Those of you interested in better understanding Putin’s motives, and goals to quash democracies (particularly those bordering Russia) will benefit from reading Anne Applebaum’s January 3, 2022 piece in The Atlantic: The U.S. Is Naive About Russia. Ukraine Can’t Afford to Be.
Her closing thoughts:
“Americans need to stop being surprised by this list of goals, and instead start writing a list of our own. We could start with this one: Help make Ukraine the successful, prosperous, Western-facing democracy that Putin so clearly fears. Don’t make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. And don’t do these things because it’s nice for the children at the ice-skating rink in Kyiv—do them because, in this case, Putin’s analysis is not paranoid: A successful, prosperous, Western-facing democratic Ukraine would indeed pose a dire ideological threat to Russia, as well as to Belarus and to other autocracies in the region and around the world. It would prove to the inhabitants of other autocracies that they can escape the influence of their greedy, brutal leaders. Losing Ukraine, by contrast, would reinforce dictators in Moscow, Minsk, and even Beijing.
Biden has said he wants to “prove that American democracy can still do big things and take on challenges that matter most.” Mostly, he means domestic challenges. But some challenges abroad will also affect American confidence and credibility well into the future. Helping Ukrainians defend Ukrainian democracy is one of them.”
One consideration to bear in mind: behind Putin (and surrounding him closely) extremists far, far worse than Putin, who is not mad... and has the judoka's acrobatic sense of balance and timing, resilience that yields short-term advantage. That, plus a still solid bloc of supporters, including young people.
Before I go on once again to express a certain skepticism about Ukraine, I want to remind readers in this community that, for a while, because I don't view us as a choral society and wanted politely to hear out dissenting voices, some people appointed themselves as our watchdogs and labeled me as some kind of Putin troll or plant... Yuk...
Well, I am European and reasonably aware of European history, so from time to time that difference will show. I abominate the regimes that rule Russia, Hungary and Poland but have some small understanding of the forces that brought them into existence. As far as America's role in the world is concerned, Europe's debt is obvious… yet there is a balance sheet. To take only one case, the Second Gulf War has brought lasting chaos to the Middle East and damage to Europe (including Russia) while strengthening the arm of regional titans in Tehran and Ankara…
It is significant that Finland should show signs of interest in NATO membership because if that were to happen there would be a strong pull for all Nordic Union countries to join.
I just hope that Ukraine is less weak than the morass she was a few years ago—as we are assured by the member of this community who lives there—but I must admit that I have felt all along that, despite the centuries of incorporation into the Russian empire, the very nature of the country was and is to be a bridge between east and west, a buffer State like Finland (once a relatively free and autonomous part of the Russian empire).
The trouble with such a scenario is that the Finns decisively defeated the Red Army in the Winter War of 1940 and were strong enough to come to terms with the Soviet Union after the defeat of the Axis forces. Ukraine still appears to be in the firm grip of dog-in-the-manger oligarchs and there doesn't seem to be a Ukrainian Mannerheim in sight...
Yanukovych was Putin's "our sonofabitch" and while the current president doesn't seem to be in hock to anyone, that leaves him defenseless in a jungle of oligarchy where big beasts roam and rule. I can't help remembering the Diem regime in Vietnam and America's vain and unbelievably costly attempts to prop up a rotten tree.
A nasty, awkward balancing act for all concerned… Mexico, at least, has the advantage of being culturally quite apart from the US, yet “tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de Estados Unidos”. Like Ukraine in relation to Moscow, except that the cultures are far closer…
How about training eyes, too, on Modi’s bloodthirsty ultra-Fascist regime in India? Never forgetting the lowering threat of your homegrown Kremlin party and their promise of a Neo-Fascist International to include such tyrannies—unfortunately part of the tightrope act… The world cannot wait much longer for America’s enemy within to have its fangs drawn.
Thank you for your observations and the education. Please continue to post and comment. Have you considered writing your own substack pieces? Easy and free. I'll sign up!
It is really hard for Americans to look at the world and life itself from the perspective of others. There are forces at work around the world that 99% of us have no idea about and frankly, don't care about. This continues at our peril.
But, yes, we have much work to do right here and now. The de-fanging is happening but the lag time is excruciating. Keep an eye on the events of this Thursday. A lot of us will be speaking up - in person and virtually. We're "mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore."
Bill, thank you for your kind comment, but we are following the quite remarkably well thought-out and presented daily letters of a distinguished professional historian with an unusually clear understanding of the immediate relevance of the past to our present (and vice versa) -- and I have no idea how she manages to marshal so much complex material so quickly and ably, day in day out, while performing her usual duties.
Only on occasion do I have time to read other able Substack contributors like Timothy Snyder (with whose books I am familiar) or Robert B. Hubbell, but I do want to insist on the importance of getting this information to as many people as possible, especially young people, students, first-time voters. Those who have the energy to arouse America's vast population of couch potatoes and haul them unwillingly to the polls...
As for me, I am only a concerned foreign observer, an old man who did an information job when working as a very junior British civil servant in his youth and became addicted to squirreling away information from different international sources. A career as an EU staff translator made for a constant throughput of political and other info, a privileged seat on the edge of the arena. And yes, I sat on the fence for decades... and now I've come down from there to take a stand on behalf of what I've worked for all my life.
Unfortunately, the “defanging” looks more like fang sharpening to me. Red states are passing laws that will allow their legislatures to overrule the popular vote and send there own slate of electors whose votes will be counted by Congress in January, 2025. This, plus the fact that a majority of Senators are elected by only 17% of the electorate, can ensure white minority rule for the indefinite future. There is a chance of outvoting them in November, but it will require an Abrams-class miracle. We will need at least two additional Senate seats and a majority in the House, and even with such a miracle this year, the kleptocrats will be out in force again in 2024 and beyond. It’s all hands on deck, now, or a white authoritarian government for a very long time.
America always enjoyed a reputation for can-do... until we came to the George W. Bush administration and Can't-Do-Won't-Do when it came to anything that needed doing, along with "Mission Accomplished" when said "mission" consisted of doing what was NOT needed and making a mess of the world that could last centuries.
Americans need to wake up from their drugged sleep, wake up to the fact that if these criminals succeed in establishing a foothold on the steps to power, not only will Americans be the worst enemies their own country has ever faced, even in the Civil War, you will be the universal enemy of humanity and of all we wanted to believe you stood for, shunned by all those who have loved and admired you, courted by all the beasts of carrion and prey in the world's political jungle.
Like Churchill, the world is counting on Americans to do the right thing, after they've tried everything else.
It appears to me (and I’ve been participating in the fray most of my adult life, 57=78-21 years) that 60% of white Americans are already the “enemy of humanity,” as you put it.
They—and most of us—haven't even begun to realize that we are all, all of us, our own worst enemy. Them, us too. So off we go bitching at friend and foe and never looking into our own hearts. The beam in our eye of which Christ spoke is as big as the Empire State Building.
Me too. The American in my town who took extreme exception to my commenting on his country rather than my own... may have been right and I should be giving priority to putting my own house in order before I die rather than spouting to the outside world. Yet, I can't help feeling horror at the resurgence in America of all that my good father's generation fought so long and so hard to overcome.
All those tens of million dead whose memory must be honored.
And not just in America. Everywhere. Mass madness, suicidal madness, is sweeping the world (and this is far worse than the Covid with which it combines). Just consider the regime in India of all countries, fomenting hatred to fellow-Indians simply for being Muslims. And not just abstract hatred, inciting Indians to murder their neighbors. Shall we join them in that?
Perhaps.
You will remember who it was that expressed support and admiration for the man behind all this, Narendra Modi, who rose to power on a wave of bloodlust.
Yes. America's former president.
Time to pray for wisdom, strength and resolve. No help will come unless we help ourselves. As for your party politics, one party has been intelligently hijacked, the other is still struggling to rejoin the century, yet there is absolutely no choice but to unite behind that Democratic Party and compel it to live up to its name.
Unite. That is why I drew attention to the work of a wartime hero in Poland, Witold Pilecki, who volunteered to be sent to Auschwitz when it was still a concentration camp for Polish slave labor...
The last words of the film are what matters most to us today, because in this phony peace we have not gotten round to understanding that, yes, we shall indeed all hang separately unless we hang together. Regardless of all else.
Pilecki insisted on the essential role of organization, cooperation between men and women of different origins, differing political persuasions, all working together towards a common end. That says it all.
Reading these comments, I’m surprised there’s an assumption that Putin could easily use power to overcome the satellite nations. Those countries experienced some freedom, and I don’t think the people will just roll over for the return of authoritarian government . I’ve often laughed at Americans who imagine, “The Russians are coming!”—as if any sane leader would want to burden themselves with a population of defiant, angry people. No—it takes a lot of leg work to undermine a nation so that they WANT to be conquered. The Repugs from Reagan to Trump have done just that. Today, I’m more worried for this country than for the Ukraine. And all the Deniers (on both sides of the aisle) who deny Russian ties with Trump need to remember: “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…” because clearly, we’ll never get our hands on the damning evidence.
Thanks, but I am a little surprised by your last sentence. I'd have thought there was so much damning evidence already in the right hands that it is difficult to handle properly. Of course, what matters is not so much to punish those who assaulted Congress in session for the crucial handover of power, as those behind this attempted putsch. And primarily, the man who was still President and has never at any time ceased trying to overthrow the Constitution he swore to uphold and preserve.
Ellie Kona today drew our attention to yet another lucid and well-briefed commentator, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Read this and share it!
Somewhere I have seen Putin quote some old tsar: "Russia with Ukraine is a superpower, Russia without Ukraine is no superpower". Clear enough, isn't it! Remind again of this excellent analysis, and the US need of an adversary:
Thank you, Olof. This article is excellent. Well, I'm saying this because it so closely follows my own outlook from the mid-1980s onwards when I and friends became certain that the Soviet empire was at an end... but, but, but... then it came to the other side of the same coin... our own tawdry twin ideology... "All the world's a shopping mall and all the people only consumers" (Pardon me, Shakespeare) and that deep self-evident truth:
Man cannot live by bread alone.
Snyder is so damned perceptive and so well-researched when it comes to the history of central and eastern Europe and its immediate consequences here and now. HCR should find some way of syndicating with him when it comes to these issues. She is quite strong enough to collaborate with him on her own terms.
I wonder how that would work, Snyder and HCR. Thank you again. I look for Applebaum and Snyder quotes every day as well as what shows up from Paul Krugman.
BEST POST OF THE DAY! No more true statement was ever made.
"Once American leaders and thinkers got over their surprise at this turn of events [the demise of the old Soviet Union], they tended to interpret them as an affirmation of contemporary policies that were designed to break unions and undo the welfare state.
That was a mistake.
Given further authority by the by the end of communism, American politicians of the 1980s prepared the way for an American crack-up, the one that we are experiencing now. "
Thank you Olof for referencing the Snyder article. The idea that capitalism can bring democracy was an aha moment for me. Of course these are not the same thing, yet until now I have unconsciously believed they were the same thing. The lack of a
“vision of a bright future” is also echoed in the diagnosis of our current unrest by Masha Gressen, a Russian-American journalist I have heard speak. This does leave us feeling frustrated and impotent. Snyder’s article and this conversation help me level-up my considerations and understandings of this moment.
In 1993 I and a friend wrote a letter to the editor of the Economist denouncing the idea that free markets must necessarily lead to greater political freedoms and improved human rights in China.
The editor, Bill Emmott, did not publish the letter but was helpful enough to reply to us, stating that "the move to capitalism is bringing an improvement in human rights, not an abnegation of them". Within a matter of months, he changed his tune.
The current situation could hardly be clearer. Subject to closer surveillance than there has ever been on our planet, combined with an automatic points system from which the careless, unlucky, ignorant or unwary citizen could, like the genuinely antisocial, fall into unpersonhood and be denied all rights, the Han citizen (citizen being really too grand a name for China's subjects) may peaceably enjoy all consumers' rights, plus some perks like foreign travel, provided that their thoughts, words and deeds stay strictly within pre-ordained boundaries.
Lesser breeds like Uighurs, Hui and Tibetans are already for the most part either fully digested pseudo-Han or unpersons whose continued existence is at the Central Committee's pleasure. Great fortunes must have been amassed from the building of prisons and other security facilities.
As Frederick has written in these pages over the last year, the USA is a "Democracy Capitalism." Capitalism only truly works with democratic tools and controls upon it.
Yes, read this yesterday. Putin is getting boxed in. And I think it is important to remember that the invasion of Ukraine by Putin has been going on for years. The previous administration never addressed it.
Boxed in, especially by his own goons. Maybe read Sun Tzu about leaving an opening free to a trapped adversary... Difficult, of course, when that adversary is, like his American vassal, a tank without a reverse gear.
I feel that all of us armchair warriors should. It might cool our heads while helping us at least to understand better what is going on, together with the potentialities of the situation.
Do you feel that if Trumpism is successful in the US, and democracy fails here, the impact on the rest of the world will be calamitous? To what extent?
Yes, Kathy, that is what makes me so vociferous here. American soft power has always been immense, and that has, naturally played both ways, for better and for worse.
You might, for example, be surprised by the confidence many Soviet citizens felt in America's political institutions (corresponding to mistrust of their own). Many of the ruling caste, however, believed their own propaganda so much that, when the empire collapsed, they launched enthusiastically into the most caricatural forms of "capitalism as theft". This seems to have been Putin's motivation, the moment that opportunity knocked... To become as rich as Croesus...
There has surely been nothing like this accumulation of both power and wealth in the tsar's hands since the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
This surely makes the regime very dangerous, especially for Russians. Observe Chechynia. Observe Belarus, until recently so deeply and naturally pro-Russian. Observe Syria, where Putin delivered an object lesson to his own people, especially the large Muslim minority. Perhaps a dress rehearsal for the revenge of oligarchy if anyone tries to share in its spoils uninvited.
No, the article is fairly squarely aimed the realities of the Constitution - especially the unbelievable imbalance that the each State has 2 Senators, regardless of population size - a quote.....
"The Power of “The Most Unrepresentative Major Legislature in the ‘Democratic World’”
How are these unelected policy deities – the Supreme Court justices – selected? Under the 18th Century US Constitution, they are nominated by the undemocratically elected (see above) US president and then approved by the US Senate, the powerful upper body of the US Congress. (The House of Representatives, the Congressional body closest to the population, has no say in the matter). This American House of Lords, not directly elected until 1912 (when US women did not yet vote and Black people were still 43 years away from constitutionally protected voting rights in the US South), directly violates the “one person, one vote” principle because it grants every state two representatives (US Senators) regardless of population size.
Big majority liberal and progressive, highly diverse California has nearly 40 million people. Small rural white and reactionary Wyoming has less than 600,000 people. And yet both have two US senators. Constitutional "Simon Says".
In 1994 Ukraine gave up its arsenal nuclear weapons, the third largest in the world at that time. If they hadn’t done that, their nuclear capabilities would probably have precluded Putin’s aggression, including his takeover of Crimea. Nobody knows what might have happened between 1994 and the Russian annexation of Crimea, but the opponents to Ukraine’s denuclearization who in 1994 predicted Russian aggression if Ukraine gave up its nukes (and there were some, even in the US Dept of State) seem to have been right about Russian aggression.
