Wait a minute - a scientist's personal computers and phone were seized after an electronic communication was "traced" to her house? She didn't support the party line? That sets off my alarms. What's the quote about when they came for others I did nothing, and when they came for me no one was left to help? Sorry if I'm overreacting, but examples of police state tactics always get me bent.
I question that she wasn't the target, although she might not have been the only target. That they took all her devices tells me they were looking, first, to investigate much more than her contacts list and, second, that they want to muzzle her.
I just saw an interview with Rebekah Jones on the Lawrence O'Donnell show. They had video of the police entering her house with guns drawn pointing them at her, her husband and her little children! And the email that triggered (please excuse the pun) all this was: ""It's time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead," the message said, according to the affidavit. "You know this is wrong. You don't have to be part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it's too late." That is the message which she says she did not send, was enough for a warrant to have armed men enter her home and point guns at her children. This is not America. Or unfortunately maybe it is. This is sickening!
Typo--"IP number" Each connected device has its own Internet Protocol address. Of course, as others have said, this could just be harassment or a fishing expedition, or both.
Syd, I feel the same way. I live in Florida and I have been following her Covid dashboard every day. As with the other respondents to your post, I’d like to know how to support her. This is truly frightening. In my own country, the USA, I feel I need to “keep my head down” and stay off the radar. Because I don’t want to be the target of armed thug citizens or armed thug law enforcement working on the behalf of elected officials.
I know Ms. Jones has a lawyer.. I hope top legal experts come to offer her pro bono assistance and that our legal and judicial system can hold to exact justice. There is another story about Desantis lately from the Sun Sentinel, I believe, along the same lines.. ignoring epidemiologists and requesting that the DOH suppress Coronavirus information. I hope all of the dirt gets brought to light and that by some miracle, people open their eyes and ears to truth.
How have we become a country of extreme passivity, where we do not stand up for Democracy? We go to war because the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor and 2403 of our citizens have died.
Today we have a President who has systematically destroyed our Democracy resulting in almost 300,000 people dead. I grew up protesting the Viet Nam war and supporting MLK and equal rights for all. In 1970 we were working on The Equal Rights Amendment. My first job as a Clinical Social Worker I protested my salary as I was hired at a lower salary as my male colleagues.
I am proud of my standing up for equality through my years, but 50 years later we still have a long ways to go. It is hard to sleep at night knowing so many are going without food, shelter, medical care in our country. Our income disparity is shameful.
I brought my 6 and 8 year old grandchildren to a BLM rally, where they passionately became involved in the cause by making and selling bracelets to support the movement. There is hope.
Donald Trump’s narcissistic personality is killing us. This latest incompetence with the vaccine is treasonous. He and his army of Republicans who enable him need to be held accountable. For the Senate to refuse to bring witnesses to the impeachment hearing has had a profound effect on where we are now.
Stand up for Justice and Democracy. Hold our Senators accountable.
Susan, my age and experience echo yours, and I thank you for expressing my increasing disgust with the GOP rank and file members of Congress and state legislators. Is power so addictive, most will do anything to hold on to it? Fear, it appears, is contagious. As for Dems, I’m disgusted with them, too. Nancy Pelosi, the DCCC, the party has no unified clear cogent messaged response to their seditious behavior. Shame on them. Only a few, Porter, AOC and the Squad, Yang, Sanders, Warren have clear, consistent messages that resonate with me. Thank all the gods and goddesses that a Biden/Harris admin is coming, but they will need the Senate to get anything done. The infection and death count, the ravages of job loss and hunger are stark and hard to bear from the comfort of my current situation. It’s not over: GA is so important. ❤️🤍💙
How one man of questionable intellect, emotional maturity and integrity could hold an entire political party hostage and turn them into quivering cowards is beyond me. I will be interested to see how they explain themselves as things unfold and are revealed in the Biden administration.
I don’t believe that they are “hostage”. I believe they are complicit and, like trump, looking out for their own self-interests and trying to retain power. There will be no explanations by them.
And what about all those freshman Republican representatives coming to Congress? Only 27 will publicly acknowledge that Biden and Harris won! Another generation of power-hungry, complicit lemming leaders.
What gripes me is that even the few that do speak out against this crap then turn around and say they are supporting the 2 Repubs that are running in Ga. Really? Those two are spouting the same garbage Trump is. Just ticks me off.
Marcy, I suspect that because the Cheeto and his minions subscribe to the Roy Cohn/Mafia system of getting blackmail-able dirt on people in order to control them, even though they themselves are under Putin's thumb (he is a lot better at this kind of thing and he also enjoys poisoning people), they probably have plenty of intel on members of Congress and Senate they are threatening to deploy. In addition, the Cheeto and his circle are despicable, disgusting, and deranged but they are also doing Murderous Mitch's bidding when it comes to the racist, sexist, revolting agenda he and his Gobsmacking Offal-wearing Party have been pitching for the last 40 years. It isn't like The Donald has a clue about policy. He is in many ways a prisoner of his own "success." Especially when a fascist psycho like Stephen Miller is running the show.
They'll never explain anything....for them there is nothing to explain! They were always cristal clear in what they said and did! All good patriotic stuff to "Make America Great Again".....or should be we say Maga..nificient display of bad faith and hypocracy.
The only good choice is made using good information, unless the choice results from pure luck. A poorly informed choice can at best be lucky. These people were convinced that the news sources relied upon by Western Civilization after WWII, seventy years, with millions of dollars invested in their credibility were less reliable that fly-by-night upstarts with no investment in credibility beyond sheer chutzpa were correct, in large part for flattering the uneducated that ignorance and belief are sanctioned by the sacred, while science was the enemy of capitalism. As a result, their choices were based on faulty information. So, blindly faithful, flattered, and outraged by millions of dead embryos they chose poorly.
Marcy, I don't believe the president's followers will ever adequately explain themselves because that will require admissions of thinking that includes racism, whacko conspiracies, theocracy and who knows whatever else is coursing through their brains. I do hope that we get a full accounting of all the damage that the president has done. And finally, I hope he and his henchmen and women are held liable for that damage.
"I do hope that we get a full accounting of all the damage that the president has done."
Define "we". The "we" of the Republicans/ReTrumplicans will never admit there was damage. They seriously live in an alternative universe where black is white and up is down...all 74,000,000 of them. Again, the poll the WaPo did of all the Republicans in Congress where something like 27 of them would admit, even anonymously, that Biden won the election. Does anyone think that these folks will admit that there's any "damage"?? I'm skeptical and cynical enough to think ANY admission by these cowards of ANY wrongdoing on their part will be slow in coming if it ever really does. 4+ years of overwhelming, all-encompassing, unending corruption seem to have coloured my beliefs in the future, I fear.
So many of the Republican senators come from states that are Trump country. If those senators want to protect their seat in the senate, or run for president in the future, they are afraid to tick off their constituents. They are afraid of the maga cult who will remain loyal to trump. Politics is a dirty business. The Republican party is not organized around around protecting the Constitution or society. They don't do their jobs because retaining power and money is their main goal.
And isn't it funny--not "HA-HA" funny--how the only places with so-called "voter fraud" are in states Trump LOST. So there were no improprieties in states he won? Only in the so-called "swing" states or the ones with larger urban Black populations? No "fraud" in all the other states? Hmm...just wondering...
As a Floridian with a governor who just wants to let the virus burn through our population, I feel the same way. What’s worse is that there isn’t even a government official here with a brain or heart.
