It is with some comfort that I read and participate in these discussions because they generally show civility within the differing opinions and responses (or silences). In thinking about it, I have come to the realization that we are entering the mother of all disinformation campaigns this year. I wonder just how many resources Putin wil…
It is with some comfort that I read and participate in these discussions because they generally show civility within the differing opinions and responses (or silences). In thinking about it, I have come to the realization that we are entering the mother of all disinformation campaigns this year. I wonder just how many resources Putin will put into further creating chaos and division in the US. It is already clear that Trump sees no escape for himself without creating a chaotic mess through his minions in Congress. And Netanyahu similarly needs war and chaos to continue to avoid facing court himself. I feel for our President and hope he is using the best people ever to counter this disinformation avalanche and the chaos it entails. We’ve already seen so much, I dread what’s to come.
It is drawing close to all [democratic and reasonably-thinking independent and republican] hands-on-deck ... if we haven’t passed it! We have bunch of insurrectionist, and or just plain spineless and ignorant extreme Republicans in our midst. It is pretty sad that these people will risk, throwing away the hard fought freedoms and systems in our democratic society, all for the narcissistic and idiotic behaviors of the MAGA-cult leader. It is time to play hardball as well as smart ball in our democratic political processes and one of the things that President Biden is going to have to - at some point - begin doing is establishing/showing the importance of the issues at stake in our next presidential election by taking moments of using the air ways of television - after the SOTU address - for short prime time talks to the nation.
Unfortunately, the former Republican Party is no longer a viable - nor reliable player in our democracy ... consider that Oklahoma conservative Senator James Lankford had/has his fellow party members attempting to censuring him for working with democrats to develop a bill to deal with our southern border problems and issues - all because helping the current administration is not what trump wants. It’s a long campaign people; but our democracy is at stake ... and this is the most important POTUS and general election of our lifetimes!!!
Secretary MAYORKAS does not need 2 Trial attorney like ROBERTA KAPLAN or SHAWN CROWLEY to defend him or his Agency. E. JEAN CARROLL taught us all to fight back after she stated her name for the record. As E JEAN said afterwards, her courage welled up & Trump "turned to nothing."
As an another victory the state of New York now has legislative proposals both criminal & civil to protect all sexual abuse victims.
If a Trial attorney has a client, any client, who will be a target but, is fast thinking & has syntax skills then practice questions & answers & take no prisoners in the Hearing Room.
Agree. And after demonizing immigrants from Mexico to South America, normalizing hate by labels like vermin, it is easy for R’s to attack Sec Mayorkis because he is non white Hispanic. What a shameful time to be an ignorant Republican.
Note also that one reason so many migrants are trying to get into the US is the Republicans keep shouting about "open borders" and the coyotes and smugglers in Central America and Mexico repeat that to the migrants they want to pay them for getting to the US southern border. So Republican lies are encouraging people to come to the US, even though Biden has deported more people than Trump ever did.....
Tail wagging the dog! I didn’t think about that aspect. I have also heard that it is a concerted effort by the smugglers to go to poverty communities throughout Central and South America, and recruit/manipulate people to sell everything + savings and they will get them to, across the border, and get them a job in America. And being poor and uneducated, the impoverished agree to it. The smugglers have no intention or capability to get them a job. Just move them north for their cash,
We need a new term for what is really happening: "Manipulative Migration" ? This is a racket like the mafia promising your business protection. "pay us and your business will be safe". "Don't pay us and your business might accidently burn down, be broken into, you might get beat up by the thieves". Its no coincidence that these poverty stricken areas in Central and South America are also plagued by gangs like MS13 in El Salvador that can disrupt communities with violence that help "convince" the impoverished to agree to the smugglers offer to get them into the US where they can live in peace, have a job, live in security, etc. In other words, "Make them an offer they can not refuse".
A political refugee born in Havana, Cuba, Mayorkas is the first Latino and immigrant confirmed to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. He has led a distinguished 30-year career as a law enforcement official and a nationally recognized lawyer in the private sector. Mayorkas served as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2016, and as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure at DHS, he led the development and implementation of DACA, negotiated cybersecurity and homeland security agreements with foreign governments, led the Department’s response to Ebola and Zika, helped build and administer the Blue Campaign to combat human trafficking, and developed an emergency relief program for orphaned youth following the tragic January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Mayorkas also created the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate to better ensure the integrity of the legal immigration system.
Mayorkas began his government service in the Department of Justice, where he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, specializing in the prosecution of white collar crime. After nearly nine years as a federal prosecutor, he became the youngest United States Attorney in the nation, overseeing prosecutions of national significance, including the investigation and prosecution of financial fraud, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, public corruption, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking, environmental crime, international narcotics money laundering, and securities fraud.
Mayorkas received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of California at Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola Law School.
Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas[13] was born in Havana, Cuba, on November 24, 1959.[4] When he was one year old, his parents fled with him and his sister to the United States in 1960 as refugees, following the Cuban Revolution. He lived in Miami, Florida, before his family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he was raised for the remainder of his youth.[14] Mayorkas grew up in Beverly Hills and attended Beverly Hills High School.[15]
His father, Charles R. "Nicky" Mayorkas, was born in Cuba. He was a Cuban Jew of Sephardi (from the former Ottoman Empire, present-day Turkey and Greece) and Ashkenazi (from Poland) background. He owned and operated a steel wool factory on the outskirts of Havana.[14][16][17][18] Nicky Mayorkas studied economics at Dartmouth College.[18]
His mother, Anita (Gabor),[18] was a Romanian Jew whose family escaped the Holocaust and fled to Cuba in the 1940s[19][20][21] before leaving to the United States after the Cuban Revolution.[19]
Mayorkas earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981.[22] He received his Juris Doctor in 1985 from Loyola Law School, where he was an editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review.[2]
So you like Joe "Creepy Snuggles" Biden. Here's an article from The Hill that talks about Republican fears that Taylor Swift might be able to attract younger voters to "someone as unappealing as Biden." Yuck.
Most of the current members of the House and quite a few in the Senate, all who voted not to confirm the election results, can be constitutionally denied their seats, just as Trump can be denied the presidency.
And why, I have relentlesly asked, did the Democrats not expell them under the 14th/sec.3 when they held the majority in both houses? Section three is self executing and no 2/3 majority is needed. Read the new Amicus Brief by David W. Blight and Gains M. Foster et al to SCOTUS en re Trump's culpability in the Colorado disqualification case. 37 pages of simple pure thinking upon reading the history documented in Congressional Record as the 14th amendment was being drafted.
We need new public school curriculum. High schoolers can understand details like this. It would make better voters of them. Meanwhile departments of education nationwide need money and recruits who can teach (and be paid appropriate salaries when they take their teaching certificates to public schools) American history and civics at appropriate levels from from 10 years forward, which will prepare students to vote at 18. We need an informed citizenry if we are to continue as a democracy.
I mirror your flummox at the smoke and mirrors beset on us on the world stage. trump, putin and netanyahu are one and the same, and openly have no shame. They will prop each other up at all cost to save themselves. Both trump and bibi cling to power to avoid prosecution and while bibi behaves like a whore/slave to his government right-wingers, our extremist faschist republican "lawmakers" pathetically bow down to craven trump's whims in broad daylight. HOWEVER, good news: these truths are being exposed and our courts are bleeding trump's pockets....
"Trump hailed as 'Destroyer of America" on Russian State TV" DUH!
And he has so many sycophants in the House that are willing to see Ukraine fall to the Russians.
But a funny thing is happening all over Russia--fires and explosions of military, oil and natural gas depots and refineries and railroads and bridges. Hundreds of Russians have frozen to death this winter and large parts of Moscow have no heat.
Gary, you write: "But Trump keeps helping his buddy Putin." True, and for a long time I thought (still do) that Putin was blackmailing Trump with photos of Trump in hotel rooms in Moscow with Russian females. I thought that that was Putin's leverage. But now I also believe that Trump is enamored of Putin's autocratic power and wants to emulate that here in the U.S.
I don't think he has to blackmail drump. The orange cocksplat funded his BS "empire" with "all the Russian money we need"--dopey Eric said. Drumpf is Putin's fanboy, he doesn't need blackmail, bribery works just fine.
And the Republicants are thrilled to represent the worst impulses of humanity. That a scheming zealot like Johnson came from nowhere and witless to run the Spewkership. Now there's an impeachment and sedition charge waiting to happen.
You are so right! What makes sinister Mike so dangerous is, from that demonic tribe, he looks so normal. And I totally agree with you that putin did not have to resort to blackmail--just tell him how smart and what a great leader he is and offer him the oligarchs' money....
I agree Richard. Has Trump ever said anything negative about Putin?
Trump is delusional enough to think that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day even though it has been going on since before he became President--at least in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Trump is praying that the US economy tanks and millions are out of work so he will win the election. Unfortunately, Mike Johnson is willing to help him if he can, by continuing to do nothing in 2024.
Not sending weapons degrades our national security AND decreases both revenue and job growth here. How many Americans understand that the opposite is happening in Russia today? Putin has the Russian economy on a war footing. Every factory available has transformed to building/producing for the military! We need to match this strategy here in order to defeat them. Trump, Speaker Johnson, the entire Republican Party are more than useful idiots for Putin. It is a disgrace. History will be righteously cruel to these scoundrels. Their legacy will be that of Charles Lindbergh.
I was reading about Russia's GDP being strong, but if most of your GDP is making weapons and selling oil to other countries, how does that help the freezing and starving Russians?
Plus Russia has lost billions of dollars in weapons and over a million revenue producing bodies due to fleeing working age Russians and dead and wounded military personnel.
tfg-putin.putin-tfg. The old divide and conquer, with an extremist minority willing to do US in for the sake of their "fearless leader". None dare call it treason.
Putin never had to go as far as using blackmail. He took one look at trump and read him perfectly. All he had to do was complement him, then boldly tell him exactly what he wanted from him. Remember their two-hour meeting, after which they confiscated the interpreter's notes? And we will never know what their quid pro quo agreement was....
Sophia, I remember wondering at the time why someone (official inquiry) couldn’t depose the interpreter, Marina Gross, for her recollections of the conversation. I just now did a quick ‘net search & some online articles from years back pose the same question (I have not yet read any of them, but see that it was an issue brought up by several publications). Don’t know anything about interpreter “rules”, so maybe there is a legit reason.
I've thought of why the interpreter has not been subpoenaed or even coming forward on her own and write a book to expose what she witnessed. But then again, if I were in her shoes, I'd be terrified to spill the beans unless I had moved out of the country....
Trump wants to emulate Putin's power because that is Trump's only salvation. Trump will go to jail if he fails to win in November. (I trust so anyway.)
Trump has sold more condos to dark LLC’s funded by Putin’s oligarchs to buy influence. Trump properties have been funded via Deutsche bank from Russian oligarch private banking loans. Why would Trump ever go against his biggest INVESTOR? Without Putin’s oligarchs investors the Trump Organization does bankrupt! Our real estate laws are too damn loose. Our real estate economy is the #1 legal money laundering scheme in the world. We need a whistle blower inside Deutsche Bank, an oligarch to defect, a Kremlin defector to blow this story wide open. I’m amazed that this has not happened. It is as if our Justice Department is scared to do it! Why?
