On the sunny Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, Messman Doris Miller had served breakfast aboard the USS West Virginia, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was collecting laundry when the first of nine Japanese torpedoes hit the ship.
Rowshan and Kathy, I send Heather's Letters to several friends daily, and today I took the liberty of adding my thoughts, based on your sentiments, at the top of today's Letter with this:
“The times are very bad. Very well, you are there to make them better.”
— Thomas Carlyle
"PLEASE READ THIS LETTER TODAY. THE ONLY WAY THE EVIL THAT WE ARE WITNESSING IN THE FASCISTS THAT CONTROL THE RIGHT WING OF OUR GOVERNMENT CAN WIN IS IF WE THROW UP OUR HANDS AND FAIL TO VOTE. THE MAJORITY IN THIS COUNTRY WANTS DEMOCRACY TO SURVIVE."
Heartfelt thanks to both of you, to Heather, and all who value her values and efforts.
Thanks, Kathy. Some of my recipients are among the few Repugnants to whom I still speak, but said they were open to reading Heather's Letters, so the question is whether they're humoring me or truly interested. Call me crazy, but I think it's worth my time.
Jenny, I agree that, as Mary Hardt wrote, we have a flawed democracy. There are many ignorant people who act out of emotion and disinformation, and many who are malignant, but despite all of that, what we have is still worth saving and building on. No, we're not Sweden, but still better than the current trend of authoritarian nations, and presently we can hold out hope that Joe Biden and his future inheritors will prevail and save us from the clear and present danger of the deranged Trump-lovers. If that doesn't happen, we don't stand a chance. We're not Russia, China or Hungary yet, and not all of us have been indoctrinated - yet.
Jennifer, you are right—we have a flawed democracy. What we also have is the opportunity to improve it. If Project 2025 becomes a reality with a retribution-focused President or one focused on gutting career civil servants with more than 5 years of experience (Nicky Haley), we will find it much harder to pass legislation to decrease systemic problems.
Dear Mary. I appreciate that some Americans are now becoming more focussed and fighting. I wish you luck.
I lived in the US for 23yrs and was appalled by the lack of interest in Politics. Look up the voting record of the USA. When only 40% of the electorate vote this is not a Democracy.
We in the rest of the World have had to put up with your 'warmongering' and believe me the Europeans especially the UK have never questioned this.
Right. We are continually working to have a democracy. Like Sisyphus and his rock, we just keep rolling along. It's never perfect because we are human, and we are always changing and adapting. It sure beats anything else.b
Colette, thank you. I'm flattered. I was thinking just a while ago that our very large country, populated by people from all over the world, is something of a messy wonder. The fact that we've survived at all is somewhat amazing. With all of the cultures, religions, races and customs, it is easy to explain the upheaval since our very beginnings. We describe ourselves as a melting pot, but the truth is that many of the ingredients are resisting the melt.
In my lifetime, a fellow student whose parents had immigrated from Greece fell in love with an Italian boy. Her father was enraged, so shipped her off to Greece to marry a 40-year-old Greek man with whom he had arranged the marriage. As a six-year-old, I convinced the Jewish boy next door who told me that Santa Clause didn't exist that I had seen him delivering my gifts. Apparently, I was a convincing "imaginer," because his mother told my mother that I was the reason that she had to put up a Christmas tree that year! My point is that some conflicts result in relatively minor, sometimes amusing, resolutions, while others are no doubt life changing and excruciatingly sad.
Naturally, there are many shameful stories that have continued for centuries - the betrayal and slaughter of indigenous people and the enslavement of millions, to name just two out of many. Total reconciliation won't happen during my lifetime, but we must hope that we will eventually prove that our experiment will bear good fruit if we are able to choose wise, decent leaders and resist the greedy haters.
There is plenty to worry about, but I believe those who still believe in America's aspirational values outnumber the supremacists. If we get it together, we can win.
JL, you write: "If we get it together, we can win." And, this is what HCR writes: "I hear a lot these days about how American democracy is doomed and the reactionaries will win. Maybe." That "maybe" should scare the hell out of us. If there is any doubt in your mind that we are up against the most serious threat to our democracy since WWII and before that the Civil War, it needs to be extinguished now. Each of us needs to be a "Doris Miller" and do what we must do. What is that? Vote. Support campaigns with our time and money. These are the times that try men's and women's souls and it is no time to be a summer soldier or a sunshine patriot. (Apologies to Tom Paine.)
Vote blue no matter who! But this repug party has threaten voting rights and out right blocked some for voting and other tactics that make it hard to vote and scared the brave people at voting centers. and..................................
Julie, you are correct, the MAGA thugs are intimidating people and doing what they can to obstruct fair, free and open elections. What that means is that we must work even harder and braver. This is one fight that we absolutely cannot afford to lose. Not only are our children and grandchildren, friends and relatives, depending on us - the whole world is dependent on the success of our efforts if democracy is to survive around the world. I fear that we are the domino that if we topple, other democracies will, too.
Yes, I am angry at Biden for his supporting and sending money to dictator Bibi and not supporting Palestine much and his climate policies don't go far enough. So you are saying that you want America to become a fascist nation Under Trump & company?
Good points all, Richard. The "maybe" is the scary part. I have the 2025 project tabbed for constant reference also. Let us also remember, as documented by Rachel Maddow's "Ultra" that the Republican party( the normal ones) has been trying to pull this Fascist dictatorship off for a while, biding their time between attempts. We should have heeded Harry Trumans words about that; "the only good Republican is pushing up daisies". Words to that effect.
Tom, you are correct, "We should remember that Mussolini and Hitler were each popularly elected to begin their dictatorships." This is why, in part, we need to take this threat very, very, very seriously. Each one of us should pledge, right now, to spend on campaign donations $1,000, $2,000 or whatever it is that "hurts." For some of us, it may be $10,000 or even $50,000. And, volunteering time as never before. While I spent four years in the U.S. Army already, it isn't enough. It just isn't.
I have been an election worker for 56 years. Every presidential and about half the midterms. My first vote, at 18, was for RFK in the 1968 Democratic presidential primary (George Wallace had lowered the voting age to 18—a state election law decision—to win the primary. He lost the youth vote to Kennedy, ironically. I was a student at Alabama then. RFK spoke there in March winning over a hostile crowd and exiting to a standing ovation. I do believe that that RFK speech has been my inspiration for many years.
Yes, Richard, all of those things. The Rs are making no secret of what they intend to do...not even dog whistles or hiding awful things using the words liberty or patriotism. Yet the news yesterday was all about Hunter Biden and his tax woes and the problems of sanctuary cities and the people at the southern border. If the last story on NBC hadn't been this typewriter orchestra, I would have turned it off. The orchestra was fascinating, btw.
Michele, you are correct, the right-wing MAGA/KKK make no secret that they want to destroy American democracy and crush the hated Lib-tards, gays, Jews, Blacks, immigrants, women's rights advocates and others. They're a hateful group, Fascist. At the top are the oligarchs who manage the suckers at the bottom with their propaganda.
The suckers at the bottom are mostly white who want by dint of being that to be the top of the heap without realizing that the heap has a false bottom.
Technically, strictly speaking, you are correct. We are not a pure democracy. Instead, we have a democratic Republic, where we vote for our representatives. And that process is further skewed by the disproportionate voting power given to the individual states. But still, at many levels, the system is one person, one vote, majority rule. The Republicans seek to overturn this process with their gerrymandering efforts.
Heard Chris Krebs this morning. He points out that thanks to online propaganda, this will be a very difficult election. He added that paper ballots are very important. I want to add GOTV postcards.
Think the postcards and letters are terribly important …we have seen that they DO make a substantial difference and if there ever was a year to make such a ‘difference it is 2024…..
Got one during the 2020 election (mind was already made up to vote straight Dem) - it was a personal touch that countless asks for donations and ads couldn't rival. It stayed on my fridge for months.
Oil is energy and our culture thrives on use of energy; the car, the refrigerator, the climate controlled house, light at night, the device on my lap, and oil is ideal for oligarchs because it's located in only a few areas, which they get to own. Alternative energy plans are a threat, especially those that are decentralized, such as solar. It's like the Monopoly game where the monopoly winner takes all, except that in real life the losers sleep under a bridge.
And, gives me another opportunity to recall my Aunt, Kaye Thurman, who was present in Honolulu on that'Day of Infamy" as well as my UCLA physics teacher, Professor Kaplan, who helped develop over-the-horizon radar and my father, William McKown who like many others in Southern California immediately started manufacturing war planes with new assembly methods where he hired my Aunt Kaye.. My Aunt introduced my father to her sister, my mother, Frances Thurman McKown. I did not expect to go back to that family history this morning -- thank you HCR.
The Thurman women are quite a story. My Grandmother, was a piano teacher to age 100. 'Mildred' put her nimble hands to work in WW II making bomb sites. Mildred also won a long distance road race in the 1930's -- beat the boys. My Grandfather was a private investigator ... may have been the real origin of my deductive reasoning skills. : )
Yup First that WWIi Generation had to respond to the Imperial forces of Japan then the Wehrmacht only later -- babies. I was part of the "2nd Wave" of Boomers in 1948.
Hope gives opportunity to open our minds and our hearts. To make that connection of love to others. Our basic needs as humans is to belong to something or someone. We need that connection or we fail to survive. We humans have more in common than not. It's unfortunate that our own battles in life interfere with those connections. Nothing can divide us more than hate and envy. And our media and politicians have profited off that hate and envy forever. Compassion is a sign of intelligent life. Hope is to persevere. To keep moving forward. We owe it to each other.
Can you share the source of this wisdom, Frederick? Perhaps a compilation of what you have come to know ... and in only a line. No matter its source, thank you.
Greetings Jean; This is actually from my understanding of the Buddhist expression "emptiness," which could be understood as "interdependence." IOW, the eyes of another is not distinct from me, the viewer, because interdependence informs me that there ... is ... no... distance between I and any object of my senses. All sense organs, perceptions and objects are in a glorious dance, and a creation of ... the ... human ... mind.
Everything is empty of self-existence, and therefore every THING is comprised of a lot of other things, ESPECIALLY one's perception of the object ....
(sorry for my verbosity, I'm a double Gemini after all ....)
Returned greetings, Frederick. I'm a student of teachers within the Buddhist tradition. And while I don't understand the full breadth of your generous offering, I suppose I know beauty when I see it. After all, I'm a Pisces. ;)
I wondered if the wisdom of your earlier comment was informed by your mother, the teacher. I imagine this may also be true.
I am coming to find my perceptions are colored by what may not be in my view. And still, in the briefest of moments it all seems to coalesce. “Interbeing?”
Might that be the source of our "better angels"? Or for that matter, egalitarianism and democracy. It appears in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and no doubt other religions. It seems to me it also figures in wisdom and virtue.
I feel your pain. I certainly got pissed off enough when reading the book Dark Money. Citizens United has been like cutting a vein. Money is bleeding from everywhere. And it's all this nonprofit bs. However, our votes due count. They are our voice amongst millions. We matter and so does our vote. Too many have died before us for that right and responsibility. Our votes, strikes, boycotts, and voices count.
The people tend to have more say than they think they have, but are lulled and/or bullied into ignoring their agency. Perhaps the main thing effective social movements do is tho get enough people pulling in the same direction. It even the same in revolutions, though that can be bloody. Tyranny thrives when it keeps enough of the people bribed, bamboozled, and cowed.
Rule of democratic law is still functioning or Trump et al would never be indicted. But its taken severe hits, and some of our shields are down.
I think Doris Miller would have some words for people who won't vote for Democrats because they don't like 100% of what they're doing; he understood the bigger picture and the threat of the Axis coalition.
The function of the vote is to exercise our share of responsibility for our own nation's outcomes. It's not like a movie review. It's not just a wishlist. In aggregate it has profound impact on the lives of others, such as families shattered by cruel, extralegal immigration policies, death dealing games with a health emergency, a steep rise in hate crimes, etc. Is that worth a strictly symbolic "protest vote" or abstention?
If we in an aspirational democracy, are not responsible for our own society's outcomes, who is?
Look at the record. It isn't "government" the "GOP" has been dismantling since Reagan; it's specifically " government of the people, by the people, for the people", and regressing toward plutocratic authoritarianism in it's place.
This information about the diverse melting pot of America should be taught in grade schools. Somehow I learned that, probably in the 1950s. Why don’t the stupid Republicans get it??
In 1987, we had a 2 family house and rented the newly vacant 2nd floor to a black couple and baby who were from Montclair, NJ, like we were. No big deal. Montclair was upper old money and a significant black population. We didn't see it as being liberal or anything; we were used to black people from high school. My husband and I saw blacks as equals; period. They were moving out of Newark and when the father wanted to return to get lamps and stuff he didn't trust the moving co. with, he couldn't get back in. No blacks allowed in due to the riots. I had zero interest; I was studying literature at Rutgers nights while raising my 3 kids. 30 years later a PBS special on those riots: severe Police brutality. They could get away with anything. ....sorta like Israel today.
I think the urge to dominate precedes our species. Its basis in evolution does not make it right or wrong, as evolution favors behaviors that "work" to preserve and secure the species, but now we have so much agency as humans that the competitive, sociopathic, domination urge is plaguing our species with world wars and threatening to extinguish our own species completely, or the livability of a blighted survival. The good news is that we are a clever-enough species to see where toxic behaviors are leading, and to alter them; if we are willing to set our priorities straight. Else we may well join the dinosaurs as fossils, and Nature tries a replay cockroaches. They survived the dinos after all.
I appreciate your pointing out (with facts as usual) the different ethnic groups that served in the War. THIS is the face of Democracy in action! We stand TOGETHER!
Diversity is innovative, diversity makes any species resilient, diversity enriches our lives. we can thrive on diversity so long as we respect and care for the rights of others.
Thank you J L. Your statement brings back the article, "Doris Miller - Pearl Harbor & the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement" by Texas A&M Press which contains a copyrighted photo of Doris Miller wearing his Navy Cross (correction).
Then what is that on his chest in the photos? As I said, the photo I cited is copyrighted by two photographers. I am not arguing ... what are your sources? I have no doubt there was little if any recognition in real time. Seems military medal history should be readily available.
Per Gail Navy Cross then after death the Medal of Honor after per Ally House both just below. Corrected. thanks.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, his highest medal was the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor and given specific to the branch of service.
“The main job of the amygdala (an almond shaped structure in the human brain) is to regulate emotions, such as fear and aggression.”
And from a psychiatrist, known as an expert on human violence:
““Shared psychosis”—which is also called “folie à millions” [“madness for millions”] when occurring at the national level or “induced delusions”—refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence—even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.”
Globally, no. I viewed my duty as a law enforcement trainer to get people OUT of the midbrain reaction of "flight, fight, or freeze" and back into cognitive thought as fast as possible. Autogenic breathing is a good way to combat it, but it requires first remembering that, then applying that.
How universal is that training? One of my nephews is a cop and the other is a firefighter in a major Midwestern city. I only heard bits and pieces about their training from my sister.
The cop had to box everyone in his training class. He literally knocked out most of them. I didn't really see the point to that part of the training. Everyone in the class was also pepper sprayed and tased. Like you, he has testified in court many times because he is well spoken and is able to keep the facts straight. He actually volunteered to go out and arrest people with outstanding warrants. He's had some harrowing experiences with gangs on occasion, but (knock wood) he hasn't had to fire his service revolver except at the range.
I can only imagine the experiences you've had in your career in law enforcement. Thanks for your service.
And I might add, the "hidden" minority, closeted gays and lesbians, who also contributed to the war effort. While not being counted, because of homophobia, they too were part of that diversity.
This diverse history is the truth, just beginning to be told over the last few decades— and the right wing is furious and desperate to whitewash and repress it.
It is like hearing the screaming cries of their deathknell for the past 7-40 years. They do know it will end and they are desperately brainwashing whomever they can...even some Black and Latino men and women who appear to have no idea of what trumpublican "purity" will bring forth. We need to call them out at every turn and hope Justice will be able to pick up the pace to warn them to back away from this madness.
Right you are, Alexandra. Ralph Ellison once said that "America is still being discovered". A significant part of our ongoing discovery would seem to be the engagement to at least a basic level of curiosity and understanding of our fellow Americans, across the breadth and depth of our great gangling Country. To grasp the struggle for freedom endured by Black Americans, to see the second class status of women for so long, to observe the difficult shadow life of immigrants, to ponder the efforts to simply be one's self experienced by our LGBTQ brothers and sisters---these engagements are not for the purpose of self-flagellation as the "anti-woke" crusaders would have it, but rather engagements of discovery and seeking higher ground for all of us.
My professor of medieval French told us that the flowering of troubadour poetry in the mixing of cultures in southern France and Spain was because of the high degree of diversity there. Unforgettable (both the prof and the statement).
Thank you Heather -for the history and another deeply insightful Letter.
Democracy requires constant effort. It requires a society that prioritizes education. A meaningful democracy of any form requires a well-informed, well-educated, and engaged society. Much of the long-term GOP strategy has been to concentrate wealth (and thus power) to the top, while causing working Americans to struggle with longer working hours while living paycheck to paycheck. This is an assault on engagement -working together to protect democracy and shape policies that yield equity and justice for all. Reagan's work to destroy the affordability of higher education, continues to be an assault on another pillar of democracy. And the consolidation of media has eroded the Fourth Estate -journalism and an informed society. Now we are guided by The Kardashians, Snooki, Fox & Friends, and the Sinclair Broadcasting group.
