Rep. Pelosi lost me with her undermining Representative Ocasio-Córtez for ranking member of the Oversight Committee. Representative Connolly is a good man battling cancer at seventy-four years old. People my age on up need to step aside for younger, much younger, leadership. 🙏
It is not our world anymore. 🤭
If Rep. Ocasio-Córtez is too out there, there are other moderates in the Democratic Party like Rep. Moulton. The younger members need to work things out to establish a coalition that addresses needs too long neglected by out of touch Congress(wo)men. Unless, of course, we more shocks like that of two months election. 😰
I firmly agree. Ms. Pelosi made a bad choice for our future.
I talk to everyone I meet about voting and running for office, and why it's so important to be active when it comes to our governance. I've been told, 'run for office. I'll vote for you!' My response is that at 71 yrs. young, I am not the future. But I will give my full support to the youth among us who want to serve to protect their futures and those of future generations.
Democrats will continue to lose elections if they insist on retaining the oldest representatives, many who themselves have become self-serving having gained wealth and power in their positions, and failing to pass legislation to stop that behavior in our politics.
The one thing I am looking into is running for the local board of education. I feel it is vital that our youth is taught civics and know how important it is to their futures to be active in choosing who speaks for them in government. This lesson should be taught early on in schools. It's something I would pursue in that position, and the least I can do for the health of our Democracy.
AOC has made a career out of attacking Democrats. The Justice Dems PAC for which she was VP of the Board tweeted in 2017 its mission was to destroy the Democratic Party . She continued her role as VP during her first campaign (which was illegal) then finally resigned. Her first Chief of Staff called Sharice Davids, the first Native American rep who flipped a red seat in Kansas a "racist". She threatened to primary CBC incumbents and called out Hakeem Jeffries specifically. Justice Dems primaried several Democratic incumbents in Blue seats (never Republicans) causing them to expend money and energy that would have been better spent against Republican candidates. On her first day in office she participated in a protest in the Speaker Pelosi's office. She credited Bernie Sanders for her parents having CHIP insurance for her when she was a child. (??). Oh, and she hasn't introduced any bills which have been passed. In 3 sessions of Congress. In the face of the danger posed by the Trump administration I thought her efforts to sabotage and undermine the opposition party not helpful and I'm being very kind here.
Now I'm sure there are liberals who applaud her actions as "taking it to the old, evil and corrupt Democrat man/woman" But the reality is success in any endeavor or organization is based on negotiating and forming alliances with colleagues to accomplish goals which benefit that organization and the people in it. Gaining respect of your peers is critical to success. If you're serious about your constituents you listen to them, craft legislation to address their concerns, and forge the alliances needed to do the work of achieving the desired outcome. She has behaved the the new company hire who on the first day on the job trashes the lunches in the fridge and leaves a plate of Kelp Krunch with the note "I've noticed you all need to lose some weight. You're welcome."
Before she assumes any leadership roles in the Democratic caucus she needs to demonstrate an ability to do the work required to actually legislate which includes working with and supporting Democratic Congressional colleagues.
She was so active last year—last year!—in recruiting lefty Democrats to challenge incumbent House Dems that she made a point in her campaign to win the ranking member slot to pledge not to to it anymore.
I am not at all surprised that incumbent dems voted against her 2 to 1.
She could never win election in a swing district and seems to have no understanding of what it takes to win in Ohio, FL, or many other red or purple locales.
Let's not get too focused on just AOC. The Democratic Party needs to develop their younger talent. They are already there--waiting for the old guard to step aside.
Perhaps its time for a bit less "negotiation" and a bit more change in the Democratic Party.
The idea that a 74 year old man with esophageal cancer would be a better choice than a very sharp woman half his age? That makes me seriously wonder about the choices of the Democrats in charge. They have made quite a few questionable choices lately.
I quit the Dems when Clinton was in office. He slashed welfare and pushed NAFTA through. Most Dems have moved right ever since. Biden got some great stuff done. Bernie and AOC and a few others have been pushing for a return to the New Deal. Most Dems are angling for corporate money to fund their campaigns. Lower income Americans support the changes that Bernie and AOC work on. Last night James Carville said on The Beat, MSNBC, that Dems need to get work done immediately that working people will see is to their benefit. Raise the minimum wage. Start UBI. Get child care. Get more prices down on RX.
President Clinton lost me, too. I voted for Vice President Gore only because I felt anyone who worked under President Clinton for eight years and was not a complete sleaze-bag. In the 2016, I vote for Senator / Secretary Clinton but felt the wrong Party's Elders intervened. Senator Sanders should have permitted to run and my erstwhile Party's Elders should not have caved to Trump. They should have intervened and nominated someone with similar politics but not an evident Mussolini facsimile.
I do not agree with a lot of the politics of Representative Ocasio-Córtez. Yet her voice counts, too. It is her future and that of moderate Democrats; they will have to work out a coalition, which a sclerotic Party leadership hinders. That Chief of Staff resigned soon after making a statement that Representative Davids had voted for a racist measure. Since your commentary is more of a diatribe, I will step off the merry-go-round here.
Making alliances, learning how to negotiate has very little to do with following anyone’s footsteps but taking it all in, leaning from past mistakes and being transparent about what one stands for. While I recognize important and revenant policies and leadership by Pelosi, no one should feel ashamed of saying the truth about Democratic establishment and Big Money.To that effect, Bill Moyers, throughout his active career (so very grateful) did an incredible service to journalism, civics, and raising the bar and alarms (disregarded by many Big Money Dems) of money and politics. Ever wonder why Bernie remains an Independent? And by the way, don’t miss his interview with Alex Friedman (check Podcast). That level of transparency and true commitment to a government that works for all Americans is what has been missing.
celeste, Local school board positions are very important because regressives are trying to take control of them. We have had a few messes here in Oregon thanks to that element.
"My response is that at 71 yrs. young, I am not the future.”
In one way yes, but you may well be the repository of knowledge upon which that future will be built. Democracy is a very long game, and its maintenance requires those who understand the nature of long games and the ability to play them with skill and patience as well as those who have the force and the impatience of youth.
Democracy is as much about character as it is about anything else.
¡BINGO! I re-read 'The Culture of Narcissism' by Christopher Lasch. Supposedly a Marxist, he sounded more like a mourning communalist when he wrote: "The real value of accumulated wisdom of a lifetime is that it can be handed on to future generations. Our society, however, has lost this conception of wisdom and knowledge. It holds an instrumental view of knowledge, according to which technological change constantly renders knowledge obsolete and, therefore, non-transferable."
The key point for me, as an oldster, is that age and time do confer wisdom, but not universally. The differentiating ingredient here may well be humility -- a tricky quality to see in one's self. Yet I can see it in Celeste et al. This humility may well be why Representative Ocasio-Córtez backed Senator Markey -- a man who impresses me as having wisdom -- over Representative Joseph Kennedy III. Thanks.
Yes, humility is an essential. I’m with Socrates on this one (or, as always, what Plato said he said) - the wisest man among us is he who understands that he doesn’t know everything.
As to Lasch, I haven’t read his book, but I believe he missed something crucial. Technological change can change nearly everything except human nature itself (at least not yet, although if those genetic engineers continue to play with their new toys, that may change as well). And so in a very crucial way, it changes nothing.
We are a hopelessly parochial species, something clearly reflected in our stubborn determination to separate ourselves into a plethora of different groups by any means and for any reason we can come up with, and then all too often glare at each other balefully over the artificial boundaries we’ve thus created. Periodically of course, we turn the glares into something far more destructive. And here our ceaseless technological advances have made it possible for that destructive capacity to increase geometrically.
Ned, you are right, wisdom does not always come with age especially if someone's ego is involved. That applies to everybody of whatever political persuasion. it requires humility and the ability to listen which is often in short supply among all people. I want to see progress and agree with many progressive principles. To me politics is the art of the possible. AOC's politics would not do well in my congressional district here in Oregon. This is why I had to hold my nose and vote for Kurt Schraeder for a few years. His opponents were always worse and no one calling themselves a socialist was going to win. Now we have two districts. One is mine, represented by a Latina; the other, by a black woman. She beat the R who is now on tap to be labor secretary. So she can claim to be bipartisan, but somehow that rings false.
Actually, it’s not as much about character as it is about policy.
Character doesn’t determine the agenda conditions on the ground determine the agenda. And policies and agenda are what impact every American and every day. Certainly a person of character can make a good impression AND A DIFFERENCE , and it would be great to find a person like that. The last person who had the kind of character that we’re all looking for just died the other day by the name of Jimmy Carter and there hasn’t been one since then. Reagan was close perhaps but Carter did more after his presidency than any president in recent history. He was a genuine, good man, and a genuine man of character. But in today’s society, I doubt there ever will be another like him
If you’re looking for someone with character, don’t vote for president
Vote for his agenda vote for his policies, vote for what you think will make the citizens of America safer, more prosperous and freer that’s just my opinion
Good policies don’t come from a void. And the man or woman who is, by definition one who ought to share and promote the ideals upon which we were founded ought to stand out as just that. If that is not a question of character, I really don’t know what is.
Three of the most basic elements of our Republic are the validity of our electoral process, the rule of law, and adherence to the basic elements Constitution'
Freedom itself is a much a question of accepting the responsibilities it demands as it is of the range of actions it allows.
A nation’s safety as well as its definition depend on a reasonable balance of individual rights and community safety.
A nation’s prosperity is measured not by the great prosperity of a few, but of the adequate prosperity of as many as possible and a reasonable levle of support for those who fall below that level.
I’m not going to involve myself in a discussion of the characters of all our presidents, but it is clear that when we most needed men (so far) of character, we got them. Washington, Lincoln, FDR to name a few. None of them were perfect, but each one brought to the job a full sense of who were designed to be and a willingness to do what they could to promote that. In the process one helped to build a nation, one saved that nation, and one helped greatly to save the world from the worst two scourges it has ever endured.
Donald Trump is so far from anything resembling those three men in both character and understanding of and adherence to those three pillars of our Republic as is imaginable.
Why not vote on the basis of whether he actually delivers what he promised whilst campaigning? Trump failed to deliver last time and to top it off he allowed hundreds of thousands of Americans to die unnecessarily from SARS-CoV-2.
You see what I mean I was right you're over the top. Your blood pressure is boiling. You're saying things you shouldn't be saying and I feel sorry for you that your hate is so strong.
There's nothing worse than armchair quarterback, so think they know how to stop a once a century global pandemic with a new virus that was caused by the way by American participation.
Go take a couple of Xanax and calm down we'll talk another time when you calm down and come to your senses
The young people are the future, and they have to learn how to lead, and how to get things done. We must teach and then trust them to take on the responsibility of the government in the future. AOC is learning, and one day I hope will be a Nancy Pelosi.
And, yet, if it were not for Nancy Pelosi for the last 8 years Democrats in the House would not have been at all relevant. She kept us all from the total Trump mess in his first administration. She knows all the ways and rules to make things happen and guard the democracy. She stepped down from Speaker when Biden won and supported fully the new Democratic Leader of the House. Leader Jeffries has had her support and he truly has become the leader. Thus, in general the Democrats have stayed together. And are much better able against this new administration.
The new generations have to learn from the past as well as lead in this new reality. I plan to encourage these bright representatives to push hard for democracy and the good of the people they represent.
Representative Jeffries's speech after Squeaker Johnson's re-election to a hot-seat was statesmanlike, principled, and magnanimous. ❤️ He will, hopefully, be a fine Speaker in 2027 when his season comes. 🤞 https://youtu.be/FPjtQtzHwJY
It seems that running a campaign is becoming a effort only the wealthy can afford. While many of us here have budgets, then again, there are many of us here! I would encourage you or any others who run for office to include links so we can send $5 or $10 to the campaigns.
Youth is good, Celeste, if it's accompanied by savvy. We need people in leadership positions who know what they're doing and how to get it done. Age is not a factor in and of itself in that calculation.
100% agree. It is so weird that there has not been a national uprising with Democratic Party voters to oust these worn-out stale leaders who managed to lose this election. We need a clean sweep of the Democratic Party Leadership.
Yes.... let's not go overboard in our zeal to focus on 'new blood'. We need both youth AND the experience of age in order to combat Mumpism. Please let's not get into infighting that ends up weakening the party further.
Electing younger persons to office should not be done willy-nilly. There are good people in the House who could advise and mentor young folks. But there are older people in office (both parties) who are past their prime. Change is inevitable. Done wisely, it can be great for everyone.
Maybe you need to research what the Dems have accomplished in the last four years - while battling MAGA the entire time...and just a note, the Dems did not LOSE this election. Start researching that as well.
Ma'am. I have memorized Joe Biden's accomplishments starting with the first 90 days when his Administration vaccinated 200 million Americans.
The need to kick some Democratic Party ass is in no way negating the massive legacy of the Biden Administration.
When people stop letting the Republicans push us around and welcome new leadership into the Party, we will stop being drowned out by the madness engulfing the Country.
Agreed....big mistake on Pelosi. T won because the nation wants to tear down a government that increasingly works only for the rich. Her move reflected that ideology.
Some on the Left are not learning. They still believe division is a winning strategy. It is not.
I agree that a gerontocracy is a disservice. And in fact, the extraordinary Nancy Pelosi stepped aside for the much younger Hakeem Jeffries who is doing a fine job in leadership.
We cannot be 'one issue' voters - unless that issue is democracy. And we unite behind Democratic candidates and Democratic elected officials.
We cannot let our feelings get in the way of our strategy to effectively take power. Fits of pique get in the way of using the power we have and of winning the power we need to stop the Republican 'legal' revolution which is replacing a democratic republic with a Corporate ChristoFascist state.
Thank you. Let's stop the infighting and the tritely referred to circular firing squad.
There is one powerful issue that can be the center pole of the Democratic Party. Economic Justice. Economic Populism.
Every Democrat, most Independents and even some Republicans will agree that the billionaires are taking over, growing their already massive fortunes as a result. While workers wages have barely budged in 40 years.
The Waltons have over $400 BILLION. And FULL TIME Walmart workers are on Medicaid and eligible for SNAP benefits. Taxpayers are subsidizing the rich. It is socialism for the wealthy!
$50 Trillion has gone to the top 1%. That is what I call the theft of our national treasure. This is a "Let them eat cake" moment.
In the richest nation in the history of the world, there is no excuse for millions of Americans to have housing and food insecurity. No excuse for any American to go without good healthcare. No valid excuses. NONE.
So please. Let's stop the bickering about AOC or Nancy or anything else that distracts us from a unified attack on the Oligarchy being installed by President elect Putz.
Well spoken, Bill. And it's the message that the Biden admin (and Harris campaign) tried to convey, with an honest record of results. But it's still discouraging to see Trump flags and and banners displayed in front of beaten-down houses, whether in the city or countryside, in the expectation that he is their economic savior. That they didn't see what Biden has done for our country, or the promise that Harris/Walz had to continue this economic growth is infuriating, and will be a difficult hurdle to overcome.
Who will the next Democratic "savior" be? It's a rhetorical question at the moment. I do agree with those who say the Dem party has become ossified.
I wonder if the ossification is due less to age and more to the distressing reality that Big Money now seems to control everything, including whether or not one can get elected. R's can focus their energy on winning bc this is not a concern for them, but D's who don't want to be beholden to Big Money have to figure out another way to win. We absolutely must find a way to overturn rulings like Citizens United and other forms of permission for legalized bribery.
And yet they spent $2 billion on his pass campaign, so much for not caring about money and had at least 80 billionaire donors, but supposedly had over a double that including down ballots
Rump is their savior because Fox News told them that.
I went for a short drive the other day, and I was disgusted by how many of those flags are still hanging outside homes in my rural community... though I did see one handmade flag that said "Hate does not make America great," a sentiment that I wholeheartedly share.
Hooray. I admire one relative immensely. He runs a small business and believes he would benefit more under Trump. But he did not vote for Trump because of his utter lack of decency and character.
If there will ever be a Democratic Savior” I believe we have learned the hard way that it must be US. All of us, everyday, in every way demanding the change we know most Americans want. The way out of this shit show is as complex as the reasons we are here in it. So, all the spaghetti of ideas we must thrown at the wall. Let’s figure out what sticks and build on that.
Could not agree more. This remark reflects my age: the Democrats need to stop looking for the next President John or Senator Robert Kennedy or the next President Obama; the Democrats need to quit worrying so much about 'winnable' candidates.
Senator McGovern and Vice President Mondale, both fine men, were shellacked two-to-three generations ago. Their shadows should be the better elements of their platforms which may have been ahead of their time.
Truth be told, I have to chuckle because, as a College Republican, I penned an article advocating that Senator McGovern's idea of $3 billion of reparations to Viêt Nam proposed in the late 1970s (roughly $13 billion today) should proceed. Now reconstruxion aid is a routine part of intra-and-post-conflict funding packages.
Sadly, it is routine because conflicts have become routine.
Why can’t we all agree on term limits which will stop average citizens will become Congress people for a life and of course multimillionaires after that.
The ossification is not a problem about either the Democratic or the Republican Party - it is our binary political party system, initiated during Washington’s administration and formalized in the 1830’s. Ever since, it has acted to force voters into an either/or (read ‘us and them’) situation which has seldom allowed for the kind of multi-faction situation that Madison envisioned and which would give us far more alternatives.
You have a fine insight there, James. I come from families of Republicans, yet my parents broke with many of their relatives to vote for Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter as well as Senator Humphrey. Starting in 1980, they voted Republican until their deaths. Knowing my parents, they would never have supported Trump.
Like many others, I have feet on both sides of the continental divide.
In my misbegotten youth, my straddling leaned oh so slightly left; then more heavily right; now left again. The election of Trump and the kowtowing to him broke my allegiance to the Republican Party; the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh ended it.
These days, I am a hapless Indie in my rageing and ageing. I used to be a curmudgeon before my time. Pathetically, I am simply a curmudgeon on schedule. 😉🤬🥳
The trumpers with whom I have spoken are not ogres or stupid. At least in our conversations, they indicate that they have not given up on the republican experiment but have come to believe that the republican experiment has given up on them.
Please keep in mind that I have spoken only to a few such voters, and not ones with the beaten down houses.
Nonetheless, I would not be surprised however, if these few, including half my extended family, comprise a representative sample and their feelings are close to those in the beaten down houses.
Do you know what’s interesting to me as I’ve been a nonpartisan for over 40 years my four favorite presidents are two Democrats and two Republicans . I don’t understand how people can vote by party versus voting for the individual that most resembles their ideals, and what they can do for the country as a whole. I live in Nevada now, and very interestingly Nevada’s largest party at 40% of the electorate Are the NP’S
nonpartisan. Followed by about 30% Democrat and 20% Republican and I think there’s one more state in the northeast that has the same breakdown.
Policy shouldn’t be relegated to one party or the other
And that creates the divide as they become more black and white with little agreement. Albeit the foundations of the thoughts and the essence of the baseline policy, might be agreed-upon if we weren’t so divided.
Again....Sun Tzu says in The Art of War......do not interupt your enemy when they argue and disagree. Bill and Bob are correct is calling out to stop the infighting!!!!!
This time needs to be used to pull together and form the resistance.
In 6 months when to deportations and tariffs start to take effect.......those maggot flags and signs will start to vanish.......
Grocery prices are going up....food shortages???? Who will be working the fields???? You already know about the tariffs.........
Bravo, Bill Alstrom! Everyone in public life, being human, makes mistakes. That’s what paying attention is about—being ready to congratulate for good decisions.
Hakim Jeffries showed the wisdom of Nancy Pelosi yesterday with a really excellent passing-the-gavel speech.
These things need to be sorted out Bill. These issues of how the election was lost, who in Democratic Leadership needs to step aside and what exactly is the Democratic Party today must, must be dealt with before we can move forward.
The Democratic Party failed in its mission in 2024. We need to build a completely new Party and this includes some bickering, hurt feelings and honest discussions.
Bickering is indeed normal. Demonizing each other over favorite and pet issues is self destructive. We need a forceful platform presented by a charismatic leader. And IMHO, it is economic justice.
Agree. I have no idea how to break the sound barriers of a biased media, brainwashed voter bloc and a massive disinformation campaign. The Democrats do wonderful work for the Country. It boggles the mind this doesn't get realized. Let's coalesce around a strong platform and stronger leaders. Meanwhile the next few years will take everyone's wits to combat.
We could all use big National Democratic Party group hug about now.
So pursuant to your statement about the billionaires, what has either party done about this? Because both parties have been in power.
And billionaires are simply yesterday, millionaires with inflation being considered. Many people in this country aspire to be millionaires that’s the American dream. And how do you think all these millionaires became billionaires?
Racist right wing religious extremists appropriated Civil Rights Movement strategic voting.
The blood heirs and ideological heirs of the Confederacy - the GOP of god, guns, and greed - united at the ballot box in order to overturn civil rights progress.
Let's stop whining and cavilling about who's right or wrong in their opinions. Let's vote for able representatives and leave it at that. This endless critique of our own is pointless. If you want someone who stands for civil rights, get him or her on the ballot and vote for them. That's all it takes.
Lauren, we've done that. But the other side has been reasonably successful at nominating and electing those who don't stand for civil rights (in the broadcast sense of the term.)
Lauren, you are so right you are so correct. But it goes far beyond civil rights. Vote for the candidate I wish nonpartisan candidates had a better chance of winning an election
How “Empowering” is it for a person to break laws and get away with it?
How “Empowering” is it for a person to do crappy business things and get away with it?
How “Empowering” is it for a person to do immoral behaviors and get away with it?
The purpose of Punishment is to (hopefully) prevent future law breaking, crappy business crap, and immorality. If a person continually “gets away with it” and never gets punished, then why would that person change his/her behavior?
More importantly: If a nation has laws, rules, standards, expectations, etc. for its citizens and doesn’t enforce its laws, rules, standards, expectations, etc., how strong, viable, honorable is that nation? WHEN will that nation eventually collapse?
MOST importantly, if that law-breaking, crappy business, immoral person is one of the leaders of the nation, will that nation’s collapse be escalated?
The only thing I disagree with, Paul, is that the President Neglect can ever change, no matter how much he's censured or how few vote for him. He takes his less-than-50% of the vote as a mandate to be exactly who he is. He doesn't just lie to all of us, he lies to himself. A very small person with a very big megaphone.
Yes, I agree that Trump will never change. However, my FOCUS is not on Trump. It is on the United States and We, the People. There are MILLIONS of US citizens who “celebrate” getting away with stuff - law-breaking, crappy business deals, immorality, etc. and Trump, Musk, Bezos, Ramaswamy, Gaetz, Bannon, Tucker, Miller, Hegseth…the list goes on and on - these folks our fellow Americans honor and respect. We, the People are in deep doo-doo.
Indeed we are. We were put into deep doodoo by 60% of white voters, 70% of white working class voters, and 80% of white evangelical voters. Those voters insist on doodoo. They flood the zone with it at every opportunity.
lin+ I've never been a one issue voter, but after reading today's letter what ran through my mind is "is there not a SINGLE woman worthy of chairing a committee? Seriously?" I wish the female GOP voters would AT LEAST get annoyed enough that they vote for the females in the primaries.
Here's to Wisconsin Dems example and to WI Dems chair Wikler for DNC chair. They've demonstrated the diligence and tenacity for what it takes to make significant progress at the state level.
If we are to stop “beating the January 6th drum”, then we might as well stop beating the Constitutional drum as well. The question is not how many voters do or do not care about what happened that day, but how many ought to if they truly understand the nation we were designed to be.
The Jan 6 Trump insurrection and Republican election denial are not political issues, they are an historical fact.
Spotlighting, investigating, and speaking of it is not an exercise in 'shaming.' It is an exercise in 'truth and reconciliation.' It is an exercise in coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence.
We preserve the Constitution by upholding the rule of law.
As we prepare for the next president of the US pardoning his insurrectionists (much as GHW Bush, Bill Barr et al put the Iran-Contra miscreants beyond the reach of the law, much as Mitch McConnell and the Roberts Court put Trump beyond the reach of the law) - we must focus on this remarkable event in American history.
"Similarly, judges, lawyers, and the law were among the things Hitler most despised, and his regime was one long assault on the rationality, predictability, and integrity of the law."
Benjamin Carter Hett, The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
If simply winning elections were the only criteria involved in preserving the Constitution, we would have lost it long ago, well before the Civil War.
‘Shaming' is a wholly inaccurate way of describing those who incited and participated in the assault on the capital.
The only thing which will save the Constitution, if it is to be saved at all is if enough Americans who both understand and care about its promise defeat in the voting booth those who do not. And that understanding has to include a clear comprehension of and a willingness to call out those who do not.
You know and I know this is not what I was saying.
Again. We need to stop trying to use January 6 as a means to convince the MAGA and non MAGA voter that this one issue is why they should vote Democratic.
For Hakeem Jeffries to stand before the House of Representatives after the Republicans just executed a clean sweep in the 2024 election and try and shame them about January 6 is not a good game plan nor is it an appropriate way to remember J6. Jeffries came across as self-righteous and condescending.
Stop using the January 6 tragedy as a political wedge folks.
Barbara Mullen, I know the J6 Perp conviction data pretty well, DOJ titled "CapitolAttack" data.
I will be intently investigating which convicted persons are NOT pardoned such as a valuable Seditionists (1 name) who cooperated with DC's USAO & escaped incarceration or those who were never sung in the "Choir".
Totally agree. People in our age demographic need to serve as mentors and build leadership and step aside. Work to guide those young people understanding they will make mistakes. Have the problem throughout the Congress in both parties. It is hard to give up power, but only when one starts to share power does one get stronger. As in sports, the best coaches build leader on the playing field and in their coaching staff. The best coachews get their staff members plucked for new positions. Same in business. If only our politicians did the same. Money is the issue, too lucrative to be a politician.
100%. As a nurse, I have years of experience that I am now using as an instructor to cultivate the next generation of nurses. I can't be at the bedside forever. Our elected leadership are killing our future by hanging onto power for too long. They need to step aside and be the elder statesmen. They'll still make tons of money. We need so much reform.
True, the G.O.P. is clogged, too, though it has made some head-way. I think it is less political than generational (i.e., the self-centeredness of too many baby boomers).
Yeah, so long as the Democrats continue the practice of name-calling such as fascist misogynist, xenophobic and other isms, they’re going to continue to lose so you’re right they’re not learning.