The U.S. Department of State aided, supported, abetted all those U.S. Ivy League and other grads of MBA programs who flooded Russia, the other former Soviet republics, and countries of eastern Europe in the early 1990s. They invested billions of western currency to prop up the most corrupt of the former nomenklatura -- who then stole all the public assets to become the newly corrupt oligarchs.
This U.S. financing of corruption was normal given the growth of dark money in the U.S. ever since the Powell memo's far right foundations facilitated the growth of most greedy commercialism, killing of humanities in schools, offshoring of millions of U.S. jobs, and alliances with dictators, nationalists, Chinese cadres, and royal fossil fuel murderers worldwide.
I feel sad for the Russian people, and for Israelis who oppose Netanyahu (i.e. most of them) because the autocratic policies of both are causing their own people so much harm. NOTE: this us NOT to say Hamas is not responsible!)
And I worry about us because we are in danger of putting our own autocratic candidate (Trump, of course!) in power. We need to be helping others maintain their democracies, not destroying our own.
We Americans need to understand our role as the USSR crumbled away. Did our foreign policy towards the new 1990s Russia include the rule of law, free and fair elections, building up of the institutions that make democracy possible/sustainable? Or did we subjugate every Pilar of democracy to capitalism? Our policy was the latter. Capitalism is no guarantee of democracy. Unrestrained unregulated capitalism breeds oligarchy to kleptocracy, and dictatorship. Collectively we need to learn these lessons before it’s too late. We need to learn before there is nothing for us here.
I'm sorry not to see replies to this fine comment by you, Ted.
Do so many not realize the truth of what you say because so many went to schools where all learned to ignore humanities, as planned by the commercial classes (our billionaire classes) by their far right foundations set up in the wake of the 1971 Powell memo?
I experienced an old familiar anxiety attack reading for the second day about Trump being able to block our whole government from aiding Ukraine. Is there a work-around Johnson refusing to bring it up?
I surely hope the President and anyone running for Congress make it very clear how Trump and his minions are willing to put the entire world in jeapardy for their own political power grab.
No one needs to make clear how Trump and his minions are willing to put the world in danger--they parade their intentions in broad daylight. And there are dems that call them out. My favorites: Jeffries, Raskin, Jasmine Crockett and Daniel Goldman.
Yes and I am so happy when I hear them. I'm thinking about reaching folks who may not be watching the hearings. I think the headlines should be screaming TRUMP PUTS ENTIRE WORLD AT RISK FOR POLITICAL GAIN. Just saying....
It doesn't matter how loud the truth is touted. You see the MAGA's on TV--they don't believe it. Their guy can do no wrong. Remember, he's a martyr who is fighting for them....
Yes, Sophia, they do seem quite stuck in their dedication to their guy.
I have seen some youtube videos of folks who have managed to escape. And I was thinking more of undecideds who might not be following as closely as we are.
Sounds appealing, but wouldn't that mean that others besides the US will have to foot the bill? It's the $60B in Ukraine funding Biden has asked for that is the crucial piece here.
Chaplain, it seems as if TFFG is acting like a “leader” in absentia (only he won’t actually go away)…that he is NO leader, never was, is apparently beside the point. I cannot recall a former POTUS ever meddling in such a blatant in-your-face with going’s on of a current administration. It is beyond reprehensible, not that the fact would penetrate his cloak of shamelessness.
His MAGAt minions will vote for him anyway. They know (incorrectly) that that their leader, Stinky will get rid of those treasonous libs and anyone else who belongs to a disadvantaged class. They will simply believe their leader when he speaks his lies and ignore the truth. They are so invested in Faschist propaganda that they cannot believe anything which portrays their leader in a negative manner.
I heard Heather's discussion at the LBJ library and learned more about why ordinary folks can get taken over by authoritarians. I also got to LOL a few times because she is so naturally witty! 211k views 3 months ago!!!
I don’t think there is a workaround. Nancy Pelosi used to make sure she had the votes before bringing forward bills for votes. Can someone else answer that?
That's a very reasonable fear - I have to believe that there are enough of us "grass roots" folks this time around, a number that has been growing steadily since 2016 that we wouldn't let that happen. Here's just one article and it only goes to 2019 - there are so many more!
Yes, and we are just a tiny part of the massive online communications that will be impacted. I expect an onslaught using AI to fabricate all sorts of divisions, possibly pretending to be even us, but ever more radical and divisive. That is why I enjoy the civility of many of the posts here where so far, it is much harder to get troll or bot or (hopefully) AI traction.
Bruce, the appearance of the Trolls here demonstrates that LFAA alarms MAGATRUMPA in the same way Taylor Swift does. See Steve Schmidt’s Substack today
LFAA also alarms what might be called 'MAGA Left'.
Those who don't mind or even welcome Trump being in office. Because they see voting as an exercise in self expression rather a strategy to take power. Or because they believe that Trump's abuses will accelerate a 'peoples revolution' which they imagine a socialist utopia rather than the authoritarianism it has generally turned out to be.
How do you decide who is a troll? I have been called a troll, a Putin supporter and getting paid by Putin because I push back on Biden’s horrible foreign policy. Nancy Pelosi just called protester Putin supporters. This is all shades of what happened to protesters during the Vietnam War. I have been checking my bank accounts but no payments from Putin yet.
Perhaps you are what Stalin called—and pardon me for using the words, but I can’t think of better ones at the moment—a useful idiot. (And your description of what Nancy said is materially inaccurate. I suggest more care in your word choices.).
Agreed on the destructiveness of the Israeli military response, but remember to remind yourself of Hamas' track record since it was elected in 2014, its denial of recognition to the state of Israel, its desire to drive Israeli's into the sea, establish a Palestinian single state solution. High as deaths are, the Israeli military campaign does not remotely constitute a genocide. LOL on your checking your bank a/c.
Hamas is very bad and what they did on October 7 was terrible but it does not justify the horrific disproportionate response. I am not quoting him exactly but Chris Hedges talked about the behavior of Hamas being terrible but understandable. After 70 years of oppression violence is to be expected by some. Until recently I bought into the myth of Israel, we were never taught the real history and just thought it was a good place created in the aftermath of the Holocaust but it is so much more. We were taught the horrors of that genocide and that it should never happen so it is sad that now it is happening in the name of the Holocaust. Never again means never again for everyone and yet everyday more civilians die. The Democrats either support it or look the other way. Even the most progressive Dems are afraid to say too much of they will incur the wrath of AIPAC who will spend millions to put up a candidate to get them out. I have read that AIPAC has more power in Washington than Biden does. Peace.
Hi Nora, i think Hamas' political and cultural footprint are far larger than the mere slaughter of 1200 Israeli civilians last October. Had Hamas had a pro forma commitment to a policy of mutual peace with Israelis over these very many years, things would have worked out very differently. Hamas was born several decades ago with one of total hostility to Israel and its existence, and has never changed. You cannot expect Israelis to respond peaceably to a policy that wants the destruction of the state of Israel, replaced by a muslim State of Palestine. Whither 4 million Israelis? From what I've seen over the years, outbreaks of violence has led to outsized tit for tat on the part of Israel, regardless who was in power. Israel didn't build the border walls just for fun. They wanted to stop bus bombings in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Without a policy of accommodation to the de facto existence of the Israel state, this stuff just continues. Sporadic acts of terrorism, civilian killings, as a form of guerrilla warfare are a failed strategy. I'm not crazy about what the Israel government and military are doing in Gaza either. I agree that the founding and development of the state of Israel has had very problematic outcomes, moreso the failure of accomodation among Palestinians.
Did anyone complain that the allied response to the Nazis and the Japanese in WW2 should be proportionate? We were defending our lives and our nations. The Israelis are doing the same.
“Proportionate” would be a group IDF soldiers going into Gaza and destroying villages, raping and dismembering men and women, and taking hostages. Would that satisfy everyone?
What you seem to miss is the contentious diversity of the Israeli polity. The American Left has abandoned and ignored the Israeli Left. Who have continually worked with and for their Palestinian neighbors.
Israel could have a program in its schools where students learn to essay first themselves, then their neighbors (in English classes) for the skills to see "others" as individuals in their communities.
Hamas was elected in 2007 in Gaza. Since then it has relentlessly sent rockets into Israel. This was before Oct 7. They are committed to the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamist theocracy in the entire region.
A Troll is anybody who posts an opinion dissenting to the “party line”. A troll will be jumped on by party faithfuls and told to stop rocking the boat.
When I looked it up the definition on Wikipedia it said: a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off topic messages. I am not worried that I am a troll and more fit in with the protesters who were called supporters of Putin’s mission. I am ok with that but once again Putin still has not sent me any money. This protesting is not very lucrative and it can bring on insults even on a supposedly Democratic blog. Thank goodness my Mom taught me sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.
Me too. Nobody knows what he is doing. We had a dinner party at our home this past Saturday with 5 other Ph.Ds and two MD's. To quote one of the brightest among the group: "What is Biden doing!!" Shocked, I sent her HCR's "Letters" the next morning.
But, Americans are lazy. They don't want to or cannot read. HCR, apparently, does have some video which I never watch since reading is ever so much faster for information acquisition. But, not many folks watch her that need to.
Lastly, I personally saw President Biden yesterday on Lester Holt's "Nightly News".
Biden looks positively frail. "Old" does not even really cover it. Frail is more the word. And, sure, he has a stuttering problem but it seemed he had real trouble getting his words out. I hate to say it but WE have to admit that is a big hurdle for us.
Trump streams nonsensical words constantly so he looks cogent to the masses of people who don't or cannot process what he says critically.
We have a real problem in America. I am worried Biden may not even make it through the campaign. Honestly. Clarence Thomas was not his only big mistake. Biden should have carefully picked a Vice President that would have taken up his torch after one term in which he showcased his Vice President daily. Then, put his ego on the shelf and stepped aside with little fanfare.
Now? We have what almost everyone thinks is a doddering old man running for President. Never mind that he has done a good job, one that nobody knows about. He is and looks positively ancient these days.
Those who say “what has he done?” do not read or engage like many of us do to learn the details of what he’s done. What actually did Loser do during his tenure, but watch TV and play golf and sell us down the river. Biden is here, there and everywhere. Your PhD friends have their heads buried in their work and lives and doing their best to ignore how the world turns because of what the government does to keep their world going.
Kamala Harris is finding her voice more and more. Biden for all his “doddering” is doing a damn good job “administering” as any good CEO would do.
Did you look at how previous presidents all aged during their administrations. Who wouldn’t under the pressures they face and the pace they must keep if they are doing their job? I’ll taking aging Joe Biden over anybody the Republicans throw at us.
Frank, I shared this before, but it bears repeating...
I saw a commentator on TV say, I'd rather have an old man who needs another nap, than an old man who needs another lawyer."
I remember hearing people say that Biden wouldn't last 6 months when he was elected.. That he had dementia and was too frail mentally and physically. Well, It's been almost 4 years and he HAS lasted, and has accomplished more than Trump ever even thought about accomplishing.
