Truly discouraging to know there are thousands of people suffering & many dying because of US lack of promised support in dollars and in military munitions to Ukraine.
And what are we doing in the Middle East. . .? Helping Netanyahu?
It’s very late at night here. I pray every day for silencing all the guns and bombs and hand held tools of destruction & death.
"And what are we doing in the Middle East. . .? Helping Netanyahu?"
The Biden administration is helping Netanyahu to an off ramp. (Israelis are protesting Netanyahu's war crimes and want him out.) Blinken is building international support for sovereign Palestinian and Israeli states. Biden and Blinken are publicly condemning Netanyahu's plans to send Palestinians out of Gaza and use it as lebensraum for racist religious extremist settlers.
This is big, in context of previous American policy dominated by Jewish and Evangelical right wing extremists. Especially under Trump. There is a real opportunity to rebuild Gaza - without Bibi or Hamas. But not if we reelect Trump.
I agree except Hamas will have to be a part of the rebuilding; they can moderate especially as they have and will want to survive as a voice. If it was not for Hamas we would not be here looking at change. Netanyahu has the might which he counted on "making right", for Israel and himself personally. That game has been exposed to a world that has been looking away.
Respectfully, not a chance that Hamas will be part of anything as far as Israel is concerned.
When an organization's raison-d'être for its existence is to deny your existence, why would you engage with them? When they have used aid money to build tunnels, why would you let them be part of rebuilding?
Unfortunately, talk of a two-state solution is not going to get it done. Neither is it clear that either Biden or Saudi Arabia, the current most notable countries calling for such, really mean what they say. The UN, Britain, EU, and the other Arab states are mostly irrelevant.
I've written a detailed discussion of the so-called two-state solution in latest piece on Breakfast with Bwana on Substack. Check it out if interested.
Thank you Anil..Why would you believe Hamas extremists and not Israeli extremists who deny Palestinian's existence?
Let's not forget that Netanyahu's support for Hamas, to divide Palestinians, to oppose those in the PLO, Fatah, that wanted coexistence, helped it grow to this monster form of Hamas. Israel provided the conditions. Let's not forget as well, that Hamas had and has, for all we know, a moderate wing and the potential to moderate. They HAVE in the past (2008).
Have you listened to what they are saying NOW as to why they attacked on October 7th? Or are cherry-picking pointing to the/a charter because it's convenient.
There's a lot to forget when you tell one side, including what the Palestinians have endured for decades in occupation, Israeli disproportional named operation after operation, the blockading of Gaza. All that failed trying to teach Hamas and IJ a lesson, a lesson that continued to spawn more terrorism. This devastated Palestinians who had no other means of protest; peaceful protest was/is useless and has been suppressed often brutally.
Do you ever walk vicarously in those shoes?
The aid money did not all go to the tunnels. The tunnels were used to get survival goods in and out as well, some of them first built by Israel. Hamas has a lot of other means of financial support. This has been exposed lately in the NYTimes and WAPO and elsewhere.
The Israeli/Netanyahu government has become far right. The aim is to settle the West Bank. There is no tolerance for any equality of human rights, and certainly not allow Palestinians self determination ( which they have a right to). The far right denies their existence. Over the decades many Palestinains were forced to fight or flee, to leave for life elsewhere, a diaspora, like the Jews in fact ironically.
And Israel is crying about an existential threat??
Desperation is what brought October 7th on. Blaming October 7th on Hamas alone is ignoring a lot. This is just what Israel is attempting to do: cut off the context.. Much of the world now, after over half a century is not buying this anymore. Many who said the two state solution is dead are now realizing that this is the ONLY answer. The ( Saudi) Arab Initiative of 2002 is relevant. The US has a big roll to play. As well growing opposition to unconditional support of Israel is registering politically.
I don't understand how people can believe a two state solution will solve anything so long as Hamas exists. Given that polls show the Gaza population approaches 75% support for Hamas, to say the PLA (who also wants the elimination of Israel) will keep them under control is wishful thinking. Do not forget that Hamas defeated the PLA almost two to one in 2006.
You may have noticed over the years that terrorist organizations develop and thrive in areas where people are desperate and looking for help they aren't getting from elsewhere. The Palestinians were given no country status and have already lost most of their land to Israel since 1948. Gaza has been blockaded by Israel since the Israeli occupiers left. Even I might be a sucker for the promises of a terrorist group if I were as desperate.
JAL - The US (and Israel) have just as much power to "eliminate Hamas" as we did in eliminating the Taliban. Chronic diseases are a management problem; rarely are there cures.
Unfortunately, talk of a two-state solution is not going to get it done. Neither is it clear that either Biden or Saudi Arabia, the current most notable countries calling for such, really mean what they say. The UN, Britain, EU, and the other Arab states are mostly irrelevant.
I've written a detailed discussion of the so-called two-state solution in latest piece on Breakfast with Bwana on Substack. Check it out if interested.
Unfortunately, talk of a two-state solution is not going to get it done. Neither is it clear that either Biden or Saudi Arabia, the current most notable countries calling for such, really mean what they say. The UN, Britain, EU, and the other Arab states are mostly irrelevant.
I've written a detailed discussion of the so-called two-state solution in latest piece on Breakfast with Bwana on Substack. Check it out if interested.
And the poor people who've fled their homes and need some resolution of their situation, but those having a "little crisis" won't do anything about it out of pettiness and greed. And I'm looking at you Mitch, because you know better There isn't much time for you to leave this world a better place than you found it, and there's a lot to do.
Yes, Jen, I am looking at Mitch too. He is in a quandary as they all are. They know this immigration problem needs work. I am so disgusted that they use people as political pawns. Then there is the abortion issue and women, even those who are raped, unable to obtain abortions in their home states. I am Jill Biden has invited the ob gyn from Texas to be her guest at the SOTU.
The letter today is very depressing, though some of the Loser’s middle school quotes are hilarious. We’re fighting against such twisted evil in the guise of American leaders. We need Superman, the Lone Ranger, and Zorro in a hurry.
How do you detect a neo-fascist Biden Bully? They never discuss the book "Votescam: The Stealing of America."
"Votescam" gives the example of the 1992 New Hampshire Republican primary, featuring George H.W. Bush versus Patrick Buchanan, in which the results were "impossibly" at odds with pre-vote polls.
The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic primary featured an "impossible" brace of four-percent skews from the EXIT polls (at the expense of both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren), giving Biden a hair-thin win.
This comes from the same source that showed that the results for the 2020 Alabama Senate race were heavily skewed in favor of Tommy Tuberville. Computerized vote fraud is a bipartisan problem.
There is a bogus "fact check" article that dishonestly debunks the above-linked analysis of the 2020 Massachusetts primary:
I have both "muted" and "blocked" him and yet he keeps showing up. I have gone onto Substack's customer service to complain that their options don't work. This guy FEEDS on negative attention, and I am beginning to think that his mental problems might be serious and am unsure of whom to report this to.
Honestly, if you heard of some crazed person doing something that lands them in the news and this guy's name showed up, would you be surprised?
Please, let’s all give him his due. Here is a man who works hard to write crazy, teeth-gritting, delusional, and conspiratorial comments and then finds nutty posts from the internet to bolster his “thoughts” rather than attempting to argue from his own knowledge, experience, or resource.
I have been trying to find his posts where he attacks Copernicus’s theory that the planets orbit the sun,, or proves that anyone foolish enough to get Pasteur’s first vaccines against cowpox is now dead. 100% fatal!! I know they must exist!!
You voted for Dems who have lost their way and for such corrupt Dems? You specialize in information that is hidden from the rest of us. Must keep you very busy.
Please click on this person's name, and on the left of his profile, you can both mute and block him. It works temporarily, and I am addressing Substack as how to make this permanent. I like the idea of him posting into the void.
Hillary the Hypocrite personifies the Democratic Party's loss of its soul. In the 2008 primary race, it was do-or-die for Hillary in the North Carolina primary. I remembered, from the book "Votescam: The Stealing of America," the story of how "the computers crashed" late at night and eventually came back up with skewed numbers.
I planned to stay up late as results came in from North Carolina, and the same thing happened. Hillary and Obama were neck-and-neck when, around 11:00, the computers crashed. I stayed up to see the reported results the moment they re-started. Sure enough, somewhere around 3:00 in the morning, the first new result came in with Hillary's total flat and a big jump for Obama, putting both the primary and the nomination out of reach for Hillary.
For a couple days there was some speculation that Hillary would challenge the results, but she didn't. The North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper went on to become Governor, and North Carolina was gifted the next Democratic convention.
I voted for Hillary in the California primary, and for Obama in the general election.
Hillary went on, as Secretary of State, to become the Butcher of Libya, pressuring a reluctant Obama to go far beyond the United Nations mandate and effect regime change in Libya, turning that country into a festering failed state.
In the 2020 primary race, I supported Tulsi Gabbard , who aptly called Hillary the "corrupt queen of the war-mongers." The Democratic Party has lost its soul.
Question: How many people died suddenly when they were about to testify against Bill and Hillary Clinton?
Please click on this person's name, and on the left of his profile, you can both mute and block him. It works temporarily, and I am addressing Substack as how to make this permanent. I like the idea of him posting into the void.
Once again, if you want to talk through this, please speak up. I'll ask you to give a quote from that "fact check" article that you think debunks the analysis of Theodore de Macedo Soares.
Please click on this person's name, and on the left of his profile, you can both mute and block him. It works temporarily, and I am addressing Substack as how to make this permanent. I like the idea of him posting into the void.
I share the utter horror you feel, but I'm afraid that nothing will ameliorate the situation as long as Bibi is in control. He is in exactly the same predicament as trump--both criminally indicted cornered rats that must remain in power at all costs to avoid prison. He must be removed from power by whatever means....
Try this. Make the Negev triangle part of a new Palestine and make it attach to Gaza and the West Bank. Gaza is now destroyed and unlivable. Gazans need a place to go. Drive out the Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Remove the Israeli military.
Hamas could never put an end to Israel. That is a total fabrication. They are no longer a threat.
The $3+ billion in US aid will be sent to Palestine instead.
