Unbelievably, it was only a week ago—last Sunday—that we learned Trump had called Georgia’s Secretary of State and pressured him to change the results of the 2020 election.
The significance of what Black Capitol Policeman Eugene Goodman did should make every stop, think, and thank him as a hero deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal. Instead, today, Jan 11th, we're going to see the "President" give the Presidential Medal of Honor to Representative Jim Jordan, a sharp-tongued sycophant of 45 who has never done anything that would remotely deserve recognition much less a Medal of Honor. The word Honor does not apply to either the bestower nor the recipient.
Thank you Heather for putting a name on the face of the policeman that I have watched at least 2 dozen times slowly back up those stairs leading the mob away from where they really wanted to go. The guy at the head of the mob seemed unsure but continued to follow him. There were many heroes last Wednesday but Eugene Goodman is a standout example in part because there’s a video record of his act. Now that we are a little distant from the event it’s become apparent just how violent the mob really was and how totally overwhelmed the capital police were as they tried to hold them off. I have no doubt that many others acted heroically defending the seat of our democracy, they will be the unsung heroes of the day. If I had the ability to I would thank each and every one of them for their demonstration of decency and honor.
I'm pretty certain he was also experiencing all the other attributes of a heroic act, as defined to me by an old Navy Chief when I was a young sailor: "When you're so scared that you've crapped your pants, peed your pants, your brain is frozen, and you still do your job - that's being a hero."
Add to that the fact that those pursuing him saw a Black man trying to tell them what to do. I'm glad he got out alive. There is a lynch mob mentality among T****'s more crazed followers, as we can see from the gallows they erected outside the Capitol bldg. (As a carpenter's daughter with some skills of my own, I'm thinking that rickety frame would not have done the job, but the symbolism alone speaks volumes.)
Not the Jan 6th Arizona State house. Trumpets there built a Guillotine!
When they show up with homemade props, we know they had this planned well in advance. It was coordinated. The roots run deep and must be rooted out. DC was not a lone dandelion in the yard we can just pluck out and forget.
I have written this before: I am hoping if Trump is ousted, all his medal recipients will be treated like Olympic medal winners found to have been doping— stripped of their Award. Also, all his pardons should be reversed. I originally thought his justices should have to go through the nomination process again, but.. that might be a tougher sell.
Pardons should be for humanitarian purposes, not political purposes. I am for reversing many of them, and as for medals, politics should not play a role there either. Limbaugh's Medal of Freedom should be taken back. His wearing it is an insult to prior recipients.
At least two of the three Justices have already demonstrated serious independence from their nominator and have passed through a confirmation process that is mandated by the Constitution. The medalists share neither of those traits and I think your idea is excellent.
It goes without saying that there will be a Trump sized asterisk next to nearly all of the peoples names awarded anything by Trump. Those awards will be as valuable as a degree from Trump university. What a looser.
I cringe when I think of Jim Jordan with that around his neck. Sadly I have to say that he belongs to my state, though not my district....I have my own piece of rethuglican in our district. That a man who let his athletes be victimized, denied it and tried to cover it up should never have been allowed to run.
If Jim Jordan or Devin Nunes had an ounce of decency or sense of honor both would decline the Presidential Medal of Honor. Both have records so tainted as to make the concept of being associated in any way with the term honor a joke. Nunes nighttime run to the White House to proclaim he had information showing plotting against the Trump campaign that was actually delivered to him from the White House unmasked him as the sycophant he truly is. Jim Jordan carries the stain of being accused by multiple young men on the Ohio State wrestling team of covering up the sexual abuse they were subjected to by the team’s physician while he was an assistant coach there. What a shame Trump sees fit to dishonor all those of true honor who have received this award. I thought it could not get worse after his giving it to Rush Limbaugh. But Trump just never seems to find the bottom.
Jordan and Nunes are each 0 for 2 re decency and honor. Wouldn't be surprised if trump warned them that if they cross him, he will turn the medallion ribbon into a garrote.
It's the Presidential Medal of Freedom not honor, and your'e right neither of them come anywhere close to deserving it, it debases it for those in the past under other presidents who earned and received it. Fear not though, down through time everyone will know it was an abomination to award it to them, it'll become radioactive. It's our highest civilian honor and those two syncopantes are so far from deserving it as to be laughable.
I saw the video several times of him being chased. Is it true that he was leading the rioters away from where they wanted to be? Not that it matters. His actions were heroic.
Yes, he led them away from the key offices and toward where he knew more back-up was coming. He truly is a hero. I watched him in real time. Will never forget his courageous actions.
At one point in the video, he is standing at the intersection of two hallways with the door to the senate chambers about 15 feet away to his left. You can see him look in that direction, then take off in the opposite direction, egging on the lead protester to chase him, away from the senate.
Lyrell Abbott, yes ,he was leading them away from the door to the Senate Chamber. He went down the corridor rather than thru the door straight ahead of him. He apparently knew there were police heading down the corridor in the direction he took.
It galls me that so many people accused Goodman of cowardice when now we know his action was anything but.
Thanks, Sara. I watched and heard the explanation on CBS this morning which mirrors your comments here. Gail King, one of the CBS correspondents on the show, thought as I did at first, that he was simply being chased by the rioters.
But just FYI, before I knew the truth, I NEVER thought his was an act of cowardice.
I was frightened for him! I thought it was a very scary situation! Glad it was cleared up. But my first thought was not that he was a coward. But rather that he was out gunned! Awful!
Lynell, I must admit that if I were standing alone looking down on a crowd of angry people with hate in their eyes, I would’ve turned around and run up the stairs, too. It showed great presence of mind that the officer led them into a group of law enforcement officers!
I was too! He was acting a bit scared... feigning it, to lure the fools! Luv that. I do admit, I was hoping he and the other cops would have done everything possible (clubs and tasers) to take them into custody though.
I watched it in real time, and I am not absolutely positive. I do recall MSNBC analysts saying that some video came from journalists present in the halls because the ceremony accepting the electoral ballots was about to begin. I just don't know for sure if the video was from a journalist. I definitely know some journalists were pulled in to hide in offices by staff of representatives.
I have to admit that my first thought regarding Officer Goodman was that it looked staged, that he was actually cooperating with the mob. So happy to have my misperception corrected.
Writing in his autobiography "Wing Leader," RAF ace pilot Johnny Johnson related how, at the end of the war, his unit was stationed at an airfield near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and that he ended up as Senior Allied Officer Present for the district. He visited the camp and was simultaneously sickened and enraged. And then, meeting the Germans who lived in town and nearby, he became even more enraged when they all claimed to "know nothing" about the camp. So when it came time to organize food rationing and issue ration cards, he set up the line so that the Germans would have to walk through the camp to get to the tables where they could get their ration cards. Women were wailing and men were sick, and he looked at every last one of them and said "NOW you can't say you know nothing of what went on here."
The same thing needs to be done with the Trumpscum.
The Ohrdruf Concentration camp was the first Nazi camp to be liberated by US forces. On April 12, a week after the camp’s liberation, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley toured the site, led by a prisoner familiar with the camp. German citizens from the nearby town of Ohrdruf were forced to view the camp and bury the dead, a practice that was later repeated in other camp liberations.
My stepfather and his fellow paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne (504th PIR) helped liberate a concentration camp near Wobbelin, Germany. They too forced the residents to view the camp and bury the dead. It was an experience he recounted to me and others with distress and anger that remained decades after the event.
General Eisenhower is quoted as saying, “We are told the American soldier does not know what he fighting for. Now, at least, we know what he is fighting against.”
You make a good point TC: Trumpists should be made to spend the hours, days or months required to inform them about the lineage of many of the values they espouse and the damage it has done. It won’t happen, but that doesn’t prevent us from working to get the information out. The 1619 Project is an example, the USC Shoah Foundation is another.
My stepfather was a Dachau liberator. I have recorded him telling stories about what his 42 Rainbow Division found that day. In addition to barely alive prisoners, there was a LONG train of cattle cars full of bodies that the Nazis were trying to move from camps or to camps to cremate to hide the evidence. Hundreds of corpses per car. There are more stories, and this experience haunted him the rest of his long life. A lifelong Republican, he would have loathed what is happening. When he heard about Holocaust deniers, although he was wheelchair bound, he donned his uniform and went to talk to groups about he had learned and swore this should never happen again. He said "If I wasn't there to see it with my own eyes, I'd have never believed it. But I was, and I'm here to tell you it did happen, and it should never happen again." I have used his recordings for 20 years to educate students about the Holocaust. We need more education in history and empathy. Yet teachers are often belittled in our society. I see the way people are soaking up bias and lies as a failure of the education system. We need to do better.
This is such a valuable thing for you to share. I will listen to it. I will save it so that when my grandchildren are older they will be able to listen because my dad is no longer alive. He was in the Army Air Force and was a Bletchley trained cryptographer. He nearly lost his life when his troop ship was sunk in the Atlantic.
This is Robert "Bob" Pringle. He was in the 42 Rainbow Division. He had a cold when he recorded this, thus the sniffles. He also says I always have a question, which is "What does death smell like?" Now, that is not a question I came up with, but after having heard his stories many times, I wanted him to remember to include this as he has a vivid description. So it's introduced oddly, but that's why.
Hat tip to you for having the foresight to record your stepfather’s stories about the Holocaust, and then for using them for the past 20 (!) years to teach students. That is so powerful and is the kind of work that helps prevent the proliferation of othering hate that fuels the rise of an autocrat.
There is a Holocaust video interview recording project ongoing. I hope to see and hear your stepfathers stories. I want to live in a peaceful country, free from fear of Fascism, oppression, and lies.
I believe there was a 60 minutes program showing the recording of survivors and others so they could use them as a hologram that people could see & hear them telling the story in their own words. It was very chilling. And yes, this should be taught in schools - and in colleges for that matter. Too easy for young people to not be informed!
As a young person I remember watching Spencer Tracy in Judgement at Nurenberg ..and that had very vivid pictures and they were real. Never forgotten that..
Perhaps we need same/similar overnight. American needs to see interviews with these hardened radicalized repugnants. Perhaps if more regular republicans would listen their stories, they would leave their party like Colin Powell just did.
Imagine if the Germans did that in the 20's and 30's, would those conservatives offer Hitler the shared power agreement after the Reichstag if they knew the evil that was in the Nazi party of 1933?
My father-in-law was also with the troops who liberated Dachau, although I never heard the name of his division. He rarely spoke about it other than to say it happened and occasionally tell small stories of his part of it and the tragedy he witnessed. He would not tolerate being called a hero and suffered his whole life from nightmares and what now would be called PTSD. He kept the pictures he took at Dachau with his Brownie camera as evidence of what he witnessed. Those photos stayed in his army footlocker until he died. My mother-in-law wanted to burn them after his death because she believed they had poisoned her marriage. I had to argue long and hard to convince her to offer them to the Holocaust Museum instead.
That is tragic. My mother came over on the Queen Mary in 1946 from London after working as a munitions worker near Lincolnshire in the UK. She met my dad there at the USO. My mom welded depth charges and was the last station before TNT went in. When she came over on the Queen Mary she picked up a postcard of Hitler on the deck of the Queen Mary. I had it for many years and then I just tore it up into pieces because I couldn’t bear to have it in my house...
What a story. I'm glad his memory's, those photos made to the museum.
Everyone responds to trauma differently. I have several friends that have veteran sons from the Iraq 2 and Afghanistan. One committed suicide in 2010, two more attempted in 2011, one almost did in 2013.
PTSD post war is a huge problem.
But how many go undiagnosed? How many vets work as Police?
How many Tim Mc Veighs ( gulf war 1) have we created and how vulnerable are they to demagogue forces like DT? How many are ready and willing to Die for DT like Air Force Vet Ashli Babbit did on Jan 6th. Nothing but a bullet was going to stop her from committing what atrocities on members of the house of representatives?
YEs, of course, not saying all. But it only takes a few in key positions to loose control like at the Capitol. I have three friends in different cities. Two are detectives in big cities and one sheriffs deputy here. All are good people. It is the Chauvins and Ashli Babbits that are dangerous. They will kill to get their way. To exercise their power to the death.
Hat tip to you for recognizing the moment and successfully redirecting you mother in law to donate her husband's Dachau photos to the Holocaust Museum.
Thing an important thing he did. Unbelievable. Those tapes need to be heard by every high school student in this country. That should be a standard part of high school students education.
Trumpers are in their own little world on the computer and they don’t look out to see who is suffering ..from their words and their behaviors
I am so happy to hear that you have chronicled his experience. My grandparents were gassed in a van with 6 other people at the Chelmno camp in 1942. Both of my parents were Holocaust victims. I have my mother on video but I couldn’t bare to ask her questions about the Holocaust. Too painful for her to relive that.
I'm so sorry to read this, Marlene. It's so painful.
In 1942, Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Lodz Ghetto’s Jewish Council, ordered that children under age 10 be handed over because they consumed scarce food but were not in the slave work force. They were taken to a church converted into a warehouse, then gassed at Chelmno.
I memorialize Susanne Bertha ("Susi") Benkendorf, born in 1933, transported with her parents from a German town to Prague, then transported to Lodz and recorded as murdered.
The other day when I was watching a horror unfold on 6 January, one of the people breaking in was a high school teacher from somewhere in the south. That is very disturbing to me
Crazy!!! We need to realize everyone is susceptible to propaganda, young and old, educated and ignorant. Men and women. It is not like you knowingly order yourself a radicalized latte at Starbucks. It is a process. SM amplifies and accelerates radicalization.
I asked my son's 9th grade Govt teacher who is favorite poly sci scholar was, his reply was ....Wait for it....
The only good news in the teacher's admission about Candice Owens was your making that a teachable moment for critical thinking skills for your son, who then maybe passed on the critical questions to his friends. But that is scary for the rest of the students uncritically subjected to toxic ideology.
And no, you can't be too strong about it. The Nazis required party membership of teachers and school administrators and then imposed the Nazi infused curriculum on the students to effectively brainwash them--including pressure to report their own parents for criticism of the regime and accept Hitler as their only leader--over the authority of their parents.
I hope I don’t come across to string but yes I was. Think about it. A teacher of Government, aligned as a Libertarian, that wants to demolish public education!
This is an enormously powerful story. It changed Eisenhower's life, and you're right: he was determined that no one would ever be able to say it didn't happen.
I went to the library a few years ago and I found a piece of paper stuck in a book that said there was no holocaust. The librarian here in my small town in Vermont says that this happens all the time
Ignorance holds me back but i trust that history will not follow society's current trend to concentrate solely on real and less evident victimization of minorities of all shapes and sizes and a competition amongst them as to who should dominate and thus define the "true" discourse and therefore the majority. It is time that the progressive left realized that by returning their principal ideological concentration on the needs of the working man/woman they do not necessarily exclude "minorities".
I'm sorry, Stuart, I normally agree with and like your responses, but I find this one rather cutting. If you are referring to the 1619 Project or the USC Shoah Foundation as examples of " the victimization of minorities of all shapes and sizes," I am disappointed. We cannot and must not turn our backs on historical realities that have been and continue to be whitewashed or eliminated from our educational systems. Is the Trail of Tears a fabrication of our Native Peoples' reality in US history? Should we erase the BLM movement from a history book on the year 2020? Again, my apologies, but I beg to differ.
You seem to be seeing one as being opposed to the other or replacing one interpretation of history by another. I feel that one can be included in the other and lead to greater clarity and a less subjective "truth". It doesn't diminish the importance of the treatment of minorities but places it squarely in its historical context......which what understanding history is all about. Today's filter will always subject one to pressures to re-interpret things in the light of today's forces, feelings and trends.
Yeh, too many don't understand democracy or why we want it. Rather than think of democracy as process for managing government they think of it as a promise that the majority gets to boss around the minority.
Our Public Health is an institution and an attitude of health and respect for the good of all. Republicans want us sick, they want us to despair. They want us apathic so we falsely believe we have no power to create change.
There have been many calls for covidiots to go to their local hospitals and volunteer to help with the bodies. They won't need any PPE since they're not convinced we have a problem.
