As HCR suggests, the Iowa caucuses are not as concerning as they sound. Adding to HCR's important points about the Iowa caucuses, Robert Hubbell had the following to say:
The American electorate does not look like Iowa caucusgoers. For example, per NPR (in 2021), white evangelicals represent 14% of the US population (compared to 50% of ca…
As HCR suggests, the Iowa caucuses are not as concerning as they sound. Adding to HCR's important points about the Iowa caucuses, Robert Hubbell had the following to say:
The American electorate does not look like Iowa caucusgoers. For example, per NPR (in 2021), white evangelicals represent 14% of the US population (compared to 50% of caucusgoers in Iowa).
Similarly, 61% of Americans are white, compared to 97% of Iowa caucusgoers.
And 36% of Americans believe Joe Biden’s election in 2020 was not legitimate, compared to 66% of Iowa caucusgoers.
The point is obvious: Exercise caution when attempting to extrapolate Trump's victory based on a skewed sample of Iowans who attended the low-turnout caucus on Monday.
Why does this matter?
Although Trump is not technically an incumbent president, his dominance in the Republican party grants him quasi-incumbent status. So, the fact that he garnered only 51% of the vote in a state overrepresented by white evangelical MAGA voters is a troubling sign for Trump—and a hopeful sign for Biden.
Indeed, the signal in the noise is this: Nikki Haley beat Trump in one county—Johnson County. What’s in Johnson County? Answer: The University of Iowa. So, too, with Story County, home to Iowa State University, where Trump won by only 4 percentage points (34% for Trump vs. 30% for Haley).
What’s the lesson? In Iowa counties with younger, more educated voters, Trump loses or barely wins among die-hard Republicans. As I said, the Iowa victory contains troubling signs for Trump.
So, keep the Iowa results in perspective. While important, the caucuses didn’t warrant the wall-wall coverage they received on Monday evening—and do not suggest a general election victory by Trump.
Nonetheless--and this is me talking, now, not Robert Hubbell--be prepared to work hard for a Biden victory in November. As TCinLA says, those GOPers who voted for Haley and DeSanctimonious in the caucuses are probably going to vote for the slimeball. (I think some of them will not bother to vote, but you and I can't take that to the bank.) We need to work like hell to make sure we don't lose our Democracy to one of the most vile, evil H. sapiens ever to walk the planet.
To add to your work order: finished and mailed 125th of 225 GOTV postcards for the election of Tom Suozzi to replace George Santos. It’s a contribution those of us who can’t do phone calls or be poll workers, or run for office can do. The special election is February 13th.
I made phone calls for Tom Suozzi over the weekend and am scheduled to do so a couple more times. It is easy and rewarding to work for Democracy. Thanks to all of you doing what you can, too.
I wrote postcards for the 2022 midterms for a group called Postcards For Swingstates.Iwrote 200 cards and sent them to Pennsylvania.The organization sent me the postcards,a mailing list and directions for what to say on the cards.I paid the postage.I really enjoyed doing this also.Does anyone here know of any group that operates this way?
Another group is https://postcardstovoters.org/. You buy the cards as well as the postage, but there are lots of "Vote" postcards out there on Etsy and other places that aren't that expensive--they postage is by far the bigger investment. You have to write a sample postcard to get your handwriting approved, and then the way they work is quick response--they send enough addresses for a few days worth of cards that you mail right away. I have done (and am continuing to do) postcards into NY-3 for both postcards to voters and Activate America. Postcards2Swingstates won't be going for the 2024 election until May.
I find that writing a few postcards every day is calming--I feel like I am doing a little something, and there's no stress involved, unlike (for me) phone banking or canvassing. But my resolution this year is to make myself do phone banking even though I don't like it. I did my first shift into FL HD 35, which just flipped yesterday! I award myself credit for 1 vote. May or may not be true, but given that the margin was under 600 votes, it stiffens my resolve.
I like phone banking rather than canvassing to people’s homes .I live in a very red county in red Ohio and knocking on doors here is just not my cup-of-tea.I like writing postcards the best though.I didn’t have to provide a sample of my handwriting before but can see why they might want that.
Do they have to be hand written? If I generate printer pc & sign them? Hand writing them must be like doing calligraphy , you get into a meditative state.
But of course! Some of us are not very tech savvy. As long as addresses and who, when, what , where are clear, it’s any which way you can. It’s the card that counts.
Honestly - I find that ridiculous. (lack of cursive) My grandchildren are not learning it either - they are 9 and 10. When and WHO thought that was a good idea? Do they (educators) think these kids will print their names in signing a check? Oh wait - likely just use a card or their phone!
On the other hand, at this point in my life, I have gone back to printing rather than writing (other than my signature) so possibly not such a downer after all.
Thanks so much! I just contacted them. Would others like this post if you are planning to do this as well? It would be encouraging to see how many HCR fans participate!
Actually, the Postcards to Voters group emphasizes and requires handwritten cards for the friendly outreach it provides. I can handle a few a day, 15-20, and sign each one with only my first name.
I wrote postcards too and now am doing so for Tom Suozzi...I am so happy that these have a shorter message (in the past I felt like I was writing my college dissertation on a card!). I just ordered more cards through Amazon. They were $15 for 100 cards but if you can get them for free, all the better.
Hi Victoria, I couldn't find my info from last time I sent postcards but I went on the site - Postcards for Swingstates. It will start in May and I just signed up to receive updates.
When I took my 200 postcards to the Post Office during the midterms in 2022, the man who works there insisted on paying the postage for me. He said, "You did all the hard work. It would make me feel as if I did something to contribute to this effort by paying." I was very moved by this gesture and thanked him. Even though I live in a very RED area, there are a few of us here willing to help the Dems get elected, even if it isn't likely to happen where we live. These particular cards were going to Dem voters in a number of cities in TX, who hadn't voted in a while. Hope the cards made a difference.
So, at least 36% of the American electorate grew up learning to Believe what the white man at the front of the church was selling them and NOT learning to discern and explore and question.
So, when a white man tells them what to believe? Those white folks believe what they are told to believe, like the good Christians they are.
Especially in the Evangelical Christian church, NOT believing whatever the white man at the front of the church is selling on Sunday comes with the dire consequence of hell and damnation.
So, It is not really astounding that a bunch of people trained to believe that for which there is no evidence transfer that skill to Trump's BS glad handed out without evidence.
No, not at all surprising. In fact, it is predictable.
Mike S There is a video that I would love to show to our ‘white American Christians.’ Jesus as a Semite was dark skinned. This was reflected in images of him during the early centuries.
Then Jesus became whiter and whiter. He had been almost ivory pure for centuries.
Now Africa is the continent where Catholicism is the fastest growing. There Jesus’s image has become blacker and blacker.
For white evangelical “Christians,’ I suggest that they replace the image of their orange-skinned god with the historically accurate image of a Semitic looking Jesus. Incidentally, wouldn’t that be a more appropriate symbol for the United States where ‘whites’ are projected to be in a minority within about 15 years?
Keith, in the middle 60s I was in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, teaching in a Catholic boys school run by Irish priests. At school, the boys did all the Catholic things, but they also believed all the local pagan ways as they thought there were ghosts among other things. One of my fellow African teachers told me not to whistle because I would attract evil spirits. There was also lots of juju around. Perhaps this has changed since then. I know you spent some time in Africa as well.
Michele When I was filming in the Southern Sudan in 1954, I saw a ‘pagan church’ that had various semi-human images. At the same time the Catholic Church was seeking to proselytize. I got a movie shot of a young Sudanese with a sling shot as a priest was speaking in a foreign language.
I'd love to see that. In Sierra Leone they had men's and women's societies for making a child an adult. The representatives were called "devils" although I think that might have been an European designation. People could see the Bundu "devil", representing the women, but not the men's. It may have been prohibited just for women. We have many photos of various "devils" dancing. I can't imagine how hot it must have been under all that raffia and the mask as well. Many had bells attached to their legs to set up a rhythm. Once there was kind of pull featuring a long pole. The spirits were in charge of it. The man who worked for us, Thomas participated and the pole dragged them all over.
Imagine if churches started displaying images of a dark-skinned Jesus. The cries of "DEI" would drown out the choruses.
Speaking of skin tone, there's an excellent Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Orlando. When descending on a long escalator, you can't miss the large mural of Jesus. His skin is lighter than mine, which genetically is Northern European pale.
Mike The story of the Virgin Mary is, perhaps, more convoluted than ‘sun screen’ Jesus. After initial focus on the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, as well as the women who were integral to Paul spreading the Gospel to non=Jews, the male Catholics tended to push the Marys aside [Who cooked and served the last supper?}
By the Nicene Council in 325, Mary, Jesus’s close friend, had been dismissed as a prostitute. I believe that the image of the Virgin Mary only became a biggie centuries later—about 1000?
Then the story of ‘immaculate conception’ seemed believable. Also, there was the push for nunneries in which rich women took the vows AND bequeathed all their worldly goods to the Church. This was a significant source of Church funding.