The political situation in Israel is very much like ours. A few people in power like the radical republicans and Supreme Court determine policy for the masses even though the majority of the population want something else. Abortion for instance
Misogyny kills a woman every six seconds in this world. Usually by there so-called 'loved ones'. My God this is a war on women. And their babies. Texas ranks last in every demographic regarding the care of women and children. They would rather watch them die than get help. Just as thousands of rape kits end up in a garbage can. This is horrific. We need good men to hold other men accountable and speak up.
In Texas 149 million dollars was designated for the poor. Instead they took that money and gave it to religious groups to build pregnancy centers without any oversight. Guess who's buying mansions and private airplanes. It's not the poor.
That is absolutely barbaric, and I have no reason to doubt it. That might be the saddest thing I've ever heard. Fathers should repeatedly tell their sons that they should never hit a woman, and that no means no.
I would guess, way more than triple...the chance of a woman becoming pregnant is dependent on a slew of factors. It is absolutely horrifying to think about what this means about the actual number of women who were raped.
Christy, you would think so! Trump's "christian" followers who believe he is "ordained by God" have ignored his vile, immoral, and illegal actions because they see in him how they think all Americans should be- racist, stubborn, narrow-minded, afraid of change. In any form, homophoobic, anti- government, and what I hate most of all, "holier-than-thou" attitudes.
His ENTITLEMENT appeals to those who feel ENTITLED.
What a misguided, sad, and oh-so dangerous group of people.
Hello Dave. Thank you for the question. Women have always and still are considered second class citizens. It’s all about some men wanting control over us like they want control over native Americans, by putting Japanese-Americans into internment camps and I could go on and on about the atrocities by some men.
And then you have tRump talking proudly (disgustingly) about how he can grab a woman. And the evangelical group want him. What is wrong with people????
Good lord, what an indictment. I do know of family with 4 girls, two raped while working in restaurants, one while jr in college. The perpetrators are responsible, never the victims. for some who might assume that. Shocked me
“Not party girls for whom you assume that”??? Jeri, please rephrase that. I’m sure you didn’t mean to say that girls who “party” should expect to be raped but that’s how it read to me. Skating very close to the thin ice of victim blaming. When half the population has to consider the way they dress, the places they go and the activities they engage in out of fear of assault from the other half something is very very wrong and clearly that’s the case in the US, but let’s put the blame where it belongs - on the attacker, not the victim !!!
My parents talked to me about how I dressed; I did the same with my daughter. I did it to protect her. There are crimes of opportunity. Some guy takes advantage of a woman because, at that moment, he can. Like Brett Kavanaugh. Is this situation how things ought to be? Hell no!
Thank you, well put. While I’m sure Jeri didn’t meant it that way unfortunately there are still people out there, men and women who do. Victim blaming will be with us for a very long time if Roe v Wade is overturned. I for one will not stand by and watch this happen!
Reference the above, not one of the three (17, 18, and 19 at the time) would report what happened. They wanted to put it behind them. A hard lesson for the females, not so much for the guys.
It’s an appalling statistic, that doesn’t begin to transmit the suffering behind it, but I’m not sure how people are surprised by it when the creep that bragged about grabbing women by the pussy got seated in our Oval Office. We reap what we sow.
It's a sad commentary on our nation that TFG was ever elected. That set our civilization back immeasurably. Hillary was not wrong when she said "deplorables", even though blaming a portion of voters publicly wasn't the smartest political move. TFG has done nothing but to encourage bullying of all kinds and greed.
Appalling to hear the number. Sixty five thousand rape victims impregnated. SIXTY-FIVE THOUSAND. Let that number sink in. That many angry hateful men, causing an unwanted pregnancy and the devout wring their hands and say it's gods will and she has to have the child and raise it too and sorry we won't help you.
Jen, that was EXACTLY my reaction after reading that number. I was gobsmacked. As a man, I am disgusted (not a strong-enough word, maybe Ill use 'appalled' as you did, but it still doesn't convey the right response.) And that's only across 14 states.
Jen, that is the same male-oriented "philosophy" that was rampant in law enforcement when I first started. It had modulated by the time I retired, but that it even existed in the first place shows how deeply ingrained the concept is.
Oh my gawd. That's horrible. What emotional pain to have to deal with, and live with. (And please don't feel you have to thank me for my humanity -- humanity should be the norm, not what stands out.)
And those are just the ones who got impregnated--think of how many other thousands of women get raped. Alongside the rapists, I squarely put the blame on the doctors who won't treat these women. If I was a physician I would treat as many of these women as I could, and when arrested declare that I could not breach my Hippocratic oath....
Yeah great. Just what we need--more unwanted children. And if this number represents the PREGNANCIES from reported rapes imagine the number of MOST rapes that go unreported. Smash patriarchy!
'Britain Is Lobbying U.S. Republicans on Ukraine. Here’s Why.' (NYT, excerpts)
'The U.K., often a wingman to the United States in defense, is pushing its ally to stand firm against President Vladimir V. Putin, amid fears that Russia poses an existential threat to Europe.'
'When David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary and onetime prime minister, visited Washington last month, he took time out to press the case for backing Ukraine with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who stridently opposes further American military aid to the country.'
'If the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States has taken on an air of special pleading in recent weeks, it is because Britain, rock solid in its support for Ukraine, now views its role as bucking up an ally for whom aid to the embattled country has become a political obstacle course.'
'British diplomats said Mr. Cameron and other senior officials had made it a priority to reach out to Republicans who were hostile to further aid. For reasons of history and geography, Britain recognized that support is not as “instinctive” for Americans as it for the British, according to a senior diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter.'
'Unlike in the United States, where Ukraine has gotten tied up in a dispute with Republicans over President Biden’s border policy and come under the shadow of a dismissive Mr. Trump, support for Kyiv in Britain has stayed resolute, undiminished, and nonpartisan in the two years since Russia’s invasion.'
'Even in an election year, when the Conservative government and its Labour Party opponents are clashing over almost everything, there is not a glimmer of daylight between them on Ukraine, the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the country.
'When Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) of additional aid for Ukraine, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, instantly lent his support. Britain, the third-largest supplier of weapons after the United States and Germany, was the first major power to commit to new aid in 2024.' (NYTimes) Sorry link below is not gifted.
I think it's more likely Cameron met with MTGreene just to see the Bride of Frankenstein in the flesh... and her to see Henry Higgins. I doubt either of them had any inclination that her mind would be changed on Ukraine.
While the R's are having their "little crisis" people die in Ukraine as a sovereign country literally fights for its life against Putin. People die at the southern border while Greg Abbott has the Texas National Guard flouting federal law, and women suffer death or impairment or imprisonment because of draconian abortion bans. The Republican Taliban is literally the party of death and cruelty at every. They have no interest in actually solving our country's problems, such as a broken immigration system that needs updating. They only want to rage against problems, not address them. They want to rule, not represent.
And in the meantime global security, including the security of our allies and the USA is at ever greater risk -- because of Republicans’ alleged concern for southern border security.
Ransom, it might qualify as schadenfreude if not for the fact that, if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, we might see American boots on the ground in Poland.
I have maintained for the entirety of the t-Rum presidency that that whole gang was working directly for Putin. They are totally commited to our destruction. One needs not to look very far or deep to identify the opperatives. Edit here, And to the MSM this is not newsworthy. They have only just begun to tentively say Fascist or dictatorial tendencies.
'The most illuminating analysts of America’s frightening recent political turn were turning out to be scholars specializing in Europe. When Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, or Richard Steigmann-Gall noticed phenomena in America’s past or present that resembled something in the right-wing movements they studied in Germany, Italy, or elsewhere, they just said so—‘ (AmericanProspect, by Rick Perlstein, excerpts)
'The most interesting voice thinking about the connections between interwar Europe and the present-day U.S. happens to be a scholar of both. John Ganz’s forthcoming book When the Clock Broke illuminates the exceedingly odd politics of the U.S. in 1992—including some haunting harbingers of America’s Trumpian turn. The most fascinating posts on his Substack Unpopular Front are deeply learned perambulations through the 20th-century European right. Their most important lesson: Fascism is always less simple than we think it is.'
"We have this image in our heads—and this is really hard to get out of people’s heads—of the fascist rise to power that comes from fascist propaganda," Ganz explains. The stereotype is thugs marching into the seat of government with truncheons, then marching out having seized state power. "It is much more political than that. It has much more to do with negotiations between established political factions and elites … None of these movements were destined to succeed. There was a lot of luck, and there were a lot of contingencies."
'Most fascist parties and movements—never seized any power. They were footnotes. That’s an important insight to address to observers who cite the sheer ridiculousness, abundant incompetence, and outright insanity within Donald Trump’s movement, and have a hard time placing it in the same universe with the movement that almost conquered Europe. After all, if Hitler’s little gang of beer hall brawlers had failed to achieve power, they surely would have looked precisely as ridiculous as all that. As Ganz puts it, "Everything kind of looks farcical until it doesn’t."
'The brawlers are never really the engine of the thing anyway. Ganz explained how Hitler and Mussolini used their more violent elements to destabilize and intimidate, while they took power through the more normal political channels of forming coalitions in parliament and ascending into leadership roles.'
"The constitutional system in Italy always remained intact," 'even when Mussolini became dictator, Ganz notes.
'At least as important to the story are the "responsible conservatives" 'who made their peace with the strongman, believing he could be controlled. Like Germany’s Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen, architect of the 1933 coalition that made Hitler chancellor, who said:' "In two months, we’ll have pushed Hitler so far into the corner that he’ll squeal." 'Or the guy who said in 2015,' "You know how to make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell." 'That would be one Lindsey Graham, who later decided he liked Trump just fine, once he started winning.'
Mainstream conservatives in Italy and Germany repeatedly claimed Mussolini and Hitler would turn out to be responsible actors, once they occupied positions of responsibility. American elites followed suit with the absurd refrain, on occasions when Trump managed to act normal for 15 seconds:' "He became president of the United States in that moment, period."
'... listen now to the reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos:' "U.S. industry leaders seem overwhelmingly nonplussed with a second Trump term, while foreign chief executives are terrified." 'Replied one of the nonplussed:' "I’m not sure Europeans understand how weak executive orders are. We have a justice system … it won’t be the end of the world." Another pronounced Trump "all bark and no bite," with his tossing aside the 2020 election returns mere bloviation. And besides, "many of his policies were right."