I work in the medical field , fortunately not in a hospital, but in outpatient care and I have often made this same suggestion with the caveat that if they don't want to wear a mask that they sign a waiver that they will not seek treatment.
Thank you TC, you are a gem. I am so pleased that people are giving thought to Nazi Germany, which is my parents (and my) heritage. So often Americans act allergic to the subjects of Hitler and Nazi Germany, but truly they are useful history lessons for us now.
The parallels between Hitler and Trump, as I have been saying, are many. I find it curious and intriguing that Trump was even given a 1941 English edition of one of Hitler's books, and he studied it in the late 1980s. This little nugget has been completely overlooked by the press, because mention of Hitler is usually taboo in this society. People turn away. Hitler used much crueler and more savage means for getting into power than Trump, but in a different time, in a different place, perhaps in a country with a weaker society right now in 2021, Tя☭mp gets his chance to imitate his prime benefactor, his #1 Sugar Daddy, the biggest criminal on the planet, Putin. Controlling the vote system to stay in power indefinitely. Coercing and influencing judges, officials, the military, the state police, to control an entire society.
And so it was with Hitler. Hitler did not even have Putin's head start, because Putin used the KGB as a stepping stone to wealthiest and most corrupt head-of-state in the world. Putin also had the example of Stalin, the founder of the KGB (developed from earlier institutions of oppression), as a model for controlling the vote and crushing dissent. Hitler had zero, zip, nothing. He went on to lead a nation, and then start a world war. What an outstanding example, what a perfect historical model, for how a power-hungry individual can corrupt a nation and then a continent. Trump has been our ultimate test of the system, because he has left no stone unturned in his efforts to find cracks and weaknesses which would allow him to be a dictator. Welcome to a modern version of Adolf Hitler.
I am grateful for the mentions of the horrors of concentration camps, but what gets little mention is Hitler's rhetoric, his adoption (and misuse) of Bavarian nationalist sentiment and Germany's Great Depression after WWI, etc., to rise to fame and then power. No one ever points out that Arbeit Macht Frei, the famous words over the entrance to Auschwitz, was a presidential slogan not too dissimilar from Make America Great Again. It means "work makes you free, work brings joy," which Hitler used as FDR used the New Deal. Hitler brought the Germans out of severe depression, massive unemployment, poverty, hunger. Hitler was Germany's FDR, and this is not an exaggeration. Hitler is Germany's FDR gone bad. He built the autobahn, which Eisenhower copied later as President to build America's interstate highway system. Hitler conceived the Volkswagen, the Wagon of the Folks, the People's Car, which is the VW Beetle. So watching Trump act like Hitler gives you an appreciation for how a poser, a clown, a selfish money-hungry and power-hungry loser, a person who doesn't care one whit for the plight of the common people and couldn't spell the words "public service" even with a crib sheet, can use popular sentiment to take over a nation and corrupt it.
I’ve been comparing trump to Hitler from the start. People told me I had to accept trump and get over it. One co worker told me trump was nothing like Hitler. I said then you need to learn more about history and WWII! So glad and relieved Biden/Harris won! And Georgia went Blue! It’s going to be a lot of work ahead. But at least we have a chance for democracy!
There are certainly distinct differences between Tя☭mp and Hitler. Hitler was not a mob boss, and he was not owned by a corrupt and powerful foreign head-of-state (like Putin). Hitler was not thinking only of himself. Hitler honestly thought he was doing good by the German people.
But when it comes to megalomaniac ambition, they have lots in common. As I said, Trump even studied Hitler's rhetorical strategies, his speeches, it seems his "undiagnosed learning disorder" (Mary Trump's words) didn't get it the way. Trump and Hitler have tons in common, no doubt about it. Whatever it takes to corrupt the system and get their own way, that's what they tried and did.
If only Hitler had been accepted to art school, which was his first ambition. Hitler was also a vet of WWI which was savage and left everyone scarred both internally and externally. The thing is, we don't have the depression that was anywhere near what the Germans faced in the 1920s and rolled into the 30s. Of course, now with Covid, we might.
If Hitler was accepted to art school. Boy, would that have changed world history. Hitler was faced with doing what FDR did. The people in my grandparents generation who say good things about Hitler, that's what they're talking about. Keiner muß hungern, keiner muß frieren. No one has to go hungry, no one has to freeze (exact words "no one must hunger, no one must freeze"). But of course it was my white grandmother who benefited from Hitler's policies, not the Jewish kids who disappeared from my mother's class.
My grandfather fled Germany in 1933. Fortunately. He was a Jew, a well respected doctor, and never got over the way his fellow citizens turned on him. He always thought he was a German first, then a Jew. His country disagreed with him. At least he was able to get out while he could. Have I waited too long to leave this country? Are Jews going to be safe here?
Trump read a book of Hitler’s speeches called My New Order:
"Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed ... Hitler's speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist," Marie Brenner wrote.
And Ivanna, First wife, at their Divorce, testified under oath he kept Mein Kompf in his nightstand, reading it often.
Everyone says he doesn't read. But this from Ivanna. It made me think of Bruce Lee's quote, " I do not fear the man who practices 10,000 different kicks. I fear the man that practices one kick ten thousand times.
DT has one (leadership) modus. like Hitler and Putin, and Kim. That of the demagogue. This is all he knows, this is the only way he thinks and operates. No one should call it his "leadership" style, because it is not leadership. It is control through manipulation for immoral and unethical gain, his gain and his alone.
An authoritarian/autocratic style of leadership uses intimidation and includes manipulation of people's perception of reality, particularly of how the bully authoritarian can protect the people from the threat of some sector of the population. 74,222,958 people followed trump's lead by voting for him for President. Fortunately, 81,283,098 people followed Biden's authoritative/democratic style of leadership.
Trumpscum— I think the actions being taken in the bright winter sunlight is helping to disperse them— perhaps some have come to their senses and are thinking about their legacies instead of their political careers
Debased indeed! Today's Medal of Freedom went to Ohio's Jim Jordan, a rabid T supporter. Jordan was in the group who did not stand up when neo-nazis armed with automatic weapons picketed the home of Dr Amy Acton, the Medical Director of the Ohio Department of Health. Her crime? Recommendations to try to contain the virus. He also joined the effort to impeach Gov Mike DeWine (who is ALSO a Republican). Mike's crime? Closing bars and restaurants to try to contain the spread of the virus.
Yes, it appeared he was going to be overtaken by the mob from the few seconds of video I saw. Glad to hear there was a great and intentional outcome from his actions :)
Following the lead from Marriott hotels and Blue Cross Blue Shield, all corporations supporting Shawn Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham need to withdraw their financial support for their programs.
Yeah, but the real problem on FNC is not advertising. They're supported by cable fees. I started a post on this months ago, and there has not been a single moment to make it happen. FNC gets more money from fees than anything but ESPN, I believe.
I have contacted my cable provider multiple times requesting more responsible thought on what channels they offer as a part to their "basic" cable package. I have requested the movement of FNC, OAN, and Newsmax to a premier package allowing subscribers to opt out of those channels. The Dominion Voting Machine "Red Slime Lawsuits" may encourage them to consider the impact of carrying these toxic channels.
Democracy supporters may need to consider personal boycotts of businesses. See www.Jacobinmag.com for David Sirota's et al informative essay entitled:
"The GOP’s Wealthy Funders Want You to Forget Their Role in Stoking Wednesday’s Riot at the Capitol "-"Corporate-backed conservative groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, and companies
like Chevron have all issued statements decrying Wednesday’s occupation of the Capitol — without acknowledging the role they played in helping elect the politicians who egged on and fueled the attempt to overturn the presidential election."
A distinction must be made between taking such steps to stop these people from giving 'aid and comfort,' not to mention inspiration, to the seditionous insurrectionists ... and preserving First Amendment rights. They will be the first to claim that the incoming administration is already attacking those rights. I heard that crap on Fox last night.
Yes, I agree. And I read the following statement that I am using same in response to those who are complaining about their freedom of speech:
"Inciting violence against Americans at the capital building is a Seditious act of insurrection, that is not protected by the 1st amendment, read the constitution again."
Correct ... and the same logic which makes yelling "fire" illegal should make giving aid and comfort to an insurrection illegal. Ex-Prez Trump should feel free to yell "Fire" in hopefully empty theatres all he wants and then get arrested for doing so. Same should hold true for inciting the Capitol rioting.
Check out MediaMatters.org. 'Media Matters for America is a web-based, not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.'
I thought I read that...I will double check...I have been so consumed with all the books on Trump, and all the history..the politics... OMG! Yes..just checked my audible library..I did! jeez... can you imagine if 10%n of this information was taught in schools..just 10%? But it is all buried.. : (
I remember being so mortified. I couldn’t believe how deeply those people had infiltrated our institutions. Astonishing that a group of people could ‘successfully’ control our entire system. Shocking and terrifying.
Yes it is shocking. After being a witness to this botched “takeover”, we really have to open our eyes. We must take care of each other. Speak out against injustices. I have been doing it for many many years and I will continue to do so.
I understand! I found that the amounts of $$ being thrown around, which seemed to just get bigger with each new page, were staggering and almost incomprehensible.
I have thought about whether or not impeachment is an appropriate move. On the downside, it distracts from rebuilding our Union and protecting its citizens. On the upside, it is a consequence of the actions taken that day. I think we, as a nation can walk and chew gum at the same time. We must impeach. There must be a consequence. Republicans need to publicly choose between our nation and Trumpism. The Biden administration can go about rebuilding in the background. We waited 9 weeks for Biden to end our national nightmare, we can wait a couple more to do this right and not give those who violated our nation a free pass.
We need more than impeachment. We also need investigation and censure ( if not expulsion) of all members of Congress who abetted this uprising through furthering of Trump’s lies or active encouragement of the assailants.
Not to mention an investigation of the current and former members of government and military who were clearly in communication with some of these insurrectionists before their attempted coup. Equally clear is that the "alt-right" movement is an international threat to democratic governments everywhere, considering how similar these tactics are to those used in Ukraine and Belarus.
Yes, exactly! The work of the Biden administration can go on simultaneously. We have all learned the attack on the Capital was far worse than it first appeared. The republicans in Congress who were and are involved with this attempted coup need to be immediately censored by the Senate and House. We all have had difficult colleagues to work with, but can anyone imagine working in the same building with the likes of Cruz, Hawley, Graham, McConnell, and the 125+/- representatives who to supported this coup?!
The Biden administration wants to move forward as quickly as possible to repair the damage trump has done to every facet of this country. Understandably they don’t want any more “distractions” but this is beyond a distraction. Congress has to deal with the reality of what went down. Lawful citizens and every country in the world are watching. If ALL the people (starting with trump) involved in this attempted coup are not punished to the full extent of the law (including treason), then we have no rule of law and no democracy.
Can't Biden do much of his frstc 100 days work by Executive Order? Especially since a vgreat deal of it is undoing tRump's executive orders and appointments.
The House can impeach before Jan.20. Since the Senate will not act before then in any case, the House can wait a few months before sending the articles to the Senate. House Whip James Clyburn has said they are considering doing that.
The House needs to conduct lengthy investigations into the whole affair - why the event security was so skimpy, who in the Capitol Police to honor and who to fire, what role government officials including Congress members and administration members played in both the build-up to the assault and the assault itself. All that can keep the issues public enough. The Senate needs to focus on Biden's agenda for the country during his first 120 days. Maybe during that time, more Republican Senators will decide to choose democracy over Trumpocracy.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, the Pardon Clause: the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
That usually means the president cannot use a pardon to undo an impeachment, even of someone else. I wonder if it could be successfully argued that when the president has been impeached for inciting an insurrection, that his pardon power does not apply to anyone involved in that same insurrection.
We as a nation clearly can hold and act on two ideas at the same time; whether the Congress with its arcane rules and extended holidays has that ability is not as clear.
Yeh, I too think the Biden administration has plenty to do cleaning up the executive branch. While the spotlight is on a Senate impeachment trial, that cleaning can take place. Trump has shown you don't need Congress to do it. The missteps with Covid and protection of the capital building are largely a matter of a lack of organization. Acting heads of agencies can clear that up. Also that the press would be obsessing on impeachment doesn't mean that the Biden administration and their allies in Congress can't be making plans for what comes next. We need the symbolism of an impeachment.
The problem with "rebuilding in the background" is that Biden and his administration need to be seen doing that rebuilding. The American public needs to see clearly and every day that the new administration is taking action in the best interests of all the American people. While I do believe that impeachment is a vital step and that Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time, I don't have the same faith in the media, which will latch onto the high drama of impeachment proceedings like a rabid animal and asphyxiate the vital, productive news coming out of the White House. I also don't have a solution, though the possibility of delaying the Senate hearing until May might be a viable one.
No doubt this has some truth to it. But I wouldn't want Biden to imitate Trump whose presidency was all about being seen. Obama did pretty well staying pretty much in the background. Also an impeachment trial is hardly going to last through much of the Biden presidency. There would be plenty of time for see-what-Ive-done photo ops when its over.
There's a difference behind Trump's incessant, self-promoting blather and Biden communicating his goals and accomplishments to the American public in terms of how those goals and accomplishments will impact their/our lives. In a recent interview with Rebecca Traister, Pramila Jayapal said, ". . . we did a lot of work . . . to convince people that they should give us one more shot to trust that government will step in and do something that matters. We've got to deliver." They also need to make it clear -- through honest communication -- that they are delivering in light of the fact that mid-term elections are now less than two years away.
Here is the link to Schwarzenegger’s video about Kristallnacht and trump’s big lie, ending with his faith in democracy. You’d think he’d been reading HCR’s Letters, followed by Timothy Snyder’s big lie essay in the NY Times.
Thanks for posting, Ellie. In a world in which fantasist superhero movies influence the thoughts and actions of many with not enough other resources, Schwarzenegger’s video is an important corrective. Not all of the insurrectionists will care, but I bet some will.
Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? Schwarzenegger sitting in what appears to be his memorabilia bunker in his "uniform" with badges, flags smooshed into the video frame, sitting with his Conan sword? This feels like a Disney caricature to me or a SNL routine. I appreciate his rousing defense of democracy but the way it is done feels like a movie parody.
I totally agree. The dramatic call to patriotism feels really outdated and corny in 2021. It seems to me it would have had a more honest feel and been more effective without all the props. With that said Arnold has always had a soft spot for American Democracy and his story (without the props) is an interesting one. For me some genuine feeling came through all of the strange corniness.
Yes, weird. But, as has been suggested, I think it might have been directed at a certain kind of audience, an audience that tends to fall for these rather simplistic forms of imagery. That's fine by me. I know I sound like the world's biggest elitist here, as it's not what inspires ME per sé, but if it gets the message across in a fairly simplistic way, it's okay. I mean, Schwartzenegger has hardly been blessed with thespic gifts in my book--the guy started out life as a body-builder for Pete's sake, and calling him an "actor" is a stretch--but again, he was probably speaking to fans of his work and his governorship. Meh. We need everybody on board, so Arnold's chiming in on this is fine, IMO.
His muscular, hyper-masculine appeal contributed heavily to his gubernatorial win in California. I think he was deliberately addressing a very particular audience composed of people who don't think very well, but are very influenced by symbolic imagery.
Absolutely. Some of us erudite types might think otherwise, but it was a rousing appeal. Those for whom a film such as "Conan the Barbarian," is still considered to be a GREAT MOVIE! At the time it came out, my preteen-age kids loved it...
However, I do not want to detract from the fact that I admire him for making this video and for linking it to his own personal experiences. I doubt that many prominent personalities would make such frank and revealing statements.
I'm so glad you wrote this, Jan. I had a similar reaction ... and he read his teleprompter like an automaton. I guess he has been in too many Terminator films.
Schwarzenegger’s presentation may seem corny, but it was nice to hear a Republican, former Governor issue such a strong denunciation of the assault on the Capitol. I wish more Republican leaders would follow his lead!
A friend share this on Facebook and I watched it yesterday. Very powerful message which I was quick to share. Thank you for sharing it here for those who might not have seen it yet.
