Today, according to Clare Foran, Manu Raju, and Morgan Rimmer of CNN, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told his Republican colleagues that he will not bring forward the bipartisan immigration bill senators have been working on for months, calling it “absolutely dead.”
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?
To put it crassly the PPP (pro putin party) with its worms for brains coalition may suffer the full impact of the Leopards Eating People's Faces before it is all over. Such will be their reward for worshiping the cowardly lying loser.
"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.
I would love to see an ad campaign that shows Republican “leaders” contradicting themselves in their immigration policy demands. This could be interspersed with narration detailing Democrats’ offers to create a bipartisan solution that can be acted on.
Gary….I seriously agree that a FAR MORE COMPELLING communications campaign needs to occur…in a comment down the way I mention that we need some ‘effective’ theater…we need the kind of communication that the media really picks up on..whether it’s Nikki’s T Shirts or some other way to emphasize the degree of threat to our democracy…that is occurring and as I write this it occurs to me that Doomsday Clock might be appropriate ….only this time it’s a Democracy;s Doomsday Clock….where every time one of these nasty rep deals occurs there’s a public VISUAL Clock noting the potential cost…and whoever manages it has the media’s attention…..
And I would use billboards at key transportation hubs with each new DAMAGING EVENT and what its impact is on the Democracy Doomsday Clock!
“This list is far from complete, but here are a few assertions I’d love to see Democrats start making:”
Simon Rosenberg is doing similar⬆️ as Rick Wilson proposes. He’s gaining a lot of traction with the media, has a large following (and growing) and has been instrumental in helping Dems flip seats.
Meanwhile the civilian population in Gaza is not only unhoused by bombing, having severe shelter problems after heavy rain, but... unless there has been some unannounced radical change since 2 US Senators returned from the border weeks ago with catastrophic reports, many are starving, without clean water, without medicines and essential medical supplies.
Overmuch jaw jaw AND war war, too, but if there's no emergency aid -- a unilateral US airdrop if need be -- great numbers of essential young voters will turn against Biden and his administration.
Such action -- precedent, the 1948 Berlin airlift and the Marshall Plan, helping BOTH German civilians AND European victims of the Nazi onslaught -- would cause huge GOP hysteria... while undermining anti-American propaganda and potentially relieving tensions that could expand the war.
Above all, it would fulfil a humanitarian obligation -- better late than never.
And win the support of young voters at a time of still extraordinary American complacency in the face of the greatest threat facing the United States since the attack on Fort Sumter.
Concerning the 1948 precedent, bear in mind the crimes of the same nature as 10/7 but on an infinitely greater scale committed by a German regime not long before and the immense direct cost to America of the Second World War, both in human lives lost and materiel.
Where the current situation differs is that WW2 resulted in a huge burst in industrial activity to feed the war machine, whereas blocking arms supplies to Ukraine will impact America's arms industry. Now, I have no love for any form of arms industry or modern war but, quite apart from undermining BOTH endangered NATO allies AND the United States' international standing and reputation for reliability in meeting essential obligations, effective MAGA support for Putin through the sabotaging of Ukrainian defenses must adversely affect American industries and workers...
IF YOU HAVE CONTACTS IN AFFECTED INDUSTRIES, EITHER EMPLOYERS OR WORKERS, REMIND THEM OF WHAT M.A.G.A. ACTUALLY MEANS FOR THEM, NOW.
Joan, "FAR MORE COMPELLING communications campaign needs to occur"
We missed that boat Joan. Staring in the 1987 time frame the far right began buying AM radio stations all over America. I first heard Rush Limbaugh in a shuttle bus at Eastman Kodak company in 1987. Just taking a shuttle bus exposed me to Rush Limbaugh. Eventually, and not after many years, AM stations all over America, newly owned by the far right, were broadcasting not just Limbaugh, but, literally hundreds of paid patsies for the far right.
Now? Turn on your AM radio and thumb through the stations during the day ANYWHERE in America and you will hear, all day long, far right nuts spouting trash.
Not even ONE AM station touts the successes of the Biden administration. Just constant evil associated with "the left".
The guy who lives across from me spends every Saturday working in his garage with the door open playing a nut named "Michael Savage "all .... day .... long". So, if I am working on one of my several lawnmowers or motorcycles, rather than having a nice quiet time with my tools, I have to hear Michael Savage nut odyssey for the whole day.
Democrats have totally failed where reaching out to EVERYONE matters. Fox News has attracted even those I thought were reasonable people. AM radio has sucked in all the rural people. Yes, AM radio is still in every tractor sold by every company selling tractors with a cab folks.
The Republicans began in 1987. Maybe they reach their goal in 2024. Dems? Have not even STARTED trying to roll out a communication to all plan.
True that, Mike. I remember in the early 90's hearing one of my former stellar local AM radio stations have a news broadcast that sounded awfully biased (at the time, I was working graveyard shifts, and listened to Art Bell overnight because it was entertaining. I had come in at 1800 for an overtime shift, and discovered a news station that touted itself as "fair and balanced". Nothing of the sort.)
OMG Ally. I love(d) Art Bell. He had the best callers. They all were 100% sure they had seen aliens or whatever. I think he probably saved my life as I would listen to him as I drove home from New Haven, CT to Maine. Fascinating stuff.
I've recently discovered John Fugelsang on Progressive Radio although I catch the reruns of his late night call in show.
Thanks for reminding me about Art Bell. You made my day.
Mike…agree on the ‘missed boat’ deal ….think the impact of your neighbor’s favorite radio channels just plain scary… I’m not apt to forget your ‘Saturday afternoon sharing’….
“To rally the growing number of voters who do not consume news through traditional media, the campaign is trying to reach them on social media, with videos from influencers and even those with smaller followings.