Thank you, HCR. I grew up listening to vinyl recordings of FDR’s December 7th speech. He was such a good message maker and deliverer. Biden is not FDR, but I believe Kamala has FDR’s capacity and verbal fluency. That toughness. And FDR’s smile. Every day, I thank Joe Biden for choosing her. Now, I wish for success in GA runoffs. Then for coherent strong messaging from the Democratic Party. Take a stand for what we the people want or should want. Not just what we don’t want: Trump, McConnell, Barr and acquiescent or nutty Republicans.
As for one family Republican, I received this text message late Saturday night from one of my 3 registered Republican brothers who were born, raised, educated, worked in, and never left PA: “Update (politics, stop here if you want). - I have left the Republican Party after decades of membership. I can not support the people, direction and actions taken in recent years and especially recent months at state and national levels. This is no longer the same party as it was years ago. I switched to independent registration two weeks ago. “ What took him so long? is my first Q. But, look: I’m glad. One down. Two to go. ❤️🤍💙
BRAVO!!! I have been saying for 30 years that we need a new party called the "Independents" Party. Time to split the Republican Party between evil oligarchs and hard working small business people. Enough of minority rule and ruin.
Excellent news for you, Deborah. But I'm hoping he didn't leave because of the actions of the Republicans who have upheld the electoral certifications for Biden?
Any one of today's news stories would have made and sustained news cycles for weeks, yet today we will likely have just as many fires to drown out yesterday's cycle. This is appalling. We have become numb to tragedy and corruption. I can't help but wonder, what truly is the end game for Trump and the GOP as they keep moving the goal posts?
Did Trump even address the anniversary of Pearl Harbor?
Why would he bother? I'm not sure whether he even knows of it....but if somebody told him....his reaction "What? celebrate such a load of losers and shmucks! I can hear him from here already!
It is possible that there is no real end game as far as the current president is concerned because that would mean loss of public attention and focus on him. Whether or not the Republican party has a plan for the future remains to be seen.
Words matter, as HCR has pointed out. By tap-dancing around what Trump is doing, the media is doing us no favors, but are giving him cover, whether they mean to or not.
A friend emailed me last night about how furious she is over what the GOP is doing . She still remembers the Eisenhower years as emblematic of the GOP. I reminded her of the Edmund Burke quote about evil succeeding................
Fortunately Trump and his Orcs are no more competent than the members of the Turkish armed forces that tried to oust Erdogan.....and gave him thereby a great excuse to turn viciously the screws on any semblance of democracy remaining in that country.
Thanks for the link to this article. Sarah Kendzior, a scholar of authoritarian regimes, seems to be a kindred spirit of HCR as she sees parallels in history and current events that threaten our democracy. Her book, Hiding in Plain Sight, has just been added to my reading list.
She is a journalist and has published or co-published many peer-reviewed journal articles as well as policy papers. Hiding in Plain Sight is her second book.
I’m currently reading White Trash, recommended by a member of this community (it’s excellent!) to be followed by HCR’s How the South Won the Civil War. So Sarah’s book is slated for after that. And when time allows, I plan to dive into the massive Albion’s Seed, another community recommendation. The people here are awesome!
What are we to make of the Republican Party's treasonous behavior, standing around, shrugging their shoulders, eyes focused on the ground, while their leader, outgoing President Trump is doing everything he can direct the American political system and its government before he's finally ejected from the White House? I think we have a right to expect that even statehouse lawmakers are duty-bound to be loyal American citizens first, regardless of their obvious political partisanship. The stories of Trump calling up, not just once, but twice, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, importuning him to help overturn Trump's electoral defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, after making similar overtures to state Republican officials and legislators in Michigan and in Georgia, trying to get them to intercede with their states' election officials, all of whom vouched for the competency and integrity of the elections held in those states, both of which the former vice president had won handily.
Yesterday, Georgia completed its third recount, confirming for the third time that Joe Biden won the state. Whether the final vote tallies in each recount were all the same has not been publicly disclosed, but it is clear that none of those recounts would have made any difference in the overall outcome. Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, has been a loyal Trump supporter to the extent of embarrassing himself by issuing a second confirmation of Biden's electoral victory. Two confirmations! Three recounts! Who in his right mind thinks that this is the way that government officials who hold themselves out as serious people are supposed to behave. How can any of those people be considered serious contenders for public office again.
In the same vein, Pennsylvania Assembly Speaker Bryan Cutler, while assuring the President that there was nothing he could do under Pennsylvania law to change the outcome of the election, the Speaker was apparently willing to be one of 60 Republican state lawmakers who sent a letter to Pennsylvania's congressional delegation urging them to object to the state's electoral slate when Congress formally accepts the results on January 6, 2021. This is the two-faced coin of hypocrisy; one side has the Speaker telling the president on two different occasions that Pennsylvania law will not allow him to help the President, while on the obverse side of the coin, the Speaker is signing a hypocritical letter to the state's congressional delegation urging them to overturn Pennsylvania's certification that Joseph Biden won the election. Go figure.
One of the reasons why state legislatures and their elected representatives are held in such low repute is precisely due to the mindless posturing that they think their electorates expect them to engage in. It is truly saddening that these men are so lacking in self-regard, and so dismissive of the dignity of their office that they would do this.
Then there are the militia types who paraded in front of the statehouse, some bearing firearms, or in the case of Michigan, again with bullhorns and firearms displays, at the home of Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, on what should have been a quiet Saturday evening where she and her four-year-old son were trimming their Christmas tree. No one should have to put up with that kind of disrespectful and dangerous behavior.
Elsewhere there was more the same. I can't recall any time in my lifetime when I've seen, or heard about anything like that. But, as is usually the case, the electorate wises up to what's going on long before the legislators in the various statehouses around the country even become aware that there's been a change that they might need to respond to.
The PA situation is a cluster-F! REPUBLICANS, in 2019 co-sponsored a bill that would expand voting rights; in particular, it removed the “excuse requirement” in the absentee ballot application. In the meantime COVID came along and upended the entire election process, (run mostly by senior citizens) and forced many Pennsylvanians to vote by mail. WE HAD AN EXCUSE THIS YEAR!
NOW, after the election, they want to claim they never had the authority to write that law; that it runs contrary to rules in the PA Constitution. And their remedy - CANCEL 2.5 MILLION PA BALLOTS! It’s like setting the rules of the game, playing and losing that game, then claiming the other side cheated by using their rules.
Then, because the PA Supreme Court said that the legislature must address these incongruities in last year’s law, they disagreed that the solution was to disenfranchise PA voters. So after voting to certify PA’s 20 electoral college Reps for Biden, they are now crying foul once again.
It is beyond frustrating. You want to drink some Kool-Aid - read PA Rep Daryl Metcalfe’s FB wall.
“The challengers’ remaining argument is that the Supreme Court simply overturn the state’s elections results. That request is breathtaking and unconstitutional.”
I wonder what would happen if 'the left' rounded up some militia types of their own to go accost the spineless lawmakers (LAWmakers - what a joke) in their bunkers? Nebbermind - I know - they'd all be shot or locked up.
I am actually still trying to decide (well not anymore) if I should post this because it will be unpopular. But in a way that is the point. The big news today remains how many people are actively infected with COVID and how many died today. I agree COVID has been an enormous tragedy played out in modern times. This has shown us that we are not so all powerful and also that what we do, how we behave personally, actually counts. It has also highlighted a problem we have been living with for some time.
I gave a talk on COVID on the beach in the Bahamas last January to a group of cruisers. My main point was that this is a virus that we, none of us, have effective immunity toward. That meant, and means, that right from the start, and still, it is going to be difficult. People were/are going to die. In a high stakes situation like this the quality of the information that you personally give credence to really matters because ultimately you make the important decisions that determine your personal risk yourself. Therefore my second point to the cruisers was to consider the source of the information you trust and don’t just average all the information out there expecting that to resemble the outcome.