Democracy has slowly been gutted in the United States and Trump/MAGA and Heritage's project2025.org would have been soundly rejected by a society that embraced science, facts, and evidence over propaganda and disinformation. A society that would readily understand that Trickle-Down 'economics' -is not economics -it's a massive fraud perpetrated by the wealthy upon everyone else through GOP shills.
Grateful for you Heather -leading the charge on information and education. Engagement? -it's up to all of us.
Education is essential. We are born to become educated, and what we learn profoundly affects our lives. It seems to me that what we learn to do takes precedence over what we can recite, and our kit of skills for negotiating life includes marketable career skills, but is by no mean limited to it. Powers of observation can be encouraged and refined. Insightful thinking can be taught. Evidence based strategies that produce beneficial real-world results can be explored and incorporated into everyday thinking and life. Thoughtful exploration of the possible, the imaginary, and the privately and publicly experiential can be contemplated and expressed in artistic creation. Said better than I by Mary Oliver:
Thank you J L, I've copied Mary Oliver's poem The Summer Day, which you've brought forth the essence with your last 3 lines. Any time, is always a good time, for a poem --->
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields
Japan came up with a defining act that focused our attention. Oh would it be wonderful if we used our powers to explore the possible, before such a defining moment.
Man, I was sure of it. As I watched, I said to myself, “Now there is no disputing what the cretins are about.” Silly me. Why I think Kevin should be tarred and feathered. Hope chump has thrown him on the trash pile.
"Mussolini had been a socialist as a young man and had grown terribly frustrated at how hard it was to organize people. No matter how hard socialists tried, they seemed unable to convince ordinary people that they must rise up and take over the country’s means of production."
So he turned to despotism. I seems a lot of people have done so, here and around the world.
Mitt Romney, the "good" Republican, said:
"I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing. The head of Coca-Cola said the business environment is friendlier in China than in America. And that's because of the regulators. That's because of government. "
It's because of an authoritarian government. What happens to those who disagree with the government's choices? In the Olympics the government even tried to control the weather.
Democracy is herding cats by design. It a precondition for liberty; but we have to talk to each other. Democracy is a necessarily a conversation, not a take-out menu. In the latter arrangement, the very wealthy just pick up the phone to their retained representatives, in public office, or in their lobbying organizations, and place an order. We settle for dubious fast food if we try it at home. Said Lincoln:
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.”
Who is doing that? "The People" or bought and paid for media? Democratic leadership is not about which head of which party gets to order everyone around. A democratic leader, grass roots, or elected, puts fourth a vision, a focus, around which support will or will not gather. When "We, the People" focus, we claim our agency, from the declaration to King George to gay rights, we get things done when enough of us pull together.
I recall in the '70s some articles in the news about a concept of "The New Liberal Arts", which boiled down to business, business, and more business. Business wants robots, be they human or AI. Ronald "Snakeoil" Reagan saw the profit motive as the beating heart of America, as did his wealthy sponsors. America was to be repurposed to maximize profit. I'm not anti-profit, but some forms of profit, specifically fair trade, are more respectable that others, such as extortion. Meanwhile, there is far more to life than profit.
"Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees; Please! Don' it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got till it's gone?"
And home schooling is the darling of the Christian Dominionists. The best way to be sure a child will never know anything other than what the cult wants them to know.” Total control.
But we have turned most universities into job training institutions as we took music, art, shop, languages (except as electives) from high schools. Where do we learns critical thinking as a society? Trumpism is made possible by loss of intellectual curiosity and Reaganomics.
I've seen him here before. I dismiss him as a religious nut. I don't think he proposes Christian Nationalism, but it is hard to tell with his absence of grammar, sentence structure, punctuation usage, and type settings.
To me, Pearl Harbor awoke a nation, turning even America First pro-fascists into dedicated defenders of our form of government who no longer slept through the dangers of allowing such concentrations of abusive power. Millions volunteered for military service or other ways to contribute when they weren't accepted due not being able to meet the physical standards or being needed in supporting roles other than combat.
There are innumerable examples, the more personal ones are like my mother-in-law. She tried to sign up immediately, eventually being able to become a radio operator once the USCG SPARS (Semper Paratus-Always Ready) were established Nov 23, 1942. December 7th was so special to her that I credit it with her surviving 5 months longer than expected to pass peacefully 14 years ago in the early hours of Dec 7, 2009.
Three of her great-granduncles served together in Congress for 3 terms starting in the 34th Congress, first as members of the majority "Opposition Coalition," then in the newly named Republican party for the second 2 of 3 terms they served together in. I knew her as a dedicated Progressive Republican for most of her life, inspired perhaps by her father's very good friend Harold L. Ickes, who was a Progressive Republican before joining FDR's administration as the longest serving Secretary of the Interior (both like minded in care and management of natural resources and particularly watersheds in the case of her father). He was such a frequent visiter, she thought he was an uncle most of her young life, even buying her the first bike she rode).
She is an example of a rather constant patriotic but big picture progressive and more international inclined mindset. Others who cared less about the rest of the world took a bit longer to wake up but when they did, they hit the deck running, all aboard for the now essential defense against alliances of tyrants. Some had not so counter-productively blocked essential preparations, so were able to less noticeably add their talents to the efforts than those who had yelled the loudest before a seemingly more dramatic and complete turnaround.
Her grandfather softened my criticism of Wendell Willkie, whom I thought he would have voted for in 1940 as a fellow Republican. I didn't really understand why back in 1972 when my thoughts were on his opposition to the TVA in favor of an overly privatized systems. Time allowed discovering Willkie was a bit woke, a former Democrat who changed his party registration in late 1939 and supported helping Britain more in line with FDR's preparations for our foreseeable more active involvement.
I have a new appreciation for those who at least made some preparation possible, I just wish there was more of them at least a bit like Wilkie.
I learned from my father to chant “We want Wilkie.” Never knew that Ickes was a Republican. Do remember the center upper fold photo of John L Lewis calling for AFL-CIO coal miners’ strike in 1943!
Thank you, George Polisner. What you write cannot be written often enough. Perhaps the edition of the Atlantic will have an article about the failure of American education with the elimination of history, civics and the arts from the required curriculum. I hope so.
George, your comments about engagement are important. Engagement may be more important than education because people who are engaged will find the education they need to keep up.
Democracy is messy and complicated; people who are busy with living want quick, easy, and logical answers to messy, complicated, and illogical situations. People who are forced to compromise in their daily lives don't want to wait for the long-range results that compromise is aimed at. People who feel powerless in their daily lives are attracted to power in leaders. Think how popular movies have underdogs winning!
Yes, engagement is vital to maintaining a viable democracy. Our 24 hour, fast pace news cycle, is not conducive to thoughtful engagement. Thankfully, we have Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, and others. But we are already engaged.
I do applaud non-violent engagement of any kind. It must be guided by a reasonable education and trustworthy information. For example, during the pandemic, the protests against wearing a mask was a form of engagement -however predicated by a lack of education and driven by conspiracy theory. Meaningful engagement requires education and trustworthy information (facts, evidence, and science). A well-informed, well-educated person might not engage or vote -then what good is having two of three elements? Education is necessary to discern propaganda and disinformation from trustworthy information. And trustworthy information might not catalyze someone without a minimal education to action.
The Trump Show has long gone stale, like the TV series that runs eight years past its cancel date. Trump is the same paper-thin whiny wretched soul he was in 2015, and each of his daily episodes feels like a poorly written instant replay. My latest political rants have, so far, created very little traction. I've tried "Critical Fascist Theory" and I've tried "MAGANAZI Party." Now I'm pushing the idea that the U.S. military, the 17 clandestine services and the FBI will not obey Trump's orders. "We don't do fascist."
Trump has probably been a whiny, entitled narcissist since he was two, and a conman his whole adult life, but I think the taste of power has really brought forward the fascist in him.
Money and attention are his blood... like heroin for him. Add to it power and revenge the final stages of a true malignant narcissist. He and his sycophants are clear and present dangers to the world and our democracy. It is hard to stay on high alert, but our current generations appear to be the ones called to save our Democracy. We must pace ourselves, take breaks, and be in it for the long haul. We can do this, take heart. We have more diversity, functionality, critical thinking brains, strategies and power to put this fascist uprising down. We need to work together and stand tall for The Great Experiment. They are such bumblers at this moment, but they are tearing and wearing us down and wasting our money and time. We need dumpty & co to (naturally) fall off the wall and stop the constant propaganda. That is our calling-- STOP THE PROPAGANDA and incarcerate insurrectionists before the next potential coup. Call them out. Boycott corporations that fund facist repubs and advertising for propaganda. Think of all the ways we need to repair and make huge changes in how our democracy and educational systems work to strengthen us against fascist parties and cyber warfare.. This is not a time to despair.
We can actually do this if we make pledges for changing this direction with all we
still have. There are those much slicker than trump who want to rise. We need to get really good at Whack-a-Mole around the country..and world. It shocking to many that our own country raised terrorists against us under the guise of christianity. Who needs Isis? I am so glad people are calling it what is has blatantly been for seven years. It demonstrates that our educational systems are sorely lacking in how a Democracy lives and dies. Maybe we need to add one extra year of high school learning and working for Democracy...and how to keep it.
Pensa, we need to reintroduce teaching civics (and critical thinking) in school! It also starts at home. I’ve posted this here before, but will again, a fave & wonderfully illustrated CSN&Y “Teach your children well”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQOaUnSmJr8&list=RDdQOaUnSmJr8 I have great hope that younger generation is paying attention & will say “not on our watch”. And I will join them….it will take all of us, together.
Although I understand the necessity of STEM, my blood boils when it is pushed by my Rep to form “good workers” rather than a thinking populace. The stifling of and sneering at the humanities sickens me.
The foundation of science is an organized attempt to maintain intellectual integrity; a best effort to prove that our logic is sound or that our conclusions accurately account for nature. That's a process that can be applied to every aspect of everyday life, not just "white coat" specialties.
And science (I got misty eyed in science films from the beauty of some of the concepts) can inform our decisions, but it cannot settle all of them. Photons and receptors can explain some of the "why" of the sensation of sunshine on my shoulder or the taste of honey, but only a sentient being can experience them. I feel, therefore I am. The arts provide ways to communicate about thoughts and truths about our subjective experience of being human; the stellar conversion of mass to energy in fusion AND "rosy fingered dawn."
We must have civics and perhaps service in our youth for the good of the whole. I love, love that song and it inspired me well when I was a Montessori teacher in my first career!
A little background I hope related to what made Crosby such an inspiration despite problems along the way.
My hyperacusis (pain and discomfort from loud noises), from being tricked into hanging on to an air raid siren as I climbed a radar tower to tune the radar, left me unable to enjoy music or even understand conversations in crowed rooms. I did appreciate very much of David Crosby's positive, inspirational, contributions with my only significant questioning or criticism being related to the "neurotoxic effects of cannabis interfering with critical brain development," in people starting to use it at too young an age. I've never experimented myself, but have observed the biggest problems seeming to be in those who started very young. Over 90% seemed to tolerate it if started later, and I would guess 10% to 20% actually seemed to derive some benefit, and not get too relaxed to drive safely. The ones I appreciated most were those willing to test its affects on them as safely and scientifically as possible, and stop using it if it affected them too negatively. Some could not stay awake or alert and quit, while most seemed not too negatively affected and not as positively affected as some of those who it really seemed much better from using it. I just want it treated at least as carefully as alcohol when best considering an individual's tolerance and results of its use.
I do like the song and the discussions he had like the "David Crosby Speaks of his drugs use and what saved him," interview with Dan Rather (under 4 minutes but a good sample). There are more interviews I appreciated later in his life even though my ears wouldn't let me enjoy the songs as much as many of my friends did.
P.S. The friend bought David Crosby's old Harley-Davidson around that time and I designed a custom billet instrument cluster for it while taking a SolidWorks 3D course around that time.
Wow, Jim, what an awful impairment to have been done to you! Glad tho that you seemed to have rolled with it as best you can. As to cannabis, I was such a lightweight & disliked smoking it as it gave me a sore throat as a late teen/young adult. As I get older, have tried some topical applications for muscle pain & have a tincture I tried once or twice….nothing that I could personally point to and say yay, this worked for me. Does seem to be beneficial to many, so glad it is becoming accepted. You are right, of course, about heavy use and use too young. I’ve known one or two folks from the way-back who just seemed “blurred” for the rest of their lives.
After watching Kelly Corrigan interview Michael Lewis, I have to think I've been similarly lucky in never being treated as unfairly as most people, and having such wonderful people in my life that should be appreciated so much even if lost at such a young age as his daughter. In my case it was a delightfully curious and adventurous 5 year old grandson (Chase), of a friend. Chase was lost in a dirt bike accident at 9, despite all the best safety equipment and a mother, who was a nurse that missed the seriousness of the injury from such a minor looking accident.
As a former public school teacher, I have to stand up for educators. It is the local school boards who make the decisions on what is taught in the classrooms. A lot of the current crop of board members across the country told their teachers that civics was out, no more cursive writing. Kids don't need to know those things to get a job. There is a world of difference between training a person for a trade and educating a well rounded person. Yes, we need trades as well as professionals in other areas. Their talents and abilities lie in totally different areas. "Our common life depends on each other's toil." The Book of Common Prayer Litany for Compline
Thank you, JennSH. I’ve been retired from teaching here in Southern California for 21 years, though subbed spasmodically for 12 of those years. What is being described here as the norm in education is certainly not what was going on where I taught. All 11th graders took American history and literature; seniors Government and English literature. The Social Studies teachers stressed the importance of voting and had Voter Registration cards ready in class as students turned 18. I, in the English classes, incorporated history with literature ( impossible not to do, much to students’ complaints), and as a Selective Service Board member and registrar, had cards ready for the boys as they turned 18 to register with Selective Service. It became a rite of passage. I have kept up with many via Facebook and am wowed by their successes in life, in both careers and as good parents and grandparents. There are some MAGAs among them, which I’ve occasionally had to speak out to, but they too seem to be leading good lives with loving friends and families.
I do think that we were in line with all the California school districts. Students were being taught what so many decry isn’t being taught anymore. Think about the Parkland High School students in that “other country...Florida, and how well prepared they were to combine and speak out to the nation about changes needed. That is a public school. Blame for what Trump has brought about can not be placed on public school teachers. We worked hard to bring necessary knowledge to the generations after us, many times side-stepping transient school boards and weak administrators. Don’t all of you here have a teacher who made a difference in your life?
Beautifully put, Sue. Indeed we all have had teachers who made differences in our lives, opening doors we didn't know could be opened, to worlds and perspectives we didn't know were existing.
My late Mother was an English teacher for the bulk of her adult life, (also in SoCal) and taught my sisters and I how to read from a very young age.
I do not think it is our teacher's faults, it is how they are impacted from things like, "No Child Left Behind," huge classrooms, behavioral issues and learning issues. Loss, grief, abuse, poverty, all impact the attention of children which impacts teachers. It is complex, but we need to re-think what are the most important skills to survive in the the world of information and cyber warfare. To begin with Critical Thinking Skills and how to suss out and deal with bullies and liars and manipulators beginning in kindergarten.
The extremists do not want these skills or real history to be taught in schools. Like trump said, "I love the uneducated, they are easier to control." The caste system is what they want in order to be the top of the overseers. This is very systematically being implemented and must be rooted out.
In a speech to parents when my daughter entered college, an administrator ask to think of teachers who had made a difference in our lives, and I could think of several, including my wife who taught the visually impaired. I also know of teachers who left the profession because of out-of-the loop administration and political straight jackets. We need more discussion in this society about what we want education to do. Of what we want our society to be.
"c. 1300, "belonging to all, owned or used jointly, general, of a public nature or character," from Old French comun "common, general, free, open, public" (9c., Modern French commun), from Latin communis "in common, public, shared by all or many; general, not specific; familiar, not pretentious." This is from a reconstructed PIE compound *ko-moin-i- "held in common," compound adjective formed from *ko- "together" + *moi-n-, suffixed form of root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move," hence literally "shared by all."
The second element of the compound also is the source of Latin munia "duties, public duties, functions," those related to munia "office."
Christopher, it wasn’t that many years ago that I began living in a home with inside plumbing. When I was small, back in the 50s-early 60s, we had outside toilet, and we had to go to the outside pitcher pump and pump water to wash dishes, do laundry, take a bath, or clean the house. Putin is keeping the Russian people right where he wants them. Right under his thumb. The sooner they rid the country of his likeness, the better.
I understand there’s an ‘election’ that will be coming up soon in Russia. I doubt very seriously that Putin will have anyone run against him that will desire to bring that nation to a Democratic way of life, because he’s well known to ‘fix’ ejections when he wants a certain outcome.
Zero% chance of him losing that election. He is an authoritarian despot, a mobster. That was my point, where HCR says the fascist soldiers were begging for food from the democratic allies.... something doesn't work well with that system.
Fascism was always attractive for its emotional simplicity.
We had Oswald Moseley in England in the 30's - TIME magazine cover wasn't Taylor Swift in 1931, it was "Oswald Moseley, England's Hitler".
Honestly, Christopher, I’m afraid you are very correct. And, after this next election, he’ll be in power until 2030, it was reported on MSNBC (which is one of the networks which Trumputin is targeting all the reporters. Little does he know they are all Republican, or were Republican) yesterday.