I think he will let us know when he feels like he can't do his job anymore.
PLainly the charge Biden "had dementia" wasn't fact checked. And we must always remember an effective president surrounds themself with "good people"... works for rock stars too lol.
Frank, when Trump was amazingly elected in 2016, my only hope for the stability of our nation was that he would surround himself with experts in their field. He was totally ill -prepared to be the president. He had no idea what he was doing, and then he fired the experts and hired his thuggish friends who knew about as much as he did.
Biden's cabinet is filled with qualified people whom he respects and relies on.
Exactly. I would walk over hot coals to vote for the finest, most accomplished president of my long life. I read. I know how carefully and wisely President Biden proceeds.
But we live in a world where one sound bite, one TikTok, one stutter, one shuffle becomes more powerful than all that competence and compassion that our president has brought us.
The fear Mike is expressing courses through my veins. The horrible truth is that our political process has been twisted into a circus. A show. And the performer who can spit out a cute six word quip gets the applause.
Mike is right. Biden should have stepped aside. And it is not too late. It was March 31, 1968 when LBJ announced he would not be running for re-election - he knew he couldn't win.
If Biden has one significant flaw, it is his ego. You have to have a big one to arrive at the presidency. But I believe he really thinks he is our best bet at another four years of a Democratic presidency. He is wrong. There are many leaders in our party who could crush the Republican nominee (Trump ain't there yet!). Our bench is deep.
Regardless, the task is to vote Blue. And to convince every wavering younger person we know - to vote and to get their friends to vote Blue. Or we will be experiencing the end of American democracy and an embrace of fascism. The Republican Party of 2024 makes the Communist Party of 1954 look positively saintly.
Biden has done a great job. He is an excellent POTUS. But, he is 80 years old and that is an issue. There are so many who could take his place and continue with his excellent work, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, for one, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, for another. We keep dealing with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg effect. Damn.
When I heard Corey Booker speak at the DNC when Obama was nominated, I thought he'd be the next democratic candidate. There are, as others have listed, a fair number of outstanding people in the wings. We just need to get them there.
The beauty is that we have a large number of younger Democrats (I'm 83) who could "knock it out of the park." Exercising excellent judgment is a very, very difficult quality to grasp. What happens if within the next three months Biden suffers a disabling stroke or dies? What then?
Bill, Biden has already proved America will pick him over Trump but it was close. Picking any other Democrat in this MAGA hypnosis is a big risk. Who on the bench is up to the task “today”? Harris now has some experience. Raskin perhaps. Newsom?, perhaps, perhaps. The rest are fully capable of governing but don’t rise to name recognition, which is critical at this point. Think about how anyone of them could have accomplished what Biden already has
IIene, I was at a concert in Aspen sitting next to a guy who was a local surgeon, pilot, and activist. He said, he works with the ultra wealthy everyday. He was telling me how many are Agent Orange supporters. We were laughing about the fact they can make money or rather inherent it, but when it comes to basic humanity they are as dumb and apathetic as a doorknob. He had some great stories.
The sad part is that I’m aware of Gen Zers and Millennials who have the world at their fingertips tips who belittle what they see and are in their own bubble of entitlement.
I’m glad my own kids and even young grandchildren are following more in my footsteps ( not because they are in lockstep), but because they keep themselves informed and involved.
We just have to keep trying to change one mind at a time.
Entitlement and apathy is an issue with some. I remember when my one of my kids got their first job. After a couple weeks she thought she should be paid more. We laughed. And told her so does everyone else.
LOL, Lisa, growing up is hard to do! I think I was in my early 20’s before really “got” my parents & what being responsible for yourself really meant. I had to learn fast, having gotten married 3 days after my 18th birthday. Fortunately my mom, as a mostly single parent, had vested me and my sibs with lots of household responsibilities….something we all whined about at the time, but were eventually grateful for being “apprentice” adults & learning life skills.
The other thing, Ilene, is when you confront them with what he has done, they reply with either a "well, that isn't what I read" or a well reasoned "nu-uh" and a head shake.
Fran Lebowitz quote: “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” Personally I prefer to read both inside and outside my silo, even tho it can seem more warm and cozy with like-minded folk!
Ilene, thank you for using that word "administering": ... to wit executive administration.
FDR was hobbled by polio but, he had superior cabinet administrators including FRANCES PERKINS, Secretary of Labor make that Secretary of Labor rights 1933-1945.
JEN PSAKI has worked for 6 Presidents as a communicator, West Wing & Campaign expert.
ANTONY J BLINKEN seems to be in a different nation every other day. Use surrogates like my CA Governor NEWSOM.
We need to revolutionize Presidential Communications to the Citizens. Build a Beta model asap & use it in the Campaign.
Exactly! They can push him in a wheelchair for all I care. We need to hold it together. It is what it is. All hands on deck. Everybody. United front. Deal with it. We don't have time to reinvent the system. Biden, of course, should have passed the baton to the next generation. But he didn't. Hell, they could both stroke out. I'm 65 and I don't want to walk to my mailbox some days. I can't imagine how he does it.
We (the HCR crowd) cannot rely on Dems or the GOP faithful ever reading or watching anything positive about Biden. And the firehose of anti-Biden or “too-old” messages are unrelenting.
Assuming that’s true, I’ve implemented a new tactic. And I suggest (beg) all HCR-ers do the same. I’m wearing a Biden Tshirt on EVERY grocery run til 11/5.
Trump fans cannot be swayed by facts. So stop wasting time arguing. But don’t concede with silence.
Wearing a Biden shirt says “I support Biden’s policies NOW & THRU 2028!”
A Biden shirt tells disappointed Dems, “Get on board! This is our guy!”
If you don’t like your QB, do you abandon your team? No! You wear your Jersey because your team NEEDS you to RALLY them to victory.
Biden’s eye slits strike me as a sign of feebleness. We cannot see the fire in his eyes because they are locked in a forever-squint that telegraphs his age. So what!? Do I quit the team... or do I HELP BRING THE FIRE?
Buy a “DEMS MAKE LIFE BETTER” tshirt at IndivisibleMarin.com. Buy Three! And wear them WITH ME grocery shopping.
This tactic requires no reading. No arguing. No donating. No posting. No convincing.
And, I promise, it feels GOOD to do something. And, it feels even BETTER with every passing day of Biden being right and Trump being wrong.
If I sound like a broken record with my “Biden And Grocery Shopping” (BAGS) idea... then, help me break records on tshirt sales and spontaneous Grocery Store take-overs.
I'm right there with you, Shawn. My new thing is asking people "Do you know about Project 2025 and A.L.E.C?" They don't. I was explaining it to a group of lefty liberals. They never heard of it. I explained to my hairdresser, the checkout person, the guy at the gas station, everybody.
I posted here a while ago that while signing a petition for my local plumber recommending him for a local Dem organization, I asked him if he was aware. He was not & inked the information on his hand, as he didn’t want to write it on the petition, so he could look it up. Later found his email and sent him links to the Project as well as some investigative articles and opinion pieces. Trying to spread the word whilst also trying to not be too crazy about it….I just really want people to pay attention and realize what is at stake.
Lisa59, at first I thought it was a spoof & then did a dive into it….OMG how can you have chills while your hair is on fire?!!! I read some of it and having some experience in reading Fed regs, it read almost like a Federal Register of regulations! That’s when I realized these folks are dead serious and have some really really really big bucks behind them. As far as I can tell from looking into it, kinda builds on what started with the Powell memo during the Reagan admin (don’t get me started on that….had him as CA governor for two terms & watched him strangle the life out of some really good state programs…education being one of them).
The American Legislative Exchange Council, Shawn, dates now 50 years.
Over these decades it has programmed, coordinated, and funded all the worst vulgarities of U.S. state Republican legislatures.
ALEC didn't come first, however. Right after the Powell memo of 1971, the new Heritage Foundation started to work for U.S. billionaires and most retrograde corporations. Soon, too, the Hoover Institution enlarged itself and also set to work pushing the far right agenda.
You can read of all these vulgarities best in Jane Mayer's "Dark Money."
Phil, thanks for the background on ALEC and the Dark Money reco. I will continue down that path.
The organization of the Billionaire class and staunch republicans is impressive/horrifying. The GOP takeover of state legislatures and the supreme court is an example of long term strategy, a slow moving coup.
When billionaires donate or contribute millions to advance their own agendas, consider this: a million seconds is 11 days. A billion seconds is 36 years. So... a million here, a million there, means nothing. And yet they do so much trampling to ensure they get more, more, more at the expense of others. I don’t get it. I can only imagine all the people I could help as a Billionaire.
"We (the HCR crowd) cannot rely on Dems or the GOP faithful ever reading or watching anything positive about Biden."
Please don't leave out the MAGA Left - who don't mind or actually welcome a Trump administration. Those happy to split or suppress the vote for their own antidemocratic or antiDemocratic agendas.
Lin, absolutely. This tshirt idea is as all-inclusive as it gets. EVERYONE goes grocery shopping. For Fox News watchers, a Biden Tshirt at the grocery store is the only exposure they’ll get to the reality that more than 50% of Americans prefer Biden.
Great idea! I tried the link several times and it said "can't be reached." I even tried just searching "indivisible marin" and got a .org, but I couldn't find any merch on that site. Help please!
Yes, he's a frail old man. He was frail and old in 2020, yet more people voted for him than any candidate in history. They will again not because he's well, because he's not crazy. Because we'd like another election in 2028. Because we know the pathfinder Trump has laid out what every future Republican candidate will do--deny election results, foment violence, and claim the office. Even us hoi polloi get that.
He's not as frail as news reports would have us believe. He takes care of his health, and when I watch him speak, I hear a touch of his stutter now and then, but clarity on his topics.
Yes, that is the point, MJXS, Biden is not crazy! And we would like another election in 2028. I heard an excellent interview with Rep. Ro Khanna from CA, who said that when young people complain that Biden is not liberal enough, we need to look at his long history of being known and respected globally (in addition, of course, to all he has accomplished in his first term). Rep. Khanna recommended saying to those who are threatening not to vote for Biden because of his age or because of disagreeing with his foreign policy in Israel: "See Biden as a necessary BRIDGE to 2028. Then you can put energy towards getting in power a younger and more progressive president." May not be his exact words, but this was the essence of what he was saying.
Thank you, and his Valley Forge speech was the best, must full-throated affirmation of American democracy I've ever heard. No "fragility" there. Joe has been a pleasing surprise to this old progressive.
Mike S, frailty of the physical body is not the same as frailty of the mind. IMO, Biden is demonstrating clear and precise handling of multiple national and global threats in real time with real and positive results. Electing Presidents on physical appearance is an American TV land foible I want experience, determination and decisiveness. In Biden ( and importantly the capable people he surrounds himself with) we have an “administration” working for good of us all. Trump thinks he can rule as a King. Biden completely understands that Democracy survives as a team
Yes! This a thousand times. My unenthusiastic vote for Biden was an anti tRump vote. This time around I will gladly vote for him. Biden is a great president IMO!