"The heads of these movements had to be very careful about how they would use the fascist paramilitaries, and make this implicit promise to the elite that they could be contained," Ganz says. "It was always something they needed in their back pocket, right?
'But Trump always thought differently. After Charlottesville, he called the thugs "fine people." Asked about the Proud Boys in a 2020 presidential debate, he said: "Stand back and stand by." I’d always worried that utterances like these were harbingers of things to come. I suspected that Trump never criticized supporters willing to commit violence on his behalf because that willingness might eventually become useful to him. I saw him as playing politics with something far more than votes: that thugs were valuable currency to keep in his back pocket, to send forth whenever that was what it took to keep power.'
'Then, on January 6th, he did.'
'For the briefest moment, the von Papens of the Republican congressional caucus considered cutting him loose. Then they thought better of it. Now that Trump calls his thugs "hostages," few Republicans seem even to consider expressing alarm. Some have even turned it into a MAGA term of art. "This movement between goons and conservative allies," Ganz notes, is' "something I saw a lot with Trump."
Ganz points out that a book that won a lot of respect for its explanatory power in the European context, Dylan Riley’s The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe, has been deployed in the American context by critics of the idea that' "fascism" 'is a relevant category here and now.' "[Riley’s] theory," Ganz explains, "is that, in a society where the political establishment is weak and cannot get consensus behind it, but there is a highly developed civil society—where there are a lot of pressure groups—you can expect something like fascism, as those groups make demands on the political system that it cannot satisfy. And these idiot fucks …"
'There are two ways to think about the failed, weak political establishment, abetted by the sclerosis-inducing nature of our constitutional system. One might think about the state’s failure to deliver the things it used to: adequate physical infrastructure, an economy that provides meaningful work with the kind of protections against firing that powerful unions provide, a safety net to smooth out its rough edges, and increasing moves (Medicare, Medicaid) toward affordable health care. The right sometimes claims they don’t want the government to accomplish these things, but they grew quite excited when Trump promised that he alone could restore, provide, or preserve them.'
'The other way to think of it involves things people in groups like these demand that no government can deliver: a Christian theocracy many Americans wrongly believe to be their birthright; protection from demographic change; return to a prelapsarian time when America was supposed to have been "great."
'Any way you slice it, the perceived absence of responsive government, the presence of groups positioned to clamor for response, and then government’s failure to respond, does things out in the world.'
“This cluster of demands coming from civil society being put on a very weak political establishment is a basic sociological formula for fascism,” 'as Ganz summarizes Riley’s paradigm.'
“And I think that’s what, basically, we have in the United States: a very weak political establishment, but a civil society underneath it that’s looking for a kind of expression. And the expression that it’s taking is pathological … It’s demanding a dictator. Because the party system is unable to answer the demands they have.”
'Or the 84 percent of Tea Party adherents who said their views “generally reflect the views of most Americans.”
''Or when Mike Lindell, in his campaign for RNC chairman in 2023, said, “This country is 70 percent red. If you remove all the garbage and all the corruption and everything. It’s 70 percent red, and it’s getting redder all the way.”
'And, of course, on January 6th.'
'Various aspects of fascism have been always present on the American right. (In 1981, the virulently and explicitly racist and anti-Semitic magazine The Spotlight had many times the circulation of any other publication on the right.) They remained contained or undeveloped. With Trump, they burst forth in full flower. The fantasy of the Republican plebiscite—the notion that the true nation is already with them were it not for the deep state’s depredations—was at the essence of the demand at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. “If the government is no longer for the people, it is your duty to overthrow that government and reinstate a new government, for the people,” as a 1/6 terrorist named Christopher Alberts, convicted of bringing a handgun to the Capitol, roused the mob that day.'
'It is a point I’ll keep repeating: The most important thing for journalists to cover in this presidential election is not how many votes Donald Trump gets, either in the popular total or the Electoral College. To those subsumed inside his cult of personality, the conclusion is already foregone: If you took a true poll of the American people, swept aside the garbage and the corruption of the kingmakers in the media and the deep state (not to mention all those Democratic officials desperate to do anything to cover up their pedophilic cult)—obviously Donald Trump represents the views of most Americans, and is the only legitimate representative of “the people.” 'The question is how many will be willing to take up arms for this belief, should the people whose job it is to count the votes come up with the “wrong” answer.'
'Will that be fascism?
“One of the mistakes people make is they say, ‘Well, this doesn’t look like European fascism in 1936.’ "Well, because it’s American fascism in 2024.” (by Rick Perlstein, TheAmeriicanProspect) See link to piece below.
“ ... listen now to the reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos:' "U.S. industry leaders seem overwhelmingly nonplussed with a second Trump term, while foreign chief executives are terrified." 'Replied one of the nonplussed:' "I’m not sure Europeans understand how weak executive orders are. We have a justice system … it won’t be the end of the world." Another pronounced Trump "all bark and no bite," with his tossing aside the 2020 election returns mere bloviation. And besides, "many of his policies were right."”
Trump can’t hold a candle to the real problem; capitalism run amok.
The mega billionaire oligarchs have made a mockery of capitalism!Musk who has bought his way into every business with the inherited ‘blood diamond’ money has built his empire on the backs of no regulation, no taxation policies began under Reagan!
It would be fair to point to the transfer of wealth, most recently under Ronald Reagan's administrations for the growth of billionaires in the US as well as the reduction of the middle-class. This has has been fostered by our tax system, weak regulation, inequality, price growth in real estate and financial assets, housing discrimination, and lack of access to financial tools for people of color, etc. THE PICTURE IS TURNING AROUND UNDER PRESIDENT BIDEN.
'The U.S. economy boomed in 2023, thanks to consumers opening up wallets'
'New GDP figures today show strong growth at the end of last year' (WAPO)
'The U.S. economy grew by a bustling 3.1 percent in 2023, shaking off recession fears and offering an upbeat picture of consumers and businesses ahead of a pivotal election year.'
'Growth slowed slightly in the last three months of 2023 — to an annual rate of 3.3 percent, down from a sweltering 4.9 percent in the previous quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. The latest figures show the economy has soundly returned to stable footing following a period of dramatic pandemic-fueled swings that marked 2020 through early 2022.'
'The economy’s resilience has been driven by vigorous consumer spending. A strong job market and rising wages have made it possible for many households to keep shelling out — particularly on services such as entertainment, travel and dining out — even at a time of elevated inflation.'
'That spending by everyday Americans accounted for most of the economy’s growth in the fourth quarter. Increased government spending, at the state, local and federal level, as well as higher exports and more private and residential investments also lifted the latest GDP reading, which sums up the goods and service produced in the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, a rise in imports dragged down the latest reading.'
'Government policy played an important role in supporting the economy last year. The Biden administration’s efforts to fund new infrastructure and clean energy projects have created new jobs and spurred $640 billion in private investments around the country.'
“This is generally what a healthy U.S. economy should look like: growth driven by consumer spending,” said Lauren Goodwin, an economist and chief market strategist at New York Life Investments. “The consumer has been incredibly resilient and has certainly been stronger than we expected.” (WAPO) See gifted link below.
No, I do not think Trump knows that he is a puppet, either. In my mind, he is a also something more than one, because he's that 'snake oil salesman' who talked turkey to the angry Whites who couldn't stand that USA elected a Black man to the presidency, with the number of minorities growing, along with the other horrible indignities visited on the country's White nationalists. MAGAs don't think that Trump is a puppet because he's the dictator savior that they have been longing for.
Not everyone is cut out to write an ongoing Substack, which takes quite a bit of work. I appreciate the deep dives that Fern is able to do, and to share with us, because they are always on point to either the Letter itself, or comments on the Letter. I want her energy focused on the "deep dives"!
Ally, thank you so much for your thoughtful words. HCR's Letters and books, along with subscribers comments and exchanges promote my interests in knowing more and communicating on this valuable forum.
Louis, are you praising or faulting my comments.? It doesn't seem to me that I am riding on HCR's coattails. I respect and learn from her work, while my perspective, including, perhaps, more interest in foreign policy; how politics of countries comingle as well as impact on each, and curiosity about the temper of the American people, beyond the 'us v. them' so relentlessly reiterated. Do you mind elaborating on your comment to me? Thanks.
Fern, I don’t see you riding on the Professor’s coattails. I see you offering more information on selected news that she’s put into the newsletter. That said, for those who might not want to search through all the responses to find yours, they might well appreciate your breaking them out in a separate Substack. I don’t want to do that because part of what I love is to see the interaction between you and other responders.
I haven't missed your 'With all due respect' line followed by 'No need to ride on The Professors coattails! That may be the last I hear from you, which would be best. That gibe coming from you was an unpleasant surprise.
Ransom, like Tillerson getting the Order of Friendship, a Russian state honour, for his "significant contribution to strengthening cooperation in the energy sector”?
The list of documents goes on and on. The Mueler Probe has it all. He even said there was more but he was limited in what he could bring charges on. Buried like Truman did to the treason trial records of all the Nazi working for Hitler US Senators and Congressmen whose trial was declared a misstrial and it was buried for the good of the nation healing from WWII. Rachel Maddow dug them up. National Archive. That is where the Mueler Report is.
Without Exxon Russia could not manage the technology for exploiting North Sea oil. Rachel Maddows fantastic book Blowout from some years back is even more pertinent now.
I read that Putin is wanting to rescind the sale of Alaska territory to the USA: https://thehill.com/policy/international/4423913-state-dept-putin-alaska-russia/ Uh, don’t think so….wonder if he’s drinking the same “Diet Coke” TFFG is?! What chaps my ass is all the crap that’s being thrown on the world stage when we ALL have very real issues confronting our lives & our ecosystems survival. I wonder if, perhaps, off-world civilizations did a drive by and thought…nope, don’t like the vibe of this neighborhood.
Barbara Keating, I've heard it proposed as the "ferme paradox" that the more advanced we get, the closer we get to our own destruction. Which begs the questions. And how many planets before us have destroyed themse!ves? And how many have not?
It's the "Fermi Paradox" - that high technology civilizations create their own destruction. There's certainly some strong arguments in favor of the proposition.