If they want to win, they have to go back to their long suit which is fighting for the middle class and those unable to fight for themselves. they lost the fight in this cycle by needlessly attacking their opponent versus talking about what they’re good at. They also ruined it for themselves by the coup that they staged against Joe Biden, and installing a candidate who is not the most capable that they had in the party which they could’ve avoided if they would’ve invoke the 25th amendment shortly into his presidency, acknowledging his declining mental Capacity
Of what country? She had no policies….no direction..no plan. AND IF you think that her VIEW interview didn’t bury here, which indicated she would just follow Joe’s agenda she would have gotten swamped in the election. 68% of the country on almost ALL POLLS said the country was headed in the wrong direction.
If there had been polls all throughout our history, we’d have found that at various times they favored slavery, excluding women from the franchise, Jim Crow, Vietnam, etc
Of course people favored slavery. Do you ever hear about the civil war do you ever hear of women’s rights to vote? Did you not see the protest during Vietnam? What are you talking about? Those were Physical LIVE polls not written polls
There have always been Polls only now people like the lady in Nebraska has potentially ruined that and all those poles that suggested that Pamela and Trump were retired when they obviously were not including her own internal poll that they themselves took
That is wrong "Rick"; you are now a contractually defined "Reader" bound by Substack Inc's 9/24 TOU & the Platform's choice of law that requires good faith & fair dealing.
Well, I can point this out. You have to prove to me that he’s a fascist because he’s not because people in this country in government aren’t able to become fascist because they have checks and balances unless you wanna consider executive orders like forgiving student loans or stopping fracking or natural gas or commuting sentences of the most vehement vile criminals we’re sending money to other countries to incite a war with no end when we need the money here to help our homeless and our poor.
By the way, the Miss misogynist in chief placed two women in the highest posts and positions in his cabinet the first and second most powerful positions in his cabinet are women appointed by the misogynist
I’m just suggesting to you, David that the left keep using this rhetoric. It only isolate you more in the eyes of the right and makes them more resolute. That’s all I’m saying.
Better to stick with the policies that you want to win and not quit demeaning 77 million people because those are the same people that voted for Joe Biden four years ago
A coup would have been running someone other than Kamala Harris. When we voted in the primaries we voted for the Biden/Harris ticket. I was proud to cast my vote for Harris. History will remember Biden as one of our best Presidents even if the present-day media refuses to report on the good he has done.
Thank you, Donna. 🤝 I am still depressed about Vice President Harris and I basically have a conservative personality. 😢 She really tried to heal the country with a more open tent open to future debates and disagreements. 💔 A lot of traditional Republicans appreciated her efforts, including for Reps Cheney and Kinzinger. 😢
Yes, Senator Sanders nailed it when he said the middle class abandoned the Democrats because the Democrats had abandoned them. I disagree about the coup against President Biden. Many of us were disappointed when he announced he would run for a second term.
I would have voted for and I liked him, but he was frail and I had voted for President Biden in 2020 on the impression and premise that he was running for one term. I agree with Bill Katz on Vice President Harris. she tried really hard to build a coalition based on patriotism with room for disagreement.
Very discouraging that she and Governor Gipper lost.
Greg, I don’t know what you’re thinking. I’m not denying the truth. I’m denying fiction. The truth is that you can’t understand why the Democrats lost this election which I’ve said earlier is unfathomable to me. The party is in disarray. There is no assure and firm leader. Joe Biden was a complete disaster and that’s why you lost. And people here can’t accept that. And if you think Donald Trump was so bad, how in the hell was he reelected if things were so good under Joe Biden
The very same electorate that elected Joe Biden Joe Biden and then Donald Trump again is the same electorate.
Name-calling doesn’t work offending 77 million. People won’t work put together a qualified candidate with an agenda that is acceptable to the majority of people and regardless of sex they will win period.
I know I shouldn’t feed the troll but are you seriously unwilling to acknowledge the role that Musk played in any of this? And no one finds it strange that all swing states were win by just enough votes as to not trigger recounts? I’m personally tired of having to sound like a conspiracy theorist when pointing out clearly obvious reasons to doubt the legitimacy of this election.
So I guess you’re trying to tell me that other rich billionaires didn’t make an impact on the Democrat party and their decisions to do certain things and supporting them in an election while you should acknowledge at 80 some billionaires that donated to the democratic campaign and has been suggested that as many as 161 billionaires donated to all the democrat campaigns, including down ballots on the Democrat side.
The biggest impact on this country Recently is indeed from Elon musk, but it has nothing to do with the presidency. It has to do with him putting profits aside and investing $40 billion in a losing economic venture and cause to keep free-speech alive in this country by purchasing Twitter.
It wasn’t free on Google. It’s wasn’t free on Facebook. AND it wasn’t free on other social mediums nor legacy media, nor major newspapers in the country. And now, at least one of them is. I,m just showing you how the people here only like to hear what they think now there’s a new social media website called blue sky.
Twitter used to be 69% Democrat 31% Republican… now it’s 50-50 and because of that people are fleeing to blue sky because they don’t want to hear an opposing opinion that you might hear on X now.
Every party has its Musk’s . The Democrats have Soros, who not only got involved with presidential politics, but went all the way down to judges around the country. And was called out for it.
Let us see what D0GE is able to accomplish and see if they can streamline government and eliminate fraud and waste. But you can’t until Trump takes office so again, put away your predictions for now
President Biden was not a candidate for the 25th amendment. Period.
Harris should have been selected by the electorate and not just 'given' to us by the Biden camp which, by the way, waited too long to come to terms with 'one term only'. She would have done a fine job, but is still a member of the 'political elite'. The party needs change, and she was not it.
celeste k. -- Thanks. I've said 100 times that I will never forgive President Biden for not stepping down sooner than he did. That was, IMO, a totally selfish, self-centered and, yes, arrogant act. Given that he had waited his whole life to be President, he just couldn't give it up. His graciousness withered. Too bad.
We'll never know, Celeste, if Harris would or would not have been the change. She's smart, articulate, and compassionate. Her proposed policies would have worked wonders for our country if we'd also elected a Congress that would enable them. I agree completely that Biden should never have run for a second term, even though his first was a marvel.
She didn’t have any policies, Lauren. Even on the view and asked what you would do differently than Joe Biden she said nothing comes to mind. Those were her own words. Well, the country didn’t agree with her.
Well, by the time President Biden called it quits, there really was not enough time to run through a primary season. What might have helped is if President Biden had resigned then pledged his delegates to Vice President Harris. This situation was unprecedented. I believe President Biden intended to be a one-term President but, once he got in, could not give up the incumbency.
If you would please open your mind and Google the Wall Street Journal article that had 50 associates of Biden news people people from his administration news people, 50 linked sources, talking about his declining mental capacity, not to mention his physical in capacities
Very disappointed in our HR member VA11th. In subsequent interviews he sounds as though he is compensating for a bad decision by trying to be aggressive and forthright. I'd prefer he focus on the cancer that plagues him or even having not sought re-election knowing what he faced.
Did he find out he had cancer after entering the race? Would it have been too late to step aside? What is his prognosis? These are all personal factors we might not know.
Having watched him in so many committees and floor debates I can’t see him accepting this role if he thought it would hurt the country. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
After seeing a clip of Mr. Connolly stating that "its his turn" - that sort of polished off the whole episode! I agree - Pelosi damaged her own legacy with that charade.
Well , if Democrats didn't get the message during this election, then they better wake the hell up or we will have no chance of willing an election again. I totally agree with your statement above. It is time for the younger generation of Congress to take over. We need new ideas to gravitate people's interest.
Really? Did AOC not lose you when urging candidates to challenge incumbent Democratic House members? That’s why it was not Ms Pelosi who undermined her, but the 2 - 1 vote against her. By incumbent House members.
AOC is from a district where a ham sandwich could win election if it declared as a lefty Dem. It is not at all clear to me that AOC understands that a Democrat who wins in a swing district has to moderate some positions to win election. Does she understand that cloned Bernie Bros can’t win in more than half the districts Dems now hold? Could she win in a swing district?
This was notorious enough that as a part of campaign to win the ranking member job on Oversight, she pledged to stop recruiting candidates for Democratically-held seats.
Seems like she showed a glimmer of understanding of how to win a majority. Until now she seemed to prefer ideological purity over majority.
As long as our government is for sale to the rich, it belongs to them, and they get to decide everything. Unlimited corruption and depravity are the means to their ends, because that is the shortest distance beween two points in a game based on lies and lawlessness. Control of the money is the first (perhaps the only) way to protect democracy. Reason, argument, common sense -- none of that penetrates the near universal stupidity that permeates the people.
And who ought to control the money? And how should that be decided?
If you are going to throw out reason, argument, and common sense in our electoral process, what would be left? The answer to that ought to be obvious and as dangerous as anything of which your ‘rich’ are capable.
Don't get me wrong. Common sense is the key, as Thomas Paine taught us. My warning is that the people are not using their available reason and common sense to control the money. The rich are controlling the people like little remote-controlled toys. Things will change; they always do. But the price will almost surely be a high one to pay. By that I mean both lives and property, as has happened repeatedly in human history and is happening now daily. No sign of that changing. The depravity of the Republican Party today is beyond astounding. Yet there is no universal outrage against them. As for the money. The people own all of it; they just don't know it. Ignorance, stupidity, call it what you will.
That still doesn’t answer the question. When you say that control of the money is the only way to preserve democracy, what exactly are you talking about doing? How do ‘the people’ (I presume that’s what you mean) control the money? Because in all honesty, what you are saying sounds a bit like Somebody (I won’t say who) saying that the workers should control the means of production.
From what I recall reading, he annoyed people by showing them sexually explicit photos. (I had a former coworker who used to do that as well, and it is VERY annoying.)
Those very people should have called him out on the spot. One thing I agree with MTG on is that harassment; sexual, racial, gender, runs rampant in our politics. Oddly, she is a perpetrator of all three but doesn’t see it.
If you couldn’t get away with it in a private workplace you shouldn’t be able to get away with it in government.
These people are simply no good, period. In the real world (you know, the world where values and standards exist), these creeps are not tolerated. However, we live in a celebrity culture, borne of capitalism, that celebrates this odd behavior—behavior that wouldn’t be tolerated outside the spotlight of celebrity.
Yep, Putin turned out to be better in the long game. Then again, destroying trust and harmony is much easier than building it up. In that sense, Putin also had the longer straw to pull...
We've seen nothing yet. I believe that trump and putin have already decided that trump will allow putin to take a big chunk of Ukraine in exchange for ending the war so that trump can take credit for it and demand he be given the Nobel Peace prize....
Exactly. Don't forget that Putin put Trump in power, and he will demand something back for it. That will be: a) Ukraine, b) the rest of Europe - and that is why Rump will pull the US out of NATO. Not because of political reasons, but because Vlad has ordered him to: that way, NATO will become so weak that Europe will be easy prey for the Russians to take over.
Our last ditch effort. “The upshot is that Donald Trump remains constitutionally disqualified from the presidency and may not lawfully serve in that office or any other unless Congress removes the disqualification by two-thirds majorities of both houses. Nothing in Trump v. Anderson changes that legal reality.”
William Baude and Michael Paulsen, Harvard Law Review, Sweeping Section Three under the Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson
Takes 20% of members of Congress to shift the burden to Trump.
Well, fact is that on January 20th, Putin will install his marionette in the White House. Fact is, this marionette has unchecked power because he enjoys total immunity bestowed on him by the Supreme Court. And as far as I know, the US does not have a fallback system in which new elections can be called for should the sitting government fail. In other words, there is no way to put the Convicted Orange Felon out of power save by a violent revolution. As of yet, I don't see another option.
"Cheney responded: “Donald, this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you. Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overt. "
How come Trump is taking Presidency again? There must be a deep flaw of American democratic system. It is like a plane taking off with unfastened passenger doors.
I'll miss class acts, regardless of gender. Gaetz fuels my contempt for no-class acts in revered positions, but he's not alone. Where is the class in publishing photos of Hunter Biden's genitalia, MTG? Where is the class in pursuit of impeachment for Mayorkas or Biden when the evidence is clearly tainted and/or bogus, Mr. Comer? Where is the class in trying cases in the media instead of the courts, Gym Jordan? If we want class back in Congress we must elect serious people who take legislation seriously.
I remain furious at the Democratic Party Leadership.
Shoes and a smile do not win elections.
Pelosi, Schumer and the older generation in the Democratic Party need to step aside.
Losing 2 elections to a madman is unacceptable. Putting a woman up against a misogynist the second time is insane crazy. This brought out every misogynist for miles around. We wasted a top talent in the Party--Harris. It is way past time for the younger, extremely talented members of the Democratic Party to take over.
Using the same megaphone (biased media) saying the same things is not working.
Stop trying to shame the MAGA over January 6 such as Hakeem Jeffries did yesterday. We come across as scolds and whiners. Obviously, the voters do not care.
You cannot shame a MAGA. They sold their souls years ago f the right to hate publicly, loudly and often. You cannot reason through the fog of lies, rage and disinformation perpetuated by the media. You cannot reason with a population who forgot what a Democracy is.
I am generations long Democrat. I would register Independant if it wasn't for the primary election in Kentucky to choose someone to run for McConnell's seat.
Personally, I had this wild/crazy/hopeful thought that like a black man got elected which I thought impossible, so too would be a woman, regardless of her race. I was foolish.
I am amazed at what seems to be the collective lack of short term memory of the populace. I've talked to my husband about how quickly people seem to have forgotten the terror they had over COVID! I recall the first time I went to the grocery store to find the parking lot packed, people with frantic eyes pushing overflowing carts, and fighting over the last loaf of bread! The news stories of meat-truck morgues, and mortuaries overrun and refusing more bodies...this wasn't history of our grandparents, it wasn't even a generation ago--it was just a few years! If THAT worldwide situation is that easily forgettable, what does it say about humanity? Is it admirable resilience to move past the unimaginable? It is positive attitude or optimism? Is it utter foolishness, a lack of ....something?
I also thought that people would recall the revolving door/circus in a clown car administration of Trump. Either they forgot or didn't care.
The most glaring acts were watching Republicans spend endless hours voting to reduce the pay of people they didn’t like to $1. What kind of childish BS is that?
Don't forget the extraordinary power of the media, especially to young voters who relish their disinformation. The same folks in the cartoon, plus more, contributed to lies and misinformation without shame, all for the $. Oligarchs like spoiled baby Musk dump millions to get their own way. Don't forget the manipulations of Putin, who hopes Trump will close down NATO and feed Ukraine to the wolves. Then there are the mean-spirited folks who delight in Trump's crimes and misdemeanors...All in all, this was the triumph of wrong, but right is not dead.
Why do they make me think of female versions of "Artful Dodgers," perhaps good at deceptive entertainment, but seriously short of honest and competent performance of the legitimate duties of public servants. Whom but someone like Dickens' Fagin (or themselves), would they serve?
Well old Russell was wrong and admitted it. First ever chief of staff appointed by Trump is a woman. And you can pick on the credentials all you want, but it defeats your theory about misogyny to a great degree not to mention the balance of his cabinet is so diverse without trying to be diverse and probably the first time in recent history that a president has placed two people from the opposing party in his cabinet.
And the 26 women who've accused Trump of sexual assault, including E, Jean Carroll to whom he owes over $80m? Or perhaps Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth or Brett Kavanaugh? Whataboutism doesn't serve you well at all in this case.
Well, now I hear the best of all which makes it even more incredulous to be honest with you! I I remember the release of the tape but did not pay attention to the dates of the comments that he made but I just read and this is what now blows me away that you could be sucked in so easily whereas these things could've readily happened and I'm not denying it or defend
But how the hell do they come out literally one month before he was about to be elected?
That doesn't strike you?
Weather true or not, and it may well be true. I'm not defending it. I find it absolutely positively political warfare as to the timing of the release of the tape I haven't yet determined when the actual tape was made, but I'll go check that out now
But I say the timing of this make the allegations a little bit dubious to say the least
You probably don't like what I'm gonna say but I'm gonna say it anyway most people honestly feel that Brett Cavanaugh was what they call now CavanaughEd. In other words, nothing was said about his past until an alleged incident that happened 20 years before became public once he was nominated for the supreme BUT NOT A MOMENT BEFORE? Coincidence?
We are obviously dealing with the same thing here interestingly enough these came to light in 2016 as I read now. Wow. Another interesting coincidence
Well, I have to get deeper into this, but I have to laugh as the only time that these occurrences came forward was after Trump made the infamous statement on a radio with an open mic and many back in the 1970s when most of these occurred or allegedly occurred
Honestly, I haven't heard about them and I'm just being honest
As I suggested earlier, if you want to vote for someone of character, don't vote for the president. The last president with assemblance of character was Ronald Reagan, but the only one that had really true character was Jimmy Carter.
Everyone since has had their peccadillos including the Kennedy family on many counts, including Chappaquiddick, which is a little bit worse than sexual assault including Mr. Clinton
And the bushes were just both dim bulbs Obama was the divider in chief under which sprung BLM and antifa
So men at the top all have a past. And they all have their secrets some more than others
But as I said, I've honestly never heard about 26 women
I'll look it up
But when you talk about equal justice, if you'd like to talk about equal justice, Trump is going to be sentenced for a garbage trial that was twisted from a misdemeanor into a felony whereas Bill Clinton paid $850,000 for an NDA
And there was not an investigation there was no follow up. There was no trial. There was no judge. There was no jury and nobody to this day knows where the money came from. Hmmmmm $850,000.30 years ago versus $75,000 today and the key witnesses where a stripper porn star and a convicted perjurer.
Okay. I was referring to Linda McMahon, not Susan Wiles, but let's see if she (Wiles) last any longer than Trump's other chiefs. As for Bondi, she's clearly crooked. She accepted a bribe of $25k from Trump to drop an investigation into his crooked university. She claimed there was no quid pro quo and that the real reason was that there were insufficent grounds to take action but this is risible since the university was so crooked Trump had to pay $25m in compensation and dissolve the organisation. This was not the first time she's been linked with fundraising controversies - just take a look at her Wiki page. She may not be the most crooked lawyer in America, but she's crooked enough to suit Trump and that's plenty crooked.
Russell, Rick Sender is a bot, it can post negative, recycled drivel all day, every day. The lights are always on, but no one is ever home. Best practice is to simply not engage with it.
Wow negative in advance, huh? Shocker. Keep in mind, she was his campaign manager during his campaign and boy did they take crap from the world, including two assassination attempts
First attempt was a staged event, otherwise we would have a FULL report on the shooter, medical report with actual photos of the hole in the ear.
Also, the whole election was weird. Who runs saying he needs "no more votes, I have all I need." and then proceeds to act like he did? He and his enablers have made a total mockery of the election system in America. Putin's cronies, Musk involvement, and the "little secret" all point to something much more nefarious than a free and clear election process.
It was a campaign of relentless lies as you are about to find out. Trump is not going to reduce your cost of living. He's not going to fix anything because he's already got what he wants i.e. winning the election was the only way he stayed out of jail. Stand back and stand by!
What ? We’ll she sounds exactly like James Comey. No sensible prosecutor would prosecute Hillary Clinton for destroying 33,000 emails and bleach bitting her phone . Woah. Or keeping a computer in a hidden bathroom in the middle of the United States.
There are controversies all over the world Including the ones Involving judge Marchan, Fani Willis, or judge Engeron ? and the three people I name below.
Or maybe Kim Fox in Chicago?
So let me say it again she’s been Attorney General for quite a few years and has done a good job for Florida.
Maybe he should’ve picked Alvin Bragg instead or Tisha james? Lol
Pam Bondi is laughable; the fact that you invoke her name here is also laughable. But not surprising given the tenor of all the rest of your posts, which truly make me shake my head.
Shake your head all you want. She’s the third most powerful Attorney General in the country and has done a good job for Florida. Anything else you wanna know? The tenor of my post is a different perspective that has seen on this website almost never. If you look at all the posts here it’s all agreement. It’s all congratulations. It’s all congratulating each other and patting each other on the back without ever seeing dissension or understanding perspectives of other people that don’t agree with you. I grew up in South Florida when the whole state was democrat other than some outlying rural areas and now look at it someone above just said it’s all red. How does that happen? That’s a question. You should be asking yourself not laughing at Pam Bondi.
I actually came back to delete my response because I had forgotten not to feed the resident troll, and found that you were already all over it. My bad, it will not happen again.
he values loyalty above all else. Right or wrong. Qualified or not. the appointment of a couple of women does not make him less of a misogynist. His entire history is one of misogyny
The first ever chief of staff, a woman. First, ever and the second most powerful person in the country Attorney General is also a woman named by Trump. Pretty good for a misogynist.
Did you ever know of a president who actually appointed somebody against him versus a loyalist. Or somebody who agreed with him
Every president does that. Did you ever know a person I could pick someone who’s against him? Nope.
Trump is going beyond that this time he’s actually even for the first time appointed two people from the opposite party …amazing.
I find it’s interesting that there are some experts here , who know exactly how to pick up Cabinet from their vast Reservoir of experience.
Trump assaults women….. brags about it….then pays others to keep their mouths shut about it.
Every single other thing about the creep is just noise. He is not fit for any office. He is not fit to shine my shoes.
I have 2 daughters and 1 grand daughter in my family. I spit on trump because their safety from the likes of him, and those like him, is far more important than anything that falls out of the creeps mouth. Any woman or man who supports the creep is no better than he is - I spit on all of them.
There is a huge difference in appointing a qualified loyalists and one that kisses butt. Huge difference. I would say that taking a $25,000 bribe and dropping a case is disqualifying - at least it used to be.
I also point out that th 2 he picked from the "opposite" party left the party ideas behind. RFK is a certified nut, Gabbard supports Putin.
You can point out differences and share you opinions, but please be fully truthful.
That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. As I’ve said here many times if you’re looking for someone of devout character, don’t vote for president. The last president that had the kind of character that you’re looking for just died a few days ago. I’m not gonna sit here and delineate all their flaws, but everyone of them had them many more severe many that should’ve not allow them to be president but in many cases, and this is the point I’m trying to make out many of them who who had let’s call it wandering pee, pees, were some of the best presidents in our life, and by chance happened to be Democrats.
Don’t be a one item voter… Judge a President that from the day he gets in office Till the last day he leaves, he works fervently for the benefit of all Americans. THAT’S IT Much of what they do before doesn’t matter when it comes to the task of being president as I pointed out above
Well, I’m gonna Google it just for S & G and I’m not sure why she running for office at the time and it was a campaign contribution. I don’t know. But if you can’t find something wrong with every single candidate, that’s running there’s a big problem because everybody has a flaw a peccadillo a mistake because they’re human.
And I thought the left was particularly good at forgiving, for example, parole for murder victims lower sentences for misdemeanors no cash bail for murderers.
And I hate to say this, but if you’re looking for character in the president, don’t vote for president The last person I think that had any real character in this country is president just passed away the other day.
On Jan 21, 2021 the top responsibility of President Biden and the leadership of the Democratic Party was to prosecute the criminals who led the conspiracy to steal the Executive Branch of the government. Trump and his bad faith cronies played "rope-a-dope" and the Democrats were lulled into letting him off the legal hook. The Dems failed then and they are failing now.
Until January 19, 2025 President Biden continues to have the power and the responsibility to "execute the laws" and "protect and defend the Constitution". The Supreme Court gave the office of the President the green light to take "bold and decisive action" to defend the nation from "enemies, foreign and domestic". Trump and his crime cult are a domestic enemy. Will the Dems have the guts to do what's right? Or allow the criminals back into the White House?
Winston Churchill was castigated, for years, for his claims that Hitler was a threat to world civilization. Who will be the Churchill in this time? The autocrats and oligarchs, the self-styled "masters of the universe" egomaniacs like Musk and Putin and their underlings Trump and Johnson threaten self-rule in America. Democracy is about to be crushed by billionaire thugs and the DNC leaders mill around silent.
No one was stealing this country let alone in 1000 unarmed protesters. And the more you’re going to hear about the evidence as it comes out unless you’re gonna like it. Including Pelosi, admitting to her daughter, that was her fault to a great extent, including the FBI hiding the fact that there were 23 FBI agents in the crowd that we’re not supposed to be in the crowd and that actually assisted people in coming through the barriers and even though they were unannounced FBI agents Inside the crowd, not one of them got arrest, arrested you you’re gonna hear more about the 10,000 troops that Trump requested and you’re gonna hear more about the denial of help from the local mayor of DC
It was a protest gone wrong but it was never a protest to overthrow the government of the United states
It’s always fascinating that Republicans only know how to cut programs that help many millions of people rather than improve them. Why? Because it’s easy and makes headlines. Of course the other reason is they don’t care about everyday people and want government to help big business and cut taxes for the rich.
We’re in for quite a spectacle. The GOP underestimates the people’s wrath if they mess with Social Security,Medicare, and other social support programs.
The republicans and Trump will never cut social security they will defund it. Bush took hoe many millions from the fund 1.3 billion? It happens. Meanwhile propaganda has already started about “not needing social security”. Not one person I know believes Republicans want to defund it. This should have been a major campaign issue. Harris should have started every speech with if you elect trump say goodbye to social security and then show proof of how they have tried to cut social security
Social Security is supported by a trust fund. That trust fund is invested exclusive in United States sovereign debt. Treasuries. The SS Administration thus lends money…all its money…to the United States government. The US government uses that money to cover its deficits.
Last month in spite of having this captive buyer, demand was weak at the regularly scheduled Treasury auction. Prices had to be cut from the posted openings in order to move the thirty and ten year offerings thus raising the yields on the instruments and all forms of market interest rates accordingly. This was in spite of a recent Fed rate cut. This means that the bond market was pushing back against the moves of the Federal Reserve. Thus for the moment, interest rates are going to hang. Job reports were good. Inflation reports not so bad. The Fed factors all of that stuff in to account. So this reflects pure wariness of investors. Big investors. Banks. Pension funds. Perhaps the guy who places orders for the SSA. With higher employment, he’s got more to work with after all.
Social Security as pensions go is not a good deal. But it has other purposes. Public assistsnce to the elderly and disabled. I get negligible SS. But that is all besides the point. There are so many ways those in government could ruin it. But we have it. It is an institution. We have to defend it or we are lost. That said, the Government does not fund Social Security. Social Security funds government. There are better returns in the market. And Social Security is being exploited for that purpose. There is an inherent conflict of interest. SSA needs to invest for returns. Treasury tries to borrow cheap…to cover for the fiscal decisions of Congress. The incoming President and Congress aim to cut taxes and swell the deficit. They will use the SS Trust Fund for this purpose. And if the ends don’t meet it is the institution and those who participate in it, working, disabled and retired, who will pay the price. No doubt there are needed reforms. But reforms are out of the question. It is an abused child. The question is whether it will survive.