I really wish someone would explain to me how one can ignore a subpoena. This would come in handy in the event I ever get one.
However, it may not help me given I am not in Trump's circle which would automatically put me above the law.
I saw yesterday that Trump Jr and his girlfriend, Kimberly are engaged. That makes it rather convenient that once she marries him, she will not be compelled to testify against him. That's one witness down that won't have to testify what she saw in the room where they watched the Insurrection unfold on television.
Trump's continued endorsement and hero worship of Orban shouldn't surprise anyone. Atleast he is consistent.
I noticed yesterday in my travels more Trump 2024 flags going up along side F*ck Biden flags.
As I listened to NPR last week, there was a consistent theme of if the GOP gain the House, Articles of Impeachment will immediately be introduced against Biden. I remember hearing this when Biden won and thought it was rubbish. It's not. They will.
If the Confederate conspiracy is not defanged in good time and its venom drawn, America will become, more than ever, no State of Law but a State of Lawyers. Especially mobsters' attorneys... those who control the law on their crooked clients' behalf. And the Judiciary will become, as in Russia, an organ of direct transmission for the Executive.
The USA as a veritable Shysterstan.
I think I have been mistaken in speaking of a Neo-Fascist International in the making. That will merely be the "respectable" (?) cover for a very real Mafia International.
Show trials for any honest men and women left standing.
If you can't beat them, join them. Invest in private prisons now. In a greatly expanded American Gulag.
(What a revolting idea, what a revolting prospect -- it must be stopped at all costs.)
Peter, you're right. The Prison Industrial Complex is already well established and would only expand under a Trumpian codified legal system. And look! We're more than half way there!
I give you The Prison Industrial Complex -
"...fewer than 10% of U.S. inmates are incarcerated in for-profit facilities, and use the term to diagnose a larger confluence of interests between the U.S. government, at the federal and state level, and private businesses which profit from the increasing surveillance, policing, and imprisonment of the American public since approximately 1980"
If she was present or participated for any crime she will be charged or subpoenaed directly. She does not have to testify against her husband but she is free to. It will all depend on if she was in the room where it happened and if she participated.
Going dystopian is unwarranted, and bad for our health. The slow process of rebuilding our social and political capital from the status quo governance challenges caused by World War II—the end of isolationist nationalism, the centralization of wartime governance in the USA under wartime emergency powers, and the impact of the "Military-Industrial Complex", to name a few—are encountering the end-of-generation (Boomer, i.e., me)legacy struggles, not to mention death flight.
Objectively speaking, especially for a population whose mass of experience informing public life and opinion, the future is not retro-nationalism, it's the extension of "citizenship" to a level of global community.
Our existential circumstance defining community responsibility today is predicated on meeting planetary issues like preventing global war, controlling planet threatening use of nuclear materials and other toxins, and, not least, global climate change. The only "natural defense" remaining after mountains, oceans, rivers and deserts have dropped out is using our minds to make sense of the place in which we actually live. Increased education and information resources allowing for evidenced discussion and opinion on a mass scale are at the heart of present historical change. The sky is not falling. We can talk ourselves down from the madness of angst.
My best source on politics, an absolutely brilliant, clear thinking man who has spent nearly 50 years dealing with Capitol Hill, the first 10 or so from the inside, and the rest from outside, says despair is not warranted, as there are checks and balances on the legal side that ***can*** still prevent an overthrow of Democracy even if the GOPers take over Capitol Hill.
You are absolutely correct, Linda--there WILL be articles of impeachment filed against Biden almost as soon as the new (presumably Republican-controlled) Congress is sworn in. I have been predicting (make that guaranteeing) that development as soon as Biden is sworn in.
Yes, that and the fact that the Democrats have only recently and suddenly (hopefully) awakened to this danger, as well as that of gerrymandering. The question is, is it too late for this problem to be fixed?
My personal take is the Dems are about 15 years behind the game. RNC Chair Michael Steele very successfully executed their RedMap strategy of building strength at the state level in advance of the 2010 census. Everyone saw it afterwards, yet the Dems seem to be caught flatfooted again.
Yes, which should have wrenched them into gear before the 2020 census. They seem to be unable to focus below the federal level and to be following some very stale conventions at the federal level. Schumer's public statements carry hardly any weight for me. It's time for his actions to speak.
I sadly agree, especially given that Senators Manchin and Sinema have already said that that they will alter the filibuster to advance voting rights legislation. So, we'd best get used to permanent Democrat minority status on a federal level.
Ian, given that historically Democrats are reactive and not proactive this follows suit. Everything happening today should have been strongly addressed and stomped out on Biden's first day. I don't follow the worn out adage that Biden was so busy with COVID-19 ++++. Reality is time spent getting shots in the arm will cost us our Democracy. Keeping our Democracy in check should have been addressed immediately. Bidens involvement was important, but not 24/7. This lends to the question, do we now or did we then not have the best team in place? Do I appreciate what he has done in office. Absolutely, but the cost is high. We clearly never got control of the steering wheel.
This is exceedingly pessimistic - dystopian even. Even I, a noted Cassandra, cannot subscribe to this yet.
First of all, Trump’s world, and therefore politics in America, may flip 180 degrees in the next few months. The upcoming hearings could and should be devastating to the entire Republican Party. There may be indictments of key players from Congress and in the Executive Branch. I don’t rule out an indictment of Trump.
The effect this would have on the midterms is unclear. In fact it is not clear America would *get* to the midterms without serious, perhaps cataclysmic violence. As for those elections, the statistics are indeed grim. In modern times, the President’s party lost seats 15 midterm cycles consecutively until Clinton broke the streak in 1998 and Bush too gained seats in 2002 (9/11 no doubt). And in the past 4 elections, things returned to normal. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/vitalstats_ch2_tbl4.pdf
So it is conceded that this is to be an uphill fight. But I would posit that the 2022 elections will be like none other, perhaps since the Civil War. Every possible ingredient will be thrown into the soup with no idea how it will turn out in the end.
If violence occurs of the kind I mentioned beforehand occurs, then it will be the single dominating factor to sway the vote one way or another.
But assuming that’s unlikely (no indictments, no significant bloodshed):
Trump’s endorsements will win a shocking number of primaries. But given their extraordinarily far right boldness, will they be able to carry a general election? I think it’s at least a possibility that there could be a spectacular backfire here.
What will the effect on the Democratic Party chances of all the Representatives and Senators retiring? At first glance, the power of incumbency would indicate this will be a big negative for the Dems. This is a worry.
What will the state of the economy be? In all elections (except maybe this one), this is the deciding factor. Right now the economy is in rude good health, even factoring inflation in. Will the Democrats *finally* start selling this relentlessly? Or will the economy flip? All in all, I have to think that this bone going into the soup is a plus for the Democrats.
What will the state of Covid be? All signs point to a devastating month or so. But when Omicron has totally driven out Delta, will that be the last gasp for Covid as a pandemic? Or will there be yet another “variant of interest”? Covid has been declared dead wrongly too often so a prediction is not possible. But imagine an October-November with the medical system limping back to health, with children in school, with supply chain problems a thing of the past, with everything open and masks abandoned - would that not redound well to the governing party?
Finally, what will the state of election law be? Will Senate Majority Leader Joe Manchin (self-anointed) signal to the Senators to fall in line for a filibuster rule change? If so, will the resulting bill galvanize Republicans to come out in droves to squash the anticipated jump in voting by the poor and people of color?
My point is this: the election is, in political terms a light year away. If any election could upset conventional wisdom or doubly confirm it, this is it. It is the mother of all outliers, to coin a phrase. :)
And getting as far down the road as an impeachment of Biden is, at this moment, a gigantic waste of psychic energy.
Agreed assuming we get in gear by donating and working. We can’t sit on the sidelines and just hope good will triumph over evil. Reality has to prevail over the FP’s true believers where reality doesn’t exist.
Eric your assessments are typically excellent, this one as well. You always spend the time to do a thorough treatment.
I don’t know why, but often here I see a knee-jerk despair and pessimism response to what’s happening. There are so many moving parts to this monumental change in American society. One fleeting little news item, like a suddenly-revealed legal detail from the trumps voluminous litigation morass, sends people into doom and gloom. American society is divorcing itself from the old social order. We are doing a thorough purge of the slavery and misogyny tradition. You can’t let yourself be swayed by a few minor details, you have to look at the big picture.
Technically incorrect. An impeachment requires only a majority of the House. Removal from office requires a 2/3 majority of the Senate. So, they can impeach President Biden, they just probably won't be able to have him removed from office.
But to your point, yes it would be a "show trial", demonstrating nothing more than a desire to seek vengeance for the two (deserved) impeachments of the Orange Asscactus.
I respectfully disagree. Trump committed impeachable offenses but today's Republican Party wouldn’t vote to convict him even if he shot someone in broad daylight.
Ian, I wasn't suggesting what Trump did weren't Impeachable offenses. They were. But knowing beforehand what the GOP would do, we were just shoveling sand. It ultimately became nothing more than an idle threat that worked against us with his cult.
Unfortunately that isn't true for this. Under Spousal Witness Privilege, a person cannot be forced to testify against his or her spouse in a criminal proceeding. This privilege applies to testimony about events that happened during as well as events that happened before they were married.
Linda, thanks. Can you give me the place in the legal statutes where this is written. I believe you. I just want to know how to find the law. Is it also true for civil law, i.e., torts?
Ellie and Linda, I stand corrected. Thanks. But, isn't Ms. Gilfoil (sic) expected to testify against Donald Trump, witnessing his sitting about and not calling off the Capitol insurrection. Is that protected?
I'm not a lawyer. I was hoping you were onto something that spousal witness privilege might not apply in civil cases. I think you're right, that Kimberly Guilfoyle's privilege would not extend beyond her husband of the moment.
I Googled it and found it rather quickly under "Spousal Witness Privilege ". It indicated this is true under a criminal proceedings. For some reason, I'm not able to link from my phone to this page. Sorry.
I also wonder what the consequences are for ignoring a subpoena. Does this make them subject to arrest? And if Trump Jr and Kimberly do get married, does the protection against testifying against him apply only to the period after the wedding?
Imagine, Donald Trump published a letter in the NY Times demanding the death sentence for five black teenagers accused of, but not yet tried in a court of law for rape. Public pressure including Trump's efforts lead to police and the District Attorney's office forcing guilty pleas from the teenagers. After time in prison the Central Park Five were one at a time exonerated and released with evidence and a confession by a repeat rape offender.
The same Trump family claims entrapment when a subpoena is issued to explain conflicts between information in loan applications and bank loans don't match where the should match.
The is how white privilege, or more specifically "Trump privilege" works. No matter how you slice it, regardless of how the laws are written, the Trumps have been a criminal family for several generations.
Corollary to this: This is one Trump act of many that showed NYers, and those paying close attention back then, what kind of man he really was. He was never a "maverick, tell-it-like-it-is, big personality, successful businessman" to (most) NYers. He was THIS.
He was totally unsuccessful, and really, quite stupid about business. I just read his niece, Mary Trump's book about him. Trump's father WAS quite good at real estate, and a horrible person, who enabled this particular son over the others because he wanted a successor who was totally tough, who didn't admit mistakes, etc.
It is money privilege, although, you need less of it to effect a positive outcome for yourself if you are white. If you have money, in America, you can do whatever you want.
Just look at the guys Jeffrey Epstein hung out with:
Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and on and on. A long line of rich guys parktaking in what Epstein had to offer. None in jail.
Finally, a cop down in Florida managed to get three girls to testify against Epstein in 2007 I think, and, also got other evidence, and Epstein was arrested.
Then, the Bush administration got him released, easy peasy.
Here is a guy trafficking in young girls and he was let go scott free even though a cop had gathered a ton of evidence.
Then, when he was arrested again and it looked like he might be able to stay alive to testify about what he was doing?
Dead.
Yep. In America, money really does mean you are above the law UNLESS you happen to aggravate another guy with MORE money.
I agree that money is a key issue. But white people have a long heritage of wealth accumulation and domination, and have long been more willing to assist and accept neo wealthy whites into their circles. We have a history of white men denying access to and taking wealth from non-white people. One of so many great books exemplifying this is "Killers of the Flower Moon". Ultimately, escaping responsibility for breaking laws is one of many forms of white privilege.
As for a powerful force that's kept Black people down, I suggest you read "Back of the Hiring Line: A 200 year history of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth.
The author covers the literature of economic history, government commissions on immigration reform (all of which recommended substantial reductions in immigration) , and his own journalism on the subject, and quotes from Black periodicals, and Black leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose own sons were rendered downwardly mobile by immigration surges.
Time after time over the last 200 years, Blacks have begun to climb out of poverty, only to be pushed back down by an oversupply of cheap labor due to mass immigration.
The most powerful supporters of mass immigration are the employers of low/no-skilled workers. They are the ones who pushed back hardest on the gov't commissions on immigration reform, including the Rockefeller Commission ('72 I think), the Hesburgh Commission ('79) and the Barbara Jordan Commission ('96). Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us exists to encourage immigration of tech workers, despite plenty of competent Americans in that field.
In fact, there are numerous instances of companies firing their American tech workers, but forcing them to train their foreign replacements. Why would they hire untrained foreign workers? Because they can pay them less!
I, too, would put the emphasis on "money" over "white". Wealth and power work to keep the races, religions, and cultures at each other's throats to keep their attention diverted from the immense wealth disparity between the few haves and the many havenots.
Of course not all white people escape the law. The wealthiest have the most resources, fellow travellers and facilitators, and supporters who envy the benefits of wealth. So less affluent and poorer whites are more likely to be held accountable.
I apologize for some typos and text errors, including that should have said "loan applications and tax filings". Smart phones only think they are smart. Ugh.
Right and ya know those (I think 5) teenagers most likely got an overworked/underpaid public defender who can spend 2min on a case and usually will recommend plea bargaining, without the clients really understanding what that entails.
There is a good documentary film on the Central Park Five. The police were able to get signed confessions without the accused teenagers having their parents or attorneys present as I recall. Each teenager was dealt with separately. They did not all know each other before they were apprehended. They were each told that the others had described in some detail what they one interrogated had done. They were each promised they could go home if they just confessed. Their defense attorneys could see the mess, but the public attitude because of media attention and no further successful investigation wanted a lynching. It was as close to a southern lynching as the we have in the 1970s in the north.
I feel fairly confident that the former president could not locate Hungary on an unlabeled map of Europe. He doesn’t have the focus to read one paragraph about who Orban is or what he stands for. He’s figured out that Tucker is giving the guy attention and somewhere in there there might be a chance for him to fleece more money from his donors if he says something and appears interested.
Mr. Articulate states Orban has done a "powerful and wonderful job". (Sounds like an advertisement for toilet cleaner.) TFG is still trying to prove to Daddy Fred that he is worthy and not "weak", no matter what the cost to others might be. I am so tired of this carnival barker whose substance is built on selfishness and narcissism.
