While Republican lawmakers continue to grab headlines with outrageous behavior and obstructionism, President Biden has been derailing them in the only way no one has tried yet: ignoring them and governing.
"...some observers think the Trump faction is attacking Cheney simply to provide the kind of sound bites that will please their voters."
So which is it? The crackle of static coming from the Trump wing, in particular, is increasingly hard to parse. Newbies Greene, Boebert, and Cawthorn appear to have no policy agenda beyond waving the Trump banner. More established types like Jordan and Gaetz also seem to have little to say other than "no."
This leads back to a thread yesterday about how suitability of candidates is determined. The messages being sent by the House GOP is that it's unfair to penalize Greene based on statements made before she was elected. Clearly, even she knows it was bad stuff as she's been trying to delete past social media posts. Are age and citizenship requirements sufficient standards for qualification? How is it that screening processes don't alert congressional leaders to the potential headaches such candidates are likely to bring?
Advocating violence against members of the opposite political party seems like a red flag to me even if it is protected speech under the First Amendment. Now she's also spitting in the face of her own party's leadership. I'm sure rabble-rousers have been seated in every Congress. The difference is that today it's not an individual action but a disruptive strategy. Disruption can be healthy if there's an associated goal but I don't see that here.
Do you (author and readers) think these people believe their own BS? What evidence exists to suggest that they are seeking ends that benefit Americans vs just raising their own political profiles? If reflexive obstruction is the only "skill" representatives bring to the table then the notion of representative government is pointless. The amount of air time and number of electrons spent discussing people who aren't bringing ideas to improve our country to the table is ridiculous. At this point I can only hope that Kevin McCarthy ends up choking on the can of bad will he's trying to kick down the road. Yes, her previous statements matter. These weren't youthful indiscretions but of recent vintage. The tired excuse of "my social media posts are not who I am" doesn't cut it with me and shouldn't cut it with their peers either.
I have long advocated that being a U.S. citizen and, as stated in several of my prior posts, "tall enough to ride the roller coaster" are insufficient qualifications to run for any political post. While I do not believe it will ever happen, I do advocate that a minimum attainment of an academic credential, such as say a high school diploma or its equivalent, and a passing grade on the same civics exam given to those immigrants wishing to become U.S. citizens be required. I do not feel that is too much to ask. I also feel it should be applied retroactively to all currently serving in office.
I’ve tutored immigrants and refugees preparing to take their citizenship exam and I don’t believe that many, or possibly most, Americans could pass it.
It's not only not too much to ask, it's really too little. As I noted yesterday, try a little geography test for those people who shop for districts or states to run in. Just a little local lore. That'll get them, at least the first time.
Unfortunately for most proud University of Georgia grads, MTG is a UGA grad, so her problem is not a lack of education, but more a frightening desire to be noticed - a sort of exhibitionist wearing clothes. If she does not have a diagnosed mental illness, my guess is that she doesn't actually believe her ridiculous QAnon rhetoric, but thrives on her disturbing notoriety. She obviously has anger issues. Our bad luck and her constituency's poor judgment.
I absolutely believe mental illness is a strong core in so many of ‘these’ people. My sister broke when I was 9 years old. They didn’t even think about schizophrenia then (1960). Her entire life was lost. On her meds, off her meds. In and out of every facility that you can imagine; from State Hospitals to exclusive private establishments. She always ‘came out’ in worse shape. She’d disappear for months...years! Having been in and out of those facilities, majoring in Psychology, and to this day reading psychology books from every POV, I think that mental illness is rampant on our streets. Always was, but worse. Some people seem to adjust pretty well, drugs are plentiful, and social media is a wildfire. My daughter worked in a psych hospital for a few years, and is now getting her masters degree. And she agrees that if the bell shape curve of our population was factual we would be horrified to see that the bell is so much flatter than we think. People so desperately need to connect. These bizarre groups based on bizarre facts are a haven for those who suffer from the inability to separate reality from fiction. It’s just too much cognitive dissonance...
Very true, TPJ, but what impressed me was his refusal to give her oxygen - just ignored her. Being a bully put her firmly in T***p's camp, and the fact that someone was recording her antics gives a clue to her possible motive (besides sadism). I believe she was planning a run for office, and knew that the Menace's followers would devour her behavior. What better way to sell her QAnon garbage that she probably doesn't believe? I'd love to see her in an orange jumpsuit, but will settle for my taxes paying her for doing nothing, since she has been stripped of her committee memberships. A muzzle is the best way to shut her up.
As well as being an American in good standing, a transparent record of paid taxes, and no bankruptcies, no questionable relationships with hostile foreign or domestic entities, and knowing how to balance a budget. How many of our politicians were wined and dined at the Kremlin in the past 20, 30, 40 years? So terribly fish-stinky, that.
All the highest positions in our land should be able to pass the high security clearances that most government employees must pass, and including a mental health screening-- a bit beyond "person, woman, man, camera, tv." Oh, and maybe add all conflicts of interests—nepotism, violated emolument clauses, a max. budget for golfing (never at your own business). Oh, and then they should never have dabbled in fake universities where they ripped off innocent people, or violated family foundation charities requirements, or not paid their bills, or have fake tan, fake hair...getting sleepy here...money laundering, (yawn) love relationships...with dictators.....grab....bing women...zzzzz..zzz.
It troubled me when I tried to find ANY political objectives or community engagement that Marjorie Taylor Greene had pursued in Georgia. She inherited a construction company but abandoned it to her husband and took her money to open a Crossfit gym. That's it. There is no history, whatsoever, of her policies, agenda, or hopes for her constituency. Just bile.
It blows my mind that this person has been given a pass. Hoping that by the end of the day she’ll be sitting around doing nothing. And Kevin McCarthy, Lindsey Graham, they have to be defeated in one way or another.
I was wondering this morning if there was ever a time that average people, who ‘read’ the news and genuinely care about the state of their world, weren’t on edge about ‘surviving’ the situations surrounding them?
World Wars, depression, plagues, McCarthyism, Cold War(s), terrorist attacks, unnecessary wars, droughts, massive fires, school shootings (mass shootings any/everywhere).... there were always insane and seemingly unbearable conditions for our country that we had to face and try to overcome. We’ve been living with an unbelievable nightmare for 5 years now due to Trump and the not so recessive gene of racism. (Combined with the blanket of Covid floating over the entire world)...
I really thought (shame on my naïveté) that once Biden was safely inaugurated and in the White House the insanity would abate. And yet it continues, beyond comprehension and logic. I watched a ‘former’Qanon’ member on the news explain what she believed and why she ultimately left the group. There’s no doubt in my mind that she would very likely be diagnosed with some serious mental illness, and that made me so sad. Would that be the case for many of these folks? I don’t know, and only history will verify that.
But I know that Biden is doing a fabulous job, and he’s blocking out all the noise that is taking place in our Congress, but are we somehow (what’s a word a notch below ‘doomed’?) to be saddled by so much that is wrong, dangerous, and potentially destructive to our nation? I long to wake up and not feel the urgency to read the news and react with anger, frustration, and sadness.... Is this just the way it’s always been, or has it gotten worse? The phrase etched in our social conversation since May has been ‘I can’t breathe’, and that is how I so often feel. From the air that’s so polluted to the forces that are smothering our society and the world as well.
Sorry for the rant, I’m just so weary. I will continue to be active, writing postcards, writing letters and calling my representatives, volunteering when and where it is safe, but to quote Peggy Lee, ‘is this all there is’?
Well, there is nature, and the silence of late night and early morning. We all need to reflect, and to give gratitude for "this breath”. This helps me sooo much.
Yes, indeed...when the snow was falling earlier this week..and all the world seemed quiet and beautiful (from my window) I had tears fill my eyes... there's no word to describe that magical moment of peacefulness...albeit short-lived.. I am trying to go back to see who recommended the book "Braiding Sweetgrass' a week or so ago... It has been the greatest reset that I have had in years...I highly recommend it to everyone here..and to everyone in the world.
I got "Braiding Sweetgrass" several years ago and have been recommending it ever since. I was delighted to see it on the NYT bestseller list last week!!!
i know that sense you felt Cynthia; I feel it is pretty much in every moment, but especially anywhere in nature, or, with music, or even with the play of shadows on the ground
imho, a key to some kind of peaceful consciousness is this moment, before the anxiety and judgements and etc. I try to play beginners guitar and take walks and sit quiet and watch my thoughts for 30 minutes, twice a day. it helps w my addiction to politics
Our country's patriotism rose to an all-time high after 911. There were still a few wingnuts being outrageous but most people pulled together. I'm not pessimistic about our future. I think our children are watching all this nonsense and they will return the country to some sanity eventually.
Yesterday, Canada designated the Proud Boys a terror organization. I don't see why we wouldn't follow. Perhaps RICO convictions could help facilitate that? And add all the other birds of a feather right wing extremist hate & Violence groups, the 3 %'ers, Oath Keepers, & the Militia's with kidnap and kill conspiracy plans ( there are so many of these violent right wing nuts now I cant list them all).
But then how long till the Republican Party is also designated a hate group and domestic terror organization? I really appreciate the RICO report beta, thank you HCR. RICO is really going to open a Pandora's box for the Republicans. It has the potential to fragment the bases of support and destroy their party as we know it.
"how long till the Republican Party is also designated a hate group and domestic terror organization?"
Bullseye. Part of it certainly resembles terrorists. The, other part seems to be terrorized, literally, due to death threats, harassment and, most glaringly, the GOP's lethal insurrection. Hopefully the Repugs split into two (or more) rumps, enabling the Biden admin to make progress addressing multiple crises.
The Southern Policy Law Center maintains among the best lists of Hate Groups and Extremists available to the general public. You can find the lists here:
You will also find here the list of the worst of the worst extremists and ideologies. Also, the SPLC map of the location of hate groups here will let you know which ones can be found to be active near where you live:
I hear they are “building a wa to keep us out. But it’s not that high cuz we will be to sick to climb it cuz we can’t afford our health care”- Jim Jeffries
Lot of friends and colleagues left the Crossfit scene the last few years. Some, not all Crossfit gyms develop their own type of indoctrination and group think towards their workouts and then that morphs into right wing nut-ism. Some, not all have an ultra nationalism component, merchandising the gym, equipment, and clothing with excess American flags. Some not all develop the Libertarian ideology, I think because the owners are independent businesses. Interesting that MTG is one of these Crossfit types.
It MIGHT be possible to excuse her statements IF they were truly a thing of the past, but she is still spouting the same nonsense. They gave her a SO because she supposedly disavowed her past statements, but she hasn't done so in public; I think she just told them what they wanted to hear in an effort to keep her committee assignments.
I too have to wonder what the heck they are doing in Congress if they have no concept of "public service."
Even the tactical maneuver of admitting that school shootings are real included no apology for past behavior and absolutely no walking back of her suggestions that Democratic lawmakers be shot dead. Apparently the Republican caucus is just fine with that. Even the pseudo retreat from QAnon took zero responsibility for having been part of it - to hear her, it only happened because the "liberal" media was so unreliable. She also did not retract the suggestion that California wildfires were deliberately started by Jews.
Her comments could never be excused! They weren't rants of an adolescent, or someone who had been traumatized. People need to understand that words have consequences, and her incendiary bile, alone, should have disqualified her candidacy. Yes, I know, the First Amendment . . . .
We have young friends (low-to-mid 30s) who are constantly putting posts out on FB about how Trump was cheated out of the election, how we need to ban mail-in voting, and other statements of "tRumpublican" craziness. Interestingly, some of them are willing to agree to disagree, while the comments from their friends come in much more vicious...calling one or both of us some pretty low names, telling our friend to "throw that idiot socialist off your friend list", etc. Not all of these people are stupid, but they have bought into the hype so much that they truly believe it. But ask them for documented proof of the things they spout? Then you just get more name-calling and throwing of the "socialist" word. These children have grown up with social media, and it is very telling.
“ Not all of these people are stupid, but they have bought into the hype so much that they truly believe it.“
Regretably, yes those advocating this are incredibly stupid. Or, alternatively truly malevolent. I either case, you are better off not letting them make decisions about fact or fallacy for you. Be informed, fact check, use your own critical thinking skills and make these important decisions for yourself. Do not let acceptance to the group replace a search for truth.
I think, unfortunately, that they manage to convince themselves of their own rectitude.....as it is defined by their fantasy ideology... which of course replaces critical thought. Having their ideology makes them part of the clan and gives them a sense of identity and belonging for which their defective and deficient personality craves. It then starts to resemble the " electricity torture experiments" in LA which looked at how far people will go to stay within as opposed to without. They have to up-the-ante every time the boss turns the screw to stay in the fold. Some but all people have their limits. I wouldn't count on Greene etc reaching theirs.
Yes, Stuart! From reading and listening and personal experience, this is what I believe, too. That experiment was revelatory when I listened to tapes from it. In this iteration insecure or aggrieved individuals are either encouraged by applause 👏🏻 or emboldened by others who are applauding 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 to lead or join the herd. It’s hard-wired throughout the animal kingdom. In our case, human beings speak, too. MTG was probably surprised by getting a standing O in Congress which says to her: “keep going!” Is MTG an intellect who has reasoned any of her spoken thoughts: I doubt it. She’s a DJT stand-in without any charm or a good speaking voice. And, we heard her say she’s waiting for His next move. An acolyte. RICCO! will reel in this fish, too. Betting on it. ❤️🤍💙
I have a question; I heard (can’t remember who or where) that the standing O for MTG had to do with her denouncing some of her remarks and/or some of the Q beliefs...? Does anyone know if there’s any basis to that?
Stuart, Exactly. This is political theatre performed for the audience of self doubters and undernourished egos. I'm reminded of grade school play yards where the person who did the stupidest thing got all the attention. "Hey look, Billy just eat a live worm." And I don't believe that the sacred 'grassroots' is as strong as they would have you believe. Watch MI-3CD to see what's really going on.
This whole shtick is getting more entertaining than the old cowboy movies IMHO of course.
It would be if it were not for the potentially diabolical consequences...but then you go back to Shakespeare's inspiration, Juvenal, who first wrote "all of Greece is a stage and all Greeks are actors"
Rectitude, or smugly sanctimonious. Fallback position is to not acknowledge what's happening on their side but to blame the other side, whether that's factually warranted or not (almost always not). They would gladly press the button to give someone a jolt and not think twice about it, but if the situations were reversed, they'd claim your response was politically motivated.
Many, many years ago when I was an elementary school teacher, I noticed a remarkable phenomenon every time a "new" student entered my classroom. Every time. The new student would pause for a few seconds at the door, scanning the room, and then gravitate to one or more of the "old" students. If the new student gravitated to my more "serious" students, I knew I had another good student to enjoy. If he or she gravitated to my more "challenging" students, I knew I had another opportunity to teach acceptable behavior along with the regular curriculum. I see the Matt Gaetzes and Marjorie Greenes as the latter; they entered Congress with the intent to associate with others like themselves and to take over. I don't know if they will ultimately create a supernova and self destruct, or as pointed out by Heather, will be brought down by RICO. But other than causing chaos and drawing attention to themselves, I don't think they have any other purpose in Congress, much less life itself.
These things should have come out before her election, which then might have prevented it. Does this mean that basic opposition research was never done on her by her opponent? It sure looks like it.
He was harassed and tgreatened to the point where his marriage fell apart, he left the state and returned to his parent's home. She literally ran him into the ground.
Thanks so much. I knew nothing of Van Ausdal, other than that he'd dropped out of the race. Interesting to see that Raffensperger refused to declare him ineligible to run, thus guaranteeing that MTG would be unopposed. This for all the folks that believe Raffensperger is a standup guy!
Her Democratic opponent never had a chance. Her district is deem "safe" for Republicans. It's one of the top ten safest Republican districts in the U.S. Looking at the demographics of the district, one might understand why they vote Republican.
Though she didn't win the primary, she got the largest share of vote, which lead to a run off and she got 57% of the vote. Her primary opponent was also a Trump supporter.