A century later priests (not popes) were forbidden to marry (or even fiddle around?). In part this was to prevent priests from accumulating wealth and leaving it to family rather than Church.
As with indulgences, MONEY often was behind papal policies. When Martin Luther objected, the s++t hit the fan, and so emerged Protestantism. [Martin later married a former nun.]
Thanks for a quick history lesson that I hadn't heard (except for Martin Luther and Protestantism. Increasingly, now that I'm old, the world is finally coming into focus.
Mike, I’d caution that not all Christians deserve being lumped into the “evangelical” witless crowd that “believe what the white man in the pulpit” is telling them. Not all churches are fire breathing cauldrons of hate and false witness. Many Christians abhor this overarching accusation; instead taking the Word in context of the Good News of salvation rather than condemnation of Hell for not following “The Old Testament Law”
We are not associated with that crowd. Religion is faith based, not logical or able to be “proved”. For those who actually use Christ’s teachings as a basis for conduct, this message is exactly opposite of the evangelicals
Yes. These are the people who seek an strong father figure to reassure them and tell them what to think (unthink). Many of them were raised in traditional homes, where father was the boss, and they, as children, were never encouraged to think for themselves. I suspect many were also corporally punished. When you accept religion, you give up your right to think for yourself. Religion, is the only socially sanctioned delusion.
And with that parent to instruct, command, and punish, you never have to take responsibility for anything you do or say, because everything is in accordance with some god's wishes, working in "mysterious ways". I was brought up Episcopalian by two very rational and intellectual parents, which may explain why I don't "get" why anyone would want to "turn it over to" Jesus, or whoever. How demeaning such cults or religions or social/political movements are.
Yes. It's a way to insure that people continue to think and act like children. But what a price to pay to never have the experience of being an adult who is at least partially an agent in one's own life. It's one very unfortunate result of our long dependency because of our big brain which takes 25 years or so to actually mature. During that dependence we are vulnerable to all kinds of environmental insults, including religiosity, that shapes the wiring in our brains. It takes someone pretty determined and fortunate to have a good temperament to wrest themselves free from the hold that early religious brainwashing can have. Teaching children that those myths and stories are facts is a form of child abuse because it can prevent the child from ever being able to see the world more accurately. Such a waste.
It is astounding and I think I read that in a choosing a jury for one of his trials in NYC, two of the pool held up their hands when asked about that. They were not seated. I also think I read that he held up his little hand too. I think he was present to intimidate the jurors, who are being kept in secret and in a secure place for their own safely. It is so sad that we have arrived at this kind of intimidation from the death star and other Rs. This is what thugs do.
Perhaps it is well to remember that Israeli settler extremists in the West Bank are terrorists, and therefore Israel, funding the settlers and giving them guns, is a state sponsor of terrorism.
See “France Calls West Bank Israeli Settler Violence a ‘Policy of Terror’”
You are taking up too much space on this comments forum. I have to scroll too much to get to other people's opinions. You are like a drunk at a party that everyone is tired of listening to. Sometimes "less is more"?
You certainly have a right to state something. But Jeeesh, what if you saved some space for the thousands of others who might have something interesting to say. There ARE other places to vent!
Bill -- well, in fairness to John, he deleted a comment he made to me yesterday, accusing me of being stupid after I set a trap for him, which he fell into. My subsequent reply to him left him nowhere to run, so he deleted his comment, lest it show his mistake.
Really. Hmm. So I'll ask my question again, John: either Russia bombs discriminately, targeting the civilian population, or indiscriminately, meaning there's a problem with their control systems. Which is it, John? But no matter what the cause is, such bombings are war crimes. Get over it. Goodbye.
(Yes, I know he's a troll, but I won't be called a liar.)
In general, if I get trolled a lot, then I say more than I otherwise would.
If you could request that those whose posts contain nothing but mockery and insults hold their peace, that might cut down on the number of posts surrounding my presentation of my point of view.
p.s. You didn't want to say anything about Joe "Bought-and-paid-for" Biden, a wholly owned subsidiary of the so-called pro-Israel lobby as Israel staggers belligerently toward annihilation. Perhaps Biden should register as a foreign agent?
At the top, the Republicans are every bit as bought-and-paid-for by various special interests (prominently including the Israel lobby) as the Democrats.
Trump is a loser; he's getting nibbled to death by legal piranhas who don't like the taste. (So Republicans will end up choosing between Neo Nikki and Ron Con.)
1. Israel faces an existential crisis as soon as the U.S. "aid spigot" gets cut off for whatever reason (including possible American political or economic crisis).
2. Any viable solution must enable Israel to be secure without constant infusions of American aid.
3. This requires peace with Israel’s neighbors, including Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
4. This requires undoing the Nakba terrorist atrocity and withdrawing to the U.N.-mandated pre-1948 borders.
5. This can only be done in the context of peaceful economic integration throughout the region, for the benefit of all. A lasting peace must be guaranteed individually by each permanent member of the U.N. Security council, and endorsed by Israel’s neighbors.
6. The recent Hamas atrocities were sparked by provocations (yet again) at the Dome of the Rock. The dream of rebuilding the Temple of Herod must be given up and replaced by the will to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in its correct location.
Ferr crisssakes John.... how many of your friends know you are on here associating with this bunch of dumb-clucks? Huh..? Of course, "Schmeeckle" is probably some concoction you came up with..., but maybe not. What ethnic origin or nationality is carried by that name? Did it come out of Klienaspach c-1848? I'm not making fun here...because I wonder how it might help me understand you a little better. I'm no rookie. I've been around this world. I've been able to observe all brands of humanity.., shapes, colors, mannerisms, creeds. So, where are you? Really. Ooops mispelling: it's KLEinaspach.
My impression is that around here there is a good number of thoughtful people who get intimidated by heavy-handed Biden operatives.
I suspect that, as the Biden campaign goes slowly off the rails and down the drain (together with the Trump campaign), the environment around here will clear up considerably and people will feel freer to engage with the ideas that I bring to the table.
My y-DNA shows Norse origin. I am an ethnic mix of German, English and Scottish and Dutch, in that order, mirroring the ethnic mix of pre-Ellis Island white Americans. The ancestry of both of my parents goes back to both the Mayflower and to Virginia before the Mayflower.
I will suggest that at the top, everyone is on the take: They're all bought and paid for.
Even Supreme Court justices (except for Clarence Thomas, who has a different boatload of ethics problems) get "made" with million-dollar book deals that get paid for by public libraries across the country.
David’s post was very thoroughly written and Christopher, your counterpost was extremely salient. What to make of this blizzard of granular information from a granular state?
I have long been a proponent of the idea that Trump would not survive the primaries and that would be the beginning of the end for him or a consequence of the real end for him. Sorry for the woolly phrasing there. Essentially I thought he’d be driven out by ongoing prosecutions with at least one trial going on OR Trump would already have been convicted by now and would be irrelevant or (foolish me) even in jail.
How was I wrong? Let me count the ways.
1.
I thought that an AG of even modest foresight who had witnessed 1/6 would have realized the deadly serious threat that Trump posed and began his investigation at the top or at least ran it concurrently with that into the bottom feeders. I cannot express how disappointed I am in Garland’s failure to show even rudimentary prescience by so doing. And to top it off I am insulted by his placatory speech of some two years ago, trying to teach us how investigations “work”. If his tenure does not define the word “failure”, then I have misunderstood that word all my life.
2.
A couple of years ago I thought that one or two pragmatic, morally sound candidates would emerge and that in unison they would attack Trump day after day, but by bit shaking leaves off the “credibility tree” that seems to be his and his alone.
I cannot express my outrage and disappoint sufficiently at what has bubbled to the top of the toxic stew of Republicanism - Ron deSantis and Nikki Haley. DeSantis is extraordinarily unpopular with the media I consume. I do not feel the same level of animus for him. To me, he’s a wannabe, the kid who wants to run rings around the others to be the apple of the teacher’s eye. Some of his efforts are kinda sorta laudable (99 counties), but the fact that he used Florida as a launching pad to gain favor with broader America was disgusting. Picking fights that he couldn’t lose (in an immediate sense), signing a 6 week abortion ban *at midnight* so as not to leave visual evidence behind are just two ways in which he put what he thought was his own good ahead of the good of the people who elected him to make their state a better place. My imagination conjures, “Turn around for a minute. Poof! I’m a strong man”. And DeSantis is the village that charisma clearly skirted.
I had mild hopes for Nikki Haley. I didn’t know her well, but from a distance her resume looked good, she was clearly telegenic, and she *had* taken down the Confederate flag.
But how bitterly she has disappointed me. I just wanted someone to be a fearless schoolmarm to Trump’s deranged catalog of behavior - the kind of principal who would sum the evidence and then expel him from school.
Alas, she displayed early on that her greatest fear was displeasing anybody, least of all the hulking MAGA crowd silently banging their billy sticks in hand. So she refused to attack Trump with the flimsiest of overriding pretexts - “he was the right President for the time”. Really? You could have fooled me when Covid struck and he wrote his ode to bleach.