"Sounds like an advertisement for toilet cleaner" – Trump as a twisted version of the Ty-D-Bol Man.
"Ty-D-Bol is best known for its nautical spokesperson, the Ty-D-Bol Man. Nattily attired in a captain's hat, blazer, and turtleneck, he piloted a toilet tank-sized boat in TV commercials from 1968 to 1984. "
I sometimes wonder who is feeding trump instructions. These kind of out there support for a dictator sound exactly like something Steven Miller would feed him. I am 100% sure trump's former cadre of villians are still around and working behind the scenes to influence him.
He read it in Dictator magazine. But don't get me wrong, there are lots of pictures (of Orbán, Hitler, Kohn, McCarthy, Putin, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, etc.) and just a few words, over and over: Change the subject, obstruct, challenge, deny, accuse, get others to do your dirty work, tap into anger and fear. repeat. And some business cards: Stone, Giuliani, Flynn, etc.
I personally think, let’s say that this has been ‘Made ‘ for TV/ Social Media.After all they were all involved with The Apprentice weren't they ? A Reality Show. A Fake.Why was an alleged Billionaire doing a TV show. Mainly he was 3 Billion in Debt.Selling off what he could. Who better to pull off all we have endured . “ Trump Does D.C.” Everyone on board has to sign Non-Disclousers. How’s everyone liking that “Alternative Reality “ now ? Right.Can’t wait until his Base does.
When Joy Reid interviewed Shumer on her show this afternoon, she asked him if he had any knowledge we the public didn't about whether Sinema and Manchin supported voting rights more than they supported the filibuster. He tried to get out of answering but finally had to admit he did not know any more than anyone else does about that.
As Lawrence O'Donnell - the news anchor who knows the ways of the Senate better than anyone else in the news business (having worked there a long time) - later said on his show, Shumer is going to force this vote not knowing the outcome. But then as Rachel had pointed out in her show, the pressure is really on the two of them now, because their vote when this comes up will be the first two sentences in their obituaries, as to whether they came down on the side of Strom Thurmond and the segregationists, or "the right side of history."
More and more, these two (Manchin and Sinema) are going to have to reckon with the work of the 1/6/21 committee, as are Senators Murkowski, Collins, and Romney. A "yes" vote on any of the pending Democratic legislation will likely end the careers of any of them. Then again, so will a Trump victory in 2024.
Thank you! Not mine, really. I know some people who sacrificed more than they could handle losing during war, and I’ve lived in some countries that demonstrated just how much we stand to lose if our voting rights are taken away.
So if Washington’s troops could March without shoes spreading blood for miles, if grandpa could spend three years in mud and heat leading a gun crew in the Pacific...If Black leaders could face beatings and threats...I am humbled to keep making phone calls, writing letters, demanding freedom from the comfort of my couch to protect what they built.
Honestly I’d like to work in the next elections, too, but not sure my arthritis will allow it.
Thank you for referencing Lawrence O’Donnell. His insights based on his Senate working experience for Moynihan are invaluable. I needed reminding. This is a moment around Voting Rights to watch and listen to his commentary. ❤️🤍💙
Lawrence )’Donnell is famous for his definitive statements such as, in 2015, that TRUMP WILL NEVER RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY. I take him with a grain of salt.
That's overly harsh. Many knowledgeable people had concluded the same thing. O'Donnell makes mistakes like anyone and any journalist, but his knowledge of how things work in Congressed is a vital resource.
Yes that would be easier than knowing that we are responsible to act, wouldn’t it? but sorry, you’re here and so time to step up 😘 what are your plans to push back and “take up the oxygen?”
Sorry, but I'm way old and a full-time care giver, and I have stepped up for all my adult life, and still will as best I can with my school counselor retirement salary. No more protests, but can still write and I do. No apologies here.
Jeri, I’d truly admire your efforts. I was a full-time caregiver until recently and didn’t have the emotional energy to even write or make calls. Stay safe and sane:)
"Consider" what Mitch McConnell might suggest doing to forward the Voting Rights Act so that a carve out of the filibuster is not necessary. And the reaction.
"Russia, China, Britain, France, and the U.S. today reassured the world that their differences would not lead to nuclear war. The five nations announced today in a joint statement that they wanted to stop an increase in nuclear weapons and avoid a nuclear war. The five nations pledged to continue talks about nuclear disarmament."
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but did India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea, countries not recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), suddenly get rid of their nuclear stockpiles? Seriously, what makes those 4 countries less likely to launch than any of the N5? Isn't there a way to bring 3 of those 4 countries to the table particularly given the instabilities associated with all 4 of those countries? Please pardon, in advance, my ignorance/naivete with regards to this matter.
Those of an age may very well remember these slogans and the poster* from Another Mother for Peace (AMP).
*"War is not healthy for children and other living things"
"In the name of defense, they're poisoning our land ... our air ... our water ... and our children.''
Thanks for the link to the poster. We had one at home in my childhood in Seattle. I remember my mom marching in that 1970 protest on the I-5 freeway. I made a similar poster to march with my own little kids in Feb. 2003 in Brussels. As we finished the march route we gave it to some young people who were just arriving.
Thanks, Carla. I had one hanging on my bedroom wall. The instant I read the paragraph about the N5 and their pledge not to nuke us, the image of that poster popped into my head.
People have very distinct and clear memories of both that era and that particular poster. That you gave your version of the poster to arriving protesters, was a beautiful gesture of solidarity.
I was born in '60, so all I could do to protest was learn to play the guitar and wear psychedelic neru-collar blouses and love beads. My parents were older than hippies but as you say that era marked us all and we continue to dream of and strive for peace. I often wonder about that poster I gave away, was it swept up by city cleaners or is it still on someone's wall?
I was born in 54 so I was able to participate fairly regularly in DC area marches & protests. My folks were pretty supportive, which made a difference. I know I took the poster when I moved away from home but it's long since gone. I'd like to think your poster is still on someone's wall.🌷
I'm 1/3 my way through "The 1619 Project". (HIGHLY recommend) The book has helped me to understand, in a new, more detailed, nuanced, way, what is going on in America today has been with us in one form and another since, well, 1619.
The racial/social attitudes, the bald-faced, white hot greed, the brutality, that created the plantation economy entirely dependent on slave labor, that eagerly decimated native populations, that has successfully undercut democratic principles for two centuries, has evolved new, more resistant forms, like a virus.
Yes. America Is A Gun. What you describe has been a part of the American psyche since the beginning. But that is not all We, The People are. However, in this moment it's rearing its ugly head and aims to dominate for many reasons. Fighting back is the only recourse. I wish I knew how...
She has an endowed chair in journalism at Howard University, alongside a bunch of other amazing scholars. My friends at UNC were absolutely appalled by what happened there. And it wasn't that she was "denied tenure." She was offered an endowed chair in the J school but--in a move that was considered to be racist--not with automatic tenure, which is traditional in appointing endowed chairs.
Yes and many quit over what UNC “offered” her. My cousin worked as a librarian there for nearly 40 years. He was appalled and thus, put his resignation in.
Schumer....."how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the State level with only a simple majority vote, but not allow the United States Senate to do the same?” This says it all. How can the retuglicans justify this? I sure hope Schumer has an ace up his sleeve or he will look pretty stupid calling for a vote on MLKing day.
I posted the following elsewhere today, but wanted to make it part of my own post. A quote from Rebecca Solnit FB page.... “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
”The lines between democracy and authoritarianism are becoming clearer.”
Have you ever hit the ❤️ button on Heather’s article after only reading a few lines in?
A few days ago, Heather wrote a splendid piece about Abraham Lincoln. And yet, seemingly off topic, I posted a link to an article about the Jan. 6 committee.
I find the global and domestic threats to democracy to be the most compelling political story of this decade. So when I make my way through a Heather piece and find that every subject bears directly on the threats to democracy in our society and in world society, I feel uniquely heard. It satisfies an urgent need in me.
On Putin and Trump:
Let’s start with Trump.
From the moment he became the Republican Party nominee, I thought to myself, “This guy is too clueless to realize that he is going to be the most scrutinized human being in American society. He’s walking straight into the trap of having every media outlet and investigative organization in the country putting a borescope up his a$$ and lighting up every instance of malfeasance in his life.“
As for Putin, he is also capable of being magnificently clueless. Don’t they have an expression in Russian for “leave well enough alone“? His grudge about the demise of the Russian Empire (the USSR) motivates his actions vis-à-vis Ukraine, to try to recapture what has been lost for good. Humpty Dumpty. Can never be put back together again. What he fails to recognize is that his action is motivating NATO to become much stronger than it already is, in response to the threat that he is providing. Not the brightest bulb on the circuit.
A.P. article:
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday he feared that Putin was intent on invading Ukraine and “nothing other than a level of sanctions that Russia has never seen will deter him.”
N.B. Human civilization’s (horrid) relationship with the planet (the environment, the Goddess of Earth) is an even bigger story, imo, but Heather is uniquely qualified to address intra-civilization needs, politics (the policy of society).
Bravo, Roland! In re Trump, he doesn't care what kind of press he gets as long his name is front and center. He's pretty much achieved that goal (ad nauseam). Putin is no less a whining cry baby, just a tad smarter and formally schooled in skullduggery.
At last, the tip of the head of a bald eagle is appearing over the horizon—and you, Professor Richardson, are the dove with an olive branch aprés le déluge!
The Richardson effect spreads: I immediately ordered a copy of "Orwell's Roses" and sent it to my distant son. He's just received it. He called me, full of excitement. Rebecca Solnit has a new fan - he can't put the book down.
Actually, the bald eagle, like the osprey, is a fish-eating bird of prey. Cooper’s hawks and other specific hawks chase down and eat birds. Peregrine falcons, for examples, prey on pigeons.
The original symbol for the USA was a Phoenix. Whoever drew the original artwork for the phoenix bird made it look to Benjamin Franklin like a scrawny turkey, and that’s how the bald eagle was eventually chosen to replace the Phoenix. Manly P. Hall, The Secret History of America.
We watch bald eagles all the time on the coastal beaches in Alaska. They scare the heck out of the seagulls who try to live off fish waste. The wing span of a bald eagle casts a huge shadow as they snatch fish from the sea with their talons. Their eye sight is like that of a ridge patrolling Dall sheep.
I had a Cooper’s hawk visit my feeder yesterday. It was amazing to see how quickly the songbirds disappeared, and how long it took them to come back. I am feeding all the birds, I guess. He was gorgeous.
When the doves are crowding out the song birds 🐦 from my feeders I play the Cooper’s hawks call on my iPad, in an instant they are gone, a dove can fly 70 mph, I’ve seen a Cooper’s hawk chase down and catch one for lunch. I have also seen a Hummingbird dance all around the face of a perched Cooper’s hawk totally fearless, knowing that it was safe.
Wow! We can't have bird feeders because of the bears, but still enjoy a wide variety from hummingbirds and chickadees to bald eagles and blue herons! (And once in awhile, cooper's hawk!).
That’s wonderful! Great idea. I have a swarm of finches and sparrows, not much else. We get an occasional blue jay, cardinal, junco, chickadee, some super woodpeckers, and that’s about it. And the very disruptive squirrels, aka dog TV - my dog stands at the window watching them, which is funny. The doves stay on the ground, mostly in the driveway (why?) until the dog chases them away.
Almost every day these articles lead us back to the original Consitution.
For those interested in HOW that constituion was written, and, want to read something detailed, well, there is a very good, detailed, not very long book by Catherine Drinker Bowen that is well worth reading.
"Miracle at Philadelphia".
In this book, which, is daily accounting of what went on based on Bowen's years long analysis of notes, letters, journals, etc. we see how the current structure of the Senate was formed and why it was needed to get states to ratify the original constitution.
The large amount of negotiations and the tremendous efforts by the founders to accommodate each other to get to a "united" republic that approximated "by the people" was truly profound.
In retrospect, the Senate looks nutty yes? Two white guys for every state no matter the state's size OR no matter what the demographic makeup is? Crazy right? Well.....
Catherine Drinker Bowen's book shows WHY the Senate exists. Because, if that had not been part of the constitution, the USA, with all its warts, would never have existed as a "United" entity.
I read this FB post of Rebecca Solnit yesterday. Says it all.....
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
Your first line says it all, Dr. R. The Trumpublicans in Congress have chosen authoritarianism. Will any of them wake up and honour their oath to the Constitution and the country over their party. It is chilling that I even have to ask that question.
"The dismal Democrats will not move to challenge the openly undemocratic constitutional regime or even to make significant reforms permitted within the “frozen republic” charter’s rules like ending the filibuster and expanding the size of the Supreme Court to dilute its ridiculous right-wing super majority. They will not fight remotely hard enough for the nation’s working-class majority to get the massive voter turnouts they would need to have any chance of durably overcoming both contemporary voter suppression measure and the deeply embedded minority rule advantages (including shocking constitutional powers of popular vote suppression and cancellation at the state level) the Republicans enjoy in the federalist US constitutional order. Critical among the reasons for this loathsome passivity is the Dems’ captivity to the “wealth primary” (John Bonifaz and future Congressman and House impeachment leader Jamin Raskin’s excellent law student/journal phrase) campaign finance power of the corporate and financial ruling class – a power that has been granted God-like inviolability by the holy high (Supreme) court in the Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and Citizens United (2010) decisions.
The idea behind the phrase “wealth primary” is very simple: “Without personal wealth or the ability to raise large sums of money from well-heeled contributors, many aspiring officeholders are locked out of the process before the first vote is cast. Those voters who wish to express views that are not supported by wealthy donors are left without an outlet.”
We don't need to read more naysaying with snickering commentary. We already know enough about dirty money and PACs. We have power in grassroots and in grasstops.
I suggest everybody walk the talk and if not already, become familiar with Swing Left, Sister District Action Network, and/or Mobilize US:
Better yet, take a few minutes to jump over to Robert Hubbell's summary of Professor
Laurence Tribe article in The Guardian, “The risk of a coup in the next US election is greater now than it ever was under Trump," with informed warning about the problem followed by a sensible list of how to prevent or fix the problem:
Thank you for always taking a thoroughly practical approach to the problem of how to counter current dangers. And thank you for triangulating with Hubbell's well thought-out strategy. (Readers may not agree, but I am all for similarly making closer use of Snyder's analysis, especially when it comes to many aspects of foreign policy.)
Something apparently secondary: it might be useful to know a little more about subscribers. Not personal details but especially items like the age balance.
Although some of the liveliest and most polemical contributors are plainly old-timers, I can't help feeling that some of us are still stuck in the 20th century. The more contributors aged under 35, the better. But are there any? Hugh Spencer SOUNDS younger, but appearances belie.
Oldies would do well to make a gift of the HCR subscription to their intelligent and politically active children and grandchildren.
So true Peter. But I’ll share that my young gifted savvy daughter introduced me to HCR’s Substack. Many many young people read but not many subscribe. If they want to comment, they do so on the FB page.