According to Ivana, he had that propensity before the power. In a 1990 Vanity Fair interview, Ivana Trump told her lawyer that tffg kept a book of Hitler's speeches near his bed.
Well, I personally do not blame Queensman on that score, because I had "Mein Kampf" on the bedside til I tired of its gibberish. That, and the "Little Red Book".
I totally agree JL, with the elucidation that he has a fascist in him, but he couldn't tell you what the word means.
He must have dreams of being Mussolini and Hitler, but obviously they gave words and theory a little more thought.
I only mention this because as I read today's LFAA, I was once again struck by just how precise and careful HCR is with her choice of words. She often inspires me to think more deeply (and to keep a Wikipedia tab open).
In reference, I cut and pasted this from Wikipedia 'Fascist (insult)
Fascist as a pejorative epithet'
'... in 1944, the anti-fascist and socialist writer George Orwell commented on Tribune that fascism had been rendered almost meaningless by its common use as an insult against various people, and argued that in England the word fascist had become a synonym for bully.' (Pardon my poor punctuation)
I think "Bully" is the genus and "fascist" is the species. And for sure that and many other words gets tossed around as simply pejorative with much further meaning. I used to object when some called us politicians fascist, not that some of them did not lean that way, but it seemed a serious charge. Now I think Trump and associates have crossed the line. I think some of his following gets that and approves, but I strongly suspect not all.
That is essentially what all Fascists are from very early
or formed later and need to be called out. And a deep caution not to use the phrase fascist easily. Because it's not merely somebody you don't like or don't agree with. "It's the actions, stupid, it's the actions."
Last week Rachel Maddow was talking about how Trump takes a word or phrase a normalizes it through repetition and lies. She talks about how TFFG perverted the term "fake news" form it's original usage. And others like Communist, Socialist, Fascist. When you watch Jordan Klepper interview the MAGANAZIs they home in on calling Democrats and others the terms Trump labels them over and over again.
When Klepper asks for examples or what the terms mean, they haven't a clue. They assume it is common knowledge and bad, so they repeat the same labels ad nauseam.
Gary, reading this it reminded me of a doll I had as a kid. You pulled a string on the back and it would “speak” a recorded phrase….they were limited to a few select phrases….repeated again and again. Heh, haven’t thought of that doll in many decades! Kinda reminds me, now that I think of it, of Klepper’s interviewees.
Maybe! I also recall I had a doll named (by the manufacturer) Poor Pitiful Pearl. My and my sisters dolls didn’t do much “dolly” stuff, rather we and our younger brother would get the Tonka Trucks and dolls (including Barbie’s) to do safaris & adventures in the backyard “jungle”. Thanks for jogging that long ago memory!
BTW, I recall some "Republican" in the news explaining that Hitler was a communist because "National Socialist". They seem to go back and forth about whether Hitler was bad or not.
The other day Jordan Klepper from the Daily Show had a YouTube video of a lady in Iowa that he interviewed. I went to Iowa State so I know a lot of Iowans and I just have to say, this lady was likely the dumbest person I've ever seen interviewed. She tried parroting Fox News or some right wing media outlet and kept messing up what they said. If given the choice of room mates between a Trumpanzee parrot and this lady, I would choose the parrot.
I am not sure if you are agreeing with me or not or calling me stupid. I do call those who are using fascist tactics to sow chaos through fear, hatred, division, obstruction, and repetitious lies, propaganda, gaslighting what they are. I do not take this lightly. This is about democracy vs fascism. And, I don't agree with fascists and wannabe dictators in our democracy. It is their actions I am referring to. I have been calling trump a fascist since his first rally of propaganda gaslighting and whipping them into a frenzy with BS. It was much more than not agreeing with him, it was his tyrannical use of fascist tactics and those of cult leaders. I apologize if I misunderstood your comment.
I absolutely did not direct this at you at all, it was a general remark made from other people occasionally loosely using the term (and who might be reading here) from some folks among 'Progressives' . I've been seeing some other high-powered terms misused lately especially since Oct.7th: 'genocide' to name one. Language is a powerful tool and sometimes folks wield it not grasping its rooted meanings as you've no doubt noticed.
What Trump pulled in Lafayette Square was Fascism. I was watching Garrett Haake on MSNBC when it happened. It was a pastoral scene, artists with their easels, people throwing Frisbees. This was about 20 minutes before they were supposed to end their "protest." And then the government thugs (they removed all of the names and insignias from their uniforms) started shooting rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the crowd so Trump could do his photo shoot with a borrowed Bible in front of a church that he had never attended.
The 'It's the actions, stupid' phrase takes off from Clinton's "It's the economy, stupid" he used to turn attention to his platform when running for president. What has become a kind of meme in itself in the Sensitivity-Identity Era (sigh!) where everyone is a label, is a lack of identifying actual actions by their own weights and meanings. This shows up in FB for instance with people using adjectives - which are basically judgment words - endlessly to try to derive meaning about situations, public people etc, when verbs - which define the actions of the person and tend to convey meaning - would do the job. Meaning IS showing up in our courts of law lately where testimony by tfg's lawyers comes down not to what they had described publicly, but down to what they DID.
I've used it but never liked it. "Stupidity" is not so much the problem as being 'fools", and who has never been fooled? That said, it does seem that you can fool some of the people all of the time. (quote origin unknown, but a good one, often attributed to Lincoln)
Because he got kicked out of other schools and they thought he needed discipline. It was not about learning how democracy works. I am sure it was a punitive action. Most likely why he hates the military.
Fine for two year olds, then the outside world, with loving parent/s needs to begin to help the child mature. Really nearly impossible when that’s needed for a 77 year old. Those who think they can help by limiting the tantrums rarely realize how difficult that is (even with two year olds), and most give up, go away, and write books.
Yes for those other influencers, though I have heard his father quoted as being demanding, sending him to military school, and from there, he then must have been an easy ‘mark.’
It’s a whole bio of wrongs and wrong influences,as far as I can see. Ah the importance of early childhood and good loving parenting, let alone decent education. Hard to tell what might have saved this particular destiny!
These are appropriate for two year olds, then loving adults need to provide guidance to mature. Those who try with a 77 year old find it’s much much more difficult than with the child ( and it’s not easy then). Most then either give up, enable, run scared, and/ or leave and write books.
Be like Doris: keep doing the work and wear down ( probably not so possible to educate) the tyrant’s behavior. The Constitution and those who vow to serve and protect it are guardrails, but they only work if there are enough like Doris.
At two years old, those qualities are appropriate. Then a loving parent or parents need to help move the child toward maturity. Not so easy when it’s a 77year old. Those who think they can often get tired of the tantrums, run scared, and give up, leave the scene and write books. How many can be like Doris— continue to go back in and do what they can? The power to help the two year old takes persistence, self discipline, intelligent guidance, and safeguarding. And love. The Constitution and those chosen to serve and protect it apparently haven’t yet made enough difference. Like Doris, they/we need to go back to work, awake.
Gen Smedley Butler stepped up early in the Business plot/Wall Street Putsch of 1933 when they tried to recruit him to take over the government, seemingly letting them think he might go along as he learned more about what they were plotting, before exposing it.
Many of the previous and current Military and Trump Appointees who said they would still vote for him again, did instead refuse to follow his illegal orders and "suggestions" in the end, "refusing to do fascist." A very few like Gen Flynn and probably his brother, either were willing to disavow their oaths and do his bidding (or slow walk reaction that should have started much earlier).
I do believe we will have enough who honor their oaths to stop them a second time but it could be more traumatic and damaging than their Jan 6 practice run. Better to be over prepared next time than as at risk as the first time.
"And, logically, that select group of leaders would elevate a single man, who would become an all-powerful dictator. To weld their followers into an efficient machine, they demonized opponents into an “other” that their followers could hate."
What affect would it have on the low-information MAGANAZIs if Biden took Fox News, Breitbart, Sinclair and OAN off of the air? Also the WSJ, Washington Examiner, New York Post and USA Today. Their mission appears to be demonization of the others HCR details in this letter--especially Biden and Harris.
Gary, for me the conundrum is how to actively oppose the anti-democratic autocratic/theocratic efforts effectively when they use cheating and dirty tricks to advance their agenda WITHOUT becoming like them? I do not want to “become” that which I oppose.
Hmmmm. Is that what hypocrisy is? --when one becomes that which one opposes? If so, then I am one. I'm not sure about resorting to cheating and dirty tricks, but I am not very civil in my criticisms of the right. I perceive them to be liars and cheaters, but I'm guessing they think I am a liar and a cheat as well.
And I invest in fossil fuel companies and other companies that don't give a lick about the environment or their workers. And all because I want to increase my nest egg for retirement.
That travels too far into the realm of "thought control". What needs to happen is the "media" needs to dig out of the drama and back to reporting on events as they are, not as trash that gathers "clicks" or "subscriptions" or "follows".
Your latest idea sounds hopeful but none of those services are likely to refuse to obey their commander in chief. If it weren’t for the fact that we talking about Trump as that commander the refusal to follow orders would be the rapid unwinding of our Constitutional experiment. Some general, admiral or Secretary would become our de facto unelected president. That is not what we want any more than we want Trump as president.
My husband was Navy and was born Dec 7 1943 so I remember the day of infamy. My grandfather was a Navy engineer who designed and supervised the building of the dry docks in the harbor that were bombed on that fateful day. Lots of links across time and space and reasons to stand together for our republic’s democracy. We the people shall prevail. Thank you for this important review of history and call for support.
Still remembering that morning. 6 years old and on my way out the door to feed the chickens, with our radio always on. I heard the president's voice which I knew from his fireside chats; stopped in my tracks hearing about a place called Pearl Harbor. The next day's newspaper brought those horrendous photos of battleships on fire and sinking. Shortly after our small local Bangor airport began sweeping its beacons through the night skies for the next three years, which brought up my question of why German bombers would even bother to fly over our NE PA farmlands. I decided they wouldn't as my curiosity took in the geography that would be involved along with the flying range bombers would have to manage flying from Germany. Not until many years later did I know that Nazi subs were cruising and torpedoing our ships just off the New Jersey coast about 100 miles away. What a way to learn geography…
Having visited Pearl Harbour and the Missouri memorial site (listening there to Japanese youth cat calling to each other and laughing) I was appalled to learn that when President Trump visited that site in the company of a top military official, he seemed to be not fully cognisant of what happened at that site. This is the man who wants to return to the presidency and become a a dictator. Why does the GOP bow to this repugnant human being?
I was a six year old military dependent in Hawaii in 1952 who, like my future wife also a dependent child, saw a lot of the bullet holes and damage 11 years after the attack. We were stationed there from 75 to 79 and visited the Arizona Memorial nearly 35 years after the attack.
It was such an important memorial to my wife's mother, a WWII Veteran who signed up as soon as she could after the attack (and managed to live 5 months longer than expected to pass peacefully early in the morning of Dec 7, 2009).
Dec 7, 2011 (I think), 70 years after the attack one of our college students told us his grandfather was lost as a member of the turret 3 crew, bringing tears to my eyes as I had guessed from the student's name that it might be "Charley Brown" (actually Charles Martin Brown), as his name was the only name I remembered from the plaque simply because it reminded me of the Charley Brown cartoons. He was one of 5 crewmen with the last name Brown (of 1.175 I found listed). I think I somehow knew "Charley Brown" was a Turret 3 crew member before meeting his grandson but don't know where I learned that after spotting his name on the memorial.
They are much more than simply names on a wall to many of us.
Virginia...Why does the GOP bow to this repugnant human being? My thoughts on this question go all over the map.
Perhaps the GOP folks are fearful of retribution, but I am sure that is as legitimate as they might want us to believe. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to face it and conquer it. Easier said than done, I suppose. Clearly we don’t have courageous representatives. The other thought I have, which is most predominant for me, is that Trump has released the kraken! His evil, hitleresque rhetoric has awakened all the hate that has always resided within the white supremacist nature. It is quite scary to realize that there are so many Americans who hold such attitudes and now there is a house leader who is a religious fanatic and espousing a
misogynistic, bigoted agenda and approach to leadership within his party. We have only to look at the state of Texas and that horrendous Governor. And beyond belief, a criminally indicted person running for president and a party that backs him to be their candidate. UnF-ingbelievable!! When all the trumpers realize that their rights and liberties are at risk with TFG, maybe, just maybe they will wake up and do the right thing.
Christine, I just don't think they will wake up. For them, the thought of being "better than" people of color, and non-Christians, and the LGBTQ+ community supersedes any loss of their own liberties. "Owning the libs" won't put food on your table, but it will sure make you feel more powerful. Hatred and anger are powerful drugs.
Agreed. People are in way, way too deep. Sunk cost fallacy works at its highest here because people’s entire self concept was lifted by the choice to belong, to attend “services”, to commune with others and to participate in a universality of hate.
A few stuck a toe in, kept their critical faculties and left. . . whenever ( pick your moment of extraplanetary foolishness - the constant lying, Trump’s invective against McCain as a war hero, his hawking chlorine bleach during Covid, the Four Seasons nightclub rally, January 6. . . ). They left before the emotional cost of leaving was too high.
But the majority hung on through thick and very, very thin - and they are here today. This is why we have a clear and present danger. To turn away now is to taste the bitter ashes of having been a fool. They will stay and a second chance at the Presidency will do wonders for their energy.
And, sad to say America, you brought on a Trump. He did not arrive on soil not carefully tilled. Inequality has crushed the American Dream for many. Americans stood around mutely while unions were being wrecked by right to work rules. In the early 2000s Americans dubbed opioids as “hillbilly heroin” and gave it not a second thought.
Americans endured years and years of steadily increasing shootings in the public square, especially schools and ou of it came the bowdlerized nursery rhyme (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle:
Lockdown, lockdown, lock the door
Shut the lights off, say no more
Go behind the desk and hide
Wait until it’s safe inside
Lockdown, lockdown, it’s all done
Now it’s time to have some fun!
The single greatest factor of America’s complicity in Trump is the deterioration of American education. Somehow school districts have managed in their squirrel-headedness to get it exactly wrong. Where the tax base is strong, millions is thrown at schools. Where it is weak, the schools get pennies. No wonder each generation of Americans is less and less well-educated except at the top, less and less able to understand the cult of Trump (except at the top), less and less inclined to believe in the American Dream (except at the top).
What now?
No surrender. Every avenue must be pursued to eliminate Trump. This. Election. Must. Be. Won.
Then, don’t turn away. Turn to the critical areas of childbirth, early years and education. Pour billions into making it possible for pitchers to be to survive birth, raise their children with targeted help - targeted to the times when poor young mostly single parents are laid vulnerable, unable to keep it together.
When the children start living, focus on fairly funded public education. As a former teacher I am mental when I see the energy expended on hardening schools, arming teachers, fighting the LGBTQ+ community etc. Fight the real issues - reading, writing, civic literacy. Then you have a chance to- when that generation grows up - to fix the colossal structural problems of the nation.
I made a point on my first visit to the island of Hawaii to visit those memorials. Absolutely stunning, and the number of survivors who have chosen to be interred with their shipmates upon their death is a testament to the concept of service.
It was not lost upon me that the USS Missouri was positioned to "stand watch" over the USS Arizona.
To preserve our US democracy is THE challenge of this decade, perhaps century….and we must really get ‘at it’ in the next 11 months….decency/sanity/and stability requires it and the world desperately needs it! This is clearly NOT just a national issue. We are a largely interdependent world!
We cannot have real democracy with capitalism. Until the workplace is democratic, we will always be subject to the power of the capitalists, no matter how many guardrails are put in place. The reason virtually every piece of legislation from Congress since America came into existence has been to line the pockets of monied interests, or watered down when crafted to help the working class, is due to the fear of the capital strike.
Call it democracy all you want. In the richest nation on earth, in a real democracy, literally the people rule, there would be no poverty, no homeless, no one hungry, etc. There is no true left to speak of to force the change to systemic economic inequality we require to have democracy. The corporate-owned duopoly rules, and makes the rules.
Democratize the workplace. Otherwise, we’re pissing in the wind.
Tom High, thank you for sharing this interview of Richard Wolff. Excellent. That’s why I value this group of commentators--for their sharings like this. I think about how the Confederates were not punished adequately after the Civil War allowing them to establish Black Codes and Jim Crow laws and reestablish their exploitation of their former slaves. It took demonstrations and violence to shake free of Jim Crow. Here is Wolff pointing out that FDR got what amounted to temporary concessions without putting in place systemic structural changes thereby giving capitalists the space to dismantle the New Deal benefits. We are now on the brink of dismantling Social Security. I was appalled at the way we responded to 2008--bailing out the risk takers and allowing so many to lose their homes and other savings. Workin Americans maintain their needs by taking on credit card debt and/or relying on payday loans. Will it take violence to stop exploitive capitalism or will corporations replace governments and borders and citizenships first before workers demand freedoms within the corporations? I already think legislators at all levels have ceded their work to corporations and monied interests. Thanks again for that link.
We have a problem in this country in getting past government (monied interest) propaganda that makes us think we have a democracy, and incremental ‘reforms’ are all that is necessary to fix what ails us. In this time, facing the problems we are facing now, that is, to be blunt, a BS narrative.
Agree completely about ‘08; Obama’s response led directly to MAGA.