During a stop in North Carolina this month, Mr. Biden made an hourlong visit to the home of a supporter who had his student loans canceled through a federal program. The man’s son later posted a video of Mr. Biden’s visit on TikTok, which drew millions of views — a template for how the campaign hopes to reach voters in new ways.”
Joan- I like your vision of how the messaging needs to go. One of the emerging Freedom Caucus tropes, I recall, was how they denigrated Democratic candidates (John Kerry, Al Gore) for “droning” , etc, solidifying the “nattering nabob” image. What I’m hearing you say is: State the truth, bu
State the truth, but with a keen understanding of the American appreciation of wry humor. John Stewart embodies this to the tee! So glad he’s back. Along these lines, the Taylor Swift phenomenon. Isn’t it interesting that the Repugs are losing their minds over Swift’s embrace of her power to support Biden?
If tonight's LFAA by itself doesn't inspire you to get involved to do Everything Possible to defeat them, read the history of how this is just yet one more in a Very Long cycle of GOP treachery of working against the USA to achieve their wicked purpose. From Nixon secretly working behind the scenes to extend the Vietnam War to Reagan working secretly with Khomeini of Iran to keep our hostages in captivity until after the 1980 election and every illegitimate GOP admin since, this is what they do. The only difference now is that there's no secrecy involved.
Naw, Oregon snowflakes. Just a few of them and the entire state shuts down because snow doesn't happen enough to have the right equipment on hand to deal with what is routine in the north and east.
Sorry, had to read it this morning because of a district party meeting about upcoming elections locally. Attended last night
Ken Buck is regrettably my representative (and I think the rethugs will take this opportunity to get rid of Boebert as the former R state party chair is running--away from his 2022 arrest record for DUI IN AN ELECTRIC BRONCO! and having a gun while drunk. I'm sure the rethugs will not be pleased about the electric Bronco.
BK, thanks for sharing this! I knew about each of these episodes but including the names and the numbers just sent chills down my spine. Why do none dare call it treason??
We think alike, Marge. Whether in secret or the open when they work Against the country and its people, harming all of us, costing many thousands of lives over time, "offering aid & comfort",....yes, it's treason. But, as you say, none dare call it that.
Dems have always been softer on holding them accountable during my lifetime and Merrick Garland is sadly continuing that experience as the GOP reps are still casting votes that are against the oath of office they swore to and getting away with it. Save but a select few, most of the thousands of insurrectionists who tried to overthrow the government are being given only the most basic of penalties and the "former guy" pardoned people that should be behind bars until old age. They count on Garland and the Dems to be soft on everything so know they can get away with it.
We are living thru a time when the consequences for these most egregious crimes as Thom Hartmann points out have been mostly inconsequential and that bodes ill for the future. But, that's my bleak side. I still hope and pray that when even those hardcore GOP votes step inside and close the curtain that, when they push that lever even they can't vote for the demented lying souls that have taken over their former party.
Instead of an ad campaign that would actually help, it seems the Dem ad campaign is directed at me, and likely people like me, who will never vote Repub. I am buried under an avalanche of begging emails. I never respond to them. I know enough to know who to support. Since I have limited resources, I have to be selective and their barrage is more hinderance than helpful. Communicate with non-MAGAts with the ammunition that repubs have piled high. Near me is a large billboard with the cretin’s ugly visage staring down. What happened to maddog’s billboard campaign of 2020? Your suggestions are great. Wish powers that be would listen.
Postcard campaigns are an effective way to reach out to potential voters. Hand written cards seem to do better than commercially produced 'literature.' Doing five a day takes less than an hour.
I have written many postcards and wonder how we have tracked that this is a winning strategy. I honestly don't believe that it is helpful to anyone but the writer and sender.
One of the groups I write postcards for is Environmental Voter Project. They have regular sessions where they show results of studies they have done on the influence of hand written postcards. There is evidence it makes a difference, the difference doesn’t have to be great, just a small percentage makes a difference in outcomes. There are other groups that have shown increased voting but I can’t remember which ones.
And you are right it does make me feel better to do something.
A great suggestion, also love "Just Say NO to the Bully" index cards placed around. There is a web site that prints "coin" messages that can be put around. Can't find it at the moment. As to the DNC, spend the money on quoting the insanity that repubs spew non stop
There is also a website that sells rocks with themed messages that can be dropped about as you take a walk. They are actually pottery rocks. Nothing that will do damage if thrown.
Jeri, I’m with you. The thought of the constant barrage of emails for which I then have to take the time to set up a filter to send to junk mail actually stops me from donating. I will, eventually, but right now my email is overloaded enough!
It is really disgusting that the money for this is wasted. They know me, they know I will never be a chump nut. They know every time I give a dime. Do something that might move the needle. I only have one vote and Joe will have it, should I live so long.
They have never disputed what is important. Money for the rich. Period. Yet the poor and those on the brink lap it up. But billionaire supporters want more, more, more. Heard my Mama say "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer," all my childhood. She would be gobsmacked today.
I think they do it so much because it is very inexpensive and easy to do. I send mass mailings to a group and it takes about a minute to set it up. And I’m not a tech person at all.
I can't imagine. I have always voted and will if I can crawl. Those who stay home are ignorant, stupid or evil. This is no time to try third parties, or seek perfect solutions. It is to avoid Putin's takeover. If the religious nuts get raptured in the process, so much the better.
Jeri-Agree. Are they too arrogant to read Heather, Joyce’s, or Jeff’s Substacks to learn about the great ideas “we the people” have for what could speak to a broader electorate?
Democrats keep asking for money and don’t seem to get anywhere. I see no effective ad campaigns. IEach one needs to speak loudly and cause some protest in their districts that attracts the lame media IMHO.
That is an excellent idea. Show the American people the truth of MAGA Republicans. They don't care about anything but pleasing the Orange menace, one of the worst men in our history. How these people live with themselves is beyond my understanding.