Great, Christine, but I'm thinking that older subscribers should gift a subscription to youngsters awake and intelligent enough to share and act on what they read here. It will be absolutely essential to get all first-time voters to the polls.
Otherwise, as the Misleader put it to those he misled, "You'll never take back our country with weakness... You have to be strong".
Also, AOC, out of Brooklyn, is a modern example of someone who won without big donors behind her. That is the main reason the Republican party hates her so much. She is a real threat because she is not on the take from a rich donor.
AOC represents a district which includes the eastern part of the Bronx, portions of north-central Queens, and Rikers Island in New York City.
Nope not Brooklyn. You are forgiven - upstate and all that;
AOC would be a threat wherever her money came from, because she does her homework, is unflappable, and very smart. She never grandstands. Go to the CSPAN archives. Listen to her quiet takedown of the atrocious Wilbur Ross. And AOC, the Squad, and the progressive caucus knows how to strategically work and play well with others. Which many on the purity test left haven't a clue.
Like the admirable Hakeem Jeffries, head of the Democratic Congressional caucus (who does represent a district in Brooklyn and Queens) - I've lived in Brooklyn and Binghamton.
Howard Dean’s campaign manager or advisor, Joe Trippi, is currently collaborating with The Lincoln Project. JT’s background in CA politics, computers and fund-raising is interesting and instructive. ❤️🤍💙
Hugh, thanks for the post. I could not read the entire article but I did obtain the gist.
Yes, since 1980 the US has moved toward an oligarchic structure the does require those who run for office to be backed by a/some rich donors. Yes, that plays a huge role in who gets in office, and, also, plays a huge role in who gets listened to once the election is over.
And, yes, that fact, that a man like Abe Lincoln could probably not be elected any longer, since he was poor when he started, will have impacts.
But, it is not over until it is over so: I would never call the game won by the other side until it is. Even in my years as a Little Leauge Coach, I saw many a game that looked lost turn around on one play.
So, I cannot say "be optimistic" because even I am not. BUT, I am not throwing in the towel, it is too early for that, and I will get people on the field to see if we can win.
True, Hugh, nothing changes if nothing changes. Right wing activists have been quietly changing the political order for decades. Wealth Primaries or no, the pandemic and the ham fisted power grab on 1/6/21 have destabilized that system enough (?) to make real change possible. Every movement has its Antietam. Ours is coming.
So, instead I suppose we should assume that Democratic office holders are incorruptible and are never beholden to corporate interests? Putting a few deserving DEMS on "the hook" hardly lets the GOP off the hook. I think one can reasonably and usefully try to distinguish between better and worse Democrats, while heavily favoring their party over the other one.
Your conclusory supposition misreads both my reply and the original post.
What HS wrote and cited:
the author doesn't hold out much hope for democracy in 'Murica, and lays out the reason very clearly ... "The dismal Democrats will not move to challenge the openly undemocratic constitutional regime or even to make significant reforms ... Critical among the reasons for this loathsome passivity is the Dems’ captivity to the “wealth primary” ..."
This is a wholesale condemnation of the Democrats. It is not as you mistakenly assert "putting a few deserving DEMS on the hook." And there is no evidence of either HS or the author cited and urged on us, as "heavily favoring one party over the other one."
In fact, in closing HS makes their intent clear "Those voters who wish to express views that are not supported by wealthy donors are left without an outlet.”
so enjoy the coming chaos."
Over all the comment and quote are typical of assertions by those who in 2016 split the left wing vote with pipe dreams of third party Pied Pipers or sat on their hands, rather than holding their nose and voting for Hillary Clinton. Because, they claimed there was no significant difference between Clinton and Trump. And, they believed that with the chaos of a Trump win, then come the revolution. And come it did. Only their unconscionable enjoyment of paving the way for the Trump's chaos did not herald a socialist workers paradise as they fancied. It lead to four years of irreparable harm to our most vulnerable neighbors and fragile planet. And then - when a sufficient number of people strategically allied (ThankYou Rep, James Clyburn. ThankYou Stacy Abrams) and voted in the Democratic ticket - it lead to the GOP insurrection.
One of the founders of Counterpunch was Alexander Cockburn, a reflexively contrarian and self identifying Marxist (pity poor Karl) for whom neither Christopher Hitchens nor Bernie Sanders were pure enough. Although Cockburn infamously admired France's racist right wing extremist Marie LePen and was a fellow traveler of those who cannot critique Zionism or Israeli government policy without indulging in their own antiSemitism.
I am left of Bernie Sanders for whom I caucused. I can go one on one with any maga or dirtbag on the sins of the Clintons. And, I volunteered for Hillary almost full time for months. Because ... you know, Trump. Who I knew would win because the right was united and the left was splintered. And it's now beginning to feel like 'deja vu all over again.'
Well, Lin, if the "original post" is Paul Street's article in "Counterpunch", then I have not read it, as I am not a subscriber. If, instead, you are referring to Hugh Spencer's post in which he quotes part of Street's article, well, there's not that much to misread, as it seems clear that Hugh agrees with Street's criticism of the Democratic Party and with the notion that our US Constitution has flaws in it which are enabling the GOP to establish minority rule before our eyes and under the noses of - yes - congressional Democrats, some of whom may have been compromised in more or less venal ways.
As someone who -- like you -- is way far left by American standards, contributed to both of Bernie's primary campaigns, and then voted wholeheartedly for Hillary against Trump (while holding my nose) and -- unlike you -- was shocked and dismayed when she lost, I agree that Democratic disunity is a big problem. But it is not our only problem, and not necessarily the biggest one.
Street's description of congressional Democrats as "dismal" (compared to whom? the GOP?) and their "loathsome passivity" (compared to whom? the American electorate?) is a bit rich, I suppose, but the notion that our Constitution needs to be changed, and that -- thus far -- the DEM establishment has not moved forcefully or decisively enough to accomplish that tall order, nor even enough to pick the low-hanging fruit, such as eliminate the filibuster or enlarge the Court, strikes me as unexceptional and obvious.
I will become a no-questions-asked, knee-jerk supporter of the Democratic Party on the day the 50th US Senator openly declares that the time has come to eliminate the filibuster and when the US Attorney General appointed by a Democratic president decides to prosecute the folks who planned the coup d'etat that began a year ago and continues as we speak and under our noses.. Until then, criticism of Democrats' failures -- past and present -- is more than legitimate.
And I'd bet, Lin, you and I agree about almost everything.
A quick search suggests Street is part of the purity test, false equivalency, circular shooting squad, fratricidal left. Not necessarily all wrong, but more resentment than strategy. In the quote from his article, he won't even put Democratic before Jamie Raskin's name (which I think he even spells wrong) leaving the reader to understand that a House impeachment manager would be a Democrat.
I listen to CSPAN a lot and have done for decades. You can't lump my former Takoma Park, Maryland Rep. Raskin with my current Maine CD2 Rep. Jared Golden (the only House Democrat to vote against Build Back Better.) Golden also has the distinction of being the only Democrat to win in a district which went for Trump as much as CD2 did. So yes, I am regularly on the phone with his office and publishing letters to the editor in local papers criticizing his votes which I don't like. And I will be campaigning for him again as soon as possible. Because a Democrat who doesn't always vote for his party's best, is much better than a Republican who always votes for his party's worst.
And I knew Trump would win from making thousands of phone calls and listening to hundred's of voters. I even got on national radio shows and wrote to pundits saying that if the best we can do is make fun of Trump, then he'll laugh his way into the White House. And was pooh poohed - until October. Call me Cassandra, but we have a lot of work to do before Nov 2022.
Yes, a lot of work indeed. I admit I never took Trump seriously until he won the Electoral College, so I admire anyone who could see what was likely to be Hillary's fate in 2016. You're in good company with Michael Moore.
But knowing now that that could even happen, maybe we should take heart that -- thanks to Trump -- GOP politicians have nowhere to hide and will have a hard time appearing to not be what they really are. People who vote GOP next time will be voting for Trump and all he represents and against representative democracy.
And the Democrats will have the difficult task of convincing Americans that some things are more important than money and convenience and the GDP and inflation and what's available on Netflix. Won't be easy.
PS, I did hold my nose, (very, very tightly), and vote for Hillary. But, Lin, it was not at all easy.
Lot's of folks just did not vote. That was a big problem in 2016.
It is true the Democrats do need to run people who can win. By that I mean, if I have to hold my nose so tight I cannot breathe to vote for Democrat, that means something is wrong.
Does that mean I want Trump to win, no.
But, recognizing that the Democratic party had a losing candidate and trying to make sure that does not happen again is important.
because, Hillary might try to run again, and, she will lose again.
Oh, you might have to subscribe to Counterpunch to read it (it's free). Counterpunch is a continuing compendium of independent writers (OK mostly left leaning) - on all manner of subjects - politics, environment, women's issues etc.
The many important issues touched upon today by HCR and those who are commenting all serve to divert the Democratic Party from doing TODAY what they should have done from DAY ONE of their control of both Houses of Congress and the White House. Voting Rights! Why must Shumer wait until January 17? Every week counts. Even if voter rights legislation is passed tomorrow, it will take months to put it into effect and battle the lawsuits against it Republican-dominated States will surely initiate. Election Day is ten months away! The good things Americans have gained from Democratic legislation are not sufficiently dramatic to win votes. (Even Republicans who voted against them confuse the voters by claiming credit for them.)
There is only one job on the workbench for Democrats and those who wish to preserve democracy in America. Regardless of whether voting rights legislation is passed, it must be the mobilization of the votes needed to keep control of both Houses of Congress in November. As I have repeatedly said, that can be done only with a massive turn-out of voters, motivated by consistent Republican opposition to anything which might be of benefit to women and persons of color. These are the specific voters who the Democratic Party must target to mobilize now! Not tomorrow. Now. Otherwise, democracy loses.
A national political party becomes a criminal organization when they concertedly exploit state's rights to curtail election freedoms while creating partisan control over elections. This is especially pronounced following the wake of an insurrection and the refusal to honor free and fair elections.
As a criminal organization seeking to undermine our laws via interstate action they should be held accountable via the RICO Act.
Those of you interested in better understanding Putin’s motives, and goals to quash democracies (particularly those bordering Russia) will benefit from reading Anne Applebaum’s January 3, 2022 piece in The Atlantic: The U.S. Is Naive About Russia. Ukraine Can’t Afford to Be.
Her closing thoughts:
“Americans need to stop being surprised by this list of goals, and instead start writing a list of our own. We could start with this one: Help make Ukraine the successful, prosperous, Western-facing democracy that Putin so clearly fears. Don’t make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. And don’t do these things because it’s nice for the children at the ice-skating rink in Kyiv—do them because, in this case, Putin’s analysis is not paranoid: A successful, prosperous, Western-facing democratic Ukraine would indeed pose a dire ideological threat to Russia, as well as to Belarus and to other autocracies in the region and around the world. It would prove to the inhabitants of other autocracies that they can escape the influence of their greedy, brutal leaders. Losing Ukraine, by contrast, would reinforce dictators in Moscow, Minsk, and even Beijing.
Biden has said he wants to “prove that American democracy can still do big things and take on challenges that matter most.” Mostly, he means domestic challenges. But some challenges abroad will also affect American confidence and credibility well into the future. Helping Ukrainians defend Ukrainian democracy is one of them.”
https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/621145/
One consideration to bear in mind: behind Putin (and surrounding him closely) extremists far, far worse than Putin, who is not mad... and has the judoka's acrobatic sense of balance and timing, resilience that yields short-term advantage. That, plus a still solid bloc of supporters, including young people.
Before I go on once again to express a certain skepticism about Ukraine, I want to remind readers in this community that, for a while, because I don't view us as a choral society and wanted politely to hear out dissenting voices, some people appointed themselves as our watchdogs and labeled me as some kind of Putin troll or plant... Yuk...
Well, I am European and reasonably aware of European history, so from time to time that difference will show. I abominate the regimes that rule Russia, Hungary and Poland but have some small understanding of the forces that brought them into existence. As far as America's role in the world is concerned, Europe's debt is obvious… yet there is a balance sheet. To take only one case, the Second Gulf War has brought lasting chaos to the Middle East and damage to Europe (including Russia) while strengthening the arm of regional titans in Tehran and Ankara…
It is significant that Finland should show signs of interest in NATO membership because if that were to happen there would be a strong pull for all Nordic Union countries to join.
I just hope that Ukraine is less weak than the morass she was a few years ago—as we are assured by the member of this community who lives there—but I must admit that I have felt all along that, despite the centuries of incorporation into the Russian empire, the very nature of the country was and is to be a bridge between east and west, a buffer State like Finland (once a relatively free and autonomous part of the Russian empire).
The trouble with such a scenario is that the Finns decisively defeated the Red Army in the Winter War of 1940 and were strong enough to come to terms with the Soviet Union after the defeat of the Axis forces. Ukraine still appears to be in the firm grip of dog-in-the-manger oligarchs and there doesn't seem to be a Ukrainian Mannerheim in sight...
Yanukovych was Putin's "our sonofabitch" and while the current president doesn't seem to be in hock to anyone, that leaves him defenseless in a jungle of oligarchy where big beasts roam and rule. I can't help remembering the Diem regime in Vietnam and America's vain and unbelievably costly attempts to prop up a rotten tree.
A nasty, awkward balancing act for all concerned… Mexico, at least, has the advantage of being culturally quite apart from the US, yet “tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de Estados Unidos”. Like Ukraine in relation to Moscow, except that the cultures are far closer…
How about training eyes, too, on Modi’s bloodthirsty ultra-Fascist regime in India? Never forgetting the lowering threat of your homegrown Kremlin party and their promise of a Neo-Fascist International to include such tyrannies—unfortunately part of the tightrope act… The world cannot wait much longer for America’s enemy within to have its fangs drawn.
Thank you for your observations and the education. Please continue to post and comment. Have you considered writing your own substack pieces? Easy and free. I'll sign up!
It is really hard for Americans to look at the world and life itself from the perspective of others. There are forces at work around the world that 99% of us have no idea about and frankly, don't care about. This continues at our peril.
But, yes, we have much work to do right here and now. The de-fanging is happening but the lag time is excruciating. Keep an eye on the events of this Thursday. A lot of us will be speaking up - in person and virtually. We're "mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore."
Bill, thank you for your kind comment, but we are following the quite remarkably well thought-out and presented daily letters of a distinguished professional historian with an unusually clear understanding of the immediate relevance of the past to our present (and vice versa) -- and I have no idea how she manages to marshal so much complex material so quickly and ably, day in day out, while performing her usual duties.
Only on occasion do I have time to read other able Substack contributors like Timothy Snyder (with whose books I am familiar) or Robert B. Hubbell, but I do want to insist on the importance of getting this information to as many people as possible, especially young people, students, first-time voters. Those who have the energy to arouse America's vast population of couch potatoes and haul them unwillingly to the polls...