You're right that he never had a chance; he lacked the intestinal fortify to stand against her utter insanity. I find it appalling that we live in a time and place where candidates actually campaign brandishing automatic weapons and then raffle them off. Worse yet is the fact that they are elected and seated.
Where is common decency in all of this? Where is one's right to live a life free from harassment and intimidation by your neighbors and politicians? How is it we now accept leaders who put forth the notion that political opponents deserve to be assasinated? How is it one vile man's personal quest for power has driven a country to the edge.
I am emotionally exhausted. The facade upon which our country was built is not only cracked but crumbling quickly. The structure was made of straw not iron. The 3 Little Pigs learned their lesson the hard way too, didn't they?
Daria, don't give up yet. The Menace is gone, and will probably be in court for years, and Biden is doing a wonderful job of clearing the debris and forging ahead, with the assistance of a stellar cabinet. He smiles and nods to the Rethugs, but ignores their false claims of bipartisanship. It will be an arduous task, but I think the repair crew knows what it's doing. Having said all of that, I'm exhausted, too.
Hello Daria and All, I never tire of quoting these words because they never cease to lift the spirit.
"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature,"
-- Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
I agree, but last week one of our county commissioners brandished his rifle (via zoom) at a hearing while another laughed, during a citizen's testimony requesting the county not approve of proudboys. Put us on the map, the wrong map.
Kathy, opposition research and government background checks. I don't know who does the latter for federal positions. I mean, I'm just assuming it would be done. Wouldn't take long.
The Democratic opponent never had a chance at election, and might have been jousting at windmills. Even if all of her exploits had been local front page news, her constituents would have loved her, and she'd have been elected.
The area that MTG represents would probably have welcomed her rhetoric. Before the election, when riding through the area, just a couple of hours from Atlanta, political yard signs flourished, and all were for Trump and most of the local candidates had pictures of automatic weapons on them. In recent interviews, the Atlanta networks reported that the locals in her area love her.
She's from north west Georgia. Representing areas surrounding Rome GA and nearby Dalton GA - carpet making. Georgia may have turned blue in the metro area, but is red in rural areas. 30 years ago, folks were thrilled when Golden Corral restaurant came town with it's all you can eat buffet. I drove from Atlanta to observe physical inventory. Her area is filled with red necks.
Well said. Advocating the murder of ones opponents must be considered a red flag. Your question of "do you think these people believe their own BS?" is a good one. I believe there are some more "savvy" political types who use the words who don't buy into the message (McConnell comes to mind; he is evil incarnate, and will use whatever means serve him the best). The ones like the current crop of House Qpublicans don't seem like they have anything other than rhetoric that they "believe" in. There is no evidence that they are seeking ends that benefit anyone OTHER than themselves and are tapping into the deeply held racism that still festers in this country.
Ally, your comment “advocating the murder of one’s opponents must be considered a red flag” felt like a gut punch. That it’s even a question is astonishing. It’s more than a red flag; isn’t it a felony? Can we now threaten to kill one another with impunity? Head in hands.
Ally, question of whether they believe their own BS was strictly rhetorical but it might reflect my naivete, since I struggle to accept that they can go through life being able to prove nothing about their positions. Somehow, somewhere, I have to think smarter people could see through that facade. So either smart people don't vote or they're more evil than the candidates.
People who become radicalized often accept things as “fact” that the rest of us reject as fanciful or ridiculous. I suspect there are deeply cynical folk who are manipulating the crazies for their own game (Kevin McCarthy has been described as a man of unbounded ambition untethered from any discernible principle, for example) but there are true believers out there as well. Both groups are deeply concerning. That the QAnon candidates were nominees of a major political party I think speaks to the fact that party has ceased to function as a political party and has become the instrument of people interested only in power, not policy.
Well stated. Even so, there's a significant disconnect between what constituents voted for and what these particular representatives are doing. As redneck as her district might be, it's really hard to imagine most constituents were contemplating murder or Sedition.
I don't know if these people believe anything that comes out of their mouths or not. I get sick to my stomach thinking about that question. I do firmly believe that age and citizenship are not sufficient standards for running for office. Our world is exceedingly complex. No single Senator or Representative can possibly have a handle on all the intricacies of our programs, laws, regulations, needs, etc. They need to each and every one surround themselves with some expertise, as President Biden has done. Even the very best educated politicians have too much to know. So, when we start with uneducated, inexperienced people, who are not even interested in how our government works, why it works that way and what their role should be, we have big problems. When you add insanity (the only short way to express what I think of their behavior) into the mix you have these nonsensical, volatile animals running through Congress. And it terrifies me. No one should be allowed to run without a reasonable education, and maybe something like SAT testing to see if they can even comprehend our Democracy. And they should pass a background test so that at a minimum it is published for Americans to see who they are voting for.
They do not believe their own BS but, the BS gets them votes. More than half the battle is getting into office and this is what some people in some areas want; junk food. And, when I really think about it this type of obstructionism serves their purposes very well. They are shrinking the government by stature and deed a a rate faster than ever. Some still want to provide a veneer of plausible deniability but it gets thinner by the day. This is an all out war and they are putting up a fight to shrink the government and they are wining many hearts and minds still. Republicans dont want to find ways to run the government unless it is pared down to bare minimums such as perfect roads while people dont have enough to eat and maintaining the status quo for oil companies and corporations when people don’t make enough money to maintain a household.
Hi Scott. Just below this line of text, on my screen at this moment, is a green box containing the words "92 new replies." Just in case you were curious, that's how much discussion you generated with this post.
Roland, thanks for pointing that out. It's always interesting to see what sparks a conversation, and the crowd here doesn't disappoint. A fascinating array of experiences and perspectives. The exchanges here are easier to follow than on Facebook and are more extended. Also, I'm an early riser and this column usually comes in between 2-3 AM. I probably respond several times a week, and that gives me a bit more time to focus on this before the rest of the day takes over and I'm not able to follow every thread. I just saw your email and it's now 93.
What is frightening is that there were enough people in her district to elect her! Was she campaigning on these ludicrous beliefs and they believe them as well or were her constituents duped by her?
The story is that she "flogged" him with assaultive Q-type innuendo and fictitious aspersions, ruined his marriage and finally drove him out of the state.
“And we’ve got [newly elected Democratic senator Raphael] Warnock up for reelection in two years as well. I think there’s an opportunity for a strong Republican candidate to make a case that while he has broken some barriers and that’s laudable, that he’s not the right person to represent the state of Georgia, just ideologically.“
I was stressed when Trump and Hillary ran. I was stressed from the moment that the 2016 election was called up until Jan. 20th. Just when I was beginning to feel a sense of calm, we have Marjorie Taylor Green getting a standing ovation and the Republicans trying to demote Liz Cheney because she voted differently than they wanted her to. My stress is knocking on the door of my brain. I knew that things would be bad for a while but I was hoping for a modicum of decency. I am just so thankful that I can watch Biden ignore the chaos. When he speaks it seems like a trusted soul telling me that everything is going to be fine.
Jen Psaki’s daily Press Briefing is my antidote of choice these days – professional, upbeat, confident and she has a friendly, non-combative way of reminding questioners when they put words in her mouth or stir the pot a bit too briskly, that she’s having none of it.
I'm still getting over it all. Being in shock. 4 years of shock. Now normalcy. It makes you breathe deep, deep sighs of relief and gratitude. I'm in love with my country. I'm in love with all of you and with Heather. I'm in love with my gorgeous wife, my sweet little home, our lovely dog, my job, Joe Robinette Biden, Kamala Magnificent Star Harris, the new Cabinet members (exc. Vilsack), wow it's good again to be alive. Thank you Wendy.
I like her as well. She was on “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” last week and she is very approachable, funny and personable. She comes off to me as being quite genuine and down to earth. I hope she continues to get out there front and center every, single, day. I also hope she appears on more conservative shows. If she can help peel off a few republicans and the republican party splits further I think democrats could have a shot at winning midterms.
Not sure she would want to be on the Sunday shows – that might be a bit out of her wheelhouse – but she is undeniably an asset.
Frankly, this administration enjoys a bounty of bright, competent people who can speak to the policies President Biden is proposing. Ms. Psaki is doing a first-rate job in her current position: I’d hate to see that effectiveness inadvertently compromised by overexposure.
Ms Psaki's voice is heard in the land without the Sunday talk shows. They are better suited to officials without the daily platform of the WH press secretary.
I saw an interview with her on Pod Save America - she & I believe all 3 of those men worked in the Obama administration - were catching up with each other - it was nice to see.
Remember the old cowboy movies when the Calvary came riding over the hills to defeat the bad guys? That’s how I feel about Heather and Jen having Biden’s back.
Except that the "bad guys" were often the Native Americans who were trying to recover their life and property from "thieves" and defend themselves from their murderous intentions!
Yes, but as a 50’s child, we were not taught the ugly truth about the genocide of Native Americans. Those cowboy movies indoctrinated all of us to believe what wasn’t true... that Native Americans were savages who would scalp women and children. They scared the beJesus out of me as a kid! Thank God for true historians who did the work to open our eyes.
Too many of us still don't. Note the flare-ups all over the country, including here in NC, against teaching the truth of the racism and genocide and misogyny. Our Lt. Governor is railing against what the right sees as worse than political correctness, but downright (in their eyes) propaganda. "The libs want to turn our children against our own country!"
It certainly made the railways and land speculators a lot of money in th 19thC.
I've read studies which show that at least a third of the cowboys were Black and a significant part of the rest were Native Americans...so much for marketing!
No problem. I watch any cowboy movie that passes. Love it! Seen most at least 3 times. When i know that they are historical fantasies I moan and i get told to shut up because nobody can hear. I keep coming back for more. We are also members of the Wyoming History Association!
Goodness Zoe don't bother with the apology. You're good. We're just reminiscing about how our understanding of cowboys and Indians has changed since the old TV westerns we grew up with.
Yeah, I think Zoe is referring to the bad white guys, the black hats, the lawless creeps who killed whomever stood in their way regardless of ethnicity. In Zoe's telling, it's "Who Killed Liberty Valance" and the thug played by Lee Marvin is stopped by the naïf played by Jimmy Stewart and spoiler alert John Wayne's character. Lee Marvin's character was ruthless against whites and natives alike.
A film critic once said that Lee Marvin excelled at playing villains and unsympathetic heroes. If he was still alive, what's his best role in a film on the Trumpsky admin? Suggestions welcome.
I have similar feelings. Biden and his team are doing a good job as symbols of hope.
Then I go to the office on Feb 3 (first time since Jan 13), and the existing situation in DC dulls the hope. Pass though a 17'H fence with razor wire, and show my badge to armed National Guard to get to the building, again to get to the 395 ramp to go home. The Guard is there to protect us... I prefer a time when this level of protection was not needed.
It’s terribly sad to see, Rebecca, even from a distance on television and in photographs. When I lived in D.C., the wide expanse from the Capitol across the National Mall to the Washington Memorial took my breath away every day. The physical, visual space felt like a sweeping example of all the hope and vision embodied in our country, even though we have always been imperfect and unfinished. To see it encircled by fencing, razor wire and camouflage is heartbreaking. It is as if all the hope and vision of a better future, represented in the physical openness and access that had always been a hallmark of that area, is being squeezed out of that sacred space. I fear that January 6th changed so much that can never be undone, just as happened with 9/11.
Ir recalls a brief visit to Belfast in late 1975 in the midst of the IRA's war against Britain. Troops, barbed wire, sandbags all over; security checks for transit and stores; buses boarded to search for weapons and bombs. DC isn't exactly like that, but it's uncomfortably close.
Knowledge of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, which spanned 30 years, should cause us to shake in terror at the possibility of anything similar erupting in the United States. Read “Say Nothing,” by Patrick Radden Keefe for a deep investigation into the tragic toll of that period of Irish history. I thought I had some knowledge about that period of time in Ireland, because my Irish heritage (my mother was Irish) motivated me to keep tabs on the events as they unfolded, but Keefe’s book provided a raw, eye-opening account of how the conflict ravaged communities in Northern Ireland and its people.
Will do. My mother was a Mooney- Phelan. When my daughter was born after 3 sons- and 4 years after my tubes were tied, my mother said it was my fault for this "little miracle" because I had given each of my sons a middle name after a grandparent, but none for her. But she preferred Phelan, Thank You. So now we call our grown girl "Elise Phelan Tubal Ligation Randall."
A rain storm passed overhead this afternoon as I wrapped up a text similar to yours. And as I looked up, I saw a rainbow standing in sharp contrast to the black storm that had just passed -as if its very presence had sent them away. Hope and trust are finally settling in for me and I sense they are for you as well :) Peace
I agree totally, Wendy. It’s wonderful to see a politician getting down to the real business needed for our Country! We need to do our best to be like Joe and not give QANON Woman any oxygen in the press. We can’t ignore this faction but the less airtime on National news the better.
I partially agree. Tempering the press that Greene gets is necessary but personally I think when the smoke clears after the war the republicans will be in a loosing position. Republicans will be losers if Biden’s administration can improve peoples lives and also let everyone know who did it. I also think Biden will get some credit from some people for quietly but forcefully stepping over republicans to get people some support and a shot.
I would like to suggest that we say that Greene voiced support for the ASSASSINATION of Democratic politicians, rather than the EXECUTION (as Trumpists like to say), since "executions" are generally taken to be punishment for wrongdoing, which in this case exists only in the imaginations of right wing extremists.
RICO’s reach is long, and it is a tool that many had hoped would be used during the Trump years. That it is being considered now is welcome, and as Professor Richardson said, Trumpist Republicans are likely to feel the heat.
It’s not just the US that’s contemplating prosecutions for Dear Leader. If you’re on Twitter, follow @martynMcL, who reports from Scotland. There have been “irregular” financial transactions at the Scottish golf course.
Yes! I heard rumblings last year during Mueller investigation about this being funded by Russian oligarchs. Also, many years ago that Scots were up-in-arms that Trump was displacing people and local industries by creating a golf course. Warm up the bagpipes!❤️🤍💙
And resurrect the claymore to drive these unwanted "sassenachs" from clan lands.
NB: sassenachs originally meant "foreigner" before being applied exclusively to the English invaders and thus can be justified in terms of this pigeon-english speaking, germanic residue.
in Heather's Reuters article, it says Dick Durbin is in favor of RICO. Dick Durbin is about to become our new Senate Judiciary chief. Merrick Garland first, RICO next.
RICO means the following future criminal indictments, for people who contributed directly to the U.S. Capitol Riot:
• Cheeto will look good in that orange jumpsuit to match his
• the people associated with the rally organizers, "Women for America First" and the complicit supporters in the Trump Campaign
If you haven't seen this article, please read it. AP investigative piece. Best information I've seen on the "Save America Rally" which preceded the U.S. Capitol riot, and fodder for indictments.
R. Dooley, I copied this from an article in The New Republic about the women involved in the planning of the Jan 6 insurrection called The Rich Mothers of the Insurrection... “A seasoned Republican rainmaker and canny D.C. insider, Wren made $730,000 from the Trump campaign last year. Her PAC, Security is Strength, spewed nearly $10 million into the effort to defeat Lindsay Graham’s opponent last year. Security is Strength raised and spent a cool $15 million in 2020. The two largest individual donors to the PAC are a supershadowy Ohio-based dark money outfit, the American Exceptionalism Institute, and the insurance conglomerate Ryan Specialty Group.”
Thanks for the link. Having worked in SC politics and followed this race - there were a number of reasons Graham won. Money was a factor, but not (IMO) the decisive factor.
Conceivably, but the area where RICO could have a direct impact on him would be with respect to his business practices. Now that he does not enjoy any manner of immunity, the SDNY (or any other US Attorney) could employ it against him. In such a case, one could expect to hear much more from Michael Cohen.
