The Republican Party knows they are spiraling toward irrelevancy in a (small d) democratic world. They know they will not win a fair, open, honest, un-gerrymandered election.
There is no explanation I can see for their utter, in-your-face disregard for American electoral tradition. The pretense is gone.
I keep telling myself these are the death throes of a dying political dynamic that can no longer stand on its own two feet. The historic tradition of the plantation and the company town, ruled over by a handful of white males, morally endorsed by an all powerful, all-seeing sky-god, are the real "family values" of the modern Republican Party.
I believe if they burn down the house on the way out, we'll build another, better one.
Yes, privileged white man's dying screams of the patriarchal/corporate caste system. We are being whipped and killed on their way out. The unfairness and stupendity of these acts, particularly during a horrific pandemic is attempting to disenfranchise our democracy. This enforced powerlessness is what people of color, women and caged children feel everyday.
Yes, indeed. So are we going to sit in the stands, watch and thereby collude with our immolation? If you are watching your children inside the house burning, what are you not going to do?
A very wise man said to me a few years ago, they can go with the flow or they can go kicking and screaming but by golly, they are GOING to go! When animals are threatened the reptilian brain takes over. They get fiercer, more irrational, they pull out all the stops. This is what’s happening now and will continue to until they can’t anymore.
How are people stopped from "burning" houses down? What is required?
I suppose enough people in leadership positions with personal integrity, honesty, and humility. Right now, in one political party, I think we are falling short on all three.
(Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.)
Ralph, thank you for pointing out the big picture, and calmly indicating that perhaps a sane person in authority, assisted by similarly sane, principled supporters, can smother the flames. Certainly, the current thug controllers think of nothing but themselves, and that has brought us to our current near-calamity. We really need the Georgia Senate win to keep this country from going off a cliff.
But this dependence on “people in leadership positions” is part of what ails us at the moment. We just can’t continue to count on — lean on — these “leaders” by themselves. We need to pull ourselves together — figuratively and literally — and start picking up our own “toys” and not waiting for “mommy” or “daddy” to do it for us.
A peoples organization, founded on and led by principled morality, could have the power to move the immovable and lead the leaders in serving our society. Going back to the “good ol’ days” just ain’t gonna cut it in this new century.
This forum is an excellent place to start. In the responses to yesterday’s letter, Cathy Learoyd and R Dooley and I had a thread going prompted by Cathy’s question along the lines of: “Why can’t we start a movement of Prof. Richardson’s readers?”
I’d been thinking about that possibility for awhile now, and was energized by her question. Given the levels of corruption and immorality within our systems and institutions, we can’t count on anyone but ourselves...us!
If we put our minds — and hearts — and talents and commitment together we can redesign the machinery of our civilization to actually do what we want it to do...and what “leaders” keep promising it will do...eventually.
First we need a story to tell......what would the new world look like. Then we need a practical path to get there. With that we form the kernel from which we can all "spread the gospel" and grow the group. BUT the key to making it believable is the need for little victories on the road to the goal...this keeps the group together without backsliding, motivates the troups and "confirms" the riteousness of the cause, goal and methos.
Ralph - I love your definition of humility! Thank you for that. Okay - so the "stopping the burning" requires decent, intelligent (in mind and emotion) leaders possessing integrity. Right on. Given the imminence of "burning down" --it hasn't happened yet or perhaps, actually, the match is heading toward the house this very moment -- given the "givens" in the Leadership Department, and "imagine" you are the one the rest of us has been waiting for to blow out the match or otherwise halt the momentum -- what are you going to do? how are you going to do that? What do you need to do that - inwardly and outwardly?
Assume inside you, is the answer to that question. And, also decide if you are willing to choose to do whatever it takes - including moving out of your comfort zone into your "vital zone" which means moving into the "unfamiliar" "not of the family" (tradition, habit, custom, how we always see ourselves) so it feels risky - a little, more, a lot risky. We each and altogether are being asked to seize this moment to enter into new ways of viewing self and other/country/enemy/ etc. and expanding our consciousness. The very fact that you are asking an important question indicates you are open and you've hit the path. The "answer" lives in the unknown and I will do whatever it requires to hear - see - feel - touch - come to it - know it. Be on the lookout for synchronistic events. A friend asks you to go with her to a political/spiritual meeting.....and usually, you'd say no ---- for example. Do the opposite to your habitual responses.
Personally, I’m going to fly an American flag on the front of my house with a Biden Harris sign right below while sitting in a lawn chair wearing a red ball cap.
The accumulation, the piling on, the numbers, the numbers aren’t just digits, anonymous digits, pieces of fruit or days in the week or votes given or taken away by some nameless hand – they are you sitting there today, slipping into memory tomorrow. 2,000 a day, 2,500 hundred a day, 3,000 lost children a day because we are all some mother’s child, some father’s child brother sister – a life is not a digit, the pain of loss cannot be atomized with math to some place where the hurting stops.
And the counting feels relentless, a numbing rain of numbers washing me away, and the raging, at masks, at the loss of a beer hall some call freedom – rage in the face of numbers, no longer far away New York City numbers or Italy numbers or China numbers, but my next door neighbor numbers, and I need to rage, I have to rage, at my helplessness, because I can’t admit to it all, can’t surrender to it because I’ve built a wall of denial around myself and now I can’t get out. So, I take a pass on reality, block it, block it, block it. And if I die, who gives a damn, it’s my right. And if you die, well, that’s the price of freedom.
I too, am outraged, exhausted, and flummoxed. For two years, I spoke with others about how another Civil War could maybe happen. We are seeing it with our own eyes. I mean right in front of us! And for what reason? The white man, some women, (extremists and supremacists) do not want to have their space invaded by people of color. Oh and, of course, it’s all about protections for the corporations. None are extended for the people. So they invoke fear. Here's the thing though. Republicans are really good at getting their message out because they do it repetitively. Democrats, simply don’t have the gumption, the fervor, that wreaks havoc like the Repubs do. Why is that?
Now all of a sudden, Barr Nun wants to resign but not until he leaves his mark by appointing special counsel to investigate Hunter and his uncle. Then you’ve got these 17 rogue governors who refuse to acknowledge Biden’s win.
I’ve got to get some sleep y’all...sometime, someday.
I know you probably already started researching but had to share! I have had a stuffy nose for a month now but all else is fine so am not worried. Also, I noticed these days when I clean and sweep which activates dust, I will sneeze a lot now unlike when I was younger.
Added to that is living in a closed atmosphere now rather than with windows opened or fans going. I get congested & hoarse & runny nose about every other day - blame it on my "allergies".
Every time my husband coughs or sneezes I tense up. Every time I go into the grocery store I find myself holding my breath for as long as possible after passing another customer. It’s lurking around us, and the unmitigated evil of all these antics about overturning the election are like an endless display of fireworks that fizzle but occasionally cause pain to an innocent person. I just want to stand on top of the highest building and shout at those below me ‘Just stop this! Get over yourselves! Five people you know will die in the next year. Just settle down and knock this off!’
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was so absorbed with the political circus that I didn't mind staying at home, doing only necessary errands. However, with the election over and real catastrophe having been avoided (I understand that the pandemic, alone, is a catastrophe), I was elated for only a short time. Now I'm worried and distracted, and think that the combination of political and global health disasters are causing most of us severe angst. It's a difficult time, and hope of better days is all we can lean on for the present. To quote a famous Democrat, "I feel your pain." There are more of us than them, and we're stronger.
Cynthia, can you have groceries delivered or can you order them online and have them put into your car's trunk in the store's parking lot? That's what I've been doing since mid-March.
I will have to start doing that... There is a small grocery store about 45 minutes from here...they are exemplary with their operation...Limited number of people inside...everyone in masks, every cart is really cleaned thoroughly..no bags are to be brought in, the manager is outside of the store most of the time (or another employee) with masks and antibacterial wipes and liquids to give everyone a good clean ups before they enter! Whole Foods which is about that far away too..I almost feel that the virus is pumped in through the ventilation system..it just doesn't feel right...we can't get things delivered but believe me, anything I can order from Amazon is filling up my shelfs!
I'm 'sneezy' too with a runny nose. I had a negative covid test less than a week ago. So I'm just self monitoring. Thanks for the covid symptoms check Lynell. Much appreciated. Hang in there Karen!
I can’t count the times I sat at night, my head filling up, my eyes burning and I thought, yup, here it is....but I woke up the next morning and it wasn’t. We create disease by focusing on it. Take a breath and relax out of fear.
br, thank you for your comment. This post, however clumsily, was meant to reflect two conflicting experiences - the first paragraph reflecting my personal experience with the pandemic, the second that of an imagined person.
A long time ago, a friend of mine - a talented writer, told me that once you write something and send it out into the world, you must let it go. People will make of it what they will, view it through their eyes, their experience, and their reaction isn’t right or wrong or better or worse than what you may have intended or thought when you were writing it – the writing has its own life.
I respect your interpretation – and the only reason I commented is that I didn’t want anyone to think I, personally, didn’t give a damn if I die or if others die.
Your comment was actually very helpful - next time I will spend another minute editing before hitting the post button.
Astonishing. Each new day brings some fresh outrageous behavior and I have to wonder if there will ever actually be an end to it even after 45 is forced out of the White House. I cannot understand the moral void among the Republicans nor the blind cultish allegiance of his supporters. It is exhausting, frustrating and discouraging.