As to whether violence will be required for systemic change, we’ll see. Peace, t
We need to go further, Gayle. CU was just another in a long line of corporate friendly SCOTUS decisions. We have to overrule the court entirely, by passing a constitutional amendment that kills the twin concepts of money as speech and corporate personhood. Call your representative, and have any friends you know in other districts do the same, and urge them to cosponsor HJR-54. More info here - MoveToAmend.org
Got it, and thanks for giving us a pathway to do something that has the capacity to make a difference! It's going to be a whole lot easier once we re-elect Joe Biden and re-gain the majority in Congress. The main thing we need to focus on right now is getting people to VOTE for Democracy!!!
Tom-Thanks for sharing this link. I wonder how many Americans know why white supremacy was invented and the impact it's had on capitalism and our so-called democracy which has been tainted by corruption, malice and greed.
"The ruling class invented the "white race" as a social-control mechanism in response to the labor solidarity"....by fixing a perpetual brand upon African Americans...the racial privileges conferred by the ruling class upon European-American workers not only work against the interests of the direct victims of white supremacy, they also work against the workers' interests"... From The Invention of the White Race Volume II: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America by Theodore W. Allen (1919-2005) (published in 1997)
Allen predicted that unless and until European Americans "wake up" to the origins of race we'll have perpetual conflict that will undermine our nation. Police shootings of Black people awakened some to racism and we often acknowledge racism but never really deal with it as a detriment to all of us.
There was indeed backlash about the banks getting off scot free when "common people" suffered, but the real backlash is all about the fact that Obama was able to win the presidential election at all. That was a signal to some that White people are "losing their country". MAGAs are panicking and desperate now. To make their point they should just go ahead and show everyone the Birth of a Nation film released in 1915.
Unfortunately, those being bamboozled by the ruling class can't see through the fog.
Americans need to be educated more about what racism is really all about-maybe then we can return to the times when there was indeed solidarity among the working class. Check out the story of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 and how capitalism developed from there.
As historian Lerone Bennett Jr. (1928-2018) simply said in his book The Shaping of Black America: The Struggles and Triumphs of African Americans, 1619-1990s (published in 1969), "We don't have to speculate on the motives of the men who created the American race problem. They tell us clearly what they were doing and why they were doing it...the race problem in America was a deliberate invention of men who systematically separated blacks and whites in order to make money".
Voluminous documentation and painstaking analysis reveals the truth about racism that most of us deny, disregard or distort. What are white supremacists really holding onto? If we really want to reconstruct, reform, repair, replace? our democracy then we have to recognize that race and class trumps (pun intended) everything...
Joan, indeed the next 11 months are razor’s edge critical….and then we must remember never to be asleep at the wheel again & understand that what we think “could never happen” can.
Yes, but also a tragedy that his and many other's heroism was undervalued. And yet, I suspect his visibility help to erode the the wall of prejudice. The struggle is still intense, but some of the institutional barriers have been lowered.
Black Americans who fought in Vietnam came home to face the same racism which those I know thought they would be America's heroes. I imagine it is the same for most wars for POC when they return. We have work to do!
If you want a video slice of what service was like for Black Americans, take a look into "Hidden Figures", the movie that features the stories of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan.
Heather, you bring one of the most important days of American history to full light. And, you have tied it to today’s current situation so perfectly.
“Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch?”
Every American in this nation needs to read this write-up, and ponder that question you ask. I have been fighting this for the past 7 years.
Donald J. Trump has been a spy since the early 70s for Russia. He is a narcissist, sociopath, and the only thing he has his sights on right now is becoming a Dictator. That’s his ultimate goal.
Anyone who doesn’t think he will do exactly what he says he’ll do when he walks back into the White House is a total fool! He will completely destroy America. He will dismantle our economy, our Democracy, our Constitution will be gone, forever.
This MAGA group he has built are of the utmost dangerous. He has them now infiltrated into all levels of our government from local through federal. Every level in all states. All he needs to do is get himself back in the White House.
IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
“Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch?”
Daniel, I noticed on the Project 2025 site—I’ve been aware of it soon after it was published, but went back on recently to see if anything new was posted—well well well they now have a “sign up” for folks interested in putting their hat in the ring to participate & online classes, etc., to “train” recruits. WTF!!! We really need to pay attention & take this seriously.
I did not see any mention in the media about December 7th being the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day.
I remember this 1941 day vividly. We had invited a skating instructor to Sunday lunch. Nancy Alvord’s husband was a pilot on an aircraft carrier based in Pearl.
After lunch we were going to listen to a radio concert from NYC. Instead, we heard the first news of a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The news was stunning to Mrs. Alvord and to us. Though we had been following intently the war in Europe [my mother was British and, for us, WW II in Europe began in September, 1939], the prospect of a Japanese sneak attack was unimaginable.
We had scant details of the magnitude of the damage for some days. Mrs. Alvord’s husband was safety on an air craft carrier that was not in Pearl. [He was lost at the battle of Midway, when his entire torpedo squadron was shot down by Japanese fighters.]
On December 8th President Roosevelt, in a stirring speech before Congress, declared war against Japan. No mention was made of Hitler’s Germany. [There was subsequent speculation whether the United States would declare war against Germany, since the national focus was on Japan.]
On December 11th Hitler declared war on the United States. We already were in a ‘semi-war’ with Germany. Our navy was directly involved with the British navy in protecting supply convoys carrying Lend Lease supplies to England.
The first months of the war were dreadful for the United States. The Japanese captured the Philippines, where we had our largest contingent of soldiers in Asia. Meanwhile, German U boats were sinking American ships off the shore of New Jersey and elsewhere.
All this was overwhelming for this eight-year old.
My uncle was on the USS Wasp in 1942 when it was torpedoed and sunk. Like many veterans of that era, the war years were not usually a topic of conversation. One story that was passed down was as he and others prepared to jump into the water, one of the other airmen said he couldn't swim and my uncle said, "well you're going to learn now" and pulled him over! They survived and my uncle served on other carriers in the Pacific until the end of the war. Afterwards, he went went on to have a brilliant academic career but never flew again - he claimed it was because commercial airlines would not let him wear a parachute and he would not fly without one! And, it doesn't always register just how young these men were - my uncle had just turned 23 in September 1942 and was only 21 when, in anticipation of war, he left college and enlisted, initially as a naval aviation cadet.
Yup, my Dad was 19 too when he was drafted. He was in the European front and saw the horror of the concentration camps as part of the liberating troops. Again, like so many of that generation, they put the war "behind them" but there were deep seeded wounds that never healed.
Yep. Daddy was in Patton's Army and they landed in France after D Day. I always knew he had been part of liberating a concentration camp, though he told me he did not "go in." (It's not like you had to to know what was going on!.) I didn't ask him which one when he was alive, but I later figured it must have been Mauthausen. What a hellacious experience that war had to be for these young men.
Sort of like good and evil. Some do struggle with that, redefine, reframe, lie, propagandize, find a Bible verse, on and on. The Golden Rule does it for me…
Ooooh, Jeri, bravo!! The best creed! TGR! The thing is with the Golden Rule, one must think through one's thoughts and actions. It is not a religion where you give your power to another and are passive. It is action oriented for the good of the whole. It is a creed of "Do."
Lord Tytler, a Scottish historian, presented the 8 stages of democracy, with the final stage democracy’s failure due to political economic influences. John Quincy Adams predicted the same outcome for America’s democracy. Basically, democracies do not last longer than 200 years, succumbing to greed and corruption. We have let our education system fail our youth, allowed the infiltration of money into our politics, and have become apathetic about our government--the “Bermuda Triangle” for democracy.
Thank you for writing about Pearl Harbor. This year, I note there was just a tiny blip in the news about Pearl Harbor. It felt like this event was being erased from our collective memory. Those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's remember the media's attention on December 7th and the solem commemorations for that day. Our parents fought in that war and we were keenly aware of their sacrifices. Now, we have a Republican leader who calls military men and women "losers", and he slanders military heroes like John McCain. This is what our parents fought for? To be slandered, to be mocked? The men and women who put their lives on the line so lunatics like trump can mock them?
Jeri, your comment reminds me of a horrible calculus teacher who wrote “proofs” and then erased them (when the blackboard was full) without discussing the logic that allowed the progression from one line to the next. Heather has shown us how, once again, our belief that democracy will take care of itself while we concentrate on our daily lives has brought us to the edge of a fight to save it.
This movie gives lie to all that underlaid the discrimination and segregation of the USA Caste System. Ironically, it was the military that dealt Jim Crow a deadly blow.
Same as in the Civil War. From the beginning, Black leaders and activists knew that the best hope of ending slavery was to press for Black men to serve in the Union Army. Once they broke that barrier, and white men saw equality, humanity, nobility in action - slavery couldn't be countenanced. Tragically, Confederates and the slavepower were allowed to rise again.
Bruce, the draft really was the American “melting pot” in that it brought men together who would not normally associate be it by class, ethnicity, geography, etc.
My father is a great example. He was a Jewish boy from the Bronx who came to California during Depression. He worked in a major ship yard here, was called up to serve in the Army in occupied-Japan for three years. There he teemed up with two buddies, one a farm boy from Fresno, and they discovered a small group of Catholic nuns struggling to start an orphanage. The three men of very different backgrounds, worked together to do everything they could to found that orphanage. My father went back in the 80’s and one of the nuns was still there, as was the orphanage, and she greeted him with joy. Just another story of WWII.
I failed to mention that my father’s parents were immigrants who came from Eastern Europe, Russia then; Belarus now, Slonim in particular. He was a first generation American.
I have two very close elderly Jewish men friends who have described, in detail, their experiences in the WWII Army. The deliberately cruel attention they received, and the horrible nicknames they were saddled with, are a bleak testament to the degree of blind hatred that so many Americans have embraced.
And thus our fears and prejudices and ignorance continue...... What kind of inner power and courage do immigrants (often persons of color) carry with them in their beings to leave everything they have to come to this country? Our country is said to offer hope and opportunity....an education for their children. They want to work...they are willing to take the most humble, difficult, dangerous jobs with little pay. They face abuse and disrespect...and still they come facing such disrespect!!!! Many have been chosen by our citizens to become great leaders, some are amazing scientists, engineers. teachers, space explorers, leaders within our government, doctors, lawyers, religious leaders etc!!!!
They come, having experienced power hungry dictatorships that have ruined the economies of their countries. ARE THESE NOW THE TYPE OF LEADERS WE, AMERICAN CITIZENS, WANT TO CHOOSE!?
And yet....the governments immigrants are fleeing....some of our citizens are working towards putting in place in the USA.....Dictatorship....control of our education system....preferring to have all decisions made for them.
God help us!!! and if you are not religious....may common sense help us!!!! And may the many KIND servants at the border who are receiving those who come to us be strengthened and blessed as well as the states who are most affected by immigration.
As fellow Americans, we need to support the hard work of receiving immigrants....who by the way are individual human beings.
How would you want to be treated if you were in their situation?!
Yes. And if the tyrants who want to rule this country take over, Americans may find out what it is like to have to be an immigrant and want to leave, or worse be forced to deportment.
“But the beauty of our system is that it gives us people like Doris Miller.
Even better, it makes us people like Doris Miller.”
“The times are very bad. Very well, you are there to make them better.”
— Thomas Carlyle
Rowshan and Kathy, I send Heather's Letters to several friends daily, and today I took the liberty of adding my thoughts, based on your sentiments, at the top of today's Letter with this:
“The times are very bad. Very well, you are there to make them better.”
— Thomas Carlyle
"PLEASE READ THIS LETTER TODAY. THE ONLY WAY THE EVIL THAT WE ARE WITNESSING IN THE FASCISTS THAT CONTROL THE RIGHT WING OF OUR GOVERNMENT CAN WIN IS IF WE THROW UP OUR HANDS AND FAIL TO VOTE. THE MAJORITY IN THIS COUNTRY WANTS DEMOCRACY TO SURVIVE."
Heartfelt thanks to both of you, to Heather, and all who value her values and efforts.
Nancy I love that you are sharing LFAA and your opening thoughts are spot on!
Thanks, Kathy. Some of my recipients are among the few Repugnants to whom I still speak, but said they were open to reading Heather's Letters, so the question is whether they're humoring me or truly interested. Call me crazy, but I think it's worth my time.
IMO You do NOT have Democracy in the US
Blacks against white/white against black/Muslims against Jews/Jews against people. Now you have Evangelicals tearing up books! This is NOT Democracy
The so-called Democracy of the US has never been honest.
Propaganda against Socialism/Communism.
All you have to do is go on comments on the WAPO and you understand how Americans have been indoctrinated since.....................McCarthy?
Jenny, I agree that, as Mary Hardt wrote, we have a flawed democracy. There are many ignorant people who act out of emotion and disinformation, and many who are malignant, but despite all of that, what we have is still worth saving and building on. No, we're not Sweden, but still better than the current trend of authoritarian nations, and presently we can hold out hope that Joe Biden and his future inheritors will prevail and save us from the clear and present danger of the deranged Trump-lovers. If that doesn't happen, we don't stand a chance. We're not Russia, China or Hungary yet, and not all of us have been indoctrinated - yet.
Jennifer, you are right—we have a flawed democracy. What we also have is the opportunity to improve it. If Project 2025 becomes a reality with a retribution-focused President or one focused on gutting career civil servants with more than 5 years of experience (Nicky Haley), we will find it much harder to pass legislation to decrease systemic problems.
Dear Mary. I appreciate that some Americans are now becoming more focussed and fighting. I wish you luck.
I lived in the US for 23yrs and was appalled by the lack of interest in Politics. Look up the voting record of the USA. When only 40% of the electorate vote this is not a Democracy.
We in the rest of the World have had to put up with your 'warmongering' and believe me the Europeans especially the UK have never questioned this.
It's too late.
I have lived in 2 dying empires.
Right. We are continually working to have a democracy. Like Sisyphus and his rock, we just keep rolling along. It's never perfect because we are human, and we are always changing and adapting. It sure beats anything else.b
I hope you don't mind but I had to share your note! I couldn't agree more!
Colette, thank you. I'm flattered. I was thinking just a while ago that our very large country, populated by people from all over the world, is something of a messy wonder. The fact that we've survived at all is somewhat amazing. With all of the cultures, religions, races and customs, it is easy to explain the upheaval since our very beginnings. We describe ourselves as a melting pot, but the truth is that many of the ingredients are resisting the melt.
In my lifetime, a fellow student whose parents had immigrated from Greece fell in love with an Italian boy. Her father was enraged, so shipped her off to Greece to marry a 40-year-old Greek man with whom he had arranged the marriage. As a six-year-old, I convinced the Jewish boy next door who told me that Santa Clause didn't exist that I had seen him delivering my gifts. Apparently, I was a convincing "imaginer," because his mother told my mother that I was the reason that she had to put up a Christmas tree that year! My point is that some conflicts result in relatively minor, sometimes amusing, resolutions, while others are no doubt life changing and excruciatingly sad.
Naturally, there are many shameful stories that have continued for centuries - the betrayal and slaughter of indigenous people and the enslavement of millions, to name just two out of many. Total reconciliation won't happen during my lifetime, but we must hope that we will eventually prove that our experiment will bear good fruit if we are able to choose wise, decent leaders and resist the greedy haters.
Ooh I’m going to have to steal this quote for my newsletter today! Wonderful!
Share, not steal, dear Jess! I’ll be on the lookout for it!
I'll be looking for it.
I agree! So wonderful! Steal away! 🙂🙂
https://open.substack.com/pub/chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions/p/chop-wood-carry-water-128-715?r=160ms&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
“We”.
YES! YES! YES!
KathyBnearPhila - this quotation makes me feel happy. Truer words, etc. . . .
And that gives me hope.
There is plenty to worry about, but I believe those who still believe in America's aspirational values outnumber the supremacists. If we get it together, we can win.
Statistically, is there any doubt the supremacists are outnumbered? Problem is, they work the system to play foul.
So true!!
Supremacists are indoctrinated people!
And for far too long we let them get away with it.
A sort of belief that they'd grow up and start to behave. Layers and layers of corruption put paid to that.
JL, you write: "If we get it together, we can win." And, this is what HCR writes: "I hear a lot these days about how American democracy is doomed and the reactionaries will win. Maybe." That "maybe" should scare the hell out of us. If there is any doubt in your mind that we are up against the most serious threat to our democracy since WWII and before that the Civil War, it needs to be extinguished now. Each of us needs to be a "Doris Miller" and do what we must do. What is that? Vote. Support campaigns with our time and money. These are the times that try men's and women's souls and it is no time to be a summer soldier or a sunshine patriot. (Apologies to Tom Paine.)
Vote blue no matter who! But this repug party has threaten voting rights and out right blocked some for voting and other tactics that make it hard to vote and scared the brave people at voting centers. and..................................
Julie, you are correct, the MAGA thugs are intimidating people and doing what they can to obstruct fair, free and open elections. What that means is that we must work even harder and braver. This is one fight that we absolutely cannot afford to lose. Not only are our children and grandchildren, friends and relatives, depending on us - the whole world is dependent on the success of our efforts if democracy is to survive around the world. I fear that we are the domino that if we topple, other democracies will, too.
That they're targeting minorities is a given, but they're also trying to push back on younger voters who aren't buying their BS.
IF I hear "VOTE Blue" once more I will be sick.
Your President Biden could stop this genocide immediately in Palestine by taking away the money which supports Israel.
NO. They won't stop the Oil 'mongers'
Biden is an OLD warmonger he has not learned.
The oil belongs to the Palestinians NOT Israel.
Yes, I am angry at Biden for his supporting and sending money to dictator Bibi and not supporting Palestine much and his climate policies don't go far enough. So you are saying that you want America to become a fascist nation Under Trump & company?