And I have just mentioned another very well-presented essay brought to our attention today: https://lucid.substack.com/p/jan-6-a-milestone-of-right-wing-counterrevolutio?r=6pp8t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
As for me, I am only a concerned foreign observer, an old man who did an information job when working as a very junior British civil servant in his youth and became addicted to squirreling away information from different international sources. A career as an EU staff translator made for a constant throughput of political and other info, a privileged seat on the edge of the arena. And yes, I sat on the fence for decades... and now I've come down from there to take a stand on behalf of what I've worked for all my life.
Bravo! And we all benefit. Thank You, Peter (even when I don"t agree).
Unfortunately, the “defanging” looks more like fang sharpening to me. Red states are passing laws that will allow their legislatures to overrule the popular vote and send there own slate of electors whose votes will be counted by Congress in January, 2025. This, plus the fact that a majority of Senators are elected by only 17% of the electorate, can ensure white minority rule for the indefinite future. There is a chance of outvoting them in November, but it will require an Abrams-class miracle. We will need at least two additional Senate seats and a majority in the House, and even with such a miracle this year, the kleptocrats will be out in force again in 2024 and beyond. It’s all hands on deck, now, or a white authoritarian government for a very long time.
You've said it!
ALL HANDS ON DECK
America always enjoyed a reputation for can-do... until we came to the George W. Bush administration and Can't-Do-Won't-Do when it came to anything that needed doing, along with "Mission Accomplished" when said "mission" consisted of doing what was NOT needed and making a mess of the world that could last centuries.
Americans need to wake up from their drugged sleep, wake up to the fact that if these criminals succeed in establishing a foothold on the steps to power, not only will Americans be the worst enemies their own country has ever faced, even in the Civil War, you will be the universal enemy of humanity and of all we wanted to believe you stood for, shunned by all those who have loved and admired you, courted by all the beasts of carrion and prey in the world's political jungle.
Like Churchill, the world is counting on Americans to do the right thing, after they've tried everything else.
It appears to me (and I’ve been participating in the fray most of my adult life, 57=78-21 years) that 60% of white Americans are already the “enemy of humanity,” as you put it.
They—and most of us—haven't even begun to realize that we are all, all of us, our own worst enemy. Them, us too. So off we go bitching at friend and foe and never looking into our own hearts. The beam in our eye of which Christ spoke is as big as the Empire State Building.
Me too. The American in my town who took extreme exception to my commenting on his country rather than my own... may have been right and I should be giving priority to putting my own house in order before I die rather than spouting to the outside world. Yet, I can't help feeling horror at the resurgence in America of all that my good father's generation fought so long and so hard to overcome.
All those tens of million dead whose memory must be honored.
And not just in America. Everywhere. Mass madness, suicidal madness, is sweeping the world (and this is far worse than the Covid with which it combines). Just consider the regime in India of all countries, fomenting hatred to fellow-Indians simply for being Muslims. And not just abstract hatred, inciting Indians to murder their neighbors. Shall we join them in that?
Perhaps.
You will remember who it was that expressed support and admiration for the man behind all this, Narendra Modi, who rose to power on a wave of bloodlust.
Yes. America's former president.
Time to pray for wisdom, strength and resolve. No help will come unless we help ourselves. As for your party politics, one party has been intelligently hijacked, the other is still struggling to rejoin the century, yet there is absolutely no choice but to unite behind that Democratic Party and compel it to live up to its name.
Unite. That is why I drew attention to the work of a wartime hero in Poland, Witold Pilecki, who volunteered to be sent to Auschwitz when it was still a concentration camp for Polish slave labor...
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0b711n3/the-man-who-volunteered-to-be-imprisoned-in-auschwitz
The last words of the film are what matters most to us today, because in this phony peace we have not gotten round to understanding that, yes, we shall indeed all hang separately unless we hang together. Regardless of all else.
Pilecki insisted on the essential role of organization, cooperation between men and women of different origins, differing political persuasions, all working together towards a common end. That says it all.
Great commenting. Love this international focus on the significance of Biden's foreign policy. I will train my eyes.....but so much to see.
Reading these comments, I’m surprised there’s an assumption that Putin could easily use power to overcome the satellite nations. Those countries experienced some freedom, and I don’t think the people will just roll over for the return of authoritarian government . I’ve often laughed at Americans who imagine, “The Russians are coming!”—as if any sane leader would want to burden themselves with a population of defiant, angry people. No—it takes a lot of leg work to undermine a nation so that they WANT to be conquered. The Repugs from Reagan to Trump have done just that. Today, I’m more worried for this country than for the Ukraine. And all the Deniers (on both sides of the aisle) who deny Russian ties with Trump need to remember: “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…” because clearly, we’ll never get our hands on the damning evidence.
Thanks, but I am a little surprised by your last sentence. I'd have thought there was so much damning evidence already in the right hands that it is difficult to handle properly. Of course, what matters is not so much to punish those who assaulted Congress in session for the crucial handover of power, as those behind this attempted putsch. And primarily, the man who was still President and has never at any time ceased trying to overthrow the Constitution he swore to uphold and preserve.
Ellie Kona today drew our attention to yet another lucid and well-briefed commentator, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Read this and share it!
https://lucid.substack.com/p/jan-6-a-milestone-of-right-wing-counterrevolutio?r=6pp8t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Interesting.
Somewhere I have seen Putin quote some old tsar: "Russia with Ukraine is a superpower, Russia without Ukraine is no superpower". Clear enough, isn't it! Remind again of this excellent analysis, and the US need of an adversary:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/ussr-1922-1991-usa-1776-2025
Thank you, Olof. This article is excellent. Well, I'm saying this because it so closely follows my own outlook from the mid-1980s onwards when I and friends became certain that the Soviet empire was at an end... but, but, but... then it came to the other side of the same coin... our own tawdry twin ideology... "All the world's a shopping mall and all the people only consumers" (Pardon me, Shakespeare) and that deep self-evident truth:
Man cannot live by bread alone.
Snyder is so damned perceptive and so well-researched when it comes to the history of central and eastern Europe and its immediate consequences here and now. HCR should find some way of syndicating with him when it comes to these issues. She is quite strong enough to collaborate with him on her own terms.
I wonder how that would work, Snyder and HCR. Thank you again. I look for Applebaum and Snyder quotes every day as well as what shows up from Paul Krugman.
Maybe they could talk about the Alaska Purchase?
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is another plain-speaking expert on authoritarianism:
https://lucid.substack.com/p/jan-6-a-milestone-of-right-wing-counterrevolutio?r=6pp8t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Mine too Peter.
Olof,
BEST POST OF THE DAY! No more true statement was ever made.
"Once American leaders and thinkers got over their surprise at this turn of events [the demise of the old Soviet Union], they tended to interpret them as an affirmation of contemporary policies that were designed to break unions and undo the welfare state.
That was a mistake.
Given further authority by the by the end of communism, American politicians of the 1980s prepared the way for an American crack-up, the one that we are experiencing now. "
Putin's favorite Beatles tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS5_EQgbuLc
Trump’s also.
Thank you Olof for referencing the Snyder article. The idea that capitalism can bring democracy was an aha moment for me. Of course these are not the same thing, yet until now I have unconsciously believed they were the same thing. The lack of a
“vision of a bright future” is also echoed in the diagnosis of our current unrest by Masha Gressen, a Russian-American journalist I have heard speak. This does leave us feeling frustrated and impotent. Snyder’s article and this conversation help me level-up my considerations and understandings of this moment.
In 1993 I and a friend wrote a letter to the editor of the Economist denouncing the idea that free markets must necessarily lead to greater political freedoms and improved human rights in China.
The editor, Bill Emmott, did not publish the letter but was helpful enough to reply to us, stating that "the move to capitalism is bringing an improvement in human rights, not an abnegation of them". Within a matter of months, he changed his tune.
The current situation could hardly be clearer. Subject to closer surveillance than there has ever been on our planet, combined with an automatic points system from which the careless, unlucky, ignorant or unwary citizen could, like the genuinely antisocial, fall into unpersonhood and be denied all rights, the Han citizen (citizen being really too grand a name for China's subjects) may peaceably enjoy all consumers' rights, plus some perks like foreign travel, provided that their thoughts, words and deeds stay strictly within pre-ordained boundaries.
Lesser breeds like Uighurs, Hui and Tibetans are already for the most part either fully digested pseudo-Han or unpersons whose continued existence is at the Central Committee's pleasure. Great fortunes must have been amassed from the building of prisons and other security facilities.
As Frederick has written in these pages over the last year, the USA is a "Democracy Capitalism." Capitalism only truly works with democratic tools and controls upon it.
😔
Thank You, Olof.
Agree, Catherine. Excellent article. Thank you.
Yes, read this yesterday. Putin is getting boxed in. And I think it is important to remember that the invasion of Ukraine by Putin has been going on for years. The previous administration never addressed it.
Boxed in, especially by his own goons. Maybe read Sun Tzu about leaving an opening free to a trapped adversary... Difficult, of course, when that adversary is, like his American vassal, a tank without a reverse gear.
Always leave the weasel a back door.
I need to reread The Art of War.
I feel that all of us armchair warriors should. It might cool our heads while helping us at least to understand better what is going on, together with the potentialities of the situation.
Do you feel that if Trumpism is successful in the US, and democracy fails here, the impact on the rest of the world will be calamitous? To what extent?
Yes, Kathy, that is what makes me so vociferous here. American soft power has always been immense, and that has, naturally played both ways, for better and for worse.
You might, for example, be surprised by the confidence many Soviet citizens felt in America's political institutions (corresponding to mistrust of their own). Many of the ruling caste, however, believed their own propaganda so much that, when the empire collapsed, they launched enthusiastically into the most caricatural forms of "capitalism as theft". This seems to have been Putin's motivation, the moment that opportunity knocked... To become as rich as Croesus...
There has surely been nothing like this accumulation of both power and wealth in the tsar's hands since the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
This surely makes the regime very dangerous, especially for Russians. Observe Chechynia. Observe Belarus, until recently so deeply and naturally pro-Russian. Observe Syria, where Putin delivered an object lesson to his own people, especially the large Muslim minority. Perhaps a dress rehearsal for the revenge of oligarchy if anyone tries to share in its spoils uninvited.
Thank you for that quote.
My nightmare is a cornered Putin.
I think if you read Paul Street's article (here's the link again) you'l realise that 'Murica' doesn't need Putin's help - the future is hard wired into the Constitution. https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/02/it-goes-back-to-the-days-of-the-founders/
Thanks, Hugh. Unfortunately, I was unable to access Paul Street’s entire article without signing up for it. Not yet ready to do that.
Did he offer particular points related to what’s going on in Eastern Europe you can highlight for us?
I'd sign up.
No, the article is fairly squarely aimed the realities of the Constitution - especially the unbelievable imbalance that the each State has 2 Senators, regardless of population size - a quote.....
"The Power of “The Most Unrepresentative Major Legislature in the ‘Democratic World’”
How are these unelected policy deities – the Supreme Court justices – selected? Under the 18th Century US Constitution, they are nominated by the undemocratically elected (see above) US president and then approved by the US Senate, the powerful upper body of the US Congress. (The House of Representatives, the Congressional body closest to the population, has no say in the matter). This American House of Lords, not directly elected until 1912 (when US women did not yet vote and Black people were still 43 years away from constitutionally protected voting rights in the US South), directly violates the “one person, one vote” principle because it grants every state two representatives (US Senators) regardless of population size.
Big majority liberal and progressive, highly diverse California has nearly 40 million people. Small rural white and reactionary Wyoming has less than 600,000 people. And yet both have two US senators. Constitutional "Simon Says".
In 1994 Ukraine gave up its arsenal nuclear weapons, the third largest in the world at that time. If they hadn’t done that, their nuclear capabilities would probably have precluded Putin’s aggression, including his takeover of Crimea. Nobody knows what might have happened between 1994 and the Russian annexation of Crimea, but the opponents to Ukraine’s denuclearization who in 1994 predicted Russian aggression if Ukraine gave up its nukes (and there were some, even in the US Dept of State) seem to have been right about Russian aggression.
Thank you Heather.
I really wish someone would explain to me how one can ignore a subpoena. This would come in handy in the event I ever get one.
However, it may not help me given I am not in Trump's circle which would automatically put me above the law.
I saw yesterday that Trump Jr and his girlfriend, Kimberly are engaged. That makes it rather convenient that once she marries him, she will not be compelled to testify against him. That's one witness down that won't have to testify what she saw in the room where they watched the Insurrection unfold on television.
Trump's continued endorsement and hero worship of Orban shouldn't surprise anyone. Atleast he is consistent.
I noticed yesterday in my travels more Trump 2024 flags going up along side F*ck Biden flags.
As I listened to NPR last week, there was a consistent theme of if the GOP gain the House, Articles of Impeachment will immediately be introduced against Biden. I remember hearing this when Biden won and thought it was rubbish. It's not. They will.
Be safe. Be well.
Kimberly and Don Jr. are the perfect couple--she's a screamer and he's tone deaf.
She needs to get on some meds and he needs to put down the bong.
Her gast is flabbered, and he doesn't have one.
🤣😂
😂😂😂
😆😆
😂😂
She can marry Jr but it does not protect Sr.
Martha, I know. It gets one of them out of the loop. But let's be honest, none of it matters when you are above the law.
If the Confederate conspiracy is not defanged in good time and its venom drawn, America will become, more than ever, no State of Law but a State of Lawyers. Especially mobsters' attorneys... those who control the law on their crooked clients' behalf. And the Judiciary will become, as in Russia, an organ of direct transmission for the Executive.
The USA as a veritable Shysterstan.
I think I have been mistaken in speaking of a Neo-Fascist International in the making. That will merely be the "respectable" (?) cover for a very real Mafia International.
Show trials for any honest men and women left standing.
If you can't beat them, join them. Invest in private prisons now. In a greatly expanded American Gulag.
(What a revolting idea, what a revolting prospect -- it must be stopped at all costs.)
Peter, you're right. The Prison Industrial Complex is already well established and would only expand under a Trumpian codified legal system. And look! We're more than half way there!
I give you The Prison Industrial Complex -
"...fewer than 10% of U.S. inmates are incarcerated in for-profit facilities, and use the term to diagnose a larger confluence of interests between the U.S. government, at the federal and state level, and private businesses which profit from the increasing surveillance, policing, and imprisonment of the American public since approximately 1980"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_complex
Peter, 100%.
Linda I agree -- but keep on watching.
If she was present or participated for any crime she will be charged or subpoenaed directly. She does not have to testify against her husband but she is free to. It will all depend on if she was in the room where it happened and if she participated.
And Sr. Is the one we want.
I despair! I am truly fearful of what is happening to this country.
Going dystopian is unwarranted, and bad for our health. The slow process of rebuilding our social and political capital from the status quo governance challenges caused by World War II—the end of isolationist nationalism, the centralization of wartime governance in the USA under wartime emergency powers, and the impact of the "Military-Industrial Complex", to name a few—are encountering the end-of-generation (Boomer, i.e., me)legacy struggles, not to mention death flight.
Objectively speaking, especially for a population whose mass of experience informing public life and opinion, the future is not retro-nationalism, it's the extension of "citizenship" to a level of global community.