In a wide-ranging letter today Heather reports that "Biden has moved quickly to get rid of the political appointees Trump tried to burrow into the federal government. Yesterday, Biden fired all ten of the anti-labor activists Trump had put on the Federal Service Impasses Panel, the panel in charge of resolving disputes between unions and federal agencies when they cannot resolve issues in negotiations. The head of the union of federal employees, representing 700,000 federal employees, thanked Biden for his attempt to 'restore basic fairness for federal workers' He said, 'The outgoing panel, appointed by the previous administration and stacked with transparently biased union-busters, was notorious for ignoring the law to gut workplace rights and further an extreme political agenda.' "
The Secretary of Defense has cleaned all the Trumpers out of the Pentagon already.
A large group of folks are waiting for the Post Office board to be hoed out, as well.
Since last summer I have been handwriting "Save the USPS!" on all my outgoing mail. I am convinced that as a consequence my mail makes it on time. How do I know? I get emails back from my creditors acknowledging receipt within days of my sending.
I say hello and ask friendly questions and thank every postal worker I see in my neighborhood. When it snows, I shovel a nice foot path across my lawn for the mail carrier gal who works my neighborhood. Have done this for years. She thanked me the other day and said it made her work a lot easier. I just told her I'd do more if I could and she said buying stamps and sending letters is support.
Every day since 9/11. I had to retire my Thin Blue Line flag; it was tattered and has been corrupted by the right wing. Currently, my Pride flag flies, but it, too, is tattered. I'm thinking of replacing it with the black flag with a blue stripe to honor fallen law enforcement.
I’ve never seen the black w thin blue line flag. I’m pulled to fly the earth flag, the round jewel in the cosmos, from 1969. On the other side from our entrance, across form ‘Old Glory'
I too have grown to appreciate the Executive agencies as pragmatic public servants instead of "corrupt beuracrats". One change that could be instituted is to make the Agency Inspector Generals job with more checks and accountability so the president does not have sole supervision.
AG Merrick Garland should go hard after the filthy insurrectionists as Amos Akerman did during Reconstruction. Pres Grant's AG vigorously prosecuted thousands of cases against the KKK, suppressing it to near impotence in the early 1870s. The Grant admin also oversaw the founding of the DOJ, a potent weapon of the federal government then and now. Come to think of it, the Jan 6 insurrection was also populated by Klansmen and traitors. History repeating? The 21C Confederates must be punished far more severely now than 19C Confederates were then.
The Civil War never ended, it just went underground. The DOJ did its job well. Racism and sexism adherents can't abuse or lynch anymore (unless they are cops, but even that impunity is vanishing), but they can still complain abut immigration and Barack's origins. It sneaks out, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Society has changed. They have not changed with it. So now they have had the President of their wildest dreams. George Wallace reincarnated, a fan and student of Adolf Hitler, no less. (reference on request) While he is alive and even when he is on DNR bed rest, they will continue to adore him because they don't have the courage to say the things he says, with impunity. They cannot risk losing their jobs and alienating people they can't afford to alienate.
Roland, your point is excellent, re people without the courage to say what DT (and his ilk) says. Enthusiasm for a proxy speaker seems, on the face of it, to be risk-free, e.g. one cannot be "blamed" if one remains silent and lets others do the talking.
DT's supporters are blind fools. He will never lift a finger to provide for their needs. DT's sole interest and only motivation is to support and protect himself.
Yes, I agree completely. But I'm not sure they care, even when they find that their trust is betrayed, that he doesn't support them, and that he is lining his pockets with their fund-raising money. That's what I understand from the Trump supporters I know.
He speaks for them. He is voicing the racist and sexist and homophobic et al sentiments that they are unable to voice. And that's the message I am attempting to have land: it's not about Trump, it's about the 40% who voted for him. Trump is a speaker for them. Yes, his depravity is bottomless. But he is just the highest tip of the iceberg. Our entire country is laced through-and-through with people who don't want to let go of the past, the racist and sexist and anti-gay laggards in our society. Trump was elected because of the backlash against Barack. There is no other rational explanation, especially considering that voter turnout is only under 60% of the registered voters and 40% of the overall population. So it's the most motivated, the most agitated, voters who decide a national election.
It's a divided nation. The DOJ took the civil war underground, and then someone like Trump comes along to give representation to the social laggards who feel appalled that a black man is at the top. Now they are frustrated again, because "their side" is in the cheap seats again.
A chilling comparison to George Wallace and most apt. But it misplaces credit: either too much for DT or not enough for GW. As you know, Wallace was politically shrewd and astute, fashioning a successful longterm career in a state where a governor could not succeed him/herself. (His wives -- remarriage, not polygyny -- succeeded him twice.) Wallace later moved away from some more extreme views. Perhaps b/c of his near-fatal shooting, he showed some capacity for growth. Trumpsky is None Of The Above on a colossagigantihumongonormus scale.
NB, that's not a real word, but it should be. Make it so!
According to The Atlantic, the January 6 Capital attack was minimally populated by people aligned with some organization: "But 89 percent of the arrestees have no apparent affiliation with any known militant organization."
It's a good article and deserves careful consideration. However, the statement re "no apparent affiliation with any known militant organization," should perhaps not give us a sense of security. In the final paragraph of this article, the authors state that "...the Capitol riot revealed a new force in American politics—not merely a mix of right-wing organizations, but a broader mass political movement that has violence at its core and draws strength even from places where Trump supporters are in the minority."
From my perspective, "a broader mass political movement with violence at its core" sounds worrisome and suggests that it will take a long time to minimize/eliminate this threat.
I think this is why the republican party is now identified in many minds as the party that fomented the insurrection. It wasn't just the outside more fringe groups. It was tRump/republican supporters.
"a different and potentially far more dangerous problem: a new kind of violent mass movement in which more “normal” Trump supporters—middle-class and, in many cases, middle-aged people without obvious ties to the far right—joined with extremists in an attempt to overturn a presidential election." Uh-Oh.
Part of the point of this second impeachment is that the president was calling for his people to come to DC. He was tweeting about it for weeks. That’s one way they found out.
This is reassuring. I had forgotten that it was Merrick Garland who had handled that case, but when I saw the photo of him in this article, it came back to me. Thanks for sharing the article.
Sounds good alright; you'll enjoy the camaraderie. If Covid-19 is a concern, last summer's racial justice protests were among the safest gatherings to attend during the pandemic. Near-universal masking, lots of sanitizer, and as much social distancing as possible -- definitely better than Trumpsky's super-spreader events.
Now, limber up those vocal chords. "Let me introduce you to my good friend RICO."
I love the statement that Biden is trying something no one else has: ignoring and governing! YES! For all the antics that get the Republican trumpers in the news, it seems to be falling flat for the majority as Biden behaves like a true president. What a sense of relief!
Wasn’t this Letter full of laugh out louds—from “ignoring and governing” to “Biden promised that none of his family members would work at the White House!”
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Biden appears to be heeding the lessons learned when Moscow Mitch and the other Republicans lied to Obama.
RICO is the law that should have been invoked in the previous Mueller investigation and Trump impeachment. The man has been skilled in all of his illicit business dealings and impeachable offenses to keep himself, like a Mafia don, apart from the dirty dealings, although his hands are directly on the Capitol insurrection.
By leaving Taylor-Greene in place the GOP leadership gets someone to grab headlines and speak to the trump base without having to dirty their dainty little hands. They can decry her statements without having to take responsibility. That they left Cheney in place has given them a semblance of normalcy, "see we aren't all crazy".
Even though RICO cases can take a while to put together it will give the AG a road to go further down the road of prosecuting the puppet masters.
It is so nice to get up in the morning and not have to wonder what fresh new hell has been tweeted over night.
Pamela said: “ It is so nice to get up in the morning and not have to wonder what fresh new hell has been tweeted over night.” - thank you for perfectly expressing my feelings!
And when the Democrats strip her of her Committee seats McQarthy can cry foul...partisan politics by the dictatorial majority who don't want to hear contrary opinions.
And they don't want to have to take responsibility. By pushing it onto the Democrats when the democrats act the GOP can get out their hankies ,cry their crocodile tears and lament loudly in public about how unfair and mean the dems are
So refreshing to have someone with an abundance of experience in Congress at the helm. Biden axed 10 Trump loyalists. Bing! Bam! Done! And we move onto bigger and better things...the $1.9 trillion budget needed for Covid, state and local govts., a decent wage increase, childcare and healthcare, economy, climate, etc.. Get out of our way, Repubs! We are not allowing you to walk all over us ever again. We will prevail and we will succeed!
Exploitation is a capitalist problem the same way racism is a white problem. The whole earth suffers under capitalism the same way people of color suffer under racism.
Judith is turning into one of my highlight-reel posters. This post from yesterday, I just ran across it.
I guess I'd shorten that to: exploitation is a capitalist problem in the same way that oppression is a racist problem. You cannot have capitalism without exploitation: it's a contradiction in terms. And you cannot have racism without oppression: it is a contradiction in terms.
See my comment below. I don't think that fixes the problem either. I think the model is upside down. The current model gives all the power to the founders of corporations and the usurpers who then fight their way into the executive suites. Govt. regulation is a band-aid solution. We still have billionaires and major social and economic inequality. The only solution is to change the model. I once read about the Mondragon cooperative in the Basque region of Spain. Front-line workers all required to rotate through the offices periodically to serve executive functions, management functions, with a drop in pay because they are not working the front lines. Now we're moving in the right direction. You throw in complete respect for nature and the environment, now it's starting to look like a healthy system.
A Democratic Capitalism is simply a way to “verbalize” a change of the structure. First, we meet the needs of our citizenry. Democracy comes first:
health care
housing
equality of opportunities
education
safety and a safe relation ship with foreign countries
and so on, and on, and on
THEN, we get to our economics, which is capitalism. There is room for private profit, and out of these profits comes the responsibility to repay for one’s largess
Democratic Capitalism - First things First - Democracy, then Capitalism
Sorry, it still exploits to produce "value" from what is "valueless." You can have capitalism with LIMITED exploitation. And capitalists will complain mightily and endlessly about it. They'll push for a Citizens United bill to make their profits a tool for removing all of the limits. This is built into its structure.
Joseph is describing the problem beautifully. Amoral capitalism. Obviously the economy is not going away, but what is needed is a transformation away from exploitation over to a model which serves both people and the environment, the planet itself. Capitalism must have a conscience, capitalism must be changed to serve the people who participate in it, not the parasites who run corporations and line their nests at the expense of workers and the natural world. Economic exchange, the economy, must have principled respect for both workers and the world from which "resources are extracted," what a dirty expression.
The current model of capitalism is upside down. The workers and the natural world need to be at the top, the current executives at the bottom.
perhaps, let’s try to separate 1) Democracy (government) and then 2) Economy (capitalism)
they’re TWO very distinct entities, but liberals have not thought this through very well --- we really do NOT have a clear understanding of either concept. One must provides rights and responsibilities, and the other is an economic model. The economics should be a minor portion of the equation, subservient to our democracy.
Everybody agrees the economics is broken, and our democracy is corrupted by bought-off politicians
There are at least three orthogonal axes that get tangled up in this kind of discussion. I recently broke it down into an essay on The Rules, The Power, and The Money. (https://themonthebard.org/2020/11/01/socialism/). The Rules can be expressed along a line from Totalitarianism (whatever is not forbidden is compulsory) to Liberalism (whatever). The Power -- or more correctly, The Structure -- can be be expressed along a line from Autocracy (one ring to rule them all) to Anarchy (no one is in charge). And finally, The Money can be expressed along a line from Private Ownership (Capitalism, or "my prrrrrecious...") to Community Ownership (Socialism, or "to each according to need, from each according to ability"). These are largely orthogonal axes.
For instance, many of the religious orders of the Middle Ages were Totalitarian, Autocratic, and Socialist: the rules of the order governed every aspect of life, from when you rose from bed, to when you prayed, what you ate, and what work you did; the Abbot ruled under the Pope, who ruled under God; the communes tended to be self-sufficient, and took care of their own with a fair disregard for rank, and were a source of charity in the larger community.
Libertarians on the right seem to want a Totalitarian, Anarchic, Capitalist model: all aspects of life are ruled by a simplistic economic valuation, no one is in charge (other than the invisible hand of the Free Market), and (of course) everything is owned by someone, and if it isn't, it should be.
European democracies seem to be Liberal(-ish), Democratic, Socialist societies: there are things you are forbidden to do (like dumping your trash in the street), but otherwise, you are free to do what you like, power is distributed somewhere between Anarchy and Autocracy, and for the most part, the state provides a lot of services to meet people's needs, paid for by taxing the wealthy.
A healthy family tends to be Liberal, Autocratic, and deeply Socialist; parents give their kids freedom to explore, make friends, and do their thing, the parents have absolute authority, and it's very poor form to let the infants starve because they didn't "contribute."
This certainly isn't a perfect model for classifying every society that ever could be. It might not even be a very good model. But it does illustrate that "socialism" is just one point on a line that describes one dimension of a multidimensional reality.
In the US, racism is a white problem, but in principle, it could be a black problem, or an oriental problem: any identifiable racial group COULD be on top in a racist system. It's a system of oppression and control based on identifiable racial characteristics, and doesn't require any particular race to be on top. Though to be clear, in the US, it is certainly the whites who are on top.
Capitalism, however, exists to exploit, primarily "natural resources," which -- under capitalist theory -- are valueless UNTIL exploited, but also "labor resources" and "intellectual property resources" and "time resources," which are also valueless until exploited. By definition, it exploits any resource it can come in contact with, and maximizes that exploitation, and then delivers the "value" to the "stakeholders" (ownership class). If it doesn't do this, it simply isn't capitalism.
Presumably, a divine intelligence could take all of the factors into account and balance out this exploitation with value equitably, but then it would look a lot like a self-sufficient stable ecosystem, with full recycling: all "value" created would be destroyed in this cycle and returned to "resources." Humans don't think that big: they just exploit for themselves.
And we've done it successfully enough to thrive and attract the attention of the predator class that has just started to really notice us as a food-group: viruses....
Yes. It could be argued that the predator class of exploiter capitalists use us as a food-group, and they use the planet as a food-group, and that's why I like the way that Judith phrases things. Racism and Predator Capitalism is at the root of the Red-Blue divide. Our divided country. Our problems as a society have a direct bearing on the condition of our home world, our planet, our Mother Earth. Judith is bringing in the larger picture, Humanity's neglect of our Home.
My interactions with this lovely community of Heather's has been a true godsend for me. Until arriving here, I did not participate in any on-line community. I am so grateful for this community, and to Heather for drawing it together. I see now how Red vs. Blue, Old-Social-Order vs. New-Social-Order, whites-first & males-first & straights-first & rich-first (et al ...) is the real story of the divide between Trump's voters and those who oppose Trump.
In a way, racism and sexism &etc is just a tempest in a teapot, as the English would say. Humanity's ills and evils are what we discuss here, because this is Heather's living room, so as respectful guests we respond to her posts which are historical accounting of U.S. society and the policy of human society. That policy includes the racism and sexism that brings those people into the U.S. Capitol, like Mr. Camp Auschwitz Staff.
And then there is the larger picture, how human civilization as a global whole is doing permanent damage to the Earth.
So when you bring up exploitation and resources, Joseph, you are saying exactly what I am thinking. Complete agreement here.
Back to HCR and February 4 in America, the Republicans by-and-large only care about money. They are complicit members of the exploitive class, the predator class (nice expression!) who only see their own bank accounts and mini-mansions, they only brown-nose the billionaires like Putin who support them, and they don't care about people. Society is just another resource to exploit. So Trump caters to the deplorables who attack the U.S. Capitol, because that's how he gets their money. And every other one of his ilk does the same thing.
These predators are very respectful of the predator hierarchy and know that they are on a lot more powerful predators on the feed chain....and Putin etc are right up there above them! Principle No.1 only feed off those below you and beside you on the chain.
Principle No. 2 when the elephants in the chain start to dance...smile, offer to help, stay clear of their feet and try to grab onto their tail. Principle No. 3 when their feeding starts wait your turn and clean the bones when they're through.