Let's wake up! Such intensely orchestrated and fervently desired seeming "off the wall" ministrations of these Republicans are to be expected. Their "operating system" might be called the latest variant of "Rovism". These Republican outlaws' minds-hearts-consciousness is sodden with a startling world and self-view. " I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He [Karl Rove]cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore." He continued "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." "the famous quote wrested by Ron Suskind from a "senior adviser" to president Bush." [Wikiquotes]. So please please channel the energies of your outrage, exhaustion, frustration and discouragement into discovering what lies behind and within a person, in this case a Karl Rove and all those protesting for Agent Chaos's fictional "win" . Karl Rove "decided" that enlightenment principles and empiricism is over. We're shocked. Absolutely. Now, we must recover and imagine into the psychological dynamics operating here. Can we "unhook" from our reactivity sufficiently to open to an understanding of what energies fuel this cataclysmic concept? It's tricky waters. We need to "accept" our judgment and move beyond it to sense into what currents of psychological energy sustain such hubris."All politicians operate within an Orwellian nimbus where words don't mean what they normally mean, but Rovism posits that there is no objective, verifiable reality at all. Reality is what you say it is, ..."(Wikiquotes.org). We must move into understanding. Why? In order to put it in its place, to stake it, as to impale it. "Earth it." One reason crosses are placed over graves is to anchor the spirit so it doesn't wander about. Right now millions of our brothers and sisters are infected with Covid. Others are also psychologically infected or "wired" by this Weltanschauung. What's the need behind it? the calculus? the assumptions? Why now?
"So please please channel the energies of your outrage, exhaustion, frustration and discouragement into discovering what lies behind and within a person"
That would be like studying the Nazi's (or any fascist movement) to see what makes them tick, rather than fighting.
FWIW, I asked my dad, who has some relevant experience with running a large government agency, and he thought that the pick was good, because HHS is a multipart organization, demanding management and political skills more than specialized knowledge.
Running the state AG office in a big state like CA is actually pretty good prep there, to say nothing of his many years in congress.
The irony is Republicans saying Becerra doesn’t have the lexperience.” Unlike Trump’s overqualified appointees. Give me a minute while I laugh like a hyena.
I agree. I worked in the Medicaid program in Arizona for over 30 years. The last 4 years I worked very closely with the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, under HHS, to implement the ACA IT provisions in Arizona. I love President Obama, but so few of his appointees in this area had practical experience with implementation of a major IT development and implementation. The very best I can say about that experience was 1. Extremely Painful. 2. It encouraged me to retire before it killed me. Having people who can get things done, know how things work, can make decisions, understand timelines, those kind of people are invaluable.
I read about fear and anger, understandably, in our comments here over what the president, his administration, and the Republican Party are doing to the government and, by extension, the country. Mostly, I am sad. Sad that a great number of Americans are so ignorant that they believe and support the nonsense the president and his team of saboteurs put out. Sadder still that a number of them are in my own family. What these people are doing and thinking is pathetic. Too many failures to remember at too many levels over the past four years. That hopelessness weighs heavy on me.
I am saddened by the lack of critical thinking skills on the part of so many of our fellow Americans. To believe Trump's false claims that have no proof speaks to the lack of critical thinking by so many. It's a cult and cult followers don't think, they just follow. This is tragic.
I feel that is the major issue here. Lack of focus on education over the years has led to this. A whole population of people who cannot think. Frightening!
The whole movement to "hold teachers accountable", started I think in the 1980s, was a screen for interfering with teaching critical thinking by keeping teachers full-time teaching kids to pass tests. It seems to have worked. :(
The demonization of teachers as failing to have their students "achieve" did indeed start in the Reagan era, driven by all of those who couldn't acknowledge changing demographics and evolving understanding of what education should be preparing the next generations to address. [And yes, over the years there were any number of teachers or administrators who were stuck in their ways and loathe to change.] But the pernicious linking of "accountability" and performance on high-stakes testing began with trickles in the '90s and metastacized after the 2001 "No Child Left Behind" legislation. LCD definitions of literacy and numeracy drove instruction to the detriment of wider exploration and skill development because teachers could lose their jobs and schools could be closed or taken over due to their failures to reach statistical markers. The so-called Race to the Top in 2009 exacerbated these trends because compliance was required in order to access funding at a time when local school districts were under enormous fiscal pressures due to the cratering of local economies after the 2008 crash.
I feel the same way. But of all the moments in our lifetimes, I think this is one we cannot back away from. I am not suggesting violence, but standing up to all of our elected officials and getting loud to them about what we want and need. And never sitting back and quietly letting someone unsuitable into office. This is a pledge I make to myself and to my 4 year old granddaughters. Be strong, be loud, be persistent.
This is a coup. A slow moving and right there in the open coup. And I can’t even begin to say how we fight this when about 40% the country is just fine with this.
Secession? Civil War?? As soon these idiots realise exactly how much of the USA's economy and GDP are centered in blue states, that should shut that down REAL quick. Almost all those renegade states are not exactly the economic engines that drive this country. Then again, like 1861, the Confederacy didn't take into account their lack of industrial might when they stupidly seceded. Southern honor couldn't manufacture weaponry.
In addition, many blue voters are in the very states that talk secession. Voter suppression states are thinking their voter suppression actions will get challenged under Biden/Harris. Then they won't be red states any more.
No but the wealth generated by cotton untill then had totally dominated the economy. It was the price drop coming in and glut created by Egyptian and other new sources closer tyo the mills in Manchester (UK) that really made the South desperate....they were losing their hold...and their house!
I'm literally sick of waking each morning to more news of not only unethical and undemocratic actions by the GOP, but actions that are on the razor's edge of being criminal and seditious. Congress won't act. The American Bar Association won't act. Who will?
For starters, us. This was a startling fact: "The Senate is so lopsided right now that 26 states containing just 17 percent of the U.S. population elect a majority of senators—the smallest that proportion has ever been. That’s the people in the smallest 26 states. The Republican Party’s Senate majority in recent years has rested on its strength in these rural states."
Until or unless this changes we've got a problem. I'm not holding my breath that we'll revisit how Senators are apportioned anytime soon. But we have to find a way to get 1/5 of the country from voting against their own interests. Until then we won't be able to get out of our own way.
This is a very important point. Until we figure out how to have reasonable discussion with, test truthful ideas against, and find acceptable compromise with those we disagree with, and they with us, we are for all intents and purposes doomed to follow a dangerous and miserable path.
The inflaming of division within our country must be recognized and called out for it's despicable nature of weakening our country and the foundational idea of democracy itself. What frustrates me is to a degree I understand where some of the trumpeteer's sentiment comes from. They want America to be a strong nation. My problem is they seem to want it at the exclusion of everyone else, and particularly I feel like they regard someone like me, who values diversity and alternative thinking, as somehow against the American ideal. Yet I find, on the occasions when I have a decent discussion with a trump supporter, they don't argue with my beliefs in what actually makes us a strong country. The disagreement will usually come down to immigration, to be honest. And also welfare. You know, "those people."
The Democrats have historically pursued the "high road" of attempting to appease those who disagree or have done wrong. It's true that we can't survive as a nation by further division.
However, there's a point at which we must move on. Try to bring "them" along, but do not be stampeded into concessions or obstructed. On many policy issues, the GOP has followed a simple strategy of saying "No" without offering up an alternative. The ACA is the most obvious case, where they tried to overturn it more than 60 times while Obama was in office, and then tried to "repeal and replace" at least 3 times, only with no "replace" in place. And they've done so with an alarming absence of ethics.
You can be persistent and ethical. The Dems need to learn to play hardball. UNTIL they do, they'll be the weaker party. And UNLESS they do, they'll be run out of office after Biden and we'll be facing the, or worse, from the Republicans.
Should we begin a relocation campaign? By that I mean, should we of the Blue States seriously consider moving our residences as a way to change the voting patterns that threaten to destroy us? I know, I know... a totally insane idea. I can now better understand how it was that so many Jews refused to leave Germany prior to Hitler's takeover. They did not believe it was get worse. :-(
I can see how it's easy to get to that idea. But I don't think it's incumbent upon us to have to uproot our lives to game the current system.
It's clear that while the GOP is in power, there is no chance of revisiting our structure of representation. It's already gerrymandered to the point of significant inequity. The House has had the same number of seats for almost 100 years. Of course, if it gets too big it'll be unweildy and unworkable, but it needs to increase at the same time that district maps are based solely on county borders, not stitched together street by desirable street.
We've assumed for too long that politicians would abide by generally accepted conventions. The next "Trump" will be much smarter, less volatile and overtly divisive, but will hem us in by exploiting what we've found out - that the Constitution has no teeth if someone is intent on bypassing it.
Look at other attempts to partition countries along racial or ethnic or religious lines. India split off East and West Pakistan. In North America, whites forcibly removed Native Americans to the West.
Some German and Austrian Jews escaped to Holland, or France, only to be overrun by the Wehrmacht, rounded up by the SS and by collaborators, and deported to the camps.
I say we use every legal means to support our democracy, and democratic interests, and help each other to think clearly and stick to our values.
J. Edgar Hoover who was in charge of the Bureau of Investigation/FBI from 1924 also made it very difficult for them to get visas to come to the US even then. He would not have felt out of place with the current mob in WH.
Your last two sentences made me sit up and take notice, Rev. Judith! I’ve always felt a deep, deep sorrow when reading stories of Jews and others who didn’t get out before it was too late. Your comment just made me realize that I could very well be in an equivalent situation! Probably the most disturbing realization I have had since this whole mess started! Now what?
It is already happening. Socio-political research suggests that people are actually creating "like-minded" housing ghettos....avoiding the "wrong flag on the lawn". This way even without gerrymandering, voting preferences are hardening as a result of the aggressivity generated between the 2 dominant political "philosophies".