A perfect world for medical science, where the politicization and monetization of medical information doesn’t happen and where people educate themselves from high quality sources and actually make decisions themselves hasn’t existed for some time. Perhaps it never existed. When I began medicine in 1970s I felt I could trust most of what I read in journals like JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association). And the BMJ (British Medical Journal). By the time I retired four years ago I considered those sources more like the National Enquirer, entertainment only and not really very entertaining.
Currently, we in medical science have no standard bearer for current truth. This is why when Trump became a source for facts in the COVID epidemic he was able to gain traction. The CDC due to its already existing internal politicization was unable, unwilling, and unprepared not just because of Trump’s cutting actions but because it had become politicized and monetized long before. This trend is not slowing down it is speeding up.
Reading your post, Patrick--which I found interesting and hardly ”UNpopular”!--is what you alluded to in the last two paragraphs. Facts. Who really has them anymore? It seems to me the greatest casualties of this much ballyhooed “Information Age” have become, essentially, truth and facts. HOW, nowadays, do we ever accurately know and trust sources of information? Is it ALL monetized and politicized to the ends of whoever is putting it out there? Are populations, now more than ever, susceptible to manipulation of information? As the High Priest in Mozart’s Magic Flute asks, “Was ist Wahrheit?”, “What is truth?” We now each have access to more information at the click of a mouse than humans have ever had. What are the possibilities and the ramifications of this? It seems as if everyone is intent on seeking out information that only speaks to them, but that stands to reason because there is SO MUCH of it. It is hardly a wonder SO many people have become SO distrustful of information. I mean, y’know, you feel like when you can’t trust things like the JAMA or BMJ or any other august publications one cares to mention, who TF CAN you trust??? Nobody knows what to believe anymore. And that begs the question: WHY is this? I know I’m quite the “poseur” when it comes to questions…always asking!...but sometimes I prefer to ask rather than try to answer. Anyway, I did like what you wrote and always like when something makes me actually pause and THINK! It's why I like reading posts on here!!
We have always thought of our own subjectivity as being objective, of course. If we think about it the only thing we can do is reduce the impact of our own subjectivity on our understanding and improve our filters for the subjectivity of others.....including of journalists.
Your last two paragraphs say it all. It has been disheartening to see how many times the CDC has flip flopped or rescinded guidelines. And isn't the FDA guilty of the same politicization and monetization as well?
Ignorance of what the virus can do is a very clear illustration of the current American people's ignorance of European America's founding story. The deadly viruses that the Spanish Conquistadors and English pioneers, mostly unintentionally despite their "Black Death" experience and its 50% cull-rate, brought to the Land inhabited by upwards of 100 million Native Americans (Counting both Northern and Southern Hemispheres) reduced the "receiving" populations by 95% over the first 300 years or so. Wars were also important sources of population decline, of course, as were socially disruptive introductions of fire-power technology, greater mobility on horseback and free-flowing alcohol but they had nothing on the BUGS in their lethal effect...if not intent. The social factors however made sure that the Native American population didn't start to rise again until the 20th C.
With this in our history we should have known better and taken this "epidemic" more in our stride as we do in fact have significant experience of handling such catastrophies...and of mitigating their consequences.
Ignorance except for the English colonizers of Quebec:
"In 1763, the British under Jeffrey Amherst used blankets exposed to smallpox as germ warfare in an attempt to subdue the First Nations resistance led by Obwandiyag (Pontiac). In 1775, during the American Revolution, American troops besieging Quebec City were stricken with smallpox."
Patrick Krogers article on History.com covering the Siege of Fort Pitt suggests that although Amherst thought of infecting the indians and got his hierarchies approval William Trente, a local merchant, beat him to it and had already given 2 infected blankets and a similarly infected handerkerchief to the indians. The effectiveness of the "strategy" however is put in doubt as the infected material was somewhat dated and in all probability the infection in the Fort came from the Native Americans in the first place as it was present already in the Tribes.
I seem to recollect that infected blankets were also similarly used in the West by one bluecoat General as "presents" during Treaty negotiations. Death by disease was frequently more common than by arms for armies on active campaign. General Wolf's losses while camped before attacking Montcalm on the Plains of at Quebec nearly cost him victory. Teddy Roosevelts Roughriders nearly had the same problem in Cuba.
Thank you, Heather. Yesterday we remember Pearl Harbor with the USS West Virginia sunk to the bottom of Pearl Harbor along with many others. Today, we learn of the passing of West Virginia's favorite son, Chuck Yeager. We need more Chuck Yeagers. I pray they are out there, learning from their laptop computers, and one day assist in straightening out this mess. How many are out there now, without Wi-Fi? Without computers?
He was from Lincoln County next to my mother's home and the mountains there are so tightly packed that sunlight is reduced during the day. He got himself out of those mountains and took flight in more than one way, that's for sure!
Just another spinning-out-of-control Monday! Bless the seamen who survived Pearl Harbor and who are still alive. There aren’t many left nowadays. My husband is a Vietnam Vet and approaching 74. Those WWII vets are nearly 30 years older. Wars are not brought on by many women. Perhaps in the Elizabethan years, but not after the early 1900’s.
Our Covid numbers are climbing but not a peep from Fake 45. He screwed up, as usual. He left Jared in charge of PPE and of the distribution of the vaccine. Inept, deceitful, and miserably despicable people are in charge of our lives for another 1.5 months. I am counting the days and minutes.
In Queen Elizabeth 1's reign her wars were firstly against internal revolts led by Catholic men who neither accepted being ruled by a women nor her role as the head of the official church/religion.....even if she was somewhat more tolerant than her step-sister QueenMary. Secondly, for 18 years she defended herself and her country against Philip of Spain who considered her as a heretic and thus his duty to depose and dispose. She didn't foment wars with people or countries...she won them when she was attacked using all the means at her disposal....Francis Drake and other pirates being particularly useful.
And continuing; the thunderous, cavernous, galactic, cosmic silence of congressional Republicans, for whom the pandemic seems to be old business. All but 27* of whom seem still stuck on the election, although I haven't heard of any newly elected or re-elected Republicans shouting "Election fraud!" or calling for recounts in their elections. Those elections were perfect. Somehow the fraud never made it past the top of the ballot.
All just waiting to see which way the wind blows....before changing jackets. For afficionadoes of French songs one might be delighted by Jacques Dutronc's "L'opportuniste". The Lyrics:
Je suis pour le communisme
Je suis pour le socialisme
Et pour le capitalisme
Parce que je suis opportuniste
Il y en a qui contestent
Qui revendiquent et qui protestent
Moi je ne fais qu'un seul geste
Je retourne ma veste, je retourne ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je n'ai pas peur des profiteurs
Ni même des agitateurs
J'fais confiance aux électeurs
Et j'en profite pour faire mon beurre
Il y en a qui contestent
Qui revendiquent et qui protestent
Moi je ne fais qu'un seul geste
Je retourne ma veste, je retourne ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je suis de tous les partis
Je suis de toutes les party
Je suis de toutes les coteries
Je suis le roi des convertis
Il y en a qui contestent
Qui revendiquent et qui protestent
Moi je ne fais qu'un seul geste
Je retourne ma veste, je retourne ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je crie vive la révolution
Je crie vive les institutions
Je crie vive les manifestations
Je crie vive la collaboration
Non, jamais je ne conteste
Ni revendique ni ne proteste
Je ne sais faire qu'un seul geste
Celui de retourner ma veste, de retourner ma veste
The phrase "retourner sa veste" is difficult to translate totally as, much as it means "turn your jacket inside out", it also is an expression describing politicians who are unscrupulous wind vanes...going with the flow, bending continually to the prevailing balance, or lack thereof, of forces.