This is what it takes to be an Republican Ork. They are arrogant minnows in the game and will meet their fate with cries and lamentations about how unfair it all is! Courage will certainly not be their name.
Biden is the hunter/game warden who will "tenderly" drive the wild animals back into their caves and the dog catcher who'll take those on the streets back to the "pound" .
Stuart, you also must understand that the biggest predators are the capitalists that are supported by both major parties in this country. Those parties are two sides of the same bad coin.
Roland, I, like you, have never participated in on line communities before now. And while I don’t agree with everything you post, I do agree with much of it. I love he way you describe that we are in Heather’s living room and we are respected guests. That nails it and that is why I look forward to these posts every morning. I would caution your comment on “deplorables”. I believe Hillary’s phrase “basket of deplorables” went a long way to losing her election. And I don’t think it describes all of trump’s followers. I had asked a friend why she voted for trump in 16 and she said she hadn’t thought much about it, she just voted that way because her husband had. I think there are a lot who hadn’t thought much about it before who are now. If we are to change their minds, we cannot disengage them.
Hi Jackie, one more thing. You wrote: "And while I don’t agree with everything you post,..."
In my posts, I tend to emphasize and indeed amplify points which are not common knowledge. I rarely spend pen-and-ink on, say, Mitch's ruthless and thuggist and cold-hearted obstructionism, which is well documented in the news. If I discuss Mitch, I call him Moscow Mitch and then I will speak to the reason for his ruthlessness, which is keeping himself in power and making sure is nest egg is secure. So many news stories about how Mitch changes his tune. So few news stories about what is actually happening to compel him to change his tune. Like for example after Jan. 6, corporations en masse began suspending payments to PACs and a new fund-raising boycott was born as a number of corporations refused to give money to members of the Sedition Caucus. N.B. all members of the Sedition Caucus are in Mitch's camp, are part of his coalition in govt. Does Mitch care about the U.S. Capitol riot? Maybe, maybe not, but it's unlikely to affect his behavior and what he says. Political calculus, and keeping his own funded and protected, that's what guides 99% of his words and deeds.
Similarly, Tя☭mp. News media covers certain events, but not everything. He is a pawn of Putin, not just an apologist but an active enacter of Kremlin policy, AS WELL AS a corrupt public official, an inciter of white supremacists (to line his own pockets with their funding, and because he is racist himself). He has studied Hitler closely, I mention that because it's not common knowledge but should be. So I like to spend my time on the darker skeletons in the closet.
If you don't agree with me, let me know! I'm passing on what I know. You can't make this stuff up.
Good question. I don't know. I'm just shining my own little light on the facts. The more education, the better. If enough people know the facts, or want to know the facts, that has a ripple effect through consciousness. Who knows, maybe an investigative journalist gets inspired to look more closely at a certain area.
I am a firm believer in the principle that we are all one. That we are all one consciousness. That we are all tuned in to the same frequency. That we are all a facet on the gigantic multi-faceted jewel that includes all creatures, each creature being one of those facets. So one person can start a forest fire, a ripple effect through all of consciousness that enlightens and brings awareness to the whole.
Awareness of The Big Truth begins within. You can't convince or persuade anyone, but you can be yourself, speak your truth, voice your own perspective, send light, send love, and for this reason I always include and accept the outliers. Outliers are renegades. In this culture, actually, we have a special love affair with renegades and mavericks, there's even a TV series with that name. Princess Leia is a maverick and pioneer, so is Marion Ravenswood, the overlooked ought-to-be central character in the Indiana Jones franchise. Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, many others played renegades. It's the renegades who step outside the box, outside the comfort zone of conventional reality, to see the honest truth without hindrance from social and cultural programming.
It takes courage. If I say to you, MaryPat, Trump is a student of Hitler, you have to sit still and listen if you want to consider it. If I say to you, MaryPat, JFK was killed by snipers in a screened railroad area behind the grassy knoll, and a CIA misinformation campaign has you believe that "conspiracy theory" is ridiculous and mock-worthy, again you have take courage and be willing to venture beyond the familiar and comfortable. Or you can just block it out.
Be grateful that you see so much of The Big Truth. Be grateful that you are not prone to the denial, the turning away, what Kimberley says everyone in her office building did while she was the only one watching the Jan. 6 as it was happening.
Kimberley posted this 3 hours ago on yesterday's HCR, Feb. 2.
[begin quote]
I work in a law office and in a building that is 95% accountants, architects and attorneys in a downtown capital city and most everyone is a die hard Republican. Not a Drumpf fan but always vote red. After Biden won they stopped paying attention to the news. No one on my floor watched the inauguration, no one watched the riots, no one watches the impeachment news, no one knows who Eugene Goodman is, no one knows who MTG is or what she has been putting out in the world. There is a real head in the sand issue going on with choosing your own news and it does not just come from rural areas, or the uneducated or the poor or the "forgotten". It's really wild. When I tried to pull a couple co-workers over to my computer screen when I was watching the insurrection on 1/6 AS IT HAPPENED they both walked away and one said "everyone is crazy" and the other said "I'm with him, they are crazy on both sides". I can't stop shaking my head.
Hi Jackie, actually I said "respectful" guests, meaning respectful of Heather's hospitality. I'm sure you're right, I'm sure we are respected guests as well, but I am speaking of how we conduct ourselves. And yes, you make an excellent point about people who vote Republican. My wife is a life coach and also has a large community of contacts. She has been a political observer all her life, and she consults with mostly women and she says that a huge number of them are basically apolitical. They don't pay close attention. She has all kinds of people who call her around election time to tap what she knows in order to guide their voting choices. And lastly, your final point is well taken, "other"izing is not helpful. My father was born in Nazi Germany and is a life-long conservative and die-hard Republican since he came her in the 1950s. I speak with him weekly. So disengaging is not an option for me personally. So part of why I feel so blessed to have this forum is my need to vent my own feelings and positions, since I have constant exposure to my dad. Sadly, although he is not a deplorable, he is kind and generous, he is still racist and sexist and homophobic. And watching Fox News for hours every day. And believes what he watches, is part of the mass hypnosis and has drunk some of the Kool-Aid.
Hi Roland, just got home from work and saw your reply. Thanks for catching my gaffe. I absolutely meant respectful, not respected. And I absolutely agree that Mitch & the rest of the trumpers in the Congress are truly deplorable. All I was trying to say was that not everyone who “likes” trump is deplorable and we have to be careful that we don’t develop our own bubble of only us or them. I know you really do understand this from the comments about your father. I have friends that have many fine traits, just like your father, as long as we don’t talk politics. And there are many like those in your wife’s circle, who just don’t look that close. If we label them deplorable, they will never look at our side of the argument. And please, keep your posts coming. They are thoughtful and engaging and I have come to look forward to them, even more now that you have shared some of your story. Thanks for the good fight.
I have been in two online interest focused groups in the past: motorcycle/photography forum of Pashnit, and the tuba community on TubeNet. Social media directly impacted their demise. Those two communities were very important to me 15 years ago, and many of the folks I relate with on Facebook are from those two groups.
For the first year I followed HCR, I was mostly on her Facebook page, but over the last couple months, I have been more active here. I, too, love hearing what other folks have to say, and have come to appreciate the writings here of some other followers. This is an online community like no other.
This is my first online community also. I love your guests in Heather’s living room analogy, Roland. Thank you all for making it so welcoming and enlightening.
Thank you Diane. There is this odd tendency in text-only online forums (fora?) to speak like a robot. We are all people, are we not? I know I am speaking with real people. I conduct myself accordingly. I use profanity in real life face-to-face as well, I don't save it just for here. Likewise, since I am a live wire face-to-face, why exclude that from HCR.
I accord all of you the same respect that I would if we were speaking with voices.
We are using dated technology. Suppose we were having these discussions with Voxer or Marco Polo? Sending audio responses to each other? So why shouldn't these text-only conversations be just as personal.
Once you've travelled a bit around the world, you really can understand that racism is not just a "white" phenomena...far from it! It's just that the occident is somewht centred on it's own belly button and doesn't get very interested or much flustered in social conditions and ethnic exploitation elsewhere especially when it would tend to relativize their "white culpability" theme.
I also Like(d) that one. It brings to mind a core insight from Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 classic "American Dilemma: The Negro Problem & American Democracy." Myrdal stated that, despite the subtitle, it was really about a white problem, the problem of white intolerance, discrimination and denial of Black Americans' rights. This shifted responsibility for racial conflict to the American majority, and also for remedying the problem.
Many thanks, Prof. Richardson, for your letter(s) and for helping us keep up with history in the making. Your first line today really grabbed me - "President Biden has been derailing them in the only way no one has tried yet: ignoring them and governing." As my Coastie Dad might put it, brilliantly planned and daringly executed, sir!
I reported receiving multiple copies of the Feb 2 blog to support. Got this response:
Hi Deborah,
Andrew from Substack support here. We briefly had a glitch that send multiple posts to some of Heather Cox Richardson's subscribers. This issue has been resolve and we apologize for the inconvenience.
“Later, when the House Republicans met for the first time this session, about half of them gave Greene a standing ovation when she rose to speak.”
I’m just wondering, if the Republican caucus had a secret vote to strip MTG of her committee assignments, would it pass by the same margin as the show of support for Rep Cheney? There’s interesting dynamics when one can vote and the former president and his cult members can’t see you!
Now, they’ll be forced to vote for or against MTG in the light of day, before all to see. Will the Republicans stand for truth or will they become the party of Q?
Thank you for this Letter. I needed my faith restored! Heather took hold of my chin and redirected my gaze back towards the Biden Administration, guardrails and all!
"...some observers think the Trump faction is attacking Cheney simply to provide the kind of sound bites that will please their voters."
So which is it? The crackle of static coming from the Trump wing, in particular, is increasingly hard to parse. Newbies Greene, Boebert, and Cawthorn appear to have no policy agenda beyond waving the Trump banner. More established types like Jordan and Gaetz also seem to have little to say other than "no."
This leads back to a thread yesterday about how suitability of candidates is determined. The messages being sent by the House GOP is that it's unfair to penalize Greene based on statements made before she was elected. Clearly, even she knows it was bad stuff as she's been trying to delete past social media posts. Are age and citizenship requirements sufficient standards for qualification? How is it that screening processes don't alert congressional leaders to the potential headaches such candidates are likely to bring?
Advocating violence against members of the opposite political party seems like a red flag to me even if it is protected speech under the First Amendment. Now she's also spitting in the face of her own party's leadership. I'm sure rabble-rousers have been seated in every Congress. The difference is that today it's not an individual action but a disruptive strategy. Disruption can be healthy if there's an associated goal but I don't see that here.
Do you (author and readers) think these people believe their own BS? What evidence exists to suggest that they are seeking ends that benefit Americans vs just raising their own political profiles? If reflexive obstruction is the only "skill" representatives bring to the table then the notion of representative government is pointless. The amount of air time and number of electrons spent discussing people who aren't bringing ideas to improve our country to the table is ridiculous. At this point I can only hope that Kevin McCarthy ends up choking on the can of bad will he's trying to kick down the road. Yes, her previous statements matter. These weren't youthful indiscretions but of recent vintage. The tired excuse of "my social media posts are not who I am" doesn't cut it with me and shouldn't cut it with their peers either.
I have long advocated that being a U.S. citizen and, as stated in several of my prior posts, "tall enough to ride the roller coaster" are insufficient qualifications to run for any political post. While I do not believe it will ever happen, I do advocate that a minimum attainment of an academic credential, such as say a high school diploma or its equivalent, and a passing grade on the same civics exam given to those immigrants wishing to become U.S. citizens be required. I do not feel that is too much to ask. I also feel it should be applied retroactively to all currently serving in office.
I’ve tutored immigrants and refugees preparing to take their citizenship exam and I don’t believe that many, or possibly most, Americans could pass it.
I completely agree with you. My disappointment in the lack of civics education for most Americans is profound.
Agreed
Civics has been replaced by ... what? Nothing, apparently. Perhaps it's a casualty of the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy.
They don't even know that such a class exists!
Wow.
It's not only not too much to ask, it's really too little. As I noted yesterday, try a little geography test for those people who shop for districts or states to run in. Just a little local lore. That'll get them, at least the first time.
Unfortunately for most proud University of Georgia grads, MTG is a UGA grad, so her problem is not a lack of education, but more a frightening desire to be noticed - a sort of exhibitionist wearing clothes. If she does not have a diagnosed mental illness, my guess is that she doesn't actually believe her ridiculous QAnon rhetoric, but thrives on her disturbing notoriety. She obviously has anger issues. Our bad luck and her constituency's poor judgment.
One other possibility with MTG is that the mental illness is undiagnosed, but nevertheless present in spades.
I absolutely believe mental illness is a strong core in so many of ‘these’ people. My sister broke when I was 9 years old. They didn’t even think about schizophrenia then (1960). Her entire life was lost. On her meds, off her meds. In and out of every facility that you can imagine; from State Hospitals to exclusive private establishments. She always ‘came out’ in worse shape. She’d disappear for months...years! Having been in and out of those facilities, majoring in Psychology, and to this day reading psychology books from every POV, I think that mental illness is rampant on our streets. Always was, but worse. Some people seem to adjust pretty well, drugs are plentiful, and social media is a wildfire. My daughter worked in a psych hospital for a few years, and is now getting her masters degree. And she agrees that if the bell shape curve of our population was factual we would be horrified to see that the bell is so much flatter than we think. People so desperately need to connect. These bizarre groups based on bizarre facts are a haven for those who suffer from the inability to separate reality from fiction. It’s just too much cognitive dissonance...
sorry, here I go again.
Sorry to hear about your sister’s illness. You’ve made some important points here.
Thanks... it's such a sad life for so many..and all the ripples from there.
30% of People have a mental health emergency in their lifetimes.
She's a bully whose treatment of Mr Hogg would get most people arrested.
Still could. She was stalking him, admitted she was carrying while being hostile, and making threats.
Very true, TPJ, but what impressed me was his refusal to give her oxygen - just ignored her. Being a bully put her firmly in T***p's camp, and the fact that someone was recording her antics gives a clue to her possible motive (besides sadism). I believe she was planning a run for office, and knew that the Menace's followers would devour her behavior. What better way to sell her QAnon garbage that she probably doesn't believe? I'd love to see her in an orange jumpsuit, but will settle for my taxes paying her for doing nothing, since she has been stripped of her committee memberships. A muzzle is the best way to shut her up.
Yes, Mr. Hogg demonstrated way more maturity and intelligence that she did.
As well as being an American in good standing, a transparent record of paid taxes, and no bankruptcies, no questionable relationships with hostile foreign or domestic entities, and knowing how to balance a budget. How many of our politicians were wined and dined at the Kremlin in the past 20, 30, 40 years? So terribly fish-stinky, that.
All the highest positions in our land should be able to pass the high security clearances that most government employees must pass, and including a mental health screening-- a bit beyond "person, woman, man, camera, tv." Oh, and maybe add all conflicts of interests—nepotism, violated emolument clauses, a max. budget for golfing (never at your own business). Oh, and then they should never have dabbled in fake universities where they ripped off innocent people, or violated family foundation charities requirements, or not paid their bills, or have fake tan, fake hair...getting sleepy here...money laundering, (yawn) love relationships...with dictators.....grab....bing women...zzzzz..zzz.
It troubled me when I tried to find ANY political objectives or community engagement that Marjorie Taylor Greene had pursued in Georgia. She inherited a construction company but abandoned it to her husband and took her money to open a Crossfit gym. That's it. There is no history, whatsoever, of her policies, agenda, or hopes for her constituency. Just bile.
It blows my mind that this person has been given a pass. Hoping that by the end of the day she’ll be sitting around doing nothing. And Kevin McCarthy, Lindsey Graham, they have to be defeated in one way or another.
I was wondering this morning if there was ever a time that average people, who ‘read’ the news and genuinely care about the state of their world, weren’t on edge about ‘surviving’ the situations surrounding them?
