Orban, Modi to Xi, Duterte to Assad, and U.S. billionaires assiduous in ways to spew online hate, push further fossil fuel and AR-15 damage, and fund Clarence.
The forces of domination are once again in full play as they sometimes are; evil cycle apparently. And in the long term, they will all end up fighting others because they don't have any other way of dealing with power. If the forces of peacefulness and democracy can work together without all the hype, that's exactly what we need to have happen.
I put my hopes in the schools -- of the U.S., the world, especially neighbors with fraught history.
And I'd stress seeing others as individuals. Writing essays to cite others in their very specific contexts. No abstractions (not even "peacefulness and democracy").
I think it's complicated, but yes, but tending toward the Golden Rule, categorical imperative, etc. Thinking about the circumstantial context of other people's lives and how that might be for them. It has been said that printing press distribution of novels helped to historically increase social empathy, but also too has science and awareness of how our minds and bodies appear to work. More than a catalog of accumulated knowledge, it's way of thinking, a way of observing, a way of self-investigation the gives our ego a sense of context and resonance with other beings.
It occurred to me when I learned that Confucianism has a golden rule , "Do not do to others what you don't want them to do to you," which essentially is the same as the golden rule of the west in that we must treat others as we want to be treated, it struck me that kindness and cooperation must be innate in most humans and necessary for the survival of civilizations. But how do so many of those without that trait rise to the top, and what do the rest of us do about it?
When you look at the ideas and the norms that have created the system we are stuck in, there is a basic idea of how we should live economically. That is, inside a system of competition - not cooperation - which divides everybody from everybody else and sells itself as ideal, as long as we pay more and more for its excesses.
Some study how to live inside this largely impossible system to get what they can from the divisive conditions where 'winning' is called success. Whole industries exist to take ever bigger advantage of the unbalanced nature of big money, power, fame etc. which more and more includes the political one that makes the laws governing the uses of money. Our existing political setup is so dependent on huge money payouts to media especially and for lobbying, it attracts hucksters who know little or nothing about the service work of governing or even how government is supposed to work for all of us. And don't care, no matter what words appear from them. Actions speak.
The Republican Party promotes the wealth system; in its over 50 years of stated plans to always be those ‘winners’ for privilege and endless wealth, has lost all credibility and has attracted large numbers of the huckster brand who are so incredibly stupid that they think gaming the system will not affect them. Their thirst for winning and power is never ending as they prove repeatedly. Dems most of the time are actually service oriented to doing the daily hard work of governing.
The only sane way to stop the gamers is through using the constitutional means we already have; it may for now include outspending them. The CO Court decision helps a lot and may this be so in many other states.
Maybe the MSMedia will start waking up to its real job - other than PBS, NPR, MSNBC too, who are already on the job. Gotta keep on keeping on, get and stay well informed. Ask more questions. Read Substack.
As Steve Jobs said on his deathbed “I have little joy. In the end my wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to…..all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless…”.
Looks like the work for reasonable people is in the long term to recreate a system of values and laws that work for everyone equally. Endless exploitation of resources for the sake of power and ‘wealth’ are ruining the planet.
1) Biden and Blinken went round Congress to send tanks and other equipment to Ukraine, more than once. AT FIRST, members of Congress complied, materials were sent. 2) SINCE that time, there are certain members of Congress who have made a great public stand around NOT giving aid to Ukraine, as a purely partisan gesture. They have made a fuss about wanting to focus on immigration at the southern border of this country, but only in a "Do It MY Way" style. 3) When Biden went first to Congress, there was a lot of support in this country for aid to Ukraine. Did you notice that, once Hamas invaded Israel and war ensued in Gaza, ALL mention of Ukraine disappeared from ALL of the press for some weeks? (What do you think the Russian soldiers were doing in those weeks?) There was NO press regarding what Ukrainian citizens were going through, what Mr. Putin was doing with his time! Also, there was no support for funding. Attention was turned toward Israel and Gaza. 4) Lisa, if YOU are noticing that WE, AS A COUNTRY, are not sending tanks to Ukraine, why not write some very public letters, naming the names of those who are holding that up?
Could be true, Steve Bannon’s foreign travel was not for sight seeing. Putin is just marking time til chump returns to hand us over. Remember Helsinki. It won’t be just Ukraine…
The Ukraine War has been all about distraction from the start, but mainly distracting the American people from the fact that we stupidly provoked the war, and wrecked Ukraine, in the post-invasion hope that we could regime change Putin. Now the chicken (hawks) who pursued this absurd policy are coming home to roost, in an election year. Buckle up.
“A significant moment may be upon us. What will follow once it is acknowledged that the Nazi-infested crooks in Kyiv have failed? President Biden, as is his consistently unwise wont, radically overinvested in the proxy war he chose to start with the Russian Federation as soon as he took office three years ago next month. Having defined the Ukraine conflict as a war in the name of democracy and freedom —“values” rather than interests, this is to say—he has left the U.S. and its European clients no room for compromise and nearly none even for negotiation. What is the next move when defeat is too obvious any longer to deny?
If we are about to enter uncharted territory, will it prove dangerous ground? It may, but this is not yet clear. It will be uncertain and probably unstable: This we know. Of the many things I do not like about this circumstance, I will mention a few straightaway. Biden may be the stupidest president of the postwar era on the foreign policy side: He exhibits no capacity whatsoever for nimble or imaginative thought. He is a warmonger of long standing, an election year is upon us, and he is by now in obvious danger of being impeached. His mental incompetence, atop all this, is plain for all to see.
There are also the national security people around Biden to consider. With the exception of CIA Director William Burns, who seems to dedicate himself to his career advancement, these are lockstep ideologues who share a Manichean vision of the world and how it works. And we had better think long and hard about these people now. I urge this because of an item in Politico two weeks back. The piece reported on the policy cliques’ thinking after recent Houthi attacks on U.S. warships in the Red Sea. Some officials urge a vigorous response, but the reigning view favors restraint for fear of enlarging Israel’s barbarity in Gaza into a wider war.
Then, well down in the story, this paragraph:
The military’s job is to present a variety of options to senior commanders, but the ultimate decision is up to the president and the administration’s political appointees. In multiple high-level meetings this week, the Pentagon has neither briefed President Joe Biden on options to strike Houthi targets nor recommended that he do so, two of the officials said. All were granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal deliberations.
The jaw drops. It is not uncommon for the mainstream media to bury vitally important news that reflects poorly on The American Way. In this case we appear to be on notice that the commander-in-chief is no longer commanding because, as Politico suggests, those around him think he is too trigger-happy and they would rather not hear from him. The topic is the Middle East, but netting out this extraordinary revelation, we can no longer be certain who is running the Biden regime’s Ukraine policy—or any other policy, for that matter.
Do we count this as some kind of palace coup? Don’t let the question surprise you: The Deep State did this kind of thing to Biden’s predecessor time and time and time again. In Biden’s case, it may be no bad thing if he is cut out of the thinking on Ukraine to one or another extent, given his retrograde obsession with Russia as the root of all evil. But the thought of the president’s lieutenants, with their cowboys-and-Indians sensibilities, deciding what comes next in post-failure Ukraine is not soothing.”
Oh. I thought Biden was aiding Ukraine to help them keep their land, resources, and Democracy. Also to keep Russia from more land and regime grabbing in the future through the expansion of NATO - not what your negative response says about our President. Your link to Sheerpost apparently comes from the far far Right, who have an ongoing reputation for conspiracy theories and out right lying.
I don't blame Biden one bit for harboring distain for Putin. Putin is a madman who blatantly harasses and murders anyone he perceives as an enemy and thinks he can just take what he wants. Something ex-president Trump would love to have the power to do, and even says he will if re-elected. Would you rather have a guy like Trump running our country? It seems like it. It's not surprising that Ukraine is having a hard time. Putin is relentless. Frankly, I'm sick of your antiBiden commentaries parroting intellectual political theory from a group of people who think they know what's 'Really' going on. It's not Biden's fault that Nitwityahoo (another far far Right criminal) is the one pulling the trigger on Gaza, as is it's not Biden's fault that Putin has attacked Ukraine. I believe President Biden and his team are doing everything they can to stop both! President Biden needs out support, not degradation coming from a heady essay from a bunch of powerless guys who think they know what's wrong and how to fix it. It doesn't help when we gather in response to Professor Richardson's essays to throw shade on the very institution we are trying to hold up and protect. If you want to help in what seems to be your smarty pants style, why don't you enlighten us on how we can smash the Deep State so we can all share the planet and live our lives in harmony? I'm still waiting for the promised 100 years of peace - but at this rate, it's evident that I won't live long enough to see it.
Oh, you thought wrong. Stop embarrassing yourself. Your accusation that Scheerpost, and by extension Patrick Lawrence, ‘apparently comes from the far, far right’, is laughable on its face. But it is a common practice at present, from tribal liberals desperate to deflect criticism of Genocide Joe, by any fallacious arrow argument pulled from the talking points quiver.
You believe Biden is doing everything to save Ukraine and stop the genocide in Gaza? Some people believe in Santa Claus and unicorns. Don’t make it so.
You lap up every piece of American government propaganda about Putin and Russia to reinforce your belief system, and ignore anything which threatens your worldview. You don’t question, and have no room for curiosity. I prefer to read a wide range of opinions from a varied landscape of writers, from people who have experience in Russia, know Russian history, and aren’t shills for American Empire and desirous of global hegemony.
I’m going to link another piece, from another website you probably will hilariously accuse of being far far right (so far right that it is presently suing a Pentagon-funded censorship site) that specifically addresses your characterization of Putin. And before you become hysterical, I’m not saying Putin is a good guy. He’s a killer. But he has his reasons, just like Biden.
Click on the link, then click on the Part One link at the top, then come back for Part Two. Or don’t click at all, and stay in your silo/bubble. Your choice.
As to smashing the Deep State, that’s simple: protests, general strikes, and nonviolent civil disobedience. Only that will change the current corrupt electoral paradigm, and give us a legislative body that will address the issue head on. Voting is pissing in the wind when most every candidate is corrupted by money before they are elected, including Genocide Joe, and the few that aren’t, are broken by a corrupt system in short order. Smarty pants enough for you?
We didn’t learn a damn thing from Vietnam. It so shocked our psyche; and you’re right, instead of being introspective and learning the lessons of history, colonialism, and the folly of empire, we doubled down on a desire for hegemony by any means necessary, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We are such a fearful nation, and try to hide that fact with endless war and faux patriotism. Blame everyone but the face in the mirror.
I’m not embarrassed. I am curious. I may be naive but I don’t think I deserve ridicule. I read a lot, but I don’t believe everything I read. I can admit that I get a little pissed when the people I am depending on to teach the truth and do the right thing are dismissed and put down or accused of being behind any kind of genocide. No human is perfect. Being President of The United States is a hard job. No one knows as much as they do. It’s complicated. Anyone can dig up dirt on anyone. I’m far from being a true intellectual. I’m just a person who’s concerned about the state of our Democracy & the world in general. I respect those who teach the truth and am always hungry for more. I mean Truth as far as what factually happened. Not ‘truth’ as far as someone’s high minded opinion.
You might believe in another writer’s brilliance in pulling facts into an opinion of what they say is actually happening. Still, it’s just an opinion.
If you have something to teach, and you want those who want to learn to actually learn something, you might want to try to teach with kindness, rather than in a condescending authoritarian way.