Just a quick personal "share" here: my elderly mum and step-dad (91 and 86, respectively) eagerly consume a conservative/right-wing media diet. My mum has begun writing panicky texts expressing wild concerns about "radicals" taking over, etc. etc. In particular, she's focused on California. My brother lives there. Our mum is frantic for him to pack up, take his money from the bank, and go somewhere safe to live. She suggested Texas as one option. It would be comical if not so sad. I am more furious at Trump, Barr, McConnell, Graham, etc. than I can politely state here.
I had written much longer response that I managed to lose before sending. Suffice it to say I believe the majority of us following Heather Cox Richardson are feeling your pain and have lost family members and friends because our loved ones are such sheep and are being herded off a cliff. It makes me incredibly sad that one man and his cult followers can inflict so much pain and division.
Rev Judith: you describe exactly one of my four sisters (much younger than your mum and step-dad) with whom we cannot have a civil conversation anymore. These divided family stories are stark, anecdotal evidence of how deeply Trump & Co.'s propaganda machine reaches into the grass roots.
My daughter and her husband voted for him, twice, and she refuses to "talk politics" with me. So I can't even bring up any of the horrible things he and his minions are doing. This has caused me grief beyond belief.
My in-laws are deep Repubs and they know we are not. We are all managing to keep some sort of dialogue going on. Just not about politics. It’s superficial, really, but we are a small family. Sometimes compromise has to be made.
That fury is fire! Powerful! and creative or destructive depending what it is in service of - what fantasized, desired action for the "Good" haven't you taken because it is outside your "comfort zone"? Might this "moment in time" be trying to inform us that each of us must move out of our habituated "comfort zone" and into the risky " vital zone?" What are all the different ways "pernicious influence" can be murdered/nullified/scattered to the 4 Winds?
I give the most elderly amongst us a pass regarding politics. Those who have some medical issues don’t necessarily have the capacity to distinguish
My parents passed away 7 years ago. Life long Republicans, they pulled the lever twice for Obama. As my mother got older, much to the delight of her kids and grandchildren, she became more and more liberal and open minded. She would rant about her “unenlightened” friends. My father, a WWII veteran who saw the worst of what an evil fascist dictator can do would have been in total disbelief at what trump has and is doing. As life activities diminished and dementia settled in, he would sit in front of the TV and endlessly watch Fox (and this was before trump!) - drove my mother nuts and consequently me as she called me constantly!
My dad was a republican but I cannot imagine he’d have been ok with DT. My sister was a Trump supporter and voter and we haven’t spoken since before the election, the first one! I can’t imagine that she is going along with this or that she doesn’t have regret about having supported DT. We haven’t spoken since she told me she was voting for him. I just can’t in clear conscience consider her a moral or intelligent person. I have a cousin who hated DT but her husband convinced her that because they have stocks they should vote for him in the last election. Done and done. Goodbye family.
You know, I was just struck by the thought that pitting women against one another -- be they our sisters, daughters or friends--is another tool in the box of DJT's "womanizing" (in a kind of reverse/perverse way). Rather than let him have that kind of power over our important relationships we really do need to attend to Selina's post below. What action do I need to take to not lose those relationships that matter so much more than DJT?
Every day, as I read about the ceaseless efforts of Demagogue Trump and his Pusillanimous Senators, Representatives, Attorneys-General, etc, I am reminded of this quote from the brilliant H.L. Mencken. (I strongly recommend that anyone who does not know about him, Google him and read his quotations)
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken
"Statement from Jim Walden, Attorney for Christopher Krebs, former Director of CISA
New York, NY, December 9, 2020 — Yesterday, Jim Walden of Walden Macht & Haran, attorney for Christopher Krebs, the former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump campaign and its agents of fomenting a campaign of violence toward those who uphold the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
Today, Walden states, “We became aware tonight that a shadow group has launched a campaign on a website called ‘enemies of the people’ proposing the assassination of various Republican and Democratic leaders who they falsely claim are complicit in manipulating the 2020 presidential campaign. If anyone needs to be reminded that public calls for violence beget violence, this is the clarion call. If blood is spilled, it is on the hands of the president, his campaign, his lawyers, and the silent Republicans standing in the president’s shadow. We have deployed every conceivable resource to counteract this tangible step toward terrorism — although it may be domestic or foreign actors trying to stoke the violence. Either way, this toxic campaign proves the truth of everything we said in our lawsuit yesterday.”
Heather, when you report on the talk of civil war, one notices that the 17 states are almost contiguous, the mostly land-locked middle states. My thoughts have been going to a different scenario for the lame duck holding onto the Presidency: martial law. All the stories of the intimidation usually with guns in hand of election officials and any one in the way to overturning the election by the base is concerning. If this spreads and becomes violent which is the way it is headed and kills someone or creates riots, then it would be convenient for the lame duck to declare martial law for an indefinite time frame and definitely past January 20, 2021. No more inconvenient democracy, no silly Constitution. Coup by chaos and violence. The coup would be complete.
This would require significant level of complicity by the "portland brownshirts" , the National Guard, police forces and the army. It would be contested at all levels, militarily, humanly, socially and legally. They don't have the ressources to impose it and maintain it and lack the required organizational skills and networks in the first place....just look at their effectiveness currently in the legal attacks!. You would get isolated insurrectional efforts that would be quickly qwelled: the militias would parade and hold fanfares and then go home for a Macdo! What the 17 "red" States are doing is notional support for a dead duck. Anyway i doubt a declaration on his part which could be a "dead letter" would have any relevance beyond the 20th even if the SCOTUS hadn't "one-lined" it well before.
Thanks for your wisdom on this issue. After Biden was declared, and certified as the President-elect, I exhaled slowly. I realized that I had been holding my breath for about 4 years. But the relief was ephemeral .... I can hardly believe that the madness is escalating, and even more bizarre than it was. I was mentally preparing myself for worst scenario but couldn’t even imagine where this might lead. I really hope you are right. These guys are nuts!
It would take a "real" psychopath to bring off such a coup and Trump doesn't even measure up on the nutcase scale. If he had what it takes he would have done it some time ago. Miller etc might have wanted him to go that way but the work, effort and competences that would be required to do it AND to keep control of the movement would scare him silly. He knows that the real psychopaths amongst the Orcs would eat him alive if he tried. What he is good at is the bluff, the threat, picking on the weak, the virtual, the show , the illusion...for him if more than words is required he goes to the golf course and hides in a sandtrap.
I can understand the incompetence of Trump and his inability to organize a coup. However, with the backing of Limbaugh, Ingram, Lehrer, Q, Jones, Governors, Senators, Representatives, Fox, OAN, etc, repeatedly echoing, inciting, and reinforcing the Trump message, it seems to me that democracy is up against a mighty force that lives beyond Trump's fraud and "bluff." If it was just him barking, we might be less concerned. But the right is organizing in a united phalanx that gives Trump "credibility" and "authority" beyond his destructive delusions. He can go to his luxury golf resorts and relax while his message is amplified by all the alternative media sources and elected politicians. He has mustered a mighty force to magnify his insulting and abusive message.
I rather doubt that the majority of Trump's enablers actually want a civil war. My guess is that they want to bully, frighten, intimidate and divide us. The faux media wants ratings, legislators want to keep their jobs and power, and no matter how the right is organizing, the goal is to make sane citizens cower and give up. We're not a third world country, and even Miller and Bannon and their ilk couldn't go up against our military. My attitude might be different if Trump had won another four years.
I fear all the "enablers" because of their effect on a wider population of gullible Americans. They do not care who "cowers." Their target is the 2nd Amendment crowd, the conspiracy fantasies, the unstable, and those who embrace the claim that there are "enemies of the people." There will be violence.
Everyone said that the period between the election and the inauguration would be bad, but I had no idea that it would be this bad. The fact that Repbulican elected officials are willing to subvert the Constitution to stay in power is disgusting, unconscionable, and wrong.
The Supreme Court will not take this case, brought by the 17 states attorneys general. Every case brought forth by this crowd was either rejected or negated by a judge, save for the PA. case which succeeded in allowing monitors in the state to move to within 6 feet of the election registrant at each polling station.
I would say that if SCOTUS want to have any credibility, they will not go along with these 17 governors. But this is a majority conservative court now...ugh!
While I hear your rational analysis and agree with most of it, this isn't about rational actions by rational people. You have a cult of some 70 million members with a whole lot of guns. Maybe because I live in Texas and see red shirts in their pick-ups with big DT, US, and Confederate flags flying from the truck beds just behind the gun racks that I'm feeling a rational explanation for why this wouldn't happen just isn't enough. This is not rational; this is angry cultism leading to anarchy. And, maybe their "leader" is inept but there could still be a lot of hurt. The silence of the sycophants and GOP politicians and lack of leadership to take us toward rational actions from the right is a major problem. We still have forty some days before I will breather a little easier. And, even then I don't feel rational assumptions will be enough. Let's make sure the anger of the right which is quite real because of decades of income disparity doesn't trigger a new revolution and another shot heard round the world.
True but chaos and sporadic violence burns itself out with strong direction and highly disciplined organization. The true psycopath is highly "rational" within the bounds of his folly...meticulously planning and executing his awful deeds.
Thereafter the right's miseries need addressing once and for all.
You've never lived in Texas, have you? This is more cultism than individual psychopaths acting alone and "rationally". Your word "thereafter" bothers me because DT has done a great job convincing his cult that he is being cheated out of his rightful win. If you just take out the black and brown votes or even count them as 2/3s of a person like the original version of the Constitution, he'd be the rightful winner. These are the people taking up QAnon and conspiracy theories and you talk want to convince me they will act rationally? Try again! I'm listening .... from deep in the heart of Texas!