World Wars, depression, plagues, McCarthyism, Cold War(s), terrorist attacks, unnecessary wars, droughts, massive fires, school shootings (mass shootings any/everywhere).... there were always insane and seemingly unbearable conditions for our country that we had to face and try to overcome. We’ve been living with an unbelievable nightmare for 5 years now due to Trump and the not so recessive gene of racism. (Combined with the blanket of Covid floating over the entire world)...
I really thought (shame on my naïveté) that once Biden was safely inaugurated and in the White House the insanity would abate. And yet it continues, beyond comprehension and logic. I watched a ‘former’Qanon’ member on the news explain what she believed and why she ultimately left the group. There’s no doubt in my mind that she would very likely be diagnosed with some serious mental illness, and that made me so sad. Would that be the case for many of these folks? I don’t know, and only history will verify that.
But I know that Biden is doing a fabulous job, and he’s blocking out all the noise that is taking place in our Congress, but are we somehow (what’s a word a notch below ‘doomed’?) to be saddled by so much that is wrong, dangerous, and potentially destructive to our nation? I long to wake up and not feel the urgency to read the news and react with anger, frustration, and sadness.... Is this just the way it’s always been, or has it gotten worse? The phrase etched in our social conversation since May has been ‘I can’t breathe’, and that is how I so often feel. From the air that’s so polluted to the forces that are smothering our society and the world as well.
Sorry for the rant, I’m just so weary. I will continue to be active, writing postcards, writing letters and calling my representatives, volunteering when and where it is safe, but to quote Peggy Lee, ‘is this all there is’?
but to quote Peggy Lee, ‘is this all there is’?
Well, there is nature, and the silence of late night and early morning. We all need to reflect, and to give gratitude for "this breath”. This helps me sooo much.
Yes, indeed...when the snow was falling earlier this week..and all the world seemed quiet and beautiful (from my window) I had tears fill my eyes... there's no word to describe that magical moment of peacefulness...albeit short-lived.. I am trying to go back to see who recommended the book "Braiding Sweetgrass' a week or so ago... It has been the greatest reset that I have had in years...I highly recommend it to everyone here..and to everyone in the world.
I got "Braiding Sweetgrass" several years ago and have been recommending it ever since. I was delighted to see it on the NYT bestseller list last week!!!
My daughter LOVES that book!
Wow! I missed that!
i know that sense you felt Cynthia; I feel it is pretty much in every moment, but especially anywhere in nature, or, with music, or even with the play of shadows on the ground
imho, a key to some kind of peaceful consciousness is this moment, before the anxiety and judgements and etc. I try to play beginners guitar and take walks and sit quiet and watch my thoughts for 30 minutes, twice a day. it helps w my addiction to politics
my wife tells me she has “braiding sweetgrass” but has other things at her attention (Jungian psychology, mostly)
Our country's patriotism rose to an all-time high after 911. There were still a few wingnuts being outrageous but most people pulled together. I'm not pessimistic about our future. I think our children are watching all this nonsense and they will return the country to some sanity eventually.
Marjorie Greene does have one job: opening the door for the insurgency.
"the not so recessive gene of racism"
Oh this is precious, Cynthia.
Thank you Roland... coming from the archetypal wordsmith I am humbled!
Cynthia, I think we all feel this way. With you 100%
Hi Ted! Haven't seen you in awhile!
This is our western values conundrum; looking to the so-called ‘exterior’ world, where in effect, there is no exterior world, but in our minds.
Yesterday, Canada designated the Proud Boys a terror organization. I don't see why we wouldn't follow. Perhaps RICO convictions could help facilitate that? And add all the other birds of a feather right wing extremist hate & Violence groups, the 3 %'ers, Oath Keepers, & the Militia's with kidnap and kill conspiracy plans ( there are so many of these violent right wing nuts now I cant list them all).
But then how long till the Republican Party is also designated a hate group and domestic terror organization? I really appreciate the RICO report beta, thank you HCR. RICO is really going to open a Pandora's box for the Republicans. It has the potential to fragment the bases of support and destroy their party as we know it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/canada-proud-boys-terrorist-capitol-siege/2021/02/03/546b1d5c-6628-11eb-8468-21bc48f07fe5_story.html
"how long till the Republican Party is also designated a hate group and domestic terror organization?"
Bullseye. Part of it certainly resembles terrorists. The, other part seems to be terrorized, literally, due to death threats, harassment and, most glaringly, the GOP's lethal insurrection. Hopefully the Repugs split into two (or more) rumps, enabling the Biden admin to make progress addressing multiple crises.
I am really looking forward to some RICO convictions!
RI-CO! RI-CO! RICO! RI-CO!
"Sing it again!"
-- Abraham Lincoln
The Southern Policy Law Center maintains among the best lists of Hate Groups and Extremists available to the general public. You can find the lists here:
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/groups
You will also find here the list of the worst of the worst extremists and ideologies. Also, the SPLC map of the location of hate groups here will let you know which ones can be found to be active near where you live:
https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an extremely worthwhile project to support. They have done amazing work for people of color in the south. Amazing.
🙏
Sadness
"how long till the Republican Party is also designated a hate group and domestic terror organization?" WOW. Yes.
I want to be annexed by Canada.
I hear they are “building a wa to keep us out. But it’s not that high cuz we will be to sick to climb it cuz we can’t afford our health care”- Jim Jeffries
Lot of friends and colleagues left the Crossfit scene the last few years. Some, not all Crossfit gyms develop their own type of indoctrination and group think towards their workouts and then that morphs into right wing nut-ism. Some, not all have an ultra nationalism component, merchandising the gym, equipment, and clothing with excess American flags. Some not all develop the Libertarian ideology, I think because the owners are independent businesses. Interesting that MTG is one of these Crossfit types.
It MIGHT be possible to excuse her statements IF they were truly a thing of the past, but she is still spouting the same nonsense. They gave her a SO because she supposedly disavowed her past statements, but she hasn't done so in public; I think she just told them what they wanted to hear in an effort to keep her committee assignments.
I too have to wonder what the heck they are doing in Congress if they have no concept of "public service."
Even the tactical maneuver of admitting that school shootings are real included no apology for past behavior and absolutely no walking back of her suggestions that Democratic lawmakers be shot dead. Apparently the Republican caucus is just fine with that. Even the pseudo retreat from QAnon took zero responsibility for having been part of it - to hear her, it only happened because the "liberal" media was so unreliable. She also did not retract the suggestion that California wildfires were deliberately started by Jews.
Her comments could never be excused! They weren't rants of an adolescent, or someone who had been traumatized. People need to understand that words have consequences, and her incendiary bile, alone, should have disqualified her candidacy. Yes, I know, the First Amendment . . . .
Mea Culpas tonight. Creepy how her new statements sound so sane.
Until you see clips of everything she has said, much of it recent.
Lust for power vs. public service
We have young friends (low-to-mid 30s) who are constantly putting posts out on FB about how Trump was cheated out of the election, how we need to ban mail-in voting, and other statements of "tRumpublican" craziness. Interestingly, some of them are willing to agree to disagree, while the comments from their friends come in much more vicious...calling one or both of us some pretty low names, telling our friend to "throw that idiot socialist off your friend list", etc. Not all of these people are stupid, but they have bought into the hype so much that they truly believe it. But ask them for documented proof of the things they spout? Then you just get more name-calling and throwing of the "socialist" word. These children have grown up with social media, and it is very telling.
“ Not all of these people are stupid, but they have bought into the hype so much that they truly believe it.“
Regretably, yes those advocating this are incredibly stupid. Or, alternatively truly malevolent. I either case, you are better off not letting them make decisions about fact or fallacy for you. Be informed, fact check, use your own critical thinking skills and make these important decisions for yourself. Do not let acceptance to the group replace a search for truth.
You might be interested in my ideas about how to talk to such people: https://cogitamus.substack.com/p/influencing-trump-supporters
Just sent this to my sister, surrounded by used-to-be-pretty-smart-Republicans.
Reason # 481 to get off FB.
Before social media there was reality TV with rude judges, shaming, name calling. Children watched and learned how to behave.
High five, Scott. Either answer, "Yes, they believe their own BS" and "No, they don't believe their own BS" IMHO does nothing to benefit the nation.
I think, unfortunately, that they manage to convince themselves of their own rectitude.....as it is defined by their fantasy ideology... which of course replaces critical thought. Having their ideology makes them part of the clan and gives them a sense of identity and belonging for which their defective and deficient personality craves. It then starts to resemble the " electricity torture experiments" in LA which looked at how far people will go to stay within as opposed to without. They have to up-the-ante every time the boss turns the screw to stay in the fold. Some but all people have their limits. I wouldn't count on Greene etc reaching theirs.
Yes, Stuart! From reading and listening and personal experience, this is what I believe, too. That experiment was revelatory when I listened to tapes from it. In this iteration insecure or aggrieved individuals are either encouraged by applause 👏🏻 or emboldened by others who are applauding 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 to lead or join the herd. It’s hard-wired throughout the animal kingdom. In our case, human beings speak, too. MTG was probably surprised by getting a standing O in Congress which says to her: “keep going!” Is MTG an intellect who has reasoned any of her spoken thoughts: I doubt it. She’s a DJT stand-in without any charm or a good speaking voice. And, we heard her say she’s waiting for His next move. An acolyte. RICCO! will reel in this fish, too. Betting on it. ❤️🤍💙
I have a question; I heard (can’t remember who or where) that the standing O for MTG had to do with her denouncing some of her remarks and/or some of the Q beliefs...? Does anyone know if there’s any basis to that?
Stuart, Exactly. This is political theatre performed for the audience of self doubters and undernourished egos. I'm reminded of grade school play yards where the person who did the stupidest thing got all the attention. "Hey look, Billy just eat a live worm." And I don't believe that the sacred 'grassroots' is as strong as they would have you believe. Watch MI-3CD to see what's really going on.
This whole shtick is getting more entertaining than the old cowboy movies IMHO of course.
It would be if it were not for the potentially diabolical consequences...but then you go back to Shakespeare's inspiration, Juvenal, who first wrote "all of Greece is a stage and all Greeks are actors"
Rectitude, or smugly sanctimonious. Fallback position is to not acknowledge what's happening on their side but to blame the other side, whether that's factually warranted or not (almost always not). They would gladly press the button to give someone a jolt and not think twice about it, but if the situations were reversed, they'd claim your response was politically motivated.
Standard for "perverse" psychoses...projecting ones own nasty tendencies on the other.
Many, many years ago when I was an elementary school teacher, I noticed a remarkable phenomenon every time a "new" student entered my classroom. Every time. The new student would pause for a few seconds at the door, scanning the room, and then gravitate to one or more of the "old" students. If the new student gravitated to my more "serious" students, I knew I had another good student to enjoy. If he or she gravitated to my more "challenging" students, I knew I had another opportunity to teach acceptable behavior along with the regular curriculum. I see the Matt Gaetzes and Marjorie Greenes as the latter; they entered Congress with the intent to associate with others like themselves and to take over. I don't know if they will ultimately create a supernova and self destruct, or as pointed out by Heather, will be brought down by RICO. But other than causing chaos and drawing attention to themselves, I don't think they have any other purpose in Congress, much less life itself.
Good show, Ellen. Seeing challenge as opportunity is both more productive and a psychological boost.
These things should have come out before her election, which then might have prevented it. Does this mean that basic opposition research was never done on her by her opponent? It sure looks like it.
I believe her Democratic opponent dropped out of the race, which might explain a lot (I'm sure it was completely awful trying to run against Greene!)
He was harassed and tgreatened to the point where his marriage fell apart, he left the state and returned to his parent's home. She literally ran him into the ground.
That's a red flag, if true. I'm not challenging your statement, I just haven't seen it in the media. Please source. Thanks.
Here's a link.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/26/the-regular-guy-who-almost-challenged-georgias-qanon-candidate
Well, that's elucidating. Mr. Raffensperger doesn't look too good in this, either.
Thanks so much. I knew nothing of Van Ausdal, other than that he'd dropped out of the race. Interesting to see that Raffensperger refused to declare him ineligible to run, thus guaranteeing that MTG would be unopposed. This for all the folks that believe Raffensperger is a standup guy!
l have to dig but I will find it. I'm not prone to fantasy.
This is from 17 October, 2020.
https://www.washingtonpost.com
Exact URL is here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/17/kevin-van-ausdal-qanon-marjorie-greene-georgia/?arc404=true
Wow. How awful.
Her Democratic opponent never had a chance. Her district is deem "safe" for Republicans. It's one of the top ten safest Republican districts in the U.S. Looking at the demographics of the district, one might understand why they vote Republican.
Though she didn't win the primary, she got the largest share of vote, which lead to a run off and she got 57% of the vote. Her primary opponent was also a Trump supporter.
https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia%27s_14th_Congressional_District_election,_2020_(June_9_Republican_primary)#What_was_at_stake_in_the_general_election.3F
You're right that he never had a chance; he lacked the intestinal fortify to stand against her utter insanity. I find it appalling that we live in a time and place where candidates actually campaign brandishing automatic weapons and then raffle them off. Worse yet is the fact that they are elected and seated.
Where is common decency in all of this? Where is one's right to live a life free from harassment and intimidation by your neighbors and politicians? How is it we now accept leaders who put forth the notion that political opponents deserve to be assasinated? How is it one vile man's personal quest for power has driven a country to the edge.
I am emotionally exhausted. The facade upon which our country was built is not only cracked but crumbling quickly. The structure was made of straw not iron. The 3 Little Pigs learned their lesson the hard way too, didn't they?
Daria, don't give up yet. The Menace is gone, and will probably be in court for years, and Biden is doing a wonderful job of clearing the debris and forging ahead, with the assistance of a stellar cabinet. He smiles and nods to the Rethugs, but ignores their false claims of bipartisanship. It will be an arduous task, but I think the repair crew knows what it's doing. Having said all of that, I'm exhausted, too.
Hello Daria and All, I never tire of quoting these words because they never cease to lift the spirit.
"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature,"
-- Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
I agree, but last week one of our county commissioners brandished his rifle (via zoom) at a hearing while another laughed, during a citizen's testimony requesting the county not approve of proudboys. Put us on the map, the wrong map.
Fortitude not fortify. Gads. Spell check.
Kathy, opposition research and government background checks. I don't know who does the latter for federal positions. I mean, I'm just assuming it would be done. Wouldn't take long.
Perhaps not. Greene represents the "Deliverance" part of Georgia. The ominous sounds of rushing water and banjos are never far away.
I believe they did come out before her election and she was elected anyway. Doesn't mean she should have been given committee assignments.
The Democratic opponent never had a chance at election, and might have been jousting at windmills. Even if all of her exploits had been local front page news, her constituents would have loved her, and she'd have been elected.
The area that MTG represents would probably have welcomed her rhetoric. Before the election, when riding through the area, just a couple of hours from Atlanta, political yard signs flourished, and all were for Trump and most of the local candidates had pictures of automatic weapons on them. In recent interviews, the Atlanta networks reported that the locals in her area love her.
Good lord.
She's from north west Georgia. Representing areas surrounding Rome GA and nearby Dalton GA - carpet making. Georgia may have turned blue in the metro area, but is red in rural areas. 30 years ago, folks were thrilled when Golden Corral restaurant came town with it's all you can eat buffet. I drove from Atlanta to observe physical inventory. Her area is filled with red necks.
Well said. Advocating the murder of ones opponents must be considered a red flag. Your question of "do you think these people believe their own BS?" is a good one. I believe there are some more "savvy" political types who use the words who don't buy into the message (McConnell comes to mind; he is evil incarnate, and will use whatever means serve him the best). The ones like the current crop of House Qpublicans don't seem like they have anything other than rhetoric that they "believe" in. There is no evidence that they are seeking ends that benefit anyone OTHER than themselves and are tapping into the deeply held racism that still festers in this country.
Ally, your comment “advocating the murder of one’s opponents must be considered a red flag” felt like a gut punch. That it’s even a question is astonishing. It’s more than a red flag; isn’t it a felony? Can we now threaten to kill one another with impunity? Head in hands.