Especially if one fully considers it regarding 'this' planet, with it's dominance too often by the worst of our species unchangeable natures, historically. But, let's not go down that rabbit hole, savor our good moments, and get back to that "understatement competition" that our mentor and dear professor kicked off so well. *edit > I should have said "kicked off so splendidly." That sounds a tad more high brow British. (lol)
The consensus now is that all civilizations extinguish themselves as they become more sophisticated, because of all the little work-arounds that are used to keep things running, and the complexity of those compromises create instability. A prime example, I think, would be the Constitution. It was brilliant for its time, but with all the little tinkerings to it over 236 years (especially the last 50), and the massive changes in our civilization that couldn't have been envisioned back then, its time has come.
Jeff, is that possibly what happened to the Romans? I could see it happening in the US BUT FOR the existence of many other, newer, national constitutions around the world, modeled on that of the US, which we could use as suggestions for the continued development of our country. Yes, there are a lot of naysayers around the US, but we could survive the present era if we chose to do so.
As with the Fermi Paradox, there is also the concept of “the great filter”, where a planet’s inhabitants reach a certain level of advancement & technology before they flame out & perhaps go extinct (and maybe why no “advanced extraterrestrials have visited us)…..not unlike civilizations crashing after a time as you note.
The Fermi Paradox is more specifically about the infinite vastness of the universe having so much potential for other life to exist on so many other planets and galaxies that go on and on into mind bending dimensions that there just must be other intelligent life and civilizations out there. Fermi then quipped, "But Where are they?" (no evidence for it or like Barbara said above not going anywhere near that hood...)
It's a fascinating concept that was discussed in 1950 when Enrico Fermi and co-workers Emil Konopinski, Edward Teller, and Herbert York were having a lunchtime conversation at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Carl Sagan had written about it too and it has always been something that is hard to reconcile when you look out at the stars.
And 'that' is a very real American problem; now or later, certainly. We watched the creeping grabs by Putin over time; facts in evidence. *edit in, next day > Now what I dislike about chasing that logic string, is that it's sort of 'doom-scrolling forward' to what 'could be'. Like when that string led us to costly "domino theory" interventions in civil wars like Korea / Vietnam. A closer look at civil wars, shows us that the wars aren't necessarily over when one side is vanquished by armed conflict; they continue to simmer, eventually sometimes to boil over again at nonlinear paces. Consider deeply the 'civil wars' of Mexico, U.S., Argentina, etc. for a bit.
From the quote of Mitch McConnell, it appears he’s willing to risk Ukraine’s fall to Putin if it will help Donald Trump get elected. That is disturbing. Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan are turning over in their graves.
You raise an interesting question. My guess is Nixon, for all of his other failures, recognized, as did Reagan, or at least those from whom he sought counsel (Paul Nitze, George Schultz and Cap Weinberger) that Russia and its people have a fundamentally different view of the value of human life and the respective obligations of the governed and the governing class than we in the U.S. do. What I find most galling about McConnell’s capitulation to Putin’s revanchism is his price. He would trade increasing the probability of Donald Trump’s election for Europe’s stability and security? “Turning and turning in the widening gyre….”
I hate to be thinking this way, but if Putin wins in Ukraine, eventually he will go into Poland and then there will be another massive war in Europe. This will certainly happen if R’s win and our funding to Ukraine's ceases. While we’re all distracted fighting Putin, China will go into Taiwan. I see a nuclear end that will destroy our world as we know it. Like Einstein said, he didn’t know what weapons will be used in WWIII, but the next war would be stones and sticks. I don’t know if this is a possibility or probably, but Putin must be stopped and pushed out of Ukraine.
I look at the GOP right now and in my mind I see a cesspool with McConnell, Kari Lake, Ronna McDaniel, Trump, that state senator from Arizona who had to resign, etc, all in there, waving their harms and struggling to stay above the surface. The cesspool is swirling into a whirlpool, starting to go faster and faster. And then they all disappear under the surface come November.
God I hope they lose terribly in November. I hope this is massive humiliation. Because I am sick to death of living near the stink of this cesspool that is the GOP now, and I want it to go away forever. I want the day to come where I realize I haven’t thought nor heard the name “Trump” all day long. That will be a very fine day indeed!
Luckily for us, the republicans are not noticing that the abortion issue is drowning them. So allow my optimism: I believe that "The cesspool is swirling into a whirlpool, starting to go faster and faster" and will suck them down the drain....
just wrote to Susan Collins telling her that she must be so proud to be a Republican-- a Republican that works for Donald Trump and Mitch McConell instead of her constituents.
First and foremost the Republicans are Trumpanzees that work for TFFG and not their constituents.
Hey, Gary - I'd love to see what you wrote, because I've been planning to write another letter to Useless Susie myself. And possibly to Angus, because he hasn't exactly been a leading light in this Congress, either.
Without immigration to fight over, the MAGApublicans will lose what they see as their most appealing issue in the November elections. That's why they will fight any solution whatsoever regarding our southern border, especially a bi-partisan one. Reaching a solution would be like taking a hammer away from a carpenter.
That is what left me from all that Heather posted. A LITTLe crisis??! I would say a major crisis where most are afraid of tofg. He is vile for sure but he truly needs to be taken down, locked up for good!
“They’re having a little crisis in their conference right now,” I love a good understatement.
Me too, but I also can't help but think that while these dopes are having their "little crisis," Ukrainians are dying, inter alia.
Truly discouraging to know there are thousands of people suffering & many dying because of US lack of promised support in dollars and in military munitions to Ukraine.
And what are we doing in the Middle East. . .? Helping Netanyahu?
It’s very late at night here. I pray every day for silencing all the guns and bombs and hand held tools of destruction & death.
Please stop. Find a path to just talk.
"And what are we doing in the Middle East. . .? Helping Netanyahu?"
The Biden administration is helping Netanyahu to an off ramp. (Israelis are protesting Netanyahu's war crimes and want him out.) Blinken is building international support for sovereign Palestinian and Israeli states. Biden and Blinken are publicly condemning Netanyahu's plans to send Palestinians out of Gaza and use it as lebensraum for racist religious extremist settlers.
This is big, in context of previous American policy dominated by Jewish and Evangelical right wing extremists. Especially under Trump. There is a real opportunity to rebuild Gaza - without Bibi or Hamas. But not if we reelect Trump.
Great explanation Lin. Thank you for this.
I agree except Hamas will have to be a part of the rebuilding; they can moderate especially as they have and will want to survive as a voice. If it was not for Hamas we would not be here looking at change. Netanyahu has the might which he counted on "making right", for Israel and himself personally. That game has been exposed to a world that has been looking away.
Potter
Respectfully, not a chance that Hamas will be part of anything as far as Israel is concerned.
When an organization's raison-d'être for its existence is to deny your existence, why would you engage with them? When they have used aid money to build tunnels, why would you let them be part of rebuilding?
Unfortunately, talk of a two-state solution is not going to get it done. Neither is it clear that either Biden or Saudi Arabia, the current most notable countries calling for such, really mean what they say. The UN, Britain, EU, and the other Arab states are mostly irrelevant.
I've written a detailed discussion of the so-called two-state solution in latest piece on Breakfast with Bwana on Substack. Check it out if interested.
Please do not equate Israel with the Netanyahu administration. A majority of Israelis want Netanyahu out.
You come to the negotiating table with your enemies.
Thank you Anil..Why would you believe Hamas extremists and not Israeli extremists who deny Palestinian's existence?
Let's not forget that Netanyahu's support for Hamas, to divide Palestinians, to oppose those in the PLO, Fatah, that wanted coexistence, helped it grow to this monster form of Hamas. Israel provided the conditions. Let's not forget as well, that Hamas had and has, for all we know, a moderate wing and the potential to moderate. They HAVE in the past (2008).
Have you listened to what they are saying NOW as to why they attacked on October 7th? Or are cherry-picking pointing to the/a charter because it's convenient.
There's a lot to forget when you tell one side, including what the Palestinians have endured for decades in occupation, Israeli disproportional named operation after operation, the blockading of Gaza. All that failed trying to teach Hamas and IJ a lesson, a lesson that continued to spawn more terrorism. This devastated Palestinians who had no other means of protest; peaceful protest was/is useless and has been suppressed often brutally.
Do you ever walk vicarously in those shoes?
The aid money did not all go to the tunnels. The tunnels were used to get survival goods in and out as well, some of them first built by Israel. Hamas has a lot of other means of financial support. This has been exposed lately in the NYTimes and WAPO and elsewhere.
The Israeli/Netanyahu government has become far right. The aim is to settle the West Bank. There is no tolerance for any equality of human rights, and certainly not allow Palestinians self determination ( which they have a right to). The far right denies their existence. Over the decades many Palestinains were forced to fight or flee, to leave for life elsewhere, a diaspora, like the Jews in fact ironically.
And Israel is crying about an existential threat??
Desperation is what brought October 7th on. Blaming October 7th on Hamas alone is ignoring a lot. This is just what Israel is attempting to do: cut off the context.. Much of the world now, after over half a century is not buying this anymore. Many who said the two state solution is dead are now realizing that this is the ONLY answer. The ( Saudi) Arab Initiative of 2002 is relevant. The US has a big roll to play. As well growing opposition to unconditional support of Israel is registering politically.
I don't understand how people can believe a two state solution will solve anything so long as Hamas exists. Given that polls show the Gaza population approaches 75% support for Hamas, to say the PLA (who also wants the elimination of Israel) will keep them under control is wishful thinking. Do not forget that Hamas defeated the PLA almost two to one in 2006.
You may have noticed over the years that terrorist organizations develop and thrive in areas where people are desperate and looking for help they aren't getting from elsewhere. The Palestinians were given no country status and have already lost most of their land to Israel since 1948. Gaza has been blockaded by Israel since the Israeli occupiers left. Even I might be a sucker for the promises of a terrorist group if I were as desperate.
Especially as in splitting the Palestinians, Netanyahu favored Hamas.
JAL - The US (and Israel) have just as much power to "eliminate Hamas" as we did in eliminating the Taliban. Chronic diseases are a management problem; rarely are there cures.
Prevention might be how we should be thinking and not waiting for the need for elimination.
JAL64, I agree.