A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. Wikipedia
Very apropos. I enjoyed stretching my brain to read it. About 45 years ago I could read French fairly fluently. It is true that if you don't use it you lose it.
HCR, I got a kick out of your phrase: "a toothless executive order." Too little, too late, 45!
I will not ask, how can 45 and his family place their heads on their cushy pillows at night, because they lack humanity, empathy, and scruples. But I will ask: how do the GOP sleep at night following all these deaths and all of DT's inefficiencies in the midst of this pandemic? They are as guilty as he is for every collosal blunder, every death, every unvaccinated citizen, every grieving family!
DT and his faithful entourage have even spread the virus with ne'er a care in the world. From 45 himself to Giuliani, they have carelessly and unapologetically infected others. As noted by a Georgian senator: "Little did I know that most credible death threat that I encountered last week was Trump’s own lawyer…. Giuliani — maskless, in a packed hearing room for 7 hours. To say I am livid would be too kind.”
How many more days do we have to endure their inadequacies and unparalleled stupidity?
The toothless executive order could employ techniques developed against China....banning exports of elements essential for national security! This could easily be backed up by threats from Mnuchin of highly agressive Commerce Dept and IRS action against Fizer and Modena. This would have the added advantage of fitting with his "America First" political propaganda and furthermore annoy significantly the Europeans who refuse to obey his dictat and bow before his magnificence!
The number one issue in the election was the preservation of our democracy. It remains our number one issue, not covid nor economic disaster as catastrophic as they are. For lack of a better word a coup attempt is being attempted by Trump with connivance by silent Republican politicians as well as overt promotion at state, local and national levels. And, frighteningly, by support from millions of Americans. We laugh it off or ignore the seriousness of what is happening at our own peril and I am afraid Biden and the centrist wing of the Democratic Party in all their talk of a return to normalcy are giving Americans a false sense of security. Just look at serious threats of violence against election officials, the drumbeat of propaganda against safe and fair elections, the use of military forces against peaceful protesters, the court appointments made with the intent of keeping Republicans in power and big business in control, the successful attempts at gerrymandered power for minority control of state and national officers. This is why the election made me more worried not less. We did not win the rout our country needed.
Exactly. I think our zeal to believe that things will get better with a Biden presidency has been fomented and intensified all the more by the desperation and frustration we've endured for the last 4-5 years. We have to be careful and not get our hopes up too much, IMO. I try and temper my intense hope with shots of reality. We are far from achieving getting our republic back on a sounder footing, IMO. Does anybody SERIOUSLY think that all the Republicans in Congress are going to suddenly have an epiphany and magically begin to work with Biden all of a sudden?? The 74,000,000 are going to magically evaporate?? In their eyes, Biden represents only a temporary lull of some spotty Democratic leadership and they will get everything back in '22 and '24. They ain't going away, y'all. Nor are they gonna give up. God knows, I'd love to be wrong. I'm almost as worried now about the future as at any time. I consider myself VERY cautiously optimistic. Not time to all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" QUITE yet...
I am in total agreement with you. As happy as I was that Trump lost the election....I am not ready to breathe a sigh of relief to have a 'normal' leadership once again. There is so much to be overcome and Trump isn't done yet. What more will he do in his childish backlash because he lost the election?
I worry that people are expecting Joe to work a miracle and have us back to normal by Jan. 21st. Just watch the criticism fly when he doesn't turn things around immediately. smh
I agree. I hear people looking forward to 2021, thinking that it will be better, and I just stare at them. The only real change is that Biden and Harris will be leading the U. S.; Covid will still be here, the economy will still be a wreck, and so on.
My concern (one of them) is that Biden will be so busy cleaning up the mess trump is making, he won't be able to address too much else, potentially leaving him vulnerable for the 2024 election.
The domestic terrorists here in Michigan sure see it as a coup, an "about time" one. Just ask our phenomenal Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, who huddled with her 4 year old son during their nasty, dangerous seige at her house. This is not the time to let our guard down. Or ask my 3 Republican brothers who are contributing $$$$ to get tRump back in office - not in 2024 but 2021.
Thank you for reminding us about Pearl Harbour. I notice that NY times (the version I read) is so full of trump that there is no space for remembering Pearl Harbour.
It took 2403 lives for America to wake up, consolidate and rise to defend democracy. I wonder what is needed for GOP to wake up this time. I believe that the best thing that can happen to USA, and the world, is for GOP to restore and get rid of the Tea Party supporters. In the meantime, vote blue and get well soon 🇺🇸.
Party splits are a-coming! The Tea Party people are not going away and will not lack funds. A revolution doesn't stop to order.....we'll see where it ends.
Wait a minute - a scientist's personal computers and phone were seized after an electronic communication was "traced" to her house? She didn't support the party line? That sets off my alarms. What's the quote about when they came for others I did nothing, and when they came for me no one was left to help? Sorry if I'm overreacting, but examples of police state tactics always get me bent.
I just read on Wikipedia that "Jones was interviewed afterwards by Chris Cuomo about the incident, claiming that on reflection, she does not think she was the target of the investigation at all, but that her phone was seized for the contacts it has with Florida Department of Health workers." The source is https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/12/08/florida-raid-coronavirus-scientist-cpt-intv-rebekah-jones-vpx.cnn.
I question that she wasn't the target, although she might not have been the only target. That they took all her devices tells me they were looking, first, to investigate much more than her contacts list and, second, that they want to muzzle her.
Then, we have Gestapo tactics. Better read that Coup article again.
And I just heard on Morning Joe that everyone on this network had the same user ID and password. So how did they know it was her?
Sounds more like a plant to give a corrupt state government an excuse to shut her down.
Because she was the one her Governor had targeted? That seems to be the desired answer, anyway.
I just saw an interview with Rebekah Jones on the Lawrence O'Donnell show. They had video of the police entering her house with guns drawn pointing them at her, her husband and her little children! And the email that triggered (please excuse the pun) all this was: ""It's time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead," the message said, according to the affidavit. "You know this is wrong. You don't have to be part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it's too late." That is the message which she says she did not send, was enough for a warrant to have armed men enter her home and point guns at her children. This is not America. Or unfortunately maybe it is. This is sickening!
Wow! Very crappy security!!!
They could know from individual user's IPP numbers.
Typo--"IP number" Each connected device has its own Internet Protocol address. Of course, as others have said, this could just be harassment or a fishing expedition, or both.
not overreacting, that is very scary and unbelievable.
Syd, I feel the same way. I live in Florida and I have been following her Covid dashboard every day. As with the other respondents to your post, I’d like to know how to support her. This is truly frightening. In my own country, the USA, I feel I need to “keep my head down” and stay off the radar. Because I don’t want to be the target of armed thug citizens or armed thug law enforcement working on the behalf of elected officials.
I know Ms. Jones has a lawyer.. I hope top legal experts come to offer her pro bono assistance and that our legal and judicial system can hold to exact justice. There is another story about Desantis lately from the Sun Sentinel, I believe, along the same lines.. ignoring epidemiologists and requesting that the DOH suppress Coronavirus information. I hope all of the dirt gets brought to light and that by some miracle, people open their eyes and ears to truth.
Follow her on twitter and re-tweet and give her a bigger platform to speak out
Does anyone know who is defending her, and if there is anything we can do in support?