You hit the nail squarely on the head, Dave. The US will be just fine with Kamala Harris as President of the United States of America!! HOWEVER, MAGAs will HATE that for numerous reasons AND look who presently follows Harris —> Mike Johnson. As James Comey would say, “Lordy!”
As I posted elsewhere on this thread, if Harris becomes POTUS, taking over if Biden is somehow incapacitated, there would be a new VPOTUS selected (imagine those discussions w/in the admin!) pending approval by a majority vote in Congress to confirm.
Agreed Frank. I’m over reading it. Biden is a chess player. Not a flashy boxer. He has a bright future and long career ahead. He’ll be wise and spry long after 2028!
lol hmmmm I think we had a few outsized negative comments on Biden to get this going, Lisa. And i think You'll find msm and polling to keep this up for a while.
I agree that Biden looks and sometimes sounds frail. However, I would vote for him if he was bedridden. Not just to defeat the wannabe dictator (which is actually a good enough reason right there). I’d vote for him because he has a Cabinet of honest, intelligent, incorruptible, competent people running day to day government. Biden may be frail but he has half a century of experience and relationships that he clearly knows how to use.
Let’s remember, Mike, our Founders have already addressed the Presidential Succession issue. A Vice President has become the President using the Founder’s Constitutional Solution. It has happened THREE TIMES (so far) in my lifetime: FDR (stroke), Nixon (resignation), and JFK (assassination) AND the US has survived just fine. And, focus on the three VEEPS who became President: Truman, Ford, and LBJ. AND, the US has survived just fine. Wanna go back before I was born?
My point is: Let’s stop worrying about Biden’s walking and talking abilities (Heck, FDR couldn’t walk). Let’s focus on who currently follows Harris. Wanna get scared???
How did you challenge the paper holding intellectuals in your midst? Many elitists chat it up in their social circles but seem hesitant to speak out against tyranny as our democracy is crumbling before our very eyes! Yes, we know Biden is old, yes we know 80 year olds have diminished faculties, and yes we know the VP is not blessed with magnetism…..BUT these are the realities we face and the “others” are committed to carrying out Putin’s agenda.
If TV and social media were a thing in 1860, and politicians had to look good on camera, for a voting public used to seeing the young and beautiful (or at least, those that have been digitally and/or surgically enhanced) as part of their daily media consumption, I wonder if the lanky, morose prairie lawyer named Abraham Lincoln would have been elected. Or in 1932, if the public were fed a steady diet of images of Franklin Roosevelt in his wheelchair, reminding voters of the extent of his infirmities, I wonder how he could possibly have won any presidential election, much less 4.
Sadly, I agree with you, Mike. Although Biden is the wise old man in the room, many voters will accept that a vote for him is a vote for Harris, who has not gained much traction with the electorate. One solution is to bring Gavin Newsom on as VP. He would have at least some time for foreign policy on the job training before Biden moves on the his beach house.
I noticed in a short news clip yesterday that he does indeed look frail. Although it is worrisome, consider the stress he must be under. The problem being that stress is a killer.
We should all be as sharp as he is at 81...especially considering everything that’s been on his plate since taking office. I’m with Joe and Kamala, vote blue up and down the ticket.
Mike, I have posted this here previously & have sent the link to all my friends and family, but shall again: https://brianhassett.com/2023/12/why-i-love-joe-biden/ Is age an issue for Biden, absolutely, but I think Harris is up to the task to step into the role if needed. Additionally, were that to happen, a new VPOTUS would be selected (Newsome? Whitmer? Booker? Buttigieg? Or?) by the new POTUS pending confirmation of a majority vote of approval from Congress. I hate that our political process is devolving into a cage fight, but seems there are those (too many) who want just this sort of spectacle.
I'm right with you Mike. Anybody who thinks elections are won on facts and the truth or on a record of achievement, don't understand elections. Elections are won by people who can sell their visions of a better tomorrow. People always are looking for aspirational leaders who project power. It comes down to perception vs. reality. The perception of voters is all that matters. Reality always is pushed aside by perception.
There are better qualified younger Democrats who can step up and run supporting Biden's record of achievement. All they have to do is pledge that they will continue the great work Biden AND the Democrats in Congress have been doing. Easy Peasy!!
There's still time! I want to see Joe Biden go out on top!
“The mother of all disinformation campaigns” for sure. That the extremist Republicans are showing zero humanity ( or intelligence ) to please Dear Leader is chilling. This passage, in particular says a lot to me about the essence of how the world sees these soulless magats:
,” Burns said. The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, has been in Washington, D.C., this week, urging Republicans to back the aid, if only on the grounds that most of the money appropriated goes to support jobs in the U.S. “
Instead of trying to appeal to their “better angels”, Stoltenberg did not go to where normal human beings might listen. He went right to cold hard cash, and greed. When all is stripped away, money and power are at the root of their Fascist fantasies.
Like the printing press, war follows internet disinformation/social media. The Nazi’s outlawed foreign radio in the 1930s in order to radicalize the German people. The Russians have been manipulating Americans since about 2007, “prepping the battlefield” as they call it. Part of that preparation was raising a creature of their own in the democracies in the west, particularly the conservative parties in western democracies. Demonizing immigrants is part of that strategy. Trump himself is proof of the effectiveness of Russian Active measures. Elum Musk is another. And Twitter is as much a FSB delivery tool as Maga-ite’s are on Facebook. No one has a policy suggestion to combat radicalization, let alone stem the radicalization of our society. This is the leadership challenge of our time. Who will answer the call? How will they address it? How much time is left before Eastern Europe is lost? Is Western Democracy’s fate the same as Ukrainian’s? We can learn a lot from studying Ukraine from 2007 to present. Our future as a democracy depends on it.
Trumpism: An historic phenomenon where adherents happily and un wittingly march to the demise of not only themselves but of the entire world, at the insistence of a man that hates the world around him as much as he hates himself; the actual embodiment of the AntiChrist
I see Biden and Dems are amping up the 2024 campaign in earnest, with a lot of direct person to person contact. Biden in particular is taking this approach. If nothing else, let a few $ find their way to Dem campaign donor sites. I agree Stephen, civility should be a top priority, but points and issues can be forcefully applied, the GOP can be taken to task at times by simply mirroring back their own public presentations.
This reminds me. Will those congressman who participated and encouraged insurrection ever be brought to justice?
BTW the guardian and not any major US newspaper as far as I know, carried the news that a group of distinguished Civil War Historians have submitted an Amicus brief to the Supreme Court on the 14th amendment issue. I was disappointed to see that Heather was not among the signatories. Did someone forget to reach out to her?
"Ukraine is defending itself against an invasion by Russia, but the struggle there is larger than one between two countries: it is the question of whether the rules-based international order put in place after World War II will survive, or whether the world will go back to a system in which stronger countries can gobble up less powerful ones."
The same is true with the occupation of the land of what was the nation of Palestine and displacement and genocide directed at the Palestinian nation and ethnicity. The rule of law has been courageously asserted by the International Court of Justice. Will we abide by that rules-based international order? Will this "Letters from...." blog recognize our obligation and responsibility to do so? If not, I too dread what is to come.
It is with some comfort that I read and participate in these discussions because they generally show civility within the differing opinions and responses (or silences). In thinking about it, I have come to the realization that we are entering the mother of all disinformation campaigns this year. I wonder just how many resources Putin will put into further creating chaos and division in the US. It is already clear that Trump sees no escape for himself without creating a chaotic mess through his minions in Congress. And Netanyahu similarly needs war and chaos to continue to avoid facing court himself. I feel for our President and hope he is using the best people ever to counter this disinformation avalanche and the chaos it entails. We’ve already seen so much, I dread what’s to come.
It is drawing close to all [democratic and reasonably-thinking independent and republican] hands-on-deck ... if we haven’t passed it! We have bunch of insurrectionist, and or just plain spineless and ignorant extreme Republicans in our midst. It is pretty sad that these people will risk, throwing away the hard fought freedoms and systems in our democratic society, all for the narcissistic and idiotic behaviors of the MAGA-cult leader. It is time to play hardball as well as smart ball in our democratic political processes and one of the things that President Biden is going to have to - at some point - begin doing is establishing/showing the importance of the issues at stake in our next presidential election by taking moments of using the air ways of television - after the SOTU address - for short prime time talks to the nation.
Unfortunately, the former Republican Party is no longer a viable - nor reliable player in our democracy ... consider that Oklahoma conservative Senator James Lankford had/has his fellow party members attempting to censuring him for working with democrats to develop a bill to deal with our southern border problems and issues - all because helping the current administration is not what trump wants. It’s a long campaign people; but our democracy is at stake ... and this is the most important POTUS and general election of our lifetimes!!!
I concur Jim.
Secretary MAYORKAS does not need 2 Trial attorney like ROBERTA KAPLAN or SHAWN CROWLEY to defend him or his Agency. E. JEAN CARROLL taught us all to fight back after she stated her name for the record. As E JEAN said afterwards, her courage welled up & Trump "turned to nothing."
As an another victory the state of New York now has legislative proposals both criminal & civil to protect all sexual abuse victims.
If a Trial attorney has a client, any client, who will be a target but, is fast thinking & has syntax skills then practice questions & answers & take no prisoners in the Hearing Room.
Agree. And after demonizing immigrants from Mexico to South America, normalizing hate by labels like vermin, it is easy for R’s to attack Sec Mayorkis because he is non white Hispanic. What a shameful time to be an ignorant Republican.
Note also that one reason so many migrants are trying to get into the US is the Republicans keep shouting about "open borders" and the coyotes and smugglers in Central America and Mexico repeat that to the migrants they want to pay them for getting to the US southern border. So Republican lies are encouraging people to come to the US, even though Biden has deported more people than Trump ever did.....
Tail wagging the dog! I didn’t think about that aspect. I have also heard that it is a concerted effort by the smugglers to go to poverty communities throughout Central and South America, and recruit/manipulate people to sell everything + savings and they will get them to, across the border, and get them a job in America. And being poor and uneducated, the impoverished agree to it. The smugglers have no intention or capability to get them a job. Just move them north for their cash,
We need a new term for what is really happening: "Manipulative Migration" ? This is a racket like the mafia promising your business protection. "pay us and your business will be safe". "Don't pay us and your business might accidently burn down, be broken into, you might get beat up by the thieves". Its no coincidence that these poverty stricken areas in Central and South America are also plagued by gangs like MS13 in El Salvador that can disrupt communities with violence that help "convince" the impoverished to agree to the smugglers offer to get them into the US where they can live in peace, have a job, live in security, etc. In other words, "Make them an offer they can not refuse".
and sometimes the coyotes leave their "passengers" to die.
That’s interesting and likely true. There is also the mantra that the US is “the best country in the world”.
Per Wikipedia, the Secretary has little if any Hispanic ancestry. Mostly European and Jewish.