Ah! he "If" question in history! No I haven't lived in Texas but i have seen the people you're talking about. They are simple organizisms, without much in the way of grey cells....easily led, unable to control their emotions, anger comes easily of course. They wwill always listen when somewhat gives the name of someone "responsible" for their "state. They need to be coralled, branded and driven to market....they go around in circles without it. They will be still there tomorrow and will be desolate but directionless. keep heart!
Knew I always had herding dogs for a reason. People unable to control their emotions and toting guns is a formula for trouble. I'm still struggling with what the post-DT scenario will look like. Cults don't survive without their leader, ...right?
Well, I was brought up in Texas, and I agree that rationality about "my freedoms" is often in short supply there--as well as other places. But I also agree that any organized armed coup is highly unlikely. Stuart is right, I think, that Trump himself is responding to his idiosyncratic psychological pressures, and that other Repos in power may equivocate but they know he's a goner and will just keep their powder dry. After all, in terms of the plutocracy, they're still winning. If scattered fringe wackos were worked up and dumb enough to try for armed rebellion, they are way out-gunned by the government forces which would respond effectively. This doesn't diminish the dangerousness of the long-term trends, but any short-term open civil war is vanishingly unlikely to be successful.
Knew I always had herding dogs for a reason. People unable to control their emotions and toting guns is a formula for trouble. I'm still struggling with what the post-DT scenario will look like. Cults don't survive without their leader, ...right?
Sorry for the delay in responding but Board meetings got in the way. the point is that there isn't a real psychopath in the crowd. They are weird, limited in their capacity to reason and distinguish facts and oftem somewhat loony...in a not very nice way...but not psycopathic. Real psychopaths are the serial killers, the Emporer Bokassas, the Idi Amin's, the North Korean nut-case. Nobody is providing strong direction etc....just blowing in and with the wind.
Yes, Stuart, they do need to be addressed but who is going to do it? Democrats have nothing up their sleeves! We are a minority party and really, if we do not win Georgia’s run-off, we are up a creek without a paddle. Biden will be burdened by the Grim Reaper.
Thank you for your sane analysis. Remember, the Right is prone to this alarming noise. What person in their right mind would believe in the QAnon narrative? SCOTUS is absolutely skewed, but they won't support Crazytown, and we know January 20th is coming.
Don't assume that those who support Trump, including those in Congress, are "in their right mind." They are not. You want proof? They nominated him in 2016 and many millions voted for him in 2016 and 2020. And many of them believe the QAnon crap (One was the losing ... 61% to 39% ... GOP Congressional candidate in my district.) But you can't commit that many people to mental health services.
I agree. Look at Lin Wood, once a reputable lawyer, who is now running around with Sydney Powell and spewing conspiracy theories and QAnon garbage. Even if they could be committed, there's no cure.
In Psy terms they are not crazy according to the book....just a little limited in their Intelligence Quotient and immature in their socialization and psychological development development....morons if you like but not psychotic.
I'm not sure how healthy it is for me and my blood pressure to read these letters. This morning I am sick....sick of being reminded that so many are dying daily, so many people are mourning as we enter this season. I am sick of the morally repugnant/ethically empty men and women who whimper as they follow the puppet master tRump. I am sick of Twitter and FB exposing us to falsehoods and calls to arms. I am sick of journalists giving the time of day to these morally bankrupt people, and not more forcefully calling them out. And, mostly I am sick because there will be violence soon....and for what?
I am with you, Pam Peterson... :-( It is sickening and depressing. Especially since it is clear that we have a larger, more complicated problem than simply getting one large, orange lump out of the Oval Office. Hang in there, and hang onto your hope.
Rev. Judith, it's hard to read today's letter and still hold onto hope. So, I just asked for more addresses so I can send postcards reminding Georgians to vote.
Hidden within today’s letter is the sentiment that the Supreme Court will NOT take on this case. It is similar to the other 51 cases the courts have either dismissed or were rejected by a federal judge.
While this case is going nowhere, the frenzy remains from this swath of America
I know a woman who tapped into deep healing (cancer) by drawing her self image and jotting notes: feelings, sensations, memories, metaphors evoked in the drawing. She then "danced" the image. Got up, and danced her fear, her anger, her.....Then, drew herself again.She did this over and over again and over again - as if her life depended upon it. Once completely healed, she later taught that embodying an image and getting consciousness around it transforms the energy involved in the "sickness". Here's a suggestion:Take paper and flour/water and make a paper mache doll for each: repugnant empty men/women, the disinformation machine (Twitter/FB), wimpy journalists, and your soul sick heart. Jot notes down while making: evoked feelings, memories, associations, bodily sensations. Become each - act - dance each part. Once constructed see what wants to happen among them. Imagine their conversation. Note your own feelings and bodily sensations. Then decide what you want to do with each one. And with this practice, everything and anything is okay. You can pulverize, baptize, wrap in turquoise blue, drown, ......Ultimately - We can collapse. We cannot stay down. Our Wild (undomesticated) Woman within expects us to git up once more and take a stand.
I love this Selina Sweet. Not sure I can follow these suggestions other than to write down all the emotions that come up in me, each on a separate piece of paper. Then, burn them, one at a time. I've not lost hope, just am sick.
“There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs. We can’t be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way.”
You may think that there won't be a civil war, but if the other side decides to fight, there will be a war. And the Texas lawsuit, joined by 17 other states, was the "first shots at Fort Sumter" of the Second Civil War.
Limbaugh is right. The Evolutionary U-turns have to be Dealt With. Permanently.
The pseudo-conservatives have finally, after 70 years, achieved the goal Hofstadter demonstrated they were pursuing, 65 years ago:
"The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
I’ve also been thinking along similar lines. That a divide is already happening. When we look back in a couple decades, will we realize we waited too long? Are we being naive in assuming come 1/20 that he will just be gone? Did we waste valuable weeks waiting for that date to come along? Today’s letter made me nauseous, physically ill, angry, and maybe a little less hopeful, and a little more scared to be living in Florida.
I think it makes sense to improve our emergency preparations. Think of a winter emergency, like an ice storm taking out the power, and you have to leave the house in your car and go somewhere. Why not get ready? And then, remind yourself that you have been thoughtful and alert.
Boy Scout motto: "Be prepared."
Coast Guard motto: "Semper paratus."
And, the Coast Guard saying: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
I read this letter and my immediate thought was, "I can't take this anymore". Like you I am worried and scared. At this point, I don't know what would have to happen to make me feel differently. While I am looking forward to the inauguration of President-elect Biden, this nightmare is far from over. I just hope our Country can survive this mess and while a large part of me knows it will, I just wonder how long it will take to recover and what we will look like in the end.
I believe the worst could actually happen. We are living in the twilight zone. I don’t understand why the media isn’t more vocal about what’s going on. But maybe I do—they don’t want to stoke it.
I have been thinking about a civil war/split for some months now. I certainly don't favor that, but after getting over the shock of it, I am now thinking what will it look like. This may sound "unpatriotic" but if so many of these folks do not want to be governed by a Democrat maybe it would be best if there were two countries. Dividing it up would be complex though.
Perhaps, the fact of your "chill" is informing you that it is time to act outside of your habituated "comfort zone" and into the risky "vital zone" where you feel "alive-so alive-oh!" Why would evolution gift us with "chills?" What's the evolutionary value of "chills?"
I love this. We can certainly make informed, wise decisions. Put gas in your tank. Update the paper maps in your cars. Prepare your cars for a winter emergency.
This isn't about Donald Trump.
The Republican Party knows they are spiraling toward irrelevancy in a (small d) democratic world. They know they will not win a fair, open, honest, un-gerrymandered election.
There is no explanation I can see for their utter, in-your-face disregard for American electoral tradition. The pretense is gone.
I keep telling myself these are the death throes of a dying political dynamic that can no longer stand on its own two feet. The historic tradition of the plantation and the company town, ruled over by a handful of white males, morally endorsed by an all powerful, all-seeing sky-god, are the real "family values" of the modern Republican Party.
I believe if they burn down the house on the way out, we'll build another, better one.
But it's getting harder to be an optimist.
Yes, privileged white man's dying screams of the patriarchal/corporate caste system. We are being whipped and killed on their way out. The unfairness and stupendity of these acts, particularly during a horrific pandemic is attempting to disenfranchise our democracy. This enforced powerlessness is what people of color, women and caged children feel everyday.
Yes, indeed. So are we going to sit in the stands, watch and thereby collude with our immolation? If you are watching your children inside the house burning, what are you not going to do?
A very wise man said to me a few years ago, they can go with the flow or they can go kicking and screaming but by golly, they are GOING to go! When animals are threatened the reptilian brain takes over. They get fiercer, more irrational, they pull out all the stops. This is what’s happening now and will continue to until they can’t anymore.
How are people stopped from "burning" houses down? What is required?
How are people stopped from "burning" houses down? What is required?
I suppose enough people in leadership positions with personal integrity, honesty, and humility. Right now, in one political party, I think we are falling short on all three.
(Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.)
Ralph, thank you for pointing out the big picture, and calmly indicating that perhaps a sane person in authority, assisted by similarly sane, principled supporters, can smother the flames. Certainly, the current thug controllers think of nothing but themselves, and that has brought us to our current near-calamity. We really need the Georgia Senate win to keep this country from going off a cliff.