Gayle, I think you are a kind person, a good egg, and someone who is limited in the ability to prevent cognitive dissonance from controlling your response to information that conflicts with your established view of the world, which I believe is heavily influenced by American propaganda. I also believe that you, like many commenters here, as well as Heather, regard Trump, and the current iteration of the GOP, as a bigger threat to democracy than is the corporate state that allowed, and allows them, to sniff elected office, much less hold it. I don’t share that view; I feel that until the corporate state issue is addressed, which neither political party is willing to do in a meaningful way, then nothing gets fixed.
As to kindness, my response to repeated ignorance or fallacious logic is to call BS BS. If I feel you are repeatedly dispensing same, then I will call it out with the same venom I would were I replying to some MAGA knucklehead trying to sing the praises of Trump. And no, I’m not saying you are the same as a Trump supporter; just articulating my response to BS.
For example, you write: ‘Being President of The United States is a hard job. No one knows as much as they do’. Gayle, lots of people of people know as much, or more, than they do. Politics is a beauty contest. Lots of really smart people have zero interest in entering beauty contests. Secondly, even smart people can make the stupidest of decisions, personal and policy-wise. Bill Clinton got a blowjob from a 20-something intern in the Oval Office. Barack Obama bailed out Wall Street and screwed Main Street. Both were really ‘smart’ guys.
I don’t care about opinions, nor facts. Both can be twisted. I care about truth, and justice. The links I provide ring true to me. Your response to them is usually along the lines of ‘Biden knows more than they do’, never a critique of the argument presented. This is flawed reasoning on your part; using the ‘shoot the messenger’ logical fallacy in an attempt to cover the cognitive dissonance of having your tribal ox being gored.
Do me a favor and make the time to watch the linked discussion below on Gaza/Israel and Ukraine/Russia. You might not agree with the analysis put forth at times in this discussion, but at the end of the hour and a half, you’ll know more about both situations than most Americans, including Biden. Peace, t
And keep on cheating until dishonesty has become the norm and honesty is accounted criminal.
Now, there's oligarchy for you.
[Since material wealth alone brings guaranteed discontent, businessmen and the wealthy must have more than that. They must be adored, they must be coddled. Every whim must be granted in this nursery. They must never be challenged.
A lousy basis for good management of the household.]
That's why humanities work -- and why it behooves us to learn some skills including citing real artists (of the novel, the memoir, film, song, more.
If we get skilled in the personal, we can all the better challenge the imaginatively mediocre -- can all the better see them for invariably inhabiting slogans, abstractions, packages, group identities, simple causalities, and all the repetitions to which they skew.
For this, I often think Pasternak, and the Forest Brotherhood chapter of "Dr. Zhivago." The real torture for Zhivago (being a poet, as well as a doctor) came by being confined with revolutionaries equipped with nothing beyond rhetorical vulgarities.
Pasternak was a good novelist but a great poet, so this chapter must be very personal.
*
I am struck by how many people grossly underestimate the power of the imagination.
*
For years a friend advised the ultra-wealthy on how to avoid paying tax... becoming increasingly aware of how boring and standardized these clients were... until abandoning that silly, antisocial game on behalf of people who didn't know what to do with their lives...
*
About artists, you'd not be related to Giacomo Balla, who didn't lack creative imagination?
Giacomo was an Italian Balla (and first artist in the world to do a futurist painting, "Man Walking a Dog," or, "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash"), a 1912 oil on canvas, though you likely know that.
My own Balla grandfather came from Hungary. Spoke no English. Married a Slovak-Hungarian woman, also a recent immigrant to the U.S., in the coal mine area along the Big Sandy river in West Virginia, south of Pittsburgh. Nearly 120 years ago.
When you wrote "Hungary" I immediately thought of "Balogh" or "Balog" and said to myself, maybe another case of the American immigration authorities inability to handle a foreign name... If you look the name up, you'll see it connected with nobility, also "left-handed" and "clumsy"...
Well, I have ancestors from Transylvania... and from Scotland and Ireland. You don't get more European than that...
Imagination is key to our experience of reality. Our cognitive/visceral consciousness is a product of our nervous system, and yet with the aid of our senses, our logic, our memories, and recorded reactions, our internal modeling seems to (or at least can) keenly track the "thing in itself" well enough to produce, for example, the device I'm composing with for a pile of raw minerals. I touch another and the other responds. I see no indication it is all a fantasy, though likely, in a sense, an informed fantasy.
Fantastic delusions can feel more real the real to schizophrenic, and I notice some correlation between level of education and willingness to doubt one's own conclusions. Knowing that you don't know can be a portal to learning.
Imagination harnessed to logic, be it artistic logic or instrumental logic, is the mother of invention.
"Imagination is key to our experience of reality."
A pity to hide this small gem here. I hope some readers notice it.
I wonder about cutting out the last two words of the sentence.
But when you speak of a correlation between level of education and willingness to doubt one's own conclusions, I remember, on the one hand, how long it took me as a young man to believe the evidence of my senses when observing political goings-on. And when I perceive something that others around me have not, I check the matter out... Misunderstandings arise so easily...
What this dandling of lifelong 2-year-olds (with none of the charm of 2-year-olds, only the tantrums and still dirty diapers) has to do with entrepreneurship, heaven alone knows.
One possible answer: maybe there isn't much initiative or imagination left at that level of wealth, maybe it's all fortunes long-inherited. Once upon a time, corporations suffered when the great entrepreneurs passed away, leaving the thing they'd created to offspring who were either fun-loving sybarites or arty types. Now?
My mother distinguished between "Childlike" and "Childish". I have met some accomplished people, scientists, artists, humanitarians, who stuck me as child-like with the freshness and enthusiasm that term implies. Childishness is easy to detect throughout society, and also in my own character, but Big Orange serves as a "poster child". Actual children have a excuse, but beyond that it's something we could use a whole lot less of.
We have tolerated and even approved a putocratically powered push from the wealthy away from education for living toward some version of trade schools. Of course a trade is very important to the skill set of an individual and society, but is not enough, in and of itself, to prepare joyful, creative, resilient individuals or a wise and just democratically determined democracy.
A formula for lives that are nasty, brutish and likely to be short. Trump's still kicking (despite all the Big Macs) but is he happy? He's perpetually outraged and claiming to be the world's biggest victim.
JL and Peter, you have broadened my respect for Critical thinking this morning, So much observed and defined so well Thank for your lively Conversation. Very illuminating.
Susan, I have not much thought about vulgarity in that way. I often quip about my frequent use of "blasphemy, profanity, and vulgarity" and in most public fora, limit my usage of them. My Mom always said that slipping into that language showed a "paucity of imagination" (although she was the one who taught me to swear).
Never miss one of The Scheme sessions delivered by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Session #26, recently delivered, continues with fact based accuracy transperancy the outcome of what is or is not going on in the Judiciary Committee. The Scheme AKA Congress #118 Unveiled
But his emphasis is on the Federalist Society's corralling of billionaire money to stack the judiciary.
My own emphasis goes to the earliest days of billionaires coalescing after the Powell memo originally organized them -- when their first order of business was to kill humanities from schools, from "higher" ed to K-12. Then, they could get away with offshoring those millions of U.S. jobs -- and ally with their dictator, murderer, and autocrat buddies worldwide.
100%, Bill Moyers exposed ALEC decades ago. Glad people have caught on. It’s not so much a state thing, as it’s states joining to form their own version of a fed power. Just name the issue. Somebody studied the methods used to pass Prohibition.
Actually, Jeri, it's not "states joining together to form their own version of a fed power."
Rather, the states are all just tools for the billionaires who use them.
Fund (bribe) them. Lobby them. Sucker them.
And let's recall, too, that ALEC came belatedly, after the Powell memo of August 23, 1971 first set up the new Heritage Foundation, then an enlarged and steroided Hoover Institution, and then the many more foundations, all unified for the organized, cynical, corrupt U.S. billionaires.
All true, but ALEC is master at cloning actions in one state and passing them on to other states. As in the "bathroom bills," and such tripe. Then you wind up with almost identical bills in multiple states, all with the same purpose, and backed by the same cretins. Repub billionaires are nothing if not efficient when they smell green power, and I'm not talking about the environment.
The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court has spawned a host of statements from the MAGA Senators and Representatives that on first glance appears that their motivation is solely to give cover and support to DJT. That is not so.
A close reading of article three states:
“shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof “.
That means that members of Congress or Senate who knowingly knew that DJT was guilty of engaging in the insurrection and failed to vote him guilty during the second impeachment process gave “aid and comfort” to DJT and thus may be subject to have violated Section 3 as well. Moreover, statements from our elected officials that January 6 was “ a walk in the park” or that “DJT did no wrong” might find themselves answering to a US Federal Court. Watch for their denials as the case against DJT gains traction.
Thank you writing this in a difficult situation. Hope power is bak soon. Thanks for the careful analysis of the current situation and the historical setting that clarifies where comes from----we live in the shadow of the Old (and the New) South---a very dark and deepening shadow. Thanks for shedding light....in this darkness.s
Of course the irony in all of this is that the Democrats have tried for years to reform the nation's immigration laws and work with Republicans on compromises. And the GOP, as in most things, refuses to agree to anything, instead perpetuate problems for political theater rather than solve them.
Correct Michael, yet again ! As I have maintained for as long as I can recall, they are the party of kick sh_t down the road. Despite their annoying insistence and resentments, they cannot govern, especially a democracy.
It is comforting to know that in our history those who would destroy equality and deny voting rights, and violate the Constitution, are losers. They will keep trying to win, and for those of us whose flame burns bright to support our constitution we must not give up. I am glad we have written documents and historians to explain them. Abbott, DeSantis, Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Taylor Greene, all those misfits, may they go screaming into oblivion, along with the orange haired manure pile.
"It is comforting to know that in our history those who would destroy equality and deny voting rights, and violate the Constitution, are losers."
In 2001 the Supreme Court cut shut vote counting in Broward County after Guiliani and Stone started a riot in that county to stop the voting in that district.
Bush II "won". But, it is worse. Jeb Bush had taken the names of people in Texas Prisons who had been released and then purged Florida's voter polls with those names, most of whom were black. Thousands of blacks were turned away at the polls in 2001.
In fact, Frank, the losers are the Black folks of America. Over and Over. The winners are most often those who would deny minority voter rights.
Race, money, and greed. Through lines all through our history. Every time any forward progress is made toward a more perfect union that has equal protection under the law and equality opportunities for everyone, the deplorables all want to drag us back in time to the previous century or even farther. Case in point, Donald Trump happened after we elected Barack Obama. I thought by doing so, we had made progress, but I was SO wrong. The election of tRump showed me that we really are as racist a society as I feared. Certainly, racism is in the DNA of our political system, even though all Americans are not racist. There is always significant pushback to progress for women and minorities.
I worked as a volunteer attorney for the Kenyan/Socialist/Moslem in the 2008 election in Florida. That night was so magnificent and unforgettable. But soon, the backlash seeped out, and then came in waves, and waves, and here we are
I think it’s time to get rid of Republicans permanently. Haven’t they killed enough people already and destroyed enough lives? How much worse do we have to let them get? We need to build a self-sufficient dome world somewhere where they can be locked in and can live with just themselves.
There's a strong movement to secede from the union in Texas. Maybe Abbot's testing the waters. Part of the issue is the prospect of decline of the fossil fuel industry, which is, of course, a huge source of income for some Texans.
Having been seven years a Texan I know there's a lot of pride there in the history of The Republic of Texas. They can't forget the Alamo. I'm not surprised that there's talk about secession. I blame John Wayne.