Ally, question of whether they believe their own BS was strictly rhetorical but it might reflect my naivete, since I struggle to accept that they can go through life being able to prove nothing about their positions. Somehow, somewhere, I have to think smarter people could see through that facade. So either smart people don't vote or they're more evil than the candidates.
"All is clouded by desire."
-- Krishna to Ajuna (Javanese shadow drama)
People who become radicalized often accept things as “fact” that the rest of us reject as fanciful or ridiculous. I suspect there are deeply cynical folk who are manipulating the crazies for their own game (Kevin McCarthy has been described as a man of unbounded ambition untethered from any discernible principle, for example) but there are true believers out there as well. Both groups are deeply concerning. That the QAnon candidates were nominees of a major political party I think speaks to the fact that party has ceased to function as a political party and has become the instrument of people interested only in power, not policy.
Well stated. Even so, there's a significant disconnect between what constituents voted for and what these particular representatives are doing. As redneck as her district might be, it's really hard to imagine most constituents were contemplating murder or Sedition.
I don't know if these people believe anything that comes out of their mouths or not. I get sick to my stomach thinking about that question. I do firmly believe that age and citizenship are not sufficient standards for running for office. Our world is exceedingly complex. No single Senator or Representative can possibly have a handle on all the intricacies of our programs, laws, regulations, needs, etc. They need to each and every one surround themselves with some expertise, as President Biden has done. Even the very best educated politicians have too much to know. So, when we start with uneducated, inexperienced people, who are not even interested in how our government works, why it works that way and what their role should be, we have big problems. When you add insanity (the only short way to express what I think of their behavior) into the mix you have these nonsensical, volatile animals running through Congress. And it terrifies me. No one should be allowed to run without a reasonable education, and maybe something like SAT testing to see if they can even comprehend our Democracy. And they should pass a background test so that at a minimum it is published for Americans to see who they are voting for.
They do not believe their own BS but, the BS gets them votes. More than half the battle is getting into office and this is what some people in some areas want; junk food. And, when I really think about it this type of obstructionism serves their purposes very well. They are shrinking the government by stature and deed a a rate faster than ever. Some still want to provide a veneer of plausible deniability but it gets thinner by the day. This is an all out war and they are putting up a fight to shrink the government and they are wining many hearts and minds still. Republicans dont want to find ways to run the government unless it is pared down to bare minimums such as perfect roads while people dont have enough to eat and maintaining the status quo for oil companies and corporations when people don’t make enough money to maintain a household.
If only the roads were perfect ....
Hi Scott. Just below this line of text, on my screen at this moment, is a green box containing the words "92 new replies." Just in case you were curious, that's how much discussion you generated with this post.
Now the green box says "120 new replies." (Feb. 5, 6:39 a.m. Pacific Time)
Green box?
Roland, thanks for pointing that out. It's always interesting to see what sparks a conversation, and the crowd here doesn't disappoint. A fascinating array of experiences and perspectives. The exchanges here are easier to follow than on Facebook and are more extended. Also, I'm an early riser and this column usually comes in between 2-3 AM. I probably respond several times a week, and that gives me a bit more time to focus on this before the rest of the day takes over and I'm not able to follow every thread. I just saw your email and it's now 93.
I'm glad to subscribe here instead of giving money to Suckerberg.
What is frightening is that there were enough people in her district to elect her! Was she campaigning on these ludicrous beliefs and they believe them as well or were her constituents duped by her?
It’s a heavily right-wing district. There was absolutely no possibility a Democrat would be elected.
She won by a margin of 74% against the Dem. Kevin Van Ausdal who withdrew before the election date but remained on the ballot.
His campaign lasted 1 month.
The story is that she "flogged" him with assaultive Q-type innuendo and fictitious aspersions, ruined his marriage and finally drove him out of the state.
And have you seen the interview with Dr. Cowan, her rival in the primary?! Yikes! What are those people in that district all about?!
The proof is in the pudding.
Really 😀 Is there a link to that article?
Yes, several, here’s a couple : https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/01/30/rep-greenes-gop-opponent-on-why-she-won.cnn
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/marjorie-taylor-greene-is-the-worst-enemy-for-her-causes.html
Interesting. Thank you.
Odd comment tho:
“And we’ve got [newly elected Democratic senator Raphael] Warnock up for reelection in two years as well. I think there’s an opportunity for a strong Republican candidate to make a case that while he has broken some barriers and that’s laudable, that he’s not the right person to represent the state of Georgia, just ideologically.“
I was stressed when Trump and Hillary ran. I was stressed from the moment that the 2016 election was called up until Jan. 20th. Just when I was beginning to feel a sense of calm, we have Marjorie Taylor Green getting a standing ovation and the Republicans trying to demote Liz Cheney because she voted differently than they wanted her to. My stress is knocking on the door of my brain. I knew that things would be bad for a while but I was hoping for a modicum of decency. I am just so thankful that I can watch Biden ignore the chaos. When he speaks it seems like a trusted soul telling me that everything is going to be fine.
I hear you, Wendy.
Jen Psaki’s daily Press Briefing is my antidote of choice these days – professional, upbeat, confident and she has a friendly, non-combative way of reminding questioners when they put words in her mouth or stir the pot a bit too briskly, that she’s having none of it.
I really appreciate her too. I can't get over the change back to sanity.
I'm still getting over it all. Being in shock. 4 years of shock. Now normalcy. It makes you breathe deep, deep sighs of relief and gratitude. I'm in love with my country. I'm in love with all of you and with Heather. I'm in love with my gorgeous wife, my sweet little home, our lovely dog, my job, Joe Robinette Biden, Kamala Magnificent Star Harris, the new Cabinet members (exc. Vilsack), wow it's good again to be alive. Thank you Wendy.
I'll have what he's having.
Yes, so will I please!!!
Make mine a double!~
🤣😅😂
What you said, but substitute "my dear husband" and "my adorable cats."
Wendy Raksin, the sanity is very refreshing
I like her as well. She was on “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” last week and she is very approachable, funny and personable. She comes off to me as being quite genuine and down to earth. I hope she continues to get out there front and center every, single, day. I also hope she appears on more conservative shows. If she can help peel off a few republicans and the republican party splits further I think democrats could have a shot at winning midterms.
That’s an interesting proposition.
Not sure she would want to be on the Sunday shows – that might be a bit out of her wheelhouse – but she is undeniably an asset.
Frankly, this administration enjoys a bounty of bright, competent people who can speak to the policies President Biden is proposing. Ms. Psaki is doing a first-rate job in her current position: I’d hate to see that effectiveness inadvertently compromised by overexposure.
Ms Psaki's voice is heard in the land without the Sunday talk shows. They are better suited to officials without the daily platform of the WH press secretary.
I agree completely! Joe + Jen = a winning combination.
I like Jen very much— her smart and no nonsense style.
I saw an interview with her on Pod Save America - she & I believe all 3 of those men worked in the Obama administration - were catching up with each other - it was nice to see.
I’m glad to hear that she worked with them. They are smart guys.
She even manages to be decent when she signals she's not suffering the inevitable fools.
Remember the old cowboy movies when the Calvary came riding over the hills to defeat the bad guys? That’s how I feel about Heather and Jen having Biden’s back.
Except that the "bad guys" were often the Native Americans who were trying to recover their life and property from "thieves" and defend themselves from their murderous intentions!
Yes, but as a 50’s child, we were not taught the ugly truth about the genocide of Native Americans. Those cowboy movies indoctrinated all of us to believe what wasn’t true... that Native Americans were savages who would scalp women and children. They scared the beJesus out of me as a kid! Thank God for true historians who did the work to open our eyes.
It was known in the 70s and 80s when Reagan was climbing using the stereotyped imagery and symbolism. Education didn't reach everybody too fast.
Yes, very true. Too many of us didn’t want to believe Americans could be the “bad” actors!!!
Too many of us still don't. Note the flare-ups all over the country, including here in NC, against teaching the truth of the racism and genocide and misogyny. Our Lt. Governor is railing against what the right sees as worse than political correctness, but downright (in their eyes) propaganda. "The libs want to turn our children against our own country!"
It certainly made the railways and land speculators a lot of money in th 19thC.
I've read studies which show that at least a third of the cowboys were Black and a significant part of the rest were Native Americans...so much for marketing!
My husband is Chippewa, and as a kid often played the cowboy in back yard squirmishes. But never the Sioux.
Hardly surprising as it's what the others called the Lakota, Dakota etc and i think it means "enemy" .
I apologize. I was being much too shallow. I was only thinking black and white hats. While doing my happy dance, I don’t want to step on toes.
No apologies needed. It was just a metaphor and all metaphors are imperfect. We all knew exactly what you meant.
No problem. I watch any cowboy movie that passes. Love it! Seen most at least 3 times. When i know that they are historical fantasies I moan and i get told to shut up because nobody can hear. I keep coming back for more. We are also members of the Wyoming History Association!
Goodness Zoe don't bother with the apology. You're good. We're just reminiscing about how our understanding of cowboys and Indians has changed since the old TV westerns we grew up with.
Yeah, I think Zoe is referring to the bad white guys, the black hats, the lawless creeps who killed whomever stood in their way regardless of ethnicity. In Zoe's telling, it's "Who Killed Liberty Valance" and the thug played by Lee Marvin is stopped by the naïf played by Jimmy Stewart and spoiler alert John Wayne's character. Lee Marvin's character was ruthless against whites and natives alike.
A film critic once said that Lee Marvin excelled at playing villains and unsympathetic heroes. If he was still alive, what's his best role in a film on the Trumpsky admin? Suggestions welcome.
Oh, that's easy. The Dirty Dozen. It's your call whether the Dozen are the Republicans, or the Nazi elite are the Republicans. Opinions welcome.
Who is Jen?
Jen Psaki; cf. R Dooley's comment near here.
It's refreshing to see daily press briefings that are conversations, not mixed martial arts contests as under the unnamed former president.
Duuhhhhh . . .
sorry I don't have much opportunity to watch TV, I forgot about Jen.
You are in for a big treat! Fresh air.
Heard her on NPR'S "Wait! Wait ! Don't Tell Me!" Last weekend. She's also pretty funny.
I have similar feelings. Biden and his team are doing a good job as symbols of hope.
Then I go to the office on Feb 3 (first time since Jan 13), and the existing situation in DC dulls the hope. Pass though a 17'H fence with razor wire, and show my badge to armed National Guard to get to the building, again to get to the 395 ramp to go home. The Guard is there to protect us... I prefer a time when this level of protection was not needed.
Yes. Really inconceivable, in our country, and so sad.
It’s terribly sad to see, Rebecca, even from a distance on television and in photographs. When I lived in D.C., the wide expanse from the Capitol across the National Mall to the Washington Memorial took my breath away every day. The physical, visual space felt like a sweeping example of all the hope and vision embodied in our country, even though we have always been imperfect and unfinished. To see it encircled by fencing, razor wire and camouflage is heartbreaking. It is as if all the hope and vision of a better future, represented in the physical openness and access that had always been a hallmark of that area, is being squeezed out of that sacred space. I fear that January 6th changed so much that can never be undone, just as happened with 9/11.
Ir recalls a brief visit to Belfast in late 1975 in the midst of the IRA's war against Britain. Troops, barbed wire, sandbags all over; security checks for transit and stores; buses boarded to search for weapons and bombs. DC isn't exactly like that, but it's uncomfortably close.
Knowledge of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, which spanned 30 years, should cause us to shake in terror at the possibility of anything similar erupting in the United States. Read “Say Nothing,” by Patrick Radden Keefe for a deep investigation into the tragic toll of that period of Irish history. I thought I had some knowledge about that period of time in Ireland, because my Irish heritage (my mother was Irish) motivated me to keep tabs on the events as they unfolded, but Keefe’s book provided a raw, eye-opening account of how the conflict ravaged communities in Northern Ireland and its people.
Will do. My mother was a Mooney- Phelan. When my daughter was born after 3 sons- and 4 years after my tubes were tied, my mother said it was my fault for this "little miracle" because I had given each of my sons a middle name after a grandparent, but none for her. But she preferred Phelan, Thank You. So now we call our grown girl "Elise Phelan Tubal Ligation Randall."
Funny!
By the way, the audio version of “Say Nothing,” read by the author, is excellent.
100%!
💞
A rain storm passed overhead this afternoon as I wrapped up a text similar to yours. And as I looked up, I saw a rainbow standing in sharp contrast to the black storm that had just passed -as if its very presence had sent them away. Hope and trust are finally settling in for me and I sense they are for you as well :) Peace
I agree totally, Wendy. It’s wonderful to see a politician getting down to the real business needed for our Country! We need to do our best to be like Joe and not give QANON Woman any oxygen in the press. We can’t ignore this faction but the less airtime on National news the better.
I partially agree. Tempering the press that Greene gets is necessary but personally I think when the smoke clears after the war the republicans will be in a loosing position. Republicans will be losers if Biden’s administration can improve peoples lives and also let everyone know who did it. I also think Biden will get some credit from some people for quietly but forcefully stepping over republicans to get people some support and a shot.
“Peace Is Every Step” by Thich Nhat Hanh. I feel it could be recommended reading for all activists.
Amen to that Wendy!
I would like to suggest that we say that Greene voiced support for the ASSASSINATION of Democratic politicians, rather than the EXECUTION (as Trumpists like to say), since "executions" are generally taken to be punishment for wrongdoing, which in this case exists only in the imaginations of right wing extremists.
THANK YOU L H
agree; to often the alt-right is given a free pass on the language they use
Yes! We need to get that message through to reporters and news channels.
Yes, let's call it what it is and shock people awake.
RICO’s reach is long, and it is a tool that many had hoped would be used during the Trump years. That it is being considered now is welcome, and as Professor Richardson said, Trumpist Republicans are likely to feel the heat.
R Dooley--YES! I have been waiting for the RICO statute to be invoked. It is an industrial-sized vacuum cleaner, not merely a broom.
It’s not just the US that’s contemplating prosecutions for Dear Leader. If you’re on Twitter, follow @martynMcL, who reports from Scotland. There have been “irregular” financial transactions at the Scottish golf course.
The Government is looking into where the money came from to buy the Golf Course! Following the trail should be interesting.
Yes! I heard rumblings last year during Mueller investigation about this being funded by Russian oligarchs. Also, many years ago that Scots were up-in-arms that Trump was displacing people and local industries by creating a golf course. Warm up the bagpipes!❤️🤍💙
And resurrect the claymore to drive these unwanted "sassenachs" from clan lands.
NB: sassenachs originally meant "foreigner" before being applied exclusively to the English invaders and thus can be justified in terms of this pigeon-english speaking, germanic residue.
Pidgin for languages, pigeon for birds.
Here's an LOL-Trump IS a bird brain, yes? (Though he's all too good at using lies to promote himself and making the RW wingnuts believe him..)
I'm shocked, shocked! that there's anything "irregular" about Trumpsky.
in Heather's Reuters article, it says Dick Durbin is in favor of RICO. Dick Durbin is about to become our new Senate Judiciary chief. Merrick Garland first, RICO next.
RICO means the following future criminal indictments, for people who contributed directly to the U.S. Capitol Riot:
• Cheeto will look good in that orange jumpsuit to match his
• Eric T. Hitler, Son of Cheeto
• Cheeto Jr., another Hitler Jr.
• Rudy Himmler
• Mo Brooks,
. . . and of course the other speakers
https://www.christianactivities.com/save-america-rally-in-washington-d-c-jan-6/
• the people associated with the rally organizers, "Women for America First" and the complicit supporters in the Trump Campaign
If you haven't seen this article, please read it. AP investigative piece. Best information I've seen on the "Save America Rally" which preceded the U.S. Capitol riot, and fodder for indictments.