But this dependence on “people in leadership positions” is part of what ails us at the moment. We just can’t continue to count on — lean on — these “leaders” by themselves. We need to pull ourselves together — figuratively and literally — and start picking up our own “toys” and not waiting for “mommy” or “daddy” to do it for us.
A peoples organization, founded on and led by principled morality, could have the power to move the immovable and lead the leaders in serving our society. Going back to the “good ol’ days” just ain’t gonna cut it in this new century.
This forum is an excellent place to start. In the responses to yesterday’s letter, Cathy Learoyd and R Dooley and I had a thread going prompted by Cathy’s question along the lines of: “Why can’t we start a movement of Prof. Richardson’s readers?”
I’d been thinking about that possibility for awhile now, and was energized by her question. Given the levels of corruption and immorality within our systems and institutions, we can’t count on anyone but ourselves...us!
If we put our minds — and hearts — and talents and commitment together we can redesign the machinery of our civilization to actually do what we want it to do...and what “leaders” keep promising it will do...eventually.
First we need a story to tell......what would the new world look like. Then we need a practical path to get there. With that we form the kernel from which we can all "spread the gospel" and grow the group. BUT the key to making it believable is the need for little victories on the road to the goal...this keeps the group together without backsliding, motivates the troups and "confirms" the riteousness of the cause, goal and methos.
Hmm... I'm thinking...
Ralph - I love your definition of humility! Thank you for that. Okay - so the "stopping the burning" requires decent, intelligent (in mind and emotion) leaders possessing integrity. Right on. Given the imminence of "burning down" --it hasn't happened yet or perhaps, actually, the match is heading toward the house this very moment -- given the "givens" in the Leadership Department, and "imagine" you are the one the rest of us has been waiting for to blow out the match or otherwise halt the momentum -- what are you going to do? how are you going to do that? What do you need to do that - inwardly and outwardly?
My question because I’m stymied. WHAT can I do?
Assume inside you, is the answer to that question. And, also decide if you are willing to choose to do whatever it takes - including moving out of your comfort zone into your "vital zone" which means moving into the "unfamiliar" "not of the family" (tradition, habit, custom, how we always see ourselves) so it feels risky - a little, more, a lot risky. We each and altogether are being asked to seize this moment to enter into new ways of viewing self and other/country/enemy/ etc. and expanding our consciousness. The very fact that you are asking an important question indicates you are open and you've hit the path. The "answer" lives in the unknown and I will do whatever it requires to hear - see - feel - touch - come to it - know it. Be on the lookout for synchronistic events. A friend asks you to go with her to a political/spiritual meeting.....and usually, you'd say no ---- for example. Do the opposite to your habitual responses.
Personally, I’m going to fly an American flag on the front of my house with a Biden Harris sign right below while sitting in a lawn chair wearing a red ball cap.
Yes!?!
love it!
Morning steam of consciousness rant …
The accumulation, the piling on, the numbers, the numbers aren’t just digits, anonymous digits, pieces of fruit or days in the week or votes given or taken away by some nameless hand – they are you sitting there today, slipping into memory tomorrow. 2,000 a day, 2,500 hundred a day, 3,000 lost children a day because we are all some mother’s child, some father’s child brother sister – a life is not a digit, the pain of loss cannot be atomized with math to some place where the hurting stops.
And the counting feels relentless, a numbing rain of numbers washing me away, and the raging, at masks, at the loss of a beer hall some call freedom – rage in the face of numbers, no longer far away New York City numbers or Italy numbers or China numbers, but my next door neighbor numbers, and I need to rage, I have to rage, at my helplessness, because I can’t admit to it all, can’t surrender to it because I’ve built a wall of denial around myself and now I can’t get out. So, I take a pass on reality, block it, block it, block it. And if I die, who gives a damn, it’s my right. And if you die, well, that’s the price of freedom.
I too, am outraged, exhausted, and flummoxed. For two years, I spoke with others about how another Civil War could maybe happen. We are seeing it with our own eyes. I mean right in front of us! And for what reason? The white man, some women, (extremists and supremacists) do not want to have their space invaded by people of color. Oh and, of course, it’s all about protections for the corporations. None are extended for the people. So they invoke fear. Here's the thing though. Republicans are really good at getting their message out because they do it repetitively. Democrats, simply don’t have the gumption, the fervor, that wreaks havoc like the Repubs do. Why is that?
Now all of a sudden, Barr Nun wants to resign but not until he leaves his mark by appointing special counsel to investigate Hunter and his uncle. Then you’ve got these 17 rogue governors who refuse to acknowledge Biden’s win.
I’ve got to get some sleep y’all...sometime, someday.
More died on Monday, the 79th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, than died in the Japanese attack.
More died today than died in the San Francisco earthquake and fire (3,000).
Sickening
Arguably one of the best "comments" I have read on this thread. It is both poetic and tragic.
I started sneezing this morning and am terrified...
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fabout%2Fsymptoms.html Karen, it doesn't directly say sneezing, but it does say runny nose. Don't panic!!
Awwww... thank you, Lynell. That’s very kind of you to post that for me. Not panicking, really, but it certainly runs through ones mind.
I know you probably already started researching but had to share! I have had a stuffy nose for a month now but all else is fine so am not worried. Also, I noticed these days when I clean and sweep which activates dust, I will sneeze a lot now unlike when I was younger.
That’s why I avoid those tasks.
👏🏼👏🏼😆😆
LOL!
Added to that is living in a closed atmosphere now rather than with windows opened or fans going. I get congested & hoarse & runny nose about every other day - blame it on my "allergies".
Every time my husband coughs or sneezes I tense up. Every time I go into the grocery store I find myself holding my breath for as long as possible after passing another customer. It’s lurking around us, and the unmitigated evil of all these antics about overturning the election are like an endless display of fireworks that fizzle but occasionally cause pain to an innocent person. I just want to stand on top of the highest building and shout at those below me ‘Just stop this! Get over yourselves! Five people you know will die in the next year. Just settle down and knock this off!’
It’s time to get busy fighting the real fight!
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was so absorbed with the political circus that I didn't mind staying at home, doing only necessary errands. However, with the election over and real catastrophe having been avoided (I understand that the pandemic, alone, is a catastrophe), I was elated for only a short time. Now I'm worried and distracted, and think that the combination of political and global health disasters are causing most of us severe angst. It's a difficult time, and hope of better days is all we can lean on for the present. To quote a famous Democrat, "I feel your pain." There are more of us than them, and we're stronger.
I"m back to Instacart. Even the grocery store seems too risky.
Cynthia, can you have groceries delivered or can you order them online and have them put into your car's trunk in the store's parking lot? That's what I've been doing since mid-March.
I will have to start doing that... There is a small grocery store about 45 minutes from here...they are exemplary with their operation...Limited number of people inside...everyone in masks, every cart is really cleaned thoroughly..no bags are to be brought in, the manager is outside of the store most of the time (or another employee) with masks and antibacterial wipes and liquids to give everyone a good clean ups before they enter! Whole Foods which is about that far away too..I almost feel that the virus is pumped in through the ventilation system..it just doesn't feel right...we can't get things delivered but believe me, anything I can order from Amazon is filling up my shelfs!
I have an excessively runny nose EVERY DAY lately. Mold is high.
I'm 'sneezy' too with a runny nose. I had a negative covid test less than a week ago. So I'm just self monitoring. Thanks for the covid symptoms check Lynell. Much appreciated. Hang in there Karen!
I can’t count the times I sat at night, my head filling up, my eyes burning and I thought, yup, here it is....but I woke up the next morning and it wasn’t. We create disease by focusing on it. Take a breath and relax out of fear.
br, thank you for your comment. This post, however clumsily, was meant to reflect two conflicting experiences - the first paragraph reflecting my personal experience with the pandemic, the second that of an imagined person.
Sorry to misinterpret your post. Beautifully written.
No need to be sorry, but thank you.
A long time ago, a friend of mine - a talented writer, told me that once you write something and send it out into the world, you must let it go. People will make of it what they will, view it through their eyes, their experience, and their reaction isn’t right or wrong or better or worse than what you may have intended or thought when you were writing it – the writing has its own life.
I respect your interpretation – and the only reason I commented is that I didn’t want anyone to think I, personally, didn’t give a damn if I die or if others die.
Your comment was actually very helpful - next time I will spend another minute editing before hitting the post button.
No, br, I do not wish to be any other way!
Back at'cha!
Astonishing. Each new day brings some fresh outrageous behavior and I have to wonder if there will ever actually be an end to it even after 45 is forced out of the White House. I cannot understand the moral void among the Republicans nor the blind cultish allegiance of his supporters. It is exhausting, frustrating and discouraging.
Let's wake up! Such intensely orchestrated and fervently desired seeming "off the wall" ministrations of these Republicans are to be expected. Their "operating system" might be called the latest variant of "Rovism". These Republican outlaws' minds-hearts-consciousness is sodden with a startling world and self-view. " I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He [Karl Rove]cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore." He continued "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." "the famous quote wrested by Ron Suskind from a "senior adviser" to president Bush." [Wikiquotes]. So please please channel the energies of your outrage, exhaustion, frustration and discouragement into discovering what lies behind and within a person, in this case a Karl Rove and all those protesting for Agent Chaos's fictional "win" . Karl Rove "decided" that enlightenment principles and empiricism is over. We're shocked. Absolutely. Now, we must recover and imagine into the psychological dynamics operating here. Can we "unhook" from our reactivity sufficiently to open to an understanding of what energies fuel this cataclysmic concept? It's tricky waters. We need to "accept" our judgment and move beyond it to sense into what currents of psychological energy sustain such hubris."All politicians operate within an Orwellian nimbus where words don't mean what they normally mean, but Rovism posits that there is no objective, verifiable reality at all. Reality is what you say it is, ..."(Wikiquotes.org). We must move into understanding. Why? In order to put it in its place, to stake it, as to impale it. "Earth it." One reason crosses are placed over graves is to anchor the spirit so it doesn't wander about. Right now millions of our brothers and sisters are infected with Covid. Others are also psychologically infected or "wired" by this Weltanschauung. What's the need behind it? the calculus? the assumptions? Why now?