If they secede, the rich will only get richer by using regular people as cheap labor. They’ll build a wall around the entire country to keep the people in who found out the hard way what a mistake they made because there is no U.S.Constitution or Bill of Rights anymore. Education will only be for privileged people and everyone will have to rely on the church for aid.
No way Lisa; the ground they claim and spew from is part and parcel of the United States of America as a condition of the bargain for the U.S. to pay their Mexican war debts and pledge the pledge of all our fathers and mothers. * A workable would be to round up some more seditious scoundrels, sell them the smallest of sandbars in the Caribbean and deport them there. We have an awful abundance of seditious scoundrels in my view.
Just to be clear I was talking about one rural town that I won't mention by name. I have lots of relatives in Texas. Good people. Some of whom are Democrats.
Thank you so very much for keeping us both informed and enlightened, in spite of the difficulties faced by the American Northeast due to worsening weather. I have a better understanding now of what the "originalists" are thinking when they (in my opinion) misinterpret the Constitution.
Article 1, Section 2 does indeed uphold slavery as does Article 1, Section 9 - at least until 1808. It wasn't until Amendment 13 (1865 - 101 years after the Declaration of Independence) that slavery was Constitutionally ended, and even then the authors of Amendment 13, gave the slaveholders an out with the phrase "except as punishment for a crime".
I often wonder if we wouldn't have been better off had the Union allowed those 11 States to secede. They would have formed a totally contiguous country. We of the United States would have had no reason to return escaped slaves to their masters. We had more money, more people, more industry and a growing agricultural industry. We could buy our own cotton from Egypt. We sure as hell didn't need tobacco. We out gunned and out-strategized them. Most of all we could give them baby donnie all wrapped in a bow. Sent help to Ukraine, concentrated on making Netanyahu straighten up . Biggest plusses of all - they could keep Abbot, DeSantis, Gaetz, Greene, Hawley and the MAGAts.
How, delightful, Brenda, another curmudgeon like myself. (:-) But it would have been relatively easy back in the 1860's. Today their dreadful hatred of all things of intellect as well as people of color, have intermingled among us, even though a minority.
Once I started finding like minded people, it seemed like minded people started finding me. So it’s been so important for my mental health to get involved. But yes, I’m making plans to get out of Texas. I think people have forgotten the days of Ann Richards.
Abbutt is short sighted! Our immigrant population is essential to our economy!
Minnesota has become quite warm and has good medical care. 48 and rain forecast for Christmas. (missing the snow and ice fishing is terrible this year) However there is a real need for people of good conscience to stay put and be a voice of reason. Won't the Hispanic people of Texas be outraged enough by this to try to change the legislators?
Voter suppression and gerrymandering is a huge problem! I don’t think a lot of Texans think their vote will matter. But the tide is turning. Not every Texan is on board with Abbutt! We just have to get people to the polls!
Border security has been a large motivator for Hispanics to vote FOR Republicans. They have worked hard and achieved a decent living without government help for decades, and tend to be suspicious of government programs. They're also socially moderate to conservative. So a party that says it wants to preserve the status quo by keeping a huge influx of immigrants out sounds good to them. Are they allies? In the sense that I feel very comfortable talking to those I meet, true. Would they view like I might? That's not so clear cut.
Let's face it, immigration issues are quite synonymous with racial prejudice. Republicans are afraid that in a true democracy, their rich elite-ism will be lost. It's okay, according to them, if migrants want to come here and work for pennies on the dollar as servants and return home to poverty, but don't want 'outsiders of color' to work for the American dream. Let's not be afraid of this ploy. Let's reveal it for what it is.
I’m very impressed that you produced under such adverse conditions; thank you!
The big picture is federal control versus state control. What the news media seems to be missing is that the law allows state lawmen to arrest people SUSPECTED of being undocumented with no legal recourse. They are assumed to be guilty and there is no provision stated of legal representation who are fluent in their language of choice. The rights expected for citizens are being waived. Much like his flying asylum seekers to Chicago (because the buses are no longer available) and dumping them, the cruelty seems to be the point —both for the asylum seekers and for the cities with no infrastructure to deal with the influx who are forbidden to work.
So just so I’m straight about how this works(primarily for republicans); states have every right to make laws unto themselves and expect no one to interfere with their actions, ESPECIALLY not the federal government of which they still are a part, UNLESS a state high court makes a decision that they don’t agree with and then they want the top federal court to weigh in and preferably rule in their favor? That’s how these so-called citizens of our United States have always rolled throughout our history it seems. It’s their preferred weapon of choice; arguing out of both sides of their mouths.
I am so moved that you wrote this when you were out of power. Your devotion to the truth, to history, and to your readers, is a bulwark against our deepest fears.
In November, Mainer's voted on several propositions one of which was whether the state of Maine could authorize a public utility to be established to replace two out of country utility companies which "service" most of the state of Maine. Between the two companies, CMP and Versant they spent almost $40 million to defeat Proposition 3. Of course they lied and made up stories about what would happen if a public run utility took over.
20% of the residential customers serviced by Versant have had their power turned off in the past year because they chose to eat and have a roof over their heads over electricity. With CMP, it was a little over 10%. Meanwhile the two companies enjoyed profits which they sent to Calgary, Alberta and the governments of Spain and Norway. The electric rates in ME are 4th highest in the US and the service provided by Versant ranks dead last in customer satisfaction.
I'm not sure where HCR lives in ME, obviously along the coast. I suspect she has been without power for over 48 hours as we were around Bar Harbor, ME. As usual Versant, did a lousy job of managing the repairs from the storm.
And BTW, the proposition was soundly defeated 67 - 33%. It seems advertising works. It should be noted that the state Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce stood with the utility companies.
Why should there be profits for companies (or individuals who own shares in such companies) when the objective, the raison d'etre, is to provide the public with an essential service? What a boneheaded idea!
And by logical and compassionate extension, why should anyone "profit" from education or illness of others?
I am a dyed in the wool capitalist, business dude. There are a zillion ways for private citizens to make money producing goods and services for consumers.
But the basics of life in a civilization should and could be provided at "cost" quite easily.
Health care is, IMO, the starkest example of corporate greed overwhelming public good. Our ridiculously expensive, uneven and unfair, health care “system” is slowly collapsing as pharmaceutical and insurance companies rake in record profits. We are the only industrialized country putting profits ahead of citizens’ well-being. And, of course, we are increasingly unhealthy and life expectancy is declining. American exceptionalism, indeed.
Proposing that we are one of the greatest countries in the world. We have the highest infant mortality rate, the worst healthcare, the sickest people. While insurance companies rule over doctors and deny coverage for whatever reason they choose. We’ve given way too much power to insurance companies, and they rake in the dough and charge a fortune, and a lot of people can’t even afford healthcare, even with Obamacare.
Or even with Medicare. Even in a big city with public transportation where seniors are not only not a priority but also not supposed to exist. Ageism is epidemic in America.
Exactly
It seems the government is having a say in health care by prohibiting treatments
I just saw a item on TV, on NBC's national news, about how patients in certain corporate owned hospitals died, because the corporate owner did not provide enough people to monitor the equipment reading the patients' vitals. In one case, if I am remembering correctly, the monitoring was done in a central location in another building. Some entities should not be run for share holders or obscene salaries for top management.
It would help if the US Food Industry would quit putting crap in our food that serves company profits over the health of the American people. We know about the additives injected into our food to support longer shelf life etc. Many Americans suffer from food allergies that seem to disappear when dining on whatever they want in Europe! It’s expensive to have to buy organic all the time or only eat bakery items or pastas made with imported flour. It’s no wonder American life expectancy is in decline!
Look for sodium benzoate. I was doing a food demo for real maple syrup. I was comparing the ingredients. I used Vermont Maid which I have used for years. I liked the picture on it. It only had 2% maple syrup in it. In my newest ingredient check, there was only maple flavor-no maple syrup. To make things worse, I found sodium benzoate in it. hmmm sounded familiar- Yes in my shampoo. I have seen it many other foods. I believe it is a preservative.
Hear! Hear! Dave A.! I have never been able to write this important opinion (truth) with such verve! Thank you.
Not if it’s well run. Many hospitals, universities, schools, roads, etc are run privately. And well (and some not so well).Public utilities are as easily corrupted as any other organization. The state of Florida does not do a good job choosing its Public Service Commission, and you see that in the way utilities run. It’s not disastrous, but not efficient or sufficiently forward looking, in my opinion.
There are people in this world whose nature is to corruptly scheme and they can end up anywhere.
Public utilities can certainly be corrupted and poorly run. But their leaders, as employees of the public, can be fired - dismissed.
When was the last time the leaders of private healthcare companies were relieved of duty or prosecuted for their theft and fraud? Maybe we should ask the Sacklers ... or "Senator" Rick Scott?
Yes---gop always screams about govt corruption and waste---very little accountability of private corp. corruption and waste.
As I remember it, Sen Scott was fired by his board. Following that he paid a very large fine, and his hospital corporation paid one of the largest fines in U. S. history.
I’m not arguing that private corporations are better than public utilities. I am saying that being a public utility cannot prevent corruption.
Many private power companies exist and are well run, but operate within the authority of a public service commission.
Yes. The company paid a big fine. But it was allowed to continue as a legal entity. What if it had been dissolved and its officers jailed? Someone steals some groceries and goes to the slammer. Rick Scott oversees one of the great white collar crimes of our time and he is not only not jailed...but allowed to run for public office. And he is still rich! Sounds like Florida to me!
But back to your well taken point. What if a utility were a private non-profit enterprise under the supervision of a public service commission? A hybrid where the focus of the enterprise was delivering the service - not wealth accumulation for a few?
A very large public utility in the country ran corruptly for years. It’s executives cooked up a years-long scheme to sell it to a larger utility based on years of highly misleading information to the residents. Prosecutions await.
Yes, both can have issues. But you have, in theory, the ability to influence, and potentially reform, public-owned entities to a far greater degree than private ones.
Hear! hear!
It's been my experience that Public Utilities are far superior to Corporate Utilities.
Agreed. We have SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) for electricity and PG&E for gas. Thankful I don't live where PG&E is my only option for electricity. As a private corporation beholden to profits over people, PG&E has not taken the time to maintain their grid as well as SMUD. Now, after multiple lawsuits related to fires in CA, they have no choice but to get their act together. The new CEO, a woman, is doing a really good job.
Utilities, education, and healthcare should not be privatized. Profit hungry corporations always put their interests, making money, over the quality of service we pay for.
Yes! Privatizing is a trickledown “plot” that is giving US much grief: a mercenary (non-draft army which deprives those of draft age of the democratic protection of their country essential to a democracy) military, a corrupt and ineffective health care system, fragmented public schools, which has led to disintegration and Trump.
We were out 28 hours but our town still has about 50% without power. Governor Mills (D) also supported Versant and CMP retaining control of the electric grid. Maybe this referendum wasn't the best devised plan but surely the concept of Mainers gaining ownership of our utilities is much wiser than being at the mercy of these two companies. Versant (our supplier) .may have the worst customer service but I believe CMP was the next lowest. Our bills are slated to increase January 1st...no doubt for them to recover the millions they spent trying to prevent a sale. Last Christmas Downeast Maine was without power for three days. Mainers are hardy and have a generous and adventurous spirit but get those lights and the heat back on! It was 19 degrees last night and not everyone has a generator. Thankfully, we do. In the spirit of the season, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! And, Heather, I hope you get your electricity back soon and thank you for "powering on" with your essay.