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-capitol-siege-campaigns-elections-d14c78d53b3a212658223252fec87e99
Also this Wiki link is interesting, read the Planning section, but incomplete when it comes to the Save America rally itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_storming_of_the_United_States_Capitol
• Cheeto will look good in that orange jumpsuit to match his hair
I sure hope they feel the heat. It’s time for Lindsey Graham to be called out!
Of all the races we might have won in 2020 but didn't, Jaime Harrison's loss to Lindsey Graham is the one that angers and confounds me the most.
R. Dooley, I copied this from an article in The New Republic about the women involved in the planning of the Jan 6 insurrection called The Rich Mothers of the Insurrection... “A seasoned Republican rainmaker and canny D.C. insider, Wren made $730,000 from the Trump campaign last year. Her PAC, Security is Strength, spewed nearly $10 million into the effort to defeat Lindsay Graham’s opponent last year. Security is Strength raised and spent a cool $15 million in 2020. The two largest individual donors to the PAC are a supershadowy Ohio-based dark money outfit, the American Exceptionalism Institute, and the insurance conglomerate Ryan Specialty Group.”
Thanks for the link. Having worked in SC politics and followed this race - there were a number of reasons Graham won. Money was a factor, but not (IMO) the decisive factor.
Yes, you’re opinion is most likely correct. It seems her district is ripe for someone like her.
Can they get Trump in that net?
Conceivably, but the area where RICO could have a direct impact on him would be with respect to his business practices. Now that he does not enjoy any manner of immunity, the SDNY (or any other US Attorney) could employ it against him. In such a case, one could expect to hear much more from Michael Cohen.
In a wide-ranging letter today Heather reports that "Biden has moved quickly to get rid of the political appointees Trump tried to burrow into the federal government. Yesterday, Biden fired all ten of the anti-labor activists Trump had put on the Federal Service Impasses Panel, the panel in charge of resolving disputes between unions and federal agencies when they cannot resolve issues in negotiations. The head of the union of federal employees, representing 700,000 federal employees, thanked Biden for his attempt to 'restore basic fairness for federal workers' He said, 'The outgoing panel, appointed by the previous administration and stacked with transparently biased union-busters, was notorious for ignoring the law to gut workplace rights and further an extreme political agenda.' "
The Secretary of Defense has cleaned all the Trumpers out of the Pentagon already.
A large group of folks are waiting for the Post Office board to be hoed out, as well.
Since last summer I have been handwriting "Save the USPS!" on all my outgoing mail. I am convinced that as a consequence my mail makes it on time. How do I know? I get emails back from my creditors acknowledging receipt within days of my sending.
What a good idea!!!❤️🤍💙💌📫❤️❤️❤️
What a great idea and way to praise our postal workers!
I say hello and ask friendly questions and thank every postal worker I see in my neighborhood. When it snows, I shovel a nice foot path across my lawn for the mail carrier gal who works my neighborhood. Have done this for years. She thanked me the other day and said it made her work a lot easier. I just told her I'd do more if I could and she said buying stamps and sending letters is support.
Sign seen at Save the Post Office rallies in summer 2020:
"Go Postal! (nonviolently)"
Thomas P Jefferson you are a stitch 😆😆
GO POSTAL!! Hey, I can't help it, I love the U.S. Postal Service.
I also love the DoJ: RI-CO! RI-CO!
I've never been this patriotic before. Watching our institutions get attacked has changed my perspective, for good. I've been spoiled.
Agreed. I want the Post Office expanded and protected in perpetuity.
(is your flag flying at your front door, Roland? 😀 We fly the colors every day
Every day since 9/11. I had to retire my Thin Blue Line flag; it was tattered and has been corrupted by the right wing. Currently, my Pride flag flies, but it, too, is tattered. I'm thinking of replacing it with the black flag with a blue stripe to honor fallen law enforcement.
I’ve never seen the black w thin blue line flag. I’m pulled to fly the earth flag, the round jewel in the cosmos, from 1969. On the other side from our entrance, across form ‘Old Glory'
I've told my military-retired husband that I didn't have a patriotic bone in my body. I'm happy to say that is no longer the case. RI-CO! RI-CO!
Huge smile every time I see this again.
I too have grown to appreciate the Executive agencies as pragmatic public servants instead of "corrupt beuracrats". One change that could be instituted is to make the Agency Inspector Generals job with more checks and accountability so the president does not have sole supervision.
Today, Feb. 4, is National Postal Appreciation Day and I'll be putting a thank you card in my mailbox for my postman.
Just "posted" this! Thanks!
AG Merrick Garland should go hard after the filthy insurrectionists as Amos Akerman did during Reconstruction. Pres Grant's AG vigorously prosecuted thousands of cases against the KKK, suppressing it to near impotence in the early 1870s. The Grant admin also oversaw the founding of the DOJ, a potent weapon of the federal government then and now. Come to think of it, the Jan 6 insurrection was also populated by Klansmen and traitors. History repeating? The 21C Confederates must be punished far more severely now than 19C Confederates were then.
The Civil War never ended, it just went underground. The DOJ did its job well. Racism and sexism adherents can't abuse or lynch anymore (unless they are cops, but even that impunity is vanishing), but they can still complain abut immigration and Barack's origins. It sneaks out, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Society has changed. They have not changed with it. So now they have had the President of their wildest dreams. George Wallace reincarnated, a fan and student of Adolf Hitler, no less. (reference on request) While he is alive and even when he is on DNR bed rest, they will continue to adore him because they don't have the courage to say the things he says, with impunity. They cannot risk losing their jobs and alienating people they can't afford to alienate.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/08/donald-trump-marie-brenner-ivana-divorce
Roland, your point is excellent, re people without the courage to say what DT (and his ilk) says. Enthusiasm for a proxy speaker seems, on the face of it, to be risk-free, e.g. one cannot be "blamed" if one remains silent and lets others do the talking.
DT's supporters are blind fools. He will never lift a finger to provide for their needs. DT's sole interest and only motivation is to support and protect himself.
Yes, I agree completely. But I'm not sure they care, even when they find that their trust is betrayed, that he doesn't support them, and that he is lining his pockets with their fund-raising money. That's what I understand from the Trump supporters I know.
He speaks for them. He is voicing the racist and sexist and homophobic et al sentiments that they are unable to voice. And that's the message I am attempting to have land: it's not about Trump, it's about the 40% who voted for him. Trump is a speaker for them. Yes, his depravity is bottomless. But he is just the highest tip of the iceberg. Our entire country is laced through-and-through with people who don't want to let go of the past, the racist and sexist and anti-gay laggards in our society. Trump was elected because of the backlash against Barack. There is no other rational explanation, especially considering that voter turnout is only under 60% of the registered voters and 40% of the overall population. So it's the most motivated, the most agitated, voters who decide a national election.
It's a divided nation. The DOJ took the civil war underground, and then someone like Trump comes along to give representation to the social laggards who feel appalled that a black man is at the top. Now they are frustrated again, because "their side" is in the cheap seats again.
A chilling comparison to George Wallace and most apt. But it misplaces credit: either too much for DT or not enough for GW. As you know, Wallace was politically shrewd and astute, fashioning a successful longterm career in a state where a governor could not succeed him/herself. (His wives -- remarriage, not polygyny -- succeeded him twice.) Wallace later moved away from some more extreme views. Perhaps b/c of his near-fatal shooting, he showed some capacity for growth. Trumpsky is None Of The Above on a colossagigantihumongonormus scale.
NB, that's not a real word, but it should be. Make it so!
Correction: "they can still complain about immigration and question Barack's origins"
According to The Atlantic, the January 6 Capital attack was minimally populated by people aligned with some organization: "But 89 percent of the arrestees have no apparent affiliation with any known militant organization."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/the-capitol-rioters-arent-like-other-extremists/617895/?fbclid=IwAR0OO4ECEcVUPx-oWOIOlFoP4OoubGIu4NI4866UVr839UwhLcF9lY16arY
It's a good article and deserves careful consideration. However, the statement re "no apparent affiliation with any known militant organization," should perhaps not give us a sense of security. In the final paragraph of this article, the authors state that "...the Capitol riot revealed a new force in American politics—not merely a mix of right-wing organizations, but a broader mass political movement that has violence at its core and draws strength even from places where Trump supporters are in the minority."
From my perspective, "a broader mass political movement with violence at its core" sounds worrisome and suggests that it will take a long time to minimize/eliminate this threat.
Fairness Doctrine, Education, Jobs, Communitu Mental Health Funding...
Yes, yup, yeah, yep .... Bravo!
Absolutely!
I think this is why the republican party is now identified in many minds as the party that fomented the insurrection. It wasn't just the outside more fringe groups. It was tRump/republican supporters.
Not sure you were headed here but... "tRumpublicans"
Repuglycans
Aha!
"a different and potentially far more dangerous problem: a new kind of violent mass movement in which more “normal” Trump supporters—middle-class and, in many cases, middle-aged people without obvious ties to the far right—joined with extremists in an attempt to overturn a presidential election." Uh-Oh.
I find that questionable because how else would they have found out about this coup?
Part of the point of this second impeachment is that the president was calling for his people to come to DC. He was tweeting about it for weeks. That’s one way they found out.
Facebook, Twitter, Parler, encrypted apps... and some good old fashioned word of mouth.
Fox news had hints...
Neat sarcasm, MaryPat. Hinting indeed, defined as "a 2x4 upside the head." Subtlety is not a Faux strong point.
Yes, and who made all of those gigantic flags? There was clearly organization, planning, funding, and distribution.
I agree. Trump. They are aligned with the King of Q cult from lots of disparate groups.
TPJ-are you aware of Garland's prosecution of Timothy McVeigh re the bombing of the OK City Murraugh building? I wasn't but recently came across it. Please read: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/01/merrick-garland-oklahoma-city-timothy-mcveigh-attorney-general
This is reassuring. I had forgotten that it was Merrick Garland who had handled that case, but when I saw the photo of him in this article, it came back to me. Thanks for sharing the article.
Wow! I got to the end of this letter, and suddenly saw myself marching in a protest (I don't do that sort of thing), chanting "RI-CO! RI-CO!..." :-D
Ok, I'm in. "RI-CO! RI-CO! RI-CO! RI-CO! ....."
Sounds good alright; you'll enjoy the camaraderie. If Covid-19 is a concern, last summer's racial justice protests were among the safest gatherings to attend during the pandemic. Near-universal masking, lots of sanitizer, and as much social distancing as possible -- definitely better than Trumpsky's super-spreader events.
Now, limber up those vocal chords. "Let me introduce you to my good friend RICO."
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27408
Darn! I don't want to get out of this cozy recliner, but I hear and feel the call!!
RI-CO! RI-CO! RI-CO! RI-CO!
I love the statement that Biden is trying something no one else has: ignoring and governing! YES! For all the antics that get the Republican trumpers in the news, it seems to be falling flat for the majority as Biden behaves like a true president. What a sense of relief!
Thank you, Heather! Very good news!
Wasn’t this Letter full of laugh out louds—from “ignoring and governing” to “Biden promised that none of his family members would work at the White House!”
What's really amusing is the Repug cannibal feast. Yum!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Biden appears to be heeding the lessons learned when Moscow Mitch and the other Republicans lied to Obama.
Naïve no longer.
RICO is the law that should have been invoked in the previous Mueller investigation and Trump impeachment. The man has been skilled in all of his illicit business dealings and impeachable offenses to keep himself, like a Mafia don, apart from the dirty dealings, although his hands are directly on the Capitol insurrection.
By leaving Taylor-Greene in place the GOP leadership gets someone to grab headlines and speak to the trump base without having to dirty their dainty little hands. They can decry her statements without having to take responsibility. That they left Cheney in place has given them a semblance of normalcy, "see we aren't all crazy".
Even though RICO cases can take a while to put together it will give the AG a road to go further down the road of prosecuting the puppet masters.
It is so nice to get up in the morning and not have to wonder what fresh new hell has been tweeted over night.
Pamela said: “ It is so nice to get up in the morning and not have to wonder what fresh new hell has been tweeted over night.” - thank you for perfectly expressing my feelings!
And when the Democrats strip her of her Committee seats McQarthy can cry foul...partisan politics by the dictatorial majority who don't want to hear contrary opinions.
And they don't want to have to take responsibility. By pushing it onto the Democrats when the democrats act the GOP can get out their hankies ,cry their crocodile tears and lament loudly in public about how unfair and mean the dems are
The person who is most enjoying the flap about MTG is surely Lauren Boebert.. no spotlight on her...yet!!!
Her turn is coming
So refreshing to have someone with an abundance of experience in Congress at the helm. Biden axed 10 Trump loyalists. Bing! Bam! Done! And we move onto bigger and better things...the $1.9 trillion budget needed for Covid, state and local govts., a decent wage increase, childcare and healthcare, economy, climate, etc.. Get out of our way, Repubs! We are not allowing you to walk all over us ever again. We will prevail and we will succeed!
From Judith Jordet:
Exploitation is a capitalist problem the same way racism is a white problem. The whole earth suffers under capitalism the same way people of color suffer under racism.
Judith is turning into one of my highlight-reel posters. This post from yesterday, I just ran across it.
I guess I'd shorten that to: exploitation is a capitalist problem in the same way that oppression is a racist problem. You cannot have capitalism without exploitation: it's a contradiction in terms. And you cannot have racism without oppression: it is a contradiction in terms.
You CAN have capitalism without exploitation if government is allowed to place limits on it.
See my comment below. I don't think that fixes the problem either. I think the model is upside down. The current model gives all the power to the founders of corporations and the usurpers who then fight their way into the executive suites. Govt. regulation is a band-aid solution. We still have billionaires and major social and economic inequality. The only solution is to change the model. I once read about the Mondragon cooperative in the Basque region of Spain. Front-line workers all required to rotate through the offices periodically to serve executive functions, management functions, with a drop in pay because they are not working the front lines. Now we're moving in the right direction. You throw in complete respect for nature and the environment, now it's starting to look like a healthy system.
A Democratic Capitalism is simply a way to “verbalize” a change of the structure. First, we meet the needs of our citizenry. Democracy comes first:
health care
housing
equality of opportunities
education
safety and a safe relation ship with foreign countries
and so on, and on, and on
THEN, we get to our economics, which is capitalism. There is room for private profit, and out of these profits comes the responsibility to repay for one’s largess
Democratic Capitalism - First things First - Democracy, then Capitalism
(as WE redefine both terms)
Excellent. May I copy & post?
sure, and you may credit if you feel appropriate
Well, maybe less exploitation ....
Sorry, it still exploits to produce "value" from what is "valueless." You can have capitalism with LIMITED exploitation. And capitalists will complain mightily and endlessly about it. They'll push for a Citizens United bill to make their profits a tool for removing all of the limits. This is built into its structure.
Joseph is describing the problem beautifully. Amoral capitalism. Obviously the economy is not going away, but what is needed is a transformation away from exploitation over to a model which serves both people and the environment, the planet itself. Capitalism must have a conscience, capitalism must be changed to serve the people who participate in it, not the parasites who run corporations and line their nests at the expense of workers and the natural world. Economic exchange, the economy, must have principled respect for both workers and the world from which "resources are extracted," what a dirty expression.
The current model of capitalism is upside down. The workers and the natural world need to be at the top, the current executives at the bottom.
A “Democratic Capitalism” I would say. The democracy comes first, ensuring rights guaranteed in our constitution, and capitalism follows.
Hear! Hear!! (HERE!)
For example, the social democracies, the remainder of the ‘advanced world'
The remainder of the 'advanced world' has a limited capitalism embedded in a form of democratic socialism.
Well, that was what was on my mind when I made my original comment. I think I agree with you - it’s a weighty subject, and I need to think more!
It is pretty heavy, baby! hahahaaa well....
perhaps, let’s try to separate 1) Democracy (government) and then 2) Economy (capitalism)
they’re TWO very distinct entities, but liberals have not thought this through very well --- we really do NOT have a clear understanding of either concept. One must provides rights and responsibilities, and the other is an economic model. The economics should be a minor portion of the equation, subservient to our democracy.