"So please please channel the energies of your outrage, exhaustion, frustration and discouragement into discovering what lies behind and within a person"
That would be like studying the Nazi's (or any fascist movement) to see what makes them tick, rather than fighting.
Or to fight back more "skillfully and smartly"....
Sun Tzu: “Know thy enemy.” So it’s both learning and fighting, not either-or.
I intend to think on that. Thank you for your comment.
Yes, we need to clarify what the need behind it is!
I'm with you, Justjaniceo!
I'm with you. I'd just add 'depressing' to the list and I'm not a depressive person.
If only we can last through January 5. Once the run-off has been accomplished no matter the winner....
Wishing and hoping but we can’t count on that. There are future Dumps waiting in the wings.
On Bacerra:
FWIW, I asked my dad, who has some relevant experience with running a large government agency, and he thought that the pick was good, because HHS is a multipart organization, demanding management and political skills more than specialized knowledge.
Running the state AG office in a big state like CA is actually pretty good prep there, to say nothing of his many years in congress.
The irony is Republicans saying Becerra doesn’t have the lexperience.” Unlike Trump’s overqualified appointees. Give me a minute while I laugh like a hyena.
Thanks for the laugh out loud, I needed that!
So true!
I agree. I worked in the Medicaid program in Arizona for over 30 years. The last 4 years I worked very closely with the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, under HHS, to implement the ACA IT provisions in Arizona. I love President Obama, but so few of his appointees in this area had practical experience with implementation of a major IT development and implementation. The very best I can say about that experience was 1. Extremely Painful. 2. It encouraged me to retire before it killed me. Having people who can get things done, know how things work, can make decisions, understand timelines, those kind of people are invaluable.
I read about fear and anger, understandably, in our comments here over what the president, his administration, and the Republican Party are doing to the government and, by extension, the country. Mostly, I am sad. Sad that a great number of Americans are so ignorant that they believe and support the nonsense the president and his team of saboteurs put out. Sadder still that a number of them are in my own family. What these people are doing and thinking is pathetic. Too many failures to remember at too many levels over the past four years. That hopelessness weighs heavy on me.
I am saddened by the lack of critical thinking skills on the part of so many of our fellow Americans. To believe Trump's false claims that have no proof speaks to the lack of critical thinking by so many. It's a cult and cult followers don't think, they just follow. This is tragic.
I feel that is the major issue here. Lack of focus on education over the years has led to this. A whole population of people who cannot think. Frightening!
The whole movement to "hold teachers accountable", started I think in the 1980s, was a screen for interfering with teaching critical thinking by keeping teachers full-time teaching kids to pass tests. It seems to have worked. :(
No Child Left With A Mind.
Very good way to put it!
The demonization of teachers as failing to have their students "achieve" did indeed start in the Reagan era, driven by all of those who couldn't acknowledge changing demographics and evolving understanding of what education should be preparing the next generations to address. [And yes, over the years there were any number of teachers or administrators who were stuck in their ways and loathe to change.] But the pernicious linking of "accountability" and performance on high-stakes testing began with trickles in the '90s and metastacized after the 2001 "No Child Left Behind" legislation. LCD definitions of literacy and numeracy drove instruction to the detriment of wider exploration and skill development because teachers could lose their jobs and schools could be closed or taken over due to their failures to reach statistical markers. The so-called Race to the Top in 2009 exacerbated these trends because compliance was required in order to access funding at a time when local school districts were under enormous fiscal pressures due to the cratering of local economies after the 2008 crash.
I feel the same way. But of all the moments in our lifetimes, I think this is one we cannot back away from. I am not suggesting violence, but standing up to all of our elected officials and getting loud to them about what we want and need. And never sitting back and quietly letting someone unsuitable into office. This is a pledge I make to myself and to my 4 year old granddaughters. Be strong, be loud, be persistent.
You are Not Alone!!😥
This is a coup. A slow moving and right there in the open coup. And I can’t even begin to say how we fight this when about 40% the country is just fine with this.
Secession? Civil War?? As soon these idiots realise exactly how much of the USA's economy and GDP are centered in blue states, that should shut that down REAL quick. Almost all those renegade states are not exactly the economic engines that drive this country. Then again, like 1861, the Confederacy didn't take into account their lack of industrial might when they stupidly seceded. Southern honor couldn't manufacture weaponry.
In addition, many blue voters are in the very states that talk secession. Voter suppression states are thinking their voter suppression actions will get challenged under Biden/Harris. Then they won't be red states any more.
God I hope you’re right. 🥺
On my knees!
I vote for Bruce Sellers' comments!
No but the wealth generated by cotton untill then had totally dominated the economy. It was the price drop coming in and glut created by Egyptian and other new sources closer tyo the mills in Manchester (UK) that really made the South desperate....they were losing their hold...and their house!
I'm literally sick of waking each morning to more news of not only unethical and undemocratic actions by the GOP, but actions that are on the razor's edge of being criminal and seditious. Congress won't act. The American Bar Association won't act. Who will?
For starters, us. This was a startling fact: "The Senate is so lopsided right now that 26 states containing just 17 percent of the U.S. population elect a majority of senators—the smallest that proportion has ever been. That’s the people in the smallest 26 states. The Republican Party’s Senate majority in recent years has rested on its strength in these rural states."
Until or unless this changes we've got a problem. I'm not holding my breath that we'll revisit how Senators are apportioned anytime soon. But we have to find a way to get 1/5 of the country from voting against their own interests. Until then we won't be able to get out of our own way.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/trumps-farcical-inept-and-deadly-serious-coup-attempt/617309/
This is a very important point. Until we figure out how to have reasonable discussion with, test truthful ideas against, and find acceptable compromise with those we disagree with, and they with us, we are for all intents and purposes doomed to follow a dangerous and miserable path.
The inflaming of division within our country must be recognized and called out for it's despicable nature of weakening our country and the foundational idea of democracy itself. What frustrates me is to a degree I understand where some of the trumpeteer's sentiment comes from. They want America to be a strong nation. My problem is they seem to want it at the exclusion of everyone else, and particularly I feel like they regard someone like me, who values diversity and alternative thinking, as somehow against the American ideal. Yet I find, on the occasions when I have a decent discussion with a trump supporter, they don't argue with my beliefs in what actually makes us a strong country. The disagreement will usually come down to immigration, to be honest. And also welfare. You know, "those people."
The "other" is always the scapegoat or the excuse for discrimination.
The Democrats have historically pursued the "high road" of attempting to appease those who disagree or have done wrong. It's true that we can't survive as a nation by further division.
However, there's a point at which we must move on. Try to bring "them" along, but do not be stampeded into concessions or obstructed. On many policy issues, the GOP has followed a simple strategy of saying "No" without offering up an alternative. The ACA is the most obvious case, where they tried to overturn it more than 60 times while Obama was in office, and then tried to "repeal and replace" at least 3 times, only with no "replace" in place. And they've done so with an alarming absence of ethics.
You can be persistent and ethical. The Dems need to learn to play hardball. UNTIL they do, they'll be the weaker party. And UNLESS they do, they'll be run out of office after Biden and we'll be facing the, or worse, from the Republicans.
Should we begin a relocation campaign? By that I mean, should we of the Blue States seriously consider moving our residences as a way to change the voting patterns that threaten to destroy us? I know, I know... a totally insane idea. I can now better understand how it was that so many Jews refused to leave Germany prior to Hitler's takeover. They did not believe it was get worse. :-(
I can see how it's easy to get to that idea. But I don't think it's incumbent upon us to have to uproot our lives to game the current system.
It's clear that while the GOP is in power, there is no chance of revisiting our structure of representation. It's already gerrymandered to the point of significant inequity. The House has had the same number of seats for almost 100 years. Of course, if it gets too big it'll be unweildy and unworkable, but it needs to increase at the same time that district maps are based solely on county borders, not stitched together street by desirable street.
We've assumed for too long that politicians would abide by generally accepted conventions. The next "Trump" will be much smarter, less volatile and overtly divisive, but will hem us in by exploiting what we've found out - that the Constitution has no teeth if someone is intent on bypassing it.
Look at other attempts to partition countries along racial or ethnic or religious lines. India split off East and West Pakistan. In North America, whites forcibly removed Native Americans to the West.
Some German and Austrian Jews escaped to Holland, or France, only to be overrun by the Wehrmacht, rounded up by the SS and by collaborators, and deported to the camps.
I say we use every legal means to support our democracy, and democratic interests, and help each other to think clearly and stick to our values.
J. Edgar Hoover who was in charge of the Bureau of Investigation/FBI from 1924 also made it very difficult for them to get visas to come to the US even then. He would not have felt out of place with the current mob in WH.
Your last two sentences made me sit up and take notice, Rev. Judith! I’ve always felt a deep, deep sorrow when reading stories of Jews and others who didn’t get out before it was too late. Your comment just made me realize that I could very well be in an equivalent situation! Probably the most disturbing realization I have had since this whole mess started! Now what?
It is already happening. Socio-political research suggests that people are actually creating "like-minded" housing ghettos....avoiding the "wrong flag on the lawn". This way even without gerrymandering, voting preferences are hardening as a result of the aggressivity generated between the 2 dominant political "philosophies".