When I went off to college in Vermont in 1964 there were reportedly parts of the State that were just then getting electricity. I was amazed that someplace on the east coast could be that backwards; I had always thought the east coast was far ahead of Oregon. Too many years reading The New Yorker I suppose.
So how did Maine get electrical utilities owned by Canadians? Didn't they have water power since the 1600s?
Reminds me a little of the TX grid which is privately owned and not linked to the national grid. All for money. They were told 10 years ago that the grid needed repaired, but chose profits over repairs. The electric bills for these people after/during their freeze were in the thousands. They were gauged beyond imagination.
Maine has "out of country" power providers ?! I've never heard of such a thing. I live in Sacramento, CA. We have a choice of (2) providers - one of which is non-profit. I love my non-profit provider and they do 1000% better service and price wise than the statewide standard power company! People of Maine - make the change! You will be the winners!
Sounds a lot like PG&E in CA. Just horrible service but record profits.
If any company was ever begging to be taken over by state government, it is PG&E.
I lived in Davis and then Sacramento in the late 1970's. We had PG&E for about six months before moving to Sacramento where we had SMUD. To this day, SMUD is the best electric company we've had--and we've had 11 different ones. PG&E was not very good. Of course, SMUD was publicly owned. Fortunately, most of the companies we've had were public utilities and really cared about their customers. But why wouldn't they since the executives and most of the staff lived in the service area.
I do not know anything about SMUD but PG&E has just been a disaster.
In San Diego, where we are documented as having the highest kWh + transmission rate in the U.S., we are just now collecting signatures on a citizens initiative for the City of San Diego to create a public utility for electricity. San Diego Gas & Electric is investor-owned and their profits are immense, much sent to Sempra - SDG&E's parent company in Texas!
As for HCR's situation, I keep thinking of my mother's elderly friend in Maine, living alone, when power went out for a week and everything was buried in snow (probably 30 years ago). Barb barely survived.
Website for publicly-owned electricity utility in San Diego CA. https://wearepowersandiego.com/
😬
Not onl that, but the piece itself came out quite clean. When I work fast it's always written with each sentence in reverse order, so Good job!
How do you do that? 🤷♂️
I came here to say the same! Thank you for your dedication, and for this informative and well-written post. I hope you are cozy and that your power is back on soon. Xx
Easy it is, or, not that hard at least.
Lorraine, so beautifully put. I was going to say this as well - so now I can just join this amazing community - responding to our amazing leader. Blessings, Heather, may your external power soon reflect again the inner power that you share with us. Much love,
Huzzah! Beautifully stated and so spot-on!!
Interesting. I don't think Abbott or the Texas GOP legislators realize that this state law has the (most likely) unintended consequence of giving the arrestees due process rights under our Constitution -- something they don't have under our federal immigration laws.
.
That is because it is not a crime to be in this country without authorization. It is a civil matter, which is why people who are detained for immigration violations have no right to an attorney along with other rights that they would be afforded if it were a crime.
.
Crappy, inhumane law nonetheless.
These Texas half-wits led by Abbott are way too dumb to grasp that nuance.
Burton The Texas version of Abbott & Costello is Abbott & AttGen Paxton, though the latter are pathetic rather than comical.
They have help.
There is a group who call themselves the other MAGA: Moms Against Greg Abbot.
If this nation can once again get a rational Supreme Court that isn't owned by the wealthy, we may get fair re-districting around the country. At least, I can dream about it. And then we could get the power-crazy out of office.
Not likely in my lifetime. Which, is probably about another 20 years with a little luck.
I can't wait. Just joking Mike. I feel entitled to do that since it appears that I'm older than you. I agree with Lynn. And the word dream was used. In addition to that, dreams can last a long time. We are still working on MLK's dream.
Jay,
Don't rush. One day at a time!
The sickening part of this situation to me is that Biden could tomorrow put forward 2 new Supreme Court nominees. Based on the Senate rule changes made by McConnell/the GOP in the last decade, 50 Democratic senators (+ Harris) could then approve those 2 appointments to the Supreme Court. The Court would then have 11 members, and be far more balanced.
Republicans would, of course, scream bloody murder about Democrats doing this, even though they themselves stole 2 Supreme Court seats in recent years. So, Dems would benefit greatly from having a strong shield against that fury.
For that, I've proposed, in an OpEd, that Biden and the Democrats carry out this expansion, AND at the same time put forward a constitutional amendment that would correct all of the historical weaknesses in the Court (term limits, age limits, etc.). It would also return the Court to 9 members permanently. Such a proposed amendment, even if it had zero chance of passing at the moment, would show what Democrats are trying to accomplish - a far more balanced and functional SCOTUS for generations to come.
Last year I had no luck getting this OpEd/proposal published in multiple large national newspapers. So I gave up. Maybe I'll revise the draft and try again in 2025, if Dems win the Senate and WH again. 🤞🏼🤞🏼
We need four seats on SCOTUS. With luck and lots of Blue, we’ll get them.
There is a MAGA organization --Mother Against Governor Abbott -- that is doing a lot to get rid of him. The abortion law might be the thing. Check out their web site.
The case for Immediate Injunctive Relief is Immigrant Advocacy Center & El Paso County et al filed in the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas, Case No. 1-23-cv-1537 .
Until a TRO is entered travelers in adjacent states should heed the ACLU warning of the possibility of unconstitutional acts by the state of Texas which is actionable at law.
What is amazing is that almost the identical clearly unconstitutional statute was authorized in Arizona about a decade ago, and attempted to be enforced with the usual racist zeal exhibited by the dimwitted caricature from a Smoky and the Bandit movie, Joe Arpaio. The Supremes struck it down with more powerful zeal, citing the obvious constitutional supremacy of the federal government over immigration.
Beyond Abbott's god awful reckless racism, I suspect that the Dobbs decision may have empowered him to sign this preposterous statute. Remember, Dobbs started off not as an attempt to reverse Roe, but to ratchet back the time within which States could regulate the right to an abortion. Only after Amy "Coney Island" Barrett was appointed to the Court in stark opposition to Machiavellian Mitch McConnell's previous edict that no new Justices could be appointed in a Presidential election year, did Mississippi modify their claim for relief to the complete reversal of Roe.
As HCR pointed out, the Tejas Republicans are open about running a clearly unconstitutional argument up the flagpole because of the three Trump appointed Justices' presence on the Court.
At no previous time in history has a group of advocates attempted such an openly politicized move seeking reward from an openly politicized court.
This is truly shameful, and whether via TRO, or other remedy, should be stopped in its tracks
"At no previous time in history has a group of advocates attempted such an openly politicized move seeking reward from an openly politicized court."
Daniel, you might take a look at the Dred Scott vs Sanford Supreme Court Case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford
The Supreme Court has been a weapon against the minority since the United States was formed by John Adams writings and later the Constitutional Convention.
Using the Supreme Court to hold down minority populations in the US is normal and has existed since the inception of a tripartite government with a co-equal judicial branch.
https://19thnews.org/2023/06/supreme-court-overturns-affirmative-action-college-admissions/
Also, the John Roberts Supreme Court has upheld Gerrymandering laws that limit minority participation in voting through packing that Republicans do all the time.
https://ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics/new-hampshire-supreme-court-ruling-john-roberts/
In fact, I would say that supporting slavery/segregation, then Jim Crow, and sustaining all white admissions to colleges and now the slow repeal of the 1965 Civil Rights legislation has been a CONSTANT Goal of the Supreme Court throughout US History.
Thanks Mike. I liked Daniel's comment, but I suspected that that sentence might have been a historical overreach.
Yes, Daniel's hopeful statement has some attraction, no doubt.
But, (real) US History can sap the hope from a marble.
https://prospect.org/justice/2023-12-20-american-judiciary-failing-trump-test/
https://prospect.org/politics/2023-12-19-is-aipac-good-for-the-jews/
Perhaps at no time in history has so much of American government and its courts been so blatantly on sale and its political parties been such willing sellers.
You nailed it.
And Texans will pay the legal costs to defend a blatantly unconstitutional law in the Supreme Court for a political stunt, just like we Ohioans have done repeatedly over the last decade with abortion laws. That money could be way better spent in improving their electrical grid.
Oh yes - speaking of Texas electrical grids & what happens to mainly the minority of folks who suffer when it poops out?
Texas - do they still want to secede?
It appears to me as an outsider, that the Texas Republicans are trying to rub their stale into the ground.
Winter 23-24 starts Today, 12/21, starting the annual worry about the stability of the Texas' Power Grid or lack thereof.
Abbott don’t care, nor does Ted
Forget it Jake. It's Texas.
Or lack thereof. Truer words were never spoken. Time for the Cruz to head to Where?????? Mexico of course.
Yes, the Supreme Court too has been poisoned by t-rump. Perhaps there is a way to banish Thomas who has clearly sold himself. Where is the IRS in his case??
The state law allows for arrests merely for being in this country without authorization. Not just those captured crossing.
And not just for immigration purposes. Don’t ever forget their draconian vigilante laws surrounding abortion.
And it is just as bad or worse in Florida. Our governor/would be king has been stealing immigrants from Texas just to make his case for the ‘massive immigration numbers’ he says are threatening our state.
Federal immigration is a mess, and it is the fault of the Congress, not the POTUS! Dems need to emphasize that the desperate situations at the borders are a result of the Republicans in Congress who care more about fighting amongst themselves than getting any work done. Chaos seems to be their end game so they can blame the POTUS.
We need a big win politically in 2024, both in the executive and also the legislative branches of government to prevent the chaos goal of the tRumplicans!
My daughter recently had to replace her roof in FL in order to get homeowner's insurance. It was 17 years old and in great condition. The roof had weathered two hurricanes and countless other storms. But, if your roof is over 15 years old in FL and you switch carriers no matter the reason, you have to have your roof replaced otherwise they will not insure you.
FL has a state run homeowner's insurance company that is losing billions of dollars a year. The rates they charge go up every year some years by 20% or more. The Republican legislature only knows how to deal with issues like what should be taught in schools and nothing related to fiscal policy.
Mark my words, they will soon go to Uncle Sam to bail this state run company out. But DeSantis thinks he has what it takes to be President. He's a joke.
The chaos will keep a 2024 victory from happening. That is the plan.
These "governors" think they are above the law and can abandon the Constitution @ will. Grrr!
"Federal immigration is a mess"..."the desperate situations at the borders"...Really? The only situation I can see from here; 25 miles north of the Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona, is that the Border Patrol can't hire or keep enough agents to handle the paperwork of people who are coming to the border to ask for refuge from their corrupt governments. Governments that the US set up for failure either through the CIA or the MIlitary.
It's Christmas shopping season so we see lots of cars and buses taking people to Tucson or Phoenix to buy Christmas presents. And the Usual thousands of refrigerator trucks going north with fruits and vegetables for US grocery stores. And the thousands of people who cross the border to work every day -- both Mexican citizens working in the US and US citizens working in Mexico.
The "mess" and "desperate situation" is political more than real. And don't blame Biden for not getting the laws updated; there's a long history of attempts at immigration reform that were not allowed through Congress; both Democrats and Republicans have been trying for at least 50 years.
The first Federal Immigration law was passed in 1875 and it, like every other Federal Immigration law was based in racism.
From the day Biden took office, it's been very clear that immigration policies and procedures on our southern border were a total and cruel mess. I don't understand how we could have gotten to late 2023 without Team Biden having put forward a 10-15 point plan for comprehensive immigration reform.