Yesterday in the wake of her Iowa debacle - it’s got to be hard to lose to DeSantis - she was asked on CNN what she thought of the EJ Carroll rape hearing court to which Trump was going in order to preen.
In a classic Haley move, she led with the big lie and then tried to obfuscate it with a word salad of breathtaking proportions. “I haven’t really paid much attention to that case” - followed by 30 seconds of less than artful dodging.
What??? You haven’t paid attention to a RAPE case against the President, already civilly revived. A zombie case that refuses to leave the public eye. Really? Really? You just *missed* that - as if this was some kind of back page news? It never caught your eye that a woman of success and style was hustled into a Bloomingdale’s change room and viciously attacked?
My, what small eyes you have.
I had already metaphorically crossed her name off with a pen before. Now, equally metaphorically, I dragged my pen through her name viciously, ripping the paper in the process. Don’t play me for a fool.
Between Heather’s article and David’s post, I saw more of what most frightens me now - a troubling indicator that we are beginning to grasp at straws in order to snatch meagre victory from the vicious jaws of defeat. Trump is a force. He has, it seems, unlimited money to wave his court cases off into the sunset. His hold on the MAGA base is like nothing I’ve ever seen. They LOVE him. He’s fun, he’s daring and most of all he validates them. And yes, he has to beyond that base, but he is. The Democrats’ hold on voters of color is shrinking. College students are turning to him (maybe largely because there is genuine famine in Gaza now).
I, for one, would like to see a monumental Trump gaffe. Like incontrovertible evidence of him romping with one of Epstein’s toys. I think everybody who knows this story feels sickening revulsion at the terrible treatment these girls suffered. As a father myself, it is soul destroying. That is one crime that would sink Trump to the bottom of the ocean in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, as with so many other situations in America there is real, physical fear of Trump who would set his goons on anybody who threatened his path.
These are dark days. The darkest yet. My hope is that when these fucking R primaries end, Biden will finally get some oxygen. Right now you might as well put a halo over Trump’s head.
The place to start looking for evidence of Biden vote fraud is the 2020 Massachusetts primary, with identical 4% swings between the exit polls and the official results, in Biden's favor, away from both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren:
TC, you write a well regarded Substack. This troll is repeatedly reported. He is insulting, divisive, spreads misinformation and apparently uses this forum to self-promote his own Substack over and over.
He has been reported multiple times by many here.
Can you enlighten us of the behind the scenes actions of Substack administrators as to why our reports about his actions are ignored?
I wish I could enlighten everyone on this. I've never heard back from anyone about any of the many troll reports I have made. The report is given to the owner of the Substack, and they take the action or not as they see fit. I have seen some trolls here get zapped, but I think HCR likely takes the Academic's position on free speech and leaves them. Myself, I have the policy at TAFM of comments being open to paid subscribers only, as does Robert Hubbell; this cuts off almost all trolls, since they're cheapskates and won't pay to promote their trollery.
Hey Ivan, how are Russian trolls paid? You said in a reply to me that there are a lot of sick people on this site. And I told you to pound salt. We don't get paid to support Biden. We do it for free.
Perhaps it is well to remember that Israeli settler extremists in the West Bank are terrorists, and therefore Israel, funding the settlers and giving them guns, is a state sponsor of terrorism.
See “France Calls West Bank Israeli Settler Violence a ‘Policy of Terror’”
I have a suggestion, John. Let's resolve this issue based on the number of young children killed on each side, for they are the only true innocents in this whole business. They don't give money to politicians on either side. They don't influence their peers or their children in either direction. They don't carry weapons. They don't understand the ongoing differences and the conflicts that have roiled this area for so long that time itself has become meaningless. They know only the incomprehensible terror of being in a war zone, as children have done since we begin killing each other en masse over four millennia ago. The real problem here is our mad determination to sort ourselves into groups and sects and factions and all the other reasons we've found to amplify our differences at the expense of our common humanity. How about that. Let's concentrate on that one, shall we.
p.s. I don't recall that I said there were a lot of sick people around here, but I could have. I think that there are a lot of healthy people around here who get intimidated by the paid Biden trolls.
Hubbell always talks me down from the ledge! Also there's this from the NYT today - what tffg won in Iowa was 60,000 votes. It's crazy that that has anything to do with electing a president at all. But David's last line is worth repeating, every day: "We need to fight like hell to make sure we don't lose our Democracy to one of the most vile, evil H. sapiens ever to walk the planet."
And yet the only coverage they provide is akin to a horse race! They are not talking about the threats to our democracy, they are not talking about the deeply unpopular policies that tfg would put in place, they are not talking about the stark differences between him and Biden, etc.
DeSantis finally said something I agree with- Fox and conservative media are deferential to Trump out of fear of losing viewership. It’s all about money. And everyone I know who watches Fox et al, are angry and basically brainwashed.
How did you block him? I have no knowledge of how to do that. I just keep reporting him over and over and over and advise all to do so. Eventually the administrators of the site will block him.
In all honesty, as much as I regularly disagree with John S, I'll argue for his right to post here. Unless someone is posting dangerously vile abhorrent language that may put people at risk, I loathe censorship. We can read or scroll past his comments.
Too much time, money, and attention was paid to 110,000 voters. Way too much. Somebody should calculate how much the campaign cost per vote, for perspective.
I agree with your points and hope you are proven right, but younger voters have to show up and vote for Biden in the general and he is rapidly losing that crucial demographic because of his continued support for the Israeli government’s war in Gaza. Fair or not, this is a troublesome reality for the Biden campaign.
The greatest fear I have is that not enough younger voters (under 60) will show up to vote. They may be alienated by the Gaza situation. But I worry more about the perception of Biden as an old man. I happen to think Biden's age is an asset. And he has been the best president in my lifetime. But I am part of his generation.
Losing the presidency to fascism is an awful idea. But perhaps even worse are all those down-ticket races where we may lose. Those jobs that are the nuts and bolts of our society. I am terrified.
My own kids and their friends/colleagues say they WILL vote, but ONLY on the down-ticket races. They get lots of their news from unfiltered reports, direct feeds from reporters, NGOs, and others who post interviews/videos that lay bare the death and destruction in Gaza. They know about the Hamas atrocities, but can’t countenance the Israeli response, and they blame Biden. It reminds me of the weekly body counts and film from the field broadcast on the evening news when I was a kid. Those numbers and images (along with the Pentagon Papers, My Lai, and pictures of nepalmed civilians) turned middle America against the Vietnam War. I really worry that lack of support from younger voters, coupled with our archaic Electoral College system, will leave us with Trump.
Thanks for the feedback. At the risk of being a wise guy, could I suggest to them that Biden is not the president of Israel? I'm not saying that Biden couldn't be more forceful in dealing with Bibi. But there is clearly a generational divide telative to the plight of Israeli Jews.
My generation has embedded in my brain and DNA the pictures of the Holocaust. October 7th made me scream "No More!".
And yet, I weep for Gaza.
The bottom line is a choice between a president who does 90% of everything right and a fascist narcissist who will destroy us. And the US.
Not voting is a choice, just like choosing to vote, for a particular candidate, is a choice. It is certainly not a vote for fascism, more likely a vote against a corrupt duopoly that is leading us towards fascism.
Keep up the vote shaming, Bill. That’ll bring those young ‘uns around.
Any vote not for Joe Biden (or whoever the Democratic candidate for president is this year) is a vote that COULD have been for democracy. This is a battle with a fascist monster who was responsible for thousands of Covid deaths, who committed rape and fraud, who has threatened to dismantle the entire apparatus of Federal oversight of the environment, who has pledged to round up millions of people and either put them in camps or deport them (the people who produce our FOOD). That's just for starters.
Joe Biden is far from perfect. Show me a perfect president and I'll build a statue. But he is the best thing we have right now. Please read Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation. Not voting for Biden is voting for THAT. And yes, not voting should be shamed and IMO, it should be mandatory. Read about Australia.
Your "duopoly" is a fantastical rationalization for not getting just what you want. It was probably Bernie. Who I voted for, BTW. The only one I like better is our Senator Warren. But I live in a real world.
There is a freight train of destruction, of a party that wants to establish a National Religion, who wants women to be subservient and without reproductive rights.
That train is packed with people who are worried about being "replaced by others". They should be worried. And they should be replaced.
Vote or don't complain when they come for you and your friends.
100%, Bill. But we (USA) either directly or indirectly provide the weapons. That’s why my kids say they’ll withhold their support. I try to tell them that I’ve often voted for “the lesser of two evils” but they come back at me, saying they’re already tired of doing that. It’s their votes. In the end.
IMO, not voting when we're staring down the barrel of the "no more elections ever" gun is kind of like not wearing a mask in a pandemic. You may not INTEND to get anyone sick unto death, but you may end up doing it, all the same.