Excellent Points Tyler. SSA was never intended as the sole retirement vehicle and the life expectancy was around age 65 when the program started, so it wasn't the monster it is today.
Trump will demand loyalty from all Federal employees and the military so we can expect the service levels to drop like they did in the USPS. The turnover rate in the USPS has been abysmal since DeJoy took over, not to mention that it now takes days to get a letter across town.
My wife usually mails her Christmas cookies in the Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box (FRB1) that I seem to recall costing $10 a couple years ago. Due to circumstances last month the original batches got stale so the replacements weren't ready to mail until two days after Christmas. We wanted to get them mailed before Jan 1st when the then rate had been raised to $16 (and was projected to go up 4.1% to $16.65. Unfortunately, I dropped a glass bowl that shattered and sent broken glass into all the cookies and cookie dough on the counters.
Buying all the supplies and making fresh batches meant I didn't get to mail them until Jan 2nd. That's when I found the projected increase wasn't 4.1%, it was 20.6% at $19.30 for what I remember paying $10 a few years ago.
We'll see if that package gets fresh cookies across the country as fast as and reliably as they used to be. The fate of the last, supposed 2-day delivery, is becoming too typical. I forgot to leave my set of car and house keys with my daughter when she dropped us off at the airport (in her car). We mailed them 2-day priority on Dec 12th from Florida to Maine but didn't get them until Dec 26th, 5 days after we got back to Maine from Florida. Tracking showed they went from Gainesville to Jacksonville FL in 1 day, to Kansas City in 5 days, Omaha, NE in 5 days, Springfield, MA in 1 day, Scarborough, ME in 1 day, and to our daughters house less than 9 miles away on the 14th day (2 weeks for 2 day priority). Wish we could get frequent flyer miles or tourist decals for the Flat Stanley trip our package took.
"...In 2006, Congress passed a law that imposed extraordinary costs on the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation.
If the costs of this retiree health care mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, the Post Office would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years. This extraordinary mandate created a financial “crisis” that has been used to justify harmful service cuts and even calls for postal privatization. Additional cuts in service and privatization would be devastating for millions of postal workers and customers..."
When I had my business I frequently used FedEx for flat rate boxes because they were less expensive. Trump wants to privatize USPS. Biden didn’t get rid of DeJoy.
My neighbor told me first class stamps are now 75 cents. I rarely use a stamp and bought Forever stamps several years ago.
Unfortunately, presidents don't have the authority to replace the postmaster general. That responsibility is up to a bipartisan board of governors, whose members are appointed by presidents. This arrangement has not served the citizenry well.
Social Security is the greatest anti poverty program in US history.
Charity begins at home. They get tax deductions, plus if propely applied, it increases the GDP and tax revenues. If Social Security is sliding toward a "default" it is because Congress and a succession of presidents would sell their families for a few votes. The default of Trust Funds is supposed to apex in 2034 due to the increase of birth rates of baby boomers. After 2034, birth rates of later generations flatten and the funds can be solvent.
Social Security protects workers, widow(er)s, orphans and disabled people and is a major investment for many of us.
Please donate to create an endowment to slow down the rate. If everyone who donates to say, universities, which aren't really charities, the trust funds would be secure.
Here's an ABA article for tax and estate lawyers I published a few years ago. December 01, 2011 FINANCIAL PLANNING
Social Security—Maybe Charity Should Begin at Home
By Daniel F. Solomon
For most of its history, Social Security was a terrific bargain: our parents and grandparents most probably received significantly more benefits than they paid into the Social Security Trust Fund. The trust fund comprises the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds (OASDI, collectively).
In most cases, because our family units could rely on these benefits, they were able to enjoy enough financial independence to send people like us to school so that we could become lawyers—productive and, in some cases, wealthy, members of society. For 75 years, the Social Security Trust Fund has helped enable American soci- ety to achieve far beyond the aspirations of its founders, ultimately providing more than subsistence to retirees by also protecting widows, orphans, and disabled people. The dignity provided to needy beneficiaries surely far outweighs the economic value of the funds.
However, financial experts have long predicted a future insolvency of the funds. A majority of Americans have invested in the funds, recognize their social utility, and do not want to burden their heirs. Although there have been legislative attempts to “fix” the system, there is no consensus how to do it. The Congressional Research Service reported:
For example, for workers who earned average wages and retired in 1980 at age 65, it took 2.8 years to recover the value of the retirement portion of the combined employee and employer shares of their Social Security taxes plus interest. For their counterparts who retired at age 65 in 2002, it will take 16.9 years. For those retiring in 2020, it will take 20.9 years.
Geoffrey Kollmann and Dawn Nuschler, “Social Security Reform” (October 2002).
The National Commission on Social Security Reform (informally known as the “Greenspan Commission” after its chairman) was appointed by the Congress and President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in response to a short-term financing crisis that Social Security faced at that time. Estimates were that the OASI Trust Fund would run out of money possibly as early as August 1983. Congress rendered a compromise that extended the retirement age from 65 to 67, through a deal that raised payroll taxes and trimmed benefits enough to keep Social Security solvent. See Jackie Calmes, “Political Memo: The Bipartisan Panel: Did It Really Work?” New York Times, January 18, 2010. However, the legislation addressed only the immediate problem and did not address the long-term viability of the fund. See also Rudolph G. Penner, “The Greenspan Commission and the Social Security Reforms of 1983,” in Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency, David Abshire, Editor. Washington: Center for the Study of the Presidency, pp. 129–31.
The George W. Bush administration commission deliberated on the issue and then called for a transition to a combination of a government-funded program and personal accounts (“individual” or “private accounts”) through partial privatization of the system.
President Barack Obama reportedly strongly opposes privatization or raising the retirement age but supports raising the cap on the payroll tax ($106,800 in 2009) to help fund the program. He has appointed a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which is to report and offer another fix.
Current estimates predict that payroll taxes will only cover 78% of the scheduled payout amounts after 2037. This declines to 75% by 2084. 2010 OASDI Trust- ees Report, Figure II.D2, www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2010/ trTOC.html.
Although the congressional plan was to ensure solvency through Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax, there is a private means to help: to also consider the humanitarian and charitable nature of the Social Security Administration (SSA), which has been possible since a legislative fix in 1972. Before then, bequests naming Social Security or a trust fund as a beneficiary could not be accepted, which caused problems in administration of some estates. Money gifts or bequests may be accepted for deposit by the managing trustee of the OASI and DI funds. Section 170(c)(l) of the Internal Revenue Code lists the U.S. government among the educational or charitable organizations to which donations are acceptable. Gifts must be unconditional, except that the donor may designate to which fund the gift should be donated. If no fund is designated, the gift is credited to the OASI Trust Fund.
However, SSA has not publicized its charitable persona. Although the agency has received some gifts and bequests, they have been insignificant and not given consideration in a possible fix. The concept has been so unimportant to the experts that the Annual Statistical Supplement to the Social Security Bulletin does not specify how much the administration has received in gifts and bequests. Total revenue from gifts to the trust funds has been quite small. From 1974 to 1979 the most received in any one year was $91,949.88. During that period, the average annual amount was only $39,847. In 1980, almost two-thirds of the gifts were less than $100. The median gift size was $50. One person, for example, donated $13.11. She arrived at that amount by applying 5.85% (the employee tax rate then in effect) to her benefit amount and donated it to help “‘shore up’ the sagging, dwindling Social Security fund.” However, the 2010 Social Security Trustees Report lists them as about $98,000 (www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2010/III_ cyoper.html#2). Compared to many other charities, this is a paltry amount.
Apparently, SSA has never done a feasibility study nor marketing research to determine how an aggressive campaign could raise funds to support Social Security, or how gifts and bequests could reduce the current estimates of impending doom. According to some estimates total deductions taken for all charities next year would be $413.5 billion. Estimates for fiscal year 2011 are that SSA will spend $730 billion. That amount is already covered through “contributions” (taxes), but it is reasonable that charitable contributions to the trust fund could significantly lessen taxpayer exposure for impending doom, if not return the fund to solvency.
As lawyers, we have the capacity to remind our families, our clients, and the public at large that there is a way to contribute to help endow future generations in the pursuit of the same kind of social stability that Social Security provided to our parents and grandparents.
Very interesting! I was unaware of this. I personally believe the answer is to raise or preferably eliminate the cap on taxable wages, and also to remove the utterly ridiculous amount of tax loopholes.
If we raise the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in all states it would bring in billions in FICA money as there is the employer match along with the employees contribution. This ain't chump change.
I’ll be damned if I know how SS works. All I know is that a Man must be just before he can be charitable. That applies doubly to such a vast and ambitious involuntary collective for the dispensation of private and public benefits.
I have a law degree. I’ve taken graduate courses in economics. I used to be pretty good at difEQ and integral calculus. I am familiar with the science of actuarial statistics. Or used to be. Likewise financial mathematics. But I don’t have the foggiest notion of how Social Security benefits are calculated. I’ll bet that goes for all but a few Americans.
Your article offers proof that what people do not understand they will not be willing to support.
The mathematics of how the SSA goes about collecting money, on the other hand are quite simple and most people have no trouble understanding that. It is (currently) 7.5% of their paycheck if they work for others for a living, whilst an equal payroll tax is levied on their employer. This, take note, is a tax on a form of expenses rather than income. Which is why a business can lose money, and go under, and still owe money to the federal government. Of course, such debts have priority in Bankruptcy. And it is a Crime not to pay this tax, or at least take funds set aside for that purpose and run off with them. Nevertheless, the SSA often gets stiffed, and there is a loss rate associated with the whole sum of these components when it comes to collections, and projections, and bar graphs, et cetera.
In the case of a self employed person like myself, this math, and its economic consequences are even easier to understand. The Self Employment Tax to benefit the SSA is 15% of my net business earnings ….before Tax, which is to say, Federal and State Income Tax. NPBT. So it is a flat income tax. And it alone has kept me mired in poverty all my life. Go figure what that is for someone making under $50K a year self employed. Then write to me and explain how you think it contributes to the social welfare of America to take $7,500. I need to live on out of my hands. Oh, I know. I get to deduct half of it against my Income Tax liability of anywhere from $4-8K. And I get to deduct my $5K property tax bill right off the top ! To the extent of the business use of the home deduction that does take a college degree and a day to figure.
From what you wrote in 2011, I now understand there is no stable, let alone just, relationship between what workers are required to pay in to SS and what they can reasonably expect to get back. Indeed the figures you used suggest to me a hyperbolic curve asymptotically approaching zero, for to deliver any benefits, this whole ramshackle street car named Desire needs to maintain a stable equilibrium, and it is not. It is still heading towards insolvency despite delivering less.
Perhaps the public assistance objectives for the SSA would better be achieved through a different source of revenue. But the FIT and the Estate and Gift Taxes are abominations. Perhaps it would be better to consider a broad base consumption tax that covered service transactions as well as sales of goods. A business tax with the economic incidents of a VAT without the sales tax kick in the butt to the consumer. One that was freed of any burden placed on the individual working taxpayer. There is such a thing. But in any case, there must needs being to my way of thinking, a more well defined relationship between what the taxpayer pays in and what he can expect to get back over time, for better or for worse. And that has to be competitive and fair. A defined benefit pension plan.
The government has to be just before it can be charitable.
You're way off. It;s social insurance. Not a retirement plan per se. If you can't work due to diablity, you're covered. If you get sick, Medicare may kick in. If you die, your family may be covered based on your earnings record.
You can ask for a copy of your earnings record and an assessiment of what you and your family may earn. Benefits widow(er)s, orphans, the entire faimy of wage earners. On average a $ million in potential family disability benefits. Typically based on 35 years of wages; anyone should be able to calculate the PIA (primary insurance rate).
I don't know what kind of law you practice, but it sounds like you don't do estates, PI, Workers' Comp, etc because they all have a relationship.
Ah yes. I see. Social Security “Insurance” is disability insurance. Check. Insurance against living too long ? No. Insurance against failing to earn enough to retire on ? No. Insurance against failure to marry well or losing a spouse one way or another upon whose income or retirement savings you have grown to rely ? Well, that’s a stretch. But I’ll give you a maybe. But above all, what Social Security is not, according to you, is a forced retirement savings plan ??
I have been a steady recipient of SS benefit statement summaries for more than ten years now, and am able to read. I find your assertions short on substance and long on insult. Sorry if I hurt your feelings by pointing out the weaknesses in your scholarly ABA published sales pitch for charitable giving to the Social Security Trust Fund.
you’re on the right track Tyler, especially about the Park Congress part. Congress is for seeing the potential collapse of Social Security Medicare in the next decade and I’ve done nothing to fix it. Talk, talk talk.
As a person who has done very well, I have never understood why there’s a cap on Social Security deductions ? I think every penny of every earnings should be taxed without a ceiling. They keep waiting to do something and I fear that it’s gonna be too late or they gonna cram something down as a temporary fix to kick the can down the road once more.
Sorry, not Park Congress just Congress part I’m tired and I should have recheck the work cause I’m voice texting and I didn’t go back to check it, but Congress has seen and forcing the collapse for decades
"...After the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 revenues fell by 6% in real terms. This promoted a tax increase that passed the House in late 1981 and the Senate in mid-1982 called the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. This act was an agreement between Reagan and the Congress that raised revenues for the following years.
Following that increase, there were 3 other tax increases from 1983 to 1987 for other various reasons. In total, the US lost over $200 billion in 2012 chained dollars due to the original tax cut in the first four years and around $1 billion for the second tax cut.
Revenues grew from 1982 to 1987 by a total of $137 billion in revenue which adds up to roughly $64 billion in net revenue lost because of the cuts..."
Sandra thank you very much for speaking up on this website but you’re totally incorrect. They have no intention of cutting Medicare. They have no intention of cutting Social Security.
But the crazy thing is the Congress has known about the potential collapse of Social Security and Medicare for three or four decades when is supposed to collapse in 2034 and the other a few years later and they have done nothing to fix it and then they’re gonna blame somebody else for their failure
They already have messed with Social Security, Medicare, and other social support programs starting about 45 years ago... slowly. But the GOP continued to get voted in. SMH. My grandparents had no complaints about their Social Security or Medicare and were able to live on those benefits. When I was in college in the early 80s, it was mentioned that those benefits will probably not be as good when it's time for us to retire. Now I know why that was said.
Republicans long have asked to "sunset" all benefits. That "all" includes stuff like Medicare, VA, Black Lung, food stamps, etc , The Republicans are in denial that SS is not part of the budget. You have to understand SS is NOT a retirement program although there is a retirement trust fund that will "default" in 2033 according to the trustees. Ever wage earner who is fully and currently insured also has disability coverage that is on average worth about $ 1 MM. If the programs were sunsetted, they'd have to be renewed on an annual basis, and given politics, would die .
In a 2000 book he co-wrote called “The America We Deserve,” Trump called Social Security a “huge Ponzi scheme” that American workers are forced to pay into. He added that for future retirees under 40 at the time, “we can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to seventy,” because “we’re living longer.”
In December 2004, just before a Republican push to partially privatize the program, Trump was asked on MSNBC’s “Hardball” whether he’d support individual retirement accounts and answered: “I sort of think I would. Something has to be done. Social Security is a huge problem right now, funding it.”
In 2012, Trump praised proposals by Ryan, then the Republican vice presidential nominee, to convert Medicare into a “premium support” system that would cap spending for future retirees and give them vouchers to buy insurance plans.
“I think Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney will save Medicare. I know they will. And people are starting to understand it. They’re going to be very happy with what’s going on, but they’re going to be very, very unhappy if Obama gets in,” Trump told Fox News at the time, reflecting on the 2012 presidential race. “I think actually if Obama gets in and if Obamacare isn’t ended, I really think Medicare will be a thing of the past.” (President Barack Obama ran against the Ryan plan and won re-election; seven years after he left office, Obamacare and Medicare still exist.)
By 2015, when Trump ran for president, he sought to position himself in the Republican field as the rare candidate who wouldn’t cut those programs. “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican, and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” he said as he was launching his campaign.
By 2020, it was clear Trump was trying to break the system. He offered a "payroll tax cut" designed to result in significant revenue losses for Social Security, but also to eliminate employee payroll taxes for good. That would kill both the retirement and disability programs.
Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget endorsed Social Security cuts to the tune of billions of dollars for disabled seniors. His budget would have made changes to Social Security Disability Insurance, slashing the maximum amount of retroactive benefits for disabled workers from 12 months to six. According to the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, that could lead to a $7,500 average cut for a worker injured in a car crash. The budget also called for reducing Supplemental Security Income benefits for those who live with other SSI recipients.
“The Trump proposal would cut SSI by more than $8 billion over the next decade, shrinking benefits for roughly a quarter of a million children with disabilities by between 38 and 66 percent. It would also increase SSI’s administrative costs and improper payments”.
They had a plan to eliminate chid's benefits. CBO Eliminate Supplemental Security Income Benefits for Disabled Children. https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/54742 (2018)
Background
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash assistance to people who are disabled, aged, or both and who have low income and few assets. In 2018, 15 percent of SSI recipients, or 1.2 million people, are projected to be disabled children under age 18, receiving an average monthly benefit of $686. To receive benefits, those children must have marked, severe functional limitations and usually must live in a household with low income and few assets.
Thanks for this thorough analysis. Many Trump voters receive SS, Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid will hurt this popülation of voters......will he still cut this program? Democrats can push this message, a plan for affordable housing, and a need for wage increases as we resist the new administration.
It didn't work. They wouldn't lisaten. They slit their own throats. The NYT and Meidastouch highlighted my home town, New Castle Pa, where Trump won more than 2 to 1. The local newspaper would not publish anything I sent them. The reason is that hate Trumps reason.
I have to admit there’s a vast amount of reading and bibliographies posted here based on the depth of reading material that I see here
Reading is not action. History is not action it’s history. If there’s some action that I’ve missed where Congress has attacked and made an attempt to save Social Security and Medicare please let me know. They have not moved the date where they think social Security will be defunct 2034 and I’ve been hearing that date since 2000 and what have they done to change that this is Congress this is not by political party. This is Congress and both parties have been in control on various times to have addressed this and fixed it
Daniel have you seen any actions that confirm the sunsetting issues?
Congress has been in control of Social Security and Medicare’s budget for decades and has literally done nothing to ensure its future even when they know I have predicted that Social Security will go out of business by 2034
1. It will not "go out of business." Even in default, it will still pay approximately 83% of benefits.
2. Ryan, GWB thought they had a mandate to privatize the system. Submitted many proposals. I posted some of the recent ones re SSI. Virtually every Republican in Congress during that era voted to privatize SS and Medicare.
3. Democrats are not a unified party. Never have been. Big guys have big money donors who honestly believe that the 6.2 % match is the only impediment to geometrically increase the GDP. Starting in the 70's people like Bush, and his uncle Pres II wanted to get control of the trillions in the trust funds. Were on record. At one point, they wanted the Savings and Loan insutry involved. I attended many house committee hearings -- spoke to people who ran SS who felt they had a "mandate" to privatize everything. I documented the attempt by Repubicans to force the disability fund into default. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/naalj/vol36/iss1/4/
4. I don't know anything about you, but I bet you will be a loser if the Heritage group takes contol. The people who will lose the most are those who have been paying their FICA but are not in pay status. They could lose their contributions.
By the way, Peggy you're shaking your head and you shouldn't be
the reason that the GOP gets elected from time to time it is but believe it or not there are people that don't think like you and don't want what you want. They see things from a different perspective and that perspective is not expressed here.
Michael, they understand but they are going to try anyway because they think and they are loud at that ,that they have a mandate. We ave to demonstrate how wrong thy are and pound on the to wake people up. Right now we are like sleepwalking. We need our leaders to use the megaphone!!
Once Trump gets his way and requires a loyalty oath from all military and civil servants, you will see a mass exodus from vital departments that service Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and many others. This is exactly what happened with the USPS when Trump put Louis DeJoy in as Postmaster General.
Michael, I wish you were correct, but I fear that you are not. My 91-year-old evangelical mother has voted Republican all her life, mostly because my father told her she must. (That's how it works in an evangelical household.)
I've made this observation about how Mom thinks about life in these United States. Mom has a "blind spot" regarding Republicans. They get only the credit, never the blame; Democrats get only the blame, never the credit. When U.S. culture is going the way she wants, even when Democrats created that good fortune through beneficial legislation in the face of opposition, she credits the Republican party or its president. When life is difficult because of hardships created by Republicans, she blames "the government."
The curious thing is the people they hurt so much continue to support them. For decades. How do they frame it so these folks buy into it? Their lives have not improved a wit, yet they are sure the R's are on their side. The only outlet it gives them is for their grievance and who they think are the source for all of their woes. And yet somehow the Democrats have abandoned them.
The Youtube channel of "Tennessee Brando" (who is part of the Midas Network) continues to talk about this very issue. His channel recently reached 500K subscribers on YouTube. I recommend the viewers here subscribe to channels that speak the truth, and also to HIT THE LIKE BUTTON on every one that they watch. Do it right away. Subscriptions and "likes" increase the visibility of their work, and we need to promote these to compete against the likes of Joe Rogan.
I'm sure there are others that readers will suggest. We can't all march (I'm currently in a boot) and we don't all have unlimited funds to donate, but it is very easy to hit the subscribe button and run a few of the videos.
Actually, it’s other way around Ellen. Republicans want less government and less control not more Democrats want more control and more government. That’s the basis of the two parties existence. Republicans want more capitalism Democrats warrant more socialistic programs which rely on government.
What programs have the Republicans cut just curious? Michael during the cycle it is the Democrats that didn’t care about every day people and that’s why they lost. They cared more about Ukraine. They cared more about illegal immigration and that’s why they lost.
If you understand, the basic overall differences between the Democrats and the Republicans, the Republicans want less tax less government intervention while the Democrats want more government and more socialized programs that's as simple as I can make it. But let me know when they cut it or defund it
Sure, that’s the well known high-level difference. But it doesn’t capture the reality that GOP spending cuts are a charade for billions in corporate welfare/giveaways, notably for oil and gas and oil companies and trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy.
I'm deeply saddened by the Washington Post. I have been an avid reader of the Post for over 40 years. It is tragic that once august institution has fallen so far. I thought about leaving after Bezos killed the Harris endorsement, but I stuck it out. In the past few days I have read several articles by journalists blatantly sane-washing Trump's recent escapades while bashing Biden's record, a George Will hit piece on Jimmy Carter published in the Post ON THE DAY Carter died, and an even more pronounced editorial shift to the right. I think it's time to pull the plug. It breaks my heart.
Quit Amazon. Leave the Prime Channel. This should be easy.
Amazon has long and increasingly been a total ripoff. Shipping isn’t free, it’s included in higher item prices. Then you get recycled returned items or stuff that was falsely described in the first place or all along was inferior in production. The good items can normally simply purchased directly from the manufacturer. Amazon’s game has always been to destroy a business model to make themselves appear to be a reasonable alternative. Once done, shift their policies to rip you off.
The Prime channel now is merely a conduit to selling subscriptions to other channels and alternatively changing enormous premiums to watch individual selections from their own licensed titles.
My husband and I canceled our Amazon Prime subscriptions once I read that Bezos went to Trump's palace, bent the knee and kissed the ring. I suspected the Washington Post would begin self-censoring after Bezos made that trip. This is a revolting turn of events.
I thought hard about including the Post in my list of ways to protest Bezos and decided against it. If it indeed “dies in darkness” that would be far more destructive to society than its persistence. It’s a frail publication, on the verge of bankruptcy before Bezos. He doesn’t make money there, likely wouldn’t think about it a full week if it vanished. Whereas the rest of us would, and the news publishing landscape would be far poorer. We don’t burn trees to destroy trees but to save forests.
Dear Bill, I fear the Washington Post will go the way the Wall Street Journal did with its swing to being a Trump megaphone. When Trump held office, we as others, self-censored our speech if a Trump supporter were present. I found that practice appalling and fear news organizations will also self-censor what they write. I'm also afraid anti-Trump speech in the presence of a Trump supporter will trigger a Trump-style Gestapo or as Majorie Taylor Greene calls them "gazpacho" police. The next four years (I hope it's only four years) will be interesting.
it’s the smart thing for Bezos to do. He’s a businessman and Washington Post lost $77 million last year. People are coming to their senses about being too far extreme on either end of the political spectrum.
Look what happened to Budweiser look what happened to target and they’re coming back now because they’re getting smart and moving towards the middle
Dear Rick, I recall the Target and Anheuser-Busch mess. I'm not sure their decisions to stop the trans commercial and the gay pride displays were a conscious decision to move to the center as much as fear of losing sales money. I think the next four years will be a test of the First Amendment.
Hopefully there will not be a test of the first amendment because it’s the most important one. But you are correct they realized that they were speaking to a small percentage of their audience and offending the rest and so they change their policies and their advertising, which is a smart business decision for a business that wants to remain in business.
Become a prime member and shipping is free on most items and in most major markets, you can get the shipment either later that day or the next day, which is amazing. Walmart has become a ip and coming competitor of Amazon,
Pulled the plug over the Harris endorsement being pulled. Jeff has ruined a bastion of integrity. As to George Will, he never disappoints even when he tries to be fair. He is a vile bastard in every way.
As an undergraduate, I once studied under George Will, he was in a graduate program at the time. He was nobody in particular and had this tiny summer class. True to character he was staunchly to the wrong side of right. I didn’t dislike him for it. Like an old fig, he became creepier over time. I suppose that isn’t totally uncommon amongst guys that are catapulted into notoriety.
He was the risk taker as all businessmen and businesswoman are. Many employees take risks, including putting Mortgages on their homes and taking out loans like they do for education to start a business and become entrepreneurs and so become entrepreneurs instead of employees. America provides the opportunity people can choose where they work. They are not obligated to work anywhere. Depending upon their education particular set of skills have the opportunity here.
I was working 80 hours a week while in college just to pay my tuition.