Of course it would be controversial, and the Republicans would attack it like mad. BUT it would clearly show that Biden is taking this issue extremely seriously, knows that comprehensive reform is the only way forward, and has strong ideas. He could also use it to beat the GOP over the head for complaining, but doing nothing, for decades.
Remember, this is how Obama put forward the ACA. Much debate and revision occurred thereafter, but it became the law of the land eventually. It seems to me like political malpractice that the White House has not done this, meaning that there will be border drama and trauma constantly for the next year and Republicans will milk it for all it's worth.
My suspicion is that this very complex issue got put on a back burner, because of the threats to democracy, Ukraine, inflation, etc. But it's the job of the White House TEAM not to let critical issues (especially ones that can do great political damage) stay on the back burner for long. 😠
Read up on the history of attempts to update/reform/change Federal Immigration law.
There have been many attempts by both Republican and Democratic administrations in just the last 50 years. None have made it through the legislative process. They either don't make it out of committee or don't make it past more than one branch.
Immigration is much too valuable as a campaign issue let it be actually solved. Abortion was the same until Trump, who doesn't understand anything about how government actually works filled the Supreme Court with true believers. And look what a mess that has created for the Republicans!
ICE has already deported a number of US citizens because they looked "foreign".
I’ve heard teachers in other school districts with higher Hispanic populations, talk about children being followed home and leading to detainment of family members. It’s been happening for a very long time in Texas. A friend maybe five years ago said some students would be absent for days for fear of being followed home. What a horrible strain on children and families!
"I'm a Cancer with a bad moon rising, man"!!
Haha !
How awful!
Reminds me of the Fugitive Slave laws only somewhat gotten around by buying or a slave and manumitted them like Grant did with his slave, William, "purchased" from his father-in-law.
See https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-formerly-enslaved-household-of-the-grant-family
It seems many Quakers also "owned" slaves as did Free Black Men, more to protect them from abuse by others since "Property" rights trumped human rights back then.
Who presumes to effectively "own" women enough to have them be treated as fugitives that must be returned or persecuted in the states they have to flee to get true human justice.
As General Sheridan said, "If I owned Texas and Hell I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell." Couldn't agree with the man more.
Has become so, wasn’t always. Blame Karl Rove and W, 1994
Great point, Yvette Joy Liebesman, being here without legal documents is not crime. QUESTION: What's really the core motivating factor for Texas Governor Abbott and the rest of the MAGA/KKK Republicans? ANSWER: Fear that their precious "white blood" will be contaminated by that of the immigrants. This is rank racism, pure and simple. So, here we are again, engaged in another struggle to determine whether a nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. President Lincoln: we're not going down without one helluva fight. Thank you for your insight.
It's Juan Crow. Which historically includes not just Texas, but also California, Arizona, Alabama and Georgia. Also sounds a lot like what we've heard from Florida recently.
Yes, in addition to Texas, California, Arizona, Alabama and Georgia for Juan Crow, Florida jumps to the front with Texas. Florida has become a Nazi stronghold.
I think ole monster Greg Abbott might want a presidential position
There is more sadness to go with the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln - he was only 56 years old when he died, 26 years younger than what I am now. My two daughters were right many, many years ago: Life is unfair.
Yvette, I once heard that the feds could stop most anyone in Florida & search them without cause since the penisula is so narrow and their jurisdiction is within 100 miles from the coast.
From Wikipedia:
In United States criminal law, the border search exception is a doctrine that allows searches and seizures at international borders and their functional equivalent without a warrant or probable cause. Generally speaking, searches within 100 miles of the border are more permissible without a warrant than those conducted elsewhere in the U.S. The doctrine also allows federal agents to search people at border crossings without a warrant or probable cause. The government is allowed to use scanning devices and to search personal electronics. Invasive bodily searches, however, require reasonable suspicion.
Wow. Businessmen. Power, greed, enslavement. I guess some things never change. They all want to be kings. Thank you for an amazing enlightenment tonight Professor... we must vote. Peace, life, liberty, and the simple pursuit of happiness. Why do they make it so hard? And so much hatred. I do believe we are all one for the country. It is always a time of compassion. And more so right now. Share with others in need, and we will rise above. Be kind….it feels good.
I think these days they're shooting for Galactic Emperor, but yes, it's an ongoing battle.
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
Touche ...
That’s it... and because we have been taught to love our imperfect union we are ready to help keep it growing and developing.
The fear mongers who relish cynicism and negativity won’t quit but they do not represent the majority of us. They’ll continue to try to delay our progress and drag us away from good and workable solutions to problems dealing with gun control, voting, fair taxes, climate and environmental threats, heathcare reforms, innovation, immigration and many others that we want to see implemented by vital new legislation.
Like so many of you have said time and again, the only way we can start seeing solutions implemented is to use our precious right to vote to achieve solid democratic majorities in local, state and federal elections. We will succeed if we do so.
"That’s it... and because we have been taught to love our imperfect union we are ready to help keep it growing and developing. "
Exactly it. The final movement of Beethoven's 9th invariably moves me as it has since I was a child. My wife showed me a 10,000 voice Japanese performance of it (a tradition there) which was spectacular. But Beethoven is long dead. So is Shakespeare, and yet his work is still performed with many updated interpretations, including Bernstein's West Side Story. Similarly, the authors of the Constitution are dead, but we breath life into it with every generation.
Unlike these works of art, It charts the course of our democracy in the present day as a practical matter, not our present is not informed by our legacy of arts, but in the sense that navigational charts need updating and application to new sorts of and larger vessels.
We can't self-govern on autopilot. We can gather much that we need from the past, but the unfolding of the Big Bang continues, and we cannot successfully adapt to changing circumstances by blind repetition.
42
In a nutshell.
VOTE
A much needed comment. Thank you. After reading about the creepy, hate-filled Reputation “leaders” in Texas, it’s refreshing to go out into the world and have a friendly exchange with a stranger. Just go outside and look up at the sky. It astounds me that so many people seem to revel in hate. What a waste.
W O W ... wonderful - might even be considered a heavenly idea and action ... Thank You Susan and have a splendid holiday season!!!
Thanks, Jim. Let’s all have a joyous, peaceful holiday and defy the haters😊
Earthlings we all are, first and foremost
Hate and power games. Our souls in exchange for power.
How about being respectful and kind ... both virtues of a good citizen?
Respect and kindness cost nothing and do so much for all of us.
Except when dealing with fascists who want to "come for you". They must be given no quarter!
I agree with you completely.
Even confronting an enemy, there is responsibility. We had to stop Hitler, but even in war there is a duty to avoid unnecessary harm. we had to respond to the thoroughly evil 9/11 attack, but many were tortured and many killed without need or making us safer. Violence is sometimes necessary, but it is never "good".
Just anger is not undisciplined, nor is it blind road rage hatred. Adult, focused anger is on task to restoring balance. It can be very intimidating in it's focused composure, and can be very effective. Like, I would not want to be on the bad side of Jack Smith.
not in Texas we will kill you smiling
Mwhahahahhaha.
😁
Both are predicated on caring for people and things beyond one's self. Self-care is essential but insufficient. In extreme, to exclusion of any other consideration, it becomes dangerous and ultimately evil.
Why do they make it so hard? Fear. They are little greedy people full of fear. All types of fear. Fear of others, whoever that is. Fear that next year's profits will be less than this year's. Fear that the neighbor has one more gun or bullet than they do. Fear, fear, fear. Sad lives devoid of love but overflowing with fear.
Tapping into people's vulnerabilities and insecurities is the gift that keeps on giving to keep the grifters afloat. Fear is primal. Politicians use this for power, control, oppression and ownership. It's as old as time itself. It's about division and hate. It is an abusive system that a government and the wealthy exploit for their own gains. Our politicians need to go through a vetting process. Waving ones freak flag shouldn't be grounds for being elected.
Yes fear, and insecurity certainly plays into it. The need be respected. For some, the compulsion to dominate.
I think the latter of your comment is more of what it's about.
And most of the haters, if asked, would claim to be "good Christians". A supreme irony in a season where we are celebrating the birth of a baby in a stable, because there was no room at the inn.
The irony is lost on the self-righteous entitled “Christians,” who have made it a joke to me.
Most people find God when their nuts are in a vice. And then they go right back to being an Ahole. Growing up I witnessed men beat their wives and kids get drunk and pass the plate on Sundays with a few amens. It's all bullshit.
I think you will appreciate this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPe7d7EdFy0
Thank you. I watched it. My dearest friend went down the rabbit hole. For her Agent Orange saved babies. That means he's a man of God. What's funny about these women who love him also make excuses for their cheating husband's. Pollyanna purist bullshit. The cognitive dissonance in this country is like a Pandemic virus.
I know them too. Even heard one brag on TV (2000 primary with McCain and Bush) about how they could lie on Sat and get forgiven on Sun. Apparently, this strategy works for lots of things.
Forgiveness without responsibility or ownership one's own character defects.
They are God's chosen, Twitter God said "I don't like any of you so stop claiming that I do." I followed Twitter God before I got banned.
It is weird (and Orwellian) that MAGAs champion pretty much the opposite of Jesus's ethics, toward the poor and despised, toward material greed, toward regard for one's enemies, and even toward paying taxes, yet claim to endorsed by what Jesus taught.
Jl….i basically agree with you on the Jesus’s values opposite of MAGAS but there are a couple folks who were ‘religious advisors’ to Obama that in one case I know personally and have worked with and in the other case just respected …Sister Simone Campbell (Nuns on the Bus) sister of the Holy Family, lawyer, trained at UC Davis, I worked with her in inner city projects in the formation of JERICHO and she’s the real thing…value wise….so is Jim Wallis…Sojunners liberal evangelical minister (yes it’s a contradiction in terms) he’s stunning, currently at Georgetown running the faith and politics stuff….and a super choice in my view…NOT ALL RELIGIOUS SOLD OUT. Obama had very good taste!
I doubt that Obama chose any even resembling the current MAGAts. The “religious” folks chump had in the WH probably doubled the atheist numbers in the country. Embarrassing to watch the phony BS
Mostly cult logic in my experience, which means don’t strain your brain searching for it
There is such a grab bag of motives stirred into the pot of our images of Jesus. At Christmas we hear "A child, A child, shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold". Is that age appropriate? Did it bring comfort? And from what we know of Jesus, did he ever show an interest in riches or socioeconomic status? But Trump sure does.
Yes: it's "far easier to dominate a state legislature than the federal government."
That why over the past 50 years ALEC has been so successful drafting far-right legislation which would then coast through most U.S. state legislatures.
This, the American Legislative Exchange Council, has kept America racist, gerrymandered, subject to automatic weapon massacres in all public venues, narcotized, and -- I'd say, worst -- dumb. Millions of Americans got this way thanks to these mostly Republican, easily bought legislatures defunding schools, overworking teachers, and gutting humanities as key to turning them all over primarily to the standardized testing billionaires.
Heather Cox Richardson has got the key larger history -- the tensions between federal and state. But it's the billionaires behind what Jane Mayer calls "Dark Money," and what Sheldon Whitehouse calls "The Scheme" which explains the deeper vulgarity rampant across the land.