Our existential circumstance defining community responsibility today is predicated on meeting planetary issues like preventing global war, controlling planet threatening use of nuclear materials and other toxins, and, not least, global climate change. The only "natural defense" remaining after mountains, oceans, rivers and deserts have dropped out is using our minds to make sense of the place in which we actually live. Increased education and information resources allowing for evidenced discussion and opinion on a mass scale are at the heart of present historical change. The sky is not falling. We can talk ourselves down from the madness of angst.
My best source on politics, an absolutely brilliant, clear thinking man who has spent nearly 50 years dealing with Capitol Hill, the first 10 or so from the inside, and the rest from outside, says despair is not warranted, as there are checks and balances on the legal side that ***can*** still prevent an overthrow of Democracy even if the GOPers take over Capitol Hill.
And what Sadpanic says, below.
You are absolutely correct, Linda--there WILL be articles of impeachment filed against Biden almost as soon as the new (presumably Republican-controlled) Congress is sworn in. I have been predicting (make that guaranteeing) that development as soon as Biden is sworn in.
Ian, it is becoming clearer to me the long reaching effects of voter suppression.
Yes, that and the fact that the Democrats have only recently and suddenly (hopefully) awakened to this danger, as well as that of gerrymandering. The question is, is it too late for this problem to be fixed?
My personal take is the Dems are about 15 years behind the game. RNC Chair Michael Steele very successfully executed their RedMap strategy of building strength at the state level in advance of the 2010 census. Everyone saw it afterwards, yet the Dems seem to be caught flatfooted again.
Yes, which should have wrenched them into gear before the 2020 census. They seem to be unable to focus below the federal level and to be following some very stale conventions at the federal level. Schumer's public statements carry hardly any weight for me. It's time for his actions to speak.
I agree. Schumer represents New York banks and is the ultimate "corporate Democrat."
What else is new? :-/
Sadly true.
Ian, in my opinion, yes it's too late.
I sadly agree, especially given that Senators Manchin and Sinema have already said that that they will alter the filibuster to advance voting rights legislation. So, we'd best get used to permanent Democrat minority status on a federal level.
Ian, given that historically Democrats are reactive and not proactive this follows suit. Everything happening today should have been strongly addressed and stomped out on Biden's first day. I don't follow the worn out adage that Biden was so busy with COVID-19 ++++. Reality is time spent getting shots in the arm will cost us our Democracy. Keeping our Democracy in check should have been addressed immediately. Bidens involvement was important, but not 24/7. This lends to the question, do we now or did we then not have the best team in place? Do I appreciate what he has done in office. Absolutely, but the cost is high. We clearly never got control of the steering wheel.
Impeach Biden???
What for???
Being alive and winning the election? :-)
Mike, yeah. Pretty much.
For not being sexist and racist.
Gayle, how he handled leaving Afghanistan, unfit to serve, +++. Whatever they can come up with.
This is exceedingly pessimistic - dystopian even. Even I, a noted Cassandra, cannot subscribe to this yet.
First of all, Trump’s world, and therefore politics in America, may flip 180 degrees in the next few months. The upcoming hearings could and should be devastating to the entire Republican Party. There may be indictments of key players from Congress and in the Executive Branch. I don’t rule out an indictment of Trump.
The effect this would have on the midterms is unclear. In fact it is not clear America would *get* to the midterms without serious, perhaps cataclysmic violence. As for those elections, the statistics are indeed grim. In modern times, the President’s party lost seats 15 midterm cycles consecutively until Clinton broke the streak in 1998 and Bush too gained seats in 2002 (9/11 no doubt). And in the past 4 elections, things returned to normal. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/vitalstats_ch2_tbl4.pdf
So it is conceded that this is to be an uphill fight. But I would posit that the 2022 elections will be like none other, perhaps since the Civil War. Every possible ingredient will be thrown into the soup with no idea how it will turn out in the end.
If violence occurs of the kind I mentioned beforehand occurs, then it will be the single dominating factor to sway the vote one way or another.
But assuming that’s unlikely (no indictments, no significant bloodshed):
Trump’s endorsements will win a shocking number of primaries. But given their extraordinarily far right boldness, will they be able to carry a general election? I think it’s at least a possibility that there could be a spectacular backfire here.
What will the effect on the Democratic Party chances of all the Representatives and Senators retiring? At first glance, the power of incumbency would indicate this will be a big negative for the Dems. This is a worry.
What will the state of the economy be? In all elections (except maybe this one), this is the deciding factor. Right now the economy is in rude good health, even factoring inflation in. Will the Democrats *finally* start selling this relentlessly? Or will the economy flip? All in all, I have to think that this bone going into the soup is a plus for the Democrats.
What will the state of Covid be? All signs point to a devastating month or so. But when Omicron has totally driven out Delta, will that be the last gasp for Covid as a pandemic? Or will there be yet another “variant of interest”? Covid has been declared dead wrongly too often so a prediction is not possible. But imagine an October-November with the medical system limping back to health, with children in school, with supply chain problems a thing of the past, with everything open and masks abandoned - would that not redound well to the governing party?
Finally, what will the state of election law be? Will Senate Majority Leader Joe Manchin (self-anointed) signal to the Senators to fall in line for a filibuster rule change? If so, will the resulting bill galvanize Republicans to come out in droves to squash the anticipated jump in voting by the poor and people of color?
My point is this: the election is, in political terms a light year away. If any election could upset conventional wisdom or doubly confirm it, this is it. It is the mother of all outliers, to coin a phrase. :)
And getting as far down the road as an impeachment of Biden is, at this moment, a gigantic waste of psychic energy.
Agreed assuming we get in gear by donating and working. We can’t sit on the sidelines and just hope good will triumph over evil. Reality has to prevail over the FP’s true believers where reality doesn’t exist.
Agreed.
Eric your assessments are typically excellent, this one as well. You always spend the time to do a thorough treatment.
I don’t know why, but often here I see a knee-jerk despair and pessimism response to what’s happening. There are so many moving parts to this monumental change in American society. One fleeting little news item, like a suddenly-revealed legal detail from the trumps voluminous litigation morass, sends people into doom and gloom. American society is divorcing itself from the old social order. We are doing a thorough purge of the slavery and misogyny tradition. You can’t let yourself be swayed by a few minor details, you have to look at the big picture.
^^^^What Linda said. It won't be anything legitimate or substantive, but they'll do it just for revenge.
They won't be able to impeach him without 2/3s majorities. It will be a show trial if they do that.
Technically incorrect. An impeachment requires only a majority of the House. Removal from office requires a 2/3 majority of the Senate. So, they can impeach President Biden, they just probably won't be able to have him removed from office.
Oh. Thanks for that info.
But to your point, yes it would be a "show trial", demonstrating nothing more than a desire to seek vengeance for the two (deserved) impeachments of the Orange Asscactus.
Benghazi on steroids
Like what we did to Trump? In retrospect, trying to Impeach Trump, twice did nothing more than embarrass us. It was a big mistake.
I respectfully disagree. Trump committed impeachable offenses but today's Republican Party wouldn’t vote to convict him even if he shot someone in broad daylight.
Ian, I wasn't suggesting what Trump did weren't Impeachable offenses. They were. But knowing beforehand what the GOP would do, we were just shoveling sand. It ultimately became nothing more than an idle threat that worked against us with his cult.
Ian, we're not in Kansas anymore, are we? Not even sure where that is.
There is no reason why Trump Jr.'s fiancé/wife cannot be required to testify. The 5th Amendment only protects a person against "self-incrimination."
Unfortunately that isn't true for this. Under Spousal Witness Privilege, a person cannot be forced to testify against his or her spouse in a criminal proceeding. This privilege applies to testimony about events that happened during as well as events that happened before they were married.
Linda, thanks. Can you give me the place in the legal statutes where this is written. I believe you. I just want to know how to find the law. Is it also true for civil law, i.e., torts?
Darn. Wikipedia says spousal witness privilege applies in both criminal and civil cases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spousal_privilege#:~:text=A%20spousal%20communications%20privilege%20applies%20in%20civil%20and,the%20marriage.%20The%20communications%20privilege%20begins%20on%20marriage.
Ellie and Linda, I stand corrected. Thanks. But, isn't Ms. Gilfoil (sic) expected to testify against Donald Trump, witnessing his sitting about and not calling off the Capitol insurrection. Is that protected?
Sadpanic, Spousal Privilege means just that, only cover for Donald Jr. Her future FIL is fair game.
I'm not a lawyer. I was hoping you were onto something that spousal witness privilege might not apply in civil cases. I think you're right, that Kimberly Guilfoyle's privilege would not extend beyond her husband of the moment.
I Googled it and found it rather quickly under "Spousal Witness Privilege ". It indicated this is true under a criminal proceedings. For some reason, I'm not able to link from my phone to this page. Sorry.
I also wonder what the consequences are for ignoring a subpoena. Does this make them subject to arrest? And if Trump Jr and Kimberly do get married, does the protection against testifying against him apply only to the period after the wedding?
Ruth, before as well.
Sophia you are spot on.
I’m hoping, if not trusting, that Merrick’s approach is subtle - until it’s not.
Imagine, Donald Trump published a letter in the NY Times demanding the death sentence for five black teenagers accused of, but not yet tried in a court of law for rape. Public pressure including Trump's efforts lead to police and the District Attorney's office forcing guilty pleas from the teenagers. After time in prison the Central Park Five were one at a time exonerated and released with evidence and a confession by a repeat rape offender.
The same Trump family claims entrapment when a subpoena is issued to explain conflicts between information in loan applications and bank loans don't match where the should match.
The is how white privilege, or more specifically "Trump privilege" works. No matter how you slice it, regardless of how the laws are written, the Trumps have been a criminal family for several generations.
Amen, David Souers.
Corollary to this: This is one Trump act of many that showed NYers, and those paying close attention back then, what kind of man he really was. He was never a "maverick, tell-it-like-it-is, big personality, successful businessman" to (most) NYers. He was THIS.
He was totally unsuccessful, and really, quite stupid about business. I just read his niece, Mary Trump's book about him. Trump's father WAS quite good at real estate, and a horrible person, who enabled this particular son over the others because he wanted a successor who was totally tough, who didn't admit mistakes, etc.
Yup.
David,
It is money privilege, although, you need less of it to effect a positive outcome for yourself if you are white. If you have money, in America, you can do whatever you want.
Just look at the guys Jeffrey Epstein hung out with:
Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and on and on. A long line of rich guys parktaking in what Epstein had to offer. None in jail.
Finally, a cop down in Florida managed to get three girls to testify against Epstein in 2007 I think, and, also got other evidence, and Epstein was arrested.
Then, the Bush administration got him released, easy peasy.
Here is a guy trafficking in young girls and he was let go scott free even though a cop had gathered a ton of evidence.
Then, when he was arrested again and it looked like he might be able to stay alive to testify about what he was doing?
Dead.
Yep. In America, money really does mean you are above the law UNLESS you happen to aggravate another guy with MORE money.
I agree that money is a key issue. But white people have a long heritage of wealth accumulation and domination, and have long been more willing to assist and accept neo wealthy whites into their circles. We have a history of white men denying access to and taking wealth from non-white people. One of so many great books exemplifying this is "Killers of the Flower Moon". Ultimately, escaping responsibility for breaking laws is one of many forms of white privilege.
I would put the emphasis on "money" over "white".
As for a powerful force that's kept Black people down, I suggest you read "Back of the Hiring Line: A 200 year history of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth.
The author covers the literature of economic history, government commissions on immigration reform (all of which recommended substantial reductions in immigration) , and his own journalism on the subject, and quotes from Black periodicals, and Black leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose own sons were rendered downwardly mobile by immigration surges.
Time after time over the last 200 years, Blacks have begun to climb out of poverty, only to be pushed back down by an oversupply of cheap labor due to mass immigration.
The most powerful supporters of mass immigration are the employers of low/no-skilled workers. They are the ones who pushed back hardest on the gov't commissions on immigration reform, including the Rockefeller Commission ('72 I think), the Hesburgh Commission ('79) and the Barbara Jordan Commission ('96). Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us exists to encourage immigration of tech workers, despite plenty of competent Americans in that field.
In fact, there are numerous instances of companies firing their American tech workers, but forcing them to train their foreign replacements. Why would they hire untrained foreign workers? Because they can pay them less!
I, too, would put the emphasis on "money" over "white". Wealth and power work to keep the races, religions, and cultures at each other's throats to keep their attention diverted from the immense wealth disparity between the few haves and the many havenots.
I agree. Look at all other countries and cultures.
Of course not all white people escape the law. The wealthiest have the most resources, fellow travellers and facilitators, and supporters who envy the benefits of wealth. So less affluent and poorer whites are more likely to be held accountable.
Trump was never accepted in Manhattan society.
I apologize for some typos and text errors, including that should have said "loan applications and tax filings". Smart phones only think they are smart. Ugh.
Right and ya know those (I think 5) teenagers most likely got an overworked/underpaid public defender who can spend 2min on a case and usually will recommend plea bargaining, without the clients really understanding what that entails.
There is a good documentary film on the Central Park Five. The police were able to get signed confessions without the accused teenagers having their parents or attorneys present as I recall. Each teenager was dealt with separately. They did not all know each other before they were apprehended. They were each told that the others had described in some detail what they one interrogated had done. They were each promised they could go home if they just confessed. Their defense attorneys could see the mess, but the public attitude because of media attention and no further successful investigation wanted a lynching. It was as close to a southern lynching as the we have in the 1970s in the north.
An amazing documentary. I encourage everyone to watch it.
I feel fairly confident that the former president could not locate Hungary on an unlabeled map of Europe. He doesn’t have the focus to read one paragraph about who Orban is or what he stands for. He’s figured out that Tucker is giving the guy attention and somewhere in there there might be a chance for him to fleece more money from his donors if he says something and appears interested.
Mr. Articulate states Orban has done a "powerful and wonderful job". (Sounds like an advertisement for toilet cleaner.) TFG is still trying to prove to Daddy Fred that he is worthy and not "weak", no matter what the cost to others might be. I am so tired of this carnival barker whose substance is built on selfishness and narcissism.
"Sounds like an advertisement for toilet cleaner" – Trump as a twisted version of the Ty-D-Bol Man.
"Ty-D-Bol is best known for its nautical spokesperson, the Ty-D-Bol Man. Nattily attired in a captain's hat, blazer, and turtleneck, he piloted a toilet tank-sized boat in TV commercials from 1968 to 1984. "
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ty-D-Bol
There's something here. Ty-D-Bol, TFG, flush
Yes!
And how many toilets do you think 'that guy' has cleaned?!
Me also. 7 yrs this June. Before that it was the Birther crap. “ Trump, you’re Fired ! Now go home and play with you’re little white balls ! “.
I sometimes wonder who is feeding trump instructions. These kind of out there support for a dictator sound exactly like something Steven Miller would feed him. I am 100% sure trump's former cadre of villians are still around and working behind the scenes to influence him.