A political refugee born in Havana, Cuba, Mayorkas is the first Latino and immigrant confirmed to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. He has led a distinguished 30-year career as a law enforcement official and a nationally recognized lawyer in the private sector. Mayorkas served as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2016, and as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure at DHS, he led the development and implementation of DACA, negotiated cybersecurity and homeland security agreements with foreign governments, led the Department’s response to Ebola and Zika, helped build and administer the Blue Campaign to combat human trafficking, and developed an emergency relief program for orphaned youth following the tragic January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Mayorkas also created the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate to better ensure the integrity of the legal immigration system.
Mayorkas began his government service in the Department of Justice, where he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, specializing in the prosecution of white collar crime. After nearly nine years as a federal prosecutor, he became the youngest United States Attorney in the nation, overseeing prosecutions of national significance, including the investigation and prosecution of financial fraud, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, public corruption, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking, environmental crime, international narcotics money laundering, and securities fraud.
Mayorkas received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of California at Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola Law School.
https://www.dhs.gov/person/alejandro-mayorkas
Early life and education
Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas[13] was born in Havana, Cuba, on November 24, 1959.[4] When he was one year old, his parents fled with him and his sister to the United States in 1960 as refugees, following the Cuban Revolution. He lived in Miami, Florida, before his family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he was raised for the remainder of his youth.[14] Mayorkas grew up in Beverly Hills and attended Beverly Hills High School.[15]
His father, Charles R. "Nicky" Mayorkas, was born in Cuba. He was a Cuban Jew of Sephardi (from the former Ottoman Empire, present-day Turkey and Greece) and Ashkenazi (from Poland) background. He owned and operated a steel wool factory on the outskirts of Havana.[14][16][17][18] Nicky Mayorkas studied economics at Dartmouth College.[18]
His mother, Anita (Gabor),[18] was a Romanian Jew whose family escaped the Holocaust and fled to Cuba in the 1940s[19][20][21] before leaving to the United States after the Cuban Revolution.[19]
Mayorkas earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981.[22] He received his Juris Doctor in 1985 from Loyola Law School, where he was an editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Mayorkas
No wonder the Congress Critters hate him!
Thank you so much for the background on Sec. Mayorkas.
Ted, thanks for the bio. I had no idea. He appeared so timid to me, not defending himself often when he had the opportunity to do it.
Reported and Hiden
Bryan Sean McKown brings up E. Jean Carroll. Joe Biden did the same thing to Tara Reade ("penis finger") that Trump did to Carroll.
Reported
Reported
Would you just please go away? Sheesh.
Reported
Or maybe you prefer Corporate Joe "Cocaine Nose" Biden, the guy who dropped his stash on the carpet un the White House, oops.
The deal isn't real unless you follow your nose down the line.
So you like Joe "Creepy Snuggles" Biden. Here's an article from The Hill that talks about Republican fears that Taylor Swift might be able to attract younger voters to "someone as unappealing as Biden." Yuck.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4437811-republicans-have-a-serious-taylor-swift-problem/
Most of the current members of the House and quite a few in the Senate, all who voted not to confirm the election results, can be constitutionally denied their seats, just as Trump can be denied the presidency.
And why, I have relentlesly asked, did the Democrats not expell them under the 14th/sec.3 when they held the majority in both houses? Section three is self executing and no 2/3 majority is needed. Read the new Amicus Brief by David W. Blight and Gains M. Foster et al to SCOTUS en re Trump's culpability in the Colorado disqualification case. 37 pages of simple pure thinking upon reading the history documented in Congressional Record as the 14th amendment was being drafted.
The intent is abuntantly clear.
Yes! We’re learning the Constitution!
That's for sure. We were never told about the details.
We need new public school curriculum. High schoolers can understand details like this. It would make better voters of them. Meanwhile departments of education nationwide need money and recruits who can teach (and be paid appropriate salaries when they take their teaching certificates to public schools) American history and civics at appropriate levels from from 10 years forward, which will prepare students to vote at 18. We need an informed citizenry if we are to continue as a democracy.
I mirror your flummox at the smoke and mirrors beset on us on the world stage. trump, putin and netanyahu are one and the same, and openly have no shame. They will prop each other up at all cost to save themselves. Both trump and bibi cling to power to avoid prosecution and while bibi behaves like a whore/slave to his government right-wingers, our extremist faschist republican "lawmakers" pathetically bow down to craven trump's whims in broad daylight. HOWEVER, good news: these truths are being exposed and our courts are bleeding trump's pockets....
"Trump hailed as 'Destroyer of America" on Russian State TV" DUH!
And he has so many sycophants in the House that are willing to see Ukraine fall to the Russians.
But a funny thing is happening all over Russia--fires and explosions of military, oil and natural gas depots and refineries and railroads and bridges. Hundreds of Russians have frozen to death this winter and large parts of Moscow have no heat.
But Trump keeps helping his buddy Putin.
Gary, you write: "But Trump keeps helping his buddy Putin." True, and for a long time I thought (still do) that Putin was blackmailing Trump with photos of Trump in hotel rooms in Moscow with Russian females. I thought that that was Putin's leverage. But now I also believe that Trump is enamored of Putin's autocratic power and wants to emulate that here in the U.S.
I don't think he has to blackmail drump. The orange cocksplat funded his BS "empire" with "all the Russian money we need"--dopey Eric said. Drumpf is Putin's fanboy, he doesn't need blackmail, bribery works just fine.
And the Republicants are thrilled to represent the worst impulses of humanity. That a scheming zealot like Johnson came from nowhere and witless to run the Spewkership. Now there's an impeachment and sedition charge waiting to happen.
You are so right! What makes sinister Mike so dangerous is, from that demonic tribe, he looks so normal. And I totally agree with you that putin did not have to resort to blackmail--just tell him how smart and what a great leader he is and offer him the oligarchs' money....
Oooo! A new word to describe the vile, wannabe emperor! Thanks, Jen!
Spewkership. Now there is the word of the week!
I love “cocksplat”. Might have to use it myself if you don’t mind. I’m running out of trumpian invectives.
I agree Richard. Has Trump ever said anything negative about Putin?
Trump is delusional enough to think that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day even though it has been going on since before he became President--at least in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Trump is praying that the US economy tanks and millions are out of work so he will win the election. Unfortunately, Mike Johnson is willing to help him if he can, by continuing to do nothing in 2024.
Not sending weapons degrades our national security AND decreases both revenue and job growth here. How many Americans understand that the opposite is happening in Russia today? Putin has the Russian economy on a war footing. Every factory available has transformed to building/producing for the military! We need to match this strategy here in order to defeat them. Trump, Speaker Johnson, the entire Republican Party are more than useful idiots for Putin. It is a disgrace. History will be righteously cruel to these scoundrels. Their legacy will be that of Charles Lindbergh.
I agree with all of your points.
I was reading about Russia's GDP being strong, but if most of your GDP is making weapons and selling oil to other countries, how does that help the freezing and starving Russians?
Plus Russia has lost billions of dollars in weapons and over a million revenue producing bodies due to fleeing working age Russians and dead and wounded military personnel.
tfg-putin.putin-tfg. The old divide and conquer, with an extremist minority willing to do US in for the sake of their "fearless leader". None dare call it treason.
Gary, you write: Unfortunately, Mike Johnson is willing to help him if he can, by continuing to do nothing in 2024.
There is no fix for stupid or a way in which to influence the True Believer. Those brains are impenetrable by hard core facts.
He would just help Putin and his murderous hoard march in!
Putin never had to go as far as using blackmail. He took one look at trump and read him perfectly. All he had to do was complement him, then boldly tell him exactly what he wanted from him. Remember their two-hour meeting, after which they confiscated the interpreter's notes? And we will never know what their quid pro quo agreement was....
Sophia, I remember wondering at the time why someone (official inquiry) couldn’t depose the interpreter, Marina Gross, for her recollections of the conversation. I just now did a quick ‘net search & some online articles from years back pose the same question (I have not yet read any of them, but see that it was an issue brought up by several publications). Don’t know anything about interpreter “rules”, so maybe there is a legit reason.
I've thought of why the interpreter has not been subpoenaed or even coming forward on her own and write a book to expose what she witnessed. But then again, if I were in her shoes, I'd be terrified to spill the beans unless I had moved out of the country....
Trump wants to emulate Putin's power because that is Trump's only salvation. Trump will go to jail if he fails to win in November. (I trust so anyway.)
Trump has sold more condos to dark LLC’s funded by Putin’s oligarchs to buy influence. Trump properties have been funded via Deutsche bank from Russian oligarch private banking loans. Why would Trump ever go against his biggest INVESTOR? Without Putin’s oligarchs investors the Trump Organization does bankrupt! Our real estate laws are too damn loose. Our real estate economy is the #1 legal money laundering scheme in the world. We need a whistle blower inside Deutsche Bank, an oligarch to defect, a Kremlin defector to blow this story wide open. I’m amazed that this has not happened. It is as if our Justice Department is scared to do it! Why?
Good question, Ted.
Simple answer.
The U.S. Department of State aided, supported, abetted all those U.S. Ivy League and other grads of MBA programs who flooded Russia, the other former Soviet republics, and countries of eastern Europe in the early 1990s. They invested billions of western currency to prop up the most corrupt of the former nomenklatura -- who then stole all the public assets to become the newly corrupt oligarchs.
This U.S. financing of corruption was normal given the growth of dark money in the U.S. ever since the Powell memo's far right foundations facilitated the growth of most greedy commercialism, killing of humanities in schools, offshoring of millions of U.S. jobs, and alliances with dictators, nationalists, Chinese cadres, and royal fossil fuel murderers worldwide.
I’m with you. I’m very hopeful in Jack Smith's ability to put him in prison for life/death.
Sick and true
I feel sad for the Russian people, and for Israelis who oppose Netanyahu (i.e. most of them) because the autocratic policies of both are causing their own people so much harm. NOTE: this us NOT to say Hamas is not responsible!)
And I worry about us because we are in danger of putting our own autocratic candidate (Trump, of course!) in power. We need to be helping others maintain their democracies, not destroying our own.
We Americans need to understand our role as the USSR crumbled away. Did our foreign policy towards the new 1990s Russia include the rule of law, free and fair elections, building up of the institutions that make democracy possible/sustainable? Or did we subjugate every Pilar of democracy to capitalism? Our policy was the latter. Capitalism is no guarantee of democracy. Unrestrained unregulated capitalism breeds oligarchy to kleptocracy, and dictatorship. Collectively we need to learn these lessons before it’s too late. We need to learn before there is nothing for us here.
I'm sorry not to see replies to this fine comment by you, Ted.
Do so many not realize the truth of what you say because so many went to schools where all learned to ignore humanities, as planned by the commercial classes (our billionaire classes) by their far right foundations set up in the wake of the 1971 Powell memo?
Okay, what is the Powell Memo about?
I think it may be possible that tfg also may "owe" him a lot....
So you like Ukraine's far-right one-party thug regime, where the neo-Nazis run the police stations and shoot army deserters.
I experienced an old familiar anxiety attack reading for the second day about Trump being able to block our whole government from aiding Ukraine. Is there a work-around Johnson refusing to bring it up?
I surely hope the President and anyone running for Congress make it very clear how Trump and his minions are willing to put the entire world in jeapardy for their own political power grab.