Follow her on twitter and re-tweet and give her a bigger platform to speak out
How have we become a country of extreme passivity, where we do not stand up for Democracy? We go to war because the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor and 2403 of our citizens have died.
Today we have a President who has systematically destroyed our Democracy resulting in almost 300,000 people dead. I grew up protesting the Viet Nam war and supporting MLK and equal rights for all. In 1970 we were working on The Equal Rights Amendment. My first job as a Clinical Social Worker I protested my salary as I was hired at a lower salary as my male colleagues.
I am proud of my standing up for equality through my years, but 50 years later we still have a long ways to go. It is hard to sleep at night knowing so many are going without food, shelter, medical care in our country. Our income disparity is shameful.
I brought my 6 and 8 year old grandchildren to a BLM rally, where they passionately became involved in the cause by making and selling bracelets to support the movement. There is hope.
Donald Trump’s narcissistic personality is killing us. This latest incompetence with the vaccine is treasonous. He and his army of Republicans who enable him need to be held accountable. For the Senate to refuse to bring witnesses to the impeachment hearing has had a profound effect on where we are now.
Stand up for Justice and Democracy. Hold our Senators accountable.
Susan, my age and experience echo yours, and I thank you for expressing my increasing disgust with the GOP rank and file members of Congress and state legislators. Is power so addictive, most will do anything to hold on to it? Fear, it appears, is contagious. As for Dems, I’m disgusted with them, too. Nancy Pelosi, the DCCC, the party has no unified clear cogent messaged response to their seditious behavior. Shame on them. Only a few, Porter, AOC and the Squad, Yang, Sanders, Warren have clear, consistent messages that resonate with me. Thank all the gods and goddesses that a Biden/Harris admin is coming, but they will need the Senate to get anything done. The infection and death count, the ravages of job loss and hunger are stark and hard to bear from the comfort of my current situation. It’s not over: GA is so important. ❤️🤍💙
Susan, you are a role model! I really admire what you have done. Thank you for your activism!
How one man of questionable intellect, emotional maturity and integrity could hold an entire political party hostage and turn them into quivering cowards is beyond me. I will be interested to see how they explain themselves as things unfold and are revealed in the Biden administration.
I don’t believe that they are “hostage”. I believe they are complicit and, like trump, looking out for their own self-interests and trying to retain power. There will be no explanations by them.
And what about all those freshman Republican representatives coming to Congress? Only 27 will publicly acknowledge that Biden and Harris won! Another generation of power-hungry, complicit lemming leaders.
What gripes me is that even the few that do speak out against this crap then turn around and say they are supporting the 2 Repubs that are running in Ga. Really? Those two are spouting the same garbage Trump is. Just ticks me off.
Marcy, I suspect that because the Cheeto and his minions subscribe to the Roy Cohn/Mafia system of getting blackmail-able dirt on people in order to control them, even though they themselves are under Putin's thumb (he is a lot better at this kind of thing and he also enjoys poisoning people), they probably have plenty of intel on members of Congress and Senate they are threatening to deploy. In addition, the Cheeto and his circle are despicable, disgusting, and deranged but they are also doing Murderous Mitch's bidding when it comes to the racist, sexist, revolting agenda he and his Gobsmacking Offal-wearing Party have been pitching for the last 40 years. It isn't like The Donald has a clue about policy. He is in many ways a prisoner of his own "success." Especially when a fascist psycho like Stephen Miller is running the show.
They'll never explain anything....for them there is nothing to explain! They were always cristal clear in what they said and did! All good patriotic stuff to "Make America Great Again".....or should be we say Maga..nificient display of bad faith and hypocracy.
The only good choice is made using good information, unless the choice results from pure luck. A poorly informed choice can at best be lucky. These people were convinced that the news sources relied upon by Western Civilization after WWII, seventy years, with millions of dollars invested in their credibility were less reliable that fly-by-night upstarts with no investment in credibility beyond sheer chutzpa were correct, in large part for flattering the uneducated that ignorance and belief are sanctioned by the sacred, while science was the enemy of capitalism. As a result, their choices were based on faulty information. So, blindly faithful, flattered, and outraged by millions of dead embryos they chose poorly.
Marcy, I don't believe the president's followers will ever adequately explain themselves because that will require admissions of thinking that includes racism, whacko conspiracies, theocracy and who knows whatever else is coursing through their brains. I do hope that we get a full accounting of all the damage that the president has done. And finally, I hope he and his henchmen and women are held liable for that damage.
"I do hope that we get a full accounting of all the damage that the president has done."
Define "we". The "we" of the Republicans/ReTrumplicans will never admit there was damage. They seriously live in an alternative universe where black is white and up is down...all 74,000,000 of them. Again, the poll the WaPo did of all the Republicans in Congress where something like 27 of them would admit, even anonymously, that Biden won the election. Does anyone think that these folks will admit that there's any "damage"?? I'm skeptical and cynical enough to think ANY admission by these cowards of ANY wrongdoing on their part will be slow in coming if it ever really does. 4+ years of overwhelming, all-encompassing, unending corruption seem to have coloured my beliefs in the future, I fear.
So many of the Republican senators come from states that are Trump country. If those senators want to protect their seat in the senate, or run for president in the future, they are afraid to tick off their constituents. They are afraid of the maga cult who will remain loyal to trump. Politics is a dirty business. The Republican party is not organized around around protecting the Constitution or society. They don't do their jobs because retaining power and money is their main goal.
And isn't it funny--not "HA-HA" funny--how the only places with so-called "voter fraud" are in states Trump LOST. So there were no improprieties in states he won? Only in the so-called "swing" states or the ones with larger urban Black populations? No "fraud" in all the other states? Hmm...just wondering...
Well said.
"A day which will live in infamy"
.....along with November 8, 2016
Spot on, Steven.
As a Californian in lockdown, again, I am exhausted by the ignorance of our fellow citizens.
As a Floridian with a governor who just wants to let the virus burn through our population, I feel the same way. What’s worse is that there isn’t even a government official here with a brain or heart.
The ignorance of so many along with lack of compassion is both exhausting and heartbreaking. Stay safe!
Thank you, HCR. I grew up listening to vinyl recordings of FDR’s December 7th speech. He was such a good message maker and deliverer. Biden is not FDR, but I believe Kamala has FDR’s capacity and verbal fluency. That toughness. And FDR’s smile. Every day, I thank Joe Biden for choosing her. Now, I wish for success in GA runoffs. Then for coherent strong messaging from the Democratic Party. Take a stand for what we the people want or should want. Not just what we don’t want: Trump, McConnell, Barr and acquiescent or nutty Republicans.
As for one family Republican, I received this text message late Saturday night from one of my 3 registered Republican brothers who were born, raised, educated, worked in, and never left PA: “Update (politics, stop here if you want). - I have left the Republican Party after decades of membership. I can not support the people, direction and actions taken in recent years and especially recent months at state and national levels. This is no longer the same party as it was years ago. I switched to independent registration two weeks ago. “ What took him so long? is my first Q. But, look: I’m glad. One down. Two to go. ❤️🤍💙
I listen every 3-4 yrs. FDR's address to Congress was the next day, Dec 8. Huge radio audience.
British Pathé - good journalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK8gYGg0dkE
BRAVO!!! I have been saying for 30 years that we need a new party called the "Independents" Party. Time to split the Republican Party between evil oligarchs and hard working small business people. Enough of minority rule and ruin.
Excellent news for you, Deborah. But I'm hoping he didn't leave because of the actions of the Republicans who have upheld the electoral certifications for Biden?
Thank you Heather. On point as usual.