Axios reported last October that three of the 10-person editorial board at the Post stepped down following Bezos's decision not to endorse Harris. Since then political journalists at the Post have been fleeing either to The Atlantic or the NYT. Meanwhile, the Post is recruiting journalists from the Wall Street Journal. The rot set in when Bezos appointed Will Lewis as CEO at the Post - former Murdoch golden boy and phone hacker extraordinaire who was controversially knighted by Boris Johnson.
Do you not think that newspaper writers should be journalists and not political hacks?
When either side goes too far to the extreme, and it involves business it. hurts business either way.
And look what happened at the LA Times, who finally came to his senses, dismissed the entire editorial board Who was too prejudiced and anti-Trump
So he actually dismissed his entire editorial board because readership had gone down so far Including Online readership. The paper itself was no longer full of journalist, but full of editorialists. If you were to look to see the affiliation of journalist in this country, especially in the major networks, it’s over 90% Democrat so that’s no surprise.
Rick, you're talking about two multi-billionaire owners more concerned with their business's bottom line than with publishing what's genuinely newsworthy, which is surely the business of political journalists. Stand by and watch as the billionaires, and not people like you, benefit financially from Trump's next term in office. The world's 10 richest people have already become $64bn richer as a result of Trump's election victory.
That could be accurate or close to accurate given the profession requires it be led by true facts. Today's Republicans are less by narratives built on lies.
Jeff Bezos is a sniveling coward and already kow-towed to the Sith Lords, Rump and Muskolini. He needs to be a good boy so he can keep his riches; of course he orders the WaPo to join the chorus praising Rump and “blaming the dems” and kills off such a critical cartoon.
Easy to judge choices, difficult to judge a person. Still, I don’t disagree with your point. It’s just me, people are more complicated than another may grasp. I do at heart agree with you, but sense dictates reserve on final judgement, mebbe.
I stopped my subscription but then reconsidered because of their excellent opinion writers like Jennifer Rubin, Ruth Marcus, Catherine Rampell, etc. (Just noticed they’re all women!)
Bezos was right. And the Washington Post lost $77 million last year because they’ve gone so far left half the country doesn’t wanna look at them anymore.
Visa was right the owner of the LA times was right and others are slowly getting the message CNN and MSNBC got the message when they lost about 40% of their audience for being too far left.
And unfortunately, for the left Fox News now handles about 70% of primetime Cable traffic and surpassed ABC for the third most watched primetime network
Rep. Pelosi lost me with her undermining Representative Ocasio-Córtez for ranking member of the Oversight Committee. Representative Connolly is a good man battling cancer at seventy-four years old. People my age on up need to step aside for younger, much younger, leadership. It is not our world anymore. If Rep. Ocasio-Córtez is too out there, there are other moderates in the Democratic Party like Rep. Moulton. The younger members need to work things out to establish a coalition that addresses needs too long neglected by out of touch Congress(wo)men. Unless, of course, we prefer more shocks like that of two months election.
My hunch is, after seeing AOC moderate her tone while keeping her ideals, that Pelodi taught her the lesson she needed to learn. What Democrats need to learn is to take back and keep the center, and not throw stones from their own glass house. AOC might just lead the party one day. Maybe soon, but not yet.
It's our world too, but also their world too. Somehow we need to all pay attention to each other, and contribute to creating an environment that works well enough for everyone. Was that not pretty much was the Constitution says it is about?
Just so you remember and don’t forget her words Ocasio Cortez predicted the end of civilization in 5 1/2 years because of climate change. Somebody who is that far out there needs to be reassessed.
Eating dogs and eating cats don’t have an impact on you do they? They don’t have an impact on Americans do they but saying that the world is gonna come to an end in eight years if we don’t do something about it is insanity. And it affects everyone. But nice try.
This has been an historic day for Truth, Justice and The American Way. I applaud Judge Merchan for ensuring Trump will be a Convicted and Sentenced Felon when he takes the Oath of Office. And speaking of taking the Oath, I want to add that another stand for Truth and Justice (and the Constitution) took place today. That was the first of three days of protests calling for Congress to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from being sworn in (because he is an adjudicated insurrectionist and the Constitution says no insurrectionist can take the Oath of Office). This protest effort is led by Jessica Denson and supported by Prof. Lawrence Tribe, Glenn Kirschner and other legal and constitutional experts. You can watch the video of today's protests at the link below. And if you're in the D.C. area, I urge you to attend the Jan 4 and 5 protests if you can. Information about those protests can be found at NowMarch dot org
Steve, I listened to the video and concurred with every statement but one—the claim that our cherished 248-year democratic republic is over if Donald Trump is made President. I would note, regardless of measures many of us have pursued to press for Trump’s disqualification based on Section 3 of the 14th, the odds in this present climate have not been in our favor.
Hence, we must, in my view, align ourselves with at least one of several movements whose mission is to resist the spread of the dangerous agenda set to be imposed on our country. I have chosen Indivisible (indivisible.org ), whose leadoff two-year mission comprises a blow-by-blow plan for maintaining some amount of democracy until 2026 and achieving significant victories in the midterms—breaking MAGA’s hold on Congress and state legislatures prior to our entering the 2028 election cycle.
As a final point, I would add that using our constituent power to urge DNC voting members in our respective states to use their influence to encourage the 448 DNC delegates to support Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler for DNC Chair, in my view, is a critical piece. Wikler, who, since 2019, has successfully mobilized voters in a state where the Republicans had rigged the system to maintain control, has pledged to bring the same kind of transformation to the national Democratic Party that he brought to Wisconsin.
I’m happy you have found a movement to align yourself with. I’m a constitutional purist. And I will look very, very unkindly at the Democratic Party as a whole and its individual members of none of them follow what the Constitution says they should do. After January 20, I will reassess my options with regard to participating politically. I invite you to visit the website for the museum I opened in June of 2023 where you will see what my primary focus is no matter what happens in America politically. As one of my intellectual mentors, Buckminster Fuller, said many years ago, when the existing system doesn’t work, don’t fight it. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete. This is innovation theory applied to all of society. And the innovative spirit of the American people is what the museum celebrates. Here is its website.
Steve, One thing I’m certain of is that we are faced with a real challenge where the results of a presumed democratic election stand in real tension and contrast with the principles of the Constitution. And I think we as a nation need to figure out how we navigate that tension in the weeks and months and years ahead if we are to preserve consensual governance in this country.
I’m also certain, in societies in which democracy perishes, a major contributing factor rests with people retreating into their private, personal spaces, no longer engaging in the “small d” democratic work of being part of communities that are active publicly.
I love Liz Cheney's statement in response to the Mango Mussolini, and respect her ongoing shaming of both Felonious Trump and the bulk of the GOP. I was not a fan of Kamala Harris featuring her during her campaign stops, although I do not think that was a significant factor in the electoral outcome. It was simply a boneheaded waste of time on the campaign's part.
Harris made the argument that Trump had already attempted to overturn our constitutional government with his Gang that Couldn't Coup straight attempt on 01/06/21 actions and statement, and made it quite well herself.
I am also most proud of Ann Telnaes for her work and moreover her integrity in defending the freedom of the press. We need voices like hers during what is sure to be a most trying time approaching, more than ever.
Finally, although it was not mentioned by Heather tonight, I thought Delegate Stacy Plaskett's valiant protest statement on the House floor toward the end of the Speaker vote, protesting the ridiculous rules disallowing the delegates who represent 4 million Americans from the Virgin Islands, to Puerto Rico, to Guam, American Samoa, etc., to vote for Speaker. I hope this is something that is covered in the media's account of the vote.
Professor, you are one of the very few who mention things that Biden is doing…everyone on the legacy media is Trump 24/7. And I hear it is the same in Europe. As Dear Leader used to say, sad! 🤮
In several European countries, Musk is trying to bring down our elected governments or have neo-Nazis and other far-right populists elected. So our media mention him a lot more than either Trump or Biden.
Makes sense…my point was mainly that they never talk about Biden, what he does and whatever good he has done. It seems like the media are preparing the way for Muskotrump to take credit for Biden’s economy before they wreck it 😢
Why should European media talk about Biden? He’s not our president, he’s yours. Except over Ukraine, where he’s been over-cautious and made Ukrainians fight with one hand behind their backs, Biden hasn’t done anything for Europe and in fact several of his policies have been very detrimental to Europe. Perhaps we could talk about that.
To this foreigner, today's letter was fascinating in every detail. Little prickles of hope. Three cheers for Hakeem Jeffries! And la Pelosi - she broke her hip in Central Europe, so she didn't mess around but presented herself to the appropriate US facility. She'll be back in heels in a month. The story of how Trump forced Johnson's re-entry as Speaker! (How could anyone with dignity accept it?) Liz Cheney's fearless voice, as resounding as a bell. Ned, AOC still needs a little more maturing time, rough uncharted waters ahead. It was wisdom to hold her back for the moment. And the President - presidential to the full. How dare anyone insult him! There's much to admire in a straight back, dignity, a lurking sense of humour, and a steady gaze.
Must love Liz Cheney's response to trump's rant - she calls him by his name. "Donald, this is not the Soviet Union! ..." And the rest of her post is quite memorable, too.
You're right - I forgot to mention that! Haven't heard that since Harrison Ford's interview in Sydney, when told that Trump admired him because of the film "Air Force One" - he looked straight to camera and said, slowly and clearly, "Donald, that was a movie. Real life's not like that - but what would you know?" Hey - I found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrTCpq4KV-Q
Although I know that it's unlikely, I'm hoping that Judge Merchan will sentence Trump to community service, something along the lines of spending 200 hours cleaning up litter in Central park, or working as an aide in a hospital on a ward with COVID patients. I'm sure that there is other meaningful work that Trump could do to improve life in our cities. Any suggestions?
I would not put him around sick people, or in a battered women's shelter. I think his businesses should be fined or sold off and he not be allowed to do business in New York again. Will hamper his children too.
Won't happen. He's going to get a suspended sentence and fines. The reality is that case was never really likely to put him in jail even if he had lost the election. Sadly of course.
What follows is an excerpt from New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s January 3, 2025 ruling.
He is not considering a suspended sentence, rather an unconditional discharge. However, until he issues his final determination, we will not have certainty.
‘’While this Court as a matter of law must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and Defendant, opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation.
As such; in balancing the aforementioned considerations in conjunction with the underlying concerns of the Presidential immunity doctrine, a sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options.
Further, to assuage the Defendant's concerns regarding the mental and physical demands during this transition period as well as the considerations set forth in the 2000 OLC Memorandum, this Court will permit Defendant to exercise his right to appear virtually for this proceeding, if he so chooses.
People v. Reyes,72 Misc 3d 1133 [Sup Ct New York County 2011]’’
I don’t serve jury duty because of my disability but my husband is regularly called. He said next time he’s just going to ask why he should bother doing his civic duty and following all the facts and evidence when verdicts are thrown out based on race, religion, and wealth. He went on to say he should ask if it’s a rich, white, Christian man on trial.
Imagine the jurors that sat through these trials and considered everything presented only to have their verdict ignored in the end. How many weeks was that? How much did they give up? What about the fear of harm by the MAGA morons?
My husband served a 5 week sexual assault case. We could talk about nothing except what he had for lunch and the weather. In the Trump case they couldn’t even read the news.
no worries. Is it a legitimate case Jon. Sorry. And on January 11, the appeal will begin might last quite a while, but in the end it will be overturned.
Not that it matters but if you’d like to hear about a similar case that was more severe, and the suspect was a democrat , that was never even investigated I’d be more than happy to share it with you. So we could talk about equal just
Let Trump do Community Service around the Hurricane devastation related to our Climate Crisis, or clean up in the ocean where recent oil spill happened.
Since when was that normal in the US? Isn't part of the problem that ordinary people feel ill-served by what has passed for 'normal' over at least the past twenty years? It's hardly a problem confined to the US as disillusionment with politics is also rife here in the UK and across Europe. However, with the prospect of another Trump term beckoning, the US has become a beacon for authoritarian regimes and parties.
You are right Russell, I should have clarity that normal means late 30's early 40's when the New Deal was taking care of we the people lasting, with highs and lows till 1980 when everything changed and we had instead trickle down economics that never did anything for the people other than siphoning trillion of dollars to the few at the top. Unfortunately the two democrat administration we had since never tried seriously to go back to normal. Thanks for pointing out.
Republicans have chosen to be wedded to capitalism and not to democracy, and as we are seeing, the two are not compatible lately or for the last 44+ years. There is no inevitable companionship between them - until capitalism is tamed to human needs first before anything else. It's up to us with a conscience to make this distinction at every point, as consumers, as citizens, and most certainly as voters.
Agreed. Unregulated, capitalism is anathema to democracy. Unregulated capitalism’s destiny is not about free markets. It’s about monopolies and cartels running the State. Feel familiar? At one time, this was called fascism. Communism, as it has played out, has been the reverse: State run monopolies.
Democracy is about free markets. They remain free in the same manner citizens in a democracy remain free. Consenting to and upholding a certain amount of regulation. That regulation has to be effective.
Sadly, in the USA it has been diminished or effectively abolished for individual political expediency and aggrandizement of power.
" That regulation has to be effective." With deregulation has come the erosion of enforcement power by government regulating agencies. Many large corporations continue to do harm, in spite of regulating agencies as the fines are inconsequential and paid as just thecost of doing business. The anti-trust laws are still there. They just haven't been used forcefully. Until Lina Kahn a Jonathon Kanter arrived on the job. They just chose to enforce them.
We have to beat the Republicans at their own game. Take to social media. Short blasts. “Scenes like this explain why I remain astonished by the persistence of the narrative that the Democrats are divided while the Republicans are in lockstep.”
Senator Whitehouse has a good suggestion: A DNC Offensive coordinator to more effectively coordinate the "battle". I was surprised to hear that there is not one. In my business we always had one. She/he was usually the Partner in charge of the Project or, with large clients, the Client Partner. That way all aspects of an implementation were coordinated through one person with operational and financial control. Run it like a large project office.
Offensive Coordinator: To assemble an effective team to counter autocratic activities of a sitting U.S. president, the following groups and individuals should be prioritized:
1. Legal Experts and Constitutional Defenders Joyce?
• Independent Judiciary Advocates: Legal scholars, former judges, and constitutional lawyers can challenge overreaches through litigation and uphold the rule of law. The judiciary, despite its current conservative tilt, remains a critical check on executive power.
• Civil Rights Organizations: Groups like the ACLU can mobilize legal challenges to authoritarian policies. I'm a paid member.
2. Independent Media and Communication Strategists
• Journalists and Media Outlets: The media serves as a “fourth estate” to investigate and expose abuses of power. Their protection under the First Amendment ensures they remain a counterbalance to executive overreach. I say we need our own that eclipse MSNBC, or subsume them. FACTS News (and NEVER waver from the FACTS, all of them)
• Digital Media Experts: Specialists in combating disinformation and amplifying pro-democracy narratives are essential in countering “digital populism”.
3. Civil Society Leaders
• Grassroots Organizers: Activists who mobilize public opinion and organize protests can pressure elected officials to act against autocratic moves.
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): Groups focused on democracy promotion can help maintain institutional integrity.
4. Bipartisan Political Leaders
• Moderate Republicans and Democrats: Building coalitions across party lines is crucial to restoring checks and balances, especially in Congress.
• State Governors and Legislators: State-level leaders can resist federal overreach by leveraging federalism principles.
5. Federal Bureaucracy
• Career officials within agencies like the State Department or Department of Justice can quietly resist unlawful directives, as seen during past administrations.
6. International Allies
• Collaboration with democratic nations can reinforce global norms against authoritarianism and provide external pressure on domestic governance.
This team would need to act within existing democratic frameworks, leveraging legal challenges, public advocacy, and institutional resistance to safeguard democratic norms.
7. A clandestine group whic legally follows evaluates and disseminates the current activities of the opposition. These need to be NSA specialists.
Bill, I disagree with your definition here. Although my quick google search defined social media thus: "Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content amongst virtual communities and networks" a further dive revealed 22 platforms that "defined" social media, amongst them (at the bottom) Blue Sky and Mastodon, with Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, Instagram, and TicToc (top 5); Substack did not appear in that list.
I suspect that what Ms. Simpson is referring to are the other, more "social" platforms that this one that is dedicated to writers posting their writings with the ability to share those across a broad variety of people.
Fair enough.. it’s ok if we disagree. I’d counter that although somewhere it is stated that substack is dedicated to writers sharing their writings a 10 minute review of the greater mass of what is actually here is something much broader. That said, even if was as claimed somewhere to be a writers chatbox, that in itself is social media.
Not offered in any way as criticism, but I observe that Google is among Earth’s poorest sources of reliable information. We all use it, but do we rely on it?
I do accept your POV and am grateful to you for pointing out my folly. I will continue to mull this over in future weeks, months, likely longer. 👍✌️
It is why I give a "buyer beware" warning with a google search. There are other areas where I am much better informed that (other than confirming dates and spelling) I don't need our use google for.
Absolutely balderdash. If Power and Money is where it's at. We show ours. Basta! Then we have our own social media that shows who we can be. F**k humble!
[A]s you take office again (Mr.Trump), the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic—to protect the America we love from you.” Liz Cheney
Hear, Hear.
Professor, Thanks for this roundup of the news concerning the demonstrated failure of the Republican Party to think beyond tribal difference. They are so cowed by the incoming POTUS that their congress will be ineffective and produce little important legislation. It truly will be up toe Minority Leader, Jefferies to hold their feet to the fire and use public forums to bring them to the table especially on entitlements and SNAP. It will be our job to press the importance of economic and entitlement issues on our legislature, essentially drawing a line in the sand and if crossed the retribution will be the loss of control of Congress. We will need to make all politics not about Trump's agenda but the economy and entitlements. Programs that lift all citizens not just the uber rich.
Kay Grainger. So ridiculous! How are they even getting away with that! And it’s a heavily gerrymandered area of Dallas. Any Republican running for that seat would most likely win. Texas, my state, you’re very hard to defend!
Liz Cheney’s simple honesty, and Nancy Pelosi’s smile in flats, are both class acts. I will miss women chairs in this Congress.
Rep. Pelosi lost me with her undermining Representative Ocasio-Córtez for ranking member of the Oversight Committee. Representative Connolly is a good man battling cancer at seventy-four years old. People my age on up need to step aside for younger, much younger, leadership. 🙏
It is not our world anymore. 🤭
If Rep. Ocasio-Córtez is too out there, there are other moderates in the Democratic Party like Rep. Moulton. The younger members need to work things out to establish a coalition that addresses needs too long neglected by out of touch Congress(wo)men. Unless, of course, we more shocks like that of two months election. 😰
The Democrats are not learning.😵
I firmly agree. Ms. Pelosi made a bad choice for our future.
I talk to everyone I meet about voting and running for office, and why it's so important to be active when it comes to our governance. I've been told, 'run for office. I'll vote for you!' My response is that at 71 yrs. young, I am not the future. But I will give my full support to the youth among us who want to serve to protect their futures and those of future generations.
Democrats will continue to lose elections if they insist on retaining the oldest representatives, many who themselves have become self-serving having gained wealth and power in their positions, and failing to pass legislation to stop that behavior in our politics.
The one thing I am looking into is running for the local board of education. I feel it is vital that our youth is taught civics and know how important it is to their futures to be active in choosing who speaks for them in government. This lesson should be taught early on in schools. It's something I would pursue in that position, and the least I can do for the health of our Democracy.
Please let us know if you accomplish this. I support you 100% in the desperate need for civic education (which we once had …).
I will, and thanks.
¡I second MLMinET's commotion! 😉
AOC has made a career out of attacking Democrats. The Justice Dems PAC for which she was VP of the Board tweeted in 2017 its mission was to destroy the Democratic Party . She continued her role as VP during her first campaign (which was illegal) then finally resigned. Her first Chief of Staff called Sharice Davids, the first Native American rep who flipped a red seat in Kansas a "racist". She threatened to primary CBC incumbents and called out Hakeem Jeffries specifically. Justice Dems primaried several Democratic incumbents in Blue seats (never Republicans) causing them to expend money and energy that would have been better spent against Republican candidates. On her first day in office she participated in a protest in the Speaker Pelosi's office. She credited Bernie Sanders for her parents having CHIP insurance for her when she was a child. (??). Oh, and she hasn't introduced any bills which have been passed. In 3 sessions of Congress. In the face of the danger posed by the Trump administration I thought her efforts to sabotage and undermine the opposition party not helpful and I'm being very kind here.
Now I'm sure there are liberals who applaud her actions as "taking it to the old, evil and corrupt Democrat man/woman" But the reality is success in any endeavor or organization is based on negotiating and forming alliances with colleagues to accomplish goals which benefit that organization and the people in it. Gaining respect of your peers is critical to success. If you're serious about your constituents you listen to them, craft legislation to address their concerns, and forge the alliances needed to do the work of achieving the desired outcome. She has behaved the the new company hire who on the first day on the job trashes the lunches in the fridge and leaves a plate of Kelp Krunch with the note "I've noticed you all need to lose some weight. You're welcome."
Before she assumes any leadership roles in the Democratic caucus she needs to demonstrate an ability to do the work required to actually legislate which includes working with and supporting Democratic Congressional colleagues.
I have seen AOC mature from an overly independent, ambitious new Congressperson to a person who can speak in clear words for the Democratic Party/
She was so active last year—last year!—in recruiting lefty Democrats to challenge incumbent House Dems that she made a point in her campaign to win the ranking member slot to pledge not to to it anymore.
I am not at all surprised that incumbent dems voted against her 2 to 1.
She could never win election in a swing district and seems to have no understanding of what it takes to win in Ohio, FL, or many other red or purple locales.
Let's not get too focused on just AOC. The Democratic Party needs to develop their younger talent. They are already there--waiting for the old guard to step aside.
Yes. Time is now.
That would be a good thing. Time will tell.
Thank you, Barbara.
Kathleen, I have not paid much attention to AOC and your post is enlightening. Thank you.
Perhaps its time for a bit less "negotiation" and a bit more change in the Democratic Party.
The idea that a 74 year old man with esophageal cancer would be a better choice than a very sharp woman half his age? That makes me seriously wonder about the choices of the Democrats in charge. They have made quite a few questionable choices lately.
I quit the Dems when Clinton was in office. He slashed welfare and pushed NAFTA through. Most Dems have moved right ever since. Biden got some great stuff done. Bernie and AOC and a few others have been pushing for a return to the New Deal. Most Dems are angling for corporate money to fund their campaigns. Lower income Americans support the changes that Bernie and AOC work on. Last night James Carville said on The Beat, MSNBC, that Dems need to get work done immediately that working people will see is to their benefit. Raise the minimum wage. Start UBI. Get child care. Get more prices down on RX.
President Clinton lost me, too. I voted for Vice President Gore only because I felt anyone who worked under President Clinton for eight years and was not a complete sleaze-bag. In the 2016, I vote for Senator / Secretary Clinton but felt the wrong Party's Elders intervened. Senator Sanders should have permitted to run and my erstwhile Party's Elders should not have caved to Trump. They should have intervened and nominated someone with similar politics but not an evident Mussolini facsimile.
Your last paragraph sounds like advice that needs to reach AOC's ears. Write her. She is young, and good advice is usually welcomed.
So you think AIC should work with the “corporate Democrats” that continue to favor their corporate donors over individuals?
Until the Democrats become as progressive as Bernie and AOC, they are just Republican-lite. "Centrist" Democrats are the reason
America cannot have nice things.
MAGA and GOP hypocrites are the reasons.
I do not agree with a lot of the politics of Representative Ocasio-Córtez. Yet her voice counts, too. It is her future and that of moderate Democrats; they will have to work out a coalition, which a sclerotic Party leadership hinders. That Chief of Staff resigned soon after making a statement that Representative Davids had voted for a racist measure. Since your commentary is more of a diatribe, I will step off the merry-go-round here.
Making alliances, learning how to negotiate has very little to do with following anyone’s footsteps but taking it all in, leaning from past mistakes and being transparent about what one stands for. While I recognize important and revenant policies and leadership by Pelosi, no one should feel ashamed of saying the truth about Democratic establishment and Big Money.To that effect, Bill Moyers, throughout his active career (so very grateful) did an incredible service to journalism, civics, and raising the bar and alarms (disregarded by many Big Money Dems) of money and politics. Ever wonder why Bernie remains an Independent? And by the way, don’t miss his interview with Alex Friedman (check Podcast). That level of transparency and true commitment to a government that works for all Americans is what has been missing.
Kathleen,
very well said!
Thank you.
celeste, Local school board positions are very important because regressives are trying to take control of them. We have had a few messes here in Oregon thanks to that element.
Thank you, Michele! Go, Celeste, go!
Wise words and thank you.
"My response is that at 71 yrs. young, I am not the future.”
In one way yes, but you may well be the repository of knowledge upon which that future will be built. Democracy is a very long game, and its maintenance requires those who understand the nature of long games and the ability to play them with skill and patience as well as those who have the force and the impatience of youth.
Democracy is as much about character as it is about anything else.
Precisely why I think the board of education would be a good fit.
¡BINGO! I re-read 'The Culture of Narcissism' by Christopher Lasch. Supposedly a Marxist, he sounded more like a mourning communalist when he wrote: "The real value of accumulated wisdom of a lifetime is that it can be handed on to future generations. Our society, however, has lost this conception of wisdom and knowledge. It holds an instrumental view of knowledge, according to which technological change constantly renders knowledge obsolete and, therefore, non-transferable."
The key point for me, as an oldster, is that age and time do confer wisdom, but not universally. The differentiating ingredient here may well be humility -- a tricky quality to see in one's self. Yet I can see it in Celeste et al. This humility may well be why Representative Ocasio-Córtez backed Senator Markey -- a man who impresses me as having wisdom -- over Representative Joseph Kennedy III. Thanks.
Yes, humility is an essential. I’m with Socrates on this one (or, as always, what Plato said he said) - the wisest man among us is he who understands that he doesn’t know everything.
As to Lasch, I haven’t read his book, but I believe he missed something crucial. Technological change can change nearly everything except human nature itself (at least not yet, although if those genetic engineers continue to play with their new toys, that may change as well). And so in a very crucial way, it changes nothing.
We are a hopelessly parochial species, something clearly reflected in our stubborn determination to separate ourselves into a plethora of different groups by any means and for any reason we can come up with, and then all too often glare at each other balefully over the artificial boundaries we’ve thus created. Periodically of course, we turn the glares into something far more destructive. And here our ceaseless technological advances have made it possible for that destructive capacity to increase geometrically.