Unfortunately, talk of a two-state solution is not going to get it done. Neither is it clear that either Biden or Saudi Arabia, the current most notable countries calling for such, really mean what they say. The UN, Britain, EU, and the other Arab states are mostly irrelevant.
I've written a detailed discussion of the so-called two-state solution in latest piece on Breakfast with Bwana on Substack. Check it out if interested.
Seriously? What oracles are you consulting? What crystal ball do you have?
When Israelis and Palestinians come up for air ...
they might surprise you.
An agreed framework for two sovereign states may look like the best alternative.
Thank you for putting this in perspective. It offers hope.
Lin
Unfortunately, talk of a two-state solution is not going to get it done. Neither is it clear that either Biden or Saudi Arabia, the current most notable countries calling for such, really mean what they say. The UN, Britain, EU, and the other Arab states are mostly irrelevant.
I've written a detailed discussion of the so-called two-state solution in latest piece on Breakfast with Bwana on Substack. Check it out if interested.
And the poor people who've fled their homes and need some resolution of their situation, but those having a "little crisis" won't do anything about it out of pettiness and greed. And I'm looking at you Mitch, because you know better There isn't much time for you to leave this world a better place than you found it, and there's a lot to do.
Yes, Jen, I am looking at Mitch too. He is in a quandary as they all are. They know this immigration problem needs work. I am so disgusted that they use people as political pawns. Then there is the abortion issue and women, even those who are raped, unable to obtain abortions in their home states. I am Jill Biden has invited the ob gyn from Texas to be her guest at the SOTU.
Agreed.
Yes Peace is the way forward.
All this attention to JS is like attention to DT, only a larger waste of time and space. The letter today deserves more attention!
The letter today is very depressing, though some of the Loser’s middle school quotes are hilarious. We’re fighting against such twisted evil in the guise of American leaders. We need Superman, the Lone Ranger, and Zorro in a hurry.
The letter isn't what is depressing. It is the lack of education and Critical Thinking of the voters that is depressing.
How do you detect a neo-fascist Biden Bully? They never discuss the book "Votescam: The Stealing of America."
"Votescam" gives the example of the 1992 New Hampshire Republican primary, featuring George H.W. Bush versus Patrick Buchanan, in which the results were "impossibly" at odds with pre-vote polls.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Votescam.html?id=ZxpZCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic primary featured an "impossible" brace of four-percent skews from the EXIT polls (at the expense of both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren), giving Biden a hair-thin win.
See https://tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/04/massachusetts-2020-democratic-party-primary/
This comes from the same source that showed that the results for the 2020 Alabama Senate race were heavily skewed in favor of Tommy Tuberville. Computerized vote fraud is a bipartisan problem.
There is a bogus "fact check" article that dishonestly debunks the above-linked analysis of the 2020 Massachusetts primary:
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/no-huge-red-flag-that-fraud-occurred-in-mass-primary/
If others want to talk through this, please speak up.
John, I dedicate part of this song to you:
"Well, I spent a lifetime lookin' for you
Single bars and good time lovers were never true
Playing a fools game, hopin' to win
And tellin' those sweet lies and losin' again
I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of
Hoping to find a friend and a lover
I'll bless the day I discover another heart
Lookin' for love
And I was alone then, no love in sight
And I did everything I could to get me through the night
Don't know where it started or where it might end
I turned to a stranger just like a friend
I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places..."
You probably won't find it on this page...
Bill, from the soundtrack “Urban Cowboy”. Good find. Using “the music” as the message. Woody’s guitar said “this machine kills Fascists”
Well played, Bill!
I wish I could like Bill's song twice. However, it didn't stop the main troll, who is again playing his favorite conspiracy theories ad nauseum.
What kind of people turn away from evidence of vote fraud? They're not democrats.
This issue is fundamental, but it's a taboo.
Go onto Substack customer service and inquire why the mute and block options---which I tried with him---don't work.
Thank you.
Please don't respond to this troll. Ignore him.
Why do people feel the need to? Negative responses don't matter to this guy, it's still feeding his craving for attention....
I have both "muted" and "blocked" him and yet he keeps showing up. I have gone onto Substack's customer service to complain that their options don't work. This guy FEEDS on negative attention, and I am beginning to think that his mental problems might be serious and am unsure of whom to report this to.
Honestly, if you heard of some crazed person doing something that lands them in the news and this guy's name showed up, would you be surprised?
Please, let’s all give him his due. Here is a man who works hard to write crazy, teeth-gritting, delusional, and conspiratorial comments and then finds nutty posts from the internet to bolster his “thoughts” rather than attempting to argue from his own knowledge, experience, or resource.
I have been trying to find his posts where he attacks Copernicus’s theory that the planets orbit the sun,, or proves that anyone foolish enough to get Pasteur’s first vaccines against cowpox is now dead. 100% fatal!! I know they must exist!!
...said Tom the Obfuscation Master (T.O.M.)
Go onto Substack customer service and inquire why the mute and block options---which I tried with him---don't work.
Thank you.
Devastating wit. I am crushed.
How fo you detect a neo-fascist bully? Just look in the mirror, John.
That's what you did, and it worked
Go onto Substack customer service and inquire why the mute and block options---which I tried with him---don't work.
Thank you.
Your ego is a match for Trump’s. And so is your truth- telling. Go away, troll.
Please click on his name/profile, and mute, then block him
...said Coke-head the troll
Aww, that's just dumb.
Hahaha.
No rebuttal so name calling.
Not so silly anymore.
Go onto Substack customer service and inquire why the mute and block options---which I tried with him---don't work.
Thank you.
You voted for Dems who have lost their way and for such corrupt Dems? You specialize in information that is hidden from the rest of us. Must keep you very busy.
The troll is back, Looking for the perfect while ignoring the putrid.
“Yelling at clouds.”
Please ignore him. Don't respond.
You're doing well with your usual spot on description.
The neo-fascist Biden Bully shows up
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
I love all the silly people.
I voted for Hillary and Obama BEFORE they butchered Libya ans Syria, making a mockery of Obama's toilet-paper peace prize
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Silly people are fun.
Go onto Substack customer service and inquire why the mute and block options---which I tried with him---don't work.
Thank you.
Unlike the Schmickler's Nobel Peace Prize, which is printed on the *cardboard* from a toilet-paper roll.
Troller
...said the troll, hoping to start a conversation
Please click on this person's name, and on the left of his profile, you can both mute and block him. It works temporarily, and I am addressing Substack as how to make this permanent. I like the idea of him posting into the void.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
You crack me up.
Stay silly.
:-)
Hillary the Hypocrite personifies the Democratic Party's loss of its soul. In the 2008 primary race, it was do-or-die for Hillary in the North Carolina primary. I remembered, from the book "Votescam: The Stealing of America," the story of how "the computers crashed" late at night and eventually came back up with skewed numbers.
I planned to stay up late as results came in from North Carolina, and the same thing happened. Hillary and Obama were neck-and-neck when, around 11:00, the computers crashed. I stayed up to see the reported results the moment they re-started. Sure enough, somewhere around 3:00 in the morning, the first new result came in with Hillary's total flat and a big jump for Obama, putting both the primary and the nomination out of reach for Hillary.
For a couple days there was some speculation that Hillary would challenge the results, but she didn't. The North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper went on to become Governor, and North Carolina was gifted the next Democratic convention.
I voted for Hillary in the California primary, and for Obama in the general election.
Hillary went on, as Secretary of State, to become the Butcher of Libya, pressuring a reluctant Obama to go far beyond the United Nations mandate and effect regime change in Libya, turning that country into a festering failed state.
In the 2020 primary race, I supported Tulsi Gabbard , who aptly called Hillary the "corrupt queen of the war-mongers." The Democratic Party has lost its soul.
Question: How many people died suddenly when they were about to testify against Bill and Hillary Clinton?
Answer: Count 'em up for yourself:
https://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/BODIES.php
Troll alert: Please don't respond.
I know a bunch of us have reported this guy - more than once. What else has to happen to block him?
Hahahahaha.
Hillary lives in your head, silly person.
"There's someone in my head, but it's not me"
https://youtu.be/1Z39KZAryzk?si=OwPBiVu37iFNTftg
Please click on this person's name, and on the left of his profile, you can both mute and block him. It works temporarily, and I am addressing Substack as how to make this permanent. I like the idea of him posting into the void.
Go onto Substack customer service and inquire why the mute and block options---which I tried with him---don't work.
Thank you.
Bogus because it disagreed? Hum
Once again, if you want to talk through this, please speak up. I'll ask you to give a quote from that "fact check" article that you think debunks the analysis of Theodore de Macedo Soares.
Please click on this person's name, and on the left of his profile, you can both mute and block him. It works temporarily, and I am addressing Substack as how to make this permanent. I like the idea of him posting into the void.
I share the utter horror you feel, but I'm afraid that nothing will ameliorate the situation as long as Bibi is in control. He is in exactly the same predicament as trump--both criminally indicted cornered rats that must remain in power at all costs to avoid prison. He must be removed from power by whatever means....
YES!!!!!
Try this. Make the Negev triangle part of a new Palestine and make it attach to Gaza and the West Bank. Gaza is now destroyed and unlivable. Gazans need a place to go. Drive out the Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Remove the Israeli military.
Hamas could never put an end to Israel. That is a total fabrication. They are no longer a threat.
The $3+ billion in US aid will be sent to Palestine instead.
The Arab world will back this 100%.
😢😩
The political situation in Israel is very much like ours. A few people in power like the radical republicans and Supreme Court determine policy for the masses even though the majority of the population want something else. Abortion for instance
Exactly and women in the US are forced to leave their home states for abortions or endure forced births.
More women were raped in 14 states since June 2022 than Americans who were killed in the entire Vietnam war? WTF.
“64,565 women became pregnant after being raped” A horrific statistic, suggesting possibly triple that for the rape victims who were not impregnated.
Misogyny kills a woman every six seconds in this world. Usually by there so-called 'loved ones'. My God this is a war on women. And their babies. Texas ranks last in every demographic regarding the care of women and children. They would rather watch them die than get help. Just as thousands of rape kits end up in a garbage can. This is horrific. We need good men to hold other men accountable and speak up.