We all need to be aware of the "Presidential Transitional Project for 2025" website!
Excellent point, Sharon. The so-called conservatives are not conservatives, they're Fascists. Here's the website: https://www.project2025.org/
Good points all, Richard. The "maybe" is the scary part. I have the 2025 project tabbed for constant reference also. Let us also remember, as documented by Rachel Maddow's "Ultra" that the Republican party( the normal ones) has been trying to pull this Fascist dictatorship off for a while, biding their time between attempts. We should have heeded Harry Trumans words about that; "the only good Republican is pushing up daisies". Words to that effect.
We should remember that Mussolini and Hitler were each popularly elected to begin their dictatorships.
Tom, you are correct, "We should remember that Mussolini and Hitler were each popularly elected to begin their dictatorships." This is why, in part, we need to take this threat very, very, very seriously. Each one of us should pledge, right now, to spend on campaign donations $1,000, $2,000 or whatever it is that "hurts." For some of us, it may be $10,000 or even $50,000. And, volunteering time as never before. While I spent four years in the U.S. Army already, it isn't enough. It just isn't.
I have been an election worker for 56 years. Every presidential and about half the midterms. My first vote, at 18, was for RFK in the 1968 Democratic presidential primary (George Wallace had lowered the voting age to 18—a state election law decision—to win the primary. He lost the youth vote to Kennedy, ironically. I was a student at Alabama then. RFK spoke there in March winning over a hostile crowd and exiting to a standing ovation. I do believe that that RFK speech has been my inspiration for many years.
BUT.............who are you going to vote for?
Biden the warmonger who could have stopped the 'genocide' by taking away the money sent to Israel?
I think none of you understand that your Country is dominated by the Military Industrial Complex.
IF the MIC dies this means you are putting thousands of people out of jobs in many States.
Biden relies on the mathematical figures of how many people have jobs?
IF the MIC collapses you have thousands of people without jobs.
Yes, Richard, all of those things. The Rs are making no secret of what they intend to do...not even dog whistles or hiding awful things using the words liberty or patriotism. Yet the news yesterday was all about Hunter Biden and his tax woes and the problems of sanctuary cities and the people at the southern border. If the last story on NBC hadn't been this typewriter orchestra, I would have turned it off. The orchestra was fascinating, btw.
Michele, you are correct, the right-wing MAGA/KKK make no secret that they want to destroy American democracy and crush the hated Lib-tards, gays, Jews, Blacks, immigrants, women's rights advocates and others. They're a hateful group, Fascist. At the top are the oligarchs who manage the suckers at the bottom with their propaganda.
The suckers at the bottom are mostly white who want by dint of being that to be the top of the heap without realizing that the heap has a false bottom.
And pray we don’t go down with the ship
America is NOT Democratic!
Technically, strictly speaking, you are correct. We are not a pure democracy. Instead, we have a democratic Republic, where we vote for our representatives. And that process is further skewed by the disproportionate voting power given to the individual states. But still, at many levels, the system is one person, one vote, majority rule. The Republicans seek to overturn this process with their gerrymandering efforts.
BUT it is not 'one person one vote!'
You have the Electoral College?
We will win... no doubt about it.
Heard Chris Krebs this morning. He points out that thanks to online propaganda, this will be a very difficult election. He added that paper ballots are very important. I want to add GOTV postcards.
Think the postcards and letters are terribly important …we have seen that they DO make a substantial difference and if there ever was a year to make such a ‘difference it is 2024…..
Got one during the 2020 election (mind was already made up to vote straight Dem) - it was a personal touch that countless asks for donations and ads couldn't rival. It stayed on my fridge for months.
500 postcard stamps already purchased.
Is this the correct link to become involved with the postcard project? I'd like to join! I have the time, and I have very nice handwriting (former teacher). https://secure.everyaction.com/RW-1oZB460GUwERdJLkCwA2
That’s the “messy” part of democracy.
"Messy!" You want to control the world.
White people now are in the minority.
Rubbish. The USA is an Imperialist Nation.
What American want is control of oil.
All you have to do is to look at what is happening in Venezuela?
OIL and money in the USA.
Oil is energy and our culture thrives on use of energy; the car, the refrigerator, the climate controlled house, light at night, the device on my lap, and oil is ideal for oligarchs because it's located in only a few areas, which they get to own. Alternative energy plans are a threat, especially those that are decentralized, such as solar. It's like the Monopoly game where the monopoly winner takes all, except that in real life the losers sleep under a bridge.
I so hope you are correct
And, gives me another opportunity to recall my Aunt, Kaye Thurman, who was present in Honolulu on that'Day of Infamy" as well as my UCLA physics teacher, Professor Kaplan, who helped develop over-the-horizon radar and my father, William McKown who like many others in Southern California immediately started manufacturing war planes with new assembly methods where he hired my Aunt Kaye.. My Aunt introduced my father to her sister, my mother, Frances Thurman McKown. I did not expect to go back to that family history this morning -- thank you HCR.
Many lives were changed forever on that Day.
Bryan, thank you for sharing your family history. Beautiful.
The Thurman women are quite a story. My Grandmother, was a piano teacher to age 100. 'Mildred' put her nimble hands to work in WW II making bomb sites. Mildred also won a long distance road race in the 1930's -- beat the boys. My Grandfather was a private investigator ... may have been the real origin of my deductive reasoning skills. : )
Wow Brian, seems like you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor.
Yup First that WWIi Generation had to respond to the Imperial forces of Japan then the Wehrmacht only later -- babies. I was part of the "2nd Wave" of Boomers in 1948.
Hope gives opportunity to open our minds and our hearts. To make that connection of love to others. Our basic needs as humans is to belong to something or someone. We need that connection or we fail to survive. We humans have more in common than not. It's unfortunate that our own battles in life interfere with those connections. Nothing can divide us more than hate and envy. And our media and politicians have profited off that hate and envy forever. Compassion is a sign of intelligent life. Hope is to persevere. To keep moving forward. We owe it to each other.
In the eyes of "the other," may I remember to see myself
Well said, Frederick.
🙏
Excellent, Frederick.
"Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me"
If only Republicans actually read the Bible. If only they were capable of learning.
Predatory self interest twists everything to fit its agenda.
Can you share the source of this wisdom, Frederick? Perhaps a compilation of what you have come to know ... and in only a line. No matter its source, thank you.
Greetings Jean; This is actually from my understanding of the Buddhist expression "emptiness," which could be understood as "interdependence." IOW, the eyes of another is not distinct from me, the viewer, because interdependence informs me that there ... is ... no... distance between I and any object of my senses. All sense organs, perceptions and objects are in a glorious dance, and a creation of ... the ... human ... mind.
Everything is empty of self-existence, and therefore every THING is comprised of a lot of other things, ESPECIALLY one's perception of the object ....
(sorry for my verbosity, I'm a double Gemini after all ....)
Returned greetings, Frederick. I'm a student of teachers within the Buddhist tradition. And while I don't understand the full breadth of your generous offering, I suppose I know beauty when I see it. After all, I'm a Pisces. ;)
I wondered if the wisdom of your earlier comment was informed by your mother, the teacher. I imagine this may also be true.
I am coming to find my perceptions are colored by what may not be in my view. And still, in the briefest of moments it all seems to coalesce. “Interbeing?”
Might that be the source of our "better angels"? Or for that matter, egalitarianism and democracy. It appears in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and no doubt other religions. It seems to me it also figures in wisdom and virtue.
Yes, I hear you on your point, JL. All of your stated theologies, including "other religions," point to our common human experience.
How many ways can one state the obvious, "to love one another as oneself?"
Unfortunately...we the people have NO say.
Politicians have been given too much power.
I feel your pain. I certainly got pissed off enough when reading the book Dark Money. Citizens United has been like cutting a vein. Money is bleeding from everywhere. And it's all this nonprofit bs. However, our votes due count. They are our voice amongst millions. We matter and so does our vote. Too many have died before us for that right and responsibility. Our votes, strikes, boycotts, and voices count.
The people tend to have more say than they think they have, but are lulled and/or bullied into ignoring their agency. Perhaps the main thing effective social movements do is tho get enough people pulling in the same direction. It even the same in revolutions, though that can be bloody. Tyranny thrives when it keeps enough of the people bribed, bamboozled, and cowed.
Rule of democratic law is still functioning or Trump et al would never be indicted. But its taken severe hits, and some of our shields are down.
And, yes, we have ceded far more power and impunity to our elected fiduciaries than makes any kind of sense.
Absolutely!
Yes!
Hear hear.
That line brought tears to my eyes. #BeLikeDorisMiller
Yes!
Brilliant. Just brilliant. The professor has delivered a powerful case, rich with historical context, why we must fight — and win.
I wish she could read it to a national television audience from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
I think Doris Miller would have some words for people who won't vote for Democrats because they don't like 100% of what they're doing; he understood the bigger picture and the threat of the Axis coalition.
The function of the vote is to exercise our share of responsibility for our own nation's outcomes. It's not like a movie review. It's not just a wishlist. In aggregate it has profound impact on the lives of others, such as families shattered by cruel, extralegal immigration policies, death dealing games with a health emergency, a steep rise in hate crimes, etc. Is that worth a strictly symbolic "protest vote" or abstention?
If we in an aspirational democracy, are not responsible for our own society's outcomes, who is?
Look at the record. It isn't "government" the "GOP" has been dismantling since Reagan; it's specifically " government of the people, by the people, for the people", and regressing toward plutocratic authoritarianism in it's place.
gave me goosebumps!
Those two lines brought me to tears. I so very much want my faith in humanity restored.
This got me. "She is so great," I said to myself, my eyes brimming with thanks for HCR.
This information about the diverse melting pot of America should be taught in grade schools. Somehow I learned that, probably in the 1950s. Why don’t the stupid Republicans get it??
They are not interested in being leaders of all Americans! They only care fir their supporters, those who contribute to their war chest. Traitors!
In 1987, we had a 2 family house and rented the newly vacant 2nd floor to a black couple and baby who were from Montclair, NJ, like we were. No big deal. Montclair was upper old money and a significant black population. We didn't see it as being liberal or anything; we were used to black people from high school. My husband and I saw blacks as equals; period. They were moving out of Newark and when the father wanted to return to get lamps and stuff he didn't trust the moving co. with, he couldn't get back in. No blacks allowed in due to the riots. I had zero interest; I was studying literature at Rutgers nights while raising my 3 kids. 30 years later a PBS special on those riots: severe Police brutality. They could get away with anything. ....sorta like Israel today.
I think the urge to dominate precedes our species. Its basis in evolution does not make it right or wrong, as evolution favors behaviors that "work" to preserve and secure the species, but now we have so much agency as humans that the competitive, sociopathic, domination urge is plaguing our species with world wars and threatening to extinguish our own species completely, or the livability of a blighted survival. The good news is that we are a clever-enough species to see where toxic behaviors are leading, and to alter them; if we are willing to set our priorities straight. Else we may well join the dinosaurs as fossils, and Nature tries a replay cockroaches. They survived the dinos after all.
Best closer. Ever.
Thank you for the quote, Rowshan.
Beautiful!
I appreciate your pointing out (with facts as usual) the different ethnic groups that served in the War. THIS is the face of Democracy in action! We stand TOGETHER!
Diversity is healthy. It works.
Diversity is innovative, diversity makes any species resilient, diversity enriches our lives. we can thrive on diversity so long as we respect and care for the rights of others.
Thank you J L. Your statement brings back the article, "Doris Miller - Pearl Harbor & the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement" by Texas A&M Press which contains a copyrighted photo of Doris Miller wearing his Navy Cross (correction).
Sorry but Doris did not receive the Medal of Honor because the white Navy brass did not want to give it to a black man.
Then what is that on his chest in the photos? As I said, the photo I cited is copyrighted by two photographers. I am not arguing ... what are your sources? I have no doubt there was little if any recognition in real time. Seems military medal history should be readily available.
Per Gail Navy Cross then after death the Medal of Honor after per Ally House both just below. Corrected. thanks.
Only the Navy Cross, though not insignificant. https://mfume.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-kweisi-mfume-introduces-legislation-to-commemorate-african-american-world-war-ii-hero-doris-miller
He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, his highest medal was the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor and given specific to the branch of service.
Thank you Gail.& Officer.
Thank You Bryan, Gail and Ally.
If only it weren’t such a slur on so many lips. Fear instead of embracing a strength. Amygdalas need to chill on this subject.
Embracing strength requires activation of the frontal lobes. Fear and anger activate the amygdala. Complex thought rather than instinctive reaction.
Cults are driven by amygdala stimulation, are they not? Haven't seen much rationality except by the drivers, and it's somewhat warped.
For those not familiar:
“The main job of the amygdala (an almond shaped structure in the human brain) is to regulate emotions, such as fear and aggression.”
And from a psychiatrist, known as an expert on human violence:
““Shared psychosis”—which is also called “folie à millions” [“madness for millions”] when occurring at the national level or “induced delusions”—refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence—even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/
Very helpful Christy. I will take your citation to the "Inside Medicine" Platform written by ER Doc, Jeremy Faust.
Thank you. Explains our situation perfectly. Madness for Millions
I'm all for removal of exposure.
HOLY SHT! Finally! An explanation! (I'm copying that for my sicko TFG file.)
Jeri, I think you have a practical neurological study proposal
I wish, pass it on
Any treatment Officer?
Globally, no. I viewed my duty as a law enforcement trainer to get people OUT of the midbrain reaction of "flight, fight, or freeze" and back into cognitive thought as fast as possible. Autogenic breathing is a good way to combat it, but it requires first remembering that, then applying that.
How universal is that training? One of my nephews is a cop and the other is a firefighter in a major Midwestern city. I only heard bits and pieces about their training from my sister.
The cop had to box everyone in his training class. He literally knocked out most of them. I didn't really see the point to that part of the training. Everyone in the class was also pepper sprayed and tased. Like you, he has testified in court many times because he is well spoken and is able to keep the facts straight. He actually volunteered to go out and arrest people with outstanding warrants. He's had some harrowing experiences with gangs on occasion, but (knock wood) he hasn't had to fire his service revolver except at the range.
I can only imagine the experiences you've had in your career in law enforcement. Thanks for your service.
And I might add, the "hidden" minority, closeted gays and lesbians, who also contributed to the war effort. While not being counted, because of homophobia, they too were part of that diversity.
This diverse history is the truth, just beginning to be told over the last few decades— and the right wing is furious and desperate to whitewash and repress it.
It is like hearing the screaming cries of their deathknell for the past 7-40 years. They do know it will end and they are desperately brainwashing whomever they can...even some Black and Latino men and women who appear to have no idea of what trumpublican "purity" will bring forth. We need to call them out at every turn and hope Justice will be able to pick up the pace to warn them to back away from this madness.
Right you are, Alexandra. Ralph Ellison once said that "America is still being discovered". A significant part of our ongoing discovery would seem to be the engagement to at least a basic level of curiosity and understanding of our fellow Americans, across the breadth and depth of our great gangling Country. To grasp the struggle for freedom endured by Black Americans, to see the second class status of women for so long, to observe the difficult shadow life of immigrants, to ponder the efforts to simply be one's self experienced by our LGBTQ brothers and sisters---these engagements are not for the purpose of self-flagellation as the "anti-woke" crusaders would have it, but rather engagements of discovery and seeking higher ground for all of us.
My professor of medieval French told us that the flowering of troubadour poetry in the mixing of cultures in southern France and Spain was because of the high degree of diversity there. Unforgettable (both the prof and the statement).
Sea faring Greeks came to that part of the world early as did Jresish and Arab traders. Do you remember learning that we have “Arabic numbers”?
Thank you Heather -for the history and another deeply insightful Letter.
Democracy requires constant effort. It requires a society that prioritizes education. A meaningful democracy of any form requires a well-informed, well-educated, and engaged society. Much of the long-term GOP strategy has been to concentrate wealth (and thus power) to the top, while causing working Americans to struggle with longer working hours while living paycheck to paycheck. This is an assault on engagement -working together to protect democracy and shape policies that yield equity and justice for all. Reagan's work to destroy the affordability of higher education, continues to be an assault on another pillar of democracy. And the consolidation of media has eroded the Fourth Estate -journalism and an informed society. Now we are guided by The Kardashians, Snooki, Fox & Friends, and the Sinclair Broadcasting group.
Democracy has slowly been gutted in the United States and Trump/MAGA and Heritage's project2025.org would have been soundly rejected by a society that embraced science, facts, and evidence over propaganda and disinformation. A society that would readily understand that Trickle-Down 'economics' -is not economics -it's a massive fraud perpetrated by the wealthy upon everyone else through GOP shills.
Grateful for you Heather -leading the charge on information and education. Engagement? -it's up to all of us.
Education is essential. We are born to become educated, and what we learn profoundly affects our lives. It seems to me that what we learn to do takes precedence over what we can recite, and our kit of skills for negotiating life includes marketable career skills, but is by no mean limited to it. Powers of observation can be encouraged and refined. Insightful thinking can be taught. Evidence based strategies that produce beneficial real-world results can be explored and incorporated into everyday thinking and life. Thoughtful exploration of the possible, the imaginary, and the privately and publicly experiential can be contemplated and expressed in artistic creation. Said better than I by Mary Oliver:
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
Thank you J L, I've copied Mary Oliver's poem The Summer Day, which you've brought forth the essence with your last 3 lines. Any time, is always a good time, for a poem --->
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
The Summer Day
Thank you!