Heather says, “ Unbelievably, it was only a week ago—last Sunday—that we learned Trump had called Georgia’s Secretary of State and pressured him to change the results of the 2020 election.”. While this is undeniably true, I would also say that it is unbelievable that this traitor to the US is STILL sitting in the White House and that there are still TEN more days before Biden is sworn into office. Ten. Days. If this traitor has done all that he has done in the space of the past week, what more might he do with that plus an additional three days between now and January 20? People keep saying ‘it can’t get worse than this’ yet with every new action by this unhinged wanna be dictator it does. What next? Remember, he still has the nuclear codes. Pelosi is absolutely correct - he is an immediate danger that must be immediately removed. But here we sit, playing politics as usual, hoping he won’t burn down the rest of the house on his way out the door. Prepare for the worst you can imagine because it will probably be worse than that. I don’t think that’s extreme. It is already known that his insurrectionists are planning *something* for January 17. But here we sit, playing politics as usual, hoping he won’t burn down the rest of the house on his way out the door. None of us could have imagined in advance what happened on January 6. But we knew he was telling his mob to be in DC on that day. And we did nothing to prepare. And now we know that they are planning *something* for January 17. And we are doing nothing to prepare. But here we sit, playing politics as usual, hoping he won’t burn down the rest of the house on his way out the door. Truly unbelievable.
Well said, although I'm not nearly so worried about Trump possessing the nuclear codes as I am about his grip on the Department of Homeland Security. I'm worried that we've heard very little about movements within that department, one that essentially constitutes a military force completely independent of the DoD and the Joint Chiefs, and under the direct control of a Trump appointee.
I spent hours last night, watching TikTok videos of Trump supporters laying out their strategy for the next two weeks and warning people to stockpile groceries and ammunition. They plan an armed takeover of State Legislatures on the 17th, takeover of the US Capitol on the 19th, and further violent acts to overturn the government and establish a new government under Trump. These people plans to kill their government officials and other opponents and are not afraid to die trying. They feel this is a religious war. Indeed, citizens are buying out supplies at store.
The sleuths on TikTok are all over this. They are directly communicating with the FBI and infiltrating social media sites. This is why people are being rounded up all over the country—to try and stop the violence that has already been set in motion. Meanwhile, Trump is watching events unfold on large screen TVs and cheering. They've got videos of that also.
They want to create an image of being slaughtered next time. They want martyrs! Thus, they will have the images to PROVE the delusion our govt is oppressive and unjust and that they are Righteous to rebel. We can not give this to them, but how?
Thanks for sharing this information, Deb. Concerning, to say the least. I have been concerned for some time that it would come to events such as you describe. I hope and pray that they do not come to pass. But, best to prepare, nonetheless. It hurts nothing or no one to prepare and, hopefully, when the dates in question are past, we will just have extra groceries.
There was so much noise on social media and as Parler was shut down, the Trumpets migrated to any social platform available. These people are no longer trying to hide their intentions. They expect Trump to impose martial law soon and for the internet to go dark in an attempt to keep the far-right from communicating. They also expect the trunking industry to shut down, either in support of Trump or in fear of riots. Many feel that this is their moment in history and it's now or never.
In the first Iraq war, I remember Colin Powell explain that the plan was to cut off the head first. Without the leadership's ability communicate, to direct, to organize and reorganize, their army would be isolated from the big picture, and then would be destroyed piece by piece.
The oligarchy in this country does something similiar with deregulation of media. Flood the zone with so much information, the people remain confused and unconnected. Leaders like RFK understood how technology would connect us more closely, " eventually the concerns of one, become the concerns of all"....deregulation killed that, and thus, here we are, in a f'ing mess, with radicals threatening our democracy.
This information is not hard to find. Facebook sites like "Trump Train Cedar City Utah" displays posts from the last few days, warning that we are in the midst of a Chinese takeover, with Chinese troops massing on the Canadian and Mexican borders. And that Trump won in a landslide, but the votes were changed in Italy. I'll stop posting here and let the pundits on this site assess the situation.
What I have read about plans for the 17th is that in all 50 states there are insurrectionist plans for armed marches on the state capitals, assuming that all states would have their legislators convening for business. This is part of the radical right’s schedule to culminate in a “Million Militia March” on Jan. 20. We have already seen “practice runs” out here in Oregon, Washington, and California. The removal of some of the far-right social media outlets has likely impacted some of the planning, but I believe it would be naive to not prepare for the worst. This is frightening.
We are in good company: Benjamin Franklin, Mohammad Ali, Michelle Obama, Jim Carrey, James Earl Jones, Eartha Kitt, Shari Lewis and my fave, Betty White who will be 99 this year❤️
Nothing stood out to me that would be significant for this year's events. However, my personal favorite is that on January 17, 1929 Popeye made his 1st appearance, in the comic strip "Thimble Theater". (I do take the continuing threat seriously; after all, a mob of these lunatics broke into the Washington State governor's residence last week. However, I'm trying to find something I can chuckle at.)
Kathy, I honestly don’t know. I’ve been puzzled about that myself and would love to hear from anyone here who might have more insight. Thanks for asking this question!
Unfortunately, I went on a far-right online site(or whatever they’re called; maybe “cesspool” is a better name) and found that the phrase “Sunday is Gunday” used often.
Maybe they're hoping with a long weekend, more can join them? (I fear, though, there's probably a much more sinister reason... Hitler's birthday isn't it but something like that... )
Thank you, Dave. The only way I could express my distress was with repetition of a couple key phrases. I am grateful to know you don’t think it was too ‘over the top’.
I have to add that these insurgents were also inflamed by years of economic policy that has eroded their incomes. With the slow and insidious demoralizing effect of economic insecurity these and most Americans are angry at their self interested government officials. Trump lit the match and pushed them in the direction he wanted them to go. Thanks 🙏🏻 🙂
Yesterday I spoke with my brother who says he is financially better off than he was 4 years ago. Better able to pay bills, gas prices lower. I reminded him that he no longer has a teenager to support, and that last year he unexpectedly owed $4k in fed taxes. He said he's still better off. He also says Trump won the support of a majority of Americans because Americans are tired of politics as usual.
Point is, his supporters don't believe their incomes are eroded, and they still believe his lies.
(I feel so sad realizing that my brother has digested this poisonous misinformation.)
My father as well. Sorry. It's hard when family members don't see through it all. And my father is one of the best-read people I know. His father was an immigrant from Germany, his wife was a child of immigrants from Poland. How he cannot have empathy of others...mind boggling.
Education and wisdom are not enough to face down propaganda. It is a process. No one wakes up in the morning saying, well today im going to be radicalized.
You know this, of course, but Trump NEVER had support from a majority of Americans. It’s sad to see people exulting over the crumbs they’ve been allowed to eat from the floor of the Billionaires’ Banquet.
The question remains. What do we do about the ignorant and the gullible who still support Trump and do not really disagree with what was motivating the rioters.? In China, the would be shipped to "re-education" camps, but we don't do that. What can we do.
You can fix the liars who feed them, "fix" in the "sterilze" sense of the word. Twitter, and Facebook shut down trump accounts, Google removed Parler's app, and corporations pull out ads so Parler is failing. A NEW fairness Doctrine will make Fox tell the truth or else. And once multimillionaire Evangelical leaders get hit in the pocketbook, they may change their "sermons" tunes. If we stop feeding the beast, we can begin healing the victims.
New platforms have already emerged. As quickly as they come down, others go up. All of the Trumpsters and Qanon folks seem to know right where they are.
I'm so sorry, Rebecca. I have had the same experience with a close family member. Whenever he starts using rhetoric or memes or name-calling of any official, I simply and calmly ask him to give me some specific examples because I'm not understanding what he's trying to convey to me. He can never give me examples. Just repeats what he's already said. I then have followed up with 'do you mean ..' type questions with some basic information of the case or cause that he's angry with and throw in just a bit of facts and he still refuses to answer. Just goes on repeating the nonsense.
I've learned not to have conversations with him anymore and if he starts to use foul language or name call I just ask him not to talk like that we where are together and I immediately change the subject in an attempt to turn things lighter. I love this family member so very much and I never want my last memory of him, or his last memory of me, to be around the anger and rage he holds inside for whatever reason and how politics in his preferred channel in letting some of it out.
Tricia, I feel similarly. My brother & I love each other very much, and have very rarely fought or argued in 58+ years. We are the only surviving members of our family of origin. I'll need to avoid those discussion, but I think less of him for supporting terrorists.
I have a similar brother. He escalates to "if you talk about this one more second I'm storming out...(of the restaurant, where we usually convene to meet and chat). He's college educated, US ARMY, Retired, church goer, does not believe masks work to contain Covid, etc. All we talk about is the weather. Seriously! Very sad.
Yes Rebecca and Tom. It has gotten to the point where there are very few topics we can chat about, smile and be kind. It makes me so very, very sad but I also have a life to live, causes to follow, good to do and energy is oftentimes wasted on the sadness and anxiety from those closest to us who seem so very different.
People who know better vote by their pocketbooks. A toney, pricey district just north of Indy used to be blue. It's now red. The expectation was they'd split the ticket: vote for Biden/Harris but red for locals. Nope. Voted straight ticket red! Drove through there a couple of weeks before the election. All Trump signs.No B/H. Stunning.
This of course does not just apply to Trump supporters but to Americans across the board suffering the ravages of outsourcing encouraged by the globalization of supply chains, the financialization of the economy and the accelerating inequality in the share of rewards. This in no way justifies their actions at the Capitol nor the attempt by those politicians using them to continue to keep the power and the economic benefits to themselves despite the clearly expressed opinions of the majority of citizens. In this you only see the denial of democracy and the autocratic rule by a venal elite backed by an uneducated, misinformed, emotional mob.
I would also add that competition from countries around the world have further exacerbated the race to the bottom as well. American workers are getting undercut by countries willingness to hire their citizens out to the lowest bidders, corporations that are beholden only to share holders and consumers demands for the cheapest garbage possible. The same workers that are struggling are forced to buy garbage made around the world by a subjugated labor force that makes pennies to their dollar.
Trouble is that the workers in the "developing" economies jump at the chance to make $1 a day rather than the 10 cents they would otherwise get. This way they too can feed their families. Who can blame their leaders for following the West's own "growth" model by encouraging ressource exploitation, energy production and creating export goods.
I remember tthe first time i went down to do a job in the Carribean for the IADB and helped local "entrepreneurs" who had lost count of the number of companies they owned. They gained more each month from any one of them than my annual salary. That is unfortunately "life" in those parts of the world.
Excellent point. I might also add that governments typically run very inefficiently and many take more than their share of the pie and still others work in more corrupt ways that take even more from their people. Workers around the world are subject to pick up crumbs where they can. Equity is an intractable problem that many elites and countries dont have the will to tackle and it is costly.
Indeed frquently the "will" runs in quite the opposing direction. Again on the job for the WB mentioned above...the rich new that they merely had to call the wife of the President ( Baby Doc for those who know something of Haïti) and the "problem" would disappear.
Or was it the oligarchs who control both parties more or less, large but not transparent donations, amplifying their greed over regular folks votes. Campaign donations are not free speech. Limit this and the ride rolls back to the people.
I am not sure I understand exactly what you are getting at. I do not think it is merely a republican thing and it certainly isn't the fault of American workers. Trade deals, corporations and a general support of unchecked “globalization” and consumption has been supported by both parties and have had huge impacts on workers. There have been pluses in total but there have also been a lot of minuses for a lot of American workers as well.
This is such a dilemma. I try to patronize businesses as local as possible to help keep jobs and money in my community. I pay more, and I know that not everyone can afford to do the same. I wonder if some economic incentive could be contrived to help make this kind of thing more appealing.
Easy answers offered by the mystic leader to solve complex challenges. This is the way of the demagogue, keep them in fear, keep them in the lie, keep them from rational thought/ logic and moral reasoning.
The demagogue is also the savior of the Oligarchs, who fear a threat to wealth and power. When the Conservatives bond with the Fascist to "CONSERVE" power, that is the beginning of the end of democracy.
Yes, Let's all remember that the rampant income disparity took decades of "trickle down" economic policy that kept floating up to the top 1% and has accelerated in the 21st century. That's what DT tapped into.
What will be the longer term outcomes of our reactions to the complexity of the storming of the capital? Might this crisis bring required reforms reinvigorating our democracy? or more reactionary, repressive actions? What's the significance of social media platforms determining whose voice is allowed into public commons? Hedges, a truth telling investigative journalist and trained Presbyterian minister, speaks with West, a deep, strong hearted, clear eyed man of wisdom.
2 days ago — On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to moral philosopher, Dr. Cornel West , about what we can learn about America's existential crisis
Might I add, epistemological crisis as well? Check out President Obama in the Atlantic
Epistemology_ the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.
That takes confidence, and support and desire to see school as a beneficial thing for your family and yourself. If you look back at Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs, many of these people have been brought up very roughly, and with hate and violence...and you can’t expect people to evolve when they don’t have the basics of confidence, stability, healthcare..
When a demagogue attacks the foundation “security”as Maslow explains, it creates fear and thus no security.
Thus, they live in perpetual fear. in a state of fear people will believe anything! They have jobs, but still they feel economically insecure because DT says they should, even as he gives them no tax breaks.
DT knows this and practice’s it and now how many have been radicalized by the lie, through the lack of security he has been stoking all these years?
I think it right. Somebody mentioned Maslow heirarchy of needs. The pandemics economic impacts would make this extreme. In the third world countries, demagoguery is made easier as food, shelter, warmth, can be threatened before security/safety. Leveraging food has been a tool of authoritarians from the beginning. 4 hour lines in Texas to get food from the food bank. No wonder next Rally is in Texas.
I hit the wall yesterday. Became very sad and angry after reading Rep Lee story of what he saw/did after it was safe. The massive destruction to antiques, statues, etc just for the “ fun of it” made me sick. And to know people like Eugene Goodman put their lives on the line while these thugs were destroying so much is enraging. Where is the accountability? I sure as hell hope the powers that be are ready for 1/17 and 1/20, cuz you k ow there will be guns and violence.
I was right there with you Pam. I called and emailed all my repugnant representatives and senators (I 'm in floriduhhh), and even Nancy Pelosi. We HAVE to NOT let this moment pass.
I’m in Floriduh too, and called my pathetic elected officials too. I also called the Congressional leadership. I will call them again today. Let’s keep calling.
I hit the wall, too. I had to stop looking at the pictures. I feel sick to my stomach about it and needed to take a mental health break.. but we are still in it and I am truly frightened about the next several days.
It's a very peripheral point, but I recall reading a report that one of the rioters tore something off the wall that had "Chinese" characters on it, saying that there should only be "American" things in the Capitol. Does anyone know what that "something" may have been? Some priceless gift from the Chinese people, or just a multilingual sign pointing to the restrooms?
It may have been the scroll on the wall of the office of my Senator Jeff Merkley. He shared a video after it all happened. The scroll was given to him by a friend and was created by a “renowned artist” in China. There was also a snuffed out cigarette on the table, and a Trump flag left behind, both disgusting. A laptop was stolen, too.
I save these letters in Word document & like a school textbook with yellow hi-liter, I underline or bold certain parts. On this one the parts that stand out are the few that are not hi-lited.
It was such an egregious assault on our government by a mob of ignorant cult followers of a sitting, poser president that it is astounding that we do not have a system to have U.S. Marshals taking him to prison in handcuffs. And yet, he is still there, a mentally ill autocrat still posing a threat to our nation. What the crook Richard Nixon did was nothing in comparison.
We have learned these past 4 years and the past week the flaws in our 18th Century Constitution, conceived by White Aristocracy, that assumed gentlemen would be elected to the offices of government. They had no idea that a crude, vulgar, con-man could win a populist vote with a complicit Repugnant Party that put their political (and financial) interests above the very nation and constitution that they lied in their oaths of office to protect.