Just a quick personal "share" here: my elderly mum and step-dad (91 and 86, respectively) eagerly consume a conservative/right-wing media diet. My mum has begun writing panicky texts expressing wild concerns about "radicals" taking over, etc. etc. In particular, she's focused on California. My brother lives there. Our mum is frantic for him to pack up, take his money from the bank, and go somewhere safe to live. She suggested Texas as one option. It would be comical if not so sad. I am more furious at Trump, Barr, McConnell, Graham, etc. than I can politely state here.
I had written much longer response that I managed to lose before sending. Suffice it to say I believe the majority of us following Heather Cox Richardson are feeling your pain and have lost family members and friends because our loved ones are such sheep and are being herded off a cliff. It makes me incredibly sad that one man and his cult followers can inflict so much pain and division.
Rev Judith: you describe exactly one of my four sisters (much younger than your mum and step-dad) with whom we cannot have a civil conversation anymore. These divided family stories are stark, anecdotal evidence of how deeply Trump & Co.'s propaganda machine reaches into the grass roots.
My daughter and her husband voted for him, twice, and she refuses to "talk politics" with me. So I can't even bring up any of the horrible things he and his minions are doing. This has caused me grief beyond belief.
My in-laws are deep Repubs and they know we are not. We are all managing to keep some sort of dialogue going on. Just not about politics. It’s superficial, really, but we are a small family. Sometimes compromise has to be made.
One of the other big losses of this time period!
That fury is fire! Powerful! and creative or destructive depending what it is in service of - what fantasized, desired action for the "Good" haven't you taken because it is outside your "comfort zone"? Might this "moment in time" be trying to inform us that each of us must move out of our habituated "comfort zone" and into the risky " vital zone?" What are all the different ways "pernicious influence" can be murdered/nullified/scattered to the 4 Winds?
I give the most elderly amongst us a pass regarding politics. Those who have some medical issues don’t necessarily have the capacity to distinguish
My parents passed away 7 years ago. Life long Republicans, they pulled the lever twice for Obama. As my mother got older, much to the delight of her kids and grandchildren, she became more and more liberal and open minded. She would rant about her “unenlightened” friends. My father, a WWII veteran who saw the worst of what an evil fascist dictator can do would have been in total disbelief at what trump has and is doing. As life activities diminished and dementia settled in, he would sit in front of the TV and endlessly watch Fox (and this was before trump!) - drove my mother nuts and consequently me as she called me constantly!
My dad was a republican but I cannot imagine he’d have been ok with DT. My sister was a Trump supporter and voter and we haven’t spoken since before the election, the first one! I can’t imagine that she is going along with this or that she doesn’t have regret about having supported DT. We haven’t spoken since she told me she was voting for him. I just can’t in clear conscience consider her a moral or intelligent person. I have a cousin who hated DT but her husband convinced her that because they have stocks they should vote for him in the last election. Done and done. Goodbye family.
You know, I was just struck by the thought that pitting women against one another -- be they our sisters, daughters or friends--is another tool in the box of DJT's "womanizing" (in a kind of reverse/perverse way). Rather than let him have that kind of power over our important relationships we really do need to attend to Selina's post below. What action do I need to take to not lose those relationships that matter so much more than DJT?
Every day, as I read about the ceaseless efforts of Demagogue Trump and his Pusillanimous Senators, Representatives, Attorneys-General, etc, I am reminded of this quote from the brilliant H.L. Mencken. (I strongly recommend that anyone who does not know about him, Google him and read his quotations)
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken
Excellent words of Mencken's!
It gets worse.
"Statement from Jim Walden, Attorney for Christopher Krebs, former Director of CISA
New York, NY, December 9, 2020 — Yesterday, Jim Walden of Walden Macht & Haran, attorney for Christopher Krebs, the former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump campaign and its agents of fomenting a campaign of violence toward those who uphold the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
Today, Walden states, “We became aware tonight that a shadow group has launched a campaign on a website called ‘enemies of the people’ proposing the assassination of various Republican and Democratic leaders who they falsely claim are complicit in manipulating the 2020 presidential campaign. If anyone needs to be reminded that public calls for violence beget violence, this is the clarion call. If blood is spilled, it is on the hands of the president, his campaign, his lawyers, and the silent Republicans standing in the president’s shadow. We have deployed every conceivable resource to counteract this tangible step toward terrorism — although it may be domestic or foreign actors trying to stoke the violence. Either way, this toxic campaign proves the truth of everything we said in our lawsuit yesterday.”
Bravo for Krebs! He said he would fight back and dang if he hasn’t!!
That lawsuit is one of the brighter spots in the news.
Yikes, Jan. thanks for letting us know.
Most regrettably (because of the depressing context), thanks for this.
Heather, when you report on the talk of civil war, one notices that the 17 states are almost contiguous, the mostly land-locked middle states. My thoughts have been going to a different scenario for the lame duck holding onto the Presidency: martial law. All the stories of the intimidation usually with guns in hand of election officials and any one in the way to overturning the election by the base is concerning. If this spreads and becomes violent which is the way it is headed and kills someone or creates riots, then it would be convenient for the lame duck to declare martial law for an indefinite time frame and definitely past January 20, 2021. No more inconvenient democracy, no silly Constitution. Coup by chaos and violence. The coup would be complete.
This would require significant level of complicity by the "portland brownshirts" , the National Guard, police forces and the army. It would be contested at all levels, militarily, humanly, socially and legally. They don't have the ressources to impose it and maintain it and lack the required organizational skills and networks in the first place....just look at their effectiveness currently in the legal attacks!. You would get isolated insurrectional efforts that would be quickly qwelled: the militias would parade and hold fanfares and then go home for a Macdo! What the 17 "red" States are doing is notional support for a dead duck. Anyway i doubt a declaration on his part which could be a "dead letter" would have any relevance beyond the 20th even if the SCOTUS hadn't "one-lined" it well before.
Thanks for your wisdom on this issue. After Biden was declared, and certified as the President-elect, I exhaled slowly. I realized that I had been holding my breath for about 4 years. But the relief was ephemeral .... I can hardly believe that the madness is escalating, and even more bizarre than it was. I was mentally preparing myself for worst scenario but couldn’t even imagine where this might lead. I really hope you are right. These guys are nuts!
It would take a "real" psychopath to bring off such a coup and Trump doesn't even measure up on the nutcase scale. If he had what it takes he would have done it some time ago. Miller etc might have wanted him to go that way but the work, effort and competences that would be required to do it AND to keep control of the movement would scare him silly. He knows that the real psychopaths amongst the Orcs would eat him alive if he tried. What he is good at is the bluff, the threat, picking on the weak, the virtual, the show , the illusion...for him if more than words is required he goes to the golf course and hides in a sandtrap.
I can understand the incompetence of Trump and his inability to organize a coup. However, with the backing of Limbaugh, Ingram, Lehrer, Q, Jones, Governors, Senators, Representatives, Fox, OAN, etc, repeatedly echoing, inciting, and reinforcing the Trump message, it seems to me that democracy is up against a mighty force that lives beyond Trump's fraud and "bluff." If it was just him barking, we might be less concerned. But the right is organizing in a united phalanx that gives Trump "credibility" and "authority" beyond his destructive delusions. He can go to his luxury golf resorts and relax while his message is amplified by all the alternative media sources and elected politicians. He has mustered a mighty force to magnify his insulting and abusive message.
I rather doubt that the majority of Trump's enablers actually want a civil war. My guess is that they want to bully, frighten, intimidate and divide us. The faux media wants ratings, legislators want to keep their jobs and power, and no matter how the right is organizing, the goal is to make sane citizens cower and give up. We're not a third world country, and even Miller and Bannon and their ilk couldn't go up against our military. My attitude might be different if Trump had won another four years.
I don’t know about that. Did you know that hate groups were “awarded” PP money, as reported by Southern Poverty Law Center??
I fear all the "enablers" because of their effect on a wider population of gullible Americans. They do not care who "cowers." Their target is the 2nd Amendment crowd, the conspiracy fantasies, the unstable, and those who embrace the claim that there are "enemies of the people." There will be violence.
Thank you Mr.Attewell😊
Everyone said that the period between the election and the inauguration would be bad, but I had no idea that it would be this bad. The fact that Repbulican elected officials are willing to subvert the Constitution to stay in power is disgusting, unconscionable, and wrong.
The Supreme Court will not take this case, brought by the 17 states attorneys general. Every case brought forth by this crowd was either rejected or negated by a judge, save for the PA. case which succeeded in allowing monitors in the state to move to within 6 feet of the election registrant at each polling station.
I would say that if SCOTUS want to have any credibility, they will not go along with these 17 governors. But this is a majority conservative court now...ugh!
While I hear your rational analysis and agree with most of it, this isn't about rational actions by rational people. You have a cult of some 70 million members with a whole lot of guns. Maybe because I live in Texas and see red shirts in their pick-ups with big DT, US, and Confederate flags flying from the truck beds just behind the gun racks that I'm feeling a rational explanation for why this wouldn't happen just isn't enough. This is not rational; this is angry cultism leading to anarchy. And, maybe their "leader" is inept but there could still be a lot of hurt. The silence of the sycophants and GOP politicians and lack of leadership to take us toward rational actions from the right is a major problem. We still have forty some days before I will breather a little easier. And, even then I don't feel rational assumptions will be enough. Let's make sure the anger of the right which is quite real because of decades of income disparity doesn't trigger a new revolution and another shot heard round the world.