Ned, you are right, wisdom does not always come with age especially if someone's ego is involved. That applies to everybody of whatever political persuasion. it requires humility and the ability to listen which is often in short supply among all people. I want to see progress and agree with many progressive principles. To me politics is the art of the possible. AOC's politics would not do well in my congressional district here in Oregon. This is why I had to hold my nose and vote for Kurt Schraeder for a few years. His opponents were always worse and no one calling themselves a socialist was going to win. Now we have two districts. One is mine, represented by a Latina; the other, by a black woman. She beat the R who is now on tap to be labor secretary. So she can claim to be bipartisan, but somehow that rings false.
Well said, there, Michele. Most of the time, for me at least, voting entails a significant dose of ambivalence.
Actually, it’s not as much about character as it is about policy.
Character doesn’t determine the agenda conditions on the ground determine the agenda. And policies and agenda are what impact every American and every day. Certainly a person of character can make a good impression AND A DIFFERENCE , and it would be great to find a person like that. The last person who had the kind of character that we’re all looking for just died the other day by the name of Jimmy Carter and there hasn’t been one since then. Reagan was close perhaps but Carter did more after his presidency than any president in recent history. He was a genuine, good man, and a genuine man of character. But in today’s society, I doubt there ever will be another like him
If you’re looking for someone with character, don’t vote for president
Vote for his agenda vote for his policies, vote for what you think will make the citizens of America safer, more prosperous and freer that’s just my opinion
Good policies don’t come from a void. And the man or woman who is, by definition one who ought to share and promote the ideals upon which we were founded ought to stand out as just that. If that is not a question of character, I really don’t know what is.
Three of the most basic elements of our Republic are the validity of our electoral process, the rule of law, and adherence to the basic elements Constitution'
Freedom itself is a much a question of accepting the responsibilities it demands as it is of the range of actions it allows.
A nation’s safety as well as its definition depend on a reasonable balance of individual rights and community safety.
A nation’s prosperity is measured not by the great prosperity of a few, but of the adequate prosperity of as many as possible and a reasonable levle of support for those who fall below that level.
I’m not going to involve myself in a discussion of the characters of all our presidents, but it is clear that when we most needed men (so far) of character, we got them. Washington, Lincoln, FDR to name a few. None of them were perfect, but each one brought to the job a full sense of who were designed to be and a willingness to do what they could to promote that. In the process one helped to build a nation, one saved that nation, and one helped greatly to save the world from the worst two scourges it has ever endured.
Donald Trump is so far from anything resembling those three men in both character and understanding of and adherence to those three pillars of our Republic as is imaginable.
Why not vote on the basis of whether he actually delivers what he promised whilst campaigning? Trump failed to deliver last time and to top it off he allowed hundreds of thousands of Americans to die unnecessarily from SARS-CoV-2.
You see what I mean I was right you're over the top. Your blood pressure is boiling. You're saying things you shouldn't be saying and I feel sorry for you that your hate is so strong.
There's nothing worse than armchair quarterback, so think they know how to stop a once a century global pandemic with a new virus that was caused by the way by American participation.
Go take a couple of Xanax and calm down we'll talk another time when you calm down and come to your senses
Celeste, you make many good points.
The young people are the future, and they have to learn how to lead, and how to get things done. We must teach and then trust them to take on the responsibility of the government in the future. AOC is learning, and one day I hope will be a Nancy Pelosi.
And, yet, if it were not for Nancy Pelosi for the last 8 years Democrats in the House would not have been at all relevant. She kept us all from the total Trump mess in his first administration. She knows all the ways and rules to make things happen and guard the democracy. She stepped down from Speaker when Biden won and supported fully the new Democratic Leader of the House. Leader Jeffries has had her support and he truly has become the leader. Thus, in general the Democrats have stayed together. And are much better able against this new administration.
The new generations have to learn from the past as well as lead in this new reality. I plan to encourage these bright representatives to push hard for democracy and the good of the people they represent.
So beautifully said. Thank you.
Representative Jeffries's speech after Squeaker Johnson's re-election to a hot-seat was statesmanlike, principled, and magnanimous. ❤️ He will, hopefully, be a fine Speaker in 2027 when his season comes. 🤞 https://youtu.be/FPjtQtzHwJY
It seems that running a campaign is becoming a effort only the wealthy can afford. While many of us here have budgets, then again, there are many of us here! I would encourage you or any others who run for office to include links so we can send $5 or $10 to the campaigns.
Love this, Miselle!! I’m totally with you !!
¡Hear, here! 🥳
Youth is good, Celeste, if it's accompanied by savvy. We need people in leadership positions who know what they're doing and how to get it done. Age is not a factor in and of itself in that calculation.
Unless it becomes self-centered and selfish.
100% agree. It is so weird that there has not been a national uprising with Democratic Party voters to oust these worn-out stale leaders who managed to lose this election. We need a clean sweep of the Democratic Party Leadership.
One ought to be careful about new brooms. They can sweep away critical experience as easily as they sweep away stale methods.
Yes.... let's not go overboard in our zeal to focus on 'new blood'. We need both youth AND the experience of age in order to combat Mumpism. Please let's not get into infighting that ends up weakening the party further.
Electing younger persons to office should not be done willy-nilly. There are good people in the House who could advise and mentor young folks. But there are older people in office (both parties) who are past their prime. Change is inevitable. Done wisely, it can be great for everyone.
Maybe you need to research what the Dems have accomplished in the last four years - while battling MAGA the entire time...and just a note, the Dems did not LOSE this election. Start researching that as well.
Ma'am. I have memorized Joe Biden's accomplishments starting with the first 90 days when his Administration vaccinated 200 million Americans.
The need to kick some Democratic Party ass is in no way negating the massive legacy of the Biden Administration.
When people stop letting the Republicans push us around and welcome new leadership into the Party, we will stop being drowned out by the madness engulfing the Country.
It also does not hurt to be civil to each other.
Agreed 111%, Barbara.
Celeste, I would vote for you even if you were 72 !!!!!🤩
Good one! 😊
Agreed....big mistake on Pelosi. T won because the nation wants to tear down a government that increasingly works only for the rich. Her move reflected that ideology.
Good luck with the Board election, your ideas are excellent.
Education, not election!! Easy slip I've made myself!
Is anyone even qualified to teach Civics anymore??? :(
Well said Celeste.
Right on, Celeste!
✅️💯
Some on the Left are not learning. They still believe division is a winning strategy. It is not.
I agree that a gerontocracy is a disservice. And in fact, the extraordinary Nancy Pelosi stepped aside for the much younger Hakeem Jeffries who is doing a fine job in leadership.
We cannot be 'one issue' voters - unless that issue is democracy. And we unite behind Democratic candidates and Democratic elected officials.
We cannot let our feelings get in the way of our strategy to effectively take power. Fits of pique get in the way of using the power we have and of winning the power we need to stop the Republican 'legal' revolution which is replacing a democratic republic with a Corporate ChristoFascist state.
Thank you. Let's stop the infighting and the tritely referred to circular firing squad.
There is one powerful issue that can be the center pole of the Democratic Party. Economic Justice. Economic Populism.
Every Democrat, most Independents and even some Republicans will agree that the billionaires are taking over, growing their already massive fortunes as a result. While workers wages have barely budged in 40 years.
The Waltons have over $400 BILLION. And FULL TIME Walmart workers are on Medicaid and eligible for SNAP benefits. Taxpayers are subsidizing the rich. It is socialism for the wealthy!
$50 Trillion has gone to the top 1%. That is what I call the theft of our national treasure. This is a "Let them eat cake" moment.
In the richest nation in the history of the world, there is no excuse for millions of Americans to have housing and food insecurity. No excuse for any American to go without good healthcare. No valid excuses. NONE.
So please. Let's stop the bickering about AOC or Nancy or anything else that distracts us from a unified attack on the Oligarchy being installed by President elect Putz.
Well spoken, Bill. And it's the message that the Biden admin (and Harris campaign) tried to convey, with an honest record of results. But it's still discouraging to see Trump flags and and banners displayed in front of beaten-down houses, whether in the city or countryside, in the expectation that he is their economic savior. That they didn't see what Biden has done for our country, or the promise that Harris/Walz had to continue this economic growth is infuriating, and will be a difficult hurdle to overcome.
Who will the next Democratic "savior" be? It's a rhetorical question at the moment. I do agree with those who say the Dem party has become ossified.
I wonder if the ossification is due less to age and more to the distressing reality that Big Money now seems to control everything, including whether or not one can get elected. R's can focus their energy on winning bc this is not a concern for them, but D's who don't want to be beholden to Big Money have to figure out another way to win. We absolutely must find a way to overturn rulings like Citizens United and other forms of permission for legalized bribery.
Fine insight there, C.L.S. Thank you.
Exactly
And yet they spent $2 billion on his pass campaign, so much for not caring about money and had at least 80 billionaire donors, but supposedly had over a double that including down ballots
Rump is their savior because Fox News told them that.
I went for a short drive the other day, and I was disgusted by how many of those flags are still hanging outside homes in my rural community... though I did see one handmade flag that said "Hate does not make America great," a sentiment that I wholeheartedly share.
Hooray. I admire one relative immensely. He runs a small business and believes he would benefit more under Trump. But he did not vote for Trump because of his utter lack of decency and character.
If there will ever be a Democratic Savior” I believe we have learned the hard way that it must be US. All of us, everyday, in every way demanding the change we know most Americans want. The way out of this shit show is as complex as the reasons we are here in it. So, all the spaghetti of ideas we must thrown at the wall. Let’s figure out what sticks and build on that.
Could not agree more. This remark reflects my age: the Democrats need to stop looking for the next President John or Senator Robert Kennedy or the next President Obama; the Democrats need to quit worrying so much about 'winnable' candidates.
Senator McGovern and Vice President Mondale, both fine men, were shellacked two-to-three generations ago. Their shadows should be the better elements of their platforms which may have been ahead of their time.
Truth be told, I have to chuckle because, as a College Republican, I penned an article advocating that Senator McGovern's idea of $3 billion of reparations to Viêt Nam proposed in the late 1970s (roughly $13 billion today) should proceed. Now reconstruxion aid is a routine part of intra-and-post-conflict funding packages.
Sadly, it is routine because conflicts have become routine.
Why can’t we all agree on term limits which will stop average citizens will become Congress people for a life and of course multimillionaires after that.
The ossification is not a problem about either the Democratic or the Republican Party - it is our binary political party system, initiated during Washington’s administration and formalized in the 1830’s. Ever since, it has acted to force voters into an either/or (read ‘us and them’) situation which has seldom allowed for the kind of multi-faction situation that Madison envisioned and which would give us far more alternatives.
You have a fine insight there, James. I come from families of Republicans, yet my parents broke with many of their relatives to vote for Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter as well as Senator Humphrey. Starting in 1980, they voted Republican until their deaths. Knowing my parents, they would never have supported Trump.
Like many others, I have feet on both sides of the continental divide.
In my misbegotten youth, my straddling leaned oh so slightly left; then more heavily right; now left again. The election of Trump and the kowtowing to him broke my allegiance to the Republican Party; the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh ended it.
These days, I am a hapless Indie in my rageing and ageing. I used to be a curmudgeon before my time. Pathetically, I am simply a curmudgeon on schedule. 😉🤬🥳
Can’t find your most recent hyperbole on “character”.
Policies come from two main places…..experience, translated and evaluated many times through “ common sense”.
And Evidence that they’ve worked before. Not a void ….correct
AND certainly not about Character?
The trumpers with whom I have spoken are not ogres or stupid. At least in our conversations, they indicate that they have not given up on the republican experiment but have come to believe that the republican experiment has given up on them.
Please keep in mind that I have spoken only to a few such voters, and not ones with the beaten down houses.
Nonetheless, I would not be surprised however, if these few, including half my extended family, comprise a representative sample and their feelings are close to those in the beaten down houses.
Do you know what’s interesting to me as I’ve been a nonpartisan for over 40 years my four favorite presidents are two Democrats and two Republicans . I don’t understand how people can vote by party versus voting for the individual that most resembles their ideals, and what they can do for the country as a whole. I live in Nevada now, and very interestingly Nevada’s largest party at 40% of the electorate Are the NP’S
nonpartisan. Followed by about 30% Democrat and 20% Republican and I think there’s one more state in the northeast that has the same breakdown.
Policy shouldn’t be relegated to one party or the other
And that creates the divide as they become more black and white with little agreement. Albeit the foundations of the thoughts and the essence of the baseline policy, might be agreed-upon if we weren’t so divided.
Again....Sun Tzu says in The Art of War......do not interupt your enemy when they argue and disagree. Bill and Bob are correct is calling out to stop the infighting!!!!!
This time needs to be used to pull together and form the resistance.
In 6 months when to deportations and tariffs start to take effect.......those maggot flags and signs will start to vanish.......
Grocery prices are going up....food shortages???? Who will be working the fields???? You already know about the tariffs.........
Stop infighting now!!!
Bravo, Bill Alstrom! Everyone in public life, being human, makes mistakes. That’s what paying attention is about—being ready to congratulate for good decisions.
Hakim Jeffries showed the wisdom of Nancy Pelosi yesterday with a really excellent passing-the-gavel speech.
Great, good news there, Virginia. 🤝 You are a gem. ❤️
These things need to be sorted out Bill. These issues of how the election was lost, who in Democratic Leadership needs to step aside and what exactly is the Democratic Party today must, must be dealt with before we can move forward.
The Democratic Party failed in its mission in 2024. We need to build a completely new Party and this includes some bickering, hurt feelings and honest discussions.
Bickering is indeed normal. Demonizing each other over favorite and pet issues is self destructive. We need a forceful platform presented by a charismatic leader. And IMHO, it is economic justice.
Agree. I have no idea how to break the sound barriers of a biased media, brainwashed voter bloc and a massive disinformation campaign. The Democrats do wonderful work for the Country. It boggles the mind this doesn't get realized. Let's coalesce around a strong platform and stronger leaders. Meanwhile the next few years will take everyone's wits to combat.
We could all use big National Democratic Party group hug about now.
Nicely stated, as always, Bill. ✌🏽⚖️🤝
Anyone to your knowledge forcing people to work there? Not to mention what does Walmart have to do with Trump?
Let’s pick on Bezos next and then Zuckerberg and then Gates and so on.
NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP and OLIGARCHY.
So pursuant to your statement about the billionaires, what has either party done about this? Because both parties have been in power.
And billionaires are simply yesterday, millionaires with inflation being considered. Many people in this country aspire to be millionaires that’s the American dream. And how do you think all these millionaires became billionaires?
Collapse
Amen.
lin. New campaign badge “Proud I’m not a single issue voter; Get the Big Picture”
"Eyes on the prize."
Racist right wing religious extremists appropriated Civil Rights Movement strategic voting.
The blood heirs and ideological heirs of the Confederacy - the GOP of god, guns, and greed - united at the ballot box in order to overturn civil rights progress.
Let's stop whining and cavilling about who's right or wrong in their opinions. Let's vote for able representatives and leave it at that. This endless critique of our own is pointless. If you want someone who stands for civil rights, get him or her on the ballot and vote for them. That's all it takes.
Lauren, we've done that. But the other side has been reasonably successful at nominating and electing those who don't stand for civil rights (in the broadcast sense of the term.)
It is not enough to "vote for able representatives."
We operate in essentially a two party system. We must nominate and vote for able Democratic candidates. Reform the party from within.
Lauren, you are so right you are so correct. But it goes far beyond civil rights. Vote for the candidate I wish nonpartisan candidates had a better chance of winning an election
Hooray, Lauren!
And southern Democrats created the Ku Klux Klan, and supported Jim Crow laws so what’s your point. As were they also slaveholders
How “Empowering” is it for a person to break laws and get away with it?
How “Empowering” is it for a person to do crappy business things and get away with it?
How “Empowering” is it for a person to do immoral behaviors and get away with it?
The purpose of Punishment is to (hopefully) prevent future law breaking, crappy business crap, and immorality. If a person continually “gets away with it” and never gets punished, then why would that person change his/her behavior?
More importantly: If a nation has laws, rules, standards, expectations, etc. for its citizens and doesn’t enforce its laws, rules, standards, expectations, etc., how strong, viable, honorable is that nation? WHEN will that nation eventually collapse?
MOST importantly, if that law-breaking, crappy business, immoral person is one of the leaders of the nation, will that nation’s collapse be escalated?
Happy New Year
The only thing I disagree with, Paul, is that the President Neglect can ever change, no matter how much he's censured or how few vote for him. He takes his less-than-50% of the vote as a mandate to be exactly who he is. He doesn't just lie to all of us, he lies to himself. A very small person with a very big megaphone.
Yes, I agree that Trump will never change. However, my FOCUS is not on Trump. It is on the United States and We, the People. There are MILLIONS of US citizens who “celebrate” getting away with stuff - law-breaking, crappy business deals, immorality, etc. and Trump, Musk, Bezos, Ramaswamy, Gaetz, Bannon, Tucker, Miller, Hegseth…the list goes on and on - these folks our fellow Americans honor and respect. We, the People are in deep doo-doo.
Indeed we are. We were put into deep doodoo by 60% of white voters, 70% of white working class voters, and 80% of white evangelical voters. Those voters insist on doodoo. They flood the zone with it at every opportunity.
lin+ I've never been a one issue voter, but after reading today's letter what ran through my mind is "is there not a SINGLE woman worthy of chairing a committee? Seriously?" I wish the female GOP voters would AT LEAST get annoyed enough that they vote for the females in the primaries.
But then again.........MTD, Boebert, etc, etc.
What a world, what a world.
Yes, that's very discouraging.
Nobody who’s been paying attention should have expected otherwise.
lin, Thank you for this. Right now is not the time for protest votes like still voting for Jill not green Stein or protest not voting.
Well said. Make democracy our one issue.
Here's to Wisconsin Dems example and to WI Dems chair Wikler for DNC chair. They've demonstrated the diligence and tenacity for what it takes to make significant progress at the state level.
Thank you for this info., lin. 🤝✌🏽🙏
Thank you, as always for redirecting the conversation back into line with what we are faced with and our duty to unite and fight.
We need to stop beating the January 6 drum. Voters do not care. And we come across as bitter.
If we are to stop “beating the January 6th drum”, then we might as well stop beating the Constitutional drum as well. The question is not how many voters do or do not care about what happened that day, but how many ought to if they truly understand the nation we were designed to be.
It is an emotional issue that is not gaining traction. We preserve the Constitution by winning elections. Shaming does not work.
The Jan 6 Trump insurrection and Republican election denial are not political issues, they are an historical fact.
Spotlighting, investigating, and speaking of it is not an exercise in 'shaming.' It is an exercise in 'truth and reconciliation.' It is an exercise in coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence.
We preserve the Constitution by upholding the rule of law.
As we prepare for the next president of the US pardoning his insurrectionists (much as GHW Bush, Bill Barr et al put the Iran-Contra miscreants beyond the reach of the law, much as Mitch McConnell and the Roberts Court put Trump beyond the reach of the law) - we must focus on this remarkable event in American history.
"Similarly, judges, lawyers, and the law were among the things Hitler most despised, and his regime was one long assault on the rationality, predictability, and integrity of the law."
Benjamin Carter Hett, The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
If simply winning elections were the only criteria involved in preserving the Constitution, we would have lost it long ago, well before the Civil War.
‘Shaming' is a wholly inaccurate way of describing those who incited and participated in the assault on the capital.
The only thing which will save the Constitution, if it is to be saved at all is if enough Americans who both understand and care about its promise defeat in the voting booth those who do not. And that understanding has to include a clear comprehension of and a willingness to call out those who do not.
I agree with you, James. Beat that 06jan21 drum. But make sure that it is not the only drum.
"We need to stop beating the January 6 drum. Voters do not care. And we come across as bitter."
Speak for yourself.
No sweeping the Trump insurrection under the rug.
You know and I know this is not what I was saying.
Again. We need to stop trying to use January 6 as a means to convince the MAGA and non MAGA voter that this one issue is why they should vote Democratic.
For Hakeem Jeffries to stand before the House of Representatives after the Republicans just executed a clean sweep in the 2024 election and try and shame them about January 6 is not a good game plan nor is it an appropriate way to remember J6. Jeffries came across as self-righteous and condescending.
Stop using the January 6 tragedy as a political wedge folks.
Barbara Mullen, I know the J6 Perp conviction data pretty well, DOJ titled "CapitolAttack" data.
I will be intently investigating which convicted persons are NOT pardoned such as a valuable Seditionists (1 name) who cooperated with DC's USAO & escaped incarceration or those who were never sung in the "Choir".
More soon.
Yes,
Im not blaming this bs on pelosi. Try the American media before you blast women.
Moulton stabbed Biden in the back...
Totally agree. People in our age demographic need to serve as mentors and build leadership and step aside. Work to guide those young people understanding they will make mistakes. Have the problem throughout the Congress in both parties. It is hard to give up power, but only when one starts to share power does one get stronger. As in sports, the best coaches build leader on the playing field and in their coaching staff. The best coachews get their staff members plucked for new positions. Same in business. If only our politicians did the same. Money is the issue, too lucrative to be a politician.
100%. As a nurse, I have years of experience that I am now using as an instructor to cultivate the next generation of nurses. I can't be at the bedside forever. Our elected leadership are killing our future by hanging onto power for too long. They need to step aside and be the elder statesmen. They'll still make tons of money. We need so much reform.
Beautifully stated, Kathleen! 🙏Thank you. 🤝 I salute your mentoring younger nurses. 😇
... and stateswomen, Kathleen. :)
True, the G.O.P. is clogged, too, though it has made some head-way. I think it is less political than generational (i.e., the self-centeredness of too many baby boomers).
Yeah, so long as the Democrats continue the practice of name-calling such as fascist misogynist, xenophobic and other isms, they’re going to continue to lose so you’re right they’re not learning.
If they want to win, they have to go back to their long suit which is fighting for the middle class and those unable to fight for themselves. they lost the fight in this cycle by needlessly attacking their opponent versus talking about what they’re good at. They also ruined it for themselves by the coup that they staged against Joe Biden, and installing a candidate who is not the most capable that they had in the party which they could’ve avoided if they would’ve invoke the 25th amendment shortly into his presidency, acknowledging his declining mental Capacity
WRONG!!! Harris would have made an excellent president.
Totally agree Bill. Was so hoping she would win 😢
Even her internal Poll told her she didn’t have a chance and that information came out right after the election loss from her own campaign.
👍
Of what country? She had no policies….no direction..no plan. AND IF you think that her VIEW interview didn’t bury here, which indicated she would just follow Joe’s agenda she would have gotten swamped in the election. 68% of the country on almost ALL POLLS said the country was headed in the wrong direction.
If there had been polls all throughout our history, we’d have found that at various times they favored slavery, excluding women from the franchise, Jim Crow, Vietnam, etc
Of course people favored slavery. Do you ever hear about the civil war do you ever hear of women’s rights to vote? Did you not see the protest during Vietnam? What are you talking about? Those were Physical LIVE polls not written polls
There have always been Polls only now people like the lady in Nebraska has potentially ruined that and all those poles that suggested that Pamela and Trump were retired when they obviously were not including her own internal poll that they themselves took
Fascist, misogynist,xenophobic is what they are. Are you saying that those things can’t be pointed out? Thats ridiculous.
He’s a bot. He has to say things like that
Not convinced Rick is bot-&-paid-for; martyr complex comes more to mind. It sounds familiar to me; I sometimes go in for the negative attention.
I’m not a bot just a person with an opposing view from most of the people here that’s all
That is wrong "Rick"; you are now a contractually defined "Reader" bound by Substack Inc's 9/24 TOU & the Platform's choice of law that requires good faith & fair dealing.
I realize that now.
I never read bots or respond to them
Well, I can point this out. You have to prove to me that he’s a fascist because he’s not because people in this country in government aren’t able to become fascist because they have checks and balances unless you wanna consider executive orders like forgiving student loans or stopping fracking or natural gas or commuting sentences of the most vehement vile criminals we’re sending money to other countries to incite a war with no end when we need the money here to help our homeless and our poor.
By the way, the Miss misogynist in chief placed two women in the highest posts and positions in his cabinet the first and second most powerful positions in his cabinet are women appointed by the misogynist
I’m just suggesting to you, David that the left keep using this rhetoric. It only isolate you more in the eyes of the right and makes them more resolute. That’s all I’m saying.
Better to stick with the policies that you want to win and not quit demeaning 77 million people because those are the same people that voted for Joe Biden four years ago
Correct. And the fact that she lost proves.that. The same electorate that voted for Joe Biden voted for Donald Trump.
A coup would have been running someone other than Kamala Harris. When we voted in the primaries we voted for the Biden/Harris ticket. I was proud to cast my vote for Harris. History will remember Biden as one of our best Presidents even if the present-day media refuses to report on the good he has done.
Thank you, Donna. 🤝 I am still depressed about Vice President Harris and I basically have a conservative personality. 😢 She really tried to heal the country with a more open tent open to future debates and disagreements. 💔 A lot of traditional Republicans appreciated her efforts, including for Reps Cheney and Kinzinger. 😢
Let me respond again by saying this reread your post Ghana if there was no clue Joe Biden would’ve been the candidate. But they pushed him out.
Rick, you have made your position clear and I respect that we differ. 🤝You need not beat your dead horse into glue. 🙄
Sorry, Ned. But I will try to say this nicely my horse is not only alive, but will be president in a couple weeks. I think everything will be fine
Well, you can go on believing that but 70% of the country doesn’t agree with you
Yes, Senator Sanders nailed it when he said the middle class abandoned the Democrats because the Democrats had abandoned them. I disagree about the coup against President Biden. Many of us were disappointed when he announced he would run for a second term.
I would have voted for and I liked him, but he was frail and I had voted for President Biden in 2020 on the impression and premise that he was running for one term. I agree with Bill Katz on Vice President Harris. she tried really hard to build a coalition based on patriotism with room for disagreement.
Very discouraging that she and Governor Gipper lost.
Rick Henry what a troll
The truth must hurt, Rick. You spend so much time here denying it.