I would love to see more Republicans who have courage, and have been educated as to their expected responsibilities in doing the job of protecting and caring for the people of the USA. Do they not realize that when they make a "god" of one man, they are making themselves dispensable. Finding another "power hungry, money hungry zoombie is easy. Finding a wise, respecful, well educated "servant" of the people is a rarity now-a-days.
Those elected within the Democratic Party must step up with courage! They too must not put personsal agendas before the citizens (and those who would like to be) . Many are quiet. Some of our Democratic leaders are pouring out their lives to save and to build onto the foundations of freedom and justice fought for from our beginnings.
We have recently lost young lives who gave themselves to serve and protect our nation. This is serious. Parents have lost their children, Husbands/wives have been killed. Children have lost a parent. What have WE sacrificed for freedom, for the care of our planet home, for safety, for the education of our children, for freedom to worship or not...we have the FREEDOM to choose, BUT FOR HOW LONG!?
Please, many members of the Republican Party...take an honest look at yourselves....you look like mindless zoobies following someone's every word. You are following someone who is a criminal ! You have lost your autonomy as a human being and you are leading many naive people to hell with you!!!
Who are we today? Who will we become? We must not sell our souls to the highest bidder!
At one time, in our histories.... WE WERE PEOPLE AT THE BORDER!!!!
The greatness of America is that we are a mix of all the world and for most of the time, we have been able to get along. We must constantly and with good hearts work to improve all of our points of entry ...we must help one another as we have been given aid in our family's past.
And by the way...we are the ones buying/selling the drugs!!!! We choose the drug, then we are the ones who die or cause others to die. Let's look at another reality.
Sorry, Gary...these many words were NOT all pointed to your comment. It was just "Republican leaders" and "the border" that "set me off".
Yo.. Emily Pfaff, good post. Keeping in mind, that 98% of us posting here would not vote for Don Mega-suck, we-uns.., should keep our negative feelings (negative waves) about 'Joe' to ourselves when encountering other good folks, i.e., non-subscribers to HCR et al.., period. Feeding them (err ahh "sharing") tid-bits of 'good' they might be able to chew on //might\\ be okay but please remember, they've been hearing all the negative crap.., like: inflation is out of control.., Joe is a pedophile-photos prove it.., our country is a messs.., prices are thru the roof.., "Karens" (liberals) are everywhere.., U-krane is another Afganistan.., and on and on. And these "folks" get most of this baloney from talk radio, facebook dis-info posts, and the oil-truck driver. So, your well-intended "tid-bit" will probably go over like a lead-balloon. Being subtle probably will be seen-thru, meaning you lose. Don't lose. Unless you're wandering amongst street-dwellers the "folks" you are encountering 'have jobs' or are already receiving some Gov't stippend (welfare, food stamps, debitcard, heating assistance, SSI, etc) so they blame the Gov't ("Joe") for putting them in that "terrible" position. The reality being, for them, America has never been greater, but they don't see it that way. They march around hearing some photo-genic asshole/rich kid telling them..., teling them.., America sucks. So, again.., keep your negative-waves regarding this President, OR this Administration to yourself or posting here on HCR where they can't see it. Or, they'll just think your the one full of shit... and you LOSE. Don't LOSE!!
So, it’s a kind of Schrödinger’s immigration policy? It is a pressing matter that needs to be addressed immediately, but at the same time it can wait another year… Of course they use this to stop funding for Ukraine: Trumpski and the GOP (Goons Obeying Putin) have orders from Moscow to do just that. They will gleefully deliver the head of American democracy on a silver platter to their master in the Kremlin - in exchange for a handsome personal reward, no doubt…
Is Trump "The Manchurian Candidate" -- well, "The Moscovite Candidate" -- or does he just act that way? Did they re-program him during the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013? Just kidding ... I think ...
It was clear in Helsinki. Wish people had noticed. Well, way before that but MSM blathered on about the Schitt deliveries every day of his “administration”
Yes. Crystal Clear in Helsinki. The soccer ball. The smiles. The "I trust Putin when he says he didn't interfere ("help me :") in the election. Despite our entire intelligence apparatus and Republican committee reports that said Russia DID!
And the big one. The private meeting with Putin. No transcripts, no notes, no witnesses to remember. What deals were made then? Convince me they weren't talking about Ukraine. He might as well have flown the Russian flag over the White House.
If there had been ANY patriots in Trumps cabinet at that time, they would have invoked the 25th Amendment, removed him and then charged him with treason. Of course, then we would have started down the road to the "Rapture". Pence and Pompeo in the lead.
Has anyone connected the Rapture prediction with the current conflagration in Israel? Has anyone looked at the religious composition of our politicians?
Gee Bill, you have been reading my mind. We have traitors and religious nuts, and the MSM just la de dahs. I wish the nuts would get raptured and leave us the hell alone. That cretin Mike Huckabee on TV blathering about holocaust victims makes me heave. He is a proponent of that crap and raking in the money. He is not alone. And Putin/Netanyahu are just hanging on til we totally lose our minds. Glad Rolling Stone noticed.
My gast was flabbered. Yet it passed off the front pages in a flash. No wonder Putin is hanging on. What a pleasure it would be to see his blimp punctured. Make it two.
@Dutch Mike - you've allowed me a clear picture in my mind of the GOP tactics by using the words "Schrodinger's immigration policy."
Sorry, the following thoughts are going to be in the tl;dr category.
Summary: The rich get richer at the expense of the 99%.
This is the kind of situation we find ourselves in when people are so lazy or apathetic they refuse to read the article under the (misleading) headline. Or worse - they allow themselves to be spoon fed the poison propaganda.
"News" of the type Rupert Murdoch & Fox, Rush Limbaugh (Rot In Hell), Steve Bannon, OAN, Newsmax, and all the foreign troll bots offer to stoke FEAR and OUTRAGE instead of FACTS and PERSPECTIVE.