True but chaos and sporadic violence burns itself out with strong direction and highly disciplined organization. The true psycopath is highly "rational" within the bounds of his folly...meticulously planning and executing his awful deeds.
Thereafter the right's miseries need addressing once and for all.
You've never lived in Texas, have you? This is more cultism than individual psychopaths acting alone and "rationally". Your word "thereafter" bothers me because DT has done a great job convincing his cult that he is being cheated out of his rightful win. If you just take out the black and brown votes or even count them as 2/3s of a person like the original version of the Constitution, he'd be the rightful winner. These are the people taking up QAnon and conspiracy theories and you talk want to convince me they will act rationally? Try again! I'm listening .... from deep in the heart of Texas!
Ah! he "If" question in history! No I haven't lived in Texas but i have seen the people you're talking about. They are simple organizisms, without much in the way of grey cells....easily led, unable to control their emotions, anger comes easily of course. They wwill always listen when somewhat gives the name of someone "responsible" for their "state. They need to be coralled, branded and driven to market....they go around in circles without it. They will be still there tomorrow and will be desolate but directionless. keep heart!
Knew I always had herding dogs for a reason. People unable to control their emotions and toting guns is a formula for trouble. I'm still struggling with what the post-DT scenario will look like. Cults don't survive without their leader, ...right?
Well, I was brought up in Texas, and I agree that rationality about "my freedoms" is often in short supply there--as well as other places. But I also agree that any organized armed coup is highly unlikely. Stuart is right, I think, that Trump himself is responding to his idiosyncratic psychological pressures, and that other Repos in power may equivocate but they know he's a goner and will just keep their powder dry. After all, in terms of the plutocracy, they're still winning. If scattered fringe wackos were worked up and dumb enough to try for armed rebellion, they are way out-gunned by the government forces which would respond effectively. This doesn't diminish the dangerousness of the long-term trends, but any short-term open civil war is vanishingly unlikely to be successful.
Knew I always had herding dogs for a reason. People unable to control their emotions and toting guns is a formula for trouble. I'm still struggling with what the post-DT scenario will look like. Cults don't survive without their leader, ...right?
Who's providing the strong direction and highly disciplined organization? Who is the rational psychopath in this situation? Thank you.
Sorry for the delay in responding but Board meetings got in the way. the point is that there isn't a real psychopath in the crowd. They are weird, limited in their capacity to reason and distinguish facts and oftem somewhat loony...in a not very nice way...but not psycopathic. Real psychopaths are the serial killers, the Emporer Bokassas, the Idi Amin's, the North Korean nut-case. Nobody is providing strong direction etc....just blowing in and with the wind.
I dunno...I think there are serial killers now who can be identified in the GOP. Lest we forget about nearly 300,000 of our precious people...
Yes, Stuart, they do need to be addressed but who is going to do it? Democrats have nothing up their sleeves! We are a minority party and really, if we do not win Georgia’s run-off, we are up a creek without a paddle. Biden will be burdened by the Grim Reaper.
The grim reaper will take Trump earlly enough in his own good time.
Stuart, agree but I was referring to McTurtleneck who has himself said that he’s the Grim Reaper.
Thank you for your sane analysis. Remember, the Right is prone to this alarming noise. What person in their right mind would believe in the QAnon narrative? SCOTUS is absolutely skewed, but they won't support Crazytown, and we know January 20th is coming.
Don't assume that those who support Trump, including those in Congress, are "in their right mind." They are not. You want proof? They nominated him in 2016 and many millions voted for him in 2016 and 2020. And many of them believe the QAnon crap (One was the losing ... 61% to 39% ... GOP Congressional candidate in my district.) But you can't commit that many people to mental health services.
I agree. Look at Lin Wood, once a reputable lawyer, who is now running around with Sydney Powell and spewing conspiracy theories and QAnon garbage. Even if they could be committed, there's no cure.
In Psy terms they are not crazy according to the book....just a little limited in their Intelligence Quotient and immature in their socialization and psychological development development....morons if you like but not psychotic.
Hope you're right.
Thank you for these encouraging words.
Cathy, I fear you are right, mostly because lately he seems to be back to his old "self" as though he knows something we don't know.
Yes!!!
Creepy
Right!! Oy vey!!!!
I agree with you. He is a psychotic sociopath. Just the person to be a dictator.
That is precisely the diagonals I have given him
I'm not sure how healthy it is for me and my blood pressure to read these letters. This morning I am sick....sick of being reminded that so many are dying daily, so many people are mourning as we enter this season. I am sick of the morally repugnant/ethically empty men and women who whimper as they follow the puppet master tRump. I am sick of Twitter and FB exposing us to falsehoods and calls to arms. I am sick of journalists giving the time of day to these morally bankrupt people, and not more forcefully calling them out. And, mostly I am sick because there will be violence soon....and for what?
I am with you, Pam Peterson... :-( It is sickening and depressing. Especially since it is clear that we have a larger, more complicated problem than simply getting one large, orange lump out of the Oval Office. Hang in there, and hang onto your hope.
Rev. Judith, it's hard to read today's letter and still hold onto hope. So, I just asked for more addresses so I can send postcards reminding Georgians to vote.
Hidden within today’s letter is the sentiment that the Supreme Court will NOT take on this case. It is similar to the other 51 cases the courts have either dismissed or were rejected by a federal judge.
While this case is going nowhere, the frenzy remains from this swath of America
Just got my next 20 addresses. . . .
Ruth and Pam, what group are you working with; I’d love to write letters or post cards!
www.PostcardsToVoters.org
I know a woman who tapped into deep healing (cancer) by drawing her self image and jotting notes: feelings, sensations, memories, metaphors evoked in the drawing. She then "danced" the image. Got up, and danced her fear, her anger, her.....Then, drew herself again.She did this over and over again and over again - as if her life depended upon it. Once completely healed, she later taught that embodying an image and getting consciousness around it transforms the energy involved in the "sickness". Here's a suggestion:Take paper and flour/water and make a paper mache doll for each: repugnant empty men/women, the disinformation machine (Twitter/FB), wimpy journalists, and your soul sick heart. Jot notes down while making: evoked feelings, memories, associations, bodily sensations. Become each - act - dance each part. Once constructed see what wants to happen among them. Imagine their conversation. Note your own feelings and bodily sensations. Then decide what you want to do with each one. And with this practice, everything and anything is okay. You can pulverize, baptize, wrap in turquoise blue, drown, ......Ultimately - We can collapse. We cannot stay down. Our Wild (undomesticated) Woman within expects us to git up once more and take a stand.
I love this Selina Sweet. Not sure I can follow these suggestions other than to write down all the emotions that come up in me, each on a separate piece of paper. Then, burn them, one at a time. I've not lost hope, just am sick.
I love this!
“There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs. We can’t be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way.”
You may think that there won't be a civil war, but if the other side decides to fight, there will be a war. And the Texas lawsuit, joined by 17 other states, was the "first shots at Fort Sumter" of the Second Civil War.
Limbaugh is right. The Evolutionary U-turns have to be Dealt With. Permanently.
The pseudo-conservatives have finally, after 70 years, achieved the goal Hofstadter demonstrated they were pursuing, 65 years ago:
"The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
I’ve also been thinking along similar lines. That a divide is already happening. When we look back in a couple decades, will we realize we waited too long? Are we being naive in assuming come 1/20 that he will just be gone? Did we waste valuable weeks waiting for that date to come along? Today’s letter made me nauseous, physically ill, angry, and maybe a little less hopeful, and a little more scared to be living in Florida.
We in Florida have to make sure DeSantis is a one-term Governor!
I’m worried. Plain and simple. Perhaps the end of America as a unified entity is what McConnell and co. actually want. It certainly seems that way.
I find myself wondering if it’s safe to stay in the US. My usual optimistic self is struggling.
It’s important to stay and fight for our country!
I think it makes sense to improve our emergency preparations. Think of a winter emergency, like an ice storm taking out the power, and you have to leave the house in your car and go somewhere. Why not get ready? And then, remind yourself that you have been thoughtful and alert.
Boy Scout motto: "Be prepared."
Coast Guard motto: "Semper paratus."
And, the Coast Guard saying: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
I understand that....
I read this letter and my immediate thought was, "I can't take this anymore". Like you I am worried and scared. At this point, I don't know what would have to happen to make me feel differently. While I am looking forward to the inauguration of President-elect Biden, this nightmare is far from over. I just hope our Country can survive this mess and while a large part of me knows it will, I just wonder how long it will take to recover and what we will look like in the end.
I believe the worst could actually happen. We are living in the twilight zone. I don’t understand why the media isn’t more vocal about what’s going on. But maybe I do—they don’t want to stoke it.
Not really ....he wants it all, including your money and your slavic obedience.....but he aint gonna get it!
I have been thinking about a civil war/split for some months now. I certainly don't favor that, but after getting over the shock of it, I am now thinking what will it look like. This may sound "unpatriotic" but if so many of these folks do not want to be governed by a Democrat maybe it would be best if there were two countries. Dividing it up would be complex though.
If there's fight because they don't want to be governed by a Democrat, they will be defeated. Come to terms with that.
This letter just chills me through.
Perhaps, the fact of your "chill" is informing you that it is time to act outside of your habituated "comfort zone" and into the risky "vital zone" where you feel "alive-so alive-oh!" Why would evolution gift us with "chills?" What's the evolutionary value of "chills?"
I love this. We can certainly make informed, wise decisions. Put gas in your tank. Update the paper maps in your cars. Prepare your cars for a winter emergency.
Hold hands when crossing the street!
Me too!