Actually he spends about 5 seconds on each five paragraph response. AI is fast
It’s a new technology day called voice texting five times faster than typing maybe more
Greg, I don’t know what you’re thinking. I’m not denying the truth. I’m denying fiction. The truth is that you can’t understand why the Democrats lost this election which I’ve said earlier is unfathomable to me. The party is in disarray. There is no assure and firm leader. Joe Biden was a complete disaster and that’s why you lost. And people here can’t accept that. And if you think Donald Trump was so bad, how in the hell was he reelected if things were so good under Joe Biden
The very same electorate that elected Joe Biden Joe Biden and then Donald Trump again is the same electorate.
Name-calling doesn’t work offending 77 million. People won’t work put together a qualified candidate with an agenda that is acceptable to the majority of people and regardless of sex they will win period.
I know I shouldn’t feed the troll but are you seriously unwilling to acknowledge the role that Musk played in any of this? And no one finds it strange that all swing states were win by just enough votes as to not trigger recounts? I’m personally tired of having to sound like a conspiracy theorist when pointing out clearly obvious reasons to doubt the legitimacy of this election.
So I guess you’re trying to tell me that other rich billionaires didn’t make an impact on the Democrat party and their decisions to do certain things and supporting them in an election while you should acknowledge at 80 some billionaires that donated to the democratic campaign and has been suggested that as many as 161 billionaires donated to all the democrat campaigns, including down ballots on the Democrat side.
The biggest impact on this country Recently is indeed from Elon musk, but it has nothing to do with the presidency. It has to do with him putting profits aside and investing $40 billion in a losing economic venture and cause to keep free-speech alive in this country by purchasing Twitter.
It wasn’t free on Google. It’s wasn’t free on Facebook. AND it wasn’t free on other social mediums nor legacy media, nor major newspapers in the country. And now, at least one of them is. I,m just showing you how the people here only like to hear what they think now there’s a new social media website called blue sky.
Twitter used to be 69% Democrat 31% Republican… now it’s 50-50 and because of that people are fleeing to blue sky because they don’t want to hear an opposing opinion that you might hear on X now.
Every party has its Musk’s . The Democrats have Soros, who not only got involved with presidential politics, but went all the way down to judges around the country. And was called out for it.
Let us see what D0GE is able to accomplish and see if they can streamline government and eliminate fraud and waste. But you can’t until Trump takes office so again, put away your predictions for now
President Biden was not a candidate for the 25th amendment. Period.
Harris should have been selected by the electorate and not just 'given' to us by the Biden camp which, by the way, waited too long to come to terms with 'one term only'. She would have done a fine job, but is still a member of the 'political elite'. The party needs change, and she was not it.
celeste k. -- Thanks. I've said 100 times that I will never forgive President Biden for not stepping down sooner than he did. That was, IMO, a totally selfish, self-centered and, yes, arrogant act. Given that he had waited his whole life to be President, he just couldn't give it up. His graciousness withered. Too bad.
We'll never know, Celeste, if Harris would or would not have been the change. She's smart, articulate, and compassionate. Her proposed policies would have worked wonders for our country if we'd also elected a Congress that would enable them. I agree completely that Biden should never have run for a second term, even though his first was a marvel.
She didn’t have any policies, Lauren. Even on the view and asked what you would do differently than Joe Biden she said nothing comes to mind. Those were her own words. Well, the country didn’t agree with her.
Bullshit.
Well, by the time President Biden called it quits, there really was not enough time to run through a primary season. What might have helped is if President Biden had resigned then pledged his delegates to Vice President Harris. This situation was unprecedented. I believe President Biden intended to be a one-term President but, once he got in, could not give up the incumbency.
If you would please open your mind and Google the Wall Street Journal article that had 50 associates of Biden news people people from his administration news people, 50 linked sources, talking about his declining mental capacity, not to mention his physical in capacities
Chris cizilla ring a bell. Check it out.
You are not opening my mind now with this hectoring. 🙄
You are closing my eye-lids. 🙄🙄
ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 🤭
I don’t blame you. as much If I didn’t like Trump as much as you don’t like Trump, I would close my eyes too.
Very disappointed in our HR member VA11th. In subsequent interviews he sounds as though he is compensating for a bad decision by trying to be aggressive and forthright. I'd prefer he focus on the cancer that plagues him or even having not sought re-election knowing what he faced.
Did he find out he had cancer after entering the race? Would it have been too late to step aside? What is his prognosis? These are all personal factors we might not know.
Having watched him in so many committees and floor debates I can’t see him accepting this role if he thought it would hurt the country. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
After seeing a clip of Mr. Connolly stating that "its his turn" - that sort of polished off the whole episode! I agree - Pelosi damaged her own legacy with that charade.
Well , if Democrats didn't get the message during this election, then they better wake the hell up or we will have no chance of willing an election again. I totally agree with your statement above. It is time for the younger generation of Congress to take over. We need new ideas to gravitate people's interest.
Sorry, I am obviously not keeping up. AOC always has my vote. My opinion about Pelosi was based solely on her performance of resistance.
Really? Did AOC not lose you when urging candidates to challenge incumbent Democratic House members? That’s why it was not Ms Pelosi who undermined her, but the 2 - 1 vote against her. By incumbent House members.
AOC is from a district where a ham sandwich could win election if it declared as a lefty Dem. It is not at all clear to me that AOC understands that a Democrat who wins in a swing district has to moderate some positions to win election. Does she understand that cloned Bernie Bros can’t win in more than half the districts Dems now hold? Could she win in a swing district?
This was notorious enough that as a part of campaign to win the ranking member job on Oversight, she pledged to stop recruiting candidates for Democratically-held seats.
Seems like she showed a glimmer of understanding of how to win a majority. Until now she seemed to prefer ideological purity over majority.
Agreed. Move the dinosaurs aside.
Wonderful!
SO AGREE
We’ll said, Ned!
Thank you, Nancy! 🤝
"It is not our world anymore”
Then whose world is it, and who is it that gets to decide that?
As long as our government is for sale to the rich, it belongs to them, and they get to decide everything. Unlimited corruption and depravity are the means to their ends, because that is the shortest distance beween two points in a game based on lies and lawlessness. Control of the money is the first (perhaps the only) way to protect democracy. Reason, argument, common sense -- none of that penetrates the near universal stupidity that permeates the people.
And who ought to control the money? And how should that be decided?
If you are going to throw out reason, argument, and common sense in our electoral process, what would be left? The answer to that ought to be obvious and as dangerous as anything of which your ‘rich’ are capable.
Don't get me wrong. Common sense is the key, as Thomas Paine taught us. My warning is that the people are not using their available reason and common sense to control the money. The rich are controlling the people like little remote-controlled toys. Things will change; they always do. But the price will almost surely be a high one to pay. By that I mean both lives and property, as has happened repeatedly in human history and is happening now daily. No sign of that changing. The depravity of the Republican Party today is beyond astounding. Yet there is no universal outrage against them. As for the money. The people own all of it; they just don't know it. Ignorance, stupidity, call it what you will.
There may be close to universal outrage but people have acquiesced and their voices may be muted.
That still doesn’t answer the question. When you say that control of the money is the only way to preserve democracy, what exactly are you talking about doing? How do ‘the people’ (I presume that’s what you mean) control the money? Because in all honesty, what you are saying sounds a bit like Somebody (I won’t say who) saying that the workers should control the means of production.
I believe Celeste stated it better that it is not our future.
- Pulled Quote -
And I argue the most important quote...
''...When the clerk announced that Gaetz would not take a seat in the 119th Congress, applause broke out.''
Why? It is indicative of the mood in Congress and the entire country that people are fed up. And when the people are fed up things change...
Hope that is true. He is the most despicable of all of them. Shake the dust off our shoes and move on.
From what I recall reading, he annoyed people by showing them sexually explicit photos. (I had a former coworker who used to do that as well, and it is VERY annoying.)
Those very people should have called him out on the spot. One thing I agree with MTG on is that harassment; sexual, racial, gender, runs rampant in our politics. Oddly, she is a perpetrator of all three but doesn’t see it.
If you couldn’t get away with it in a private workplace you shouldn’t be able to get away with it in government.
These people are simply no good, period. In the real world (you know, the world where values and standards exist), these creeps are not tolerated. However, we live in a celebrity culture, borne of capitalism, that celebrates this odd behavior—behavior that wouldn’t be tolerated outside the spotlight of celebrity.
I do think that Liz Cheney is wrong: America is turning into a Soviet Union, or rather, a Putin vassal state, at high speed.
Seems to me, Vlad’s cronies are in high gear
We have lost the cold war. His agent or willing idiot will be sworn on the 20th, although he is ineligible to be president.
Dictator from day 1.
Yep, Putin turned out to be better in the long game. Then again, destroying trust and harmony is much easier than building it up. In that sense, Putin also had the longer straw to pull...
We've seen nothing yet. I believe that trump and putin have already decided that trump will allow putin to take a big chunk of Ukraine in exchange for ending the war so that trump can take credit for it and demand he be given the Nobel Peace prize....
Exactly. Don't forget that Putin put Trump in power, and he will demand something back for it. That will be: a) Ukraine, b) the rest of Europe - and that is why Rump will pull the US out of NATO. Not because of political reasons, but because Vlad has ordered him to: that way, NATO will become so weak that Europe will be easy prey for the Russians to take over.
Republicans thought Trump could declare martial law to keep Biden from taking office, why can’t Biden invoke the 14th amendment?
Our last ditch effort. “The upshot is that Donald Trump remains constitutionally disqualified from the presidency and may not lawfully serve in that office or any other unless Congress removes the disqualification by two-thirds majorities of both houses. Nothing in Trump v. Anderson changes that legal reality.”
William Baude and Michael Paulsen, Harvard Law Review, Sweeping Section Three under the Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson
Takes 20% of members of Congress to shift the burden to Trump.
They sure are.
The US is in fact not the Soviet Union. Our job is to keep it from becoming like it. And facts are crucial to that effort.
Well, fact is that on January 20th, Putin will install his marionette in the White House. Fact is, this marionette has unchecked power because he enjoys total immunity bestowed on him by the Supreme Court. And as far as I know, the US does not have a fallback system in which new elections can be called for should the sitting government fail. In other words, there is no way to put the Convicted Orange Felon out of power save by a violent revolution. As of yet, I don't see another option.
"Cheney responded: “Donald, this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you. Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overt. "
How come Trump is taking Presidency again? There must be a deep flaw of American democratic system. It is like a plane taking off with unfastened passenger doors.
I’m only hoping before the inauguration the orange man has a stroke
My spouse's sentiment, also. Leaving him with no ability to speak, and a drool cup.
I'll miss class acts, regardless of gender. Gaetz fuels my contempt for no-class acts in revered positions, but he's not alone. Where is the class in publishing photos of Hunter Biden's genitalia, MTG? Where is the class in pursuit of impeachment for Mayorkas or Biden when the evidence is clearly tainted and/or bogus, Mr. Comer? Where is the class in trying cases in the media instead of the courts, Gym Jordan? If we want class back in Congress we must elect serious people who take legislation seriously.
I remain furious at the Democratic Party Leadership.
Shoes and a smile do not win elections.
Pelosi, Schumer and the older generation in the Democratic Party need to step aside.
Losing 2 elections to a madman is unacceptable. Putting a woman up against a misogynist the second time is insane crazy. This brought out every misogynist for miles around. We wasted a top talent in the Party--Harris. It is way past time for the younger, extremely talented members of the Democratic Party to take over.
Using the same megaphone (biased media) saying the same things is not working.
Stop trying to shame the MAGA over January 6 such as Hakeem Jeffries did yesterday. We come across as scolds and whiners. Obviously, the voters do not care.
You cannot shame a MAGA. They sold their souls years ago f the right to hate publicly, loudly and often. You cannot reason through the fog of lies, rage and disinformation perpetuated by the media. You cannot reason with a population who forgot what a Democracy is.
I am generations long Democrat. I would register Independant if it wasn't for the primary election in Kentucky to choose someone to run for McConnell's seat.
Personally, I had this wild/crazy/hopeful thought that like a black man got elected which I thought impossible, so too would be a woman, regardless of her race. I was foolish.
I am amazed at what seems to be the collective lack of short term memory of the populace. I've talked to my husband about how quickly people seem to have forgotten the terror they had over COVID! I recall the first time I went to the grocery store to find the parking lot packed, people with frantic eyes pushing overflowing carts, and fighting over the last loaf of bread! The news stories of meat-truck morgues, and mortuaries overrun and refusing more bodies...this wasn't history of our grandparents, it wasn't even a generation ago--it was just a few years! If THAT worldwide situation is that easily forgettable, what does it say about humanity? Is it admirable resilience to move past the unimaginable? It is positive attitude or optimism? Is it utter foolishness, a lack of ....something?
I also thought that people would recall the revolving door/circus in a clown car administration of Trump. Either they forgot or didn't care.
The most glaring acts were watching Republicans spend endless hours voting to reduce the pay of people they didn’t like to $1. What kind of childish BS is that?
Don't forget the extraordinary power of the media, especially to young voters who relish their disinformation. The same folks in the cartoon, plus more, contributed to lies and misinformation without shame, all for the $. Oligarchs like spoiled baby Musk dump millions to get their own way. Don't forget the manipulations of Putin, who hopes Trump will close down NATO and feed Ukraine to the wolves. Then there are the mean-spirited folks who delight in Trump's crimes and misdemeanors...All in all, this was the triumph of wrong, but right is not dead.
They didn't forget; they just didn't care. This is what, in the end, will destroy us: indifference.
So wil weJim, so will we!
Well, there’s women in the two most powerful posts in this country right now placed there by the least expected person… Donald Trump. Oooops
A crooked lawyer and a wrestling promoter?!!!
Why do they make me think of female versions of "Artful Dodgers," perhaps good at deceptive entertainment, but seriously short of honest and competent performance of the legitimate duties of public servants. Whom but someone like Dickens' Fagin (or themselves), would they serve?
Well old Russell was wrong and admitted it. First ever chief of staff appointed by Trump is a woman. And you can pick on the credentials all you want, but it defeats your theory about misogyny to a great degree not to mention the balance of his cabinet is so diverse without trying to be diverse and probably the first time in recent history that a president has placed two people from the opposing party in his cabinet.
And the 26 women who've accused Trump of sexual assault, including E, Jean Carroll to whom he owes over $80m? Or perhaps Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth or Brett Kavanaugh? Whataboutism doesn't serve you well at all in this case.
Ohhhhhhhh myyyyyy G-d.
The taped interview actually happened in 2005 and it doesn't come out till 11 years later one month before he's about to be elected president.
Come on if this will happen to Obama, what would you have thought?
Again, not saying it didn't happen, but the timing was absolutely a political hit job
Very sad thanks for making me aware of it or making me more aware of it
And as I said it very well could have happened, but it's very suspect as to the timing and how long it took for these events to be public holy crrrral
Well, now I hear the best of all which makes it even more incredulous to be honest with you! I I remember the release of the tape but did not pay attention to the dates of the comments that he made but I just read and this is what now blows me away that you could be sucked in so easily whereas these things could've readily happened and I'm not denying it or defend
But how the hell do they come out literally one month before he was about to be elected?
That doesn't strike you?
Weather true or not, and it may well be true. I'm not defending it. I find it absolutely positively political warfare as to the timing of the release of the tape I haven't yet determined when the actual tape was made, but I'll go check that out now
But I say the timing of this make the allegations a little bit dubious to say the least
You probably don't like what I'm gonna say but I'm gonna say it anyway most people honestly feel that Brett Cavanaugh was what they call now CavanaughEd. In other words, nothing was said about his past until an alleged incident that happened 20 years before became public once he was nominated for the supreme BUT NOT A MOMENT BEFORE? Coincidence?
We are obviously dealing with the same thing here interestingly enough these came to light in 2016 as I read now. Wow. Another interesting coincidence
Well, I have to get deeper into this, but I have to laugh as the only time that these occurrences came forward was after Trump made the infamous statement on a radio with an open mic and many back in the 1970s when most of these occurred or allegedly occurred
I will continue to read
Honestly, I haven't heard about them and I'm just being honest
As I suggested earlier, if you want to vote for someone of character, don't vote for the president. The last president with assemblance of character was Ronald Reagan, but the only one that had really true character was Jimmy Carter.
Everyone since has had their peccadillos including the Kennedy family on many counts, including Chappaquiddick, which is a little bit worse than sexual assault including Mr. Clinton
And the bushes were just both dim bulbs Obama was the divider in chief under which sprung BLM and antifa
So men at the top all have a past. And they all have their secrets some more than others
But as I said, I've honestly never heard about 26 women
I'll look it up
But when you talk about equal justice, if you'd like to talk about equal justice, Trump is going to be sentenced for a garbage trial that was twisted from a misdemeanor into a felony whereas Bill Clinton paid $850,000 for an NDA
And there was not an investigation there was no follow up. There was no trial. There was no judge. There was no jury and nobody to this day knows where the money came from. Hmmmmm $850,000.30 years ago versus $75,000 today and the key witnesses where a stripper porn star and a convicted perjurer.
I'll look up the 26 and see what I see thanks
Well, you’re wrong on two counts, but you were probably thinking only one of the two we are talking about
Trump just appointed the first woman ever to be appointed chief of staff
That’s right the Mr. misogynist in chief, and Pam Bondi a very successful, experienced, Attorney General in the state of Florida.
Okay. I was referring to Linda McMahon, not Susan Wiles, but let's see if she (Wiles) last any longer than Trump's other chiefs. As for Bondi, she's clearly crooked. She accepted a bribe of $25k from Trump to drop an investigation into his crooked university. She claimed there was no quid pro quo and that the real reason was that there were insufficent grounds to take action but this is risible since the university was so crooked Trump had to pay $25m in compensation and dissolve the organisation. This was not the first time she's been linked with fundraising controversies - just take a look at her Wiki page. She may not be the most crooked lawyer in America, but she's crooked enough to suit Trump and that's plenty crooked.
Russell, Rick Sender is a bot, it can post negative, recycled drivel all day, every day. The lights are always on, but no one is ever home. Best practice is to simply not engage with it.
No he is not a bot. I’ve gotten to know him a bit. He is however, obsessed with Donald Trump. Why or how is anyone’s guess. But bot he isn’t.
There is something almost robotically inane about his remarks.
Wow negative in advance, huh? Shocker. Keep in mind, she was his campaign manager during his campaign and boy did they take crap from the world, including two assassination attempts
First attempt was a staged event, otherwise we would have a FULL report on the shooter, medical report with actual photos of the hole in the ear.
Also, the whole election was weird. Who runs saying he needs "no more votes, I have all I need." and then proceeds to act like he did? He and his enablers have made a total mockery of the election system in America. Putin's cronies, Musk involvement, and the "little secret" all point to something much more nefarious than a free and clear election process.
It was a campaign of relentless lies as you are about to find out. Trump is not going to reduce your cost of living. He's not going to fix anything because he's already got what he wants i.e. winning the election was the only way he stayed out of jail. Stand back and stand by!
What ? We’ll she sounds exactly like James Comey. No sensible prosecutor would prosecute Hillary Clinton for destroying 33,000 emails and bleach bitting her phone . Woah. Or keeping a computer in a hidden bathroom in the middle of the United States.
There are controversies all over the world Including the ones Involving judge Marchan, Fani Willis, or judge Engeron ? and the three people I name below.
Or maybe Kim Fox in Chicago?
So let me say it again she’s been Attorney General for quite a few years and has done a good job for Florida.
Maybe he should’ve picked Alvin Bragg instead or Tisha james? Lol
Rick, Hillary Clinton isn't running for any political offices these days.
Whataboutism.
Pam Bondi is laughable; the fact that you invoke her name here is also laughable. But not surprising given the tenor of all the rest of your posts, which truly make me shake my head.
Shake your head all you want. She’s the third most powerful Attorney General in the country and has done a good job for Florida. Anything else you wanna know? The tenor of my post is a different perspective that has seen on this website almost never. If you look at all the posts here it’s all agreement. It’s all congratulations. It’s all congratulating each other and patting each other on the back without ever seeing dissension or understanding perspectives of other people that don’t agree with you. I grew up in South Florida when the whole state was democrat other than some outlying rural areas and now look at it someone above just said it’s all red. How does that happen? That’s a question. You should be asking yourself not laughing at Pam Bondi.
I actually came back to delete my response because I had forgotten not to feed the resident troll, and found that you were already all over it. My bad, it will not happen again.
A "good job" for you may not be for me. What did she do that any of us can relate to?
Isnt it strange how everyone here is united.......except you as a bot trying to divide.
he values loyalty above all else. Right or wrong. Qualified or not. the appointment of a couple of women does not make him less of a misogynist. His entire history is one of misogyny
The first ever chief of staff, a woman. First, ever and the second most powerful person in the country Attorney General is also a woman named by Trump. Pretty good for a misogynist.
Did you ever know of a president who actually appointed somebody against him versus a loyalist. Or somebody who agreed with him
Every president does that. Did you ever know a person I could pick someone who’s against him? Nope.
Trump is going beyond that this time he’s actually even for the first time appointed two people from the opposite party …amazing.
I find it’s interesting that there are some experts here , who know exactly how to pick up Cabinet from their vast Reservoir of experience.
Trump assaults women….. brags about it….then pays others to keep their mouths shut about it.
Every single other thing about the creep is just noise. He is not fit for any office. He is not fit to shine my shoes.
I have 2 daughters and 1 grand daughter in my family. I spit on trump because their safety from the likes of him, and those like him, is far more important than anything that falls out of the creeps mouth. Any woman or man who supports the creep is no better than he is - I spit on all of them.
There is a huge difference in appointing a qualified loyalists and one that kisses butt. Huge difference. I would say that taking a $25,000 bribe and dropping a case is disqualifying - at least it used to be.
I also point out that th 2 he picked from the "opposite" party left the party ideas behind. RFK is a certified nut, Gabbard supports Putin.
You can point out differences and share you opinions, but please be fully truthful.
There you go again. Yapping about the usual.
That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. As I’ve said here many times if you’re looking for someone of devout character, don’t vote for president. The last president that had the kind of character that you’re looking for just died a few days ago. I’m not gonna sit here and delineate all their flaws, but everyone of them had them many more severe many that should’ve not allow them to be president but in many cases, and this is the point I’m trying to make out many of them who who had let’s call it wandering pee, pees, were some of the best presidents in our life, and by chance happened to be Democrats.
Don’t be a one item voter… Judge a President that from the day he gets in office Till the last day he leaves, he works fervently for the benefit of all Americans. THAT’S IT Much of what they do before doesn’t matter when it comes to the task of being president as I pointed out above
Successfully accepted a pretty obvious bribe I have heard.
Well, I’m gonna Google it just for S & G and I’m not sure why she running for office at the time and it was a campaign contribution. I don’t know. But if you can’t find something wrong with every single candidate, that’s running there’s a big problem because everybody has a flaw a peccadillo a mistake because they’re human.
And I thought the left was particularly good at forgiving, for example, parole for murder victims lower sentences for misdemeanors no cash bail for murderers.
And I hate to say this, but if you’re looking for character in the president, don’t vote for president The last person I think that had any real character in this country is president just passed away the other day.
You again?
blah, blah,blah
A Very meaningful post indeed. Have a good night
Okay, Rick, you have gotten your fix of attention. Take a lap, son, and go out for junior varsity.
Son? Try 75 years young. I could care less about attention. Sad
Any BS to bolster your lame arguments.
NEVER ON ANY SOCIAL MEDIA FOR 74 1/2 YEARS. and only came on “X “ for curiosity. Your moniker seems pretty accurate now
On Jan 21, 2021 the top responsibility of President Biden and the leadership of the Democratic Party was to prosecute the criminals who led the conspiracy to steal the Executive Branch of the government. Trump and his bad faith cronies played "rope-a-dope" and the Democrats were lulled into letting him off the legal hook. The Dems failed then and they are failing now.
Until January 19, 2025 President Biden continues to have the power and the responsibility to "execute the laws" and "protect and defend the Constitution". The Supreme Court gave the office of the President the green light to take "bold and decisive action" to defend the nation from "enemies, foreign and domestic". Trump and his crime cult are a domestic enemy. Will the Dems have the guts to do what's right? Or allow the criminals back into the White House?
Winston Churchill was castigated, for years, for his claims that Hitler was a threat to world civilization. Who will be the Churchill in this time? The autocrats and oligarchs, the self-styled "masters of the universe" egomaniacs like Musk and Putin and their underlings Trump and Johnson threaten self-rule in America. Democracy is about to be crushed by billionaire thugs and the DNC leaders mill around silent.
No one was stealing this country let alone in 1000 unarmed protesters. And the more you’re going to hear about the evidence as it comes out unless you’re gonna like it. Including Pelosi, admitting to her daughter, that was her fault to a great extent, including the FBI hiding the fact that there were 23 FBI agents in the crowd that we’re not supposed to be in the crowd and that actually assisted people in coming through the barriers and even though they were unannounced FBI agents Inside the crowd, not one of them got arrest, arrested you you’re gonna hear more about the 10,000 troops that Trump requested and you’re gonna hear more about the denial of help from the local mayor of DC
It was a protest gone wrong but it was never a protest to overthrow the government of the United states
This the Year of Being Invisible.
Me too! They are the definition of class and honor!
It’s always fascinating that Republicans only know how to cut programs that help many millions of people rather than improve them. Why? Because it’s easy and makes headlines. Of course the other reason is they don’t care about everyday people and want government to help big business and cut taxes for the rich.
We’re in for quite a spectacle. The GOP underestimates the people’s wrath if they mess with Social Security,Medicare, and other social support programs.
As the saying goes, the Republicans know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Davis, they should know the price of laying. Is up to us and our legislators and leaders. Put pressure on them.
Like hens? 😌
👌
The republicans and Trump will never cut social security they will defund it. Bush took hoe many millions from the fund 1.3 billion? It happens. Meanwhile propaganda has already started about “not needing social security”. Not one person I know believes Republicans want to defund it. This should have been a major campaign issue. Harris should have started every speech with if you elect trump say goodbye to social security and then show proof of how they have tried to cut social security
Social Security is supported by a trust fund. That trust fund is invested exclusive in United States sovereign debt. Treasuries. The SS Administration thus lends money…all its money…to the United States government. The US government uses that money to cover its deficits.
Last month in spite of having this captive buyer, demand was weak at the regularly scheduled Treasury auction. Prices had to be cut from the posted openings in order to move the thirty and ten year offerings thus raising the yields on the instruments and all forms of market interest rates accordingly. This was in spite of a recent Fed rate cut. This means that the bond market was pushing back against the moves of the Federal Reserve. Thus for the moment, interest rates are going to hang. Job reports were good. Inflation reports not so bad. The Fed factors all of that stuff in to account. So this reflects pure wariness of investors. Big investors. Banks. Pension funds. Perhaps the guy who places orders for the SSA. With higher employment, he’s got more to work with after all.