In Texas 149 million dollars was designated for the poor. Instead they took that money and gave it to religious groups to build pregnancy centers without any oversight. Guess who's buying mansions and private airplanes. It's not the poor.
The economic waste in this country is incredible.
@Lisa59
That is absolutely barbaric, and I have no reason to doubt it. That might be the saddest thing I've ever heard. Fathers should repeatedly tell their sons that they should never hit a woman, and that no means no.
And we'll never know the actual number of raids because so few are ever reported.
Beto O'Rourke
stated on June 27, 2022 in an Instagram post:
"Under Abbott, Texas leads the nation in rape offenses while the rate of arrests for rape has fallen by nearly half."
Fuck the patriarchy and the MAGANAZIs.
I would guess, way more than triple...the chance of a woman becoming pregnant is dependent on a slew of factors. It is absolutely horrifying to think about what this means about the actual number of women who were raped.
That number may be accurate but tests credulity.
Many more than triple. A woman is only fertile a few days out of 28, and even then often no pregnancy.
Rape is an extremely under reported crime. If you look at what women who do report go thru, that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
That 65,000 number is in just 14 ststes
Yeah - that statistic is a real gut punch. WTF is wrong with some men?
Trump getting seated in our Oval Office after bragging about grabbing women by the pussy should have given folks a clue what we are dealing with
Christy, you would think so! Trump's "christian" followers who believe he is "ordained by God" have ignored his vile, immoral, and illegal actions because they see in him how they think all Americans should be- racist, stubborn, narrow-minded, afraid of change. In any form, homophoobic, anti- government, and what I hate most of all, "holier-than-thou" attitudes.
His ENTITLEMENT appeals to those who feel ENTITLED.
What a misguided, sad, and oh-so dangerous group of people.
Hello Dave. Thank you for the question. Women have always and still are considered second class citizens. It’s all about some men wanting control over us like they want control over native Americans, by putting Japanese-Americans into internment camps and I could go on and on about the atrocities by some men.
And then you have tRump talking proudly (disgustingly) about how he can grab a woman. And the evangelical group want him. What is wrong with people????
Good lord, what an indictment. I do know of family with 4 girls, two raped while working in restaurants, one while jr in college. The perpetrators are responsible, never the victims. for some who might assume that. Shocked me
“Not party girls for whom you assume that”??? Jeri, please rephrase that. I’m sure you didn’t mean to say that girls who “party” should expect to be raped but that’s how it read to me. Skating very close to the thin ice of victim blaming. When half the population has to consider the way they dress, the places they go and the activities they engage in out of fear of assault from the other half something is very very wrong and clearly that’s the case in the US, but let’s put the blame where it belongs - on the attacker, not the victim !!!
My parents talked to me about how I dressed; I did the same with my daughter. I did it to protect her. There are crimes of opportunity. Some guy takes advantage of a woman because, at that moment, he can. Like Brett Kavanaugh. Is this situation how things ought to be? Hell no!
100% agree. Just wanted to tell those who think such tripe that it is tripe.
Thank you, well put. While I’m sure Jeri didn’t meant it that way unfortunately there are still people out there, men and women who do. Victim blaming will be with us for a very long time if Roe v Wade is overturned. I for one will not stand by and watch this happen!
Reference the above, not one of the three (17, 18, and 19 at the time) would report what happened. They wanted to put it behind them. A hard lesson for the females, not so much for the guys.
When I read what Jeri wrote I didn’t come close to hearing ‘party girls’ or victim blaming. Seems we read 2 completely different comments.
Jeri -- Here's a thought: instead of anti-abortion laws, we should be PRO-CASTRATION for rapists, first offense.
I'll buy that. May slow down the victimizing a bit
YES
Houston we have a problem.
It’s an appalling statistic, that doesn’t begin to transmit the suffering behind it, but I’m not sure how people are surprised by it when the creep that bragged about grabbing women by the pussy got seated in our Oval Office. We reap what we sow.
It's a sad commentary on our nation that TFG was ever elected. That set our civilization back immeasurably. Hillary was not wrong when she said "deplorables", even though blaming a portion of voters publicly wasn't the smartest political move. TFG has done nothing but to encourage bullying of all kinds and greed.
I think she said it at a private fundraising event and someone leaked it. Then the opposition ran with it. She probably regretted saying it.
💯💯 I so agree!! I think that where Hillary was wrong, was that there were (shockingly) way, way more then just a basketful.
Yikes
extrapolated to 50 states that would be, in a year and a half: 230,589 pregnancies from rapes .
Appalling to hear the number. Sixty five thousand rape victims impregnated. SIXTY-FIVE THOUSAND. Let that number sink in. That many angry hateful men, causing an unwanted pregnancy and the devout wring their hands and say it's gods will and she has to have the child and raise it too and sorry we won't help you.
Jen, that was EXACTLY my reaction after reading that number. I was gobsmacked. As a man, I am disgusted (not a strong-enough word, maybe Ill use 'appalled' as you did, but it still doesn't convey the right response.) And that's only across 14 states.
As a victim whose father said"how did you manage to get yourself raped?" , I thank you for your humanity.
I replied, "I was 15. And I met a rapist".
I think any man who thinks like my father is a wannabe rapist.
Jen, that is the same male-oriented "philosophy" that was rampant in law enforcement when I first started. It had modulated by the time I retired, but that it even existed in the first place shows how deeply ingrained the concept is.
Oh my gawd. That's horrible. What emotional pain to have to deal with, and live with. (And please don't feel you have to thank me for my humanity -- humanity should be the norm, not what stands out.)
And those are just the ones who got impregnated--think of how many other thousands of women get raped. Alongside the rapists, I squarely put the blame on the doctors who won't treat these women. If I was a physician I would treat as many of these women as I could, and when arrested declare that I could not breach my Hippocratic oath....
President Biden calling out Trump for bragging about overturning Roe V. Wade.
“Just like he said: he did it.”
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1745290159304622336
📣📣📣
Yeah great. Just what we need--more unwanted children. And if this number represents the PREGNANCIES from reported rapes imagine the number of MOST rapes that go unreported. Smash patriarchy!
'Britain Is Lobbying U.S. Republicans on Ukraine. Here’s Why.' (NYT, excerpts)
'The U.K., often a wingman to the United States in defense, is pushing its ally to stand firm against President Vladimir V. Putin, amid fears that Russia poses an existential threat to Europe.'
'When David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary and onetime prime minister, visited Washington last month, he took time out to press the case for backing Ukraine with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who stridently opposes further American military aid to the country.'
'If the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States has taken on an air of special pleading in recent weeks, it is because Britain, rock solid in its support for Ukraine, now views its role as bucking up an ally for whom aid to the embattled country has become a political obstacle course.'
'British diplomats said Mr. Cameron and other senior officials had made it a priority to reach out to Republicans who were hostile to further aid. For reasons of history and geography, Britain recognized that support is not as “instinctive” for Americans as it for the British, according to a senior diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter.'
'Unlike in the United States, where Ukraine has gotten tied up in a dispute with Republicans over President Biden’s border policy and come under the shadow of a dismissive Mr. Trump, support for Kyiv in Britain has stayed resolute, undiminished, and nonpartisan in the two years since Russia’s invasion.'
'Even in an election year, when the Conservative government and its Labour Party opponents are clashing over almost everything, there is not a glimmer of daylight between them on Ukraine, the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the country.
'When Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) of additional aid for Ukraine, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, instantly lent his support. Britain, the third-largest supplier of weapons after the United States and Germany, was the first major power to commit to new aid in 2024.' (NYTimes) Sorry link below is not gifted.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/world/europe/ukraine-uk-us-republicans.html
I think it's more likely Cameron met with MTGreene just to see the Bride of Frankenstein in the flesh... and her to see Henry Higgins. I doubt either of them had any inclination that her mind would be changed on Ukraine.
(Empty Greene; I just came up with that!)
Obviously the stain of Boris is cleansed from the Brit leaders!
I am so ashamed of these irrational Republicans....
While the R's are having their "little crisis" people die in Ukraine as a sovereign country literally fights for its life against Putin. People die at the southern border while Greg Abbott has the Texas National Guard flouting federal law, and women suffer death or impairment or imprisonment because of draconian abortion bans. The Republican Taliban is literally the party of death and cruelty at every. They have no interest in actually solving our country's problems, such as a broken immigration system that needs updating. They only want to rage against problems, not address them. They want to rule, not represent.
Spectacle vs reality.
You’re right, and still, McConnell can’t decide which way to go.
Honestly, what has HE, if all people, got to LOSE by doing the right thing?! At this point in his life and career!
My thoughts exactly! He could even benefit his reputation and appear to have a moral conscience!
That scoundrel's reputation could ONLY get better.
You set the bar too high for a lowlife like Mitch to ever hope to reach.
A shitweasel right to the end
You’re assuming he is able to recognize “the right thing,” but remember, this is Murdering Mitch McConnell.
Exactly. Lack of conscience
Absolutely
And in the meantime global security, including the security of our allies and the USA is at ever greater risk -- because of Republicans’ alleged concern for southern border security.
Ransom, it might qualify as schadenfreude if not for the fact that, if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, we might see American boots on the ground in Poland.
I have maintained for the entirety of the t-Rum presidency that that whole gang was working directly for Putin. They are totally commited to our destruction. One needs not to look very far or deep to identify the opperatives. Edit here, And to the MSM this is not newsworthy. They have only just begun to tentively say Fascist or dictatorial tendencies.
'The most illuminating analysts of America’s frightening recent political turn were turning out to be scholars specializing in Europe. When Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, or Richard Steigmann-Gall noticed phenomena in America’s past or present that resembled something in the right-wing movements they studied in Germany, Italy, or elsewhere, they just said so—‘ (AmericanProspect, by Rick Perlstein, excerpts)
'The most interesting voice thinking about the connections between interwar Europe and the present-day U.S. happens to be a scholar of both. John Ganz’s forthcoming book When the Clock Broke illuminates the exceedingly odd politics of the U.S. in 1992—including some haunting harbingers of America’s Trumpian turn. The most fascinating posts on his Substack Unpopular Front are deeply learned perambulations through the 20th-century European right. Their most important lesson: Fascism is always less simple than we think it is.'