I understand their concern for Gaza, however, that is one (a huge one) of many global issues. If not voting for Biden gets us Trump we lose on Climate Change, we lose on improved gun control (40,000 people die in the US annually from gun violence) and Ukraine doesn't get much needed assistance.
I would think that the fact that Trump wants to drill, drill, drill would encourage them to hold their noses and vote for Biden.
The reports that young people aren't going to vote for Biden is pushing me to sign up with our local Indivisible group to talk to and register young voters.
....he idea of replacing American democracy with an authoritarian who will enact Christian nationalism is not generally popular.
The term "Christian nationalism" degrades the teachings of Jesus Christ. Can't we please add 'faux" to the term - "faux-Christian nationalism?"
Also, the term "evangelical" is wrongly applied to this group of cruel and hateful people-
evangelical /ē″văn-jĕl′ĭ-kəl, ĕv″ən-/
adjective
Of, relating to, or in accordance with the Christian gospel, especially one of the four gospel books of the New Testament.
Of, relating to, or being a Christian church believing in the Bible as the sole source of religious authority, in salvation only through conversion and spiritual regeneration, and in the necessity of public witness to faith.
Of or relating to the Lutheran churches in Germany and Switzerland.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition • More at Wordnik
In Andrew L Whitehead's book TAKING AMERICA BACK FOR GOD he gives lots of statistics re Christian Nationalism & saying it does not necessarily mean that it has anything to do with Christianity even tho it may be preached in a so called christian church. If u have not listened to or read Tim Alberta, it helps define what this group of faux Christian's are about. I hope it will clarify your understanding .
Thanks Carole I will check him out. Do you listen to John Fugelsang on progressive radio. He is brilliant in my opinion. His parents were both believers and worked for the church. He is also and is very good.
I am a non-theist and have attended UU services years ago. I have no beef with the UU's.
John Fugelsang is what I would call a Christian. He is a student of Christ's teaching in the Bible like the parables and the sermons. Did Christ actually say these things? I have no idea but they are good lessons I think.
But he is also a progressive and dislikes the GOP and calls them out like HCR does.
Drilling down on every election in the past 30 years provides the same picture. The Republican Party is the minority party in the US. They represent a clear minority of voters in the House and the Senate. They have systematically and cunningly gained dominance in Congress and they have gamed the electoral college system to win the presidency despite losing the popular vote for president in the last 4 presidential contests.
Poll after poll for over 30 years, clearly indicates that the Republican Party has not and cannot capture the heart and mind of most voters with their divisive, extremist policies. Their winning ways are the result of fueling imbedded racist beliefs of an aggrieved white population who flatly reject multiculturalism. They believe government should not serve equally everyone. They believe preferential treatment, if given, should go to white people. They believe white Anglo Saxon protestants (WASPS) are the sole reason the US is the greatest country on earth; all 'others' are vermin, sub-human or undeserving of equal status.
Republicans historically have signaled racist, bigoted and xenophobic beliefs because it was the key to their systematic capture of the majority of state houses. They understand that if you control a state, you can control the voting apparatus, the state courts and the composition of the districts.
When you breakdown the vote, the results are always what we have know for decades. White people vote for people who reflect their view of what America should be. Trump is a bona fide racist and has proven his desire to elevate white heterosexual people over all others. MAGA is make America great again for white people. There is no other issue of greater importance for Republicans. Republicans are engaged in wholesale purification of race. No different than Hitler and the Nazis.
Let me ask, no matter how we break it down, does anyone seriously believe that Iowa is going to shift blue? This election will come down to a handful of swing states and a tiny percentage of votes that tilt ever so slightly the Electoral College, one way or another. That's not democracy in action; its an outcome dictated by decades of election engineering.
Win or lose, the chaos and turmoil of the last couple decades will surely continue and probably get much worse. Systemic changes must be made! Fundamental precepts must be put in place! This won't happen until a representative democracy is resurrected and when majority rule is ensured at the ballot box, in the halls of Congress, and in the Supreme Court. Faith and trust in government must be restored! The judicial system must purge judges and attorneys who have made a mockery of the system by putting their personal beliefs before the rule of law.
This is a cause that will require all hands on deck. This is the second Civil War to save the Union. This is NOT just another election that must be won.
The AP article, in today's Grand Rapids (MI) press, gives absolutely no context to the Iowa vote, no mention of turnout or comparison with votes in previous primaries.
Also exercise caution when, after listening to analysis, you are tempted to relax. There are other factors at work. Biden needs a lot of help and part of that is for those still complaining about him they need to face up to their choices.
It's hard to believe that all that media noise went to that small bunch of non-typical voters. Someone should have made the observation that most of these folks were the die-hard Trump's cultists, those that can overlook the insurrectionist, those that have guzzled his Kool-aid, those that neither acknowledge nor appreciate the Constitution and the rule of law. That is a loud but very small percentage to the US populace or voters. The MSM did the rest of us no favors by ignoring these facts.
Joe Petticone wrote, in the Bulwark, that if you look at the projected New Hampshire numbers for TFG (43.5%) and compare them to previous incumbents, things don’t look good for TFG. Lyndon Johnson got 48% and he withdrew; Gerald Ford got 48% and lost the general election; and George H. W. Bush got 58% and lost the General election.
As HCR suggests, the Iowa caucuses are not as concerning as they sound. Adding to HCR's important points about the Iowa caucuses, Robert Hubbell had the following to say:
The American electorate does not look like Iowa caucusgoers. For example, per NPR (in 2021), white evangelicals represent 14% of the US population (compared to 50% of caucusgoers in Iowa).
Similarly, 61% of Americans are white, compared to 97% of Iowa caucusgoers.
And 36% of Americans believe Joe Biden’s election in 2020 was not legitimate, compared to 66% of Iowa caucusgoers.
The point is obvious: Exercise caution when attempting to extrapolate Trump's victory based on a skewed sample of Iowans who attended the low-turnout caucus on Monday.
Why does this matter?
Although Trump is not technically an incumbent president, his dominance in the Republican party grants him quasi-incumbent status. So, the fact that he garnered only 51% of the vote in a state overrepresented by white evangelical MAGA voters is a troubling sign for Trump—and a hopeful sign for Biden.
Indeed, the signal in the noise is this: Nikki Haley beat Trump in one county—Johnson County. What’s in Johnson County? Answer: The University of Iowa. So, too, with Story County, home to Iowa State University, where Trump won by only 4 percentage points (34% for Trump vs. 30% for Haley).
What’s the lesson? In Iowa counties with younger, more educated voters, Trump loses or barely wins among die-hard Republicans. As I said, the Iowa victory contains troubling signs for Trump.
So, keep the Iowa results in perspective. While important, the caucuses didn’t warrant the wall-wall coverage they received on Monday evening—and do not suggest a general election victory by Trump.
Nonetheless--and this is me talking, now, not Robert Hubbell--be prepared to work hard for a Biden victory in November. As TCinLA says, those GOPers who voted for Haley and DeSanctimonious in the caucuses are probably going to vote for the slimeball. (I think some of them will not bother to vote, but you and I can't take that to the bank.) We need to work like hell to make sure we don't lose our Democracy to one of the most vile, evil H. sapiens ever to walk the planet.
To add to your work order: finished and mailed 125th of 225 GOTV postcards for the election of Tom Suozzi to replace George Santos. It’s a contribution those of us who can’t do phone calls or be poll workers, or run for office can do. The special election is February 13th.
I wrote 79 postcards for Tom Suozzi as well. It feels good to take action and all of these slime balls need to be stopped.
I wrote so many for Tom Suozzi.........
https://postcardstovoters.org/
I made phone calls for Tom Suozzi over the weekend and am scheduled to do so a couple more times. It is easy and rewarding to work for Democracy. Thanks to all of you doing what you can, too.
I’ll second that Emily👏 thank you all for the actions ...walkin’ the walk🙌
From a friend that organizes post card writing, I’m going today to buy stamps. The price goes up on Sunday.
I wrote postcards for the 2022 midterms for a group called Postcards For Swingstates.Iwrote 200 cards and sent them to Pennsylvania.The organization sent me the postcards,a mailing list and directions for what to say on the cards.I paid the postage.I really enjoyed doing this also.Does anyone here know of any group that operates this way?
Another group is https://postcardstovoters.org/. You buy the cards as well as the postage, but there are lots of "Vote" postcards out there on Etsy and other places that aren't that expensive--they postage is by far the bigger investment. You have to write a sample postcard to get your handwriting approved, and then the way they work is quick response--they send enough addresses for a few days worth of cards that you mail right away. I have done (and am continuing to do) postcards into NY-3 for both postcards to voters and Activate America. Postcards2Swingstates won't be going for the 2024 election until May.
I find that writing a few postcards every day is calming--I feel like I am doing a little something, and there's no stress involved, unlike (for me) phone banking or canvassing. But my resolution this year is to make myself do phone banking even though I don't like it. I did my first shift into FL HD 35, which just flipped yesterday! I award myself credit for 1 vote. May or may not be true, but given that the margin was under 600 votes, it stiffens my resolve.