As ALWAYS, FOLLOW THE MONEY. The wealthy are happy to support tax cuts, defunding the IRS, business deregulation, and government bailouts when they claim to be "too big to fail." Just because they are "rich" too many are also given privileges, as if they are "right."
Now add to that Elon Musk, who has taken a global platform (Twitter) and destroyed its utility and value, while allowing it to be overrun with bigotry and vile attacks.
I think you're right on target. The obscenely rich want to get even more obscenely richer, and it's therefore in their best interest that they can buy their own rules, which means that the common people should have no means to establish any rules. And this means it is in the best interest of the rich that democracy is destroyed, especially for a narcissist tech bro like Musk, who wants to rule the world the way he likes it.
that statement is so on target. The biggest lie of all time was Milton Freidman and his "freedom to be free" series that promoted the "free" market which was unregulated and predatory. Now conservatives are rolling back child labor laws to fill the labor shortage void. Shameful....
Money is a form of power, as are powers of office, as is violence. The more a society leans toward corruption, the more interchangeable these types of power become. Monopolies of such powers is tyranny.
JL and Dutch, I'm not so sure that all of the 1% are in line with the likes of Elon "Even More" Musk. They just have a disproportionately large voice (well, who with several 100Billion to spend wouldn't). I would posit that we need to get our messages very clear, precise and very loud, very painful, and quickly. I'm not so sure that, right now, "make the rich pay" will return the votes we need (those on the fence). I think the Presidents economic programs are some way toward that goal, and are maybe speaking loudly enough on their own.
No way are President Biden's successful programs being communicated enough on their own. There needs to be a new communication plan that is bold, consistent, and plainly spoken. They can take their cues from UAW's Shawn Fain. He's been a brilliant spokesperson for not only his union workers, but also for President Biden.
It's not so much a matter of "Make the Rich Pay" (although https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/13/wealthiest-americans-tax-income-propublica-investigation ) but the degree to which the economy has been systematically warped to favor enriching the richest since the Reagan Revolution. That and the degree to which de facto bribery, actions that whatever they are labeled, produce the same outcomes as bribery around the purchase of political outcomes, have become legalized and normalized. That's the one ring to rule them all, and it's easily documented, hiding in plain sight.
The rich are the minority and happily practice tyranny. The sop called death tax (inheritance) was one of the ways we were able to slow down wealth concentration as well as the progressive tax system. The conservatives and libertarians have convinced many Americans that it is wrong to use the wealth of the country, redistributed by force (government) to make life better for our citizens.
Check the stats and it is fully evident that "Reaganomics" has "redistributed" wealth on a massive scale; only into the pockets of would-be feudal lords, and out of ours.
The wealthy - remember there are a lot of wealthy liberals out there, but for some reason they do not put money in areas that conservatives have to counter them like MSM and social media. Musk could have been outed from buying Twitter, Zuckerberg could have been buried at Facebook. Many claim to desire to be taxed more, but they have sat on the sidelines in the media wars. It is almost as if they like their tax cuts and ignore the actions of those taking away the rights of the people. Money talks.
Rickey, I live in NC. We have exactly 100 counties. I have often wondered why some wealthy individual, just as a thought experiment, if for no other reason, wouldn’t pay 100 individuals $30k in an election year (Nov thru Nov) to get every eligible voter registered, and set up a campaign to get those voters to the polls. It would cost three million dollars to see what democracy would actually look like, and would, I suspect, help the poor and working class far more than the ‘philanthropic’ donations the wealthy use to show they ‘care’.
This would be a drop in the bucket for any multi-millionaire, much less a billionaire. Any sports star, Hollywood celebrity, Buffet-like businessman who claims they should be taxed more could swing it. But they won’t. Why? Because democracy means a wealth tax. It also means electoral reform, like ranked choice voting, which both parties oppose, because it dilutes their political power.
Any aspect of concentrated wealth opposes democracy. Any lip service to the contrary is just that; blowing smoke.
Of course, "we" could provide a similar effort by automatically registering everyone to vote when they turn 18. Then make voting mandatory. (Like in Australia). Voting day would be a national holiday - Saturday? Or Vote by mail. You can select any candidate (I LOVE RCV) or just check none of the above and mail it in. But for a couple of minutes, you HAVE to think about it.
How to enforce that? Require an "I voted" card in order to drive or buy booze or get into a concert or get married or eat at a restaurant...
I'm comfortable with making voting a requirement for every citizen - are you?
I’d come at it a bit differently, with a carrot instead of a stick, when it comes to ‘mandatory’ voting. Don’t exactly know what Australia’s ‘penalties’ are, but I’d do something to encourage voting, by, say, giving vouchers for food/housing/health care with possession of the ‘I voted’ card you describe.
Agree totally with automatic voter registration when a person turns 18, as well as your national holiday Election Day idea. But because many would still have to work on that day, I would also mandate a 10-day early voting period, letting the states decide whether that be consecutive days or slightly spread out.
I think a person has the right to choose not to vote without penalty, as that is itself a vote, from a philosophical standpoint. Better to go the encouragement route as opposed to the penalty one, imo.
Was just thinking about here in Iowa my rep, Zach Nunn, is on the record to oppose the "Death Tax" or inheritance tax. I believe that came about in our country as a remedy to European royalty wealth concentration being passed from one generation to another. Now the wealthy have convinced many Americans that they too can keep their wealth to pass on. This just keeps allowing wealth to concentrate especially to people that did nothing to earn it. The trust fund babies that are listed in Jane Mayer's book Dark Money, are intent on destroying our democratic republic to keep their wealth.
Warren Buffet said it well when he stated that not having inheritance taxes is like giving your olympic spots to athletes whose parents were Olympians before with no trials. Good information, but empty concern as he has the wealth to do something like you suggest.
I often wonder why the liberal leaning wealthy have sat by and watched the radical leaning wealthy implement the Lewis Powell Memo with surgical precision. Money talks.