"We have this image in our heads—and this is really hard to get out of people’s heads—of the fascist rise to power that comes from fascist propaganda," Ganz explains. The stereotype is thugs marching into the seat of government with truncheons, then marching out having seized state power. "It is much more political than that. It has much more to do with negotiations between established political factions and elites … None of these movements were destined to succeed. There was a lot of luck, and there were a lot of contingencies."
'Most fascist parties and movements—never seized any power. They were footnotes. That’s an important insight to address to observers who cite the sheer ridiculousness, abundant incompetence, and outright insanity within Donald Trump’s movement, and have a hard time placing it in the same universe with the movement that almost conquered Europe. After all, if Hitler’s little gang of beer hall brawlers had failed to achieve power, they surely would have looked precisely as ridiculous as all that. As Ganz puts it, "Everything kind of looks farcical until it doesn’t."
'The brawlers are never really the engine of the thing anyway. Ganz explained how Hitler and Mussolini used their more violent elements to destabilize and intimidate, while they took power through the more normal political channels of forming coalitions in parliament and ascending into leadership roles.'
"The constitutional system in Italy always remained intact," 'even when Mussolini became dictator, Ganz notes.
'At least as important to the story are the "responsible conservatives" 'who made their peace with the strongman, believing he could be controlled. Like Germany’s Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen, architect of the 1933 coalition that made Hitler chancellor, who said:' "In two months, we’ll have pushed Hitler so far into the corner that he’ll squeal." 'Or the guy who said in 2015,' "You know how to make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell." 'That would be one Lindsey Graham, who later decided he liked Trump just fine, once he started winning.'
Mainstream conservatives in Italy and Germany repeatedly claimed Mussolini and Hitler would turn out to be responsible actors, once they occupied positions of responsibility. American elites followed suit with the absurd refrain, on occasions when Trump managed to act normal for 15 seconds:' "He became president of the United States in that moment, period."
'... listen now to the reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos:' "U.S. industry leaders seem overwhelmingly nonplussed with a second Trump term, while foreign chief executives are terrified." 'Replied one of the nonplussed:' "I’m not sure Europeans understand how weak executive orders are. We have a justice system … it won’t be the end of the world." Another pronounced Trump "all bark and no bite," with his tossing aside the 2020 election returns mere bloviation. And besides, "many of his policies were right."
"The heads of these movements had to be very careful about how they would use the fascist paramilitaries, and make this implicit promise to the elite that they could be contained," Ganz says. "It was always something they needed in their back pocket, right?
'But Trump always thought differently. After Charlottesville, he called the thugs "fine people." Asked about the Proud Boys in a 2020 presidential debate, he said: "Stand back and stand by." I’d always worried that utterances like these were harbingers of things to come. I suspected that Trump never criticized supporters willing to commit violence on his behalf because that willingness might eventually become useful to him. I saw him as playing politics with something far more than votes: that thugs were valuable currency to keep in his back pocket, to send forth whenever that was what it took to keep power.'
'Then, on January 6th, he did.'
'For the briefest moment, the von Papens of the Republican congressional caucus considered cutting him loose. Then they thought better of it. Now that Trump calls his thugs "hostages," few Republicans seem even to consider expressing alarm. Some have even turned it into a MAGA term of art. "This movement between goons and conservative allies," Ganz notes, is' "something I saw a lot with Trump."
Ganz points out that a book that won a lot of respect for its explanatory power in the European context, Dylan Riley’s The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe, has been deployed in the American context by critics of the idea that' "fascism" 'is a relevant category here and now.' "[Riley’s] theory," Ganz explains, "is that, in a society where the political establishment is weak and cannot get consensus behind it, but there is a highly developed civil society—where there are a lot of pressure groups—you can expect something like fascism, as those groups make demands on the political system that it cannot satisfy. And these idiot fucks …"
'There are two ways to think about the failed, weak political establishment, abetted by the sclerosis-inducing nature of our constitutional system. One might think about the state’s failure to deliver the things it used to: adequate physical infrastructure, an economy that provides meaningful work with the kind of protections against firing that powerful unions provide, a safety net to smooth out its rough edges, and increasing moves (Medicare, Medicaid) toward affordable health care. The right sometimes claims they don’t want the government to accomplish these things, but they grew quite excited when Trump promised that he alone could restore, provide, or preserve them.'
'The other way to think of it involves things people in groups like these demand that no government can deliver: a Christian theocracy many Americans wrongly believe to be their birthright; protection from demographic change; return to a prelapsarian time when America was supposed to have been "great."
'Any way you slice it, the perceived absence of responsive government, the presence of groups positioned to clamor for response, and then government’s failure to respond, does things out in the world.'
“This cluster of demands coming from civil society being put on a very weak political establishment is a basic sociological formula for fascism,” 'as Ganz summarizes Riley’s paradigm.'
“And I think that’s what, basically, we have in the United States: a very weak political establishment, but a civil society underneath it that’s looking for a kind of expression. And the expression that it’s taking is pathological … It’s demanding a dictator. Because the party system is unable to answer the demands they have.”
'Or the 84 percent of Tea Party adherents who said their views “generally reflect the views of most Americans.”
''Or when Mike Lindell, in his campaign for RNC chairman in 2023, said, “This country is 70 percent red. If you remove all the garbage and all the corruption and everything. It’s 70 percent red, and it’s getting redder all the way.”
'And, of course, on January 6th.'
'Various aspects of fascism have been always present on the American right. (In 1981, the virulently and explicitly racist and anti-Semitic magazine The Spotlight had many times the circulation of any other publication on the right.) They remained contained or undeveloped. With Trump, they burst forth in full flower. The fantasy of the Republican plebiscite—the notion that the true nation is already with them were it not for the deep state’s depredations—was at the essence of the demand at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. “If the government is no longer for the people, it is your duty to overthrow that government and reinstate a new government, for the people,” as a 1/6 terrorist named Christopher Alberts, convicted of bringing a handgun to the Capitol, roused the mob that day.'
'It is a point I’ll keep repeating: The most important thing for journalists to cover in this presidential election is not how many votes Donald Trump gets, either in the popular total or the Electoral College. To those subsumed inside his cult of personality, the conclusion is already foregone: If you took a true poll of the American people, swept aside the garbage and the corruption of the kingmakers in the media and the deep state (not to mention all those Democratic officials desperate to do anything to cover up their pedophilic cult)—obviously Donald Trump represents the views of most Americans, and is the only legitimate representative of “the people.” 'The question is how many will be willing to take up arms for this belief, should the people whose job it is to count the votes come up with the “wrong” answer.'
'Will that be fascism?
“One of the mistakes people make is they say, ‘Well, this doesn’t look like European fascism in 1936.’ "Well, because it’s American fascism in 2024.” (by Rick Perlstein, TheAmeriicanProspect) See link to piece below.
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-01-24-american-fascism-john-ganz/
Money quote (no pun intended) here:
“ ... listen now to the reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos:' "U.S. industry leaders seem overwhelmingly nonplussed with a second Trump term, while foreign chief executives are terrified." 'Replied one of the nonplussed:' "I’m not sure Europeans understand how weak executive orders are. We have a justice system … it won’t be the end of the world." Another pronounced Trump "all bark and no bite," with his tossing aside the 2020 election returns mere bloviation. And besides, "many of his policies were right."”
Trump can’t hold a candle to the real problem; capitalism run amok.
The mega billionaire oligarchs have made a mockery of capitalism!Musk who has bought his way into every business with the inherited ‘blood diamond’ money has built his empire on the backs of no regulation, no taxation policies began under Reagan!
It would be fair to point to the transfer of wealth, most recently under Ronald Reagan's administrations for the growth of billionaires in the US as well as the reduction of the middle-class. This has has been fostered by our tax system, weak regulation, inequality, price growth in real estate and financial assets, housing discrimination, and lack of access to financial tools for people of color, etc. THE PICTURE IS TURNING AROUND UNDER PRESIDENT BIDEN.
'The U.S. economy boomed in 2023, thanks to consumers opening up wallets'
'New GDP figures today show strong growth at the end of last year' (WAPO)
'The U.S. economy grew by a bustling 3.1 percent in 2023, shaking off recession fears and offering an upbeat picture of consumers and businesses ahead of a pivotal election year.'
'Growth slowed slightly in the last three months of 2023 — to an annual rate of 3.3 percent, down from a sweltering 4.9 percent in the previous quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. The latest figures show the economy has soundly returned to stable footing following a period of dramatic pandemic-fueled swings that marked 2020 through early 2022.'
'The economy’s resilience has been driven by vigorous consumer spending. A strong job market and rising wages have made it possible for many households to keep shelling out — particularly on services such as entertainment, travel and dining out — even at a time of elevated inflation.'
'That spending by everyday Americans accounted for most of the economy’s growth in the fourth quarter. Increased government spending, at the state, local and federal level, as well as higher exports and more private and residential investments also lifted the latest GDP reading, which sums up the goods and service produced in the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, a rise in imports dragged down the latest reading.'
'Government policy played an important role in supporting the economy last year. The Biden administration’s efforts to fund new infrastructure and clean energy projects have created new jobs and spurred $640 billion in private investments around the country.'
“This is generally what a healthy U.S. economy should look like: growth driven by consumer spending,” said Lauren Goodwin, an economist and chief market strategist at New York Life Investments. “The consumer has been incredibly resilient and has certainly been stronger than we expected.” (WAPO) See gifted link below.
https://wapo.st/3Ugfbb4
Thank you, Fern.
This clarifies so many aspects of what is happening here.
But, do enough people understand he is a puppet, for very powerful and rich influencers? It is very frightening.
No, I do not think Trump knows that he is a puppet, either. In my mind, he is a also something more than one, because he's that 'snake oil salesman' who talked turkey to the angry Whites who couldn't stand that USA elected a Black man to the presidency, with the number of minorities growing, along with the other horrible indignities visited on the country's White nationalists. MAGAs don't think that Trump is a puppet because he's the dictator savior that they have been longing for.
And all the while, Putin thinks of him as a "useful idiot".
And the ones who were horrified by the idea of a woman President.
Fern, With all due respect, you need to start your own newsletter! No need to ride on The Professors coattails!