He read it in Dictator magazine. But don't get me wrong, there are lots of pictures (of Orbán, Hitler, Kohn, McCarthy, Putin, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, etc.) and just a few words, over and over: Change the subject, obstruct, challenge, deny, accuse, get others to do your dirty work, tap into anger and fear. repeat. And some business cards: Stone, Giuliani, Flynn, etc.
And Bannon.
Yeah probably. It's Miller who gives me the chills. And Stone.
Agree. The latter two are pure, unadulterated evil.
I have a habit of studying the eyes in the photos of people in the political news. Tells a lot.
Absolutely.
I personally think, let’s say that this has been ‘Made ‘ for TV/ Social Media.After all they were all involved with The Apprentice weren't they ? A Reality Show. A Fake.Why was an alleged Billionaire doing a TV show. Mainly he was 3 Billion in Debt.Selling off what he could. Who better to pull off all we have endured . “ Trump Does D.C.” Everyone on board has to sign Non-Disclousers. How’s everyone liking that “Alternative Reality “ now ? Right.Can’t wait until his Base does.
TFG would just Sharpie in his own version of Hungary like he did with the cone of Hurricane Dorian!
😂 Why we ended up with “ Space Force “ because he forgot the word ‘ Command ‘ . “ New word, new word” he says as he knew he screwed up.
I think Orban is one of trump’s wannabes and Putin is his hero.
When Joy Reid interviewed Shumer on her show this afternoon, she asked him if he had any knowledge we the public didn't about whether Sinema and Manchin supported voting rights more than they supported the filibuster. He tried to get out of answering but finally had to admit he did not know any more than anyone else does about that.
As Lawrence O'Donnell - the news anchor who knows the ways of the Senate better than anyone else in the news business (having worked there a long time) - later said on his show, Shumer is going to force this vote not knowing the outcome. But then as Rachel had pointed out in her show, the pressure is really on the two of them now, because their vote when this comes up will be the first two sentences in their obituaries, as to whether they came down on the side of Strom Thurmond and the segregationists, or "the right side of history."
More and more, these two (Manchin and Sinema) are going to have to reckon with the work of the 1/6/21 committee, as are Senators Murkowski, Collins, and Romney. A "yes" vote on any of the pending Democratic legislation will likely end the careers of any of them. Then again, so will a Trump victory in 2024.
A chump "win" in 2024 will end way more than political careers, as any politician should know.
I’m in! Time to hope and believe!
More conversations about our success, more phone calls to my Republican senators, more writing to editors to hold them to account.
Love your attitude.
Thank you! Not mine, really. I know some people who sacrificed more than they could handle losing during war, and I’ve lived in some countries that demonstrated just how much we stand to lose if our voting rights are taken away.
So if Washington’s troops could March without shoes spreading blood for miles, if grandpa could spend three years in mud and heat leading a gun crew in the Pacific...If Black leaders could face beatings and threats...I am humbled to keep making phone calls, writing letters, demanding freedom from the comfort of my couch to protect what they built.
Honestly I’d like to work in the next elections, too, but not sure my arthritis will allow it.
Thank you for referencing Lawrence O’Donnell. His insights based on his Senate working experience for Moynihan are invaluable. I needed reminding. This is a moment around Voting Rights to watch and listen to his commentary. ❤️🤍💙
Have loved Lawrence for a long time. No two sides there, Hope MSNBC appreciates him
Lawrence )’Donnell is famous for his definitive statements such as, in 2015, that TRUMP WILL NEVER RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY. I take him with a grain of salt.
That's overly harsh. Many knowledgeable people had concluded the same thing. O'Donnell makes mistakes like anyone and any journalist, but his knowledge of how things work in Congressed is a vital resource.
I thought that too
I wish I thought they cared
Yes that would be easier than knowing that we are responsible to act, wouldn’t it? but sorry, you’re here and so time to step up 😘 what are your plans to push back and “take up the oxygen?”
Sorry, but I'm way old and a full-time care giver, and I have stepped up for all my adult life, and still will as best I can with my school counselor retirement salary. No more protests, but can still write and I do. No apologies here.
Jeri, I’d truly admire your efforts. I was a full-time caregiver until recently and didn’t have the emotional energy to even write or make calls. Stay safe and sane:)
HA, too old for either
Me too, Jeri…stepped up, marched, burned my bra, worked for Planned Parenthood, protested, joined Indivisible, wrote, called, etc.
Suggestions? Desperate times...Desperate measures
My current passion is writing emails to news outlets for accountability to handle the Republican crisis as the threat that it really is.
It's literally painful!
"Consider" what Mitch McConnell might suggest doing to forward the Voting Rights Act so that a carve out of the filibuster is not necessary. And the reaction.
Hmm. If Mitch doesn’t have any use for Trump Republicans anymore...?
HA, but is Manchin on his payroll
The Sinema and Manchin tradeoff?
Delay the soft infrastructure bill until next year and we will support the voting rights carve out this year?
And I'm hoping that they can become irrelevant soon thereafter.
There’s a good chance of that, IMO. But nothing is a given. We still need to push!
"Russia, China, Britain, France, and the U.S. today reassured the world that their differences would not lead to nuclear war. The five nations announced today in a joint statement that they wanted to stop an increase in nuclear weapons and avoid a nuclear war. The five nations pledged to continue talks about nuclear disarmament."
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but did India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea, countries not recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), suddenly get rid of their nuclear stockpiles? Seriously, what makes those 4 countries less likely to launch than any of the N5? Isn't there a way to bring 3 of those 4 countries to the table particularly given the instabilities associated with all 4 of those countries? Please pardon, in advance, my ignorance/naivete with regards to this matter.
Those of an age may very well remember these slogans and the poster* from Another Mother for Peace (AMP).
*"War is not healthy for children and other living things"
"In the name of defense, they're poisoning our land ... our air ... our water ... and our children.''
https://democraticwoman.org/war-is-not-healthy-for-children-and-other-living-things-poster/
http://anothermother.org/
Thanks for the link to the poster. We had one at home in my childhood in Seattle. I remember my mom marching in that 1970 protest on the I-5 freeway. I made a similar poster to march with my own little kids in Feb. 2003 in Brussels. As we finished the march route we gave it to some young people who were just arriving.
Thanks, Carla. I had one hanging on my bedroom wall. The instant I read the paragraph about the N5 and their pledge not to nuke us, the image of that poster popped into my head.
People have very distinct and clear memories of both that era and that particular poster. That you gave your version of the poster to arriving protesters, was a beautiful gesture of solidarity.
I was born in '60, so all I could do to protest was learn to play the guitar and wear psychedelic neru-collar blouses and love beads. My parents were older than hippies but as you say that era marked us all and we continue to dream of and strive for peace. I often wonder about that poster I gave away, was it swept up by city cleaners or is it still on someone's wall?
I was born in 54 so I was able to participate fairly regularly in DC area marches & protests. My folks were pretty supportive, which made a difference. I know I took the poster when I moved away from home but it's long since gone. I'd like to think your poster is still on someone's wall.🌷
Ah, thank you Carla for mentioning Brussels. Until this moment, I had been uncertain about BXL (Bruxelles).
Pardon granted. In the name of glaring relevance. Morning Daria.
Morning, Christine. Thanks. 🌷
Ordering the poster. Time for a second posting.
Indeed. I'm ordering 1 to be sent to my daughter's so I can have someone mule it to México for me.
I'm 1/3 my way through "The 1619 Project". (HIGHLY recommend) The book has helped me to understand, in a new, more detailed, nuanced, way, what is going on in America today has been with us in one form and another since, well, 1619.
The racial/social attitudes, the bald-faced, white hot greed, the brutality, that created the plantation economy entirely dependent on slave labor, that eagerly decimated native populations, that has successfully undercut democratic principles for two centuries, has evolved new, more resistant forms, like a virus.
Yes. America Is A Gun. What you describe has been a part of the American psyche since the beginning. But that is not all We, The People are. However, in this moment it's rearing its ugly head and aims to dominate for many reasons. Fighting back is the only recourse. I wish I knew how...
That poem is a wonderful gut punch.
Yes, and, the author of that amazingly informative project? Denied tenure by the all white folks on her tenure committee at her university.
https://www.miamitimesonline.com/news/1619-project-author-denied-tenure-at-unc/article_6fce9da0-c86e-11eb-9d04-6735dad8091b.html
I am not sure where she is now, but, I think at a historically black college.
She has an endowed chair in journalism at Howard University, alongside a bunch of other amazing scholars. My friends at UNC were absolutely appalled by what happened there. And it wasn't that she was "denied tenure." She was offered an endowed chair in the J school but--in a move that was considered to be racist--not with automatic tenure, which is traditional in appointing endowed chairs.
Yes and many quit over what UNC “offered” her. My cousin worked as a librarian there for nearly 40 years. He was appalled and thus, put his resignation in.
There is also an excellent podcast of the 1619 book.
Also reading it here and LWV using it for a book talk.
LWV?
League of Women Voters and I am with the Tucson branch. Men can join.
Sheesh! I should have known. My late mother was a very active member for 60+ yrs.
Also you could have been reading Dr Richardson’s daily letters
I do, I do. Everyday.
Schumer....."how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the State level with only a simple majority vote, but not allow the United States Senate to do the same?” This says it all. How can the retuglicans justify this? I sure hope Schumer has an ace up his sleeve or he will look pretty stupid calling for a vote on MLKing day.
I posted the following elsewhere today, but wanted to make it part of my own post. A quote from Rebecca Solnit FB page.... “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
”The lines between democracy and authoritarianism are becoming clearer.”
Have you ever hit the ❤️ button on Heather’s article after only reading a few lines in?
A few days ago, Heather wrote a splendid piece about Abraham Lincoln. And yet, seemingly off topic, I posted a link to an article about the Jan. 6 committee.
I find the global and domestic threats to democracy to be the most compelling political story of this decade. So when I make my way through a Heather piece and find that every subject bears directly on the threats to democracy in our society and in world society, I feel uniquely heard. It satisfies an urgent need in me.
On Putin and Trump:
Let’s start with Trump.
From the moment he became the Republican Party nominee, I thought to myself, “This guy is too clueless to realize that he is going to be the most scrutinized human being in American society. He’s walking straight into the trap of having every media outlet and investigative organization in the country putting a borescope up his a$$ and lighting up every instance of malfeasance in his life.“
As for Putin, he is also capable of being magnificently clueless. Don’t they have an expression in Russian for “leave well enough alone“? His grudge about the demise of the Russian Empire (the USSR) motivates his actions vis-à-vis Ukraine, to try to recapture what has been lost for good. Humpty Dumpty. Can never be put back together again. What he fails to recognize is that his action is motivating NATO to become much stronger than it already is, in response to the threat that he is providing. Not the brightest bulb on the circuit.
A.P. article:
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday he feared that Putin was intent on invading Ukraine and “nothing other than a level of sanctions that Russia has never seen will deter him.”
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-europe-russia-ukraine-united-states-ab28bf759bf22853c24860498dc651c1
N.B. Human civilization’s (horrid) relationship with the planet (the environment, the Goddess of Earth) is an even bigger story, imo, but Heather is uniquely qualified to address intra-civilization needs, politics (the policy of society).
Bravo, Roland! In re Trump, he doesn't care what kind of press he gets as long his name is front and center. He's pretty much achieved that goal (ad nauseam). Putin is no less a whining cry baby, just a tad smarter and formally schooled in skullduggery.
PS - Happy New Year!
Economic sanctions......part of Founders way of protecting democracy in their world. We still use it.
Gaia, "the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life" is rooting for our democracy.
🎉🎉 YES 🧝🏽♀️🦋🐬🦚🦜🐉🌍🌏🌎 🗽🗽🗽🗽
Thank you MaryPat, I am very passionately in agreement
💚💛🧡
RE: Gaia, whom we have mortally wounded
see Nature Bats Last
https://guymcpherson.com/
At last, the tip of the head of a bald eagle is appearing over the horizon—and you, Professor Richardson, are the dove with an olive branch aprés le déluge!
The Richardson effect spreads: I immediately ordered a copy of "Orwell's Roses" and sent it to my distant son. He's just received it. He called me, full of excitement. Rebecca Solnit has a new fan - he can't put the book down.
"The Richardson effect..." Love that, Anne-Louise!
I ordered the audiobook from Overdrive and checked it out today!
My sister sent it to me! Next on my stack!
Jim, I think doves are in bald eagle's food formulary. Just looking out for the Professor.....
Actually, the bald eagle, like the osprey, is a fish-eating bird of prey. Cooper’s hawks and other specific hawks chase down and eat birds. Peregrine falcons, for examples, prey on pigeons.
The original symbol for the USA was a Phoenix. Whoever drew the original artwork for the phoenix bird made it look to Benjamin Franklin like a scrawny turkey, and that’s how the bald eagle was eventually chosen to replace the Phoenix. Manly P. Hall, The Secret History of America.
We watch bald eagles all the time on the coastal beaches in Alaska. They scare the heck out of the seagulls who try to live off fish waste. The wing span of a bald eagle casts a huge shadow as they snatch fish from the sea with their talons. Their eye sight is like that of a ridge patrolling Dall sheep.
And their talons are also huge, and sharp!
I had a Cooper’s hawk visit my feeder yesterday. It was amazing to see how quickly the songbirds disappeared, and how long it took them to come back. I am feeding all the birds, I guess. He was gorgeous.
When the doves are crowding out the song birds 🐦 from my feeders I play the Cooper’s hawks call on my iPad, in an instant they are gone, a dove can fly 70 mph, I’ve seen a Cooper’s hawk chase down and catch one for lunch. I have also seen a Hummingbird dance all around the face of a perched Cooper’s hawk totally fearless, knowing that it was safe.
Wow! We can't have bird feeders because of the bears, but still enjoy a wide variety from hummingbirds and chickadees to bald eagles and blue herons! (And once in awhile, cooper's hawk!).
Mary Pat, are you on the water?
That’s wonderful! Great idea. I have a swarm of finches and sparrows, not much else. We get an occasional blue jay, cardinal, junco, chickadee, some super woodpeckers, and that’s about it. And the very disruptive squirrels, aka dog TV - my dog stands at the window watching them, which is funny. The doves stay on the ground, mostly in the driveway (why?) until the dog chases them away.
♥️♥️♥️
Almost every day these articles lead us back to the original Consitution.
For those interested in HOW that constituion was written, and, want to read something detailed, well, there is a very good, detailed, not very long book by Catherine Drinker Bowen that is well worth reading.
"Miracle at Philadelphia".
In this book, which, is daily accounting of what went on based on Bowen's years long analysis of notes, letters, journals, etc. we see how the current structure of the Senate was formed and why it was needed to get states to ratify the original constitution.
The large amount of negotiations and the tremendous efforts by the founders to accommodate each other to get to a "united" republic that approximated "by the people" was truly profound.
In retrospect, the Senate looks nutty yes? Two white guys for every state no matter the state's size OR no matter what the demographic makeup is? Crazy right? Well.....