All this reminds me of Ukraine. What I heard this evening is that, while many in this country are fighting with the far right in the House of Representatives, to release funding for Ukraine's self-defense, there is a *coalition* of national governments which have been taken over by delegations from the far, far right, and are working, together with those in this country, to simply cut off ALL funding to UKRAINE and to make it impossible for the brave population of that country to fight back, thus ending that war for Ukraine, so that Russia very simply annexes both the territory and those of the Ukrainians who are still alive...From this viewpoint, everything that happened in Gaza was a sideshow, put in place to distract Western attention from Ukraine.
At this point, Linda, I wouldn't know how to unravel the tentacles that interweave Putin's genocidal oligarchs, Saudi royal murderers, Israeli far-right settlers, nationalists from Erdogan to Orban, Modi to Xi, Duterte to Assad, and U.S. billionaires assiduous in ways to spew online hate, push further fossil fuel and AR-15 damage, and fund Clarence.
The forces of domination are once again in full play as they sometimes are; evil cycle apparently. And in the long term, they will all end up fighting others because they don't have any other way of dealing with power. If the forces of peacefulness and democracy can work together without all the hype, that's exactly what we need to have happen.
How to "work together," Robin?
I put my hopes in the schools -- of the U.S., the world, especially neighbors with fraught history.
And I'd stress seeing others as individuals. Writing essays to cite others in their very specific contexts. No abstractions (not even "peacefulness and democracy").
I think it's complicated, but yes, but tending toward the Golden Rule, categorical imperative, etc. Thinking about the circumstantial context of other people's lives and how that might be for them. It has been said that printing press distribution of novels helped to historically increase social empathy, but also too has science and awareness of how our minds and bodies appear to work. More than a catalog of accumulated knowledge, it's way of thinking, a way of observing, a way of self-investigation the gives our ego a sense of context and resonance with other beings.
It occurred to me when I learned that Confucianism has a golden rule , "Do not do to others what you don't want them to do to you," which essentially is the same as the golden rule of the west in that we must treat others as we want to be treated, it struck me that kindness and cooperation must be innate in most humans and necessary for the survival of civilizations. But how do so many of those without that trait rise to the top, and what do the rest of us do about it?
Remember the ethics of "the golden rule" are not shared by other cultures. Fascists believe only that the stronger one wins.
Discipline of will and ego in order to learn to identify *or relate rather than compare with all others.
When you look at the ideas and the norms that have created the system we are stuck in, there is a basic idea of how we should live economically. That is, inside a system of competition - not cooperation - which divides everybody from everybody else and sells itself as ideal, as long as we pay more and more for its excesses.
Some study how to live inside this largely impossible system to get what they can from the divisive conditions where 'winning' is called success. Whole industries exist to take ever bigger advantage of the unbalanced nature of big money, power, fame etc. which more and more includes the political one that makes the laws governing the uses of money. Our existing political setup is so dependent on huge money payouts to media especially and for lobbying, it attracts hucksters who know little or nothing about the service work of governing or even how government is supposed to work for all of us. And don't care, no matter what words appear from them. Actions speak.
The Republican Party promotes the wealth system; in its over 50 years of stated plans to always be those ‘winners’ for privilege and endless wealth, has lost all credibility and has attracted large numbers of the huckster brand who are so incredibly stupid that they think gaming the system will not affect them. Their thirst for winning and power is never ending as they prove repeatedly. Dems most of the time are actually service oriented to doing the daily hard work of governing.
The only sane way to stop the gamers is through using the constitutional means we already have; it may for now include outspending them. The CO Court decision helps a lot and may this be so in many other states.
Maybe the MSMedia will start waking up to its real job - other than PBS, NPR, MSNBC too, who are already on the job. Gotta keep on keeping on, get and stay well informed. Ask more questions. Read Substack.
As Steve Jobs said on his deathbed “I have little joy. In the end my wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to…..all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless…”.
Looks like the work for reasonable people is in the long term to recreate a system of values and laws that work for everyone equally. Endless exploitation of resources for the sake of power and ‘wealth’ are ruining the planet.
After obtaining all powers necessary to rule completely unopposed, who will be left for you to rule?
On that topic, Biden and Blinken went around Congress to send tanks, I believe, to Israel. Why don't they do something similar for Ukraine?
1) Biden and Blinken went round Congress to send tanks and other equipment to Ukraine, more than once. AT FIRST, members of Congress complied, materials were sent. 2) SINCE that time, there are certain members of Congress who have made a great public stand around NOT giving aid to Ukraine, as a purely partisan gesture. They have made a fuss about wanting to focus on immigration at the southern border of this country, but only in a "Do It MY Way" style. 3) When Biden went first to Congress, there was a lot of support in this country for aid to Ukraine. Did you notice that, once Hamas invaded Israel and war ensued in Gaza, ALL mention of Ukraine disappeared from ALL of the press for some weeks? (What do you think the Russian soldiers were doing in those weeks?) There was NO press regarding what Ukrainian citizens were going through, what Mr. Putin was doing with his time! Also, there was no support for funding. Attention was turned toward Israel and Gaza. 4) Lisa, if YOU are noticing that WE, AS A COUNTRY, are not sending tanks to Ukraine, why not write some very public letters, naming the names of those who are holding that up?
And the Ukrainian children, kidnapped into Russia, to be brought up as Russians. Misery.
Could be true, Steve Bannon’s foreign travel was not for sight seeing. Putin is just marking time til chump returns to hand us over. Remember Helsinki. It won’t be just Ukraine…
Like I said, one can give fascists no quarter. If you do, you create your own peril.
The Ukraine War has been all about distraction from the start, but mainly distracting the American people from the fact that we stupidly provoked the war, and wrecked Ukraine, in the post-invasion hope that we could regime change Putin. Now the chicken (hawks) who pursued this absurd policy are coming home to roost, in an election year. Buckle up.
https://scheerpost.com/2023/12/20/patrick-lawrence-what-ukraine-is-not-winning-the-war/
“A significant moment may be upon us. What will follow once it is acknowledged that the Nazi-infested crooks in Kyiv have failed? President Biden, as is his consistently unwise wont, radically overinvested in the proxy war he chose to start with the Russian Federation as soon as he took office three years ago next month. Having defined the Ukraine conflict as a war in the name of democracy and freedom —“values” rather than interests, this is to say—he has left the U.S. and its European clients no room for compromise and nearly none even for negotiation. What is the next move when defeat is too obvious any longer to deny?
If we are about to enter uncharted territory, will it prove dangerous ground? It may, but this is not yet clear. It will be uncertain and probably unstable: This we know. Of the many things I do not like about this circumstance, I will mention a few straightaway. Biden may be the stupidest president of the postwar era on the foreign policy side: He exhibits no capacity whatsoever for nimble or imaginative thought. He is a warmonger of long standing, an election year is upon us, and he is by now in obvious danger of being impeached. His mental incompetence, atop all this, is plain for all to see.
There are also the national security people around Biden to consider. With the exception of CIA Director William Burns, who seems to dedicate himself to his career advancement, these are lockstep ideologues who share a Manichean vision of the world and how it works. And we had better think long and hard about these people now. I urge this because of an item in Politico two weeks back. The piece reported on the policy cliques’ thinking after recent Houthi attacks on U.S. warships in the Red Sea. Some officials urge a vigorous response, but the reigning view favors restraint for fear of enlarging Israel’s barbarity in Gaza into a wider war.
Then, well down in the story, this paragraph:
The military’s job is to present a variety of options to senior commanders, but the ultimate decision is up to the president and the administration’s political appointees. In multiple high-level meetings this week, the Pentagon has neither briefed President Joe Biden on options to strike Houthi targets nor recommended that he do so, two of the officials said. All were granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal deliberations.
The jaw drops. It is not uncommon for the mainstream media to bury vitally important news that reflects poorly on The American Way. In this case we appear to be on notice that the commander-in-chief is no longer commanding because, as Politico suggests, those around him think he is too trigger-happy and they would rather not hear from him. The topic is the Middle East, but netting out this extraordinary revelation, we can no longer be certain who is running the Biden regime’s Ukraine policy—or any other policy, for that matter.
Do we count this as some kind of palace coup? Don’t let the question surprise you: The Deep State did this kind of thing to Biden’s predecessor time and time and time again. In Biden’s case, it may be no bad thing if he is cut out of the thinking on Ukraine to one or another extent, given his retrograde obsession with Russia as the root of all evil. But the thought of the president’s lieutenants, with their cowboys-and-Indians sensibilities, deciding what comes next in post-failure Ukraine is not soothing.”
Oh. I thought Biden was aiding Ukraine to help them keep their land, resources, and Democracy. Also to keep Russia from more land and regime grabbing in the future through the expansion of NATO - not what your negative response says about our President. Your link to Sheerpost apparently comes from the far far Right, who have an ongoing reputation for conspiracy theories and out right lying.
I don't blame Biden one bit for harboring distain for Putin. Putin is a madman who blatantly harasses and murders anyone he perceives as an enemy and thinks he can just take what he wants. Something ex-president Trump would love to have the power to do, and even says he will if re-elected. Would you rather have a guy like Trump running our country? It seems like it. It's not surprising that Ukraine is having a hard time. Putin is relentless. Frankly, I'm sick of your antiBiden commentaries parroting intellectual political theory from a group of people who think they know what's 'Really' going on. It's not Biden's fault that Nitwityahoo (another far far Right criminal) is the one pulling the trigger on Gaza, as is it's not Biden's fault that Putin has attacked Ukraine. I believe President Biden and his team are doing everything they can to stop both! President Biden needs out support, not degradation coming from a heady essay from a bunch of powerless guys who think they know what's wrong and how to fix it. It doesn't help when we gather in response to Professor Richardson's essays to throw shade on the very institution we are trying to hold up and protect. If you want to help in what seems to be your smarty pants style, why don't you enlighten us on how we can smash the Deep State so we can all share the planet and live our lives in harmony? I'm still waiting for the promised 100 years of peace - but at this rate, it's evident that I won't live long enough to see it.
Oh, you thought wrong. Stop embarrassing yourself. Your accusation that Scheerpost, and by extension Patrick Lawrence, ‘apparently comes from the far, far right’, is laughable on its face. But it is a common practice at present, from tribal liberals desperate to deflect criticism of Genocide Joe, by any fallacious arrow argument pulled from the talking points quiver.
You believe Biden is doing everything to save Ukraine and stop the genocide in Gaza? Some people believe in Santa Claus and unicorns. Don’t make it so.
You lap up every piece of American government propaganda about Putin and Russia to reinforce your belief system, and ignore anything which threatens your worldview. You don’t question, and have no room for curiosity. I prefer to read a wide range of opinions from a varied landscape of writers, from people who have experience in Russia, know Russian history, and aren’t shills for American Empire and desirous of global hegemony.
I’m going to link another piece, from another website you probably will hilariously accuse of being far far right (so far right that it is presently suing a Pentagon-funded censorship site) that specifically addresses your characterization of Putin. And before you become hysterical, I’m not saying Putin is a good guy. He’s a killer. But he has his reasons, just like Biden.
Click on the link, then click on the Part One link at the top, then come back for Part Two. Or don’t click at all, and stay in your silo/bubble. Your choice.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/12/20/scott-ritter-on-speaking-plain-putin-part-two/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=4f29aa49-4e1b-42bc-b9fd-0e58e8840848
As to smashing the Deep State, that’s simple: protests, general strikes, and nonviolent civil disobedience. Only that will change the current corrupt electoral paradigm, and give us a legislative body that will address the issue head on. Voting is pissing in the wind when most every candidate is corrupted by money before they are elected, including Genocide Joe, and the few that aren’t, are broken by a corrupt system in short order. Smarty pants enough for you?