I like phone banking rather than canvassing to people’s homes .I live in a very red county in red Ohio and knocking on doors here is just not my cup-of-tea.I like writing postcards the best though.I didn’t have to provide a sample of my handwriting before but can see why they might want that.
Do they have to be hand written? If I generate printer pc & sign them? Hand writing them must be like doing calligraphy , you get into a meditative state.
But of course! Some of us are not very tech savvy. As long as addresses and who, when, what , where are clear, it’s any which way you can. It’s the card that counts.
The organizations I use are all handwritten. There may be others.
My 21 y.o. nephew can't read cursive (& it's not being taught in schools), only printing- would hate to lose those voters.
Honestly - I find that ridiculous. (lack of cursive) My grandchildren are not learning it either - they are 9 and 10. When and WHO thought that was a good idea? Do they (educators) think these kids will print their names in signing a check? Oh wait - likely just use a card or their phone!
On the other hand, at this point in my life, I have gone back to printing rather than writing (other than my signature) so possibly not such a downer after all.
Good point. At least one of the organizations makes that point and asks that you print.
I also wrote postcards before the 2020 election, and will do so again. I wish I had the contact information for the organizers!
I'm writing for Activate America!
https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards
Thank you Robbie. I signed up for this. Now… where does one get post cards?
Thanks to all you gals who get it done! Postcard parties are a great way to do this and create community
https://postcardstovoters.org/
This is one organization.
Thanks so much! I just contacted them. Would others like this post if you are planning to do this as well? It would be encouraging to see how many HCR fans participate!
I'm writing for Activate America!
https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards
I did the same Victoria. I will try to find the info.
Thank-you.
Actually, the Postcards to Voters group emphasizes and requires handwritten cards for the friendly outreach it provides. I can handle a few a day, 15-20, and sign each one with only my first name.
I wrote postcards too and now am doing so for Tom Suozzi...I am so happy that these have a shorter message (in the past I felt like I was writing my college dissertation on a card!). I just ordered more cards through Amazon. They were $15 for 100 cards but if you can get them for free, all the better.
Hi Victoria, I couldn't find my info from last time I sent postcards but I went on the site - Postcards for Swingstates. It will start in May and I just signed up to receive updates.
Thank-you.Am going to their site now.
I’m finishing up my postcards today and will bring them to my post office. It’s what I can do.
When I took my 200 postcards to the Post Office during the midterms in 2022, the man who works there insisted on paying the postage for me. He said, "You did all the hard work. It would make me feel as if I did something to contribute to this effort by paying." I was very moved by this gesture and thanked him. Even though I live in a very RED area, there are a few of us here willing to help the Dems get elected, even if it isn't likely to happen where we live. These particular cards were going to Dem voters in a number of cities in TX, who hadn't voted in a while. Hope the cards made a difference.
Thank you for the story. It’s a bit of warmth on a cold day!
Boy, that just brought tears to my eyes...you are both fantastic!
Well done, Virginia! I have also been writing cards for Tom Suozzi but, not anywhere close to the number you have written!! Thanks.
Thank You, Virginia!
"36% of Americans believe Joe Biden’s election in 2020 was not legitimate"
Nice post David. But that fact is astounding
24% of Americans claim the "evangelical" moniker.
At least another 10% are serious Catholics.
So, at least 36% of the American electorate grew up learning to Believe what the white man at the front of the church was selling them and NOT learning to discern and explore and question.
So, when a white man tells them what to believe? Those white folks believe what they are told to believe, like the good Christians they are.
Especially in the Evangelical Christian church, NOT believing whatever the white man at the front of the church is selling on Sunday comes with the dire consequence of hell and damnation.
So, It is not really astounding that a bunch of people trained to believe that for which there is no evidence transfer that skill to Trump's BS glad handed out without evidence.
No, not at all surprising. In fact, it is predictable.
Mike S There is a video that I would love to show to our ‘white American Christians.’ Jesus as a Semite was dark skinned. This was reflected in images of him during the early centuries.
Then Jesus became whiter and whiter. He had been almost ivory pure for centuries.
Now Africa is the continent where Catholicism is the fastest growing. There Jesus’s image has become blacker and blacker.
For white evangelical “Christians,’ I suggest that they replace the image of their orange-skinned god with the historically accurate image of a Semitic looking Jesus. Incidentally, wouldn’t that be a more appropriate symbol for the United States where ‘whites’ are projected to be in a minority within about 15 years?
Keith, in the middle 60s I was in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, teaching in a Catholic boys school run by Irish priests. At school, the boys did all the Catholic things, but they also believed all the local pagan ways as they thought there were ghosts among other things. One of my fellow African teachers told me not to whistle because I would attract evil spirits. There was also lots of juju around. Perhaps this has changed since then. I know you spent some time in Africa as well.
Michele When I was filming in the Southern Sudan in 1954, I saw a ‘pagan church’ that had various semi-human images. At the same time the Catholic Church was seeking to proselytize. I got a movie shot of a young Sudanese with a sling shot as a priest was speaking in a foreign language.
I'd love to see that. In Sierra Leone they had men's and women's societies for making a child an adult. The representatives were called "devils" although I think that might have been an European designation. People could see the Bundu "devil", representing the women, but not the men's. It may have been prohibited just for women. We have many photos of various "devils" dancing. I can't imagine how hot it must have been under all that raffia and the mask as well. Many had bells attached to their legs to set up a rhythm. Once there was kind of pull featuring a long pole. The spirits were in charge of it. The man who worked for us, Thomas participated and the pole dragged them all over.
Imagine if churches started displaying images of a dark-skinned Jesus. The cries of "DEI" would drown out the choruses.
Speaking of skin tone, there's an excellent Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Orlando. When descending on a long escalator, you can't miss the large mural of Jesus. His skin is lighter than mine, which genetically is Northern European pale.
Mike The story of the Virgin Mary is, perhaps, more convoluted than ‘sun screen’ Jesus. After initial focus on the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, as well as the women who were integral to Paul spreading the Gospel to non=Jews, the male Catholics tended to push the Marys aside [Who cooked and served the last supper?}
By the Nicene Council in 325, Mary, Jesus’s close friend, had been dismissed as a prostitute. I believe that the image of the Virgin Mary only became a biggie centuries later—about 1000?
Then the story of ‘immaculate conception’ seemed believable. Also, there was the push for nunneries in which rich women took the vows AND bequeathed all their worldly goods to the Church. This was a significant source of Church funding.
A century later priests (not popes) were forbidden to marry (or even fiddle around?). In part this was to prevent priests from accumulating wealth and leaving it to family rather than Church.
As with indulgences, MONEY often was behind papal policies. When Martin Luther objected, the s++t hit the fan, and so emerged Protestantism. [Martin later married a former nun.]
AH THE PRAYERS PREY!
Thanks for a quick history lesson that I hadn't heard (except for Martin Luther and Protestantism. Increasingly, now that I'm old, the world is finally coming into focus.
Mike, I’d caution that not all Christians deserve being lumped into the “evangelical” witless crowd that “believe what the white man in the pulpit” is telling them. Not all churches are fire breathing cauldrons of hate and false witness. Many Christians abhor this overarching accusation; instead taking the Word in context of the Good News of salvation rather than condemnation of Hell for not following “The Old Testament Law”
We are not associated with that crowd. Religion is faith based, not logical or able to be “proved”. For those who actually use Christ’s teachings as a basis for conduct, this message is exactly opposite of the evangelicals
Yes. These are the people who seek an strong father figure to reassure them and tell them what to think (unthink). Many of them were raised in traditional homes, where father was the boss, and they, as children, were never encouraged to think for themselves. I suspect many were also corporally punished. When you accept religion, you give up your right to think for yourself. Religion, is the only socially sanctioned delusion.
Cult: A small unpopular religion
Religion: A large popular cult
A large popular cult with political power, protected by the State (usually).
And with that parent to instruct, command, and punish, you never have to take responsibility for anything you do or say, because everything is in accordance with some god's wishes, working in "mysterious ways". I was brought up Episcopalian by two very rational and intellectual parents, which may explain why I don't "get" why anyone would want to "turn it over to" Jesus, or whoever. How demeaning such cults or religions or social/political movements are.
Yes. It's a way to insure that people continue to think and act like children. But what a price to pay to never have the experience of being an adult who is at least partially an agent in one's own life. It's one very unfortunate result of our long dependency because of our big brain which takes 25 years or so to actually mature. During that dependence we are vulnerable to all kinds of environmental insults, including religiosity, that shapes the wiring in our brains. It takes someone pretty determined and fortunate to have a good temperament to wrest themselves free from the hold that early religious brainwashing can have. Teaching children that those myths and stories are facts is a form of child abuse because it can prevent the child from ever being able to see the world more accurately. Such a waste.
It is astounding and I think I read that in a choosing a jury for one of his trials in NYC, two of the pool held up their hands when asked about that. They were not seated. I also think I read that he held up his little hand too. I think he was present to intimidate the jurors, who are being kept in secret and in a secure place for their own safely. It is so sad that we have arrived at this kind of intimidation from the death star and other Rs. This is what thugs do.