In answer to Dutch Mike: yeah...and then, because they are of no further use, those same recipients of Russian rewards, get one final reward--that of being shoved out of a high window.
The framers of the Constitution feared "factions" just about more than anything else as the one thing that could bring down the form of government they were creating. Extremist Republicans would have fit their definition of a faction.
...and actually make them pay a fair tax. Don't allow excessive compensation $56,000,000,000/yr. is a touch excessive for Judge Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware...Hurrah for women!!! A man wouldn't have had the balls!
That would take Supreme Court term limits. Immediately gets rid of Roberts and Thomas, but the damage is done and can only be undone by Congress. Which means flipping the House and keeping the Senate.
Politics is local and global, just as we all have individual consciousness and values, and we are part and parcel of a society. Congress is instrumental, but ideally are agents of the public will, and that outcome is frustrated both by tolerated corruption and the expectation that Biden (or Trump) and/or Congress can "fix it" for us. Positive change begins with the aggregated public examining, prioritizing and expressing, individually and together, what they want. If enough of us prioritized "clean government", it would happen. Social movements and leaders of varying sorts (elected or grass roots) provide a nucleus around which support can sometimes gather. HCR has done this. Woody Guthrie wrote " This machine kills fascists " on his guitar.
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
How can any of the office holders who voted not to accept the results of the 2020 electoral college be permitted to run for office ever again, as prohibited under the 14th Amendment, Section 3.
James, I think it's a slow burner that will have its day. Maybe it's the only way to clean out the MAGAt infested Congress and Senate in one fell swoop (as they say).
Oh my, such activity and it’s the middle of the night.
I guess I was unclear. I’m the one who feels the extreme mental nausea when I read Heather’s account of that parcel of rogues. I’m sure German could supply the desired word.
I’m not even sure that they want to rule the roost: They want to destroy it. They have the support of at least a quarter of the nation so it’s going to be a tough job to learn how to live with them.
Many of us suffer, as you do, from the extreme mental nausea when we are subjected to any account of that "parcel of rogues." It's not Heather that causes the reaction; it's the subject that is front and center 24/7. Chump's visage and voice are enough to trigger it, but that so many find that appealing is the germ that is infection our country.
Oh, and by the way in case anyone thought that "parcel of rogues" was no more than a cutesy insult, it refers to those 1707 Scottish parliamentarians who voted their nation out of existence. For money. I knew of few other such traitorous legislators until today's House Republicans came along.
Exclusive: Hotelier Robert Bigelow gives Trump $1 million for legal feeshttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/donor-bigelow-gave-trump-1-mln-legal-fees-donate-20-million-more-2024-01-30/
So much of Trump always. He's been messing up the Senate's bipartisan immigration deal to restrict border crossings. It took a hit last week when Donald Trump pushed Congress to reject it. ABC headlined, 'Immigration emerges as key 2024 election wedge issue for Trump, vulnerability for Biden'. Border security was a centerpiece of Donald Trump's successful 2016 campaign, and he is now repeating those messages (and in many cases going further than he did eight years ago, accused of echoing Hitler in saying immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country") to energize and unite his supporters against what Republicans have dubbed "Biden's border crisis." (ABC)
What about the Trump Effect beyond our border? Ishaan Tharoor, author of WAPO's , Today's WorldView, opens the door to Trump's very long, dark reach with, 'Behind Biden’s Middle East crises is the long tail of Trump’s legacy'
'Former president Donald Trump is on the warpath. As the Biden administration grapples with a spiraling set of crises in the Middle East, the Republican presidential front-runner has seized on the moment to score political points. A drone attack launched by an Iran-affiliated militant group based in Iraq hit a U.S. base on the Jordanian-Syrian border over the weekend, killing three U.S. troops and wounding dozens of others. Some Republicans in Washington want the White House to pursue severe, escalatory measures, including targeted strikes within Iran.'
'President Biden’s apparent desire to calibrate the response and avoid a wider conflict with Iran offered plenty of grist for Trump’s spinning mill. “This brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender,” Trump posted on social media, adding that such a strike on U.S. forces in the region “would NEVER have happened” on his watch.'
'Attacks on U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria did take place while Trump was president. But that’s besides the point: Trump and a number of his Republican colleagues are pinning the sense of chaos in the region on the Biden administration, and setting that against the image of “peace through strength” that the former president sought to cultivate.'
'Taking a wrecking ball to diplomacy with Tehran, Trump broke the nuclear deal forged between Iran and world powers, restored a slate of sanctions on the Islamic Republic and assassinated influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike. Trump’s policy on Israel, meanwhile, amounted to a tight bear hug of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the boosting of the agenda of the Israeli right. He was punitive to the Palestinians — markedly shifting U.S. policy against them by formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, shuttering a U.S. consulate intended for Palestinians, and brokering “peace” deals between Israel and a clutch of Arab monarchies that further sidelined Palestinian political aspirations.'
'After coming to office, the Biden administration muddled along in the Middle East. Its initial halfhearted rhetoric about restoring human rights to the center of U.S. policy soon melted away as the White House pursued closer cooperation with Saudi Arabia and maintained the status quo with Israel, eager to build on Trump-era normalization agreements. It struggled to make any headway on Iran — Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign led to an even more hard-line, uncompromising government taking hold in Tehran and the Iranian regime unshackling its nuclear program and dispensing with the measures of transparency that had been mandated by the nuclear deal.'
'Earlier this month, Rafael Grossi, the U.N.’s atomic agency chief, said Iran’s nuclear program was “galloping ahead” and urged for diplomacy to fill the breach “to prevent the situation deteriorating to a degree where it would be impossible to retrieve it.” Now, as the White House contemplates opening new fronts of conflict with Iran, diplomacy is not in the picture.'