Catherine Drinker Bowen's book shows WHY the Senate exists. Because, if that had not been part of the constitution, the USA, with all its warts, would never have existed as a "United" entity.
Is there hope?
I read this FB post of Rebecca Solnit yesterday. Says it all.....
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
I am never sure about the utlity of "hope". However, I am sure that we always have options. Choosing those wisely is the key.
I just wish I had always chosen wisely.
:-)
Is it too late?
As Dr. Richardson recently pointed out to all of us: "It is never too late to change the future".
Always!
Your first line says it all, Dr. R. The Trumpublicans in Congress have chosen authoritarianism. Will any of them wake up and honour their oath to the Constitution and the country over their party. It is chilling that I even have to ask that question.
N0. it is clearer than ever
Schumer said "...consider...". Wow, such strong words. Yep, that will get things moving....
Suggest everybody reads "https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/02/it-goes-back-to-the-days-of-the-founders/" - long read, but the author doesn't hold out much hope for democracy in 'Murica, and lays out the reason very clearly. It's a chilling read.
Just as sample
"The dismal Democrats will not move to challenge the openly undemocratic constitutional regime or even to make significant reforms permitted within the “frozen republic” charter’s rules like ending the filibuster and expanding the size of the Supreme Court to dilute its ridiculous right-wing super majority. They will not fight remotely hard enough for the nation’s working-class majority to get the massive voter turnouts they would need to have any chance of durably overcoming both contemporary voter suppression measure and the deeply embedded minority rule advantages (including shocking constitutional powers of popular vote suppression and cancellation at the state level) the Republicans enjoy in the federalist US constitutional order. Critical among the reasons for this loathsome passivity is the Dems’ captivity to the “wealth primary” (John Bonifaz and future Congressman and House impeachment leader Jamin Raskin’s excellent law student/journal phrase) campaign finance power of the corporate and financial ruling class – a power that has been granted God-like inviolability by the holy high (Supreme) court in the Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and Citizens United (2010) decisions.
The idea behind the phrase “wealth primary” is very simple: “Without personal wealth or the ability to raise large sums of money from well-heeled contributors, many aspiring officeholders are locked out of the process before the first vote is cast. Those voters who wish to express views that are not supported by wealthy donors are left without an outlet.”
so enjoy the coming chaos.
We don't need to read more naysaying with snickering commentary. We already know enough about dirty money and PACs. We have power in grassroots and in grasstops.
I suggest everybody walk the talk and if not already, become familiar with Swing Left, Sister District Action Network, and/or Mobilize US:
https://swingleft.org/
https://www.sisterdistrictactionnetwork.org/
https://www.mobilize.us/
Better yet, take a few minutes to jump over to Robert Hubbell's summary of Professor
Laurence Tribe article in The Guardian, “The risk of a coup in the next US election is greater now than it ever was under Trump," with informed warning about the problem followed by a sensible list of how to prevent or fix the problem:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-moment-of-truth
Thank you for always taking a thoroughly practical approach to the problem of how to counter current dangers. And thank you for triangulating with Hubbell's well thought-out strategy. (Readers may not agree, but I am all for similarly making closer use of Snyder's analysis, especially when it comes to many aspects of foreign policy.)
Something apparently secondary: it might be useful to know a little more about subscribers. Not personal details but especially items like the age balance.
Although some of the liveliest and most polemical contributors are plainly old-timers, I can't help feeling that some of us are still stuck in the 20th century. The more contributors aged under 35, the better. But are there any? Hugh Spencer SOUNDS younger, but appearances belie.
Oldies would do well to make a gift of the HCR subscription to their intelligent and politically active children and grandchildren.
Only suggesting...
So true Peter. But I’ll share that my young gifted savvy daughter introduced me to HCR’s Substack. Many many young people read but not many subscribe. If they want to comment, they do so on the FB page.
Great, Christine, but I'm thinking that older subscribers should gift a subscription to youngsters awake and intelligent enough to share and act on what they read here. It will be absolutely essential to get all first-time voters to the polls.
Otherwise, as the Misleader put it to those he misled, "You'll never take back our country with weakness... You have to be strong".
For once, quite unintentionally, speaking for us.
Thanks for focusing on the positive and reminding us of actions we can take rather than just waiting in the pot for the water to boil.
Ellie, the problem as I see it, is that America being a legalistic-minded country, will rely on the Constitution, to squash erstwhile counter actions.
Thank You Ellie! And all the grass roots and grass tops movements and these resources!
Also, AOC, out of Brooklyn, is a modern example of someone who won without big donors behind her. That is the main reason the Republican party hates her so much. She is a real threat because she is not on the take from a rich donor.
AOC represents a district which includes the eastern part of the Bronx, portions of north-central Queens, and Rikers Island in New York City.
Nope not Brooklyn. You are forgiven - upstate and all that;
AOC would be a threat wherever her money came from, because she does her homework, is unflappable, and very smart. She never grandstands. Go to the CSPAN archives. Listen to her quiet takedown of the atrocious Wilbur Ross. And AOC, the Squad, and the progressive caucus knows how to strategically work and play well with others. Which many on the purity test left haven't a clue.
Also, I think AOC is the John Adams of our time. Yes.
Lin,
Thanks for the error clarification. My bad. Thanks even more for the forgiveness.
:-)
I too have lived in upstateNY:)
Like the admirable Hakeem Jeffries, head of the Democratic Congressional caucus (who does represent a district in Brooklyn and Queens) - I've lived in Brooklyn and Binghamton.
Historically, Barry Goldwater was innovative in the 1960s by going after grassroots support in his successful campaigns.
Also Howard Dean.
Howard Dean’s campaign manager or advisor, Joe Trippi, is currently collaborating with The Lincoln Project. JT’s background in CA politics, computers and fund-raising is interesting and instructive. ❤️🤍💙
Hugh, thanks for the post. I could not read the entire article but I did obtain the gist.
Yes, since 1980 the US has moved toward an oligarchic structure the does require those who run for office to be backed by a/some rich donors. Yes, that plays a huge role in who gets in office, and, also, plays a huge role in who gets listened to once the election is over.
And, yes, that fact, that a man like Abe Lincoln could probably not be elected any longer, since he was poor when he started, will have impacts.
But, it is not over until it is over so: I would never call the game won by the other side until it is. Even in my years as a Little Leauge Coach, I saw many a game that looked lost turn around on one play.
So, I cannot say "be optimistic" because even I am not. BUT, I am not throwing in the towel, it is too early for that, and I will get people on the field to see if we can win.
True, Hugh, nothing changes if nothing changes. Right wing activists have been quietly changing the political order for decades. Wealth Primaries or no, the pandemic and the ham fisted power grab on 1/6/21 have destabilized that system enough (?) to make real change possible. Every movement has its Antietam. Ours is coming.
Sophistry letting Republicans off the hook while landing feet first on Democrats, only serves voter suppression in service of the GOP.
So, instead I suppose we should assume that Democratic office holders are incorruptible and are never beholden to corporate interests? Putting a few deserving DEMS on "the hook" hardly lets the GOP off the hook. I think one can reasonably and usefully try to distinguish between better and worse Democrats, while heavily favoring their party over the other one.
Your conclusory supposition misreads both my reply and the original post.
What HS wrote and cited:
the author doesn't hold out much hope for democracy in 'Murica, and lays out the reason very clearly ... "The dismal Democrats will not move to challenge the openly undemocratic constitutional regime or even to make significant reforms ... Critical among the reasons for this loathsome passivity is the Dems’ captivity to the “wealth primary” ..."
This is a wholesale condemnation of the Democrats. It is not as you mistakenly assert "putting a few deserving DEMS on the hook." And there is no evidence of either HS or the author cited and urged on us, as "heavily favoring one party over the other one."
In fact, in closing HS makes their intent clear "Those voters who wish to express views that are not supported by wealthy donors are left without an outlet.”
so enjoy the coming chaos."
Over all the comment and quote are typical of assertions by those who in 2016 split the left wing vote with pipe dreams of third party Pied Pipers or sat on their hands, rather than holding their nose and voting for Hillary Clinton. Because, they claimed there was no significant difference between Clinton and Trump. And, they believed that with the chaos of a Trump win, then come the revolution. And come it did. Only their unconscionable enjoyment of paving the way for the Trump's chaos did not herald a socialist workers paradise as they fancied. It lead to four years of irreparable harm to our most vulnerable neighbors and fragile planet. And then - when a sufficient number of people strategically allied (ThankYou Rep, James Clyburn. ThankYou Stacy Abrams) and voted in the Democratic ticket - it lead to the GOP insurrection.
One of the founders of Counterpunch was Alexander Cockburn, a reflexively contrarian and self identifying Marxist (pity poor Karl) for whom neither Christopher Hitchens nor Bernie Sanders were pure enough. Although Cockburn infamously admired France's racist right wing extremist Marie LePen and was a fellow traveler of those who cannot critique Zionism or Israeli government policy without indulging in their own antiSemitism.
I am left of Bernie Sanders for whom I caucused. I can go one on one with any maga or dirtbag on the sins of the Clintons. And, I volunteered for Hillary almost full time for months. Because ... you know, Trump. Who I knew would win because the right was united and the left was splintered. And it's now beginning to feel like 'deja vu all over again.'
Well, Lin, if the "original post" is Paul Street's article in "Counterpunch", then I have not read it, as I am not a subscriber. If, instead, you are referring to Hugh Spencer's post in which he quotes part of Street's article, well, there's not that much to misread, as it seems clear that Hugh agrees with Street's criticism of the Democratic Party and with the notion that our US Constitution has flaws in it which are enabling the GOP to establish minority rule before our eyes and under the noses of - yes - congressional Democrats, some of whom may have been compromised in more or less venal ways.
As someone who -- like you -- is way far left by American standards, contributed to both of Bernie's primary campaigns, and then voted wholeheartedly for Hillary against Trump (while holding my nose) and -- unlike you -- was shocked and dismayed when she lost, I agree that Democratic disunity is a big problem. But it is not our only problem, and not necessarily the biggest one.
Street's description of congressional Democrats as "dismal" (compared to whom? the GOP?) and their "loathsome passivity" (compared to whom? the American electorate?) is a bit rich, I suppose, but the notion that our Constitution needs to be changed, and that -- thus far -- the DEM establishment has not moved forcefully or decisively enough to accomplish that tall order, nor even enough to pick the low-hanging fruit, such as eliminate the filibuster or enlarge the Court, strikes me as unexceptional and obvious.
I will become a no-questions-asked, knee-jerk supporter of the Democratic Party on the day the 50th US Senator openly declares that the time has come to eliminate the filibuster and when the US Attorney General appointed by a Democratic president decides to prosecute the folks who planned the coup d'etat that began a year ago and continues as we speak and under our noses.. Until then, criticism of Democrats' failures -- past and present -- is more than legitimate.
And I'd bet, Lin, you and I agree about almost everything.
A quick search suggests Street is part of the purity test, false equivalency, circular shooting squad, fratricidal left. Not necessarily all wrong, but more resentment than strategy. In the quote from his article, he won't even put Democratic before Jamie Raskin's name (which I think he even spells wrong) leaving the reader to understand that a House impeachment manager would be a Democrat.
I listen to CSPAN a lot and have done for decades. You can't lump my former Takoma Park, Maryland Rep. Raskin with my current Maine CD2 Rep. Jared Golden (the only House Democrat to vote against Build Back Better.) Golden also has the distinction of being the only Democrat to win in a district which went for Trump as much as CD2 did. So yes, I am regularly on the phone with his office and publishing letters to the editor in local papers criticizing his votes which I don't like. And I will be campaigning for him again as soon as possible. Because a Democrat who doesn't always vote for his party's best, is much better than a Republican who always votes for his party's worst.
And I knew Trump would win from making thousands of phone calls and listening to hundred's of voters. I even got on national radio shows and wrote to pundits saying that if the best we can do is make fun of Trump, then he'll laugh his way into the White House. And was pooh poohed - until October. Call me Cassandra, but we have a lot of work to do before Nov 2022.
Yes, a lot of work indeed. I admit I never took Trump seriously until he won the Electoral College, so I admire anyone who could see what was likely to be Hillary's fate in 2016. You're in good company with Michael Moore.
But knowing now that that could even happen, maybe we should take heart that -- thanks to Trump -- GOP politicians have nowhere to hide and will have a hard time appearing to not be what they really are. People who vote GOP next time will be voting for Trump and all he represents and against representative democracy.
And the Democrats will have the difficult task of convincing Americans that some things are more important than money and convenience and the GDP and inflation and what's available on Netflix. Won't be easy.
And Lin, Raskin surely has a great future if the USA does not slide into Fascism in the meantime. What a talent!
PS, I did hold my nose, (very, very tightly), and vote for Hillary. But, Lin, it was not at all easy.
Lot's of folks just did not vote. That was a big problem in 2016.
It is true the Democrats do need to run people who can win. By that I mean, if I have to hold my nose so tight I cannot breathe to vote for Democrat, that means something is wrong.
Does that mean I want Trump to win, no.
But, recognizing that the Democratic party had a losing candidate and trying to make sure that does not happen again is important.
because, Hillary might try to run again, and, she will lose again.
The Clintons personify the misdirection of the Democratic party. Both.
Good analysis Lin. Really well written.
Oh, you might have to subscribe to Counterpunch to read it (it's free). Counterpunch is a continuing compendium of independent writers (OK mostly left leaning) - on all manner of subjects - politics, environment, women's issues etc.
(it's free) Not true.
"To read this article, log in here or subscribe here." Of course, to log in you must subscribe.
It is quite reasonable, however -- $25 a year ($20 for "low income"). I would have subscribed but for their silly Password criteria.
The many important issues touched upon today by HCR and those who are commenting all serve to divert the Democratic Party from doing TODAY what they should have done from DAY ONE of their control of both Houses of Congress and the White House. Voting Rights! Why must Shumer wait until January 17? Every week counts. Even if voter rights legislation is passed tomorrow, it will take months to put it into effect and battle the lawsuits against it Republican-dominated States will surely initiate. Election Day is ten months away! The good things Americans have gained from Democratic legislation are not sufficiently dramatic to win votes. (Even Republicans who voted against them confuse the voters by claiming credit for them.)
There is only one job on the workbench for Democrats and those who wish to preserve democracy in America. Regardless of whether voting rights legislation is passed, it must be the mobilization of the votes needed to keep control of both Houses of Congress in November. As I have repeatedly said, that can be done only with a massive turn-out of voters, motivated by consistent Republican opposition to anything which might be of benefit to women and persons of color. These are the specific voters who the Democratic Party must target to mobilize now! Not tomorrow. Now. Otherwise, democracy loses.
I AGREE Jack. Biden’s FDR agenda pales next to the urgency of voting rights legislation.
A national political party becomes a criminal organization when they concertedly exploit state's rights to curtail election freedoms while creating partisan control over elections. This is especially pronounced following the wake of an insurrection and the refusal to honor free and fair elections.
As a criminal organization seeking to undermine our laws via interstate action they should be held accountable via the RICO Act.