Japan came up with a defining act that focused our attention. Oh would it be wonderful if we used our powers to explore the possible, before such a defining moment.
I thought January 6 was pretty defining. Look at all the bullsh*t that has been overlaid onto that.
Man, I was sure of it. As I watched, I said to myself, “Now there is no disputing what the cretins are about.” Silly me. Why I think Kevin should be tarred and feathered. Hope chump has thrown him on the trash pile.
Or even had our own defining moment—less lethal than Pearl Harbor—but just as impactful.
We've had several that I thought were, still waiting for MSM to wake up
"Mussolini had been a socialist as a young man and had grown terribly frustrated at how hard it was to organize people. No matter how hard socialists tried, they seemed unable to convince ordinary people that they must rise up and take over the country’s means of production."
So he turned to despotism. I seems a lot of people have done so, here and around the world.
Mitt Romney, the "good" Republican, said:
"I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing. The head of Coca-Cola said the business environment is friendlier in China than in America. And that's because of the regulators. That's because of government. "
It's because of an authoritarian government. What happens to those who disagree with the government's choices? In the Olympics the government even tried to control the weather.
Democracy is herding cats by design. It a precondition for liberty; but we have to talk to each other. Democracy is a necessarily a conversation, not a take-out menu. In the latter arrangement, the very wealthy just pick up the phone to their retained representatives, in public office, or in their lobbying organizations, and place an order. We settle for dubious fast food if we try it at home. Said Lincoln:
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.”
Who is doing that? "The People" or bought and paid for media? Democratic leadership is not about which head of which party gets to order everyone around. A democratic leader, grass roots, or elected, puts fourth a vision, a focus, around which support will or will not gather. When "We, the People" focus, we claim our agency, from the declaration to King George to gay rights, we get things done when enough of us pull together.
Reagan knew what he was doing when he imported Rupert to "mold public sentiment." Bill Moyers saw what was happening decades ago and tried to warn us.
Which is why public education has been under attack since the 40th president and why charter "schools" are the darling of the MAGAts.
"The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are as clever as he." --Karl Kraus
I recall in the '70s some articles in the news about a concept of "The New Liberal Arts", which boiled down to business, business, and more business. Business wants robots, be they human or AI. Ronald "Snakeoil" Reagan saw the profit motive as the beating heart of America, as did his wealthy sponsors. America was to be repurposed to maximize profit. I'm not anti-profit, but some forms of profit, specifically fair trade, are more respectable that others, such as extortion. Meanwhile, there is far more to life than profit.
"Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees; Please! Don' it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got till it's gone?"
This is Jessica Piper's crusade and she receives a LOT of attacks - she's a good resource I follow on twitter (can't bring myself to call it x).
Same.
And home schooling is the darling of the Christian Dominionists. The best way to be sure a child will never know anything other than what the cult wants them to know.” Total control.
But we have turned most universities into job training institutions as we took music, art, shop, languages (except as electives) from high schools. Where do we learns critical thinking as a society? Trumpism is made possible by loss of intellectual curiosity and Reaganomics.
Intellectual curiosity to the current "GOP" is like sunlight to the fabled vampire. Look at how DeSantis suppresses open education.
Plus the number of liberal arts colleges closed.
Including mine, including my daughter's. My understanding is that W's Sec. of Education wanted ALL liberal arts programs to be closed.
Not surprised. Horrified. W was even stupider than I realized. The line between him and Trump is even stronger than I realized.
GIVE. Our. LORD/GOD !, The
PRAISE !!, and. RETURN !, to
HIM ! .....In. HIS. GLORY !!
HALLELUJAH. !!
Pass. Hard pass.
Go away and take your ludicrous magic sky daddy with you.
Based on your comment, it’s reasonable to assume you are a Christian Nationalist.
Christian Nationalism and MAGA is a marriage made in HELL!!
May God help us save our democracy...
I've seen him here before. I dismiss him as a religious nut. I don't think he proposes Christian Nationalism, but it is hard to tell with his absence of grammar, sentence structure, punctuation usage, and type settings.
His other comments don’t support MAGA. Not every hyper religious person is MAGA
Can you say more about what you mean?
Great response to Mark Cramer.
Thanks
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍👍🙏
We have to continually nurture our democracy and civilization. Renew our commitment to public service and civic engagement. We are not just consumers.
^ This ^
To me, Pearl Harbor awoke a nation, turning even America First pro-fascists into dedicated defenders of our form of government who no longer slept through the dangers of allowing such concentrations of abusive power. Millions volunteered for military service or other ways to contribute when they weren't accepted due not being able to meet the physical standards or being needed in supporting roles other than combat.
There are innumerable examples, the more personal ones are like my mother-in-law. She tried to sign up immediately, eventually being able to become a radio operator once the USCG SPARS (Semper Paratus-Always Ready) were established Nov 23, 1942. December 7th was so special to her that I credit it with her surviving 5 months longer than expected to pass peacefully 14 years ago in the early hours of Dec 7, 2009.
Three of her great-granduncles served together in Congress for 3 terms starting in the 34th Congress, first as members of the majority "Opposition Coalition," then in the newly named Republican party for the second 2 of 3 terms they served together in. I knew her as a dedicated Progressive Republican for most of her life, inspired perhaps by her father's very good friend Harold L. Ickes, who was a Progressive Republican before joining FDR's administration as the longest serving Secretary of the Interior (both like minded in care and management of natural resources and particularly watersheds in the case of her father). He was such a frequent visiter, she thought he was an uncle most of her young life, even buying her the first bike she rode).
She is an example of a rather constant patriotic but big picture progressive and more international inclined mindset. Others who cared less about the rest of the world took a bit longer to wake up but when they did, they hit the deck running, all aboard for the now essential defense against alliances of tyrants. Some had not so counter-productively blocked essential preparations, so were able to less noticeably add their talents to the efforts than those who had yelled the loudest before a seemingly more dramatic and complete turnaround.
Her grandfather softened my criticism of Wendell Willkie, whom I thought he would have voted for in 1940 as a fellow Republican. I didn't really understand why back in 1972 when my thoughts were on his opposition to the TVA in favor of an overly privatized systems. Time allowed discovering Willkie was a bit woke, a former Democrat who changed his party registration in late 1939 and supported helping Britain more in line with FDR's preparations for our foreseeable more active involvement.
I have a new appreciation for those who at least made some preparation possible, I just wish there was more of them at least a bit like Wilkie.
I learned from my father to chant “We want Wilkie.” Never knew that Ickes was a Republican. Do remember the center upper fold photo of John L Lewis calling for AFL-CIO coal miners’ strike in 1943!
Thank you, George Polisner. What you write cannot be written often enough. Perhaps the edition of the Atlantic will have an article about the failure of American education with the elimination of history, civics and the arts from the required curriculum. I hope so.
And librarians.
Thanks for your comment. We really could use a “hear hear” icon because that’s what I thought when I read your comment.
George, your comments about engagement are important. Engagement may be more important than education because people who are engaged will find the education they need to keep up.
Democracy is messy and complicated; people who are busy with living want quick, easy, and logical answers to messy, complicated, and illogical situations. People who are forced to compromise in their daily lives don't want to wait for the long-range results that compromise is aimed at. People who feel powerless in their daily lives are attracted to power in leaders. Think how popular movies have underdogs winning!
Yes, engagement is vital to maintaining a viable democracy. Our 24 hour, fast pace news cycle, is not conducive to thoughtful engagement. Thankfully, we have Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, and others. But we are already engaged.
I do applaud non-violent engagement of any kind. It must be guided by a reasonable education and trustworthy information. For example, during the pandemic, the protests against wearing a mask was a form of engagement -however predicated by a lack of education and driven by conspiracy theory. Meaningful engagement requires education and trustworthy information (facts, evidence, and science). A well-informed, well-educated person might not engage or vote -then what good is having two of three elements? Education is necessary to discern propaganda and disinformation from trustworthy information. And trustworthy information might not catalyze someone without a minimal education to action.
The Trump Show has long gone stale, like the TV series that runs eight years past its cancel date. Trump is the same paper-thin whiny wretched soul he was in 2015, and each of his daily episodes feels like a poorly written instant replay. My latest political rants have, so far, created very little traction. I've tried "Critical Fascist Theory" and I've tried "MAGANAZI Party." Now I'm pushing the idea that the U.S. military, the 17 clandestine services and the FBI will not obey Trump's orders. "We don't do fascist."
Trump has probably been a whiny, entitled narcissist since he was two, and a conman his whole adult life, but I think the taste of power has really brought forward the fascist in him.
Money and attention are his blood... like heroin for him. Add to it power and revenge the final stages of a true malignant narcissist. He and his sycophants are clear and present dangers to the world and our democracy. It is hard to stay on high alert, but our current generations appear to be the ones called to save our Democracy. We must pace ourselves, take breaks, and be in it for the long haul. We can do this, take heart. We have more diversity, functionality, critical thinking brains, strategies and power to put this fascist uprising down. We need to work together and stand tall for The Great Experiment. They are such bumblers at this moment, but they are tearing and wearing us down and wasting our money and time. We need dumpty & co to (naturally) fall off the wall and stop the constant propaganda. That is our calling-- STOP THE PROPAGANDA and incarcerate insurrectionists before the next potential coup. Call them out. Boycott corporations that fund facist repubs and advertising for propaganda. Think of all the ways we need to repair and make huge changes in how our democracy and educational systems work to strengthen us against fascist parties and cyber warfare.. This is not a time to despair.
We can actually do this if we make pledges for changing this direction with all we
still have. There are those much slicker than trump who want to rise. We need to get really good at Whack-a-Mole around the country..and world. It shocking to many that our own country raised terrorists against us under the guise of christianity. Who needs Isis? I am so glad people are calling it what is has blatantly been for seven years. It demonstrates that our educational systems are sorely lacking in how a Democracy lives and dies. Maybe we need to add one extra year of high school learning and working for Democracy...and how to keep it.
Pensa, we need to reintroduce teaching civics (and critical thinking) in school! It also starts at home. I’ve posted this here before, but will again, a fave & wonderfully illustrated CSN&Y “Teach your children well”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQOaUnSmJr8&list=RDdQOaUnSmJr8 I have great hope that younger generation is paying attention & will say “not on our watch”. And I will join them….it will take all of us, together.
Although I understand the necessity of STEM, my blood boils when it is pushed by my Rep to form “good workers” rather than a thinking populace. The stifling of and sneering at the humanities sickens me.
Yes! This is THE MESSAGE!
The foundation of science is an organized attempt to maintain intellectual integrity; a best effort to prove that our logic is sound or that our conclusions accurately account for nature. That's a process that can be applied to every aspect of everyday life, not just "white coat" specialties.
And science (I got misty eyed in science films from the beauty of some of the concepts) can inform our decisions, but it cannot settle all of them. Photons and receptors can explain some of the "why" of the sensation of sunshine on my shoulder or the taste of honey, but only a sentient being can experience them. I feel, therefore I am. The arts provide ways to communicate about thoughts and truths about our subjective experience of being human; the stellar conversion of mass to energy in fusion AND "rosy fingered dawn."
❤️❤️❤️
We must have civics and perhaps service in our youth for the good of the whole. I love, love that song and it inspired me well when I was a Montessori teacher in my first career!
Barbara, that would be amongst the banned educational topics in sunny Florida. Can't have kids thinking, you know.
Mommy. Why is the Governor naked?
A little background I hope related to what made Crosby such an inspiration despite problems along the way.
My hyperacusis (pain and discomfort from loud noises), from being tricked into hanging on to an air raid siren as I climbed a radar tower to tune the radar, left me unable to enjoy music or even understand conversations in crowed rooms. I did appreciate very much of David Crosby's positive, inspirational, contributions with my only significant questioning or criticism being related to the "neurotoxic effects of cannabis interfering with critical brain development," in people starting to use it at too young an age. I've never experimented myself, but have observed the biggest problems seeming to be in those who started very young. Over 90% seemed to tolerate it if started later, and I would guess 10% to 20% actually seemed to derive some benefit, and not get too relaxed to drive safely. The ones I appreciated most were those willing to test its affects on them as safely and scientifically as possible, and stop using it if it affected them too negatively. Some could not stay awake or alert and quit, while most seemed not too negatively affected and not as positively affected as some of those who it really seemed much better from using it. I just want it treated at least as carefully as alcohol when best considering an individual's tolerance and results of its use.
I do like the song and the discussions he had like the "David Crosby Speaks of his drugs use and what saved him," interview with Dan Rather (under 4 minutes but a good sample). There are more interviews I appreciated later in his life even though my ears wouldn't let me enjoy the songs as much as many of my friends did.
I learned more from a friend who was big fan of his around the time David Crosby and Venice did the For the Arts Benefit at Santa Monica High School in Mach of 2011, as described at http://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/04/david-crosby-venice-for-arts-benefit.html
P.S. The friend bought David Crosby's old Harley-Davidson around that time and I designed a custom billet instrument cluster for it while taking a SolidWorks 3D course around that time.
Wow, Jim, what an awful impairment to have been done to you! Glad tho that you seemed to have rolled with it as best you can. As to cannabis, I was such a lightweight & disliked smoking it as it gave me a sore throat as a late teen/young adult. As I get older, have tried some topical applications for muscle pain & have a tincture I tried once or twice….nothing that I could personally point to and say yay, this worked for me. Does seem to be beneficial to many, so glad it is becoming accepted. You are right, of course, about heavy use and use too young. I’ve known one or two folks from the way-back who just seemed “blurred” for the rest of their lives.
After watching Kelly Corrigan interview Michael Lewis, I have to think I've been similarly lucky in never being treated as unfairly as most people, and having such wonderful people in my life that should be appreciated so much even if lost at such a young age as his daughter. In my case it was a delightfully curious and adventurous 5 year old grandson (Chase), of a friend. Chase was lost in a dirt bike accident at 9, despite all the best safety equipment and a mother, who was a nurse that missed the seriousness of the injury from such a minor looking accident.
See https://www.pbs.org/video/michael-lewis-1tdflu/
We should all be so lucky (despite the seeming tragedies).
I have to admit I do not know much about the whole drug stuff...I just love their music, lyrics and harmonies!
Very interesting that your friend bought his Harley!
As a former public school teacher, I have to stand up for educators. It is the local school boards who make the decisions on what is taught in the classrooms. A lot of the current crop of board members across the country told their teachers that civics was out, no more cursive writing. Kids don't need to know those things to get a job. There is a world of difference between training a person for a trade and educating a well rounded person. Yes, we need trades as well as professionals in other areas. Their talents and abilities lie in totally different areas. "Our common life depends on each other's toil." The Book of Common Prayer Litany for Compline
Thank you, JennSH. I’ve been retired from teaching here in Southern California for 21 years, though subbed spasmodically for 12 of those years. What is being described here as the norm in education is certainly not what was going on where I taught. All 11th graders took American history and literature; seniors Government and English literature. The Social Studies teachers stressed the importance of voting and had Voter Registration cards ready in class as students turned 18. I, in the English classes, incorporated history with literature ( impossible not to do, much to students’ complaints), and as a Selective Service Board member and registrar, had cards ready for the boys as they turned 18 to register with Selective Service. It became a rite of passage. I have kept up with many via Facebook and am wowed by their successes in life, in both careers and as good parents and grandparents. There are some MAGAs among them, which I’ve occasionally had to speak out to, but they too seem to be leading good lives with loving friends and families.
I do think that we were in line with all the California school districts. Students were being taught what so many decry isn’t being taught anymore. Think about the Parkland High School students in that “other country...Florida, and how well prepared they were to combine and speak out to the nation about changes needed. That is a public school. Blame for what Trump has brought about can not be placed on public school teachers. We worked hard to bring necessary knowledge to the generations after us, many times side-stepping transient school boards and weak administrators. Don’t all of you here have a teacher who made a difference in your life?
Beautifully put, Sue. Indeed we all have had teachers who made differences in our lives, opening doors we didn't know could be opened, to worlds and perspectives we didn't know were existing.
My late Mother was an English teacher for the bulk of her adult life, (also in SoCal) and taught my sisters and I how to read from a very young age.
I do not think it is our teacher's faults, it is how they are impacted from things like, "No Child Left Behind," huge classrooms, behavioral issues and learning issues. Loss, grief, abuse, poverty, all impact the attention of children which impacts teachers. It is complex, but we need to re-think what are the most important skills to survive in the the world of information and cyber warfare. To begin with Critical Thinking Skills and how to suss out and deal with bullies and liars and manipulators beginning in kindergarten.
The extremists do not want these skills or real history to be taught in schools. Like trump said, "I love the uneducated, they are easier to control." The caste system is what they want in order to be the top of the overseers. This is very systematically being implemented and must be rooted out.
In a speech to parents when my daughter entered college, an administrator ask to think of teachers who had made a difference in our lives, and I could think of several, including my wife who taught the visually impaired. I also know of teachers who left the profession because of out-of-the loop administration and political straight jackets. We need more discussion in this society about what we want education to do. Of what we want our society to be.
Our common life depends on each other’s toil. Simple and profound.
In the Book of Common Prayer, does the word “Common” mean “together” or “ordinary, everyday”? Maybe both?