“Iran was not dissuaded from pursuing its nuclear quest — quite the contrary,” wrote Le Monde columnist Gilles Paris this week, referring to Trump’s legacy in the region. “America’s word has been devalued, which partly explains the inability of Biden’s administration to re-engage with Tehran. Nor has the Islamic Republic been driven back into its borders, as witnessed by the resilience of the ‘axis of resistance’ after October 7, which unexpectedly expanded with attacks in the Red Sea by its Yemeni allies, the Houthis.”
'The likelihood of an Iranian nuclear weapon is far greater now than it was in 2018, when Trump killed the deal against the wishes of many Western allies. “Iranian leaders may see acquiring nuclear weapons as a way to gain newfound assurance that it won’t be attacked by Israel or the United States — freeing the axis of resistance to wreak far more havoc,” wrote Ali Vaez in Foreign Affairs. “Plus, Iranian officials who want the country to get a nuclear weapon (Tehran itself is likely divided on whether to go nuclear) could view this as a moment of great opportunity. Iran’s rivals, after all, are distracted by the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, competition with China, and elections.”
'Deadly attack on U.S. troops highlights an open-ended military mission'
'If Trump set in motion the deepening risk of a nuclear Iran, he also encouraged the acceleration of Israel’s far-right drift. David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, is a deeply ideological champion of the Jewish settler movement and an open skeptic of the two-state solution — the vision of two Israeli and Palestinian states existing side-by-side that has been the official policy of successive Democratic and Republican administrations. Friedman and a coterie of other Trump officials set about emboldening Netanyahu and his allies, who embarked on a series of settlement expansions and seemed forever poised to carry out de jure annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. Their efforts poured more dirt on the grave of the two-state solution at a time when the Palestinian national movement itself was in crisis and the Palestinian cause seemed even less of a priority among Arab governments.'
'That’s no longer the case in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and the hideous war in Gaza that has followed. Arab leaders as well as U.S. and European officials have all revived talk of the two-state solution as a necessary objective to bring stability to the region. But Trump and his allies are attacking Biden for taking this line and applying pressure to Netanyahu’s government.'
“He speaks continuously about this need to impose a two-state solution, which I think is tone-deaf right now,” Friedman told an Israeli TV network this week, referring to Biden. He also criticized Biden’s apparent attempts to lower the intensity of the Israeli campaign — which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, in a matter of months. “At no time did the United States put any handcuffs or limitations on Israel’s ability to respond” when Trump was in office, Friedman said.'
'Navigating war and domestic anger, Netanyahu may be trying to hold on until Trump, a friend and political fellow traveler, potentially wins reelection. He has reason to believe that a Trump return could help consolidate his position and energize his far-right allies.'
'While Palestinians have always criticized the United States as an unfair broker in the conflict, the Trump administration put its whole weight on the Israeli side of the scale and asked for no Israeli concessions in return. Its much-derided peace plan that it unveiled in 2020 dispensed with any illusion of creating a viable, sovereign Palestinian state; the Palestinian leadership wasn’t even briefed on Trump’s stillborn “deal of the century.” Erased from the international conversation and subject to an increasingly impotent Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian public slumped into the depths of disillusionment and despair.'
“There’s no going back on what we’ve been able to do,” Friedman said in a 2021 interview with the New York Times. “I’m frankly somewhere between addicted and intoxicated with what I’ve been able to do, and how much joy it gives me.” (WAPO) Article was copied in full.
I can’t think of one crisis that we are dealing with today that has not been created or made worse by the “long tail of Trump’s legacy.” Not one. Of course Netanyahu and Putin are waiting for chump’s return. And all will be well - for them
Thank you, Jeri, for this article. I agree with you; there is not one single foreign or domestic program that was not made worse by Trump and his cronies (Stephen Miller springs to mind).
Will someone please explain how it is that money received by Trump’s organization can be used for his private purposes. Why is that not considered personal income? Does he have to pay taxes on that money which is not used for the advancement of his campaign, but which goes to pay lawyers for his defense in a criminal case? Something smells fishy here.
Thank you Heather. While Putin, through State-sponsored social media disinformation and propaganda will continue to polarize, divide, and destabilize the United States, he really doesn’t have to do much.
The Mueller Report provided plenty of evidence of collusion with Putin (Manafort providing poll data to his Russian handler for what, book research?) Flynn undermining sanctions on Russia set forth by then President Obama (why hasn’t Flynn been subjected to court-martial and stripped of his military pension?)
No, Putin doesn’t have to do much. He has Trump to provide chaos, inciting extremists in Congress, essentially his co-conspirators and accessories after the fact. The election deniers, the false electors, people in Federal, State, and Local government ready to pounce on whatever unfolds in November and finish the job they started. These criminals should not be allowed anywhere near public office or public service. They are “Proud Boys” in suits, happily ignoring the suffering and sacrifice of generations before us to defeat fascism. They don’t care about treaties and alliances, the United States as a partner in defense, trade, and climate action. It is only about power and self-enrichment while dipping their hands in the blood of everyone buried at Arlington.
On a connected note:
In the United States, in 2024, democracy is on the ballot. Recent research states 75% of people consume their news on social platforms.
With so much at stake, do you trust Musk and Zuckerberg -or is it time for an ad-free, subscriber-supported civic social network that doesn't sell or share data with marketers, shadowy political operatives, or billionaires.
To my way of thinking, what is on the ballot in 2024 is the Constitution, rule of law, and the integrity of the oath of office taken by elected officials. All three are disrespected and forsaken. These are the pillars of government! This country is in chaos because these three pillars have all but collapsed. If any one of these three were upheld, tRump and the Republican Party would have been banished by now.
'"For the United States to walk away from the conflict at this crucial moment and cut off support to Ukraine would be an own goal of historic proportions,” Burns said' - HCR
That is just what I said about Brexit in the UK before the referendum.
BUT THEY DID IT ANYWAY.
It has since been proven that Russia played not a small part in manipulating and funding that result.