Excellent! And I save them as well. I got involved with a group of folks on Facebook talking about Trump, people on both sides, and I compared that discussion with ours here and I have to laugh! The intelligent in depth conversations here with facts, history, is so enriching and engaging, compared to a bunch of (forgive me) deplorables! Uneducated, no facts all fiction, and yet as I roll my eyes, I have to say..they may be deplorables but they’re our deplorables. They can’t be reached, reasoned with... when I ask for sources or facts they reply that liberals don’t understand the facts! Brother... these people are not about to storm the Capitol (I don’t think) but they are dangerous... they are the cult, and their children will be raised with blinders on.. and so on. How will we ever discover a vaccine for this sickness?!
I do think they believed a con-man could win as a populist. They did not, however, seem to imagine that virtually every Congressional elected official from that president's party would abdicate their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution to impeach (and convict) a president who is unquestionably destroying our democracy. But I am wary of changing the law here, wary of giving the legislative branch powers that could be misused in the future, manipulated to remove a president whom they just don't want. My instinct is that despite everything, the balance as it stands now remains as close as we can get to protecting against what is happening right now. That is, we cannot legislate good faith: There is no system that people of bad faith cannot crush if they have broad enough support. (Not saying they have crushed our system; but they are trying and have come as close as ever since the Civil War.) I'm really hoping Heather weighs in on this at some soon point, as I see many comments about how we much ensure this never happens again by changing the Constitution.
I hear so many Republicans, many in my own family, claiming, "I'm a conservative, but I'm not like THOSE people!", presumably referring to the armored thugs looking for hostages in halls of Congress. Well, I no longer care what you claim to believe, because it's very clear now what you supported with your money and your votes.
Right, just like Mick Mulvaney on Meet the Press Sunday. After watching several clips of Trump saying incendiary things over the past four years, Mick still says he didn't take them seriously. I am in angry mode right now at all Trump supporters for thinking it was a good idea for a guy with no political experience or background to run the country. I have unfriended all known Trump supporters on Facebook. Maybe I'll get over it--I don't know.
Who knew that a businessman who declared bankruptcy 6 times and boasted of raping women would be a failure as a president? Whoa, all the hands in the room went up.
Yes. No longer can they smugly cling to their self-righteousness. They brought on this crisis. Intellectually, I know we need to heal as a nation, but emotionally, I’m very p*ssed off at all my relatives, friends and neighbors who have supported Trump for the past five years.
Before we can heal, we need to clean the infected wound. If we just let this wound scab over without applying antiseptic and starting a round of antibiotics, the infection will continue to spread, the limb will become gangrenous, and amputation will be necessary. By then, it might be too late to save the body politic.
Does anyone know where I can find a "mental mute" that will prevent me from wagging my finger/tongue at 90% of my republican relatives? I was swiftly put in my place when I replied to a chain email requesting we all get better educated about the George Floyd incident. I replied-all to that email, popped my cork and condemned POTUS publicity stunt in front of the church after blasting peaceful protestors with flash-bangs and mace.
Now the tides have turned and I fully expect those same relatives to engage in a Mexican standoff without any intelligent measurement of the differences in the protests. Since last Wednesday, I had one phone conversation where I was asked what I thought of the riot and I vaguely mulled how terrible the whole situation was, and moved on. Oh what I really could have said.
In the end, my vote was placed and I have to sadly watch all this play out for now. No arguing with differing opinions will do much. I have my own health to consider. High Blood Pressure from arguing with (hopefully peaceful) relatives does no good. Perhaps a few extra emails to elected officials expressing support for Trump's immediate ouster seems like all we have for now.
My solution may not work for you. I unFriended all of mine on Facebook and now they pretend I've cut them out of my life because I decided to stop taking their endless bashing (of me, my education, my politics, my beliefs) on that forum. They all know how to get in touch off-line if they want to, but not a one has reached out after I let them know I use Facebook to visit with friends and they were not being friendly. Frankly, good riddance. I'm 66 and they've given me a hard time my whole life. I don't need that kind of mental battering. I'm fine if I never hear from them again. It's too bad they gave up civility.
We often hear this refrain in scandals as a way to ascertain where fault lies or a method to uncover evidence of malfeasance. Republicans are already getting a lesson on following the money. Corporate America is swiftly reassessing their corporate giving to PACs and many of the largest givers are halting all political contributions for at least a period of time as they reassess their contribution priorities. Still more are singling out specific PACs that supported politicians associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election who are now viewed as responsible, at least to some degree, for last weeks Capitol riot.
While this trend is likely only in the early stages and it remains to see the extent to which it plays out over time, it is certainly getting the attention of Republicans who have been major benefactors of this giving in support of their campaigns.
There’s nothing that focuses the mind and attention of politicians so clearly as seeing a major source of political contributions push back or walk away. Watch this space as we see how this movement plays out. It may well turn out to be quite significant.
The Lincoln Project has promised to shine a light on this and bring attention to and pressure on those corporations who are identified as major contributors to politicians who carry the label now of sedition and insurrection supporters. That is definitely not attention sought by most of corporate America. The Republican Party is feeling the heat and may get a very interesting lesson. Will they learn anything? Time will tell.
Yes, and big tech has essentially ‘censured’ Trump. So if our lawmakers (some of them) don’t take immediate action against Trump, there are many others, including many with the power of the purse cutting him off at the knees !
Yes! I felt some relief when I read the lists this morning and what it means to Republicans currently in office. From NYT (paywall) ...
Four of the country’s largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, said they would temporarily stop sending donations from their political action committees.
・JPMorgan Chase is halting donations to Republicans and Democrats through its PAC for six months. “There will be plenty of time for campaigning later,” said Peter Scher, the bank’s head of corporate responsibility.
・Goldman Sachs is freezing donations through its PAC and will conduct “a thorough assessment of how people acted during this period,” a spokesman, Jake Siewert, told DealBook.
・Citigroup is postponing all campaign contributions for a quarter. “We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” Candi Wolff, the bank’s head of government affairs, wrote in an internal memo.
・Morgan Stanley will suspend PAC contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the election, but has not suspended contributions across the board, a spokesman said.
The banks have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and donated to candidates of both parties.
AND
・The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association announced on Friday that it was suspending political contributions to Republicans in Congress who tried to block the electoral vote tallies for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.
I'm glad The Lincoln Project is on this. Also PGA. Also Stripe. Also Twitter, FB, Instagram. And above all, the melting of Parler.
Thank you Heather. I can always depend on you with the facts of the moment.
I feel I would be remiss if I didn't mention how throughly repulsed I was on Saturday when your Letters from an American was pulled from Facebook. I was given the heads-up that it was pulled from a friend that I had directed towards it. To me it was a gut punch that facts can be so easily erased from site. I do appreciate that you did acknowledge what happened, but I must admit I took a verbal position that "no one puts Heather in the corner".
That aside, I would debate anyone on the merits that this was the worst week for this Country in generations. Within 7 days Trump has defiled this Nation with the same intensity that the domestic terrorists did on the Capitol. As the clock strikes at 12:01 on January 20th, we will be just starting the possibly unattainable mission of preserving Democracy. After watching the details unfold from last week, I am skeptical we will win, but atleast Trump will be further from the control panel and for that I am grateful.
I never thought I would see what I did last week in my lifetime.
I posted Heather’s letter to Facebook and never received any notice or explanation. Last time I checked it hadn’t been reposted. I was incensed by the fact that they put their grubby little hands on Heather. Facebook is not very high on my list,,so I was annoyed. But what they continued to do was prevent me from commenting on posts where I was tagged! Just a few, but I was not using any negative rhetoric or questionable language! Actually, I wrote my post with great care, revisions, and was honestly trying to point out the misinformation in the questions from an old high school friend!? That really shook me up! And there is no way (to my knowledge) that I can inquire as to why! That’s unnerving as well!
It was reposted. It's important for us to note how that whole deal underscored how spot on Heather is with her reporting and analysis. Truth is the enemy of enemies domestic.
Yes! But they never put my ‘shared’ post of hers back. Again, I really don’t care, as long as hers was. But it concerned me that they deleted my post and never even mentioned why.. not even a bot?! : )
Cynthia, Facebook did put my shared post back up eventually. It really bothered me greatly that it would happen to Heather. She, out of all people who actually backs every statement up with facts would be targeted is disgusting. I have personally been threatened on Facebook, more than once. I turn in the posts to Facebook and I get their canned, "It doesn't go against Community Standards" response.
It’s known that the screeners for FB are overseen by right wingers. Tasked with eliminating the Y’all Quaeda, it’s not hard to see that they’d feel compelled to “balance” by eliminating opposing views, no matter how fact-based and reasoned.
McConnell belongs on the list with Hawley and Cruz and the rest - Begin his charging with "McConnell is hoping Pelosi will blink and the moment will pass."
And, we likely have set new daily records for Covid 19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.
How can anyone, ANYONE!, stand to have this un-leader, this child-man, in any elective position above dog catcher? Yet the RNC oifficially endorses Trump and their policy "platform" still consists of a single plank; support for Donald Trump.
We were glad 2020 was over. "At last!" we thought. We may reach a point soon where we look back fondly at 2020.
OMG, and the conversation seemed to be that trump has now lost his grip on the Republican Party. When is this forecast split within the party going to happen?
I'm not convinced that there really is a split. Those Republicans seeming to back away from Trump are probably doing so merely because he seems to be failing in his coup. If he succeeds, they'll be offering their money and their daughters to buy positions in the new regime.
And the RNC “platform” remains the support of Trump. With Pence so far refusing to invoke the 25th Amendment, Ronna McDaniel gladly standing by Trump, and so many Republican Representatives joining the six Senators in opposing Biden’s certification, those Republicans who care more for their investments than for democracy have a pretty solid wall to stand behind, despite last week’s shocking invasion of the Capitol. Impeachment and conviction are essential.
Not all Establishment Republicans support this President, especially after last week, but an awful lot do — enough to suggest that last week was preface to further political and possibly physical havoc.
Just saw interview on CBS with Adam Schiff. He thinks House needs to send Articles to Senate, not wait. Of course, Schiff reminds how quickly McConnell was able to install SCOTUS justice not too long ago.
The significance of what Black Capitol Policeman Eugene Goodman did should make every stop, think, and thank him as a hero deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal. Instead, today, Jan 11th, we're going to see the "President" give the Presidential Medal of Honor to Representative Jim Jordan, a sharp-tongued sycophant of 45 who has never done anything that would remotely deserve recognition much less a Medal of Honor. The word Honor does not apply to either the bestower nor the recipient.
Thank you Heather for putting a name on the face of the policeman that I have watched at least 2 dozen times slowly back up those stairs leading the mob away from where they really wanted to go. The guy at the head of the mob seemed unsure but continued to follow him. There were many heroes last Wednesday but Eugene Goodman is a standout example in part because there’s a video record of his act. Now that we are a little distant from the event it’s become apparent just how violent the mob really was and how totally overwhelmed the capital police were as they tried to hold them off. I have no doubt that many others acted heroically defending the seat of our democracy, they will be the unsung heroes of the day. If I had the ability to I would thank each and every one of them for their demonstration of decency and honor.
I love those moments when people have a stark choice between what's easy and what's right... and they choose what's right. To me, that's true heroism.
I'm pretty certain he was also experiencing all the other attributes of a heroic act, as defined to me by an old Navy Chief when I was a young sailor: "When you're so scared that you've crapped your pants, peed your pants, your brain is frozen, and you still do your job - that's being a hero."
Add to that the fact that those pursuing him saw a Black man trying to tell them what to do. I'm glad he got out alive. There is a lynch mob mentality among T****'s more crazed followers, as we can see from the gallows they erected outside the Capitol bldg. (As a carpenter's daughter with some skills of my own, I'm thinking that rickety frame would not have done the job, but the symbolism alone speaks volumes.)
Not the Jan 6th Arizona State house. Trumpets there built a Guillotine!
When they show up with homemade props, we know they had this planned well in advance. It was coordinated. The roots run deep and must be rooted out. DC was not a lone dandelion in the yard we can just pluck out and forget.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/06/dps-enhances-security-arizona-capitol-pro-trump-supporters-rally-against-election-results/6569566002/
Heroic, with gallantry, with Valor
and in the face of grave danger to themselves... I think that is called valor?
I have written this before: I am hoping if Trump is ousted, all his medal recipients will be treated like Olympic medal winners found to have been doping— stripped of their Award. Also, all his pardons should be reversed. I originally thought his justices should have to go through the nomination process again, but.. that might be a tougher sell.
Pardons should be for humanitarian purposes, not political purposes. I am for reversing many of them, and as for medals, politics should not play a role there either. Limbaugh's Medal of Freedom should be taken back. His wearing it is an insult to prior recipients.
I am for reversing this entire fiasco referred to as his "presidency." And reversing or dropping most of his inane and political decisions.
Exactly
At least two of the three Justices have already demonstrated serious independence from their nominator and have passed through a confirmation process that is mandated by the Constitution. The medalists share neither of those traits and I think your idea is excellent.
It goes without saying that there will be a Trump sized asterisk next to nearly all of the peoples names awarded anything by Trump. Those awards will be as valuable as a degree from Trump university. What a looser.
I cringe when I think of Jim Jordan with that around his neck. Sadly I have to say that he belongs to my state, though not my district....I have my own piece of rethuglican in our district. That a man who let his athletes be victimized, denied it and tried to cover it up should never have been allowed to run.
Not to mention Rush Limbaugh...
please don't...I worked with him for many years at WABC Radio... dear Lord..
Sadly, he is from my state, but, thankfully, not my district. I have no idea why his constituents vote for him.
Gerrymandered like the snake he is.
I missed that Jordan had one too.
Alas I am in his district. Classic gerrymandering. Oberlin smothered by red turf.
If Jim Jordan or Devin Nunes had an ounce of decency or sense of honor both would decline the Presidential Medal of Honor. Both have records so tainted as to make the concept of being associated in any way with the term honor a joke. Nunes nighttime run to the White House to proclaim he had information showing plotting against the Trump campaign that was actually delivered to him from the White House unmasked him as the sycophant he truly is. Jim Jordan carries the stain of being accused by multiple young men on the Ohio State wrestling team of covering up the sexual abuse they were subjected to by the team’s physician while he was an assistant coach there. What a shame Trump sees fit to dishonor all those of true honor who have received this award. I thought it could not get worse after his giving it to Rush Limbaugh. But Trump just never seems to find the bottom.
Jordan and Nunes are each 0 for 2 re decency and honor. Wouldn't be surprised if trump warned them that if they cross him, he will turn the medallion ribbon into a garrote.
You just expanded my vocabulary!
LOL. The scary thing is that I talk that way, too!
Love the word, garrote!
It's the Presidential Medal of Freedom not honor, and your'e right neither of them come anywhere close to deserving it, it debases it for those in the past under other presidents who earned and received it. Fear not though, down through time everyone will know it was an abomination to award it to them, it'll become radioactive. It's our highest civilian honor and those two syncopantes are so far from deserving it as to be laughable.
No, he doesn't. It is the one thing at which he is competent.
Sorry, Medal of Freedom. Apologies to all the recipients of this award.
Jim Jordan would give you the shirt off his back!
And I would do WHAT with THAT?!?
yes!? EEEWWWW!
pardon me?
I hate Gym Jordan! He was nothing but an obstructionist during the impeachment. He gives me the creeps!
He’s a punk
I saw the video several times of him being chased. Is it true that he was leading the rioters away from where they wanted to be? Not that it matters. His actions were heroic.
Yes, he led them away from the key offices and toward where he knew more back-up was coming. He truly is a hero. I watched him in real time. Will never forget his courageous actions.
At one point in the video, he is standing at the intersection of two hallways with the door to the senate chambers about 15 feet away to his left. You can see him look in that direction, then take off in the opposite direction, egging on the lead protester to chase him, away from the senate.
Thanks, just saw on CBS the same as you say.
Lyrell Abbott, yes ,he was leading them away from the door to the Senate Chamber. He went down the corridor rather than thru the door straight ahead of him. He apparently knew there were police heading down the corridor in the direction he took.
It galls me that so many people accused Goodman of cowardice when now we know his action was anything but.
Thanks, Sara. I watched and heard the explanation on CBS this morning which mirrors your comments here. Gail King, one of the CBS correspondents on the show, thought as I did at first, that he was simply being chased by the rioters.