Any one of today's news stories would have made and sustained news cycles for weeks, yet today we will likely have just as many fires to drown out yesterday's cycle. This is appalling. We have become numb to tragedy and corruption. I can't help but wonder, what truly is the end game for Trump and the GOP as they keep moving the goal posts?
Did Trump even address the anniversary of Pearl Harbor?
Stay safe, stay well.
Why would he bother? I'm not sure whether he even knows of it....but if somebody told him....his reaction "What? celebrate such a load of losers and shmucks! I can hear him from here already!
It is possible that there is no real end game as far as the current president is concerned because that would mean loss of public attention and focus on him. Whether or not the Republican party has a plan for the future remains to be seen.
Doubtful. Trump considers O'ahu Obama territory. Obama played golf there during his presidency, long after his choom days. https://nypost.com/2012/05/26/obama-was-a-hawaii-pothead-biography-reveals/
I just checked twitter and he has said nothing.
I hadn't seen anything yesterday, but I could have missed it. Shameful, isn't it.
Zeynep Tufecki, associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, had a piece in the Atlantic about calling a coup a coup. (Being Turkish, she has personal experience). https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/trumps-farcical-inept-and-deadly-serious-coup-attempt/617309/
Words matter, as HCR has pointed out. By tap-dancing around what Trump is doing, the media is doing us no favors, but are giving him cover, whether they mean to or not.
A friend emailed me last night about how furious she is over what the GOP is doing . She still remembers the Eisenhower years as emblematic of the GOP. I reminded her of the Edmund Burke quote about evil succeeding................
Fortunately Trump and his Orcs are no more competent than the members of the Turkish armed forces that tried to oust Erdogan.....and gave him thereby a great excuse to turn viciously the screws on any semblance of democracy remaining in that country.
I saw retweet of this April interview of an author who believes Trump covers up crime with scandal and malice with incompetence. After what HCR has been teaching us, it dies not seem so far fetched to me anymore. https://www.vogue.com/article/sarah-kendzior-interview-hiding-in-plain-sight-donald-trump
Thanks for the link to this article. Sarah Kendzior, a scholar of authoritarian regimes, seems to be a kindred spirit of HCR as she sees parallels in history and current events that threaten our democracy. Her book, Hiding in Plain Sight, has just been added to my reading list.
Yes, I thought so, too. Wasn’t sure about her as a scholar but will read this. I think Mary Trump has been trying to tell us this.
She is a journalist and has published or co-published many peer-reviewed journal articles as well as policy papers. Hiding in Plain Sight is her second book.
https://sarahkendzior.com/scholarly_publications/
I’m currently reading White Trash, recommended by a member of this community (it’s excellent!) to be followed by HCR’s How the South Won the Civil War. So Sarah’s book is slated for after that. And when time allows, I plan to dive into the massive Albion’s Seed, another community recommendation. The people here are awesome!
Then add "Let Them Eat Tweets" to your pike by Hacker and Pierson, and before you know it 45 days will be gone, and so will 45.
Wow. That's It. Sadly...
What are we to make of the Republican Party's treasonous behavior, standing around, shrugging their shoulders, eyes focused on the ground, while their leader, outgoing President Trump is doing everything he can direct the American political system and its government before he's finally ejected from the White House? I think we have a right to expect that even statehouse lawmakers are duty-bound to be loyal American citizens first, regardless of their obvious political partisanship. The stories of Trump calling up, not just once, but twice, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, importuning him to help overturn Trump's electoral defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, after making similar overtures to state Republican officials and legislators in Michigan and in Georgia, trying to get them to intercede with their states' election officials, all of whom vouched for the competency and integrity of the elections held in those states, both of which the former vice president had won handily.
Yesterday, Georgia completed its third recount, confirming for the third time that Joe Biden won the state. Whether the final vote tallies in each recount were all the same has not been publicly disclosed, but it is clear that none of those recounts would have made any difference in the overall outcome. Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, has been a loyal Trump supporter to the extent of embarrassing himself by issuing a second confirmation of Biden's electoral victory. Two confirmations! Three recounts! Who in his right mind thinks that this is the way that government officials who hold themselves out as serious people are supposed to behave. How can any of those people be considered serious contenders for public office again.
In the same vein, Pennsylvania Assembly Speaker Bryan Cutler, while assuring the President that there was nothing he could do under Pennsylvania law to change the outcome of the election, the Speaker was apparently willing to be one of 60 Republican state lawmakers who sent a letter to Pennsylvania's congressional delegation urging them to object to the state's electoral slate when Congress formally accepts the results on January 6, 2021. This is the two-faced coin of hypocrisy; one side has the Speaker telling the president on two different occasions that Pennsylvania law will not allow him to help the President, while on the obverse side of the coin, the Speaker is signing a hypocritical letter to the state's congressional delegation urging them to overturn Pennsylvania's certification that Joseph Biden won the election. Go figure.
One of the reasons why state legislatures and their elected representatives are held in such low repute is precisely due to the mindless posturing that they think their electorates expect them to engage in. It is truly saddening that these men are so lacking in self-regard, and so dismissive of the dignity of their office that they would do this.
Then there are the militia types who paraded in front of the statehouse, some bearing firearms, or in the case of Michigan, again with bullhorns and firearms displays, at the home of Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, on what should have been a quiet Saturday evening where she and her four-year-old son were trimming their Christmas tree. No one should have to put up with that kind of disrespectful and dangerous behavior.
Elsewhere there was more the same. I can't recall any time in my lifetime when I've seen, or heard about anything like that. But, as is usually the case, the electorate wises up to what's going on long before the legislators in the various statehouses around the country even become aware that there's been a change that they might need to respond to.
The PA situation is a cluster-F! REPUBLICANS, in 2019 co-sponsored a bill that would expand voting rights; in particular, it removed the “excuse requirement” in the absentee ballot application. In the meantime COVID came along and upended the entire election process, (run mostly by senior citizens) and forced many Pennsylvanians to vote by mail. WE HAD AN EXCUSE THIS YEAR!
NOW, after the election, they want to claim they never had the authority to write that law; that it runs contrary to rules in the PA Constitution. And their remedy - CANCEL 2.5 MILLION PA BALLOTS! It’s like setting the rules of the game, playing and losing that game, then claiming the other side cheated by using their rules.
Then, because the PA Supreme Court said that the legislature must address these incongruities in last year’s law, they disagreed that the solution was to disenfranchise PA voters. So after voting to certify PA’s 20 electoral college Reps for Biden, they are now crying foul once again.
It is beyond frustrating. You want to drink some Kool-Aid - read PA Rep Daryl Metcalfe’s FB wall.
Every attack on the validity of our PA votes stings like a slap in the face. Beyond frustrating indeed.
I feel exactly the same way. Heartbroken.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/supreme-court-republican-challenge-pennsylvania-vote.html?referringSource=articleShare
“The challengers’ remaining argument is that the Supreme Court simply overturn the state’s elections results. That request is breathtaking and unconstitutional.”
The Supreme Court Of the United States
I wonder what would happen if 'the left' rounded up some militia types of their own to go accost the spineless lawmakers (LAWmakers - what a joke) in their bunkers? Nebbermind - I know - they'd all be shot or locked up.
I think a better question is what if the armed protesters in MI were black?
That's a no-brainer. They'd never make it 10 steps.
That would give tRump reason to declare martial law.
I am actually still trying to decide (well not anymore) if I should post this because it will be unpopular. But in a way that is the point. The big news today remains how many people are actively infected with COVID and how many died today. I agree COVID has been an enormous tragedy played out in modern times. This has shown us that we are not so all powerful and also that what we do, how we behave personally, actually counts. It has also highlighted a problem we have been living with for some time.