How can so few selfish pricks cause so much heartache? Zelenskyy did not do tfg’s bidding and lie about Hunter Biden, causing The First Impeachment. Donnie is a savage , a mass murderer and a complete fraud. How different our lives would be if he had been impeached when we first had the chance. 🤡💩🎃 And now we must clean House asap.
It seems to me that the Biden folks really need to get the nation’s attention on the ramifications of the this ersatz impeachment….think it’s time for large billboards in key elections areas that identify what’s at stake…I’d send Newsom out as he attracts media…maybe Taylor if at all possible…I’d do a LOT MORE THAN just the local dems complaining online….years ago in the California legislature I used to do poverty lobbying for Catholic Charities etc and I used supermarket carts with statewide petitions in grocery bags to attract media attention to the HUMAN COSTS of certain legislation….i know it sounds funky but I really think it’s time for some ‘theater’…..
Hiro, retired conservative Judge Luttig brought it up again yesterday. https://twitter.com/judgeluttig?lang=en. It's a bit strange, but in this case, our constitution is designed to defend itself, so how does it do that. I think the right people are working it on the Colorado issue. I'm hoping that it will be resolved, and that the Constitution will be handed a loaded rocket launcher.
The document is not the problem. The Constitution is a progressive legal framework. The trashing of constitutional law was accelerated by every American who did not vote for Hillary Clinton.
The Founders and Framers expected, allowed for, and invited improvement and amendment. Towards
a better realized equality before the law.
This has been overturned by Charles Koch bagman Leonard Leo's Federalist Society 'originalism' carried to deadly absurdity. So that miscreants like Clarence Thomas argue that anything not explicitly anticipated and included in the original document is unconstitutional.
And even that is not good enough for today's Republican party when the conservative Supremes don't give them exactly what they want.
Beware of Charles Koch's plan to amend the constitution. He has an agenda and some don't realize what it is. He would make it impotent. The "originalists" are just wolves in sheep's clothing.
The trashing of constitutional law was accelerated by the Democratic Party establishment in 2016 by nominating Hillary Clinton in a rigged game to do the bidding of its corporate donors, and by Democratic primary voters ignorant of the political landscape in a populist-fueled, change election year.
Your agenda is to reelect Trump to accelerate disaster in hopes of a socialist revolution. So of course Democratic candidates and Democratic voters are the target of your ire. No matter the irreparable harm.
These Republican quislings, toadies, abettors of criminality.
I just finished the English translation of Keigo Higashino's "A Death in Tokyo." Recommend it highly, especially for any desirous of careful dissection of the damages that set in, metastasize, and hurt, grow fear, hate, and cover-up more widely.
An artist can convey exactly how so many spineless souls indulge so deeply in rancor, criminality, stochastic terror violence, lying, and cover-up.
If it were a sound, the mendacity of the Speaker and his accomplices in the House and Senate would vaporize the eardrums of the living, and wake the dead.
But such are the believers in the thrall of their leader, that they are deaf to any utterance to which he does not assent and therefore deaf to truth, deaf to justice, deaf to the remnant of conscience that once whispered to them, no.
I'm reluctant, however, to credit so much evil to a mere life-long criminal, fraud, rapist -- even if he comes, too, in his clown-show caked-on layers of orange make-up, his stench-emitting diapers.
Isn't it really a much larger miasma? So many more ostensibly genteel enablers of dark money, theocratic violence against women, glorifiers of gun terror, destroyers of schools, allies of dictators and murderers worldwide?
Oh yes, but most people are lazy and he is an evil they have allowed into their lives, their very homes and now it is too late. So they gather themselves to him in desperation they deny.
And yes again, there is an abundance of evil but he is the pustule that is festering on our body politic at the moment, threatening to burst.
Yes, Jeri, we are getting those, what you call "daily lessons."
But unless we illuminate the bastards with humanities, we're getting no lessons.
Social science talk -- wonk formulae, abstracted categories, the dead phrases from stats, numbers, and neutered classrooms -- let nobody see the massive human damage our Republicans have sunk to ever since they hitched themselves to the orange fat guy criminality.
Great novels let us see the human ways crime, cover-up, and lying all mesh and up virulence. Let us see how one set of human weaknesses begets others in helpless spiraling. It was human Trump wanted to please his father. At a young age he saw how Roy Cohn could played the vicious games. For decades the now-diaper-stinking, legally-clear fraud and rapist could get away with it because of the parallel sociopathy built into the DNA of the far right foundations spawned from the Powell memo, from the amoral neutered fueling all biz ed, and the craven bottom lines monetizing the entertainment industry and social media.
Humanities can correct, give necessary perspective -- "daily lessons" -- on all this vulgarity.
Novels such as "The Great Gatsby," "Doctor Zhivago," or "A Death in Tokyo," and personal reporting such as Joan Didion's, James Agee's, Wendell Berry's, or A. J. Liebling's can give us insight into the human such as dehumanized institutions never can.
Yes, Phil, but do you really think any individual wondering whether to spend their last dollar on food, prescriptions or rent has time to read a novel?
Until we reverse, in major way, not via incremental crumbs, the economic divide afflicting our nation, we’ll never get the chance to reinvigorate the appreciation of the humanities as a concept.
LDAD (LAWYERS DEFENDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY) Calls on Congress to Cease its Unconstitutional Use of the Impeachment Power
Jan 29, 2024
'We, the undersigned, are committed to the United States Constitution, responsible governance, and the rule of law. The current effort to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is contrary to foundational principles of constitutional democracy that help ensure American freedom.'
'Disagreements have been reported for some time between some members of the House of Representatives and Secretary Mayorkas over his management of immigration at our southern border. In response to these disagreements, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has announced that he anticipates a House vote on articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas “as soon as possible.”