No one needs to make clear how Trump and his minions are willing to put the world in danger--they parade their intentions in broad daylight. And there are dems that call them out. My favorites: Jeffries, Raskin, Jasmine Crockett and Daniel Goldman.
Yes and I am so happy when I hear them. I'm thinking about reaching folks who may not be watching the hearings. I think the headlines should be screaming TRUMP PUTS ENTIRE WORLD AT RISK FOR POLITICAL GAIN. Just saying....
It doesn't matter how loud the truth is touted. You see the MAGA's on TV--they don't believe it. Their guy can do no wrong. Remember, he's a martyr who is fighting for them....
Yes, Sophia, they do seem quite stuck in their dedication to their guy.
I have seen some youtube videos of folks who have managed to escape. And I was thinking more of undecideds who might not be following as closely as we are.
Yes, Sophia. Let's expand your starter list:
Jamie Raskin. Sheldon Whitehouse. Katie Porter. Dan Goldberg. Richard Blumenthal. Mallory McMorrow. Josh Shapiro. Madeleine Dean.
Jared Moskowitz. Gretchen Whitmer. Ro Khanna. Abigail Spanberger. Robert Garcia. Jerry Nadler. Liz Warren. Pete Buttigieg. Shontel Brown. Ted Lieu. Amy Klobuchar. Gary Peters. Adam Schiff. Jasmine Crockett. Cory Booker. Hakeem Jeffries. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Maxine Waters. Raphael Warnock. Chris Murphy. Chris Coons. Mikie Sherrill. Pete Aguilar. Justin Jones. Maxwell Frost. Ilhan Omar. Wes Moore. Melanie Stansbury. Gavin Newsom. Summer Lee. Pramila Jayapal. Eric Swalwell. Zoe Lofgren. Bernie Sanders.
Can we not sell the needed weaponry to one of our NATO allies (or NATO itself) on behalf of Ukraine and then have them pass it on to Ukraine?
Any workaround with NATO. Why not?
Sounds appealing, but wouldn't that mean that others besides the US will have to foot the bill? It's the $60B in Ukraine funding Biden has asked for that is the crucial piece here.
Yes...the entire world! Dangerous and shameful.
Chaplain, it seems as if TFFG is acting like a “leader” in absentia (only he won’t actually go away)…that he is NO leader, never was, is apparently beside the point. I cannot recall a former POTUS ever meddling in such a blatant in-your-face with going’s on of a current administration. It is beyond reprehensible, not that the fact would penetrate his cloak of shamelessness.
His MAGAt minions will vote for him anyway. They know (incorrectly) that that their leader, Stinky will get rid of those treasonous libs and anyone else who belongs to a disadvantaged class. They will simply believe their leader when he speaks his lies and ignore the truth. They are so invested in Faschist propaganda that they cannot believe anything which portrays their leader in a negative manner.
I heard Heather's discussion at the LBJ library and learned more about why ordinary folks can get taken over by authoritarians. I also got to LOL a few times because she is so naturally witty! 211k views 3 months ago!!!
https://youtu.be/gkbAayPUjtM?si=URl7GyZibNOJPDou
I don’t think there is a workaround. Nancy Pelosi used to make sure she had the votes before bringing forward bills for votes. Can someone else answer that?
And I tremble in fear tfg has a plan to be installed in the WH whether or not he wins the election.
My same fear!
That's a very reasonable fear - I have to believe that there are enough of us "grass roots" folks this time around, a number that has been growing steadily since 2016 that we wouldn't let that happen. Here's just one article and it only goes to 2019 - there are so many more!
https://www.americancommunities.org/grassroots-blossom-across-america-reshaping-countrys-political-geography/
Yes! "Have no shame" is the worst of human failings. History validates it.
We have already experienced a number of trolls here, Stephen
Yes, and we are just a tiny part of the massive online communications that will be impacted. I expect an onslaught using AI to fabricate all sorts of divisions, possibly pretending to be even us, but ever more radical and divisive. That is why I enjoy the civility of many of the posts here where so far, it is much harder to get troll or bot or (hopefully) AI traction.
Stephen, Civility is maddening to MAGA: be maddeningly passive aggressive in your civility
Bruce, the appearance of the Trolls here demonstrates that LFAA alarms MAGATRUMPA in the same way Taylor Swift does. See Steve Schmidt’s Substack today
"LFAA alarms MAGATRUMPA"
LFAA also alarms what might be called 'MAGA Left'.
Those who don't mind or even welcome Trump being in office. Because they see voting as an exercise in self expression rather a strategy to take power. Or because they believe that Trump's abuses will accelerate a 'peoples revolution' which they imagine a socialist utopia rather than the authoritarianism it has generally turned out to be.
Lin, good point. I can the problem. They failed to read Lord of the Flies in high school
Can “see” the problem. What happened to the edit button?
How do you decide who is a troll? I have been called a troll, a Putin supporter and getting paid by Putin because I push back on Biden’s horrible foreign policy. Nancy Pelosi just called protester Putin supporters. This is all shades of what happened to protesters during the Vietnam War. I have been checking my bank accounts but no payments from Putin yet.
Perhaps you are what Stalin called—and pardon me for using the words, but I can’t think of better ones at the moment—a useful idiot. (And your description of what Nancy said is materially inaccurate. I suggest more care in your word choices.).
ThankYou Jon. You are always a breath of fresh air.
Nora, why concern yourself of labels? Unless of course labels cause you self awareness. In that case , “reflection” may inform
Agreed on the destructiveness of the Israeli military response, but remember to remind yourself of Hamas' track record since it was elected in 2014, its denial of recognition to the state of Israel, its desire to drive Israeli's into the sea, establish a Palestinian single state solution. High as deaths are, the Israeli military campaign does not remotely constitute a genocide. LOL on your checking your bank a/c.
Hamas is very bad and what they did on October 7 was terrible but it does not justify the horrific disproportionate response. I am not quoting him exactly but Chris Hedges talked about the behavior of Hamas being terrible but understandable. After 70 years of oppression violence is to be expected by some. Until recently I bought into the myth of Israel, we were never taught the real history and just thought it was a good place created in the aftermath of the Holocaust but it is so much more. We were taught the horrors of that genocide and that it should never happen so it is sad that now it is happening in the name of the Holocaust. Never again means never again for everyone and yet everyday more civilians die. The Democrats either support it or look the other way. Even the most progressive Dems are afraid to say too much of they will incur the wrath of AIPAC who will spend millions to put up a candidate to get them out. I have read that AIPAC has more power in Washington than Biden does. Peace.
Hi Nora, i think Hamas' political and cultural footprint are far larger than the mere slaughter of 1200 Israeli civilians last October. Had Hamas had a pro forma commitment to a policy of mutual peace with Israelis over these very many years, things would have worked out very differently. Hamas was born several decades ago with one of total hostility to Israel and its existence, and has never changed. You cannot expect Israelis to respond peaceably to a policy that wants the destruction of the state of Israel, replaced by a muslim State of Palestine. Whither 4 million Israelis? From what I've seen over the years, outbreaks of violence has led to outsized tit for tat on the part of Israel, regardless who was in power. Israel didn't build the border walls just for fun. They wanted to stop bus bombings in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Without a policy of accommodation to the de facto existence of the Israel state, this stuff just continues. Sporadic acts of terrorism, civilian killings, as a form of guerrilla warfare are a failed strategy. I'm not crazy about what the Israel government and military are doing in Gaza either. I agree that the founding and development of the state of Israel has had very problematic outcomes, moreso the failure of accomodation among Palestinians.
Did anyone complain that the allied response to the Nazis and the Japanese in WW2 should be proportionate? We were defending our lives and our nations. The Israelis are doing the same.
“Proportionate” would be a group IDF soldiers going into Gaza and destroying villages, raping and dismembering men and women, and taking hostages. Would that satisfy everyone?
What you seem to miss is the contentious diversity of the Israeli polity. The American Left has abandoned and ignored the Israeli Left. Who have continually worked with and for their Palestinian neighbors.
Even now.
Left, right -- still one thing is missing, "lin."
Israel could have a program in its schools where students learn to essay first themselves, then their neighbors (in English classes) for the skills to see "others" as individuals in their communities.
Yes, I know. No schools in the world do this.
Hamas was elected in 2007 in Gaza. Since then it has relentlessly sent rockets into Israel. This was before Oct 7. They are committed to the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamist theocracy in the entire region.
A Troll is anybody who posts an opinion dissenting to the “party line”. A troll will be jumped on by party faithfuls and told to stop rocking the boat.
When I looked it up the definition on Wikipedia it said: a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off topic messages. I am not worried that I am a troll and more fit in with the protesters who were called supporters of Putin’s mission. I am ok with that but once again Putin still has not sent me any money. This protesting is not very lucrative and it can bring on insults even on a supposedly Democratic blog. Thank goodness my Mom taught me sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.
"I feel for our President".
Me too. Nobody knows what he is doing. We had a dinner party at our home this past Saturday with 5 other Ph.Ds and two MD's. To quote one of the brightest among the group: "What is Biden doing!!" Shocked, I sent her HCR's "Letters" the next morning.
But, Americans are lazy. They don't want to or cannot read. HCR, apparently, does have some video which I never watch since reading is ever so much faster for information acquisition. But, not many folks watch her that need to.
Lastly, I personally saw President Biden yesterday on Lester Holt's "Nightly News".
Biden looks positively frail. "Old" does not even really cover it. Frail is more the word. And, sure, he has a stuttering problem but it seemed he had real trouble getting his words out. I hate to say it but WE have to admit that is a big hurdle for us.
Trump streams nonsensical words constantly so he looks cogent to the masses of people who don't or cannot process what he says critically.
We have a real problem in America. I am worried Biden may not even make it through the campaign. Honestly. Clarence Thomas was not his only big mistake. Biden should have carefully picked a Vice President that would have taken up his torch after one term in which he showcased his Vice President daily. Then, put his ego on the shelf and stepped aside with little fanfare.
Now? We have what almost everyone thinks is a doddering old man running for President. Never mind that he has done a good job, one that nobody knows about. He is and looks positively ancient these days.
Those who say “what has he done?” do not read or engage like many of us do to learn the details of what he’s done. What actually did Loser do during his tenure, but watch TV and play golf and sell us down the river. Biden is here, there and everywhere. Your PhD friends have their heads buried in their work and lives and doing their best to ignore how the world turns because of what the government does to keep their world going.
Kamala Harris is finding her voice more and more. Biden for all his “doddering” is doing a damn good job “administering” as any good CEO would do.
Did you look at how previous presidents all aged during their administrations. Who wouldn’t under the pressures they face and the pace they must keep if they are doing their job? I’ll taking aging Joe Biden over anybody the Republicans throw at us.
Hear hear "I'll take ageing Joe Biden over anybody the Republicas throw at us"... TOG is only a few years shy of Biden, rages at times in incoherence.
Frank, I shared this before, but it bears repeating...
I saw a commentator on TV say, I'd rather have an old man who needs another nap, than an old man who needs another lawyer."