Social Security as pensions go is not a good deal. But it has other purposes. Public assistsnce to the elderly and disabled. I get negligible SS. But that is all besides the point. There are so many ways those in government could ruin it. But we have it. It is an institution. We have to defend it or we are lost. That said, the Government does not fund Social Security. Social Security funds government. There are better returns in the market. And Social Security is being exploited for that purpose. There is an inherent conflict of interest. SSA needs to invest for returns. Treasury tries to borrow cheap…to cover for the fiscal decisions of Congress. The incoming President and Congress aim to cut taxes and swell the deficit. They will use the SS Trust Fund for this purpose. And if the ends don’t meet it is the institution and those who participate in it, working, disabled and retired, who will pay the price. No doubt there are needed reforms. But reforms are out of the question. It is an abused child. The question is whether it will survive.
Excellent Points Tyler. SSA was never intended as the sole retirement vehicle and the life expectancy was around age 65 when the program started, so it wasn't the monster it is today.
Trump will demand loyalty from all Federal employees and the military so we can expect the service levels to drop like they did in the USPS. The turnover rate in the USPS has been abysmal since DeJoy took over, not to mention that it now takes days to get a letter across town.
My wife usually mails her Christmas cookies in the Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box (FRB1) that I seem to recall costing $10 a couple years ago. Due to circumstances last month the original batches got stale so the replacements weren't ready to mail until two days after Christmas. We wanted to get them mailed before Jan 1st when the then rate had been raised to $16 (and was projected to go up 4.1% to $16.65. Unfortunately, I dropped a glass bowl that shattered and sent broken glass into all the cookies and cookie dough on the counters.
Buying all the supplies and making fresh batches meant I didn't get to mail them until Jan 2nd. That's when I found the projected increase wasn't 4.1%, it was 20.6% at $19.30 for what I remember paying $10 a few years ago.
We'll see if that package gets fresh cookies across the country as fast as and reliably as they used to be. The fate of the last, supposed 2-day delivery, is becoming too typical. I forgot to leave my set of car and house keys with my daughter when she dropped us off at the airport (in her car). We mailed them 2-day priority on Dec 12th from Florida to Maine but didn't get them until Dec 26th, 5 days after we got back to Maine from Florida. Tracking showed they went from Gainesville to Jacksonville FL in 1 day, to Kansas City in 5 days, Omaha, NE in 5 days, Springfield, MA in 1 day, Scarborough, ME in 1 day, and to our daughters house less than 9 miles away on the 14th day (2 weeks for 2 day priority). Wish we could get frequent flyer miles or tourist decals for the Flat Stanley trip our package took.
Seriously, I do appreciate what the Postal Workers have to try to over come but the USPS seems to have been sabotaged worse than ever by the would be privatizers, rather effectively as hinted at by https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/
"...In 2006, Congress passed a law that imposed extraordinary costs on the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation.
If the costs of this retiree health care mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, the Post Office would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years. This extraordinary mandate created a financial “crisis” that has been used to justify harmful service cuts and even calls for postal privatization. Additional cuts in service and privatization would be devastating for millions of postal workers and customers..."
When I had my business I frequently used FedEx for flat rate boxes because they were less expensive. Trump wants to privatize USPS. Biden didn’t get rid of DeJoy.
My neighbor told me first class stamps are now 75 cents. I rarely use a stamp and bought Forever stamps several years ago.
Unfortunately, presidents don't have the authority to replace the postmaster general. That responsibility is up to a bipartisan board of governors, whose members are appointed by presidents. This arrangement has not served the citizenry well.
Social Security is the greatest anti poverty program in US history.
Charity begins at home. They get tax deductions, plus if propely applied, it increases the GDP and tax revenues. If Social Security is sliding toward a "default" it is because Congress and a succession of presidents would sell their families for a few votes. The default of Trust Funds is supposed to apex in 2034 due to the increase of birth rates of baby boomers. After 2034, birth rates of later generations flatten and the funds can be solvent.
Social Security protects workers, widow(er)s, orphans and disabled people and is a major investment for many of us.
Please donate to create an endowment to slow down the rate. If everyone who donates to say, universities, which aren't really charities, the trust funds would be secure.
https://www.ssa.gov/agency/donations.html
Here's an ABA article for tax and estate lawyers I published a few years ago. December 01, 2011 FINANCIAL PLANNING
Social Security—Maybe Charity Should Begin at Home
By Daniel F. Solomon
For most of its history, Social Security was a terrific bargain: our parents and grandparents most probably received significantly more benefits than they paid into the Social Security Trust Fund. The trust fund comprises the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds (OASDI, collectively).
In most cases, because our family units could rely on these benefits, they were able to enjoy enough financial independence to send people like us to school so that we could become lawyers—productive and, in some cases, wealthy, members of society. For 75 years, the Social Security Trust Fund has helped enable American soci- ety to achieve far beyond the aspirations of its founders, ultimately providing more than subsistence to retirees by also protecting widows, orphans, and disabled people. The dignity provided to needy beneficiaries surely far outweighs the economic value of the funds.
However, financial experts have long predicted a future insolvency of the funds. A majority of Americans have invested in the funds, recognize their social utility, and do not want to burden their heirs. Although there have been legislative attempts to “fix” the system, there is no consensus how to do it. The Congressional Research Service reported:
For example, for workers who earned average wages and retired in 1980 at age 65, it took 2.8 years to recover the value of the retirement portion of the combined employee and employer shares of their Social Security taxes plus interest. For their counterparts who retired at age 65 in 2002, it will take 16.9 years. For those retiring in 2020, it will take 20.9 years.
Geoffrey Kollmann and Dawn Nuschler, “Social Security Reform” (October 2002).
The National Commission on Social Security Reform (informally known as the “Greenspan Commission” after its chairman) was appointed by the Congress and President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in response to a short-term financing crisis that Social Security faced at that time. Estimates were that the OASI Trust Fund would run out of money possibly as early as August 1983. Congress rendered a compromise that extended the retirement age from 65 to 67, through a deal that raised payroll taxes and trimmed benefits enough to keep Social Security solvent. See Jackie Calmes, “Political Memo: The Bipartisan Panel: Did It Really Work?” New York Times, January 18, 2010. However, the legislation addressed only the immediate problem and did not address the long-term viability of the fund. See also Rudolph G. Penner, “The Greenspan Commission and the Social Security Reforms of 1983,” in Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency, David Abshire, Editor. Washington: Center for the Study of the Presidency, pp. 129–31.
The George W. Bush administration commission deliberated on the issue and then called for a transition to a combination of a government-funded program and personal accounts (“individual” or “private accounts”) through partial privatization of the system.
President Barack Obama reportedly strongly opposes privatization or raising the retirement age but supports raising the cap on the payroll tax ($106,800 in 2009) to help fund the program. He has appointed a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which is to report and offer another fix.
Current estimates predict that payroll taxes will only cover 78% of the scheduled payout amounts after 2037. This declines to 75% by 2084. 2010 OASDI Trust- ees Report, Figure II.D2, www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2010/ trTOC.html.
Although the congressional plan was to ensure solvency through Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax, there is a private means to help: to also consider the humanitarian and charitable nature of the Social Security Administration (SSA), which has been possible since a legislative fix in 1972. Before then, bequests naming Social Security or a trust fund as a beneficiary could not be accepted, which caused problems in administration of some estates. Money gifts or bequests may be accepted for deposit by the managing trustee of the OASI and DI funds. Section 170(c)(l) of the Internal Revenue Code lists the U.S. government among the educational or charitable organizations to which donations are acceptable. Gifts must be unconditional, except that the donor may designate to which fund the gift should be donated. If no fund is designated, the gift is credited to the OASI Trust Fund.
However, SSA has not publicized its charitable persona. Although the agency has received some gifts and bequests, they have been insignificant and not given consideration in a possible fix. The concept has been so unimportant to the experts that the Annual Statistical Supplement to the Social Security Bulletin does not specify how much the administration has received in gifts and bequests. Total revenue from gifts to the trust funds has been quite small. From 1974 to 1979 the most received in any one year was $91,949.88. During that period, the average annual amount was only $39,847. In 1980, almost two-thirds of the gifts were less than $100. The median gift size was $50. One person, for example, donated $13.11. She arrived at that amount by applying 5.85% (the employee tax rate then in effect) to her benefit amount and donated it to help “‘shore up’ the sagging, dwindling Social Security fund.” However, the 2010 Social Security Trustees Report lists them as about $98,000 (www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2010/III_ cyoper.html#2). Compared to many other charities, this is a paltry amount.
Apparently, SSA has never done a feasibility study nor marketing research to determine how an aggressive campaign could raise funds to support Social Security, or how gifts and bequests could reduce the current estimates of impending doom. According to some estimates total deductions taken for all charities next year would be $413.5 billion. Estimates for fiscal year 2011 are that SSA will spend $730 billion. That amount is already covered through “contributions” (taxes), but it is reasonable that charitable contributions to the trust fund could significantly lessen taxpayer exposure for impending doom, if not return the fund to solvency.
As lawyers, we have the capacity to remind our families, our clients, and the public at large that there is a way to contribute to help endow future generations in the pursuit of the same kind of social stability that Social Security provided to our parents and grandparents.
Very interesting! I was unaware of this. I personally believe the answer is to raise or preferably eliminate the cap on taxable wages, and also to remove the utterly ridiculous amount of tax loopholes.
Eliminating the cap on taxable wages would have a huge impact!
Republicans reject it. We may never have a responsible Congress again. All I ask SS is they publicize it. I am told that they get some donations....
Like a broken record, you can guess what I think.
If we raise the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in all states it would bring in billions in FICA money as there is the employer match along with the employees contribution. This ain't chump change.
Informative. Thanks.
I’ll be damned if I know how SS works. All I know is that a Man must be just before he can be charitable. That applies doubly to such a vast and ambitious involuntary collective for the dispensation of private and public benefits.
I have a law degree. I’ve taken graduate courses in economics. I used to be pretty good at difEQ and integral calculus. I am familiar with the science of actuarial statistics. Or used to be. Likewise financial mathematics. But I don’t have the foggiest notion of how Social Security benefits are calculated. I’ll bet that goes for all but a few Americans.
Your article offers proof that what people do not understand they will not be willing to support.
The mathematics of how the SSA goes about collecting money, on the other hand are quite simple and most people have no trouble understanding that. It is (currently) 7.5% of their paycheck if they work for others for a living, whilst an equal payroll tax is levied on their employer. This, take note, is a tax on a form of expenses rather than income. Which is why a business can lose money, and go under, and still owe money to the federal government. Of course, such debts have priority in Bankruptcy. And it is a Crime not to pay this tax, or at least take funds set aside for that purpose and run off with them. Nevertheless, the SSA often gets stiffed, and there is a loss rate associated with the whole sum of these components when it comes to collections, and projections, and bar graphs, et cetera.
In the case of a self employed person like myself, this math, and its economic consequences are even easier to understand. The Self Employment Tax to benefit the SSA is 15% of my net business earnings ….before Tax, which is to say, Federal and State Income Tax. NPBT. So it is a flat income tax. And it alone has kept me mired in poverty all my life. Go figure what that is for someone making under $50K a year self employed. Then write to me and explain how you think it contributes to the social welfare of America to take $7,500. I need to live on out of my hands. Oh, I know. I get to deduct half of it against my Income Tax liability of anywhere from $4-8K. And I get to deduct my $5K property tax bill right off the top ! To the extent of the business use of the home deduction that does take a college degree and a day to figure.
From what you wrote in 2011, I now understand there is no stable, let alone just, relationship between what workers are required to pay in to SS and what they can reasonably expect to get back. Indeed the figures you used suggest to me a hyperbolic curve asymptotically approaching zero, for to deliver any benefits, this whole ramshackle street car named Desire needs to maintain a stable equilibrium, and it is not. It is still heading towards insolvency despite delivering less.
Perhaps the public assistance objectives for the SSA would better be achieved through a different source of revenue. But the FIT and the Estate and Gift Taxes are abominations. Perhaps it would be better to consider a broad base consumption tax that covered service transactions as well as sales of goods. A business tax with the economic incidents of a VAT without the sales tax kick in the butt to the consumer. One that was freed of any burden placed on the individual working taxpayer. There is such a thing. But in any case, there must needs being to my way of thinking, a more well defined relationship between what the taxpayer pays in and what he can expect to get back over time, for better or for worse. And that has to be competitive and fair. A defined benefit pension plan.
The government has to be just before it can be charitable.
You're way off. It;s social insurance. Not a retirement plan per se. If you can't work due to diablity, you're covered. If you get sick, Medicare may kick in. If you die, your family may be covered based on your earnings record.
You can ask for a copy of your earnings record and an assessiment of what you and your family may earn. Benefits widow(er)s, orphans, the entire faimy of wage earners. On average a $ million in potential family disability benefits. Typically based on 35 years of wages; anyone should be able to calculate the PIA (primary insurance rate).
I don't know what kind of law you practice, but it sounds like you don't do estates, PI, Workers' Comp, etc because they all have a relationship.
Ah yes. I see. Social Security “Insurance” is disability insurance. Check. Insurance against living too long ? No. Insurance against failing to earn enough to retire on ? No. Insurance against failure to marry well or losing a spouse one way or another upon whose income or retirement savings you have grown to rely ? Well, that’s a stretch. But I’ll give you a maybe. But above all, what Social Security is not, according to you, is a forced retirement savings plan ??
I have been a steady recipient of SS benefit statement summaries for more than ten years now, and am able to read. I find your assertions short on substance and long on insult. Sorry if I hurt your feelings by pointing out the weaknesses in your scholarly ABA published sales pitch for charitable giving to the Social Security Trust Fund.
you’re on the right track Tyler, especially about the Park Congress part. Congress is for seeing the potential collapse of Social Security Medicare in the next decade and I’ve done nothing to fix it. Talk, talk talk.
As a person who has done very well, I have never understood why there’s a cap on Social Security deductions ? I think every penny of every earnings should be taxed without a ceiling. They keep waiting to do something and I fear that it’s gonna be too late or they gonna cram something down as a temporary fix to kick the can down the road once more.
Sorry, not Park Congress just Congress part I’m tired and I should have recheck the work cause I’m voice texting and I didn’t go back to check it, but Congress has seen and forcing the collapse for decades
Now you speak some real truth.
Bush took 1.3 billion out of the fund
Just follows the old strategy employed by Reagan's cronies "cut nothing but taxes and regulations."
Reagan's tax cuts were somewhat reinstated though they were never called tax increases, though, more like just restoring some taxes cut too much.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_tax_cuts
"...After the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 revenues fell by 6% in real terms. This promoted a tax increase that passed the House in late 1981 and the Senate in mid-1982 called the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. This act was an agreement between Reagan and the Congress that raised revenues for the following years.
Following that increase, there were 3 other tax increases from 1983 to 1987 for other various reasons. In total, the US lost over $200 billion in 2012 chained dollars due to the original tax cut in the first four years and around $1 billion for the second tax cut.
Revenues grew from 1982 to 1987 by a total of $137 billion in revenue which adds up to roughly $64 billion in net revenue lost because of the cuts..."
There are a lot of factors that enter into a revenue equation. Unfortunately, it’s not black and white like you seem to want to demonstrate here.
Jim sounds nuanced to me. You can not argue against his reasoning, so you throw up a red herring. Nice try.
The scariest thing is that they turn it/then over to profiteers!
Who Tend to run business at a lower cost and more efficiently I suppose you’re gonna tell me that the government doesn’t waste money ?
Sandra thank you very much for speaking up on this website but you’re totally incorrect. They have no intention of cutting Medicare. They have no intention of cutting Social Security.
But the crazy thing is the Congress has known about the potential collapse of Social Security and Medicare for three or four decades when is supposed to collapse in 2034 and the other a few years later and they have done nothing to fix it and then they’re gonna blame somebody else for their failure
I said defund. Not cut
The overriding concern that I mentioned here is that they've seen this coming for a long time and they've done nothing to fix it
And to me an easy fix would be simply to eliminate the cap on Social Security no matter how much you make you pay your 7 1/2%.
The cap was explained to me years ago. I didn't understand it then and understand it less now.
They already have messed with Social Security, Medicare, and other social support programs starting about 45 years ago... slowly. But the GOP continued to get voted in. SMH. My grandparents had no complaints about their Social Security or Medicare and were able to live on those benefits. When I was in college in the early 80s, it was mentioned that those benefits will probably not be as good when it's time for us to retire. Now I know why that was said.
Republicans long have asked to "sunset" all benefits. That "all" includes stuff like Medicare, VA, Black Lung, food stamps, etc , The Republicans are in denial that SS is not part of the budget. You have to understand SS is NOT a retirement program although there is a retirement trust fund that will "default" in 2033 according to the trustees. Ever wage earner who is fully and currently insured also has disability coverage that is on average worth about $ 1 MM. If the programs were sunsetted, they'd have to be renewed on an annual basis, and given politics, would die .
In a 2000 book he co-wrote called “The America We Deserve,” Trump called Social Security a “huge Ponzi scheme” that American workers are forced to pay into. He added that for future retirees under 40 at the time, “we can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to seventy,” because “we’re living longer.”
In December 2004, just before a Republican push to partially privatize the program, Trump was asked on MSNBC’s “Hardball” whether he’d support individual retirement accounts and answered: “I sort of think I would. Something has to be done. Social Security is a huge problem right now, funding it.”
In 2012, Trump praised proposals by Ryan, then the Republican vice presidential nominee, to convert Medicare into a “premium support” system that would cap spending for future retirees and give them vouchers to buy insurance plans.
“I think Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney will save Medicare. I know they will. And people are starting to understand it. They’re going to be very happy with what’s going on, but they’re going to be very, very unhappy if Obama gets in,” Trump told Fox News at the time, reflecting on the 2012 presidential race. “I think actually if Obama gets in and if Obamacare isn’t ended, I really think Medicare will be a thing of the past.” (President Barack Obama ran against the Ryan plan and won re-election; seven years after he left office, Obamacare and Medicare still exist.)
By 2015, when Trump ran for president, he sought to position himself in the Republican field as the rare candidate who wouldn’t cut those programs. “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican, and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” he said as he was launching his campaign.
By 2020, it was clear Trump was trying to break the system. He offered a "payroll tax cut" designed to result in significant revenue losses for Social Security, but also to eliminate employee payroll taxes for good. That would kill both the retirement and disability programs.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-plan-defund-social-security/
Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget endorsed Social Security cuts to the tune of billions of dollars for disabled seniors. His budget would have made changes to Social Security Disability Insurance, slashing the maximum amount of retroactive benefits for disabled workers from 12 months to six. According to the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, that could lead to a $7,500 average cut for a worker injured in a car crash. The budget also called for reducing Supplemental Security Income benefits for those who live with other SSI recipients.
As president # 45, Trump tried and failed to cut SSI benefits drastically. Some Republicans wanted to replace the entire system. See. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Trump, House Republican Cuts to SSI Would Harm Children With Disabilities, Sept. 18, 2017, Kathleen Romig and Guillermo Herrera. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/trump-house-republican-cuts-to-ssi-would-harm-children-with-disabilities
“The Trump proposal would cut SSI by more than $8 billion over the next decade, shrinking benefits for roughly a quarter of a million children with disabilities by between 38 and 66 percent. It would also increase SSI’s administrative costs and improper payments”.
They had a plan to eliminate chid's benefits. CBO Eliminate Supplemental Security Income Benefits for Disabled Children. https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/54742 (2018)
Background
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash assistance to people who are disabled, aged, or both and who have low income and few assets. In 2018, 15 percent of SSI recipients, or 1.2 million people, are projected to be disabled children under age 18, receiving an average monthly benefit of $686. To receive benefits, those children must have marked, severe functional limitations and usually must live in a household with low income and few assets.
Thanks for this thorough analysis. Many Trump voters receive SS, Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid will hurt this popülation of voters......will he still cut this program? Democrats can push this message, a plan for affordable housing, and a need for wage increases as we resist the new administration.
It didn't work. They wouldn't lisaten. They slit their own throats. The NYT and Meidastouch highlighted my home town, New Castle Pa, where Trump won more than 2 to 1. The local newspaper would not publish anything I sent them. The reason is that hate Trumps reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbiVRnVumVA
Great source for Fickle Finger of Fate Award nominees.
Perhaps a special class of Trump Fickle Finger Fate Awards that includes people that didn't bother to vote.
I would say Darwin Awards but those only go to people who eliminate or alienate only themselves
And yet the Harris campaign out spanked Trump three to one
I was able to waste $2 billion in 100 days
Do you think resisting administration that has no intention of cutting Medicare or Medicaid or Social Security is going to help you?
It’s up to Congress and it has been up to Congress for decades
I have to admit there’s a vast amount of reading and bibliographies posted here based on the depth of reading material that I see here
Reading is not action. History is not action it’s history. If there’s some action that I’ve missed where Congress has attacked and made an attempt to save Social Security and Medicare please let me know. They have not moved the date where they think social Security will be defunct 2034 and I’ve been hearing that date since 2000 and what have they done to change that this is Congress this is not by political party. This is Congress and both parties have been in control on various times to have addressed this and fixed it
Daniel have you seen any actions that confirm the sunsetting issues?
Congress has been in control of Social Security and Medicare’s budget for decades and has literally done nothing to ensure its future even when they know I have predicted that Social Security will go out of business by 2034
1. It will not "go out of business." Even in default, it will still pay approximately 83% of benefits.
2. Ryan, GWB thought they had a mandate to privatize the system. Submitted many proposals. I posted some of the recent ones re SSI. Virtually every Republican in Congress during that era voted to privatize SS and Medicare.
3. Democrats are not a unified party. Never have been. Big guys have big money donors who honestly believe that the 6.2 % match is the only impediment to geometrically increase the GDP. Starting in the 70's people like Bush, and his uncle Pres II wanted to get control of the trillions in the trust funds. Were on record. At one point, they wanted the Savings and Loan insutry involved. I attended many house committee hearings -- spoke to people who ran SS who felt they had a "mandate" to privatize everything. I documented the attempt by Repubicans to force the disability fund into default. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/naalj/vol36/iss1/4/
4. I don't know anything about you, but I bet you will be a loser if the Heritage group takes contol. The people who will lose the most are those who have been paying their FICA but are not in pay status. They could lose their contributions.
Lower taxes for the rich.!!!
Well. Those benefits are better now than ever and bigger now than ever.
By the way, Peggy you're shaking your head and you shouldn't be
the reason that the GOP gets elected from time to time it is but believe it or not there are people that don't think like you and don't want what you want. They see things from a different perspective and that perspective is not expressed here.
I thought the voting morons would deny them a victory based on that alone. But hate won out, and MAGAts believed the orange turd.
Michael, they understand but they are going to try anyway because they think and they are loud at that ,that they have a mandate. We ave to demonstrate how wrong thy are and pound on the to wake people up. Right now we are like sleepwalking. We need our leaders to use the megaphone!!
Once Trump gets his way and requires a loyalty oath from all military and civil servants, you will see a mass exodus from vital departments that service Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and many others. This is exactly what happened with the USPS when Trump put Louis DeJoy in as Postmaster General.
Michael, I wish you were correct, but I fear that you are not. My 91-year-old evangelical mother has voted Republican all her life, mostly because my father told her she must. (That's how it works in an evangelical household.)
I've made this observation about how Mom thinks about life in these United States. Mom has a "blind spot" regarding Republicans. They get only the credit, never the blame; Democrats get only the blame, never the credit. When U.S. culture is going the way she wants, even when Democrats created that good fortune through beneficial legislation in the face of opposition, she credits the Republican party or its president. When life is difficult because of hardships created by Republicans, she blames "the government."
Its is going to be more than a spectacle.
Yet “many millions of people” and “everyday people” elected them! Go figure.
Who will object if it’s only the poorest and sickest who may not vote and have the quietest voices? I hope we all do.
The curious thing is the people they hurt so much continue to support them. For decades. How do they frame it so these folks buy into it? Their lives have not improved a wit, yet they are sure the R's are on their side. The only outlet it gives them is for their grievance and who they think are the source for all of their woes. And yet somehow the Democrats have abandoned them.
The Youtube channel of "Tennessee Brando" (who is part of the Midas Network) continues to talk about this very issue. His channel recently reached 500K subscribers on YouTube. I recommend the viewers here subscribe to channels that speak the truth, and also to HIT THE LIKE BUTTON on every one that they watch. Do it right away. Subscriptions and "likes" increase the visibility of their work, and we need to promote these to compete against the likes of Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnfmYD2L8FI
Tennessee is very plain spoken and upon recently hitting the milestone subscribers mentioned he lived in a very red town of 9000 people.
There are other worthy channels on YouTube:
"Belle of the Ranch" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmOEaAgWgD8
Brian Tyler Cohen's No Lie : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzS5MAX008U
Glenn Kirshner's Justice Matters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzvXiX93c_o
Marc Elias' Democracy Docket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyPCBn4ZiQU
Tim Miller's The Bulwark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJDQAkcw8A
I'm sure there are others that readers will suggest. We can't all march (I'm currently in a boot) and we don't all have unlimited funds to donate, but it is very easy to hit the subscribe button and run a few of the videos.
Yup. Cut programs and take away rights... they don't do anything positive.
Actually, it’s other way around Ellen. Republicans want less government and less control not more Democrats want more control and more government. That’s the basis of the two parties existence. Republicans want more capitalism Democrats warrant more socialistic programs which rely on government.
What programs have the Republicans cut just curious? Michael during the cycle it is the Democrats that didn’t care about every day people and that’s why they lost. They cared more about Ukraine. They cared more about illegal immigration and that’s why they lost.
If you understand, the basic overall differences between the Democrats and the Republicans, the Republicans want less tax less government intervention while the Democrats want more government and more socialized programs that's as simple as I can make it. But let me know when they cut it or defund it
Sure, that’s the well known high-level difference. But it doesn’t capture the reality that GOP spending cuts are a charade for billions in corporate welfare/giveaways, notably for oil and gas and oil companies and trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy.
If the people had an wrath trump would either be in prison or sequestered in Palm Beach.