Joe "bought-and-paid-for" Biden received more money (by far) from the Israel lobby than any other senator in history:
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?cycle=All&ind=Q05&mem=Y&recipdetail=S
Reuters says the same thing:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/i-am-zionist-how-joe-bidens-lifelong-bond-with-israel-shapes-war-policy-2023-10-21/#:~:text=During%20his%2036%20years%20in,to%20the%20Open%20Secrets%20database.
Perhaps it is well to remember that Israeli settler extremists in the West Bank are terrorists, and therefore Israel, funding the settlers and giving them guns, is a state sponsor of terrorism.
See “France Calls West Bank Israeli Settler Violence a ‘Policy of Terror’”
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/france-calls-west-bank-israeli-settler-violence-policy-terror-2023-11-16/
and
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-gaza-west-bank-settler-violence-palestinians-rcna123311
and "The Rise of Settler Terrorism" (published in Foreign Affairs)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41720862
John,
You are taking up too much space on this comments forum. I have to scroll too much to get to other people's opinions. You are like a drunk at a party that everyone is tired of listening to. Sometimes "less is more"?
You certainly have a right to state something. But Jeeesh, what if you saved some space for the thousands of others who might have something interesting to say. There ARE other places to vent!
Bill -- well, in fairness to John, he deleted a comment he made to me yesterday, accusing me of being stupid after I set a trap for him, which he fell into. My subsequent reply to him left him nowhere to run, so he deleted his comment, lest it show his mistake.
...said Mr. Make-believe fantasy-land liar.
Really. Hmm. So I'll ask my question again, John: either Russia bombs discriminately, targeting the civilian population, or indiscriminately, meaning there's a problem with their control systems. Which is it, John? But no matter what the cause is, such bombings are war crimes. Get over it. Goodbye.
(Yes, I know he's a troll, but I won't be called a liar.)
I have said what I have to say.
In general, if I get trolled a lot, then I say more than I otherwise would.
If you could request that those whose posts contain nothing but mockery and insults hold their peace, that might cut down on the number of posts surrounding my presentation of my point of view.
p.s. You didn't want to say anything about Joe "Bought-and-paid-for" Biden, a wholly owned subsidiary of the so-called pro-Israel lobby as Israel staggers belligerently toward annihilation. Perhaps Biden should register as a foreign agent?
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2024/comment/47485611
John S
“..............”
Oh ok so it’s not just Biden the Democrat being bought but also Mike Johnson the Republican. Gotcha.
I think you were replying to this post: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2024/comment/47501141
At the top, the Republicans are every bit as bought-and-paid-for by various special interests (prominently including the Israel lobby) as the Democrats.
Trump is a loser; he's getting nibbled to death by legal piranhas who don't like the taste. (So Republicans will end up choosing between Neo Nikki and Ron Con.)
Here is my peace plan for the Middle East:
1. Israel faces an existential crisis as soon as the U.S. "aid spigot" gets cut off for whatever reason (including possible American political or economic crisis).
2. Any viable solution must enable Israel to be secure without constant infusions of American aid.
3. This requires peace with Israel’s neighbors, including Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
4. This requires undoing the Nakba terrorist atrocity and withdrawing to the U.N.-mandated pre-1948 borders.
5. This can only be done in the context of peaceful economic integration throughout the region, for the benefit of all. A lasting peace must be guaranteed individually by each permanent member of the U.N. Security council, and endorsed by Israel’s neighbors.
6. The recent Hamas atrocities were sparked by provocations (yet again) at the Dome of the Rock. The dream of rebuilding the Temple of Herod must be given up and replaced by the will to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in its correct location.
Ferr crisssakes John.... how many of your friends know you are on here associating with this bunch of dumb-clucks? Huh..? Of course, "Schmeeckle" is probably some concoction you came up with..., but maybe not. What ethnic origin or nationality is carried by that name? Did it come out of Klienaspach c-1848? I'm not making fun here...because I wonder how it might help me understand you a little better. I'm no rookie. I've been around this world. I've been able to observe all brands of humanity.., shapes, colors, mannerisms, creeds. So, where are you? Really. Ooops mispelling: it's KLEinaspach.
My impression is that around here there is a good number of thoughtful people who get intimidated by heavy-handed Biden operatives.
I suspect that, as the Biden campaign goes slowly off the rails and down the drain (together with the Trump campaign), the environment around here will clear up considerably and people will feel freer to engage with the ideas that I bring to the table.
The story of my ancestor Martin Schmuckli, immigrant from Switzerland to Einod in Kleinaspach parish, is here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Ancestral_Memories:_The_Schm%C3%BCckle_Family_in_Einod
My y-DNA shows Norse origin. I am an ethnic mix of German, English and Scottish and Dutch, in that order, mirroring the ethnic mix of pre-Ellis Island white Americans. The ancestry of both of my parents goes back to both the Mayflower and to Virginia before the Mayflower.
So John can you tell me why Mike Johnson stated that he would fire federal employees who walked out in protest over US policy in Gaza?
I would start by asking if Johnson's statement is related to the the fact that AIPAC was his largest campaign contributor:
https://theintercept.com/2023/11/01/mike-johnson-donor-aipac-israel/#:~:text=Rep.-,Mike%20Johnson's%20Largest%20Donor%20Was%20AIPAC.,billion%20aid%20package%20for%20Israel.&text=November%201%202023%2C%204%3A43%20p.m.
I will suggest that at the top, everyone is on the take: They're all bought and paid for.
Even Supreme Court justices (except for Clarence Thomas, who has a different boatload of ethics problems) get "made" with million-dollar book deals that get paid for by public libraries across the country.
David’s post was very thoroughly written and Christopher, your counterpost was extremely salient. What to make of this blizzard of granular information from a granular state?
I have long been a proponent of the idea that Trump would not survive the primaries and that would be the beginning of the end for him or a consequence of the real end for him. Sorry for the woolly phrasing there. Essentially I thought he’d be driven out by ongoing prosecutions with at least one trial going on OR Trump would already have been convicted by now and would be irrelevant or (foolish me) even in jail.
How was I wrong? Let me count the ways.
1.
I thought that an AG of even modest foresight who had witnessed 1/6 would have realized the deadly serious threat that Trump posed and began his investigation at the top or at least ran it concurrently with that into the bottom feeders. I cannot express how disappointed I am in Garland’s failure to show even rudimentary prescience by so doing. And to top it off I am insulted by his placatory speech of some two years ago, trying to teach us how investigations “work”. If his tenure does not define the word “failure”, then I have misunderstood that word all my life.
2.
A couple of years ago I thought that one or two pragmatic, morally sound candidates would emerge and that in unison they would attack Trump day after day, but by bit shaking leaves off the “credibility tree” that seems to be his and his alone.
I cannot express my outrage and disappoint sufficiently at what has bubbled to the top of the toxic stew of Republicanism - Ron deSantis and Nikki Haley. DeSantis is extraordinarily unpopular with the media I consume. I do not feel the same level of animus for him. To me, he’s a wannabe, the kid who wants to run rings around the others to be the apple of the teacher’s eye. Some of his efforts are kinda sorta laudable (99 counties), but the fact that he used Florida as a launching pad to gain favor with broader America was disgusting. Picking fights that he couldn’t lose (in an immediate sense), signing a 6 week abortion ban *at midnight* so as not to leave visual evidence behind are just two ways in which he put what he thought was his own good ahead of the good of the people who elected him to make their state a better place. My imagination conjures, “Turn around for a minute. Poof! I’m a strong man”. And DeSantis is the village that charisma clearly skirted.
I had mild hopes for Nikki Haley. I didn’t know her well, but from a distance her resume looked good, she was clearly telegenic, and she *had* taken down the Confederate flag.
But how bitterly she has disappointed me. I just wanted someone to be a fearless schoolmarm to Trump’s deranged catalog of behavior - the kind of principal who would sum the evidence and then expel him from school.
Alas, she displayed early on that her greatest fear was displeasing anybody, least of all the hulking MAGA crowd silently banging their billy sticks in hand. So she refused to attack Trump with the flimsiest of overriding pretexts - “he was the right President for the time”. Really? You could have fooled me when Covid struck and he wrote his ode to bleach.
Yesterday in the wake of her Iowa debacle - it’s got to be hard to lose to DeSantis - she was asked on CNN what she thought of the EJ Carroll rape hearing court to which Trump was going in order to preen.
In a classic Haley move, she led with the big lie and then tried to obfuscate it with a word salad of breathtaking proportions. “I haven’t really paid much attention to that case” - followed by 30 seconds of less than artful dodging.
What??? You haven’t paid attention to a RAPE case against the President, already civilly revived. A zombie case that refuses to leave the public eye. Really? Really? You just *missed* that - as if this was some kind of back page news? It never caught your eye that a woman of success and style was hustled into a Bloomingdale’s change room and viciously attacked?