I remember hearing people say that Biden wouldn't last 6 months when he was elected.. That he had dementia and was too frail mentally and physically. Well, It's been almost 4 years and he HAS lasted, and has accomplished more than Trump ever even thought about accomplishing.
I think he will let us know when he feels like he can't do his job anymore.
PLainly the charge Biden "had dementia" wasn't fact checked. And we must always remember an effective president surrounds themself with "good people"... works for rock stars too lol.
Frank, when Trump was amazingly elected in 2016, my only hope for the stability of our nation was that he would surround himself with experts in their field. He was totally ill -prepared to be the president. He had no idea what he was doing, and then he fired the experts and hired his thuggish friends who knew about as much as he did.
Biden's cabinet is filled with qualified people whom he respects and relies on.
Big difference!
I recently saw Pat Benatar Rockin' on Austin City Limits. Pat has long length grey hair now but, still really Rockin'.
Exactly. I would walk over hot coals to vote for the finest, most accomplished president of my long life. I read. I know how carefully and wisely President Biden proceeds.
But we live in a world where one sound bite, one TikTok, one stutter, one shuffle becomes more powerful than all that competence and compassion that our president has brought us.
The fear Mike is expressing courses through my veins. The horrible truth is that our political process has been twisted into a circus. A show. And the performer who can spit out a cute six word quip gets the applause.
Mike is right. Biden should have stepped aside. And it is not too late. It was March 31, 1968 when LBJ announced he would not be running for re-election - he knew he couldn't win.
If Biden has one significant flaw, it is his ego. You have to have a big one to arrive at the presidency. But I believe he really thinks he is our best bet at another four years of a Democratic presidency. He is wrong. There are many leaders in our party who could crush the Republican nominee (Trump ain't there yet!). Our bench is deep.
Regardless, the task is to vote Blue. And to convince every wavering younger person we know - to vote and to get their friends to vote Blue. Or we will be experiencing the end of American democracy and an embrace of fascism. The Republican Party of 2024 makes the Communist Party of 1954 look positively saintly.
Biden has done a great job. He is an excellent POTUS. But, he is 80 years old and that is an issue. There are so many who could take his place and continue with his excellent work, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, for one, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, for another. We keep dealing with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg effect. Damn.
The RBG effect is quite apt. A perfect example of how you can love someone SO much and be SO mad at them for one decision.
Newsom is an amazing speaker. Whitmer would be my choice. Gavin as VP - traditional attack dog role would be right up his alley.
But Corey Booker and several others could hit it out of the park.
When I heard Corey Booker speak at the DNC when Obama was nominated, I thought he'd be the next democratic candidate. There are, as others have listed, a fair number of outstanding people in the wings. We just need to get them there.
The beauty is that we have a large number of younger Democrats (I'm 83) who could "knock it out of the park." Exercising excellent judgment is a very, very difficult quality to grasp. What happens if within the next three months Biden suffers a disabling stroke or dies? What then?
Bill, Biden has already proved America will pick him over Trump but it was close. Picking any other Democrat in this MAGA hypnosis is a big risk. Who on the bench is up to the task “today”? Harris now has some experience. Raskin perhaps. Newsom?, perhaps, perhaps. The rest are fully capable of governing but don’t rise to name recognition, which is critical at this point. Think about how anyone of them could have accomplished what Biden already has
Bill. Thanks! I respect Biden immensely.
But. 80 is on the high side.
IIene, I was at a concert in Aspen sitting next to a guy who was a local surgeon, pilot, and activist. He said, he works with the ultra wealthy everyday. He was telling me how many are Agent Orange supporters. We were laughing about the fact they can make money or rather inherent it, but when it comes to basic humanity they are as dumb and apathetic as a doorknob. He had some great stories.
The sad part is that I’m aware of Gen Zers and Millennials who have the world at their fingertips tips who belittle what they see and are in their own bubble of entitlement.
I’m glad my own kids and even young grandchildren are following more in my footsteps ( not because they are in lockstep), but because they keep themselves informed and involved.
We just have to keep trying to change one mind at a time.
Entitlement and apathy is an issue with some. I remember when my one of my kids got their first job. After a couple weeks she thought she should be paid more. We laughed. And told her so does everyone else.
LOL, Lisa, growing up is hard to do! I think I was in my early 20’s before really “got” my parents & what being responsible for yourself really meant. I had to learn fast, having gotten married 3 days after my 18th birthday. Fortunately my mom, as a mostly single parent, had vested me and my sibs with lots of household responsibilities….something we all whined about at the time, but were eventually grateful for being “apprentice” adults & learning life skills.
Thank you. (Have you noticed that the two best presidents of the past 25 years share the same initials? Joe Biden and Jed Bartlet.).
You know over the pandemic lock down I rewatched the entire West Wing series. I love President Bartlett and those he surrounded himself with.
Those were the days! What amazes me is that we're still talking about the same issues--climate change, religion in politics, the Middle East....
The other thing, Ilene, is when you confront them with what he has done, they reply with either a "well, that isn't what I read" or a well reasoned "nu-uh" and a head shake.
Fran Lebowitz quote: “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” Personally I prefer to read both inside and outside my silo, even tho it can seem more warm and cozy with like-minded folk!
I would take Biden if he was in a coma instead of dumpster twatward ! At least he has competent, empathetic, intelligent people working with him !
Ilene, thank you for using that word "administering": ... to wit executive administration.
FDR was hobbled by polio but, he had superior cabinet administrators including FRANCES PERKINS, Secretary of Labor make that Secretary of Labor rights 1933-1945.
JEN PSAKI has worked for 6 Presidents as a communicator, West Wing & Campaign expert.
ANTONY J BLINKEN seems to be in a different nation every other day. Use surrogates like my CA Governor NEWSOM.
We need to revolutionize Presidential Communications to the Citizens. Build a Beta model asap & use it in the Campaign.
Perfectly said.
Yes, Joe has lost a step or two which is perfectly understandable considering his age and his job. But look at his accomplishments.
Note that Biden is not alone. His administration is as good as it gets. We need to push Biden over the goal line to save democracy.
Exactly! They can push him in a wheelchair for all I care. We need to hold it together. It is what it is. All hands on deck. Everybody. United front. Deal with it. We don't have time to reinvent the system. Biden, of course, should have passed the baton to the next generation. But he didn't. Hell, they could both stroke out. I'm 65 and I don't want to walk to my mailbox some days. I can't imagine how he does it.
If Joe turned into a cannibal zombie and coming to eat me I would still vote for him over tfg. But gee, I hope that doesn’t happen!
We (the HCR crowd) cannot rely on Dems or the GOP faithful ever reading or watching anything positive about Biden. And the firehose of anti-Biden or “too-old” messages are unrelenting.
Assuming that’s true, I’ve implemented a new tactic. And I suggest (beg) all HCR-ers do the same. I’m wearing a Biden Tshirt on EVERY grocery run til 11/5.
Trump fans cannot be swayed by facts. So stop wasting time arguing. But don’t concede with silence.
Wearing a Biden shirt says “I support Biden’s policies NOW & THRU 2028!”
A Biden shirt tells disappointed Dems, “Get on board! This is our guy!”
If you don’t like your QB, do you abandon your team? No! You wear your Jersey because your team NEEDS you to RALLY them to victory.
Biden’s eye slits strike me as a sign of feebleness. We cannot see the fire in his eyes because they are locked in a forever-squint that telegraphs his age. So what!? Do I quit the team... or do I HELP BRING THE FIRE?
Buy a “DEMS MAKE LIFE BETTER” tshirt at IndivisibleMarin.com. Buy Three! And wear them WITH ME grocery shopping.
This tactic requires no reading. No arguing. No donating. No posting. No convincing.
And, I promise, it feels GOOD to do something. And, it feels even BETTER with every passing day of Biden being right and Trump being wrong.
If I sound like a broken record with my “Biden And Grocery Shopping” (BAGS) idea... then, help me break records on tshirt sales and spontaneous Grocery Store take-overs.
And then I’ll shut up. Well, after 11/5.
Ordered mine, already have my yard sign. It will be a grocery store “insurrection” !
👕 🛒
Staying strong with you in Florida ! 😎
💙
And, Kathy, I LOVE this:
👕 🛒
Kathy, you rock!
I'm right there with you, Shawn. My new thing is asking people "Do you know about Project 2025 and A.L.E.C?" They don't. I was explaining it to a group of lefty liberals. They never heard of it. I explained to my hairdresser, the checkout person, the guy at the gas station, everybody.
I posted here a while ago that while signing a petition for my local plumber recommending him for a local Dem organization, I asked him if he was aware. He was not & inked the information on his hand, as he didn’t want to write it on the petition, so he could look it up. Later found his email and sent him links to the Project as well as some investigative articles and opinion pieces. Trying to spread the word whilst also trying to not be too crazy about it….I just really want people to pay attention and realize what is at stake.
Great idea, Barbara. I will have that on hand next time. I'm reading it in small chunks. It's the how to guide to an autocracy.
Lisa59, at first I thought it was a spoof & then did a dive into it….OMG how can you have chills while your hair is on fire?!!! I read some of it and having some experience in reading Fed regs, it read almost like a Federal Register of regulations! That’s when I realized these folks are dead serious and have some really really really big bucks behind them. As far as I can tell from looking into it, kinda builds on what started with the Powell memo during the Reagan admin (don’t get me started on that….had him as CA governor for two terms & watched him strangle the life out of some really good state programs…education being one of them).
Lisa, I know Project 2025. But not ALEC. I’ll do some googling.
One thing struck me today. If Biden wins on 11/5, we have him until 2028. Doesn’t that feel glorious?
And like anyone who wears a team jersey, I am confident Dems will win big in 2024.
(So are Trump flag wavers... meaning that Biden’s victory will once again be unbelievable to them... meaning our work will continue after 11/6.)
No more complacency. I got too comfy after Obama and assumed (like most) that Hillary had it in the bag.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, Shawn, dates now 50 years.
Over these decades it has programmed, coordinated, and funded all the worst vulgarities of U.S. state Republican legislatures.
ALEC didn't come first, however. Right after the Powell memo of 1971, the new Heritage Foundation started to work for U.S. billionaires and most retrograde corporations. Soon, too, the Hoover Institution enlarged itself and also set to work pushing the far right agenda.
You can read of all these vulgarities best in Jane Mayer's "Dark Money."
Phil, thanks for the background on ALEC and the Dark Money reco. I will continue down that path.
The organization of the Billionaire class and staunch republicans is impressive/horrifying. The GOP takeover of state legislatures and the supreme court is an example of long term strategy, a slow moving coup.
When billionaires donate or contribute millions to advance their own agendas, consider this: a million seconds is 11 days. A billion seconds is 36 years. So... a million here, a million there, means nothing. And yet they do so much trampling to ensure they get more, more, more at the expense of others. I don’t get it. I can only imagine all the people I could help as a Billionaire.
Shawn, I’ll do that starting this summer. Unless you have a winter parka with the slogans! (LOL)
Marge, Summer works!
Temperature-wise, at least, I am very lucky to be in Florida.
Shawn….please don’t EVER shut up!!!!