But just FYI, before I knew the truth, I NEVER thought his was an act of cowardice.
I was frightened for him! I thought it was a very scary situation! Glad it was cleared up. But my first thought was not that he was a coward. But rather that he was out gunned! Awful!
My first thought was white supremacists going after a...
Lynell, I must admit that if I were standing alone looking down on a crowd of angry people with hate in their eyes, I would’ve turned around and run up the stairs, too. It showed great presence of mind that the officer led them into a group of law enforcement officers!
True!
I was too! He was acting a bit scared... feigning it, to lure the fools! Luv that. I do admit, I was hoping he and the other cops would have done everything possible (clubs and tasers) to take them into custody though.
Lynell, 👍🏻👌🏻. It didn’t occur to me that you did!
“The Senate Chamber” damn
Does anyone know who was taking that video? I'm guessing one of the news photographers who had been in the Senate, but does anyone know?
I watched it in real time, and I am not absolutely positive. I do recall MSNBC analysts saying that some video came from journalists present in the halls because the ceremony accepting the electoral ballots was about to begin. I just don't know for sure if the video was from a journalist. I definitely know some journalists were pulled in to hide in offices by staff of representatives.
Yes... he filmed it. He's on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here’s the scary moment when protesters initially got into the building from the first floor and made their way outside Senate chamber. <a href="https://t.co/CfVIBsgywK">pic.twitter.com/CfVIBsgywK</a></p>— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) <a href="https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1346911809274478594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This makes me nauseated
I have to admit that my first thought regarding Officer Goodman was that it looked staged, that he was actually cooperating with the mob. So happy to have my misperception corrected.
Writing in his autobiography "Wing Leader," RAF ace pilot Johnny Johnson related how, at the end of the war, his unit was stationed at an airfield near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and that he ended up as Senior Allied Officer Present for the district. He visited the camp and was simultaneously sickened and enraged. And then, meeting the Germans who lived in town and nearby, he became even more enraged when they all claimed to "know nothing" about the camp. So when it came time to organize food rationing and issue ration cards, he set up the line so that the Germans would have to walk through the camp to get to the tables where they could get their ration cards. Women were wailing and men were sick, and he looked at every last one of them and said "NOW you can't say you know nothing of what went on here."
The same thing needs to be done with the Trumpscum.
The Ohrdruf Concentration camp was the first Nazi camp to be liberated by US forces. On April 12, a week after the camp’s liberation, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley toured the site, led by a prisoner familiar with the camp. German citizens from the nearby town of Ohrdruf were forced to view the camp and bury the dead, a practice that was later repeated in other camp liberations.
My stepfather and his fellow paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne (504th PIR) helped liberate a concentration camp near Wobbelin, Germany. They too forced the residents to view the camp and bury the dead. It was an experience he recounted to me and others with distress and anger that remained decades after the event.
General Eisenhower is quoted as saying, “We are told the American soldier does not know what he fighting for. Now, at least, we know what he is fighting against.”
(Source: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/ohrdruf-concentration-camp)
You make a good point TC: Trumpists should be made to spend the hours, days or months required to inform them about the lineage of many of the values they espouse and the damage it has done. It won’t happen, but that doesn’t prevent us from working to get the information out. The 1619 Project is an example, the USC Shoah Foundation is another.
My stepfather was a Dachau liberator. I have recorded him telling stories about what his 42 Rainbow Division found that day. In addition to barely alive prisoners, there was a LONG train of cattle cars full of bodies that the Nazis were trying to move from camps or to camps to cremate to hide the evidence. Hundreds of corpses per car. There are more stories, and this experience haunted him the rest of his long life. A lifelong Republican, he would have loathed what is happening. When he heard about Holocaust deniers, although he was wheelchair bound, he donned his uniform and went to talk to groups about he had learned and swore this should never happen again. He said "If I wasn't there to see it with my own eyes, I'd have never believed it. But I was, and I'm here to tell you it did happen, and it should never happen again." I have used his recordings for 20 years to educate students about the Holocaust. We need more education in history and empathy. Yet teachers are often belittled in our society. I see the way people are soaking up bias and lies as a failure of the education system. We need to do better.
This is inspirational.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1puSYkboQ3g8OO55W_cnkEhSfZdmByffC/view?usp=sharing
This is such a valuable thing for you to share. I will listen to it. I will save it so that when my grandchildren are older they will be able to listen because my dad is no longer alive. He was in the Army Air Force and was a Bletchley trained cryptographer. He nearly lost his life when his troop ship was sunk in the Atlantic.
This is Robert "Bob" Pringle. He was in the 42 Rainbow Division. He had a cold when he recorded this, thus the sniffles. He also says I always have a question, which is "What does death smell like?" Now, that is not a question I came up with, but after having heard his stories many times, I wanted him to remember to include this as he has a vivid description. So it's introduced oddly, but that's why.
Is he still alive? If he is will you thank him for his service? My dad was in the 143rd Division out of Ct.
Hat tip to you for having the foresight to record your stepfather’s stories about the Holocaust, and then for using them for the past 20 (!) years to teach students. That is so powerful and is the kind of work that helps prevent the proliferation of othering hate that fuels the rise of an autocrat.
There is a Holocaust video interview recording project ongoing. I hope to see and hear your stepfathers stories. I want to live in a peaceful country, free from fear of Fascism, oppression, and lies.
I believe there was a 60 minutes program showing the recording of survivors and others so they could use them as a hologram that people could see & hear them telling the story in their own words. It was very chilling. And yes, this should be taught in schools - and in colleges for that matter. Too easy for young people to not be informed!
As a young person I remember watching Spencer Tracy in Judgement at Nurenberg ..and that had very vivid pictures and they were real. Never forgotten that..
Perhaps we need same/similar overnight. American needs to see interviews with these hardened radicalized repugnants. Perhaps if more regular republicans would listen their stories, they would leave their party like Colin Powell just did.
Imagine if the Germans did that in the 20's and 30's, would those conservatives offer Hitler the shared power agreement after the Reichstag if they knew the evil that was in the Nazi party of 1933?
I'd be happy to share them with you.
I will watch them with my 15 year old son.
They are audio, not video.
I would also love to hear them
Thank you for sharing this. Alas, I fear that many people here who hear that will think of it as that is them, not us, and that was then, now now.
Thank you so much for sharing that story.
My father-in-law was also with the troops who liberated Dachau, although I never heard the name of his division. He rarely spoke about it other than to say it happened and occasionally tell small stories of his part of it and the tragedy he witnessed. He would not tolerate being called a hero and suffered his whole life from nightmares and what now would be called PTSD. He kept the pictures he took at Dachau with his Brownie camera as evidence of what he witnessed. Those photos stayed in his army footlocker until he died. My mother-in-law wanted to burn them after his death because she believed they had poisoned her marriage. I had to argue long and hard to convince her to offer them to the Holocaust Museum instead.
That is tragic. My mother came over on the Queen Mary in 1946 from London after working as a munitions worker near Lincolnshire in the UK. She met my dad there at the USO. My mom welded depth charges and was the last station before TNT went in. When she came over on the Queen Mary she picked up a postcard of Hitler on the deck of the Queen Mary. I had it for many years and then I just tore it up into pieces because I couldn’t bear to have it in my house...
What a story. I'm glad his memory's, those photos made to the museum.
Everyone responds to trauma differently. I have several friends that have veteran sons from the Iraq 2 and Afghanistan. One committed suicide in 2010, two more attempted in 2011, one almost did in 2013.
PTSD post war is a huge problem.
But how many go undiagnosed? How many vets work as Police?
How many Tim Mc Veighs ( gulf war 1) have we created and how vulnerable are they to demagogue forces like DT? How many are ready and willing to Die for DT like Air Force Vet Ashli Babbit did on Jan 6th. Nothing but a bullet was going to stop her from committing what atrocities on members of the house of representatives?
Not all vets who are police officers are McVeighs. Just want to say that.
YEs, of course, not saying all. But it only takes a few in key positions to loose control like at the Capitol. I have three friends in different cities. Two are detectives in big cities and one sheriffs deputy here. All are good people. It is the Chauvins and Ashli Babbits that are dangerous. They will kill to get their way. To exercise their power to the death.
Hat tip to you for recognizing the moment and successfully redirecting you mother in law to donate her husband's Dachau photos to the Holocaust Museum.
Good for you!
Thank you for doing that.
Thing an important thing he did. Unbelievable. Those tapes need to be heard by every high school student in this country. That should be a standard part of high school students education.
Trumpers are in their own little world on the computer and they don’t look out to see who is suffering ..from their words and their behaviors
“mans search for meaning” vicktor Frankl
A hard but important read.
2nd best book I have ever read. Tied for the most important book ever.
Yes. And oddly, one if the most inspirational as I recall.
Completely agree. I’m beating the same drum. ❤️🤍💙
Yes we need to do better in so many ways
I am so happy to hear that you have chronicled his experience. My grandparents were gassed in a van with 6 other people at the Chelmno camp in 1942. Both of my parents were Holocaust victims. I have my mother on video but I couldn’t bare to ask her questions about the Holocaust. Too painful for her to relive that.
I'm so sorry to read this, Marlene. It's so painful.
In 1942, Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Lodz Ghetto’s Jewish Council, ordered that children under age 10 be handed over because they consumed scarce food but were not in the slave work force. They were taken to a church converted into a warehouse, then gassed at Chelmno.
I memorialize Susanne Bertha ("Susi") Benkendorf, born in 1933, transported with her parents from a German town to Prague, then transported to Lodz and recorded as murdered.
If you choose and don't know this resource...
https://www.ushmm.org/online/lodzchildren/
Oh Ellie...wish you could feel how hard my heart is beating. Thank you for this although, very very sad.
The other day when I was watching a horror unfold on 6 January, one of the people breaking in was a high school teacher from somewhere in the south. That is very disturbing to me
Crazy!!! We need to realize everyone is susceptible to propaganda, young and old, educated and ignorant. Men and women. It is not like you knowingly order yourself a radicalized latte at Starbucks. It is a process. SM amplifies and accelerates radicalization.
I asked my son's 9th grade Govt teacher who is favorite poly sci scholar was, his reply was ....Wait for it....
CANDICE OWENS! ( I was like oh fuuuuuu$&!!!!!)
The only good news in the teacher's admission about Candice Owens was your making that a teachable moment for critical thinking skills for your son, who then maybe passed on the critical questions to his friends. But that is scary for the rest of the students uncritically subjected to toxic ideology.
And no, you can't be too strong about it. The Nazis required party membership of teachers and school administrators and then imposed the Nazi infused curriculum on the students to effectively brainwash them--including pressure to report their own parents for criticism of the regime and accept Hitler as their only leader--over the authority of their parents.
Wtf??? This teacher needs to be removed. I would be livid..
I hope I don’t come across to string but yes I was. Think about it. A teacher of Government, aligned as a Libertarian, that wants to demolish public education!
WTAF??
And the only reason how I know who Candice Owens even is, is Dave Chappelle
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/arts/television/dave-chappelle-netflix-special.html
This is an enormously powerful story. It changed Eisenhower's life, and you're right: he was determined that no one would ever be able to say it didn't happen.
I went to the library a few years ago and I found a piece of paper stuck in a book that said there was no holocaust. The librarian here in my small town in Vermont says that this happens all the time
I trust that we are not going to compartmentalize history but to tell it all as clearly as we knowingly can without filters and prejudice.
Could you elaborate? Thanks
Ignorance holds me back but i trust that history will not follow society's current trend to concentrate solely on real and less evident victimization of minorities of all shapes and sizes and a competition amongst them as to who should dominate and thus define the "true" discourse and therefore the majority. It is time that the progressive left realized that by returning their principal ideological concentration on the needs of the working man/woman they do not necessarily exclude "minorities".
I'm sorry, Stuart, I normally agree with and like your responses, but I find this one rather cutting. If you are referring to the 1619 Project or the USC Shoah Foundation as examples of " the victimization of minorities of all shapes and sizes," I am disappointed. We cannot and must not turn our backs on historical realities that have been and continue to be whitewashed or eliminated from our educational systems. Is the Trail of Tears a fabrication of our Native Peoples' reality in US history? Should we erase the BLM movement from a history book on the year 2020? Again, my apologies, but I beg to differ.
You seem to be seeing one as being opposed to the other or replacing one interpretation of history by another. I feel that one can be included in the other and lead to greater clarity and a less subjective "truth". It doesn't diminish the importance of the treatment of minorities but places it squarely in its historical context......which what understanding history is all about. Today's filter will always subject one to pressures to re-interpret things in the light of today's forces, feelings and trends.
Yeh, too many don't understand democracy or why we want it. Rather than think of democracy as process for managing government they think of it as a promise that the majority gets to boss around the minority.
Love this. Thank u sir!
Agree.
Our Public Health is an institution and an attitude of health and respect for the good of all. Republicans want us sick, they want us to despair. They want us apathic so we falsely believe we have no power to create change.
Validate your angry into action.
Would there be any way to make this a reality?
Doubtful
Bahhh : (
There have been many calls for covidiots to go to their local hospitals and volunteer to help with the bodies. They won't need any PPE since they're not convinced we have a problem.
I work in the medical field , fortunately not in a hospital, but in outpatient care and I have often made this same suggestion with the caveat that if they don't want to wear a mask that they sign a waiver that they will not seek treatment.
In the ambulatory practice where I work, wearing a mask is not a choice and hasn't been for months.
Indonesia made the nonmaskers bury bodies. They got compliance pretty quickly.
Wow, perfect!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/09/15/covid-19-indonesia-face-masks-grave-digging/5811986002/
perfect, Lynn.
Thank you TC, you are a gem. I am so pleased that people are giving thought to Nazi Germany, which is my parents (and my) heritage. So often Americans act allergic to the subjects of Hitler and Nazi Germany, but truly they are useful history lessons for us now.
The parallels between Hitler and Trump, as I have been saying, are many. I find it curious and intriguing that Trump was even given a 1941 English edition of one of Hitler's books, and he studied it in the late 1980s. This little nugget has been completely overlooked by the press, because mention of Hitler is usually taboo in this society. People turn away. Hitler used much crueler and more savage means for getting into power than Trump, but in a different time, in a different place, perhaps in a country with a weaker society right now in 2021, Tя☭mp gets his chance to imitate his prime benefactor, his #1 Sugar Daddy, the biggest criminal on the planet, Putin. Controlling the vote system to stay in power indefinitely. Coercing and influencing judges, officials, the military, the state police, to control an entire society.
And so it was with Hitler. Hitler did not even have Putin's head start, because Putin used the KGB as a stepping stone to wealthiest and most corrupt head-of-state in the world. Putin also had the example of Stalin, the founder of the KGB (developed from earlier institutions of oppression), as a model for controlling the vote and crushing dissent. Hitler had zero, zip, nothing. He went on to lead a nation, and then start a world war. What an outstanding example, what a perfect historical model, for how a power-hungry individual can corrupt a nation and then a continent. Trump has been our ultimate test of the system, because he has left no stone unturned in his efforts to find cracks and weaknesses which would allow him to be a dictator. Welcome to a modern version of Adolf Hitler.
I am grateful for the mentions of the horrors of concentration camps, but what gets little mention is Hitler's rhetoric, his adoption (and misuse) of Bavarian nationalist sentiment and Germany's Great Depression after WWI, etc., to rise to fame and then power. No one ever points out that Arbeit Macht Frei, the famous words over the entrance to Auschwitz, was a presidential slogan not too dissimilar from Make America Great Again. It means "work makes you free, work brings joy," which Hitler used as FDR used the New Deal. Hitler brought the Germans out of severe depression, massive unemployment, poverty, hunger. Hitler was Germany's FDR, and this is not an exaggeration. Hitler is Germany's FDR gone bad. He built the autobahn, which Eisenhower copied later as President to build America's interstate highway system. Hitler conceived the Volkswagen, the Wagon of the Folks, the People's Car, which is the VW Beetle. So watching Trump act like Hitler gives you an appreciation for how a poser, a clown, a selfish money-hungry and power-hungry loser, a person who doesn't care one whit for the plight of the common people and couldn't spell the words "public service" even with a crib sheet, can use popular sentiment to take over a nation and corrupt it.