I'm deeply saddened by the Washington Post. I have been an avid reader of the Post for over 40 years. It is tragic that once august institution has fallen so far. I thought about leaving after Bezos killed the Harris endorsement, but I stuck it out. In the past few days I have read several articles by journalists blatantly sane-washing Trump's recent escapades while bashing Biden's record, a George Will hit piece on Jimmy Carter published in the Post ON THE DAY Carter died, and an even more pronounced editorial shift to the right. I think it's time to pull the plug. It breaks my heart.
Quit Amazon. Leave the Prime Channel. This should be easy.
Amazon has long and increasingly been a total ripoff. Shipping isn’t free, it’s included in higher item prices. Then you get recycled returned items or stuff that was falsely described in the first place or all along was inferior in production. The good items can normally simply purchased directly from the manufacturer. Amazon’s game has always been to destroy a business model to make themselves appear to be a reasonable alternative. Once done, shift their policies to rip you off.
The Prime channel now is merely a conduit to selling subscriptions to other channels and alternatively changing enormous premiums to watch individual selections from their own licensed titles.
Dump Amazon and all their holdings.
My husband and I canceled our Amazon Prime subscriptions once I read that Bezos went to Trump's palace, bent the knee and kissed the ring. I suspected the Washington Post would begin self-censoring after Bezos made that trip. This is a revolting turn of events.
L, Bezos kissed more than the ring...
Bezos will kiss anything as long as he can stay rich…
LOL! That's a good one.
Thanks 😀
I thought hard about including the Post in my list of ways to protest Bezos and decided against it. If it indeed “dies in darkness” that would be far more destructive to society than its persistence. It’s a frail publication, on the verge of bankruptcy before Bezos. He doesn’t make money there, likely wouldn’t think about it a full week if it vanished. Whereas the rest of us would, and the news publishing landscape would be far poorer. We don’t burn trees to destroy trees but to save forests.
Dear Bill, I fear the Washington Post will go the way the Wall Street Journal did with its swing to being a Trump megaphone. When Trump held office, we as others, self-censored our speech if a Trump supporter were present. I found that practice appalling and fear news organizations will also self-censor what they write. I'm also afraid anti-Trump speech in the presence of a Trump supporter will trigger a Trump-style Gestapo or as Majorie Taylor Greene calls them "gazpacho" police. The next four years (I hope it's only four years) will be interesting.
it’s the smart thing for Bezos to do. He’s a businessman and Washington Post lost $77 million last year. People are coming to their senses about being too far extreme on either end of the political spectrum.
Look what happened to Budweiser look what happened to target and they’re coming back now because they’re getting smart and moving towards the middle
Dear Rick, I recall the Target and Anheuser-Busch mess. I'm not sure their decisions to stop the trans commercial and the gay pride displays were a conscious decision to move to the center as much as fear of losing sales money. I think the next four years will be a test of the First Amendment.
Hopefully there will not be a test of the first amendment because it’s the most important one. But you are correct they realized that they were speaking to a small percentage of their audience and offending the rest and so they change their policies and their advertising, which is a smart business decision for a business that wants to remain in business.
I did
Become a prime member and shipping is free on most items and in most major markets, you can get the shipment either later that day or the next day, which is amazing. Walmart has become a ip and coming competitor of Amazon,
Pulled the plug over the Harris endorsement being pulled. Jeff has ruined a bastion of integrity. As to George Will, he never disappoints even when he tries to be fair. He is a vile bastard in every way.
Agree! 1,000%.
As an undergraduate, I once studied under George Will, he was in a graduate program at the time. He was nobody in particular and had this tiny summer class. True to character he was staunchly to the wrong side of right. I didn’t dislike him for it. Like an old fig, he became creepier over time. I suppose that isn’t totally uncommon amongst guys that are catapulted into notoriety.
Wrong side of right, that’s George
Are you suggesting that Jeff Bezos doesn’t have the right to run his company the way he sees fit ?
Yes! I would certainly say that. Corporations and their billionaire owners get rich on the backs of their workers and American taxpayers.
He was the risk taker as all businessmen and businesswoman are. Many employees take risks, including putting Mortgages on their homes and taking out loans like they do for education to start a business and become entrepreneurs and so become entrepreneurs instead of employees. America provides the opportunity people can choose where they work. They are not obligated to work anywhere. Depending upon their education particular set of skills have the opportunity here.
I was working 80 hours a week while in college just to pay my tuition.
They owe us!
Nothing is owed everything is earned.
Take a look at the preamble to the constitution
Opportunity not equal outcome
Axios reported last October that three of the 10-person editorial board at the Post stepped down following Bezos's decision not to endorse Harris. Since then political journalists at the Post have been fleeing either to The Atlantic or the NYT. Meanwhile, the Post is recruiting journalists from the Wall Street Journal. The rot set in when Bezos appointed Will Lewis as CEO at the Post - former Murdoch golden boy and phone hacker extraordinaire who was controversially knighted by Boris Johnson.
Do you not think that newspaper writers should be journalists and not political hacks?
When either side goes too far to the extreme, and it involves business it. hurts business either way.
And look what happened at the LA Times, who finally came to his senses, dismissed the entire editorial board Who was too prejudiced and anti-Trump
So he actually dismissed his entire editorial board because readership had gone down so far Including Online readership. The paper itself was no longer full of journalist, but full of editorialists. If you were to look to see the affiliation of journalist in this country, especially in the major networks, it’s over 90% Democrat so that’s no surprise.
Rick, you're talking about two multi-billionaire owners more concerned with their business's bottom line than with publishing what's genuinely newsworthy, which is surely the business of political journalists. Stand by and watch as the billionaires, and not people like you, benefit financially from Trump's next term in office. The world's 10 richest people have already become $64bn richer as a result of Trump's election victory.
That could be accurate or close to accurate given the profession requires it be led by true facts. Today's Republicans are less by narratives built on lies.
Wow, an interesting interpretation there Paul
Except that the legacy media led by the left is now in disarray, losing half the audience
Both CNN and MSNBC don't secure as many primetime viewers together as Fox does
And I am an occasional fox watcher, and a lot of what they have put out honestly has become reality
But let me offer you an alternative point of view about lies.
The border is secure
Bidenomics is working
Crime is down
Inflation is transitory
Joe Biden is a sharp as ever
Thanks! I hadn’t been paying much attention to this.
Jeff Bezos is a sniveling coward and already kow-towed to the Sith Lords, Rump and Muskolini. He needs to be a good boy so he can keep his riches; of course he orders the WaPo to join the chorus praising Rump and “blaming the dems” and kills off such a critical cartoon.
Easy to judge choices, difficult to judge a person. Still, I don’t disagree with your point. It’s just me, people are more complicated than another may grasp. I do at heart agree with you, but sense dictates reserve on final judgement, mebbe.
I am often wrong.
Yes, after this I'm going to push the unsubscribe button again. They ignored it last time and sent me all sorts of blandishments.
Same here Anne. They have no shame.
You are not alone Eric.
Agree, Catherine Graham must be crying in her grave!
I stopped my subscription but then reconsidered because of their excellent opinion writers like Jennifer Rubin, Ruth Marcus, Catherine Rampell, etc. (Just noticed they’re all women!)
It's really sad and disturbing to see the WaPo continue to turn into a mouthpiece for the rightwing.
After the inauguration I can only imagine what Bezos and the British hack he hired will allow to be printed ...
Bezos was right. And the Washington Post lost $77 million last year because they’ve gone so far left half the country doesn’t wanna look at them anymore.
Visa was right the owner of the LA times was right and others are slowly getting the message CNN and MSNBC got the message when they lost about 40% of their audience for being too far left.
And unfortunately, for the left Fox News now handles about 70% of primetime Cable traffic and surpassed ABC for the third most watched primetime network
Nancy Pelosi ditched the heels for flats and still ran circles around everyone else.
Rep. Pelosi lost me with her undermining Representative Ocasio-Córtez for ranking member of the Oversight Committee. Representative Connolly is a good man battling cancer at seventy-four years old. People my age on up need to step aside for younger, much younger, leadership. It is not our world anymore. If Rep. Ocasio-Córtez is too out there, there are other moderates in the Democratic Party like Rep. Moulton. The younger members need to work things out to establish a coalition that addresses needs too long neglected by out of touch Congress(wo)men. Unless, of course, we prefer more shocks like that of two months election.
The Democrats are not learning.😵
My hunch is, after seeing AOC moderate her tone while keeping her ideals, that Pelodi taught her the lesson she needed to learn. What Democrats need to learn is to take back and keep the center, and not throw stones from their own glass house. AOC might just lead the party one day. Maybe soon, but not yet.
Je, what we have now it's not effective and we risk to loose our democracy because of that. Open up ,tr risk is too high.
Probably true; thanks for the observation, Je.
It's our world too, but also their world too. Somehow we need to all pay attention to each other, and contribute to creating an environment that works well enough for everyone. Was that not pretty much was the Constitution says it is about?
The constitution didn't take political parties into account.
Ned, we have to put pressure on them to learn....fast or make room for new blood.
Just so you remember and don’t forget her words Ocasio Cortez predicted the end of civilization in 5 1/2 years because of climate change. Somebody who is that far out there needs to be reassessed.
“They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats”
Do not bother with this twit, VermontGirl57. Acknowledgeing it only feeds the beast, in this case a nattering nabob of narcissism.
Eating dogs and eating cats don’t have an impact on you do they? They don’t have an impact on Americans do they but saying that the world is gonna come to an end in eight years if we don’t do something about it is insanity. And it affects everyone. But nice try.
This has been an historic day for Truth, Justice and The American Way. I applaud Judge Merchan for ensuring Trump will be a Convicted and Sentenced Felon when he takes the Oath of Office. And speaking of taking the Oath, I want to add that another stand for Truth and Justice (and the Constitution) took place today. That was the first of three days of protests calling for Congress to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from being sworn in (because he is an adjudicated insurrectionist and the Constitution says no insurrectionist can take the Oath of Office). This protest effort is led by Jessica Denson and supported by Prof. Lawrence Tribe, Glenn Kirschner and other legal and constitutional experts. You can watch the video of today's protests at the link below. And if you're in the D.C. area, I urge you to attend the Jan 4 and 5 protests if you can. Information about those protests can be found at NowMarch dot org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiqdBem7FQU
Steve, I listened to the video and concurred with every statement but one—the claim that our cherished 248-year democratic republic is over if Donald Trump is made President. I would note, regardless of measures many of us have pursued to press for Trump’s disqualification based on Section 3 of the 14th, the odds in this present climate have not been in our favor.
Hence, we must, in my view, align ourselves with at least one of several movements whose mission is to resist the spread of the dangerous agenda set to be imposed on our country. I have chosen Indivisible (indivisible.org ), whose leadoff two-year mission comprises a blow-by-blow plan for maintaining some amount of democracy until 2026 and achieving significant victories in the midterms—breaking MAGA’s hold on Congress and state legislatures prior to our entering the 2028 election cycle.
As a final point, I would add that using our constituent power to urge DNC voting members in our respective states to use their influence to encourage the 448 DNC delegates to support Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler for DNC Chair, in my view, is a critical piece. Wikler, who, since 2019, has successfully mobilized voters in a state where the Republicans had rigged the system to maintain control, has pledged to bring the same kind of transformation to the national Democratic Party that he brought to Wisconsin.
I’m happy you have found a movement to align yourself with. I’m a constitutional purist. And I will look very, very unkindly at the Democratic Party as a whole and its individual members of none of them follow what the Constitution says they should do. After January 20, I will reassess my options with regard to participating politically. I invite you to visit the website for the museum I opened in June of 2023 where you will see what my primary focus is no matter what happens in America politically. As one of my intellectual mentors, Buckminster Fuller, said many years ago, when the existing system doesn’t work, don’t fight it. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete. This is innovation theory applied to all of society. And the innovative spirit of the American people is what the museum celebrates. Here is its website.
www.route66spiritofamericamuseum.org
"...when the existing system doesn’t work, don’t fight it. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete."
Amen
Steve, One thing I’m certain of is that we are faced with a real challenge where the results of a presumed democratic election stand in real tension and contrast with the principles of the Constitution. And I think we as a nation need to figure out how we navigate that tension in the weeks and months and years ahead if we are to preserve consensual governance in this country.
I’m also certain, in societies in which democracy perishes, a major contributing factor rests with people retreating into their private, personal spaces, no longer engaging in the “small d” democratic work of being part of communities that are active publicly.
Evening to All--
I love Liz Cheney's statement in response to the Mango Mussolini, and respect her ongoing shaming of both Felonious Trump and the bulk of the GOP. I was not a fan of Kamala Harris featuring her during her campaign stops, although I do not think that was a significant factor in the electoral outcome. It was simply a boneheaded waste of time on the campaign's part.
Harris made the argument that Trump had already attempted to overturn our constitutional government with his Gang that Couldn't Coup straight attempt on 01/06/21 actions and statement, and made it quite well herself.
I am also most proud of Ann Telnaes for her work and moreover her integrity in defending the freedom of the press. We need voices like hers during what is sure to be a most trying time approaching, more than ever.
Finally, although it was not mentioned by Heather tonight, I thought Delegate Stacy Plaskett's valiant protest statement on the House floor toward the end of the Speaker vote, protesting the ridiculous rules disallowing the delegates who represent 4 million Americans from the Virgin Islands, to Puerto Rico, to Guam, American Samoa, etc., to vote for Speaker. I hope this is something that is covered in the media's account of the vote.
Agree and thank you Daniel.
Professor, you are one of the very few who mention things that Biden is doing…everyone on the legacy media is Trump 24/7. And I hear it is the same in Europe. As Dear Leader used to say, sad! 🤮
That's 50% of the problem democrats are facing.
In several European countries, Musk is trying to bring down our elected governments or have neo-Nazis and other far-right populists elected. So our media mention him a lot more than either Trump or Biden.
Makes sense…my point was mainly that they never talk about Biden, what he does and whatever good he has done. It seems like the media are preparing the way for Muskotrump to take credit for Biden’s economy before they wreck it 😢
Why should European media talk about Biden? He’s not our president, he’s yours. Except over Ukraine, where he’s been over-cautious and made Ukrainians fight with one hand behind their backs, Biden hasn’t done anything for Europe and in fact several of his policies have been very detrimental to Europe. Perhaps we could talk about that.
To this foreigner, today's letter was fascinating in every detail. Little prickles of hope. Three cheers for Hakeem Jeffries! And la Pelosi - she broke her hip in Central Europe, so she didn't mess around but presented herself to the appropriate US facility. She'll be back in heels in a month. The story of how Trump forced Johnson's re-entry as Speaker! (How could anyone with dignity accept it?) Liz Cheney's fearless voice, as resounding as a bell. Ned, AOC still needs a little more maturing time, rough uncharted waters ahead. It was wisdom to hold her back for the moment. And the President - presidential to the full. How dare anyone insult him! There's much to admire in a straight back, dignity, a lurking sense of humour, and a steady gaze.
Must love Liz Cheney's response to trump's rant - she calls him by his name. "Donald, this is not the Soviet Union! ..." And the rest of her post is quite memorable, too.
You're right - I forgot to mention that! Haven't heard that since Harrison Ford's interview in Sydney, when told that Trump admired him because of the film "Air Force One" - he looked straight to camera and said, slowly and clearly, "Donald, that was a movie. Real life's not like that - but what would you know?" Hey - I found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrTCpq4KV-Q
Thank you Anne- Louise. I agree with all the points you made.
Although I know that it's unlikely, I'm hoping that Judge Merchan will sentence Trump to community service, something along the lines of spending 200 hours cleaning up litter in Central park, or working as an aide in a hospital on a ward with COVID patients. I'm sure that there is other meaningful work that Trump could do to improve life in our cities. Any suggestions?
I would not put him around sick people, or in a battered women's shelter. I think his businesses should be fined or sold off and he not be allowed to do business in New York again. Will hamper his children too.
Is America STILL covering all his family members with security?
Yes, to the end of days.
Project 2025 took care of that too? inconsistent, one might think.
In Spy Talk they discussed how difficult covering his family is.
https://www.spytalk.co/p/new-in-spyweek-murders-most-foul
Scroll down to where he talks about Secret Service.
How about cleaning toilets in public schools,and detention centers
Not a week, or a month. At least for one year!
Won't happen. He's going to get a suspended sentence and fines. The reality is that case was never really likely to put him in jail even if he had lost the election. Sadly of course.
Oligarchs do not do time in today's USA.
Exactly.
All due, I think, because of our justice system that grinds so incredibly slowly that the innocent are again victimized.
Works pretty fast on all those accused who cannot buy an army of lawyers to slow justice to a halt.
What follows is an excerpt from New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s January 3, 2025 ruling.
He is not considering a suspended sentence, rather an unconditional discharge. However, until he issues his final determination, we will not have certainty.
‘’While this Court as a matter of law must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and Defendant, opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation.
As such; in balancing the aforementioned considerations in conjunction with the underlying concerns of the Presidential immunity doctrine, a sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options.
Further, to assuage the Defendant's concerns regarding the mental and physical demands during this transition period as well as the considerations set forth in the 2000 OLC Memorandum, this Court will permit Defendant to exercise his right to appear virtually for this proceeding, if he so chooses.
People v. Reyes,72 Misc 3d 1133 [Sup Ct New York County 2011]’’
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/00563a24-39fb-4d91-8b74-3ca1b22b1cc7.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_5
I don’t serve jury duty because of my disability but my husband is regularly called. He said next time he’s just going to ask why he should bother doing his civic duty and following all the facts and evidence when verdicts are thrown out based on race, religion, and wealth. He went on to say he should ask if it’s a rich, white, Christian man on trial.
Imagine the jurors that sat through these trials and considered everything presented only to have their verdict ignored in the end. How many weeks was that? How much did they give up? What about the fear of harm by the MAGA morons?
My husband served a 5 week sexual assault case. We could talk about nothing except what he had for lunch and the weather. In the Trump case they couldn’t even read the news.
Merchan already said there would be no punishment - unconditional discharge - see R Dooley below.
no worries. Is it a legitimate case Jon. Sorry. And on January 11, the appeal will begin might last quite a while, but in the end it will be overturned.
Not that it matters but if you’d like to hear about a similar case that was more severe, and the suspect was a democrat , that was never even investigated I’d be more than happy to share it with you. So we could talk about equal just
F*** you, you idiot. No one really wants to hear your ignorant ramblings.
Let Trump do Community Service around the Hurricane devastation related to our Climate Crisis, or clean up in the ocean where recent oil spill happened.
Betsy, jail would be nice but it won't happen 😒
Thank you Professor. You out did yourself today!! Quoting another great woman and patriot, Joyce Vance: : " We are in this together!"
Yes we are but we still need to find out way to reverse this madness and go back to normal business by the people, for the people.
Since when was that normal in the US? Isn't part of the problem that ordinary people feel ill-served by what has passed for 'normal' over at least the past twenty years? It's hardly a problem confined to the US as disillusionment with politics is also rife here in the UK and across Europe. However, with the prospect of another Trump term beckoning, the US has become a beacon for authoritarian regimes and parties.
You are right Russell, I should have clarity that normal means late 30's early 40's when the New Deal was taking care of we the people lasting, with highs and lows till 1980 when everything changed and we had instead trickle down economics that never did anything for the people other than siphoning trillion of dollars to the few at the top. Unfortunately the two democrat administration we had since never tried seriously to go back to normal. Thanks for pointing out.
I agree.
Republicans have chosen to be wedded to capitalism and not to democracy, and as we are seeing, the two are not compatible lately or for the last 44+ years. There is no inevitable companionship between them - until capitalism is tamed to human needs first before anything else. It's up to us with a conscience to make this distinction at every point, as consumers, as citizens, and most certainly as voters.
Agreed. Unregulated, capitalism is anathema to democracy. Unregulated capitalism’s destiny is not about free markets. It’s about monopolies and cartels running the State. Feel familiar? At one time, this was called fascism. Communism, as it has played out, has been the reverse: State run monopolies.
Democracy is about free markets. They remain free in the same manner citizens in a democracy remain free. Consenting to and upholding a certain amount of regulation. That regulation has to be effective.
Sadly, in the USA it has been diminished or effectively abolished for individual political expediency and aggrandizement of power.
" That regulation has to be effective." With deregulation has come the erosion of enforcement power by government regulating agencies. Many large corporations continue to do harm, in spite of regulating agencies as the fines are inconsequential and paid as just thecost of doing business. The anti-trust laws are still there. They just haven't been used forcefully. Until Lina Kahn a Jonathon Kanter arrived on the job. They just chose to enforce them.
"Capitalism?" LOL! This is a first time I've seen corrupt oligarchic gangsterism presented as an economic system.
Ed, it's called "populism".😁
No. Rather, I think it is called "corruption." True believers just cannot admit their own party has been bought and owned for years.
Ed, nobody would winn an election under the banner of "corruption" and that's why they use "populism" 😆
Economics and Power go hand in hand.
The average person responds better to the word capitalism. Your term will fly right over their head.
Brava Robin !
Oh, how I grieve for our country.
I know how you feel.
Rather than grieve, take heart.
Take a breath from Bob Marley’s great spiritual:
“Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right
Get up, stand up
Don't give up the fight”
This is no time for shoegaze.
We have to beat the Republicans at their own game. Take to social media. Short blasts. “Scenes like this explain why I remain astonished by the persistence of the narrative that the Democrats are divided while the Republicans are in lockstep.”
Senator Whitehouse has a good suggestion: A DNC Offensive coordinator to more effectively coordinate the "battle". I was surprised to hear that there is not one. In my business we always had one. She/he was usually the Partner in charge of the Project or, with large clients, the Client Partner. That way all aspects of an implementation were coordinated through one person with operational and financial control. Run it like a large project office.
Offensive Coordinator: To assemble an effective team to counter autocratic activities of a sitting U.S. president, the following groups and individuals should be prioritized:
1. Legal Experts and Constitutional Defenders Joyce?
• Independent Judiciary Advocates: Legal scholars, former judges, and constitutional lawyers can challenge overreaches through litigation and uphold the rule of law. The judiciary, despite its current conservative tilt, remains a critical check on executive power.
• Civil Rights Organizations: Groups like the ACLU can mobilize legal challenges to authoritarian policies. I'm a paid member.
2. Independent Media and Communication Strategists
• Journalists and Media Outlets: The media serves as a “fourth estate” to investigate and expose abuses of power. Their protection under the First Amendment ensures they remain a counterbalance to executive overreach. I say we need our own that eclipse MSNBC, or subsume them. FACTS News (and NEVER waver from the FACTS, all of them)
• Digital Media Experts: Specialists in combating disinformation and amplifying pro-democracy narratives are essential in countering “digital populism”.
3. Civil Society Leaders
• Grassroots Organizers: Activists who mobilize public opinion and organize protests can pressure elected officials to act against autocratic moves.
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): Groups focused on democracy promotion can help maintain institutional integrity.
4. Bipartisan Political Leaders
• Moderate Republicans and Democrats: Building coalitions across party lines is crucial to restoring checks and balances, especially in Congress.
• State Governors and Legislators: State-level leaders can resist federal overreach by leveraging federalism principles.
5. Federal Bureaucracy
• Career officials within agencies like the State Department or Department of Justice can quietly resist unlawful directives, as seen during past administrations.
6. International Allies
• Collaboration with democratic nations can reinforce global norms against authoritarianism and provide external pressure on domestic governance.
This team would need to act within existing democratic frameworks, leveraging legal challenges, public advocacy, and institutional resistance to safeguard democratic norms.
7. A clandestine group whic legally follows evaluates and disseminates the current activities of the opposition. These need to be NSA specialists.
This is social media.
Bill, I disagree with your definition here. Although my quick google search defined social media thus: "Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content amongst virtual communities and networks" a further dive revealed 22 platforms that "defined" social media, amongst them (at the bottom) Blue Sky and Mastodon, with Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, Instagram, and TicToc (top 5); Substack did not appear in that list.
I suspect that what Ms. Simpson is referring to are the other, more "social" platforms that this one that is dedicated to writers posting their writings with the ability to share those across a broad variety of people.
Fair enough.. it’s ok if we disagree. I’d counter that although somewhere it is stated that substack is dedicated to writers sharing their writings a 10 minute review of the greater mass of what is actually here is something much broader. That said, even if was as claimed somewhere to be a writers chatbox, that in itself is social media.
Not offered in any way as criticism, but I observe that Google is among Earth’s poorest sources of reliable information. We all use it, but do we rely on it?
I do accept your POV and am grateful to you for pointing out my folly. I will continue to mull this over in future weeks, months, likely longer. 👍✌️
It is why I give a "buyer beware" warning with a google search. There are other areas where I am much better informed that (other than confirming dates and spelling) I don't need our use google for.
Something needs to change
Absolutely balderdash. If Power and Money is where it's at. We show ours. Basta! Then we have our own social media that shows who we can be. F**k humble!
Hi Bruce,
After reviewing all the entries I can see in this post, it’s unclear who you intended to reply to unless it was to yourself, and I kinda doubt that.
[A]s you take office again (Mr.Trump), the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic—to protect the America we love from you.” Liz Cheney
Hear, Hear.
Professor, Thanks for this roundup of the news concerning the demonstrated failure of the Republican Party to think beyond tribal difference. They are so cowed by the incoming POTUS that their congress will be ineffective and produce little important legislation. It truly will be up toe Minority Leader, Jefferies to hold their feet to the fire and use public forums to bring them to the table especially on entitlements and SNAP. It will be our job to press the importance of economic and entitlement issues on our legislature, essentially drawing a line in the sand and if crossed the retribution will be the loss of control of Congress. We will need to make all politics not about Trump's agenda but the economy and entitlements. Programs that lift all citizens not just the uber rich.
What about the congresswoman from Texas who’s in a memory care unit? Is she still able to vote?
Kay Grainger. So ridiculous! How are they even getting away with that! And it’s a heavily gerrymandered area of Dallas. Any Republican running for that seat would most likely win. Texas, my state, you’re very hard to defend!
Denise, as long as democrats allow.....that's what we get.
She didn't run for reelection in 2024. She was replaced by Craig Goldman R-TX.
She wasn't reelected, she was just out of pocket and receiving pay for the last 8 months of her term.
She was a Vlad toadie, but not in the new congress
Bravo to Ann Telnaes for dumping the kowtowed WaPo, but how despicable they betrayed her (and us).