Yes. Correct.
Americans cannot accept defeat so they need to blame someone.
We didn’t learn a damn thing from Vietnam. It so shocked our psyche; and you’re right, instead of being introspective and learning the lessons of history, colonialism, and the folly of empire, we doubled down on a desire for hegemony by any means necessary, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We are such a fearful nation, and try to hide that fact with endless war and faux patriotism. Blame everyone but the face in the mirror.
I’m not embarrassed. I am curious. I may be naive but I don’t think I deserve ridicule. I read a lot, but I don’t believe everything I read. I can admit that I get a little pissed when the people I am depending on to teach the truth and do the right thing are dismissed and put down or accused of being behind any kind of genocide. No human is perfect. Being President of The United States is a hard job. No one knows as much as they do. It’s complicated. Anyone can dig up dirt on anyone. I’m far from being a true intellectual. I’m just a person who’s concerned about the state of our Democracy & the world in general. I respect those who teach the truth and am always hungry for more. I mean Truth as far as what factually happened. Not ‘truth’ as far as someone’s high minded opinion.
You might believe in another writer’s brilliance in pulling facts into an opinion of what they say is actually happening. Still, it’s just an opinion.
If you have something to teach, and you want those who want to learn to actually learn something, you might want to try to teach with kindness, rather than in a condescending authoritarian way.
Gayle, I think you are a kind person, a good egg, and someone who is limited in the ability to prevent cognitive dissonance from controlling your response to information that conflicts with your established view of the world, which I believe is heavily influenced by American propaganda. I also believe that you, like many commenters here, as well as Heather, regard Trump, and the current iteration of the GOP, as a bigger threat to democracy than is the corporate state that allowed, and allows them, to sniff elected office, much less hold it. I don’t share that view; I feel that until the corporate state issue is addressed, which neither political party is willing to do in a meaningful way, then nothing gets fixed.
As to kindness, my response to repeated ignorance or fallacious logic is to call BS BS. If I feel you are repeatedly dispensing same, then I will call it out with the same venom I would were I replying to some MAGA knucklehead trying to sing the praises of Trump. And no, I’m not saying you are the same as a Trump supporter; just articulating my response to BS.
For example, you write: ‘Being President of The United States is a hard job. No one knows as much as they do’. Gayle, lots of people of people know as much, or more, than they do. Politics is a beauty contest. Lots of really smart people have zero interest in entering beauty contests. Secondly, even smart people can make the stupidest of decisions, personal and policy-wise. Bill Clinton got a blowjob from a 20-something intern in the Oval Office. Barack Obama bailed out Wall Street and screwed Main Street. Both were really ‘smart’ guys.
I don’t care about opinions, nor facts. Both can be twisted. I care about truth, and justice. The links I provide ring true to me. Your response to them is usually along the lines of ‘Biden knows more than they do’, never a critique of the argument presented. This is flawed reasoning on your part; using the ‘shoot the messenger’ logical fallacy in an attempt to cover the cognitive dissonance of having your tribal ox being gored.
Do me a favor and make the time to watch the linked discussion below on Gaza/Israel and Ukraine/Russia. You might not agree with the analysis put forth at times in this discussion, but at the end of the hour and a half, you’ll know more about both situations than most Americans, including Biden. Peace, t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L59yXaPaXI&t=8s
Well said.
It was! War started on Putin’s birthday.
The principle's simple:
If you can't win, cheat.
And keep on cheating until dishonesty has become the norm and honesty is accounted criminal.
Now, there's oligarchy for you.
[Since material wealth alone brings guaranteed discontent, businessmen and the wealthy must have more than that. They must be adored, they must be coddled. Every whim must be granted in this nursery. They must never be challenged.
A lousy basis for good management of the household.]
Love it, Peter: "They must never be challenged."
That's why humanities work -- and why it behooves us to learn some skills including citing real artists (of the novel, the memoir, film, song, more.
If we get skilled in the personal, we can all the better challenge the imaginatively mediocre -- can all the better see them for invariably inhabiting slogans, abstractions, packages, group identities, simple causalities, and all the repetitions to which they skew.
For this, I often think Pasternak, and the Forest Brotherhood chapter of "Dr. Zhivago." The real torture for Zhivago (being a poet, as well as a doctor) came by being confined with revolutionaries equipped with nothing beyond rhetorical vulgarities.
I'll go to the chapter.
Pasternak was a good novelist but a great poet, so this chapter must be very personal.
*
I am struck by how many people grossly underestimate the power of the imagination.
*
For years a friend advised the ultra-wealthy on how to avoid paying tax... becoming increasingly aware of how boring and standardized these clients were... until abandoning that silly, antisocial game on behalf of people who didn't know what to do with their lives...
*
About artists, you'd not be related to Giacomo Balla, who didn't lack creative imagination?
Thanks for asking, Peter.
Giacomo was an Italian Balla (and first artist in the world to do a futurist painting, "Man Walking a Dog," or, "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash"), a 1912 oil on canvas, though you likely know that.
My own Balla grandfather came from Hungary. Spoke no English. Married a Slovak-Hungarian woman, also a recent immigrant to the U.S., in the coal mine area along the Big Sandy river in West Virginia, south of Pittsburgh. Nearly 120 years ago.
When you wrote "Hungary" I immediately thought of "Balogh" or "Balog" and said to myself, maybe another case of the American immigration authorities inability to handle a foreign name... If you look the name up, you'll see it connected with nobility, also "left-handed" and "clumsy"...
Well, I have ancestors from Transylvania... and from Scotland and Ireland. You don't get more European than that...
Imagination is key to our experience of reality. Our cognitive/visceral consciousness is a product of our nervous system, and yet with the aid of our senses, our logic, our memories, and recorded reactions, our internal modeling seems to (or at least can) keenly track the "thing in itself" well enough to produce, for example, the device I'm composing with for a pile of raw minerals. I touch another and the other responds. I see no indication it is all a fantasy, though likely, in a sense, an informed fantasy.
Fantastic delusions can feel more real the real to schizophrenic, and I notice some correlation between level of education and willingness to doubt one's own conclusions. Knowing that you don't know can be a portal to learning.
Imagination harnessed to logic, be it artistic logic or instrumental logic, is the mother of invention.
"Imagination is key to our experience of reality."
A pity to hide this small gem here. I hope some readers notice it.
I wonder about cutting out the last two words of the sentence.
But when you speak of a correlation between level of education and willingness to doubt one's own conclusions, I remember, on the one hand, how long it took me as a young man to believe the evidence of my senses when observing political goings-on. And when I perceive something that others around me have not, I check the matter out... Misunderstandings arise so easily...
What this dandling of lifelong 2-year-olds (with none of the charm of 2-year-olds, only the tantrums and still dirty diapers) has to do with entrepreneurship, heaven alone knows.
One possible answer: maybe there isn't much initiative or imagination left at that level of wealth, maybe it's all fortunes long-inherited. Once upon a time, corporations suffered when the great entrepreneurs passed away, leaving the thing they'd created to offspring who were either fun-loving sybarites or arty types. Now?
My mother distinguished between "Childlike" and "Childish". I have met some accomplished people, scientists, artists, humanitarians, who stuck me as child-like with the freshness and enthusiasm that term implies. Childishness is easy to detect throughout society, and also in my own character, but Big Orange serves as a "poster child". Actual children have a excuse, but beyond that it's something we could use a whole lot less of.
We have tolerated and even approved a putocratically powered push from the wealthy away from education for living toward some version of trade schools. Of course a trade is very important to the skill set of an individual and society, but is not enough, in and of itself, to prepare joyful, creative, resilient individuals or a wise and just democratically determined democracy.
If you want the perfect model, take the realm of Agent Orange's boss, where anything suggestive of independent thinking is now thoughtcrime.
Questioning is the gathering breeze against the logical house of cards of MAGA.
A formula for lives that are nasty, brutish and likely to be short. Trump's still kicking (despite all the Big Macs) but is he happy? He's perpetually outraged and claiming to be the world's biggest victim.
JL and Peter, you have broadened my respect for Critical thinking this morning, So much observed and defined so well Thank for your lively Conversation. Very illuminating.
In an ideal world, boycotts could influence corporations.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_American_Legislative_Exchange_Council
A shadow government - in every state.
Precisely. Terrifying.
TY!
As says Hope Lindsay also here, thank you, Jonathan.
Deeper vulgarity is right. That’s a turnoff to me and something I try to combat on a daily basis in my personal life. It’s not always easy.
Susan, I have not much thought about vulgarity in that way. I often quip about my frequent use of "blasphemy, profanity, and vulgarity" and in most public fora, limit my usage of them. My Mom always said that slipping into that language showed a "paucity of imagination" (although she was the one who taught me to swear).
I slip into vulgarities way too easily, sometimes it feels good, tempered they probably have their place, and limit. 🤷♂️
Agreed. To be used as punctuation, and not as parts of speech.
Never miss one of The Scheme sessions delivered by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Session #26, recently delivered, continues with fact based accuracy transperancy the outcome of what is or is not going on in the Judiciary Committee. The Scheme AKA Congress #118 Unveiled
Yes, true, Margaret.
I respect him, honor him, thank him.
But his emphasis is on the Federalist Society's corralling of billionaire money to stack the judiciary.
My own emphasis goes to the earliest days of billionaires coalescing after the Powell memo originally organized them -- when their first order of business was to kill humanities from schools, from "higher" ed to K-12. Then, they could get away with offshoring those millions of U.S. jobs -- and ally with their dictator, murderer, and autocrat buddies worldwide.
100%, Bill Moyers exposed ALEC decades ago. Glad people have caught on. It’s not so much a state thing, as it’s states joining to form their own version of a fed power. Just name the issue. Somebody studied the methods used to pass Prohibition.
Actually, Jeri, it's not "states joining together to form their own version of a fed power."
Rather, the states are all just tools for the billionaires who use them.
Fund (bribe) them. Lobby them. Sucker them.
And let's recall, too, that ALEC came belatedly, after the Powell memo of August 23, 1971 first set up the new Heritage Foundation, then an enlarged and steroided Hoover Institution, and then the many more foundations, all unified for the organized, cynical, corrupt U.S. billionaires.
All true, but ALEC is master at cloning actions in one state and passing them on to other states. As in the "bathroom bills," and such tripe. Then you wind up with almost identical bills in multiple states, all with the same purpose, and backed by the same cretins. Repub billionaires are nothing if not efficient when they smell green power, and I'm not talking about the environment.
ALEC is trying right now to get 36 states to ratify the Constitution. It will say, 'We Own Your Ass'.
The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court has spawned a host of statements from the MAGA Senators and Representatives that on first glance appears that their motivation is solely to give cover and support to DJT. That is not so.
A close reading of article three states:
“shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof “.
That means that members of Congress or Senate who knowingly knew that DJT was guilty of engaging in the insurrection and failed to vote him guilty during the second impeachment process gave “aid and comfort” to DJT and thus may be subject to have violated Section 3 as well. Moreover, statements from our elected officials that January 6 was “ a walk in the park” or that “DJT did no wrong” might find themselves answering to a US Federal Court. Watch for their denials as the case against DJT gains traction.
Thank you writing this in a difficult situation. Hope power is bak soon. Thanks for the careful analysis of the current situation and the historical setting that clarifies where comes from----we live in the shadow of the Old (and the New) South---a very dark and deepening shadow. Thanks for shedding light....in this darkness.s
Well said.