I’ve been comparing trump to Hitler from the start. People told me I had to accept trump and get over it. One co worker told me trump was nothing like Hitler. I said then you need to learn more about history and WWII! So glad and relieved Biden/Harris won! And Georgia went Blue! It’s going to be a lot of work ahead. But at least we have a chance for democracy!
There are certainly distinct differences between Tя☭mp and Hitler. Hitler was not a mob boss, and he was not owned by a corrupt and powerful foreign head-of-state (like Putin). Hitler was not thinking only of himself. Hitler honestly thought he was doing good by the German people.
But when it comes to megalomaniac ambition, they have lots in common. As I said, Trump even studied Hitler's rhetorical strategies, his speeches, it seems his "undiagnosed learning disorder" (Mary Trump's words) didn't get it the way. Trump and Hitler have tons in common, no doubt about it. Whatever it takes to corrupt the system and get their own way, that's what they tried and did.
If only Hitler had been accepted to art school, which was his first ambition. Hitler was also a vet of WWI which was savage and left everyone scarred both internally and externally. The thing is, we don't have the depression that was anywhere near what the Germans faced in the 1920s and rolled into the 30s. Of course, now with Covid, we might.
If Hitler was accepted to art school. Boy, would that have changed world history. Hitler was faced with doing what FDR did. The people in my grandparents generation who say good things about Hitler, that's what they're talking about. Keiner muß hungern, keiner muß frieren. No one has to go hungry, no one has to freeze (exact words "no one must hunger, no one must freeze"). But of course it was my white grandmother who benefited from Hitler's policies, not the Jewish kids who disappeared from my mother's class.
My grandfather fled Germany in 1933. Fortunately. He was a Jew, a well respected doctor, and never got over the way his fellow citizens turned on him. He always thought he was a German first, then a Jew. His country disagreed with him. At least he was able to get out while he could. Have I waited too long to leave this country? Are Jews going to be safe here?
Trump read a book of Hitler’s speeches called My New Order:
"Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed ... Hitler's speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist," Marie Brenner wrote.
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8
And Ivanna, First wife, at their Divorce, testified under oath he kept Mein Kompf in his nightstand, reading it often.
Everyone says he doesn't read. But this from Ivanna. It made me think of Bruce Lee's quote, " I do not fear the man who practices 10,000 different kicks. I fear the man that practices one kick ten thousand times.
DT has one (leadership) modus. like Hitler and Putin, and Kim. That of the demagogue. This is all he knows, this is the only way he thinks and operates. No one should call it his "leadership" style, because it is not leadership. It is control through manipulation for immoral and unethical gain, his gain and his alone.
An authoritarian/autocratic style of leadership uses intimidation and includes manipulation of people's perception of reality, particularly of how the bully authoritarian can protect the people from the threat of some sector of the population. 74,222,958 people followed trump's lead by voting for him for President. Fortunately, 81,283,098 people followed Biden's authoritative/democratic style of leadership.
Banks Bail on DT. Both Banks Call for Resignation
Signature Bank CLOSES personal accounts for DT!!!!!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-12/trump-s-long-favored-banks-pull-back-amid-fallout-from-d-c-riot
Trumpscum— I think the actions being taken in the bright winter sunlight is helping to disperse them— perhaps some have come to their senses and are thinking about their legacies instead of their political careers
Call the senators and remind them.
One of the more memorable passages from an excellent book and a very good suggestion.
OK, by this time of the day, I find it hard to always track comments to the post they we're referring to... can you please tell me which book? Thanks!
RAF Wing Commander Johnny Johnson's biography - Wing Leader. Great book if you are interested in WW2 history.
yes! Thanks!
I had never heard this. How horrible, sickening, and absolutely necessary. I don’t even know if the Trumpscum would react.
100%. An intervention.
Thank you for recognizing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. He deserves all our thanks.
Medal of Freedom or a new medal now that 💩45 has debased it ?
Maybe a Congressional Gold Medal
Debased indeed! Today's Medal of Freedom went to Ohio's Jim Jordan, a rabid T supporter. Jordan was in the group who did not stand up when neo-nazis armed with automatic weapons picketed the home of Dr Amy Acton, the Medical Director of the Ohio Department of Health. Her crime? Recommendations to try to contain the virus. He also joined the effort to impeach Gov Mike DeWine (who is ALSO a Republican). Mike's crime? Closing bars and restaurants to try to contain the spread of the virus.
He deserves a statue in our Capital.
Yes, it appeared he was going to be overtaken by the mob from the few seconds of video I saw. Glad to hear there was a great and intentional outcome from his actions :)
Totally true.
Following the lead from Marriott hotels and Blue Cross Blue Shield, all corporations supporting Shawn Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham need to withdraw their financial support for their programs.
Yeah, but the real problem on FNC is not advertising. They're supported by cable fees. I started a post on this months ago, and there has not been a single moment to make it happen. FNC gets more money from fees than anything but ESPN, I believe.
I have contacted my cable provider multiple times requesting more responsible thought on what channels they offer as a part to their "basic" cable package. I have requested the movement of FNC, OAN, and Newsmax to a premier package allowing subscribers to opt out of those channels. The Dominion Voting Machine "Red Slime Lawsuits" may encourage them to consider the impact of carrying these toxic channels.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/media/smartmatic-lawsuit-fox-news-newsmax-oan.html
Democracy supporters may need to consider personal boycotts of businesses. See www.Jacobinmag.com for David Sirota's et al informative essay entitled:
"The GOP’s Wealthy Funders Want You to Forget Their Role in Stoking Wednesday’s Riot at the Capitol "-"Corporate-backed conservative groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, and companies
like Chevron have all issued statements decrying Wednesday’s occupation of the Capitol — without acknowledging the role they played in helping elect the politicians who egged on and fueled the attempt to overturn the presidential election."
Thank you, Selina!
Yes! Thank you!
A distinction must be made between taking such steps to stop these people from giving 'aid and comfort,' not to mention inspiration, to the seditionous insurrectionists ... and preserving First Amendment rights. They will be the first to claim that the incoming administration is already attacking those rights. I heard that crap on Fox last night.
Treason isn't covered by the First Amendment. It's well-known that Free Speech doesn't cover "yelling fire in a crowded theater."
Yes, I agree. And I read the following statement that I am using same in response to those who are complaining about their freedom of speech:
"Inciting violence against Americans at the capital building is a Seditious act of insurrection, that is not protected by the 1st amendment, read the constitution again."
Correct ... and the same logic which makes yelling "fire" illegal should make giving aid and comfort to an insurrection illegal. Ex-Prez Trump should feel free to yell "Fire" in hopefully empty theatres all he wants and then get arrested for doing so. Same should hold true for inciting the Capitol rioting.
Or setting a fire in a crowded theatre. Or sending goons with tiki torches into a crowded theatre.
FNC has the right to broadcast whatever they choose and advertisers have the right to withdraw financial support. Not a First Amendment issue.
WE need to write letters to all corporate heads of propaganda stations, and their advertisers, and let them know we are boycotting all of them.
Check out MediaMatters.org. 'Media Matters for America is a web-based, not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.'
Yes, but needs more. Tucker gets big $ from the oligarchs like Charles Koch
Democracy in Chains, Jane Mayer
Another good read is Dark Money also by Jane Mayer.
I have kept throwing that book down because I get so pissed off as to who has been fueling the GOP! Maddening!
Read Red Notice by Bill Browder. You will have a huge appreciation of how it is in Eastern Europe.
I thought I read that...I will double check...I have been so consumed with all the books on Trump, and all the history..the politics... OMG! Yes..just checked my audible library..I did! jeez... can you imagine if 10%n of this information was taught in schools..just 10%? But it is all buried.. : (
I remember being so mortified. I couldn’t believe how deeply those people had infiltrated our institutions. Astonishing that a group of people could ‘successfully’ control our entire system. Shocking and terrifying.
Yes it is shocking. After being a witness to this botched “takeover”, we really have to open our eyes. We must take care of each other. Speak out against injustices. I have been doing it for many many years and I will continue to do so.
I understand! I found that the amounts of $$ being thrown around, which seemed to just get bigger with each new page, were staggering and almost incomprehensible.
Yes! Like that it me too. Mayer is on my top ten Must read list
Excellent! That was the first one I read when this craziness exploded..
I have thought about whether or not impeachment is an appropriate move. On the downside, it distracts from rebuilding our Union and protecting its citizens. On the upside, it is a consequence of the actions taken that day. I think we, as a nation can walk and chew gum at the same time. We must impeach. There must be a consequence. Republicans need to publicly choose between our nation and Trumpism. The Biden administration can go about rebuilding in the background. We waited 9 weeks for Biden to end our national nightmare, we can wait a couple more to do this right and not give those who violated our nation a free pass.
We need more than impeachment. We also need investigation and censure ( if not expulsion) of all members of Congress who abetted this uprising through furthering of Trump’s lies or active encouragement of the assailants.
Not to mention an investigation of the current and former members of government and military who were clearly in communication with some of these insurrectionists before their attempted coup. Equally clear is that the "alt-right" movement is an international threat to democratic governments everywhere, considering how similar these tactics are to those used in Ukraine and Belarus.
Could Roger Stone be instrumental in enacting this attempted coup?
The whole 'stop the steal' gimmick was Roger Stone's project.
Stone is so creepy lurchy
Short answer: yes.
It certainly has his stench around it.
U mean commissar Stone?
Exactly!
Not just Trump.
Yes!
Yes, exactly! The work of the Biden administration can go on simultaneously. We have all learned the attack on the Capital was far worse than it first appeared. The republicans in Congress who were and are involved with this attempted coup need to be immediately censored by the Senate and House. We all have had difficult colleagues to work with, but can anyone imagine working in the same building with the likes of Cruz, Hawley, Graham, McConnell, and the 125+/- representatives who to supported this coup?!
The Biden administration wants to move forward as quickly as possible to repair the damage trump has done to every facet of this country. Understandably they don’t want any more “distractions” but this is beyond a distraction. Congress has to deal with the reality of what went down. Lawful citizens and every country in the world are watching. If ALL the people (starting with trump) involved in this attempted coup are not punished to the full extent of the law (including treason), then we have no rule of law and no democracy.
Can't Biden do much of his frstc 100 days work by Executive Order? Especially since a vgreat deal of it is undoing tRump's executive orders and appointments.
From what I read hat is he plan. Hopefully they will have the orders written and ready for signature on the the 21st.
The House can impeach before Jan.20. Since the Senate will not act before then in any case, the House can wait a few months before sending the articles to the Senate. House Whip James Clyburn has said they are considering doing that.
They should not wait. The US population has a short memory.
The House needs to conduct lengthy investigations into the whole affair - why the event security was so skimpy, who in the Capitol Police to honor and who to fire, what role government officials including Congress members and administration members played in both the build-up to the assault and the assault itself. All that can keep the issues public enough. The Senate needs to focus on Biden's agenda for the country during his first 120 days. Maybe during that time, more Republican Senators will decide to choose democracy over Trumpocracy.
But his pardon power has to be taken away! Now!
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, the Pardon Clause: the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
That usually means the president cannot use a pardon to undo an impeachment, even of someone else. I wonder if it could be successfully argued that when the president has been impeached for inciting an insurrection, that his pardon power does not apply to anyone involved in that same insurrection.
Even at the best case, it sure doesn’t sound sufficient... grrrr
We as a nation clearly can hold and act on two ideas at the same time; whether the Congress with its arcane rules and extended holidays has that ability is not as clear.
Yeh, I too think the Biden administration has plenty to do cleaning up the executive branch. While the spotlight is on a Senate impeachment trial, that cleaning can take place. Trump has shown you don't need Congress to do it. The missteps with Covid and protection of the capital building are largely a matter of a lack of organization. Acting heads of agencies can clear that up. Also that the press would be obsessing on impeachment doesn't mean that the Biden administration and their allies in Congress can't be making plans for what comes next. We need the symbolism of an impeachment.
The problem with "rebuilding in the background" is that Biden and his administration need to be seen doing that rebuilding. The American public needs to see clearly and every day that the new administration is taking action in the best interests of all the American people. While I do believe that impeachment is a vital step and that Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time, I don't have the same faith in the media, which will latch onto the high drama of impeachment proceedings like a rabid animal and asphyxiate the vital, productive news coming out of the White House. I also don't have a solution, though the possibility of delaying the Senate hearing until May might be a viable one.
No doubt this has some truth to it. But I wouldn't want Biden to imitate Trump whose presidency was all about being seen. Obama did pretty well staying pretty much in the background. Also an impeachment trial is hardly going to last through much of the Biden presidency. There would be plenty of time for see-what-Ive-done photo ops when its over.
There's a difference behind Trump's incessant, self-promoting blather and Biden communicating his goals and accomplishments to the American public in terms of how those goals and accomplishments will impact their/our lives. In a recent interview with Rebecca Traister, Pramila Jayapal said, ". . . we did a lot of work . . . to convince people that they should give us one more shot to trust that government will step in and do something that matters. We've got to deliver." They also need to make it clear -- through honest communication -- that they are delivering in light of the fact that mid-term elections are now less than two years away.
Is this still a discussion about whether Trump should be impeached?
Indirectly. Sidebar introduced by your second sentence: "But I wouldn't want Biden to imitate Trump whose presidency was all about being seen."
Congressional Medal of Honor for Eugene Goodman. Tell the others.
And the page who saved the ballots!
Women ... https://19thnews.org/2021/01/the-women-who-saved-the-boxes-of-electoral-college-votes-during-a-riot-in-the-capitol/
Thank you!
Here is the link to Schwarzenegger’s video about Kristallnacht and trump’s big lie, ending with his faith in democracy. You’d think he’d been reading HCR’s Letters, followed by Timothy Snyder’s big lie essay in the NY Times.
https://twitter.com/schwarzenegger/status/1348249481284874240?s=21
Thanks for posting, Ellie. In a world in which fantasist superhero movies influence the thoughts and actions of many with not enough other resources, Schwarzenegger’s video is an important corrective. Not all of the insurrectionists will care, but I bet some will.
Wish everyone would listen to Mr. Schwarzenegger video.
It was profound!
Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? Schwarzenegger sitting in what appears to be his memorabilia bunker in his "uniform" with badges, flags smooshed into the video frame, sitting with his Conan sword? This feels like a Disney caricature to me or a SNL routine. I appreciate his rousing defense of democracy but the way it is done feels like a movie parody.
I totally agree. The dramatic call to patriotism feels really outdated and corny in 2021. It seems to me it would have had a more honest feel and been more effective without all the props. With that said Arnold has always had a soft spot for American Democracy and his story (without the props) is an interesting one. For me some genuine feeling came through all of the strange corniness.
Yes, weird. But, as has been suggested, I think it might have been directed at a certain kind of audience, an audience that tends to fall for these rather simplistic forms of imagery. That's fine by me. I know I sound like the world's biggest elitist here, as it's not what inspires ME per sé, but if it gets the message across in a fairly simplistic way, it's okay. I mean, Schwartzenegger has hardly been blessed with thespic gifts in my book--the guy started out life as a body-builder for Pete's sake, and calling him an "actor" is a stretch--but again, he was probably speaking to fans of his work and his governorship. Meh. We need everybody on board, so Arnold's chiming in on this is fine, IMO.
Spot on!
Bruce, I'm sure there are bigger elitist than you, but enjoy the fantasy. (smiley emoji)
And the music......ughhhh
Why? Why score a political speech?
I think he gave it everything he got, he was sincere about reaching out to so many. I still give him credit!
His muscular, hyper-masculine appeal contributed heavily to his gubernatorial win in California. I think he was deliberately addressing a very particular audience composed of people who don't think very well, but are very influenced by symbolic imagery.
Absolutely. Some of us erudite types might think otherwise, but it was a rousing appeal. Those for whom a film such as "Conan the Barbarian," is still considered to be a GREAT MOVIE! At the time it came out, my preteen-age kids loved it...