Everybody agrees the economics is broken, and our democracy is corrupted by bought-off politicians
Nice!
There are at least three orthogonal axes that get tangled up in this kind of discussion. I recently broke it down into an essay on The Rules, The Power, and The Money. (https://themonthebard.org/2020/11/01/socialism/). The Rules can be expressed along a line from Totalitarianism (whatever is not forbidden is compulsory) to Liberalism (whatever). The Power -- or more correctly, The Structure -- can be be expressed along a line from Autocracy (one ring to rule them all) to Anarchy (no one is in charge). And finally, The Money can be expressed along a line from Private Ownership (Capitalism, or "my prrrrrecious...") to Community Ownership (Socialism, or "to each according to need, from each according to ability"). These are largely orthogonal axes.
For instance, many of the religious orders of the Middle Ages were Totalitarian, Autocratic, and Socialist: the rules of the order governed every aspect of life, from when you rose from bed, to when you prayed, what you ate, and what work you did; the Abbot ruled under the Pope, who ruled under God; the communes tended to be self-sufficient, and took care of their own with a fair disregard for rank, and were a source of charity in the larger community.
Libertarians on the right seem to want a Totalitarian, Anarchic, Capitalist model: all aspects of life are ruled by a simplistic economic valuation, no one is in charge (other than the invisible hand of the Free Market), and (of course) everything is owned by someone, and if it isn't, it should be.
European democracies seem to be Liberal(-ish), Democratic, Socialist societies: there are things you are forbidden to do (like dumping your trash in the street), but otherwise, you are free to do what you like, power is distributed somewhere between Anarchy and Autocracy, and for the most part, the state provides a lot of services to meet people's needs, paid for by taxing the wealthy.
A healthy family tends to be Liberal, Autocratic, and deeply Socialist; parents give their kids freedom to explore, make friends, and do their thing, the parents have absolute authority, and it's very poor form to let the infants starve because they didn't "contribute."
This certainly isn't a perfect model for classifying every society that ever could be. It might not even be a very good model. But it does illustrate that "socialism" is just one point on a line that describes one dimension of a multidimensional reality.
I have to disagree with the equivalence.
In the US, racism is a white problem, but in principle, it could be a black problem, or an oriental problem: any identifiable racial group COULD be on top in a racist system. It's a system of oppression and control based on identifiable racial characteristics, and doesn't require any particular race to be on top. Though to be clear, in the US, it is certainly the whites who are on top.
Capitalism, however, exists to exploit, primarily "natural resources," which -- under capitalist theory -- are valueless UNTIL exploited, but also "labor resources" and "intellectual property resources" and "time resources," which are also valueless until exploited. By definition, it exploits any resource it can come in contact with, and maximizes that exploitation, and then delivers the "value" to the "stakeholders" (ownership class). If it doesn't do this, it simply isn't capitalism.
Presumably, a divine intelligence could take all of the factors into account and balance out this exploitation with value equitably, but then it would look a lot like a self-sufficient stable ecosystem, with full recycling: all "value" created would be destroyed in this cycle and returned to "resources." Humans don't think that big: they just exploit for themselves.
And we've done it successfully enough to thrive and attract the attention of the predator class that has just started to really notice us as a food-group: viruses....
Clarification. "Oriental" refers to inanimate items like rugs and vases. "Asian" refers to people. Just FYI. 👍😅
I stand corrected. Thank you.
Thank you. Janice.
The things we learn on this site!
Yes. It could be argued that the predator class of exploiter capitalists use us as a food-group, and they use the planet as a food-group, and that's why I like the way that Judith phrases things. Racism and Predator Capitalism is at the root of the Red-Blue divide. Our divided country. Our problems as a society have a direct bearing on the condition of our home world, our planet, our Mother Earth. Judith is bringing in the larger picture, Humanity's neglect of our Home.
My interactions with this lovely community of Heather's has been a true godsend for me. Until arriving here, I did not participate in any on-line community. I am so grateful for this community, and to Heather for drawing it together. I see now how Red vs. Blue, Old-Social-Order vs. New-Social-Order, whites-first & males-first & straights-first & rich-first (et al ...) is the real story of the divide between Trump's voters and those who oppose Trump.
In a way, racism and sexism &etc is just a tempest in a teapot, as the English would say. Humanity's ills and evils are what we discuss here, because this is Heather's living room, so as respectful guests we respond to her posts which are historical accounting of U.S. society and the policy of human society. That policy includes the racism and sexism that brings those people into the U.S. Capitol, like Mr. Camp Auschwitz Staff.
And then there is the larger picture, how human civilization as a global whole is doing permanent damage to the Earth.
So when you bring up exploitation and resources, Joseph, you are saying exactly what I am thinking. Complete agreement here.
Back to HCR and February 4 in America, the Republicans by-and-large only care about money. They are complicit members of the exploitive class, the predator class (nice expression!) who only see their own bank accounts and mini-mansions, they only brown-nose the billionaires like Putin who support them, and they don't care about people. Society is just another resource to exploit. So Trump caters to the deplorables who attack the U.S. Capitol, because that's how he gets their money. And every other one of his ilk does the same thing.
These predators are very respectful of the predator hierarchy and know that they are on a lot more powerful predators on the feed chain....and Putin etc are right up there above them! Principle No.1 only feed off those below you and beside you on the chain.
Principle No. 2 when the elephants in the chain start to dance...smile, offer to help, stay clear of their feet and try to grab onto their tail. Principle No. 3 when their feeding starts wait your turn and clean the bones when they're through.
This is what it takes to be an Republican Ork. They are arrogant minnows in the game and will meet their fate with cries and lamentations about how unfair it all is! Courage will certainly not be their name.
Biden is the hunter/game warden who will "tenderly" drive the wild animals back into their caves and the dog catcher who'll take those on the streets back to the "pound" .
Yo, Stuart. I'd like to think that elephants would prefer not to be identified with the Republican Ork...just sayin'!
Indeed. Might give the bigger predators a bad name as they are not even competent as vilains go. My apologies to the dear quadroped!
Not your fault, but thanks.
Stuart, you also must understand that the biggest predators are the capitalists that are supported by both major parties in this country. Those parties are two sides of the same bad coin.
Let’s hope so.
Roland, I, like you, have never participated in on line communities before now. And while I don’t agree with everything you post, I do agree with much of it. I love he way you describe that we are in Heather’s living room and we are respected guests. That nails it and that is why I look forward to these posts every morning. I would caution your comment on “deplorables”. I believe Hillary’s phrase “basket of deplorables” went a long way to losing her election. And I don’t think it describes all of trump’s followers. I had asked a friend why she voted for trump in 16 and she said she hadn’t thought much about it, she just voted that way because her husband had. I think there are a lot who hadn’t thought much about it before who are now. If we are to change their minds, we cannot disengage them.
We call them "susceptibles" at our house.
That makes (sad) sense.
Hi Jackie, one more thing. You wrote: "And while I don’t agree with everything you post,..."
In my posts, I tend to emphasize and indeed amplify points which are not common knowledge. I rarely spend pen-and-ink on, say, Mitch's ruthless and thuggist and cold-hearted obstructionism, which is well documented in the news. If I discuss Mitch, I call him Moscow Mitch and then I will speak to the reason for his ruthlessness, which is keeping himself in power and making sure is nest egg is secure. So many news stories about how Mitch changes his tune. So few news stories about what is actually happening to compel him to change his tune. Like for example after Jan. 6, corporations en masse began suspending payments to PACs and a new fund-raising boycott was born as a number of corporations refused to give money to members of the Sedition Caucus. N.B. all members of the Sedition Caucus are in Mitch's camp, are part of his coalition in govt. Does Mitch care about the U.S. Capitol riot? Maybe, maybe not, but it's unlikely to affect his behavior and what he says. Political calculus, and keeping his own funded and protected, that's what guides 99% of his words and deeds.
Similarly, Tя☭mp. News media covers certain events, but not everything. He is a pawn of Putin, not just an apologist but an active enacter of Kremlin policy, AS WELL AS a corrupt public official, an inciter of white supremacists (to line his own pockets with their funding, and because he is racist himself). He has studied Hitler closely, I mention that because it's not common knowledge but should be. So I like to spend my time on the darker skeletons in the closet.
If you don't agree with me, let me know! I'm passing on what I know. You can't make this stuff up.
Hi Roland, I very much agree with your post here but I do wish you were “making this stuff up”
rephrase: I like to devote my attention to the skeletons in the darker end of the closet
I agree Roland. How do we get people to believe The Big Truth?
Good question. I don't know. I'm just shining my own little light on the facts. The more education, the better. If enough people know the facts, or want to know the facts, that has a ripple effect through consciousness. Who knows, maybe an investigative journalist gets inspired to look more closely at a certain area.
I am a firm believer in the principle that we are all one. That we are all one consciousness. That we are all tuned in to the same frequency. That we are all a facet on the gigantic multi-faceted jewel that includes all creatures, each creature being one of those facets. So one person can start a forest fire, a ripple effect through all of consciousness that enlightens and brings awareness to the whole.
Awareness of The Big Truth begins within. You can't convince or persuade anyone, but you can be yourself, speak your truth, voice your own perspective, send light, send love, and for this reason I always include and accept the outliers. Outliers are renegades. In this culture, actually, we have a special love affair with renegades and mavericks, there's even a TV series with that name. Princess Leia is a maverick and pioneer, so is Marion Ravenswood, the overlooked ought-to-be central character in the Indiana Jones franchise. Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, many others played renegades. It's the renegades who step outside the box, outside the comfort zone of conventional reality, to see the honest truth without hindrance from social and cultural programming.
It takes courage. If I say to you, MaryPat, Trump is a student of Hitler, you have to sit still and listen if you want to consider it. If I say to you, MaryPat, JFK was killed by snipers in a screened railroad area behind the grassy knoll, and a CIA misinformation campaign has you believe that "conspiracy theory" is ridiculous and mock-worthy, again you have take courage and be willing to venture beyond the familiar and comfortable. Or you can just block it out.
Be grateful that you see so much of The Big Truth. Be grateful that you are not prone to the denial, the turning away, what Kimberley says everyone in her office building did while she was the only one watching the Jan. 6 as it was happening.
Kimberley posted this 3 hours ago on yesterday's HCR, Feb. 2.
[begin quote]
I work in a law office and in a building that is 95% accountants, architects and attorneys in a downtown capital city and most everyone is a die hard Republican. Not a Drumpf fan but always vote red. After Biden won they stopped paying attention to the news. No one on my floor watched the inauguration, no one watched the riots, no one watches the impeachment news, no one knows who Eugene Goodman is, no one knows who MTG is or what she has been putting out in the world. There is a real head in the sand issue going on with choosing your own news and it does not just come from rural areas, or the uneducated or the poor or the "forgotten". It's really wild. When I tried to pull a couple co-workers over to my computer screen when I was watching the insurrection on 1/6 AS IT HAPPENED they both walked away and one said "everyone is crazy" and the other said "I'm with him, they are crazy on both sides". I can't stop shaking my head.
[end quote]
Hi Jackie, actually I said "respectful" guests, meaning respectful of Heather's hospitality. I'm sure you're right, I'm sure we are respected guests as well, but I am speaking of how we conduct ourselves. And yes, you make an excellent point about people who vote Republican. My wife is a life coach and also has a large community of contacts. She has been a political observer all her life, and she consults with mostly women and she says that a huge number of them are basically apolitical. They don't pay close attention. She has all kinds of people who call her around election time to tap what she knows in order to guide their voting choices. And lastly, your final point is well taken, "other"izing is not helpful. My father was born in Nazi Germany and is a life-long conservative and die-hard Republican since he came her in the 1950s. I speak with him weekly. So disengaging is not an option for me personally. So part of why I feel so blessed to have this forum is my need to vent my own feelings and positions, since I have constant exposure to my dad. Sadly, although he is not a deplorable, he is kind and generous, he is still racist and sexist and homophobic. And watching Fox News for hours every day. And believes what he watches, is part of the mass hypnosis and has drunk some of the Kool-Aid.
Hi Roland, just got home from work and saw your reply. Thanks for catching my gaffe. I absolutely meant respectful, not respected. And I absolutely agree that Mitch & the rest of the trumpers in the Congress are truly deplorable. All I was trying to say was that not everyone who “likes” trump is deplorable and we have to be careful that we don’t develop our own bubble of only us or them. I know you really do understand this from the comments about your father. I have friends that have many fine traits, just like your father, as long as we don’t talk politics. And there are many like those in your wife’s circle, who just don’t look that close. If we label them deplorable, they will never look at our side of the argument. And please, keep your posts coming. They are thoughtful and engaging and I have come to look forward to them, even more now that you have shared some of your story. Thanks for the good fight.
I have been in two online interest focused groups in the past: motorcycle/photography forum of Pashnit, and the tuba community on TubeNet. Social media directly impacted their demise. Those two communities were very important to me 15 years ago, and many of the folks I relate with on Facebook are from those two groups.
For the first year I followed HCR, I was mostly on her Facebook page, but over the last couple months, I have been more active here. I, too, love hearing what other folks have to say, and have come to appreciate the writings here of some other followers. This is an online community like no other.
This is my first online community also. I love your guests in Heather’s living room analogy, Roland. Thank you all for making it so welcoming and enlightening.
Thank you Diane. There is this odd tendency in text-only online forums (fora?) to speak like a robot. We are all people, are we not? I know I am speaking with real people. I conduct myself accordingly. I use profanity in real life face-to-face as well, I don't save it just for here. Likewise, since I am a live wire face-to-face, why exclude that from HCR.
I accord all of you the same respect that I would if we were speaking with voices.
We are using dated technology. Suppose we were having these discussions with Voxer or Marco Polo? Sending audio responses to each other? So why shouldn't these text-only conversations be just as personal.
"Am I not a man and a brother?"
-- Josiah Wedgewood
Once you've travelled a bit around the world, you really can understand that racism is not just a "white" phenomena...far from it! It's just that the occident is somewht centred on it's own belly button and doesn't get very interested or much flustered in social conditions and ethnic exploitation elsewhere especially when it would tend to relativize their "white culpability" theme.
Stuart, you've nailed it.
. . . and now I am going to bring Joseph's protest march over here onto this thread: "RI-CO! RI-CO! RI-CO! RI-CO! ....."
Racism and Capitalism are human problems, just as is the failure to recognize without labor none of this would be possible.
I also Like(d) that one. It brings to mind a core insight from Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 classic "American Dilemma: The Negro Problem & American Democracy." Myrdal stated that, despite the subtitle, it was really about a white problem, the problem of white intolerance, discrimination and denial of Black Americans' rights. This shifted responsibility for racial conflict to the American majority, and also for remedying the problem.
Many thanks, Prof. Richardson, for your letter(s) and for helping us keep up with history in the making. Your first line today really grabbed me - "President Biden has been derailing them in the only way no one has tried yet: ignoring them and governing." As my Coastie Dad might put it, brilliantly planned and daringly executed, sir!
I reported receiving multiple copies of the Feb 2 blog to support. Got this response:
Hi Deborah,
Andrew from Substack support here. We briefly had a glitch that send multiple posts to some of Heather Cox Richardson's subscribers. This issue has been resolve and we apologize for the inconvenience.
Best, Andrew Strader
Thanks...I wondered about that. It seemed like someone hit the “send” button 36 times! 😆
Cool.
“Later, when the House Republicans met for the first time this session, about half of them gave Greene a standing ovation when she rose to speak.”
I’m just wondering, if the Republican caucus had a secret vote to strip MTG of her committee assignments, would it pass by the same margin as the show of support for Rep Cheney? There’s interesting dynamics when one can vote and the former president and his cult members can’t see you!
Now, they’ll be forced to vote for or against MTG in the light of day, before all to see. Will the Republicans stand for truth or will they become the party of Q?
Thank you for this Letter. I needed my faith restored! Heather took hold of my chin and redirected my gaze back towards the Biden Administration, guardrails and all!
Whew! Thanks...I needed that!😊