Thanks, Barbara, I needed that.
"We (the HCR crowd) cannot rely on Dems or the GOP faithful ever reading or watching anything positive about Biden."
Please don't leave out the MAGA Left - who don't mind or actually welcome a Trump administration. Those happy to split or suppress the vote for their own antidemocratic or antiDemocratic agendas.
Lin, absolutely. This tshirt idea is as all-inclusive as it gets. EVERYONE goes grocery shopping. For Fox News watchers, a Biden Tshirt at the grocery store is the only exposure they’ll get to the reality that more than 50% of Americans prefer Biden.
https://www.indivisiblemarin.org/dems-make-life-better-t-shirt
Great idea! I tried the link several times and it said "can't be reached." I even tried just searching "indivisible marin" and got a .org, but I couldn't find any merch on that site. Help please!
Happy to help, Chaplain. Try this link. https://www.indivisiblemarin.org/dems-make-life-better-t-shirt
The back of the shirt is incredible too. It lists Biden’s greatest achievements in very pithy language.
Yes, he's a frail old man. He was frail and old in 2020, yet more people voted for him than any candidate in history. They will again not because he's well, because he's not crazy. Because we'd like another election in 2028. Because we know the pathfinder Trump has laid out what every future Republican candidate will do--deny election results, foment violence, and claim the office. Even us hoi polloi get that.
He's not as frail as news reports would have us believe. He takes care of his health, and when I watch him speak, I hear a touch of his stutter now and then, but clarity on his topics.
Yes, that is the point, MJXS, Biden is not crazy! And we would like another election in 2028. I heard an excellent interview with Rep. Ro Khanna from CA, who said that when young people complain that Biden is not liberal enough, we need to look at his long history of being known and respected globally (in addition, of course, to all he has accomplished in his first term). Rep. Khanna recommended saying to those who are threatening not to vote for Biden because of his age or because of disagreeing with his foreign policy in Israel: "See Biden as a necessary BRIDGE to 2028. Then you can put energy towards getting in power a younger and more progressive president." May not be his exact words, but this was the essence of what he was saying.
Thank you, and his Valley Forge speech was the best, must full-throated affirmation of American democracy I've ever heard. No "fragility" there. Joe has been a pleasing surprise to this old progressive.
Me, too!
Mike S, frailty of the physical body is not the same as frailty of the mind. IMO, Biden is demonstrating clear and precise handling of multiple national and global threats in real time with real and positive results. Electing Presidents on physical appearance is an American TV land foible I want experience, determination and decisiveness. In Biden ( and importantly the capable people he surrounds himself with) we have an “administration” working for good of us all. Trump thinks he can rule as a King. Biden completely understands that Democracy survives as a team
Yes! This a thousand times. My unenthusiastic vote for Biden was an anti tRump vote. This time around I will gladly vote for him. Biden is a great president IMO!
You hit the nail squarely on the head, Dave. The US will be just fine with Kamala Harris as President of the United States of America!! HOWEVER, MAGAs will HATE that for numerous reasons AND look who presently follows Harris —> Mike Johnson. As James Comey would say, “Lordy!”
As I posted elsewhere on this thread, if Harris becomes POTUS, taking over if Biden is somehow incapacitated, there would be a new VPOTUS selected (imagine those discussions w/in the admin!) pending approval by a majority vote in Congress to confirm.
Personally, i think you are overreading your own ageist sentiments into Biden's appearance and performance.
Agreed Frank. I’m over reading it. Biden is a chess player. Not a flashy boxer. He has a bright future and long career ahead. He’ll be wise and spry long after 2028!
Chess i like! Anyone on Chess.com? You'll find me under Frank_Loomer :) I play as a "78 year old"
Shawn, TFFG reminds me of a grossly out of shape wannabe WWE smack-down performer….yeah, in his dreams.
I think we have mind-masturbated this subject to death.
lol hmmmm I think we had a few outsized negative comments on Biden to get this going, Lisa. And i think You'll find msm and polling to keep this up for a while.
I agree that Biden looks and sometimes sounds frail. However, I would vote for him if he was bedridden. Not just to defeat the wannabe dictator (which is actually a good enough reason right there). I’d vote for him because he has a Cabinet of honest, intelligent, incorruptible, competent people running day to day government. Biden may be frail but he has half a century of experience and relationships that he clearly knows how to use.
Let’s remember, Mike, our Founders have already addressed the Presidential Succession issue. A Vice President has become the President using the Founder’s Constitutional Solution. It has happened THREE TIMES (so far) in my lifetime: FDR (stroke), Nixon (resignation), and JFK (assassination) AND the US has survived just fine. And, focus on the three VEEPS who became President: Truman, Ford, and LBJ. AND, the US has survived just fine. Wanna go back before I was born?
My point is: Let’s stop worrying about Biden’s walking and talking abilities (Heck, FDR couldn’t walk). Let’s focus on who currently follows Harris. Wanna get scared???
Paul, the “new” admin by succession gets to name a new VPOTUS, pending confirmation by majority vote of Congress: https://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/replacing-the-vice-president/
How did you challenge the paper holding intellectuals in your midst? Many elitists chat it up in their social circles but seem hesitant to speak out against tyranny as our democracy is crumbling before our very eyes! Yes, we know Biden is old, yes we know 80 year olds have diminished faculties, and yes we know the VP is not blessed with magnetism…..BUT these are the realities we face and the “others” are committed to carrying out Putin’s agenda.
"Paper holding intellectuals" 🤣. I love it.
If TV and social media were a thing in 1860, and politicians had to look good on camera, for a voting public used to seeing the young and beautiful (or at least, those that have been digitally and/or surgically enhanced) as part of their daily media consumption, I wonder if the lanky, morose prairie lawyer named Abraham Lincoln would have been elected. Or in 1932, if the public were fed a steady diet of images of Franklin Roosevelt in his wheelchair, reminding voters of the extent of his infirmities, I wonder how he could possibly have won any presidential election, much less 4.
I think he chose a worthy VP, I just don’t think he has brought her into the fold enough. He should realize this having been one himself.
Sadly, I agree with you, Mike. Although Biden is the wise old man in the room, many voters will accept that a vote for him is a vote for Harris, who has not gained much traction with the electorate. One solution is to bring Gavin Newsom on as VP. He would have at least some time for foreign policy on the job training before Biden moves on the his beach house.
Giving up on Harris would be a poor move. Bringing new Cabinet members in for exposure would not
Randy, how many votes would that cost among women and Black voters? Some....
My thoughts exactly Rich!
I noticed in a short news clip yesterday that he does indeed look frail. Although it is worrisome, consider the stress he must be under. The problem being that stress is a killer.
Christine, I actually think he is, but it is poorly covered by the MSM….most VP’s aren’t given much airtime/press time sadly.
We should all be as sharp as he is at 81...especially considering everything that’s been on his plate since taking office. I’m with Joe and Kamala, vote blue up and down the ticket.
Mike, I have posted this here previously & have sent the link to all my friends and family, but shall again: https://brianhassett.com/2023/12/why-i-love-joe-biden/ Is age an issue for Biden, absolutely, but I think Harris is up to the task to step into the role if needed. Additionally, were that to happen, a new VPOTUS would be selected (Newsome? Whitmer? Booker? Buttigieg? Or?) by the new POTUS pending confirmation of a majority vote of approval from Congress. I hate that our political process is devolving into a cage fight, but seems there are those (too many) who want just this sort of spectacle.
I'm right with you Mike. Anybody who thinks elections are won on facts and the truth or on a record of achievement, don't understand elections. Elections are won by people who can sell their visions of a better tomorrow. People always are looking for aspirational leaders who project power. It comes down to perception vs. reality. The perception of voters is all that matters. Reality always is pushed aside by perception.
There are better qualified younger Democrats who can step up and run supporting Biden's record of achievement. All they have to do is pledge that they will continue the great work Biden AND the Democrats in Congress have been doing. Easy Peasy!!
There's still time! I want to see Joe Biden go out on top!
“The mother of all disinformation campaigns” for sure. That the extremist Republicans are showing zero humanity ( or intelligence ) to please Dear Leader is chilling. This passage, in particular says a lot to me about the essence of how the world sees these soulless magats:
,” Burns said. The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, has been in Washington, D.C., this week, urging Republicans to back the aid, if only on the grounds that most of the money appropriated goes to support jobs in the U.S. “
Instead of trying to appeal to their “better angels”, Stoltenberg did not go to where normal human beings might listen. He went right to cold hard cash, and greed. When all is stripped away, money and power are at the root of their Fascist fantasies.
Like the printing press, war follows internet disinformation/social media. The Nazi’s outlawed foreign radio in the 1930s in order to radicalize the German people. The Russians have been manipulating Americans since about 2007, “prepping the battlefield” as they call it. Part of that preparation was raising a creature of their own in the democracies in the west, particularly the conservative parties in western democracies. Demonizing immigrants is part of that strategy. Trump himself is proof of the effectiveness of Russian Active measures. Elum Musk is another. And Twitter is as much a FSB delivery tool as Maga-ite’s are on Facebook. No one has a policy suggestion to combat radicalization, let alone stem the radicalization of our society. This is the leadership challenge of our time. Who will answer the call? How will they address it? How much time is left before Eastern Europe is lost? Is Western Democracy’s fate the same as Ukrainian’s? We can learn a lot from studying Ukraine from 2007 to present. Our future as a democracy depends on it.
Justice Brandeis wrote that sunlight is the best disinfectant. I would add, Along with truth.
Stephen
Trumpism: An historic phenomenon where adherents happily and un wittingly march to the demise of not only themselves but of the entire world, at the insistence of a man that hates the world around him as much as he hates himself; the actual embodiment of the AntiChrist
I see Biden and Dems are amping up the 2024 campaign in earnest, with a lot of direct person to person contact. Biden in particular is taking this approach. If nothing else, let a few $ find their way to Dem campaign donor sites. I agree Stephen, civility should be a top priority, but points and issues can be forcefully applied, the GOP can be taken to task at times by simply mirroring back their own public presentations.
This reminds me. Will those congressman who participated and encouraged insurrection ever be brought to justice?
BTW the guardian and not any major US newspaper as far as I know, carried the news that a group of distinguished Civil War Historians have submitted an Amicus brief to the Supreme Court on the 14th amendment issue. I was disappointed to see that Heather was not among the signatories. Did someone forget to reach out to her?
Maybe impeaching Johnson would be a good idea! He is behaving most irresponsibly by listening to Trump instead of his president!
I share your dread. It's exhausting.
"Ukraine is defending itself against an invasion by Russia, but the struggle there is larger than one between two countries: it is the question of whether the rules-based international order put in place after World War II will survive, or whether the world will go back to a system in which stronger countries can gobble up less powerful ones."
The same is true with the occupation of the land of what was the nation of Palestine and displacement and genocide directed at the Palestinian nation and ethnicity. The rule of law has been courageously asserted by the International Court of Justice. Will we abide by that rules-based international order? Will this "Letters from...." blog recognize our obligation and responsibility to do so? If not, I too dread what is to come.
Amen, Brother