Yes!
Interesting idea.
Oh yes, thanks for reminding me, Ann. It was so choreographed. All that was missing was "Hasta la Vista, Baby."
However, I do not want to detract from the fact that I admire him for making this video and for linking it to his own personal experiences. I doubt that many prominent personalities would make such frank and revealing statements.
He’s an actor - don’t forget
I think that mentioning Kristallnacht and his own families drunken cruelty what is a good thing to talk about. The parallels are profound
I'm so glad you wrote this, Jan. I had a similar reaction ... and he read his teleprompter like an automaton. I guess he has been in too many Terminator films.
Thank you for this!!! I've been feeling like the curmudgeon's curmudgeon about that video.
Schwarzenegger’s presentation may seem corny, but it was nice to hear a Republican, former Governor issue such a strong denunciation of the assault on the Capitol. I wish more Republican leaders would follow his lead!
A friend share this on Facebook and I watched it yesterday. Very powerful message which I was quick to share. Thank you for sharing it here for those who might not have seen it yet.
Thanks so much for sharing that.
Heather says, “ Unbelievably, it was only a week ago—last Sunday—that we learned Trump had called Georgia’s Secretary of State and pressured him to change the results of the 2020 election.”. While this is undeniably true, I would also say that it is unbelievable that this traitor to the US is STILL sitting in the White House and that there are still TEN more days before Biden is sworn into office. Ten. Days. If this traitor has done all that he has done in the space of the past week, what more might he do with that plus an additional three days between now and January 20? People keep saying ‘it can’t get worse than this’ yet with every new action by this unhinged wanna be dictator it does. What next? Remember, he still has the nuclear codes. Pelosi is absolutely correct - he is an immediate danger that must be immediately removed. But here we sit, playing politics as usual, hoping he won’t burn down the rest of the house on his way out the door. Prepare for the worst you can imagine because it will probably be worse than that. I don’t think that’s extreme. It is already known that his insurrectionists are planning *something* for January 17. But here we sit, playing politics as usual, hoping he won’t burn down the rest of the house on his way out the door. None of us could have imagined in advance what happened on January 6. But we knew he was telling his mob to be in DC on that day. And we did nothing to prepare. And now we know that they are planning *something* for January 17. And we are doing nothing to prepare. But here we sit, playing politics as usual, hoping he won’t burn down the rest of the house on his way out the door. Truly unbelievable.
Well said, although I'm not nearly so worried about Trump possessing the nuclear codes as I am about his grip on the Department of Homeland Security. I'm worried that we've heard very little about movements within that department, one that essentially constitutes a military force completely independent of the DoD and the Joint Chiefs, and under the direct control of a Trump appointee.
Agreed, Dan. I simply mention that as a reminder. I, too, am much more concerned that, as Heather said, the Federal government has ‘gone dark’.
I spent hours last night, watching TikTok videos of Trump supporters laying out their strategy for the next two weeks and warning people to stockpile groceries and ammunition. They plan an armed takeover of State Legislatures on the 17th, takeover of the US Capitol on the 19th, and further violent acts to overturn the government and establish a new government under Trump. These people plans to kill their government officials and other opponents and are not afraid to die trying. They feel this is a religious war. Indeed, citizens are buying out supplies at store.
Send those links to your FBI, state police, sherif flag a Dom terror threat.
The sleuths on TikTok are all over this. They are directly communicating with the FBI and infiltrating social media sites. This is why people are being rounded up all over the country—to try and stop the violence that has already been set in motion. Meanwhile, Trump is watching events unfold on large screen TVs and cheering. They've got videos of that also.
Excellent advice, Ted!
They want to create an image of being slaughtered next time. They want martyrs! Thus, they will have the images to PROVE the delusion our govt is oppressive and unjust and that they are Righteous to rebel. We can not give this to them, but how?
There would be 10, 20, 30 martyrs now if Goodman hadn't led them the other way.
His valor and wits saved many. He could have shot that guy. What a cool head in the heat of battle.
We need to honor GOODMAN by taking action. Pick up your nightstick like he did, it is your phone and call your reps demand impeach/remove.
dail 1 877 603 2832 to the capital. Just click or say your reps name and be connected to their voice mail or aids if you get lucky.
Mandates for masks have been exploited as well...to the deluded mind, the mandates are proof the govt wants to oppress.
The ISIS among us.
Thanks for sharing this information, Deb. Concerning, to say the least. I have been concerned for some time that it would come to events such as you describe. I hope and pray that they do not come to pass. But, best to prepare, nonetheless. It hurts nothing or no one to prepare and, hopefully, when the dates in question are past, we will just have extra groceries.
There was so much noise on social media and as Parler was shut down, the Trumpets migrated to any social platform available. These people are no longer trying to hide their intentions. They expect Trump to impose martial law soon and for the internet to go dark in an attempt to keep the far-right from communicating. They also expect the trunking industry to shut down, either in support of Trump or in fear of riots. Many feel that this is their moment in history and it's now or never.
In the first Iraq war, I remember Colin Powell explain that the plan was to cut off the head first. Without the leadership's ability communicate, to direct, to organize and reorganize, their army would be isolated from the big picture, and then would be destroyed piece by piece.
The oligarchy in this country does something similiar with deregulation of media. Flood the zone with so much information, the people remain confused and unconnected. Leaders like RFK understood how technology would connect us more closely, " eventually the concerns of one, become the concerns of all"....deregulation killed that, and thus, here we are, in a f'ing mess, with radicals threatening our democracy.
Dangerous times.
This information is not hard to find. Facebook sites like "Trump Train Cedar City Utah" displays posts from the last few days, warning that we are in the midst of a Chinese takeover, with Chinese troops massing on the Canadian and Mexican borders. And that Trump won in a landslide, but the votes were changed in Italy. I'll stop posting here and let the pundits on this site assess the situation.
ohhh.... not good.
Wow! That's all. Wow! Thanks for sharing Deb108
What I have read about plans for the 17th is that in all 50 states there are insurrectionist plans for armed marches on the state capitals, assuming that all states would have their legislators convening for business. This is part of the radical right’s schedule to culminate in a “Million Militia March” on Jan. 20. We have already seen “practice runs” out here in Oregon, Washington, and California. The removal of some of the far-right social media outlets has likely impacted some of the planning, but I believe it would be naive to not prepare for the worst. This is frightening.
Is there something significant about January 17? I mean, besides the planned “march.”
It's my birthday. >Wry chuckle<
We are in good company: Benjamin Franklin, Mohammad Ali, Michelle Obama, Jim Carrey, James Earl Jones, Eartha Kitt, Shari Lewis and my fave, Betty White who will be 99 this year❤️
Wow!
Me too!
Happy birthday in advance, Margaret!
Happy Birthday in advance, Margaret...in case we don't get the chance to wish you HB on your special day.
Happy Birthday in advance, Mim...in case we don't get the chance to wish you HB on your special day.
Thank you, Lynell.
Many happy returns of the day, Mim!
Happy Birthday to you, too, Spooky, four days from now!
Yes, happy birthday on the 15th!
It's the 57th anniversary of my first date with my husband.
Well congratulations! Kind of nice to hear of an enduring marriage! Takes guts doesnt it?
It takes guts and each person giving 100% . Marriage is more than a 50-50 deal.
Looks like we have a lot to celebrate that week! And, as I always declare, it's never just your Birthday...It's BIRTHDAY WEEK!
I like to celebrate birthday month!
This website has a long list of historical events that occurred on a January 17: https://www.onthisday.com/events/january/17
Nothing stood out to me that would be significant for this year's events. However, my personal favorite is that on January 17, 1929 Popeye made his 1st appearance, in the comic strip "Thimble Theater". (I do take the continuing threat seriously; after all, a mob of these lunatics broke into the Washington State governor's residence last week. However, I'm trying to find something I can chuckle at.)
"I m not a lawyer, but I know what suits me."
" Let's get nautical Olive!"
good enough for me!
Kathy, I honestly don’t know. I’ve been puzzled about that myself and would love to hear from anyone here who might have more insight. Thanks for asking this question!
My first thought was MLK birthday, but it's the 15th and this year celebrated on the 18th.
Unfortunately, I went on a far-right online site(or whatever they’re called; maybe “cesspool” is a better name) and found that the phrase “Sunday is Gunday” used often.
Oh dear!
Maybe they're hoping with a long weekend, more can join them? (I fear, though, there's probably a much more sinister reason... Hitler's birthday isn't it but something like that... )
Last of May. Hitler spent it in his bunker for his last one.
But why the day before and not the day itself? Still scratching my head...
Intellectual lapse?
I am getting anger just thinking about this.
Really well said.
Thank you, Dave. The only way I could express my distress was with repetition of a couple key phrases. I am grateful to know you don’t think it was too ‘over the top’.
I have to add that these insurgents were also inflamed by years of economic policy that has eroded their incomes. With the slow and insidious demoralizing effect of economic insecurity these and most Americans are angry at their self interested government officials. Trump lit the match and pushed them in the direction he wanted them to go. Thanks 🙏🏻 🙂
Yesterday I spoke with my brother who says he is financially better off than he was 4 years ago. Better able to pay bills, gas prices lower. I reminded him that he no longer has a teenager to support, and that last year he unexpectedly owed $4k in fed taxes. He said he's still better off. He also says Trump won the support of a majority of Americans because Americans are tired of politics as usual.
Point is, his supporters don't believe their incomes are eroded, and they still believe his lies.
(I feel so sad realizing that my brother has digested this poisonous misinformation.)
My father as well. Sorry. It's hard when family members don't see through it all. And my father is one of the best-read people I know. His father was an immigrant from Germany, his wife was a child of immigrants from Poland. How he cannot have empathy of others...mind boggling.
Education and wisdom are not enough to face down propaganda. It is a process. No one wakes up in the morning saying, well today im going to be radicalized.
You know this, of course, but Trump NEVER had support from a majority of Americans. It’s sad to see people exulting over the crumbs they’ve been allowed to eat from the floor of the Billionaires’ Banquet.
I tried to explain that to him, not in those words, and he tuned me out.
This is exactly what happens.. the “tuning out.” I don’t understand it and it is so hard to deal with.
Germany had this problem too
My sympathies. Fortunately, those inclined to support Trump in my extended family have tuned in to the truth.
I’m sorry
Exactly
Carol, u are right! And who else never had more than 38% of the popular vote?
The question remains. What do we do about the ignorant and the gullible who still support Trump and do not really disagree with what was motivating the rioters.? In China, the would be shipped to "re-education" camps, but we don't do that. What can we do.
That’s the dimemma. U can’t fix stupid and u can’t fix radicalization. Germany post ww2 has answers.
You can fix the liars who feed them, "fix" in the "sterilze" sense of the word. Twitter, and Facebook shut down trump accounts, Google removed Parler's app, and corporations pull out ads so Parler is failing. A NEW fairness Doctrine will make Fox tell the truth or else. And once multimillionaire Evangelical leaders get hit in the pocketbook, they may change their "sermons" tunes. If we stop feeding the beast, we can begin healing the victims.
New platforms have already emerged. As quickly as they come down, others go up. All of the Trumpsters and Qanon folks seem to know right where they are.
I'm so sorry, Rebecca. I have had the same experience with a close family member. Whenever he starts using rhetoric or memes or name-calling of any official, I simply and calmly ask him to give me some specific examples because I'm not understanding what he's trying to convey to me. He can never give me examples. Just repeats what he's already said. I then have followed up with 'do you mean ..' type questions with some basic information of the case or cause that he's angry with and throw in just a bit of facts and he still refuses to answer. Just goes on repeating the nonsense.
I've learned not to have conversations with him anymore and if he starts to use foul language or name call I just ask him not to talk like that we where are together and I immediately change the subject in an attempt to turn things lighter. I love this family member so very much and I never want my last memory of him, or his last memory of me, to be around the anger and rage he holds inside for whatever reason and how politics in his preferred channel in letting some of it out.
Tricia, I feel similarly. My brother & I love each other very much, and have very rarely fought or argued in 58+ years. We are the only surviving members of our family of origin. I'll need to avoid those discussion, but I think less of him for supporting terrorists.
I have a similar brother. He escalates to "if you talk about this one more second I'm storming out...(of the restaurant, where we usually convene to meet and chat). He's college educated, US ARMY, Retired, church goer, does not believe masks work to contain Covid, etc. All we talk about is the weather. Seriously! Very sad.
Yes Rebecca and Tom. It has gotten to the point where there are very few topics we can chat about, smile and be kind. It makes me so very, very sad but I also have a life to live, causes to follow, good to do and energy is oftentimes wasted on the sadness and anxiety from those closest to us who seem so very different.
😔
People who know better vote by their pocketbooks. A toney, pricey district just north of Indy used to be blue. It's now red. The expectation was they'd split the ticket: vote for Biden/Harris but red for locals. Nope. Voted straight ticket red! Drove through there a couple of weeks before the election. All Trump signs.No B/H. Stunning.
This of course does not just apply to Trump supporters but to Americans across the board suffering the ravages of outsourcing encouraged by the globalization of supply chains, the financialization of the economy and the accelerating inequality in the share of rewards. This in no way justifies their actions at the Capitol nor the attempt by those politicians using them to continue to keep the power and the economic benefits to themselves despite the clearly expressed opinions of the majority of citizens. In this you only see the denial of democracy and the autocratic rule by a venal elite backed by an uneducated, misinformed, emotional mob.
I would also add that competition from countries around the world have further exacerbated the race to the bottom as well. American workers are getting undercut by countries willingness to hire their citizens out to the lowest bidders, corporations that are beholden only to share holders and consumers demands for the cheapest garbage possible. The same workers that are struggling are forced to buy garbage made around the world by a subjugated labor force that makes pennies to their dollar.
Trouble is that the workers in the "developing" economies jump at the chance to make $1 a day rather than the 10 cents they would otherwise get. This way they too can feed their families. Who can blame their leaders for following the West's own "growth" model by encouraging ressource exploitation, energy production and creating export goods.
I remember tthe first time i went down to do a job in the Carribean for the IADB and helped local "entrepreneurs" who had lost count of the number of companies they owned. They gained more each month from any one of them than my annual salary. That is unfortunately "life" in those parts of the world.
Excellent point. I might also add that governments typically run very inefficiently and many take more than their share of the pie and still others work in more corrupt ways that take even more from their people. Workers around the world are subject to pick up crumbs where they can. Equity is an intractable problem that many elites and countries dont have the will to tackle and it is costly.
Indeed frquently the "will" runs in quite the opposing direction. Again on the job for the WB mentioned above...the rich new that they merely had to call the wife of the President ( Baby Doc for those who know something of Haïti) and the "problem" would disappear.
I thought I was depressed before I read this, niw I am nauseated too.
Yes. And who moved this factories? The workers? Or the Republicans?
Or was it the oligarchs who control both parties more or less, large but not transparent donations, amplifying their greed over regular folks votes. Campaign donations are not free speech. Limit this and the ride rolls back to the people.
Yes. Citizen's United has be perilous for our democracy!
I am not sure I understand exactly what you are getting at. I do not think it is merely a republican thing and it certainly isn't the fault of American workers. Trade deals, corporations and a general support of unchecked “globalization” and consumption has been supported by both parties and have had huge impacts on workers. There have been pluses in total but there have also been a lot of minuses for a lot of American workers as well.
Don’t fall in the propaganda trap.
Populism always appears at certain times.
The last two times was before WW1 and before WW2. What challenges were present in both those periods?
This is such a dilemma. I try to patronize businesses as local as possible to help keep jobs and money in my community. I pay more, and I know that not everyone can afford to do the same. I wonder if some economic incentive could be contrived to help make this kind of thing more appealing.
Watch the movie “outsourced”
I don't want to, you can't make me. I am beginning to see why all those Germans looked the other way.
False Comfort.
Easy answers offered by the mystic leader to solve complex challenges. This is the way of the demagogue, keep them in fear, keep them in the lie, keep them from rational thought/ logic and moral reasoning.
The demagogue is also the savior of the Oligarchs, who fear a threat to wealth and power. When the Conservatives bond with the Fascist to "CONSERVE" power, that is the beginning of the end of democracy.