My, what small eyes you have.
I had already metaphorically crossed her name off with a pen before. Now, equally metaphorically, I dragged my pen through her name viciously, ripping the paper in the process. Don’t play me for a fool.
Between Heather’s article and David’s post, I saw more of what most frightens me now - a troubling indicator that we are beginning to grasp at straws in order to snatch meagre victory from the vicious jaws of defeat. Trump is a force. He has, it seems, unlimited money to wave his court cases off into the sunset. His hold on the MAGA base is like nothing I’ve ever seen. They LOVE him. He’s fun, he’s daring and most of all he validates them. And yes, he has to beyond that base, but he is. The Democrats’ hold on voters of color is shrinking. College students are turning to him (maybe largely because there is genuine famine in Gaza now).
I, for one, would like to see a monumental Trump gaffe. Like incontrovertible evidence of him romping with one of Epstein’s toys. I think everybody who knows this story feels sickening revulsion at the terrible treatment these girls suffered. As a father myself, it is soul destroying. That is one crime that would sink Trump to the bottom of the ocean in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, as with so many other situations in America there is real, physical fear of Trump who would set his goons on anybody who threatened his path.
These are dark days. The darkest yet. My hope is that when these fucking R primaries end, Biden will finally get some oxygen. Right now you might as well put a halo over Trump’s head.
The place to start looking for evidence of Biden vote fraud is the 2020 Massachusetts primary, with identical 4% swings between the exit polls and the official results, in Biden's favor, away from both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren:
https://tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/04/massachusetts-2020-democratic-party-primary/
What's life like there on Earth II, little Schmeeckle, where the sky is green and the grass is blue?
Please just do not respond to Troll Schmuckele.
TC, you write a well regarded Substack. This troll is repeatedly reported. He is insulting, divisive, spreads misinformation and apparently uses this forum to self-promote his own Substack over and over.
He has been reported multiple times by many here.
Can you enlighten us of the behind the scenes actions of Substack administrators as to why our reports about his actions are ignored?
I wish I could enlighten everyone on this. I've never heard back from anyone about any of the many troll reports I have made. The report is given to the owner of the Substack, and they take the action or not as they see fit. I have seen some trolls here get zapped, but I think HCR likely takes the Academic's position on free speech and leaves them. Myself, I have the policy at TAFM of comments being open to paid subscribers only, as does Robert Hubbell; this cuts off almost all trolls, since they're cheapskates and won't pay to promote their trollery.
You mock me without responding to the documented point that I made.
There is a hard core of paid Biden Bigots around here who routinely harass me.
HA HA HA HA! That’s hilarious. John Sméagol blaming others for harassing…
Awwww... i think we hurt his little feelings. All his fake news links is a total waste of space.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2024/comment/47481441
Nah! Just plain folk with common sense who see you as a freeloader on others writer’s space!
Basta! Enough!
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2024/comment/47485611
Laughing at you.
Hahahahahahahahaha.
What did you think as you accepted Biden's money?
poor John - victim? Nope.
Victim? Biden Bigots, by harassing me, identify themselves for others to see.
You could just, I don't know, go away?
So could you.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Biden Bigots identify themselves for all to see.
“.........”
(Dave Dalton was present.)
Hey Ivan, how are Russian trolls paid? You said in a reply to me that there are a lot of sick people on this site. And I told you to pound salt. We don't get paid to support Biden. We do it for free.
Lisa59, i wonder where he gets all of those fake news links he posts?? I also proudly support Buden for free.
So do I. And I really don't need the money anyway, as I continue to get my monthly check from Soros, as most of us here do -- am I right?
Me too, Doug. 😉
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2024/comment/47485611
Joe "bought-and-paid-for" Biden received more money (by far) from the Israel lobby than any other senator in history:
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?cycle=All&ind=Q05&mem=Y&recipdetail=S
Reuters says the same thing:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/i-am-zionist-how-joe-bidens-lifelong-bond-with-israel-shapes-war-policy-2023-10-21/#:~:text=During%20his%2036%20years%20in,to%20the%20Open%20Secrets%20database.
Perhaps it is well to remember that Israeli settler extremists in the West Bank are terrorists, and therefore Israel, funding the settlers and giving them guns, is a state sponsor of terrorism.
See “France Calls West Bank Israeli Settler Violence a ‘Policy of Terror’”
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/france-calls-west-bank-israeli-settler-violence-policy-terror-2023-11-16/
and
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-gaza-west-bank-settler-violence-palestinians-rcna123311
and "The Rise of Settler Terrorism" (published in Foreign Affairs)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41720862
I have a suggestion, John. Let's resolve this issue based on the number of young children killed on each side, for they are the only true innocents in this whole business. They don't give money to politicians on either side. They don't influence their peers or their children in either direction. They don't carry weapons. They don't understand the ongoing differences and the conflicts that have roiled this area for so long that time itself has become meaningless. They know only the incomprehensible terror of being in a war zone, as children have done since we begin killing each other en masse over four millennia ago. The real problem here is our mad determination to sort ourselves into groups and sects and factions and all the other reasons we've found to amplify our differences at the expense of our common humanity. How about that. Let's concentrate on that one, shall we.
Sick people? I am rational and empathetic. That’s sick? Wow.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2024/comment/47484823
Lisa59,
You get paid to say that you do it for free.
p.s. I don't recall that I said there were a lot of sick people around here, but I could have. I think that there are a lot of healthy people around here who get intimidated by the paid Biden trolls.
Projection tactics now?? I bet you learned that from your God, Donald TUMP.
p.s. Trump is a loser, he's getting nibbled to death by legal piranhas.
And then the Republicans will have to choose between Neo Nikki and Con Ron.
What a silly thing to say.
https://theplanetsspeak.substack.com/p/the-planets-and-asteroids-speak?utm_medium=reader2
Hubbell always talks me down from the ledge! Also there's this from the NYT today - what tffg won in Iowa was 60,000 votes. It's crazy that that has anything to do with electing a president at all. But David's last line is worth repeating, every day: "We need to fight like hell to make sure we don't lose our Democracy to one of the most vile, evil H. sapiens ever to walk the planet."
MSM needs wall to wall coverage to keep ad rates up, truth or informative be damned.
And yet the only coverage they provide is akin to a horse race! They are not talking about the threats to our democracy, they are not talking about the deeply unpopular policies that tfg would put in place, they are not talking about the stark differences between him and Biden, etc.
When I saw on Monday that is how they were going to roll starting at 4 p.m., I turned off the TV.
DeSantis finally said something I agree with- Fox and conservative media are deferential to Trump out of fear of losing viewership. It’s all about money. And everyone I know who watches Fox et al, are angry and basically brainwashed.
https://rickey125.substack.com/p/msm-is-doing-it-again
I posted yesterday that this is similar to 2016 all over again.
Also bear in mind, this is a REPUBLICAN primary, there is no Democratic vote to compare it with.
Please just do not respond to Troll Schmuckele.
I have blocked him before. Why do his comments continue to show up?
How did you block him? I have no knowledge of how to do that. I just keep reporting him over and over and over and advise all to do so. Eventually the administrators of the site will block him.
Click on his name.
That takes you to his page.
Click on the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner.
You should have a choice of muting, blocking, etc.
Usually I don't see them again.
He is seeping through.
Blocked and reported. Thanks for the directions.
In all honesty, as much as I regularly disagree with John S, I'll argue for his right to post here. Unless someone is posting dangerously vile abhorrent language that may put people at risk, I loathe censorship. We can read or scroll past his comments.
Not when he is outright insulting, or he copy pastes the SAME EXACT comment over and over (once 22 times, I counted and reported each one)
Scroll
He is paying to comment here. His $$$$ to a good cause
you hit the 3 dots on the right, and there's a "report" option
Agree
Chris Rey,
Without responding to the point I made, you use the original spelling of my family name to insult me.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Schm%C3%BCckle-39
Too much time, money, and attention was paid to 110,000 voters. Way too much. Somebody should calculate how much the campaign cost per vote, for perspective.
My husband and I were laughing how Iowans love that these morons spend millions in their state. The little cafe/diners get a leg up.
I agree with your points and hope you are proven right, but younger voters have to show up and vote for Biden in the general and he is rapidly losing that crucial demographic because of his continued support for the Israeli government’s war in Gaza. Fair or not, this is a troublesome reality for the Biden campaign.
Yes. We should be very worried.
The greatest fear I have is that not enough younger voters (under 60) will show up to vote. They may be alienated by the Gaza situation. But I worry more about the perception of Biden as an old man. I happen to think Biden's age is an asset. And he has been the best president in my lifetime. But I am part of his generation.
Losing the presidency to fascism is an awful idea. But perhaps even worse are all those down-ticket races where we may lose. Those jobs that are the nuts and bolts of our society. I am terrified.