I gave a talk on COVID on the beach in the Bahamas last January to a group of cruisers. My main point was that this is a virus that we, none of us, have effective immunity toward. That meant, and means, that right from the start, and still, it is going to be difficult. People were/are going to die. In a high stakes situation like this the quality of the information that you personally give credence to really matters because ultimately you make the important decisions that determine your personal risk yourself. Therefore my second point to the cruisers was to consider the source of the information you trust and don’t just average all the information out there expecting that to resemble the outcome.
A perfect world for medical science, where the politicization and monetization of medical information doesn’t happen and where people educate themselves from high quality sources and actually make decisions themselves hasn’t existed for some time. Perhaps it never existed. When I began medicine in 1970s I felt I could trust most of what I read in journals like JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association). And the BMJ (British Medical Journal). By the time I retired four years ago I considered those sources more like the National Enquirer, entertainment only and not really very entertaining.
Currently, we in medical science have no standard bearer for current truth. This is why when Trump became a source for facts in the COVID epidemic he was able to gain traction. The CDC due to its already existing internal politicization was unable, unwilling, and unprepared not just because of Trump’s cutting actions but because it had become politicized and monetized long before. This trend is not slowing down it is speeding up.
Reading your post, Patrick--which I found interesting and hardly ”UNpopular”!--is what you alluded to in the last two paragraphs. Facts. Who really has them anymore? It seems to me the greatest casualties of this much ballyhooed “Information Age” have become, essentially, truth and facts. HOW, nowadays, do we ever accurately know and trust sources of information? Is it ALL monetized and politicized to the ends of whoever is putting it out there? Are populations, now more than ever, susceptible to manipulation of information? As the High Priest in Mozart’s Magic Flute asks, “Was ist Wahrheit?”, “What is truth?” We now each have access to more information at the click of a mouse than humans have ever had. What are the possibilities and the ramifications of this? It seems as if everyone is intent on seeking out information that only speaks to them, but that stands to reason because there is SO MUCH of it. It is hardly a wonder SO many people have become SO distrustful of information. I mean, y’know, you feel like when you can’t trust things like the JAMA or BMJ or any other august publications one cares to mention, who TF CAN you trust??? Nobody knows what to believe anymore. And that begs the question: WHY is this? I know I’m quite the “poseur” when it comes to questions…always asking!...but sometimes I prefer to ask rather than try to answer. Anyway, I did like what you wrote and always like when something makes me actually pause and THINK! It's why I like reading posts on here!!
We have always thought of our own subjectivity as being objective, of course. If we think about it the only thing we can do is reduce the impact of our own subjectivity on our understanding and improve our filters for the subjectivity of others.....including of journalists.
Your last two paragraphs say it all. It has been disheartening to see how many times the CDC has flip flopped or rescinded guidelines. And isn't the FDA guilty of the same politicization and monetization as well?
Ignorance of what the virus can do is a very clear illustration of the current American people's ignorance of European America's founding story. The deadly viruses that the Spanish Conquistadors and English pioneers, mostly unintentionally despite their "Black Death" experience and its 50% cull-rate, brought to the Land inhabited by upwards of 100 million Native Americans (Counting both Northern and Southern Hemispheres) reduced the "receiving" populations by 95% over the first 300 years or so. Wars were also important sources of population decline, of course, as were socially disruptive introductions of fire-power technology, greater mobility on horseback and free-flowing alcohol but they had nothing on the BUGS in their lethal effect...if not intent. The social factors however made sure that the Native American population didn't start to rise again until the 20th C.
With this in our history we should have known better and taken this "epidemic" more in our stride as we do in fact have significant experience of handling such catastrophies...and of mitigating their consequences.
Ignorance except for the English colonizers of Quebec:
"In 1763, the British under Jeffrey Amherst used blankets exposed to smallpox as germ warfare in an attempt to subdue the First Nations resistance led by Obwandiyag (Pontiac). In 1775, during the American Revolution, American troops besieging Quebec City were stricken with smallpox."
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/smallpox
Patrick Krogers article on History.com covering the Siege of Fort Pitt suggests that although Amherst thought of infecting the indians and got his hierarchies approval William Trente, a local merchant, beat him to it and had already given 2 infected blankets and a similarly infected handerkerchief to the indians. The effectiveness of the "strategy" however is put in doubt as the infected material was somewhat dated and in all probability the infection in the Fort came from the Native Americans in the first place as it was present already in the Tribes.
https:/www.history.com/.amp/news/colonists-native-americans-smallpox-blankets
I seem to recollect that infected blankets were also similarly used in the West by one bluecoat General as "presents" during Treaty negotiations. Death by disease was frequently more common than by arms for armies on active campaign. General Wolf's losses while camped before attacking Montcalm on the Plains of at Quebec nearly cost him victory. Teddy Roosevelts Roughriders nearly had the same problem in Cuba.
Thank you, Heather. Yesterday we remember Pearl Harbor with the USS West Virginia sunk to the bottom of Pearl Harbor along with many others. Today, we learn of the passing of West Virginia's favorite son, Chuck Yeager. We need more Chuck Yeagers. I pray they are out there, learning from their laptop computers, and one day assist in straightening out this mess. How many are out there now, without Wi-Fi? Without computers?
I heard about Yeager on NPR this morning. He was quite a guy.
Read about him in a NYT article. What a life he led!
He was from Lincoln County next to my mother's home and the mountains there are so tightly packed that sunlight is reduced during the day. He got himself out of those mountains and took flight in more than one way, that's for sure!
USS WVA - After she was brought to the surface & repaired, she later served in the Philippine campaign. American ingenuity!
My accountant flew with him when he was in the military. Amazing man!
Just another spinning-out-of-control Monday! Bless the seamen who survived Pearl Harbor and who are still alive. There aren’t many left nowadays. My husband is a Vietnam Vet and approaching 74. Those WWII vets are nearly 30 years older. Wars are not brought on by many women. Perhaps in the Elizabethan years, but not after the early 1900’s.
Our Covid numbers are climbing but not a peep from Fake 45. He screwed up, as usual. He left Jared in charge of PPE and of the distribution of the vaccine. Inept, deceitful, and miserably despicable people are in charge of our lives for another 1.5 months. I am counting the days and minutes.
In Queen Elizabeth 1's reign her wars were firstly against internal revolts led by Catholic men who neither accepted being ruled by a women nor her role as the head of the official church/religion.....even if she was somewhat more tolerant than her step-sister QueenMary. Secondly, for 18 years she defended herself and her country against Philip of Spain who considered her as a heretic and thus his duty to depose and dispose. She didn't foment wars with people or countries...she won them when she was attacked using all the means at her disposal....Francis Drake and other pirates being particularly useful.
And continuing; the thunderous, cavernous, galactic, cosmic silence of congressional Republicans, for whom the pandemic seems to be old business. All but 27* of whom seem still stuck on the election, although I haven't heard of any newly elected or re-elected Republicans shouting "Election fraud!" or calling for recounts in their elections. Those elections were perfect. Somehow the fraud never made it past the top of the ballot.