Yes, Let's all remember that the rampant income disparity took decades of "trickle down" economic policy that kept floating up to the top 1% and has accelerated in the 21st century. That's what DT tapped into.
Reaganomics.
Yes and he’s been fanning these flames on Twitter for 4 years
What will be the longer term outcomes of our reactions to the complexity of the storming of the capital? Might this crisis bring required reforms reinvigorating our democracy? or more reactionary, repressive actions? What's the significance of social media platforms determining whose voice is allowed into public commons? Hedges, a truth telling investigative journalist and trained Presbyterian minister, speaks with West, a deep, strong hearted, clear eyed man of wisdom.
America's existential crisis - YouTubewww.youtube.com › watch
2 days ago — On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to moral philosopher, Dr. Cornel West , about what we can learn about America's existential crisis
This might be a better link:
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/chris-hedges-and-cornel-west-americas-existential-crisis/comment-page-1/
Might I add, epistemological crisis as well? Check out President Obama in the Atlantic
Epistemology_ the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-obama-fears-for-our-democracy/617087/
But they seem to have plenty of excess travel cash, DT flags, guns & bullets and enough time to spend online to become radicalized?
I think that it is part of the lie.
If they want more economic opportunity, stay in reality not tv. Go back to school. Open oneself to all abundance in the economy.
That takes confidence, and support and desire to see school as a beneficial thing for your family and yourself. If you look back at Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs, many of these people have been brought up very roughly, and with hate and violence...and you can’t expect people to evolve when they don’t have the basics of confidence, stability, healthcare..
Agree 100%.
When a demagogue attacks the foundation “security”as Maslow explains, it creates fear and thus no security.
Thus, they live in perpetual fear. in a state of fear people will believe anything! They have jobs, but still they feel economically insecure because DT says they should, even as he gives them no tax breaks.
DT knows this and practice’s it and now how many have been radicalized by the lie, through the lack of security he has been stoking all these years?
When the lie started to break, he jumps in after the fact, with with $2,000 checks for all.
So I can not resolve how people could be saving up their vacation days for the insurrection. Who the f thinks like that?
I think it right. Somebody mentioned Maslow heirarchy of needs. The pandemics economic impacts would make this extreme. In the third world countries, demagoguery is made easier as food, shelter, warmth, can be threatened before security/safety. Leveraging food has been a tool of authoritarians from the beginning. 4 hour lines in Texas to get food from the food bank. No wonder next Rally is in Texas.
Im not totally convinced of this is true. Their incomes I mean. yes, and no.
I hit the wall yesterday. Became very sad and angry after reading Rep Lee story of what he saw/did after it was safe. The massive destruction to antiques, statues, etc just for the “ fun of it” made me sick. And to know people like Eugene Goodman put their lives on the line while these thugs were destroying so much is enraging. Where is the accountability? I sure as hell hope the powers that be are ready for 1/17 and 1/20, cuz you k ow there will be guns and violence.
I was right there with you Pam. I called and emailed all my repugnant representatives and senators (I 'm in floriduhhh), and even Nancy Pelosi. We HAVE to NOT let this moment pass.
I’m in Floriduh too, and called my pathetic elected officials too. I also called the Congressional leadership. I will call them again today. Let’s keep calling.
I hit the wall, too. I had to stop looking at the pictures. I feel sick to my stomach about it and needed to take a mental health break.. but we are still in it and I am truly frightened about the next several days.
And the super spreaders will go to the hospital and expect to be saved like 💩45 and guileninny were.
It's a very peripheral point, but I recall reading a report that one of the rioters tore something off the wall that had "Chinese" characters on it, saying that there should only be "American" things in the Capitol. Does anyone know what that "something" may have been? Some priceless gift from the Chinese people, or just a multilingual sign pointing to the restrooms?
It may have been the scroll on the wall of the office of my Senator Jeff Merkley. He shared a video after it all happened. The scroll was given to him by a friend and was created by a “renowned artist” in China. There was also a snuffed out cigarette on the table, and a Trump flag left behind, both disgusting. A laptop was stolen, too.
Sen Merkley’s video shows his scroll with the Chinese calligraphy.
https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley/status/1347039504528498688
It’s not peripheral, Dan even if it was just directions to the restrooms. Just another point showing disrespect for all.
I save these letters in Word document & like a school textbook with yellow hi-liter, I underline or bold certain parts. On this one the parts that stand out are the few that are not hi-lited.
It was such an egregious assault on our government by a mob of ignorant cult followers of a sitting, poser president that it is astounding that we do not have a system to have U.S. Marshals taking him to prison in handcuffs. And yet, he is still there, a mentally ill autocrat still posing a threat to our nation. What the crook Richard Nixon did was nothing in comparison.
We have learned these past 4 years and the past week the flaws in our 18th Century Constitution, conceived by White Aristocracy, that assumed gentlemen would be elected to the offices of government. They had no idea that a crude, vulgar, con-man could win a populist vote with a complicit Repugnant Party that put their political (and financial) interests above the very nation and constitution that they lied in their oaths of office to protect.
Excellent! And I save them as well. I got involved with a group of folks on Facebook talking about Trump, people on both sides, and I compared that discussion with ours here and I have to laugh! The intelligent in depth conversations here with facts, history, is so enriching and engaging, compared to a bunch of (forgive me) deplorables! Uneducated, no facts all fiction, and yet as I roll my eyes, I have to say..they may be deplorables but they’re our deplorables. They can’t be reached, reasoned with... when I ask for sources or facts they reply that liberals don’t understand the facts! Brother... these people are not about to storm the Capitol (I don’t think) but they are dangerous... they are the cult, and their children will be raised with blinders on.. and so on. How will we ever discover a vaccine for this sickness?!
Education?
I do think they believed a con-man could win as a populist. They did not, however, seem to imagine that virtually every Congressional elected official from that president's party would abdicate their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution to impeach (and convict) a president who is unquestionably destroying our democracy. But I am wary of changing the law here, wary of giving the legislative branch powers that could be misused in the future, manipulated to remove a president whom they just don't want. My instinct is that despite everything, the balance as it stands now remains as close as we can get to protecting against what is happening right now. That is, we cannot legislate good faith: There is no system that people of bad faith cannot crush if they have broad enough support. (Not saying they have crushed our system; but they are trying and have come as close as ever since the Civil War.) I'm really hoping Heather weighs in on this at some soon point, as I see many comments about how we much ensure this never happens again by changing the Constitution.
Well said.
I hear so many Republicans, many in my own family, claiming, "I'm a conservative, but I'm not like THOSE people!", presumably referring to the armored thugs looking for hostages in halls of Congress. Well, I no longer care what you claim to believe, because it's very clear now what you supported with your money and your votes.
Right, just like Mick Mulvaney on Meet the Press Sunday. After watching several clips of Trump saying incendiary things over the past four years, Mick still says he didn't take them seriously. I am in angry mode right now at all Trump supporters for thinking it was a good idea for a guy with no political experience or background to run the country. I have unfriended all known Trump supporters on Facebook. Maybe I'll get over it--I don't know.
Who knew that a businessman who declared bankruptcy 6 times and boasted of raping women would be a failure as a president? Whoa, all the hands in the room went up.
Good question, Gigi! BUT the trumpetts dont believe that, right?
Yes. No longer can they smugly cling to their self-righteousness. They brought on this crisis. Intellectually, I know we need to heal as a nation, but emotionally, I’m very p*ssed off at all my relatives, friends and neighbors who have supported Trump for the past five years.
Before we can heal, we need to clean the infected wound. If we just let this wound scab over without applying antiseptic and starting a round of antibiotics, the infection will continue to spread, the limb will become gangrenous, and amputation will be necessary. By then, it might be too late to save the body politic.
Does anyone know where I can find a "mental mute" that will prevent me from wagging my finger/tongue at 90% of my republican relatives? I was swiftly put in my place when I replied to a chain email requesting we all get better educated about the George Floyd incident. I replied-all to that email, popped my cork and condemned POTUS publicity stunt in front of the church after blasting peaceful protestors with flash-bangs and mace.
Now the tides have turned and I fully expect those same relatives to engage in a Mexican standoff without any intelligent measurement of the differences in the protests. Since last Wednesday, I had one phone conversation where I was asked what I thought of the riot and I vaguely mulled how terrible the whole situation was, and moved on. Oh what I really could have said.
In the end, my vote was placed and I have to sadly watch all this play out for now. No arguing with differing opinions will do much. I have my own health to consider. High Blood Pressure from arguing with (hopefully peaceful) relatives does no good. Perhaps a few extra emails to elected officials expressing support for Trump's immediate ouster seems like all we have for now.
So, once again, any info on that mental mute?
My solution may not work for you. I unFriended all of mine on Facebook and now they pretend I've cut them out of my life because I decided to stop taking their endless bashing (of me, my education, my politics, my beliefs) on that forum. They all know how to get in touch off-line if they want to, but not a one has reached out after I let them know I use Facebook to visit with friends and they were not being friendly. Frankly, good riddance. I'm 66 and they've given me a hard time my whole life. I don't need that kind of mental battering. I'm fine if I never hear from them again. It's too bad they gave up civility.
Follow the Money
We often hear this refrain in scandals as a way to ascertain where fault lies or a method to uncover evidence of malfeasance. Republicans are already getting a lesson on following the money. Corporate America is swiftly reassessing their corporate giving to PACs and many of the largest givers are halting all political contributions for at least a period of time as they reassess their contribution priorities. Still more are singling out specific PACs that supported politicians associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election who are now viewed as responsible, at least to some degree, for last weeks Capitol riot.
While this trend is likely only in the early stages and it remains to see the extent to which it plays out over time, it is certainly getting the attention of Republicans who have been major benefactors of this giving in support of their campaigns.
There’s nothing that focuses the mind and attention of politicians so clearly as seeing a major source of political contributions push back or walk away. Watch this space as we see how this movement plays out. It may well turn out to be quite significant.
The Lincoln Project has promised to shine a light on this and bring attention to and pressure on those corporations who are identified as major contributors to politicians who carry the label now of sedition and insurrection supporters. That is definitely not attention sought by most of corporate America. The Republican Party is feeling the heat and may get a very interesting lesson. Will they learn anything? Time will tell.
Yes, and big tech has essentially ‘censured’ Trump. So if our lawmakers (some of them) don’t take immediate action against Trump, there are many others, including many with the power of the purse cutting him off at the knees !
'Bout time.
Yes! I felt some relief when I read the lists this morning and what it means to Republicans currently in office. From NYT (paywall) ...
Four of the country’s largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, said they would temporarily stop sending donations from their political action committees.
・JPMorgan Chase is halting donations to Republicans and Democrats through its PAC for six months. “There will be plenty of time for campaigning later,” said Peter Scher, the bank’s head of corporate responsibility.
・Goldman Sachs is freezing donations through its PAC and will conduct “a thorough assessment of how people acted during this period,” a spokesman, Jake Siewert, told DealBook.
・Citigroup is postponing all campaign contributions for a quarter. “We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” Candi Wolff, the bank’s head of government affairs, wrote in an internal memo.
・Morgan Stanley will suspend PAC contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the election, but has not suspended contributions across the board, a spokesman said.
The banks have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and donated to candidates of both parties.
AND
・The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association announced on Friday that it was suspending political contributions to Republicans in Congress who tried to block the electoral vote tallies for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.
I'm glad The Lincoln Project is on this. Also PGA. Also Stripe. Also Twitter, FB, Instagram. And above all, the melting of Parler.
The Oligarchs realign with change of power.
Wow! This is something!
Hey you! So happy you are here!!!
Thank you Heather. I can always depend on you with the facts of the moment.
I feel I would be remiss if I didn't mention how throughly repulsed I was on Saturday when your Letters from an American was pulled from Facebook. I was given the heads-up that it was pulled from a friend that I had directed towards it. To me it was a gut punch that facts can be so easily erased from site. I do appreciate that you did acknowledge what happened, but I must admit I took a verbal position that "no one puts Heather in the corner".
That aside, I would debate anyone on the merits that this was the worst week for this Country in generations. Within 7 days Trump has defiled this Nation with the same intensity that the domestic terrorists did on the Capitol. As the clock strikes at 12:01 on January 20th, we will be just starting the possibly unattainable mission of preserving Democracy. After watching the details unfold from last week, I am skeptical we will win, but atleast Trump will be further from the control panel and for that I am grateful.
I never thought I would see what I did last week in my lifetime.
Be safe, be well.
I posted Heather’s letter to Facebook and never received any notice or explanation. Last time I checked it hadn’t been reposted. I was incensed by the fact that they put their grubby little hands on Heather. Facebook is not very high on my list,,so I was annoyed. But what they continued to do was prevent me from commenting on posts where I was tagged! Just a few, but I was not using any negative rhetoric or questionable language! Actually, I wrote my post with great care, revisions, and was honestly trying to point out the misinformation in the questions from an old high school friend!? That really shook me up! And there is no way (to my knowledge) that I can inquire as to why! That’s unnerving as well!
It was reposted. It's important for us to note how that whole deal underscored how spot on Heather is with her reporting and analysis. Truth is the enemy of enemies domestic.
Yes! But they never put my ‘shared’ post of hers back. Again, I really don’t care, as long as hers was. But it concerned me that they deleted my post and never even mentioned why.. not even a bot?! : )
Agree. But share again.
Cynthia, Facebook did put my shared post back up eventually. It really bothered me greatly that it would happen to Heather. She, out of all people who actually backs every statement up with facts would be targeted is disgusting. I have personally been threatened on Facebook, more than once. I turn in the posts to Facebook and I get their canned, "It doesn't go against Community Standards" response.
It’s known that the screeners for FB are overseen by right wingers. Tasked with eliminating the Y’all Quaeda, it’s not hard to see that they’d feel compelled to “balance” by eliminating opposing views, no matter how fact-based and reasoned.
McConnell belongs on the list with Hawley and Cruz and the rest - Begin his charging with "McConnell is hoping Pelosi will blink and the moment will pass."
And, we likely have set new daily records for Covid 19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.
How can anyone, ANYONE!, stand to have this un-leader, this child-man, in any elective position above dog catcher? Yet the RNC oifficially endorses Trump and their policy "platform" still consists of a single plank; support for Donald Trump.
We were glad 2020 was over. "At last!" we thought. We may reach a point soon where we look back fondly at 2020.
I love dogs more than to elect him dog catcher
Me too—dogs are too important to trust with this incompetent jerk
LOL It’s not likely he could catch any.
Think about it! He has no more feeling for dogs or other animals NONE - than he has for humans - other than for himself-period
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel was unanimously reelected on Friday, January 8, 2021. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-08/trump-retains-grip-on-party-as-mcdaniel-re-elected-to-run-rnc
OMG, and the conversation seemed to be that trump has now lost his grip on the Republican Party. When is this forecast split within the party going to happen?
I'm not convinced that there really is a split. Those Republicans seeming to back away from Trump are probably doing so merely because he seems to be failing in his coup. If he succeeds, they'll be offering their money and their daughters to buy positions in the new regime.
Yes... they are all evaluating which position will serve them the best in 2022 and 2024.
She is evil as well, and in my estimation also has blood in her hands..
I agree— there are only a few without blood on their hands
And the RNC “platform” remains the support of Trump. With Pence so far refusing to invoke the 25th Amendment, Ronna McDaniel gladly standing by Trump, and so many Republican Representatives joining the six Senators in opposing Biden’s certification, those Republicans who care more for their investments than for democracy have a pretty solid wall to stand behind, despite last week’s shocking invasion of the Capitol. Impeachment and conviction are essential.
Not all Establishment Republicans support this President, especially after last week, but an awful lot do — enough to suggest that last week was preface to further political and possibly physical havoc.
I wish there were a dislike button! Thanks, Lynell.
Just saw interview on CBS with Adam Schiff. He thinks House needs to send Articles to Senate, not wait. Of course, Schiff reminds how quickly McConnell was able to install SCOTUS justice not too long ago.
Now there is a true bottom-feeder.