From Etymonline.com:
"c. 1300, "belonging to all, owned or used jointly, general, of a public nature or character," from Old French comun "common, general, free, open, public" (9c., Modern French commun), from Latin communis "in common, public, shared by all or many; general, not specific; familiar, not pretentious." This is from a reconstructed PIE compound *ko-moin-i- "held in common," compound adjective formed from *ko- "together" + *moi-n-, suffixed form of root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move," hence literally "shared by all."
The second element of the compound also is the source of Latin munia "duties, public duties, functions," those related to munia "office."
Right up democracy's alley, as in "common good".
We need "Drivers Ed" for responsibly running the country. That's supposed to be the deal, right?
yes, the Trump Taliban.
And a Russian spy since the early 70s.
More like a useful idiot most of the time.
In this context it is worth noting that almost two thirds of rural Russians do not have access to indoor toilets.
So the motives of your pro-Russian, pro-Putin Republicans must be in some other area.
Surely they don't want to emulate?
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/04/02/indoor-plumbing-still-a-pipe-dream-for-20-of-russian-households-reports-say-a65049
Christopher, it wasn’t that many years ago that I began living in a home with inside plumbing. When I was small, back in the 50s-early 60s, we had outside toilet, and we had to go to the outside pitcher pump and pump water to wash dishes, do laundry, take a bath, or clean the house. Putin is keeping the Russian people right where he wants them. Right under his thumb. The sooner they rid the country of his likeness, the better.
I understand there’s an ‘election’ that will be coming up soon in Russia. I doubt very seriously that Putin will have anyone run against him that will desire to bring that nation to a Democratic way of life, because he’s well known to ‘fix’ ejections when he wants a certain outcome.
Hi Daniel
Zero% chance of him losing that election. He is an authoritarian despot, a mobster. That was my point, where HCR says the fascist soldiers were begging for food from the democratic allies.... something doesn't work well with that system.
Fascism was always attractive for its emotional simplicity.
We had Oswald Moseley in England in the 30's - TIME magazine cover wasn't Taylor Swift in 1931, it was "Oswald Moseley, England's Hitler".
Little did they know what would unfold.
Honestly, Christopher, I’m afraid you are very correct. And, after this next election, he’ll be in power until 2030, it was reported on MSNBC (which is one of the networks which Trumputin is targeting all the reporters. Little does he know they are all Republican, or were Republican) yesterday.
According to Ivana, he had that propensity before the power. In a 1990 Vanity Fair interview, Ivana Trump told her lawyer that tffg kept a book of Hitler's speeches near his bed.
One of the many secrets that probably made her “fall” down the steps.
My take, exactly. Wonder what is buried with her.
More classified docs
Some really bad ones...
Worthy of exhumation, most likely
Except that I'm not convinced he can read anything longer than a cartoon.
Well, I personally do not blame Queensman on that score, because I had "Mein Kampf" on the bedside til I tired of its gibberish. That, and the "Little Red Book".
Might not have the same motivations, granted.
Know your enemies.
No doubt you read The Art of War, if not The Art of The Deal.
Yep, he got a taste of ultimate power, and now needs it to save his hide.
I totally agree JL, with the elucidation that he has a fascist in him, but he couldn't tell you what the word means.
He must have dreams of being Mussolini and Hitler, but obviously they gave words and theory a little more thought.
I only mention this because as I read today's LFAA, I was once again struck by just how precise and careful HCR is with her choice of words. She often inspires me to think more deeply (and to keep a Wikipedia tab open).
In reference, I cut and pasted this from Wikipedia 'Fascist (insult)
Fascist as a pejorative epithet'
'... in 1944, the anti-fascist and socialist writer George Orwell commented on Tribune that fascism had been rendered almost meaningless by its common use as an insult against various people, and argued that in England the word fascist had become a synonym for bully.' (Pardon my poor punctuation)
I think "Bully" is the genus and "fascist" is the species. And for sure that and many other words gets tossed around as simply pejorative with much further meaning. I used to object when some called us politicians fascist, not that some of them did not lean that way, but it seemed a serious charge. Now I think Trump and associates have crossed the line. I think some of his following gets that and approves, but I strongly suspect not all.
Thanks for the clarification. Alrighty then, Fat Fascist Farce it is then.
That is essentially what all Fascists are from very early
or formed later and need to be called out. And a deep caution not to use the phrase fascist easily. Because it's not merely somebody you don't like or don't agree with. "It's the actions, stupid, it's the actions."
Last week Rachel Maddow was talking about how Trump takes a word or phrase a normalizes it through repetition and lies. She talks about how TFFG perverted the term "fake news" form it's original usage. And others like Communist, Socialist, Fascist. When you watch Jordan Klepper interview the MAGANAZIs they home in on calling Democrats and others the terms Trump labels them over and over again.
When Klepper asks for examples or what the terms mean, they haven't a clue. They assume it is common knowledge and bad, so they repeat the same labels ad nauseam.
Gary, reading this it reminded me of a doll I had as a kid. You pulled a string on the back and it would “speak” a recorded phrase….they were limited to a few select phrases….repeated again and again. Heh, haven’t thought of that doll in many decades! Kinda reminds me, now that I think of it, of Klepper’s interviewees.
Was it Chatty Cathy maybe? 🙂
Maybe! I also recall I had a doll named (by the manufacturer) Poor Pitiful Pearl. My and my sisters dolls didn’t do much “dolly” stuff, rather we and our younger brother would get the Tonka Trucks and dolls (including Barbie’s) to do safaris & adventures in the backyard “jungle”. Thanks for jogging that long ago memory!
Barbara,
You're making me laugh reminding me of a classic Twilight Zone episode----
"My name is Talking Tina, and I don't like you"!
Good point. I remember my older sister playing with hers. Pretty sure my mom sent her to her room to play with it.
Don't give them any ideas. Imagine a chatty Donnie doll with a Chuckle expression. The stuff nightmares are made of.
Damn Nazi communists!
BTW, I recall some "Republican" in the news explaining that Hitler was a communist because "National Socialist". They seem to go back and forth about whether Hitler was bad or not.
The other day Jordan Klepper from the Daily Show had a YouTube video of a lady in Iowa that he interviewed. I went to Iowa State so I know a lot of Iowans and I just have to say, this lady was likely the dumbest person I've ever seen interviewed. She tried parroting Fox News or some right wing media outlet and kept messing up what they said. If given the choice of room mates between a Trumpanzee parrot and this lady, I would choose the parrot.
I am not sure if you are agreeing with me or not or calling me stupid. I do call those who are using fascist tactics to sow chaos through fear, hatred, division, obstruction, and repetitious lies, propaganda, gaslighting what they are. I do not take this lightly. This is about democracy vs fascism. And, I don't agree with fascists and wannabe dictators in our democracy. It is their actions I am referring to. I have been calling trump a fascist since his first rally of propaganda gaslighting and whipping them into a frenzy with BS. It was much more than not agreeing with him, it was his tyrannical use of fascist tactics and those of cult leaders. I apologize if I misunderstood your comment.
I absolutely did not direct this at you at all, it was a general remark made from other people occasionally loosely using the term (and who might be reading here) from some folks among 'Progressives' . I've been seeing some other high-powered terms misused lately especially since Oct.7th: 'genocide' to name one. Language is a powerful tool and sometimes folks wield it not grasping its rooted meanings as you've no doubt noticed.
What Trump pulled in Lafayette Square was Fascism. I was watching Garrett Haake on MSNBC when it happened. It was a pastoral scene, artists with their easels, people throwing Frisbees. This was about 20 minutes before they were supposed to end their "protest." And then the government thugs (they removed all of the names and insignias from their uniforms) started shooting rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the crowd so Trump could do his photo shoot with a borrowed Bible in front of a church that he had never attended.
I was not watching, but it would be interesting to know how the various media for profit people reported it.
The 'It's the actions, stupid' phrase takes off from Clinton's "It's the economy, stupid" he used to turn attention to his platform when running for president. What has become a kind of meme in itself in the Sensitivity-Identity Era (sigh!) where everyone is a label, is a lack of identifying actual actions by their own weights and meanings. This shows up in FB for instance with people using adjectives - which are basically judgment words - endlessly to try to derive meaning about situations, public people etc, when verbs - which define the actions of the person and tend to convey meaning - would do the job. Meaning IS showing up in our courts of law lately where testimony by tfg's lawyers comes down not to what they had described publicly, but down to what they DID.
I've used it but never liked it. "Stupidity" is not so much the problem as being 'fools", and who has never been fooled? That said, it does seem that you can fool some of the people all of the time. (quote origin unknown, but a good one, often attributed to Lincoln)
Why do you think his parents sent him to a military school.
Because he got kicked out of other schools and they thought he needed discipline. It was not about learning how democracy works. I am sure it was a punitive action. Most likely why he hates the military.
Fine for two year olds, then the outside world, with loving parent/s needs to begin to help the child mature. Really nearly impossible when that’s needed for a 77 year old. Those who think they can help by limiting the tantrums rarely realize how difficult that is (even with two year olds), and most give up, go away, and write books.
Trump's mother was ill and ineffective when he was a toddler.
Sad. Not surprising. His father isn’t known as a presence, either I suppose.
The Nazi, Roy Cohn, may have been more of an influence. Just noticed that Trump's father (no angel)'s middle name was "Christ."
OMy!!!
Yes for those other influencers, though I have heard his father quoted as being demanding, sending him to military school, and from there, he then must have been an easy ‘mark.’
It’s a whole bio of wrongs and wrong influences,as far as I can see. Ah the importance of early childhood and good loving parenting, let alone decent education. Hard to tell what might have saved this particular destiny!
As has the clear and imminent threat of life in prison.
These are appropriate for two year olds, then loving adults need to provide guidance to mature. Those who try with a 77 year old find it’s much much more difficult than with the child ( and it’s not easy then). Most then either give up, enable, run scared, and/ or leave and write books.
Be like Doris: keep doing the work and wear down ( probably not so possible to educate) the tyrant’s behavior. The Constitution and those who vow to serve and protect it are guardrails, but they only work if there are enough like Doris.
Darn—I tried 3 times to get my thoughts posted and only once did it seem to go through-But here are all three iterations🙄
At two years old, those qualities are appropriate. Then a loving parent or parents need to help move the child toward maturity. Not so easy when it’s a 77year old. Those who think they can often get tired of the tantrums, run scared, and give up, leave the scene and write books. How many can be like Doris— continue to go back in and do what they can? The power to help the two year old takes persistence, self discipline, intelligent guidance, and safeguarding. And love. The Constitution and those chosen to serve and protect it apparently haven’t yet made enough difference. Like Doris, they/we need to go back to work, awake.
The Negro Sailor
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji1aG5s9qI4
Gen Smedley Butler stepped up early in the Business plot/Wall Street Putsch of 1933 when they tried to recruit him to take over the government, seemingly letting them think he might go along as he learned more about what they were plotting, before exposing it.
Many of the previous and current Military and Trump Appointees who said they would still vote for him again, did instead refuse to follow his illegal orders and "suggestions" in the end, "refusing to do fascist." A very few like Gen Flynn and probably his brother, either were willing to disavow their oaths and do his bidding (or slow walk reaction that should have started much earlier).
I do believe we will have enough who honor their oaths to stop them a second time but it could be more traumatic and damaging than their Jan 6 practice run. Better to be over prepared next time than as at risk as the first time.
"And, logically, that select group of leaders would elevate a single man, who would become an all-powerful dictator. To weld their followers into an efficient machine, they demonized opponents into an “other” that their followers could hate."
What affect would it have on the low-information MAGANAZIs if Biden took Fox News, Breitbart, Sinclair and OAN off of the air? Also the WSJ, Washington Examiner, New York Post and USA Today. Their mission appears to be demonization of the others HCR details in this letter--especially Biden and Harris.
Gary, for me the conundrum is how to actively oppose the anti-democratic autocratic/theocratic efforts effectively when they use cheating and dirty tricks to advance their agenda WITHOUT becoming like them? I do not want to “become” that which I oppose.
Hmmmm. Is that what hypocrisy is? --when one becomes that which one opposes? If so, then I am one. I'm not sure about resorting to cheating and dirty tricks, but I am not very civil in my criticisms of the right. I perceive them to be liars and cheaters, but I'm guessing they think I am a liar and a cheat as well.
And I invest in fossil fuel companies and other companies that don't give a lick about the environment or their workers. And all because I want to increase my nest egg for retirement.
In the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai “wherever you go, there you are”.
That travels too far into the realm of "thought control". What needs to happen is the "media" needs to dig out of the drama and back to reporting on events as they are, not as trash that gathers "clicks" or "subscriptions" or "follows".
Your latest idea sounds hopeful but none of those services are likely to refuse to obey their commander in chief. If it weren’t for the fact that we talking about Trump as that commander the refusal to follow orders would be the rapid unwinding of our Constitutional experiment. Some general, admiral or Secretary would become our de facto unelected president. That is not what we want any more than we want Trump as president.
My husband was Navy and was born Dec 7 1943 so I remember the day of infamy. My grandfather was a Navy engineer who designed and supervised the building of the dry docks in the harbor that were bombed on that fateful day. Lots of links across time and space and reasons to stand together for our republic’s democracy. We the people shall prevail. Thank you for this important review of history and call for support.
Still remembering that morning. 6 years old and on my way out the door to feed the chickens, with our radio always on. I heard the president's voice which I knew from his fireside chats; stopped in my tracks hearing about a place called Pearl Harbor. The next day's newspaper brought those horrendous photos of battleships on fire and sinking. Shortly after our small local Bangor airport began sweeping its beacons through the night skies for the next three years, which brought up my question of why German bombers would even bother to fly over our NE PA farmlands. I decided they wouldn't as my curiosity took in the geography that would be involved along with the flying range bombers would have to manage flying from Germany. Not until many years later did I know that Nazi subs were cruising and torpedoing our ships just off the New Jersey coast about 100 miles away. What a way to learn geography…
Is he still alive? Whether or not, happy birthday to him (1 day later)
Having visited Pearl Harbour and the Missouri memorial site (listening there to Japanese youth cat calling to each other and laughing) I was appalled to learn that when President Trump visited that site in the company of a top military official, he seemed to be not fully cognisant of what happened at that site. This is the man who wants to return to the presidency and become a a dictator. Why does the GOP bow to this repugnant human being?
Because he has the ability to bully, intimidate and frighten many of them and give others false hope of power and money. He’s a monster...
My Momma knew what to do with a bully.
The GOP has sold out to Trump the bully and their big $ manipulators.
I was a six year old military dependent in Hawaii in 1952 who, like my future wife also a dependent child, saw a lot of the bullet holes and damage 11 years after the attack. We were stationed there from 75 to 79 and visited the Arizona Memorial nearly 35 years after the attack.
It was such an important memorial to my wife's mother, a WWII Veteran who signed up as soon as she could after the attack (and managed to live 5 months longer than expected to pass peacefully early in the morning of Dec 7, 2009).
Dec 7, 2011 (I think), 70 years after the attack one of our college students told us his grandfather was lost as a member of the turret 3 crew, bringing tears to my eyes as I had guessed from the student's name that it might be "Charley Brown" (actually Charles Martin Brown), as his name was the only name I remembered from the plaque simply because it reminded me of the Charley Brown cartoons. He was one of 5 crewmen with the last name Brown (of 1.175 I found listed). I think I somehow knew "Charley Brown" was a Turret 3 crew member before meeting his grandson but don't know where I learned that after spotting his name on the memorial.
They are much more than simply names on a wall to many of us.
Jim, thanks for sharing, brought tears to my eyes….how the threads of our lives sometime weave together.
Virginia...Why does the GOP bow to this repugnant human being? My thoughts on this question go all over the map.
Perhaps the GOP folks are fearful of retribution, but I am sure that is as legitimate as they might want us to believe. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to face it and conquer it. Easier said than done, I suppose. Clearly we don’t have courageous representatives. The other thought I have, which is most predominant for me, is that Trump has released the kraken! His evil, hitleresque rhetoric has awakened all the hate that has always resided within the white supremacist nature. It is quite scary to realize that there are so many Americans who hold such attitudes and now there is a house leader who is a religious fanatic and espousing a
misogynistic, bigoted agenda and approach to leadership within his party. We have only to look at the state of Texas and that horrendous Governor. And beyond belief, a criminally indicted person running for president and a party that backs him to be their candidate. UnF-ingbelievable!! When all the trumpers realize that their rights and liberties are at risk with TFG, maybe, just maybe they will wake up and do the right thing.
Christine, I just don't think they will wake up. For them, the thought of being "better than" people of color, and non-Christians, and the LGBTQ+ community supersedes any loss of their own liberties. "Owning the libs" won't put food on your table, but it will sure make you feel more powerful. Hatred and anger are powerful drugs.
Agreed. People are in way, way too deep. Sunk cost fallacy works at its highest here because people’s entire self concept was lifted by the choice to belong, to attend “services”, to commune with others and to participate in a universality of hate.
A few stuck a toe in, kept their critical faculties and left. . . whenever ( pick your moment of extraplanetary foolishness - the constant lying, Trump’s invective against McCain as a war hero, his hawking chlorine bleach during Covid, the Four Seasons nightclub rally, January 6. . . ). They left before the emotional cost of leaving was too high.
But the majority hung on through thick and very, very thin - and they are here today. This is why we have a clear and present danger. To turn away now is to taste the bitter ashes of having been a fool. They will stay and a second chance at the Presidency will do wonders for their energy.
And, sad to say America, you brought on a Trump. He did not arrive on soil not carefully tilled. Inequality has crushed the American Dream for many. Americans stood around mutely while unions were being wrecked by right to work rules. In the early 2000s Americans dubbed opioids as “hillbilly heroin” and gave it not a second thought.