My own kids and their friends/colleagues say they WILL vote, but ONLY on the down-ticket races. They get lots of their news from unfiltered reports, direct feeds from reporters, NGOs, and others who post interviews/videos that lay bare the death and destruction in Gaza. They know about the Hamas atrocities, but can’t countenance the Israeli response, and they blame Biden. It reminds me of the weekly body counts and film from the field broadcast on the evening news when I was a kid. Those numbers and images (along with the Pentagon Papers, My Lai, and pictures of nepalmed civilians) turned middle America against the Vietnam War. I really worry that lack of support from younger voters, coupled with our archaic Electoral College system, will leave us with Trump.
Thanks for the feedback. At the risk of being a wise guy, could I suggest to them that Biden is not the president of Israel? I'm not saying that Biden couldn't be more forceful in dealing with Bibi. But there is clearly a generational divide telative to the plight of Israeli Jews.
My generation has embedded in my brain and DNA the pictures of the Holocaust. October 7th made me scream "No More!".
And yet, I weep for Gaza.
The bottom line is a choice between a president who does 90% of everything right and a fascist narcissist who will destroy us. And the US.
NOT voting is a vote for fascism.
Not voting is a choice, just like choosing to vote, for a particular candidate, is a choice. It is certainly not a vote for fascism, more likely a vote against a corrupt duopoly that is leading us towards fascism.
Keep up the vote shaming, Bill. That’ll bring those young ‘uns around.
Any vote not for Joe Biden (or whoever the Democratic candidate for president is this year) is a vote that COULD have been for democracy. This is a battle with a fascist monster who was responsible for thousands of Covid deaths, who committed rape and fraud, who has threatened to dismantle the entire apparatus of Federal oversight of the environment, who has pledged to round up millions of people and either put them in camps or deport them (the people who produce our FOOD). That's just for starters.
Joe Biden is far from perfect. Show me a perfect president and I'll build a statue. But he is the best thing we have right now. Please read Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation. Not voting for Biden is voting for THAT. And yes, not voting should be shamed and IMO, it should be mandatory. Read about Australia.
Your "duopoly" is a fantastical rationalization for not getting just what you want. It was probably Bernie. Who I voted for, BTW. The only one I like better is our Senator Warren. But I live in a real world.
There is a freight train of destruction, of a party that wants to establish a National Religion, who wants women to be subservient and without reproductive rights.
That train is packed with people who are worried about being "replaced by others". They should be worried. And they should be replaced.
Vote or don't complain when they come for you and your friends.
100%, Bill. But we (USA) either directly or indirectly provide the weapons. That’s why my kids say they’ll withhold their support. I try to tell them that I’ve often voted for “the lesser of two evils” but they come back at me, saying they’re already tired of doing that. It’s their votes. In the end.
IMO, not voting when we're staring down the barrel of the "no more elections ever" gun is kind of like not wearing a mask in a pandemic. You may not INTEND to get anyone sick unto death, but you may end up doing it, all the same.
I keep coming back to my vote is a chess move, not a Valentine paraphrasing Rebecca Solnit.
I understand their concern for Gaza, however, that is one (a huge one) of many global issues. If not voting for Biden gets us Trump we lose on Climate Change, we lose on improved gun control (40,000 people die in the US annually from gun violence) and Ukraine doesn't get much needed assistance.
I would think that the fact that Trump wants to drill, drill, drill would encourage them to hold their noses and vote for Biden.
The reports that young people aren't going to vote for Biden is pushing me to sign up with our local Indivisible group to talk to and register young voters.
Bill, you are not alone.
Me too! I keep debating if I should renew my passport so I don't die under a fascist government
....he idea of replacing American democracy with an authoritarian who will enact Christian nationalism is not generally popular.
The term "Christian nationalism" degrades the teachings of Jesus Christ. Can't we please add 'faux" to the term - "faux-Christian nationalism?"
Also, the term "evangelical" is wrongly applied to this group of cruel and hateful people-
evangelical /ē″văn-jĕl′ĭ-kəl, ĕv″ən-/
adjective
Of, relating to, or in accordance with the Christian gospel, especially one of the four gospel books of the New Testament.
Of, relating to, or being a Christian church believing in the Bible as the sole source of religious authority, in salvation only through conversion and spiritual regeneration, and in the necessity of public witness to faith.
Of or relating to the Lutheran churches in Germany and Switzerland.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition • More at Wordnik
In Andrew L Whitehead's book TAKING AMERICA BACK FOR GOD he gives lots of statistics re Christian Nationalism & saying it does not necessarily mean that it has anything to do with Christianity even tho it may be preached in a so called christian church. If u have not listened to or read Tim Alberta, it helps define what this group of faux Christian's are about. I hope it will clarify your understanding .
Thanks Carole I will check him out. Do you listen to John Fugelsang on progressive radio. He is brilliant in my opinion. His parents were both believers and worked for the church. He is also and is very good.
No I do not. I am not a christian & altho I can "translate " teachings into a more universal type system, I prefer Pema or UU people
I am a non-theist and have attended UU services years ago. I have no beef with the UU's.
John Fugelsang is what I would call a Christian. He is a student of Christ's teaching in the Bible like the parables and the sermons. Did Christ actually say these things? I have no idea but they are good lessons I think.
But he is also a progressive and dislikes the GOP and calls them out like HCR does.
kind of like what Tim Alberta is doing. I hope more speak out & more people are listening
Yes, but!
Drilling down on every election in the past 30 years provides the same picture. The Republican Party is the minority party in the US. They represent a clear minority of voters in the House and the Senate. They have systematically and cunningly gained dominance in Congress and they have gamed the electoral college system to win the presidency despite losing the popular vote for president in the last 4 presidential contests.
Poll after poll for over 30 years, clearly indicates that the Republican Party has not and cannot capture the heart and mind of most voters with their divisive, extremist policies. Their winning ways are the result of fueling imbedded racist beliefs of an aggrieved white population who flatly reject multiculturalism. They believe government should not serve equally everyone. They believe preferential treatment, if given, should go to white people. They believe white Anglo Saxon protestants (WASPS) are the sole reason the US is the greatest country on earth; all 'others' are vermin, sub-human or undeserving of equal status.
Republicans historically have signaled racist, bigoted and xenophobic beliefs because it was the key to their systematic capture of the majority of state houses. They understand that if you control a state, you can control the voting apparatus, the state courts and the composition of the districts.
When you breakdown the vote, the results are always what we have know for decades. White people vote for people who reflect their view of what America should be. Trump is a bona fide racist and has proven his desire to elevate white heterosexual people over all others. MAGA is make America great again for white people. There is no other issue of greater importance for Republicans. Republicans are engaged in wholesale purification of race. No different than Hitler and the Nazis.
Let me ask, no matter how we break it down, does anyone seriously believe that Iowa is going to shift blue? This election will come down to a handful of swing states and a tiny percentage of votes that tilt ever so slightly the Electoral College, one way or another. That's not democracy in action; its an outcome dictated by decades of election engineering.
Win or lose, the chaos and turmoil of the last couple decades will surely continue and probably get much worse. Systemic changes must be made! Fundamental precepts must be put in place! This won't happen until a representative democracy is resurrected and when majority rule is ensured at the ballot box, in the halls of Congress, and in the Supreme Court. Faith and trust in government must be restored! The judicial system must purge judges and attorneys who have made a mockery of the system by putting their personal beliefs before the rule of law.
This is a cause that will require all hands on deck. This is the second Civil War to save the Union. This is NOT just another election that must be won.
And yet, by and large, the mainstream media continue to ignore facts like these.
The AP article, in today's Grand Rapids (MI) press, gives absolutely no context to the Iowa vote, no mention of turnout or comparison with votes in previous primaries.
Sad. The news makes him seem like a winner. If it energizes Dems to vote, well maybe it’s ok. But I worry it does the opposite
I wish there was a mute button for trump. He needs a ventriculocordectomy, a procedure used to "debark" a dog
Also exercise caution when, after listening to analysis, you are tempted to relax. There are other factors at work. Biden needs a lot of help and part of that is for those still complaining about him they need to face up to their choices.
It's hard to believe that all that media noise went to that small bunch of non-typical voters. Someone should have made the observation that most of these folks were the die-hard Trump's cultists, those that can overlook the insurrectionist, those that have guzzled his Kool-aid, those that neither acknowledge nor appreciate the Constitution and the rule of law. That is a loud but very small percentage to the US populace or voters. The MSM did the rest of us no favors by ignoring these facts.
All the statistics you quote to put the Iowa caucuses in perspective may be correct. But Trump got the numbers he needed to win the contest.
As he did with Electoral College votes in 2016.
Experts are saying team Trump has a savvy strategy and is running a smart campaign on the ground.
Perfectly said.
Joe Petticone wrote, in the Bulwark, that if you look at the projected New Hampshire numbers for TFG (43.5%) and compare them to previous incumbents, things don’t look good for TFG. Lyndon Johnson got 48% and he withdrew; Gerald Ford got 48% and lost the general election; and George H. W. Bush got 58% and lost the General election.
We can work hard and win; it’s been done before.
https://plus.thebulwark.com/?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=3kkhg