Reminds me of the end of a long quote from The English Patient: ... The lamp has gone out, and I'm writing in the darkness.
Of course the irony in all of this is that the Democrats have tried for years to reform the nation's immigration laws and work with Republicans on compromises. And the GOP, as in most things, refuses to agree to anything, instead perpetuate problems for political theater rather than solve them.
Correct Michael, yet again ! As I have maintained for as long as I can recall, they are the party of kick sh_t down the road. Despite their annoying insistence and resentments, they cannot govern, especially a democracy.
When you have got such an effective weapon…. Better than an arsenal of AR-15’s aimed at Dems. You should see my “Next Door” posts…
Nextdoor is a horrifying window into America's failure to have a well-educated citizenry.
Proud examples everywhere.
I can imagine! I decided that "Next Door" had little value after spending way too much time listening to whining, paranoid ranting, and wild stories.
Exactly, years ago there was a repub b/witch on there that did me in.
😪
Dems have tried, repubs will NEVER.
It is comforting to know that in our history those who would destroy equality and deny voting rights, and violate the Constitution, are losers. They will keep trying to win, and for those of us whose flame burns bright to support our constitution we must not give up. I am glad we have written documents and historians to explain them. Abbott, DeSantis, Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Taylor Greene, all those misfits, may they go screaming into oblivion, along with the orange haired manure pile.
Frank,
"It is comforting to know that in our history those who would destroy equality and deny voting rights, and violate the Constitution, are losers."
In 2001 the Supreme Court cut shut vote counting in Broward County after Guiliani and Stone started a riot in that county to stop the voting in that district.
Bush II "won". But, it is worse. Jeb Bush had taken the names of people in Texas Prisons who had been released and then purged Florida's voter polls with those names, most of whom were black. Thousands of blacks were turned away at the polls in 2001.
In fact, Frank, the losers are the Black folks of America. Over and Over. The winners are most often those who would deny minority voter rights.
Seems to have acquired a new coiffeur. That hair was looking glossy and far less improbable last week. A gust of wind test is a telling moment.
Phony, like every corpuscle in his putrid body. Ugliest man alive, inside and out.
I want to see them shave his head for lice when they lock him up.
Yeah, Dick, and I don’t think they let you have hairspray in jail!
I’d noticed. Like spun Barbie hair. Less orange.
He thinks he’s Ken. Hahaha
Race, money, and greed. Through lines all through our history. Every time any forward progress is made toward a more perfect union that has equal protection under the law and equality opportunities for everyone, the deplorables all want to drag us back in time to the previous century or even farther. Case in point, Donald Trump happened after we elected Barack Obama. I thought by doing so, we had made progress, but I was SO wrong. The election of tRump showed me that we really are as racist a society as I feared. Certainly, racism is in the DNA of our political system, even though all Americans are not racist. There is always significant pushback to progress for women and minorities.
Right you are, Jenn!
I worked as a volunteer attorney for the Kenyan/Socialist/Moslem in the 2008 election in Florida. That night was so magnificent and unforgettable. But soon, the backlash seeped out, and then came in waves, and waves, and here we are
After Obama was elected and McConnell began to block him systematically.
McConnell’s sole goal was to make Obama a one-term president. He failed. Remember that.
But they kneecapped Obama in every way possible. That is still a motive for the orange turd and the ugly turtle.
The election of Barack Obama was such a breath of fresh air. We cannot let the haters win.
Yep, out of the woodwork they came, blaming Obama for the W/Dickie fiasco. I had a conniption fit, or two, or three
It's difficult not to give way to terrible anger at this point.
I have not merely given way, I have totally surrendered.
Ditto here!
I know how you feel 🙏
✅️
Too late
I think it’s time to get rid of Republicans permanently. Haven’t they killed enough people already and destroyed enough lives? How much worse do we have to let them get? We need to build a self-sufficient dome world somewhere where they can be locked in and can live with just themselves.
There's a strong movement to secede from the union in Texas. Maybe Abbot's testing the waters. Part of the issue is the prospect of decline of the fossil fuel industry, which is, of course, a huge source of income for some Texans.
Hope,
I say, this time, let them go if they so desire.
I would find a way to move, if I have to crawl
We should sell Texas to Mexico
Or trade Texas for Taiwan. Let the Chinese deal with the Texas crazies.
We should sell Texas BACK to Mexico.
Mexico is already taking it back. They would not pay anything for Texas.
Having been seven years a Texan I know there's a lot of pride there in the history of The Republic of Texas. They can't forget the Alamo. I'm not surprised that there's talk about secession. I blame John Wayne.
LOL! And the Bushes! (Their desire to keep their petro-wealth, I mean. They're not necessarily among the secessionists.)
If they secede, the rich will only get richer by using regular people as cheap labor. They’ll build a wall around the entire country to keep the people in who found out the hard way what a mistake they made because there is no U.S.Constitution or Bill of Rights anymore. Education will only be for privileged people and everyone will have to rely on the church for aid.
They’d end up turning on each other. Problem solved.
No way Lisa; the ground they claim and spew from is part and parcel of the United States of America as a condition of the bargain for the U.S. to pay their Mexican war debts and pledge the pledge of all our fathers and mothers. * A workable would be to round up some more seditious scoundrels, sell them the smallest of sandbars in the Caribbean and deport them there. We have an awful abundance of seditious scoundrels in my view.
I never said the dome-world would be built in Texas, let alone the USA.
They are armed to the teeth.
They can use their weapons against each other.
I’m pretty much locked into my current situation for a few more years here in Texas. But my son and I are both making plans to get out of Texas.
Abbutt is a horrible person! Seems his goal in life is to line his pockets and make everyone as unhappy as he is!
I'm hoping you're able to stay the course until you can escape. You are doing important work there, as impossible as they try and make it.
It’s disgusting what politicians are doing in Red States. Good luck.
Just to be clear I was talking about one rural town that I won't mention by name. I have lots of relatives in Texas. Good people. Some of whom are Democrats.
That’s a pleasant thought this morning. Thank you 😊
Thank you so very much for keeping us both informed and enlightened, in spite of the difficulties faced by the American Northeast due to worsening weather. I have a better understanding now of what the "originalists" are thinking when they (in my opinion) misinterpret the Constitution.
Article 1, Section 2 does indeed uphold slavery as does Article 1, Section 9 - at least until 1808. It wasn't until Amendment 13 (1865 - 101 years after the Declaration of Independence) that slavery was Constitutionally ended, and even then the authors of Amendment 13, gave the slaveholders an out with the phrase "except as punishment for a crime".
I often wonder if we wouldn't have been better off had the Union allowed those 11 States to secede. They would have formed a totally contiguous country. We of the United States would have had no reason to return escaped slaves to their masters. We had more money, more people, more industry and a growing agricultural industry. We could buy our own cotton from Egypt. We sure as hell didn't need tobacco. We out gunned and out-strategized them. Most of all we could give them baby donnie all wrapped in a bow. Sent help to Ukraine, concentrated on making Netanyahu straighten up . Biggest plusses of all - they could keep Abbot, DeSantis, Gaetz, Greene, Hawley and the MAGAts.
A rant for sure. That's supposed to be my specialty.
LOL! Sorry to encroach.
Not to worry, there's lots of room.
Good to know!
Fay, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship!
Add Bobobert & K Lake to that list, if you don’t mind.
Yep and a whole lot more, I left off Mike Johnson, Ted Cruz, ad nauseum
I have often pondered this myself.
How, delightful, Brenda, another curmudgeon like myself. (:-) But it would have been relatively easy back in the 1860's. Today their dreadful hatred of all things of intellect as well as people of color, have intermingled among us, even though a minority.
Every problem we are facing today is either created by these cretins or made worse. Every single one.
"I often wonder if we wouldn't have been better off had the Union allowed those 11 states to secede"
I often think the same thing, Fay. I find myself thinking, " We should have cut those states loose in 1860."
I have that same wondering myself, Fay. I look at the garbage going on today, and have a similar wondering...
Texas residents won't forget the shit Abbot has spread in Texas.
And before Abbott, Perry, & dub yah, before that. Tx has become a horrible place. Wish I could leave.
Once I started finding like minded people, it seemed like minded people started finding me. So it’s been so important for my mental health to get involved. But yes, I’m making plans to get out of Texas. I think people have forgotten the days of Ann Richards.
Abbutt is short sighted! Our immigrant population is essential to our economy!
I miss Ann Richards!
Georgia has become a horrible place too. I wish i could leave here too. I may leave anyway, even though i am fairly old now.
Minnesota has become quite warm and has good medical care. 48 and rain forecast for Christmas. (missing the snow and ice fishing is terrible this year) However there is a real need for people of good conscience to stay put and be a voice of reason. Won't the Hispanic people of Texas be outraged enough by this to try to change the legislators?
The deck is stacked. They don’t plan to lose again.
i don't think Texas residents care about anything other their little world.
Ellen, I and my fellow pissed off voting colleagues, neighbors and friends are Texans. We're not all the same. We're just outnumbered.
Voter suppression and gerrymandering is a huge problem! I don’t think a lot of Texans think their vote will matter. But the tide is turning. Not every Texan is on board with Abbutt! We just have to get people to the polls!
I practically went broke for Beto, but Repubs cheated to the max. They have stacked the deck. Be careful who you paint red.
Hold the fort, Jerry!
Get the word out Jerry. Counting on you,
40 percent of Texans are of hispanic origin. There are your allies if you will.
not necessarily D4N. Many of them are Christian Nationalists, and subscribe to the messianic devotion to the Orange Jesus.
Shocking but true.
Border security has been a large motivator for Hispanics to vote FOR Republicans. They have worked hard and achieved a decent living without government help for decades, and tend to be suspicious of government programs. They're also socially moderate to conservative. So a party that says it wants to preserve the status quo by keeping a huge influx of immigrants out sounds good to them. Are they allies? In the sense that I feel very comfortable talking to those I meet, true. Would they view like I might? That's not so clear cut.
I do, a minority in rural areas but not all over.
Let's face it, immigration issues are quite synonymous with racial prejudice. Republicans are afraid that in a true democracy, their rich elite-ism will be lost. It's okay, according to them, if migrants want to come here and work for pennies on the dollar as servants and return home to poverty, but don't want 'outsiders of color' to work for the American dream. Let's not be afraid of this ploy. Let's reveal it for what it is.
Yes, that’s what it is. Unfortunately, most white voters think that’s a plus.
I’m very impressed that you produced under such adverse conditions; thank you!
The big picture is federal control versus state control. What the news media seems to be missing is that the law allows state lawmen to arrest people SUSPECTED of being undocumented with no legal recourse. They are assumed to be guilty and there is no provision stated of legal representation who are fluent in their language of choice. The rights expected for citizens are being waived. Much like his flying asylum seekers to Chicago (because the buses are no longer available) and dumping them, the cruelty seems to be the point —both for the asylum seekers and for the cities with no infrastructure to deal with the influx who are forbidden to work.
So just so I’m straight about how this works(primarily for republicans); states have every right to make laws unto themselves and expect no one to interfere with their actions, ESPECIALLY not the federal government of which they still are a part, UNLESS a state high court makes a decision that they don’t agree with and then they want the top federal court to weigh in and preferably rule in their favor? That’s how these so-called citizens of our United States have always rolled throughout our history it seems. It’s their preferred weapon of choice; arguing out of both sides of their mouths.
States rights for me
but not for thee!