Americans endured years and years of steadily increasing shootings in the public square, especially schools and ou of it came the bowdlerized nursery rhyme (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle:
Lockdown, lockdown, lock the door
Shut the lights off, say no more
Go behind the desk and hide
Wait until it’s safe inside
Lockdown, lockdown, it’s all done
Now it’s time to have some fun!
The single greatest factor of America’s complicity in Trump is the deterioration of American education. Somehow school districts have managed in their squirrel-headedness to get it exactly wrong. Where the tax base is strong, millions is thrown at schools. Where it is weak, the schools get pennies. No wonder each generation of Americans is less and less well-educated except at the top, less and less able to understand the cult of Trump (except at the top), less and less inclined to believe in the American Dream (except at the top).
What now?
No surrender. Every avenue must be pursued to eliminate Trump. This. Election. Must. Be. Won.
Then, don’t turn away. Turn to the critical areas of childbirth, early years and education. Pour billions into making it possible for pitchers to be to survive birth, raise their children with targeted help - targeted to the times when poor young mostly single parents are laid vulnerable, unable to keep it together.
When the children start living, focus on fairly funded public education. As a former teacher I am mental when I see the energy expended on hardening schools, arming teachers, fighting the LGBTQ+ community etc. Fight the real issues - reading, writing, civic literacy. Then you have a chance to- when that generation grows up - to fix the colossal structural problems of the nation.
But first things first. Get Trump the hell out.
I made a point on my first visit to the island of Hawaii to visit those memorials. Absolutely stunning, and the number of survivors who have chosen to be interred with their shipmates upon their death is a testament to the concept of service.
It was not lost upon me that the USS Missouri was positioned to "stand watch" over the USS Arizona.
Power
To preserve our US democracy is THE challenge of this decade, perhaps century….and we must really get ‘at it’ in the next 11 months….decency/sanity/and stability requires it and the world desperately needs it! This is clearly NOT just a national issue. We are a largely interdependent world!
we are fundamentally and ultimately interdependent, and just plain dependent, on many, many things.
Exactly! And collaborative democracy is the answer NOT facisism!
We cannot have real democracy with capitalism. Until the workplace is democratic, we will always be subject to the power of the capitalists, no matter how many guardrails are put in place. The reason virtually every piece of legislation from Congress since America came into existence has been to line the pockets of monied interests, or watered down when crafted to help the working class, is due to the fear of the capital strike.
Call it democracy all you want. In the richest nation on earth, in a real democracy, literally the people rule, there would be no poverty, no homeless, no one hungry, etc. There is no true left to speak of to force the change to systemic economic inequality we require to have democracy. The corporate-owned duopoly rules, and makes the rules.
Democratize the workplace. Otherwise, we’re pissing in the wind.
https://humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/how-to-fix-democracy-with-richard-wolff-s2e6/
Tom High, thank you for sharing this interview of Richard Wolff. Excellent. That’s why I value this group of commentators--for their sharings like this. I think about how the Confederates were not punished adequately after the Civil War allowing them to establish Black Codes and Jim Crow laws and reestablish their exploitation of their former slaves. It took demonstrations and violence to shake free of Jim Crow. Here is Wolff pointing out that FDR got what amounted to temporary concessions without putting in place systemic structural changes thereby giving capitalists the space to dismantle the New Deal benefits. We are now on the brink of dismantling Social Security. I was appalled at the way we responded to 2008--bailing out the risk takers and allowing so many to lose their homes and other savings. Workin Americans maintain their needs by taking on credit card debt and/or relying on payday loans. Will it take violence to stop exploitive capitalism or will corporations replace governments and borders and citizenships first before workers demand freedoms within the corporations? I already think legislators at all levels have ceded their work to corporations and monied interests. Thanks again for that link.
We have a problem in this country in getting past government (monied interest) propaganda that makes us think we have a democracy, and incremental ‘reforms’ are all that is necessary to fix what ails us. In this time, facing the problems we are facing now, that is, to be blunt, a BS narrative.
Agree completely about ‘08; Obama’s response led directly to MAGA.
As to whether violence will be required for systemic change, we’ll see. Peace, t
I don't wholly disagree, but it would be a good start to get rid of Citizens United!
We need to go further, Gayle. CU was just another in a long line of corporate friendly SCOTUS decisions. We have to overrule the court entirely, by passing a constitutional amendment that kills the twin concepts of money as speech and corporate personhood. Call your representative, and have any friends you know in other districts do the same, and urge them to cosponsor HJR-54. More info here - MoveToAmend.org
Here’s the current list of cosponsors: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-joint-resolution/54/cosponsors
Got it, and thanks for giving us a pathway to do something that has the capacity to make a difference! It's going to be a whole lot easier once we re-elect Joe Biden and re-gain the majority in Congress. The main thing we need to focus on right now is getting people to VOTE for Democracy!!!
Tom-Thanks for sharing this link. I wonder how many Americans know why white supremacy was invented and the impact it's had on capitalism and our so-called democracy which has been tainted by corruption, malice and greed.
"The ruling class invented the "white race" as a social-control mechanism in response to the labor solidarity"....by fixing a perpetual brand upon African Americans...the racial privileges conferred by the ruling class upon European-American workers not only work against the interests of the direct victims of white supremacy, they also work against the workers' interests"... From The Invention of the White Race Volume II: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America by Theodore W. Allen (1919-2005) (published in 1997)
Allen predicted that unless and until European Americans "wake up" to the origins of race we'll have perpetual conflict that will undermine our nation. Police shootings of Black people awakened some to racism and we often acknowledge racism but never really deal with it as a detriment to all of us.
There was indeed backlash about the banks getting off scot free when "common people" suffered, but the real backlash is all about the fact that Obama was able to win the presidential election at all. That was a signal to some that White people are "losing their country". MAGAs are panicking and desperate now. To make their point they should just go ahead and show everyone the Birth of a Nation film released in 1915.
Unfortunately, those being bamboozled by the ruling class can't see through the fog.
Americans need to be educated more about what racism is really all about-maybe then we can return to the times when there was indeed solidarity among the working class. Check out the story of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 and how capitalism developed from there.
As historian Lerone Bennett Jr. (1928-2018) simply said in his book The Shaping of Black America: The Struggles and Triumphs of African Americans, 1619-1990s (published in 1969), "We don't have to speculate on the motives of the men who created the American race problem. They tell us clearly what they were doing and why they were doing it...the race problem in America was a deliberate invention of men who systematically separated blacks and whites in order to make money".
Voluminous documentation and painstaking analysis reveals the truth about racism that most of us deny, disregard or distort. What are white supremacists really holding onto? If we really want to reconstruct, reform, repair, replace? our democracy then we have to recognize that race and class trumps (pun intended) everything...
Joan, indeed the next 11 months are razor’s edge critical….and then we must remember never to be asleep at the wheel again & understand that what we think “could never happen” can.
Such heroism only to go down with his ship a couple of years later. What a loss of the rest of his life! Thank you, Heather, for covering this story.
Yes, but also a tragedy that his and many other's heroism was undervalued. And yet, I suspect his visibility help to erode the the wall of prejudice. The struggle is still intense, but some of the institutional barriers have been lowered.
Black Americans who fought in Vietnam came home to face the same racism which those I know thought they would be America's heroes. I imagine it is the same for most wars for POC when they return. We have work to do!
Throughout history it's been the poor men that have fought the wars. Vietnam was no different. I'm sure Black Americans were well represented there.
If you want a video slice of what service was like for Black Americans, take a look into "Hidden Figures", the movie that features the stories of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan.
Yes I saw that. They were treated very inhumanely.
Tragic
Heather, you bring one of the most important days of American history to full light. And, you have tied it to today’s current situation so perfectly.
“Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch?”
Every American in this nation needs to read this write-up, and ponder that question you ask. I have been fighting this for the past 7 years.
Donald J. Trump has been a spy since the early 70s for Russia. He is a narcissist, sociopath, and the only thing he has his sights on right now is becoming a Dictator. That’s his ultimate goal.
Anyone who doesn’t think he will do exactly what he says he’ll do when he walks back into the White House is a total fool! He will completely destroy America. He will dismantle our economy, our Democracy, our Constitution will be gone, forever.
This MAGA group he has built are of the utmost dangerous. He has them now infiltrated into all levels of our government from local through federal. Every level in all states. All he needs to do is get himself back in the White House.
IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
“Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch?”
Daniel, I noticed on the Project 2025 site—I’ve been aware of it soon after it was published, but went back on recently to see if anything new was posted—well well well they now have a “sign up” for folks interested in putting their hat in the ring to participate & online classes, etc., to “train” recruits. WTF!!! We really need to pay attention & take this seriously.
It doesn’t surprise me at all. They have to “train” recruits. It’s more like “brainwashing” recruits.
Thanks for bringing this out. Project 2025 is something we definitely need to keep a close eye on, and battle back against it, somehow.
NO !!, ...NOT. TODAY !, ...or Any DAY !!
STAND !!, In. FAITH !,
ALL. 'BELIEVERS !!' AMEN !!
I did not see any mention in the media about December 7th being the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day.
I remember this 1941 day vividly. We had invited a skating instructor to Sunday lunch. Nancy Alvord’s husband was a pilot on an aircraft carrier based in Pearl.
After lunch we were going to listen to a radio concert from NYC. Instead, we heard the first news of a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The news was stunning to Mrs. Alvord and to us. Though we had been following intently the war in Europe [my mother was British and, for us, WW II in Europe began in September, 1939], the prospect of a Japanese sneak attack was unimaginable.
We had scant details of the magnitude of the damage for some days. Mrs. Alvord’s husband was safety on an air craft carrier that was not in Pearl. [He was lost at the battle of Midway, when his entire torpedo squadron was shot down by Japanese fighters.]
On December 8th President Roosevelt, in a stirring speech before Congress, declared war against Japan. No mention was made of Hitler’s Germany. [There was subsequent speculation whether the United States would declare war against Germany, since the national focus was on Japan.]
On December 11th Hitler declared war on the United States. We already were in a ‘semi-war’ with Germany. Our navy was directly involved with the British navy in protecting supply convoys carrying Lend Lease supplies to England.
The first months of the war were dreadful for the United States. The Japanese captured the Philippines, where we had our largest contingent of soldiers in Asia. Meanwhile, German U boats were sinking American ships off the shore of New Jersey and elsewhere.
All this was overwhelming for this eight-year old.
It was noted on David Muir last night.
My uncle was on the USS Wasp in 1942 when it was torpedoed and sunk. Like many veterans of that era, the war years were not usually a topic of conversation. One story that was passed down was as he and others prepared to jump into the water, one of the other airmen said he couldn't swim and my uncle said, "well you're going to learn now" and pulled him over! They survived and my uncle served on other carriers in the Pacific until the end of the war. Afterwards, he went went on to have a brilliant academic career but never flew again - he claimed it was because commercial airlines would not let him wear a parachute and he would not fly without one! And, it doesn't always register just how young these men were - my uncle had just turned 23 in September 1942 and was only 21 when, in anticipation of war, he left college and enlisted, initially as a naval aviation cadet.
In June 1943, my dad (1) graduated high school, (2) turned 19, (3) was drafted into the Army.
Yup, my Dad was 19 too when he was drafted. He was in the European front and saw the horror of the concentration camps as part of the liberating troops. Again, like so many of that generation, they put the war "behind them" but there were deep seeded wounds that never healed.
Yep. Daddy was in Patton's Army and they landed in France after D Day. I always knew he had been part of liberating a concentration camp, though he told me he did not "go in." (It's not like you had to to know what was going on!.) I didn't ask him which one when he was alive, but I later figured it must have been Mauthausen. What a hellacious experience that war had to be for these young men.
True. And yet, black men and women who came back from the war were threatened with death if they voted.
Apartheid, and democracy is complicated.
Sort of like good and evil. Some do struggle with that, redefine, reframe, lie, propagandize, find a Bible verse, on and on. The Golden Rule does it for me…
Ooooh, Jeri, bravo!! The best creed! TGR! The thing is with the Golden Rule, one must think through one's thoughts and actions. It is not a religion where you give your power to another and are passive. It is action oriented for the good of the whole. It is a creed of "Do."
Each individual has the power, and keeps it... No Franklin Grahams for me.
Egads, I had to look him up. Son of a... Got it!!
Evil with a halo
Wow, there are a lot of those fools floating around these days. Great image, Jeri!
Lord Tytler, a Scottish historian, presented the 8 stages of democracy, with the final stage democracy’s failure due to political economic influences. John Quincy Adams predicted the same outcome for America’s democracy. Basically, democracies do not last longer than 200 years, succumbing to greed and corruption. We have let our education system fail our youth, allowed the infiltration of money into our politics, and have become apathetic about our government--the “Bermuda Triangle” for democracy.
Well said. Let’s add Plato’s retort that “Tyranny follows Democracy.” This was a line I never understood until recent times.
Thank you for writing about Pearl Harbor. This year, I note there was just a tiny blip in the news about Pearl Harbor. It felt like this event was being erased from our collective memory. Those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's remember the media's attention on December 7th and the solem commemorations for that day. Our parents fought in that war and we were keenly aware of their sacrifices. Now, we have a Republican leader who calls military men and women "losers", and he slanders military heroes like John McCain. This is what our parents fought for? To be slandered, to be mocked? The men and women who put their lives on the line so lunatics like trump can mock them?
Our shame, we write the story of our lives with one hand and erase with the other.
Jeri, your comment reminds me of a horrible calculus teacher who wrote “proofs” and then erased them (when the blackboard was full) without discussing the logic that allowed the progression from one line to the next. Heather has shown us how, once again, our belief that democracy will take care of itself while we concentrate on our daily lives has brought us to the edge of a fight to save it.
I had such a professor, and I have never forgotten the frustration. I was hoping that he was the only one.
"concentration on our daily lives" Wow, if only all could do that. But so many are battlling so many battles and so many issues. Need a score card...
I think of my father’s service often these days. I will fight for this country’s democracy just as he did, in as many ways as I can.
Agree wholeheartedly….I may be old, but I’m still feisty!
This movie gives lie to all that underlaid the discrimination and segregation of the USA Caste System. Ironically, it was the military that dealt Jim Crow a deadly blow.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji1aG5s9qI4
Same as in the Civil War. From the beginning, Black leaders and activists knew that the best hope of ending slavery was to press for Black men to serve in the Union Army. Once they broke that barrier, and white men saw equality, humanity, nobility in action - slavery couldn't be countenanced. Tragically, Confederates and the slavepower were allowed to rise again.
Maybe it can do the same for women, and some “others.” Just a dream, it seems…
Jeri, I dream of the ERA passing in my lifetime….the numbers are there, so perhaps we need a Captain Picard to “make it so”.
Hope that happens, won’t in my lifetime. There simple sentences that should be non-controversial
Bruce, the draft really was the American “melting pot” in that it brought men together who would not normally associate be it by class, ethnicity, geography, etc.
My father is a great example. He was a Jewish boy from the Bronx who came to California during Depression. He worked in a major ship yard here, was called up to serve in the Army in occupied-Japan for three years. There he teemed up with two buddies, one a farm boy from Fresno, and they discovered a small group of Catholic nuns struggling to start an orphanage. The three men of very different backgrounds, worked together to do everything they could to found that orphanage. My father went back in the 80’s and one of the nuns was still there, as was the orphanage, and she greeted him with joy. Just another story of WWII.
I failed to mention that my father’s parents were immigrants who came from Eastern Europe, Russia then; Belarus now, Slonim in particular. He was a first generation American.
I have two very close elderly Jewish men friends who have described, in detail, their experiences in the WWII Army. The deliberately cruel attention they received, and the horrible nicknames they were saddled with, are a bleak testament to the degree of blind hatred that so many Americans have embraced.
And the Negro Soldier brought the issue to dry land.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dln2dQyLNVU
True. Yet, black men and women who came back from fighting for democracy were threatened with death if they tried to vote.
Apartheid is complicated.
Michael Kernell,
And thus our fears and prejudices and ignorance continue...... What kind of inner power and courage do immigrants (often persons of color) carry with them in their beings to leave everything they have to come to this country? Our country is said to offer hope and opportunity....an education for their children. They want to work...they are willing to take the most humble, difficult, dangerous jobs with little pay. They face abuse and disrespect...and still they come facing such disrespect!!!! Many have been chosen by our citizens to become great leaders, some are amazing scientists, engineers. teachers, space explorers, leaders within our government, doctors, lawyers, religious leaders etc!!!!
They come, having experienced power hungry dictatorships that have ruined the economies of their countries. ARE THESE NOW THE TYPE OF LEADERS WE, AMERICAN CITIZENS, WANT TO CHOOSE!?
And yet....the governments immigrants are fleeing....some of our citizens are working towards putting in place in the USA.....Dictatorship....control of our education system....preferring to have all decisions made for them.
God help us!!! and if you are not religious....may common sense help us!!!! And may the many KIND servants at the border who are receiving those who come to us be strengthened and blessed as well as the states who are most affected by immigration.
As fellow Americans, we need to support the hard work of receiving immigrants....who by the way are individual human beings.
How would you want to be treated if you were in their situation?!
Yes. And if the tyrants who want to rule this country take over, Americans may find out what it is like to have to be an immigrant and want to leave, or worse be forced to deportment.
Cannot LIKE this, but I agree.