Not everyone is cut out to write an ongoing Substack, which takes quite a bit of work. I appreciate the deep dives that Fern is able to do, and to share with us, because they are always on point to either the Letter itself, or comments on the Letter. I want her energy focused on the "deep dives"!
Ally, thank you so much for your thoughtful words. HCR's Letters and books, along with subscribers comments and exchanges promote my interests in knowing more and communicating on this valuable forum.
Louis, are you praising or faulting my comments.? It doesn't seem to me that I am riding on HCR's coattails. I respect and learn from her work, while my perspective, including, perhaps, more interest in foreign policy; how politics of countries comingle as well as impact on each, and curiosity about the temper of the American people, beyond the 'us v. them' so relentlessly reiterated. Do you mind elaborating on your comment to me? Thanks.
Fern, I'll take you over Schmeekle the troll any day.
Fern, I don’t see you riding on the Professor’s coattails. I see you offering more information on selected news that she’s put into the newsletter. That said, for those who might not want to search through all the responses to find yours, they might well appreciate your breaking them out in a separate Substack. I don’t want to do that because part of what I love is to see the interaction between you and other responders.
I haven't missed your 'With all due respect' line followed by 'No need to ride on The Professors coattails! That may be the last I hear from you, which would be best. That gibe coming from you was an unpleasant surprise.
Fern, once again you’ve told us of a book that I very much look forward to reading.
My thinking has been along those lines myself RR; The dots are everywhere, only needing connecting.
His top advisors worked for Russian oligarchs for C....sake!
Ransom, like Tillerson getting the Order of Friendship, a Russian state honour, for his "significant contribution to strengthening cooperation in the energy sector”?
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1BI13H/#:~:text=In%202013%20Putin%20awarded%20Tillerson,cooperation%20in%20the%20energy%20sector%22.
The list of documents goes on and on. The Mueler Probe has it all. He even said there was more but he was limited in what he could bring charges on. Buried like Truman did to the treason trial records of all the Nazi working for Hitler US Senators and Congressmen whose trial was declared a misstrial and it was buried for the good of the nation healing from WWII. Rachel Maddow dug them up. National Archive. That is where the Mueler Report is.
Without Exxon Russia could not manage the technology for exploiting North Sea oil. Rachel Maddows fantastic book Blowout from some years back is even more pertinent now.
I don’t doubt that Trump gave Putin some of our most classified intelligence.
And apparently the Trump WH was a drug den -
From Rolling Stone -
Trump’s White House Pharmacy Handed Out Drugs Like Candy: Report
A Department of Defense report found an obscene lack of control over the handling of controlled medications while Trump was in office
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-white-house-pharmacy-prescription-drugs-1234953535/
I heard an additional story on this report on Progressive Radio this morning. They said the report is "easy to read and a real page turner."
(What's a "page turner?") I think I used to know......
I’m not at all surprised. Ronny Jackson was said to have had substance abuse issues on top of his uncritical endorsement of MAGA.
I would be surprised if Jackson doesn't still have substance abuse issues.
I guess he was a walking pharmacy under Obama as well, maybe even W., but not sure about that.
I saw that yesterday. YIKES!!!
Without going back to read it, someone was mentioned as getting controlled substances as a "reward" for leaving the White House!
I heard that too. Unbelievable!
Sold???
But look who owns MSM.
I read that Putin is wanting to rescind the sale of Alaska territory to the USA: https://thehill.com/policy/international/4423913-state-dept-putin-alaska-russia/ Uh, don’t think so….wonder if he’s drinking the same “Diet Coke” TFFG is?! What chaps my ass is all the crap that’s being thrown on the world stage when we ALL have very real issues confronting our lives & our ecosystems survival. I wonder if, perhaps, off-world civilizations did a drive by and thought…nope, don’t like the vibe of this neighborhood.
Barbara Keating, I've heard it proposed as the "ferme paradox" that the more advanced we get, the closer we get to our own destruction. Which begs the questions. And how many planets before us have destroyed themse!ves? And how many have not?
It's the "Fermi Paradox" - that high technology civilizations create their own destruction. There's certainly some strong arguments in favor of the proposition.
The Fermi Paradox seems to be the strongest description of our current dilemmas.
TCinLA, thanks for putting a finer point on my comment.
Especially if one fully considers it regarding 'this' planet, with it's dominance too often by the worst of our species unchangeable natures, historically. But, let's not go down that rabbit hole, savor our good moments, and get back to that "understatement competition" that our mentor and dear professor kicked off so well. *edit > I should have said "kicked off so splendidly." That sounds a tad more high brow British. (lol)
🤣
The consensus now is that all civilizations extinguish themselves as they become more sophisticated, because of all the little work-arounds that are used to keep things running, and the complexity of those compromises create instability. A prime example, I think, would be the Constitution. It was brilliant for its time, but with all the little tinkerings to it over 236 years (especially the last 50), and the massive changes in our civilization that couldn't have been envisioned back then, its time has come.
Maybe, but I’m still committed.
Jeff, is that possibly what happened to the Romans? I could see it happening in the US BUT FOR the existence of many other, newer, national constitutions around the world, modeled on that of the US, which we could use as suggestions for the continued development of our country. Yes, there are a lot of naysayers around the US, but we could survive the present era if we chose to do so.
As with the Fermi Paradox, there is also the concept of “the great filter”, where a planet’s inhabitants reach a certain level of advancement & technology before they flame out & perhaps go extinct (and maybe why no “advanced extraterrestrials have visited us)…..not unlike civilizations crashing after a time as you note.
The Fermi Paradox is more specifically about the infinite vastness of the universe having so much potential for other life to exist on so many other planets and galaxies that go on and on into mind bending dimensions that there just must be other intelligent life and civilizations out there. Fermi then quipped, "But Where are they?" (no evidence for it or like Barbara said above not going anywhere near that hood...)
Horhai, thanks.
You're welcome.
It's a fascinating concept that was discussed in 1950 when Enrico Fermi and co-workers Emil Konopinski, Edward Teller, and Herbert York were having a lunchtime conversation at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Carl Sagan had written about it too and it has always been something that is hard to reconcile when you look out at the stars.
Trump could trade Alaska for Greenland.
*snort!*
🤣🤣🤣
Hey!!!!!!
As long as they take the (white) Alaskans, they can have it.
As in Texas, not all are magats
Noooooooo!!!!
A smart move. Perhaps there IS inteligent life in the universe.
And 'that' is a very real American problem; now or later, certainly. We watched the creeping grabs by Putin over time; facts in evidence. *edit in, next day > Now what I dislike about chasing that logic string, is that it's sort of 'doom-scrolling forward' to what 'could be'. Like when that string led us to costly "domino theory" interventions in civil wars like Korea / Vietnam. A closer look at civil wars, shows us that the wars aren't necessarily over when one side is vanquished by armed conflict; they continue to simmer, eventually sometimes to boil over again at nonlinear paces. Consider deeply the 'civil wars' of Mexico, U.S., Argentina, etc. for a bit.
From the quote of Mitch McConnell, it appears he’s willing to risk Ukraine’s fall to Putin if it will help Donald Trump get elected. That is disturbing. Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan are turning over in their graves.
Troubling 'dots' again...
Eisenhower, certainly. Not sure about Nixon or Reagan.
You raise an interesting question. My guess is Nixon, for all of his other failures, recognized, as did Reagan, or at least those from whom he sought counsel (Paul Nitze, George Schultz and Cap Weinberger) that Russia and its people have a fundamentally different view of the value of human life and the respective obligations of the governed and the governing class than we in the U.S. do. What I find most galling about McConnell’s capitulation to Putin’s revanchism is his price. He would trade increasing the probability of Donald Trump’s election for Europe’s stability and security? “Turning and turning in the widening gyre….”
It is just disgusting.
I just started to type the same words. Horrifying is probably better.
I hate to be thinking this way, but if Putin wins in Ukraine, eventually he will go into Poland and then there will be another massive war in Europe. This will certainly happen if R’s win and our funding to Ukraine's ceases. While we’re all distracted fighting Putin, China will go into Taiwan. I see a nuclear end that will destroy our world as we know it. Like Einstein said, he didn’t know what weapons will be used in WWIII, but the next war would be stones and sticks. I don’t know if this is a possibility or probably, but Putin must be stopped and pushed out of Ukraine.
I look at the GOP right now and in my mind I see a cesspool with McConnell, Kari Lake, Ronna McDaniel, Trump, that state senator from Arizona who had to resign, etc, all in there, waving their harms and struggling to stay above the surface. The cesspool is swirling into a whirlpool, starting to go faster and faster. And then they all disappear under the surface come November.
God I hope they lose terribly in November. I hope this is massive humiliation. Because I am sick to death of living near the stink of this cesspool that is the GOP now, and I want it to go away forever. I want the day to come where I realize I haven’t thought nor heard the name “Trump” all day long. That will be a very fine day indeed!
Luckily for us, the republicans are not noticing that the abortion issue is drowning them. So allow my optimism: I believe that "The cesspool is swirling into a whirlpool, starting to go faster and faster" and will suck them down the drain....
just wrote to Susan Collins telling her that she must be so proud to be a Republican-- a Republican that works for Donald Trump and Mitch McConell instead of her constituents.
First and foremost the Republicans are Trumpanzees that work for TFFG and not their constituents.
Hey, Gary - I'd love to see what you wrote, because I've been planning to write another letter to Useless Susie myself. And possibly to Angus, because he hasn't exactly been a leading light in this Congress, either.
WTF, right???? Letting the candidate run things in the sidelines???? Screw that noise...... unbelievable
Absolutely
Without immigration to fight over, the MAGApublicans will lose what they see as their most appealing issue in the November elections. That's why they will fight any solution whatsoever regarding our southern border, especially a bi-partisan one. Reaching a solution would be like taking a hammer away from a carpenter.
Yes...indeed.
It is as they say: You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes
That is what left me from all that Heather posted. A LITTLe crisis??! I would say a major crisis where most are afraid of tofg. He is vile for sure but he truly needs to be taken down, locked up for good!
Let's all work together closely to make sure voters see them even more clearly. We can do this.
Respectfully-how can we do this?
Haley’s campaign ad was just idiotic. Promising the fix the borders, immigration, the economy, etc. probably in a day.