*Washington Post
All just waiting to see which way the wind blows....before changing jackets. For afficionadoes of French songs one might be delighted by Jacques Dutronc's "L'opportuniste". The Lyrics:
Je suis pour le communisme
Je suis pour le socialisme
Et pour le capitalisme
Parce que je suis opportuniste
Il y en a qui contestent
Qui revendiquent et qui protestent
Moi je ne fais qu'un seul geste
Je retourne ma veste, je retourne ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je n'ai pas peur des profiteurs
Ni même des agitateurs
J'fais confiance aux électeurs
Et j'en profite pour faire mon beurre
Il y en a qui contestent
Qui revendiquent et qui protestent
Moi je ne fais qu'un seul geste
Je retourne ma veste, je retourne ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je suis de tous les partis
Je suis de toutes les party
Je suis de toutes les coteries
Je suis le roi des convertis
Il y en a qui contestent
Qui revendiquent et qui protestent
Moi je ne fais qu'un seul geste
Je retourne ma veste, je retourne ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je crie vive la révolution
Je crie vive les institutions
Je crie vive les manifestations
Je crie vive la collaboration
Non, jamais je ne conteste
Ni revendique ni ne proteste
Je ne sais faire qu'un seul geste
Celui de retourner ma veste, de retourner ma veste
Toujours du bon côté
Je l'ai tellement retournée
Qu'elle craque de tous côtés
À la prochaine révolution
Je retourne mon pantalon
Merci
Translation, s'il vous plait.
My high school French fails me.
By popular demand.....
I'm for Communism,
I'm for Socialism
I'm for Capitalism
Because I'm an opportunist
There are those that contest
Who reclaim, who protest
Me, I make only one gesture
I turn my jacket inside-out, I turn my jacket inside out
Always on the right side
I'm not afraid of profiteers
nor agitators
I have confidence in the electors
I profit from it to make my fortune
There are those that contest
Who reclaim, who protest
Me I make only one gesture
I turn my jacket inside-out, I turn my jacket inside out
Always on the right side
I'm for all the parties
I'm party to all
I'm in all the cliques and clans
I'm king of the converts
There are those that contest
Who reclaim, who protest
Me I make only one gesture
I turn my jacket inside-out, I turn my jacket inside out
Always on the right side
I'm for the revolution
I'm for the institutions
I'm for the protests
I'm for collaboration
No never do I contest
Nor do I reclaim or protest
Me I make only one gesture
I turn my jacket inside-out, I turn my jacket inside-out
Always on the right side
I have so often "turned" my jacket
That it's cracked at all the seams
At the next revolution
I'll turn my pants.
For the music, you'll find him singing this on U-tube! have fun!
So describes Lindsay Graham......
I love the sentence "I turn my jacket inside-out." What a great image to apply to the "turncoat" repubs.
Merci beaucoup, monsieur.
Vive la France
You're quite welcome, Sir.
Nice! Gives me a chance to practice reading this beautiful language. I’m improving. My learning continues. Thank you! ❤️🤍💙
The phrase "retourner sa veste" is difficult to translate totally as, much as it means "turn your jacket inside out", it also is an expression describing politicians who are unscrupulous wind vanes...going with the flow, bending continually to the prevailing balance, or lack thereof, of forces.
A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. Wikipedia
And then what do we call a turncoat that re-sins time and time again.
Falstaff.
Very apropos. I enjoyed stretching my brain to read it. About 45 years ago I could read French fairly fluently. It is true that if you don't use it you lose it.
HCR, I got a kick out of your phrase: "a toothless executive order." Too little, too late, 45!
I will not ask, how can 45 and his family place their heads on their cushy pillows at night, because they lack humanity, empathy, and scruples. But I will ask: how do the GOP sleep at night following all these deaths and all of DT's inefficiencies in the midst of this pandemic? They are as guilty as he is for every collosal blunder, every death, every unvaccinated citizen, every grieving family!
DT and his faithful entourage have even spread the virus with ne'er a care in the world. From 45 himself to Giuliani, they have carelessly and unapologetically infected others. As noted by a Georgian senator: "Little did I know that most credible death threat that I encountered last week was Trump’s own lawyer…. Giuliani — maskless, in a packed hearing room for 7 hours. To say I am livid would be too kind.”
How many more days do we have to endure their inadequacies and unparalleled stupidity?
The toothless executive order could employ techniques developed against China....banning exports of elements essential for national security! This could easily be backed up by threats from Mnuchin of highly agressive Commerce Dept and IRS action against Fizer and Modena. This would have the added advantage of fitting with his "America First" political propaganda and furthermore annoy significantly the Europeans who refuse to obey his dictat and bow before his magnificence!
Don't give him any ideas.
Yikes!!!
The number one issue in the election was the preservation of our democracy. It remains our number one issue, not covid nor economic disaster as catastrophic as they are. For lack of a better word a coup attempt is being attempted by Trump with connivance by silent Republican politicians as well as overt promotion at state, local and national levels. And, frighteningly, by support from millions of Americans. We laugh it off or ignore the seriousness of what is happening at our own peril and I am afraid Biden and the centrist wing of the Democratic Party in all their talk of a return to normalcy are giving Americans a false sense of security. Just look at serious threats of violence against election officials, the drumbeat of propaganda against safe and fair elections, the use of military forces against peaceful protesters, the court appointments made with the intent of keeping Republicans in power and big business in control, the successful attempts at gerrymandered power for minority control of state and national officers. This is why the election made me more worried not less. We did not win the rout our country needed.
Exactly. I think our zeal to believe that things will get better with a Biden presidency has been fomented and intensified all the more by the desperation and frustration we've endured for the last 4-5 years. We have to be careful and not get our hopes up too much, IMO. I try and temper my intense hope with shots of reality. We are far from achieving getting our republic back on a sounder footing, IMO. Does anybody SERIOUSLY think that all the Republicans in Congress are going to suddenly have an epiphany and magically begin to work with Biden all of a sudden?? The 74,000,000 are going to magically evaporate?? In their eyes, Biden represents only a temporary lull of some spotty Democratic leadership and they will get everything back in '22 and '24. They ain't going away, y'all. Nor are they gonna give up. God knows, I'd love to be wrong. I'm almost as worried now about the future as at any time. I consider myself VERY cautiously optimistic. Not time to all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" QUITE yet...
I am in total agreement with you. As happy as I was that Trump lost the election....I am not ready to breathe a sigh of relief to have a 'normal' leadership once again. There is so much to be overcome and Trump isn't done yet. What more will he do in his childish backlash because he lost the election?
I worry that people are expecting Joe to work a miracle and have us back to normal by Jan. 21st. Just watch the criticism fly when he doesn't turn things around immediately. smh
I agree. I hear people looking forward to 2021, thinking that it will be better, and I just stare at them. The only real change is that Biden and Harris will be leading the U. S.; Covid will still be here, the economy will still be a wreck, and so on.
My concern (one of them) is that Biden will be so busy cleaning up the mess trump is making, he won't be able to address too much else, potentially leaving him vulnerable for the 2024 election.
That may be the Republican plan. Distraction is the name of the game. And the goal is minority rule.
I've no doubt that you're correct, Lena.
Dems always get blamed for Repubs f#%^kups, correct me if I am wrong
I agree completely.
The domestic terrorists here in Michigan sure see it as a coup, an "about time" one. Just ask our phenomenal Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, who huddled with her 4 year old son during their nasty, dangerous seige at her house. This is not the time to let our guard down. Or ask my 3 Republican brothers who are contributing $$$$ to get tRump back in office - not in 2024 but 2021.
Thank you for reminding us about Pearl Harbour. I notice that NY times (the version I read) is so full of trump that there is no space for remembering Pearl Harbour.
It took 2403 lives for America to wake up, consolidate and rise to defend democracy. I wonder what is needed for GOP to wake up this time. I believe that the best thing that can happen to USA, and the world, is for GOP to restore and get rid of the Tea Party supporters. In the meantime, vote blue and get well soon 🇺🇸.
Party splits are a-coming! The Tea Party people are not going away and will not lack funds. A revolution doesn't stop to order.....we'll see where it ends.