'Such a move is worse than a political stunt. It would be both unconstitutional and anti-constitutional. '
'The effect of threats to impeach cabinet secretaries from an opposing party because of policy disagreements brings us to a dangerous place in our constitutional order. If impeachment is allowed to be weaponized as a political instrument, the disturbing result would be to help enable authoritarianism in future presidents, and prevent presidents who adhere to the Constitution from functioning.'
'There are three key elements.'
'First, the Constitution requires proof of' “Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors” to impeach a government official. Constitutional scholar Charles L. Black, Jr. wrote in his widely acclaimed, Impeachment: A Handbook, that the “one and only discussion” of the phrase, “high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” at the Constitutional Convention “quite definitely establishes that ‘maladministration’ was distinctly rejected as a ground for impeachment.”
'As 25 constitutional law experts wrote to Speaker Johnson on January 10:'
'The Constitution forbids impeachment based on policy disagreements between the House and the Executive Branch, no matter how intense or high stakes those differences of opinion. [¶] Yet that is exactly what [the] House … appear[s] poised to undertake. The charges they have publicly described come nowhere close to meeting the constitutional threshold for impeachment.'
'Also on January 10, University of Missouri Law Professor Frank O. Bowman III, an impeachment expert, told the Homeland Security Committee:' “Based on all the information available to me, I have not found any indication that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”
'Second, in the absence of a legal or factual basis for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, it is difficult to rebut the criticism that the motivation is purely partisan and intended to amplify the border issue to advance party power.'
'Corrupting the impeachment process has dangerous anti-constitutional implications. If ordinary citizens begin to regard allegations of impeachable offenses as just one more political maneuver, the institution would be drained of meaning as a constitutional guardrail. Should a president be elected who seeks to abuse his office, that constraint would be useless because citizens would no longer trust that impeachment is anything more than a manipulative tool of one side to gain power over the other.'
'Impeachment was designed by the framers as an institution to ensure that no one, not even a president, is above the law. But the House has put us on the road to eviscerating that first principle of the republic.'
'Third, a goverment based upon the rule of law depends on the accountability of elected officials. Using impeachment to blame others for legislators’ own failings undermines constitutional government. That is what is happening here.'
'The absence of a willing Congress over the past several decades to address the realities underlying the border problem has created the situation in which Secretary Mayorkas operates. '
'The allegations against the Secretary are contrary to the evidence. As reported in the Houston Chronicle, “Mayorkas has overseen a record number of removals [...] including more than 470,000 since May. . . .”
'In November, the non-partisan but libertarian-leaning Cato Institute analyzed the government data and concluded: "Migrants were more likely to be released after a border arrest" under the prior Administration than under Secretary Mayorkas' Administration, and that, “In absolute terms,” the current DHS “is removing 3.5 times as many people per month” as the prior Administration's DHS did.'
'Further, the allegations against the Secretary belie the complexity of immigration laws and policies that have developed over a lengthy period of time. Secretary Mayorkas understands that the immigration challenge has far larger causes than can be addressed by the tools that Congress has provided the executive branch. In an October 30 Washington Post opinion piece, he wrote:'
'[E]conomic, political and climate instability exacerbated in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic is fueling the greatest level of global migration since World War II, particularly in our hemisphere. '
'The Secretary then described the comprehensive approach the Administration has taken within the current framework of laws and resources that Congress has provided, and then spoke truth to legislative power: “Only Congress can bring our immigration and border security systems into the 21st century.”
'It’s easier to make political hay out of problems than to try to solve them. But a rule-of-law society requires elected officials to do the jobs for which they were elected, as defined by the Constitution.'
'Rather than abusing its impeachment power, a responsible Congress concerned about America’s future should address the full range of immigration issues through its legislative powers.'
'We call upon our representatives to cease their misguided focus on impeachment. We also call upon them to fulfill their obligations to the American people and ensure the future of a government of laws.'
Click to sign this Call-to-Action, See link below.
They alerted me because I subscribe, Ally. If you haven't explored LAWYERS DEFENDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY's (LDAD) site, I think that it would interest you.
Fern, following the constitution, it seems an impeachable offense to impeach others for non-impeachable offenses.
While this argument almost seems to elevate the politicalization of impeachment, it would be a a worthy threat to initiate impeachment proceedings against anyone who improperly impeaches Mayorkas. After all, a lawyer can be disbarred for knowingly presenting false accusations, right? (Or wrong?)
Unfortunately, Shawn, I do not understand your argument and must attend to other matters. I suggest you pose your question to LDAD, or perhaps to one of the lawyers, retired or not, who subscribe to LFAA and participate on the forum,
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?
To put it crassly the PPP (pro putin party) with its worms for brains coalition may suffer the full impact of the Leopards Eating People's Faces before it is all over. Such will be their reward for worshiping the cowardly lying loser.
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
I would love to see an ad campaign that shows Republican “leaders” contradicting themselves in their immigration policy demands. This could be interspersed with narration detailing Democrats’ offers to create a bipartisan solution that can be acted on.
Gary….I seriously agree that a FAR MORE COMPELLING communications campaign needs to occur…in a comment down the way I mention that we need some ‘effective’ theater…we need the kind of communication that the media really picks up on..whether it’s Nikki’s T Shirts or some other way to emphasize the degree of threat to our democracy…that is occurring and as I write this it occurs to me that Doomsday Clock might be appropriate ….only this time it’s a Democracy;s Doomsday Clock….where every time one of these nasty rep deals occurs there’s a public VISUAL Clock noting the potential cost…and whoever manages it has the media’s attention…..
And I would use billboards at key transportation hubs with each new DAMAGING EVENT and what its impact is on the Democracy Doomsday Clock!
Rick Wilson outlines such a campaign in his sub stack today. Here it is : https://therickwilson.substack.com/p/flip-the-border-narrative?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1887091&post_id=141141316&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=false&r=3hyb6
“This list is far from complete, but here are a few assertions I’d love to see Democrats start making:”
Simon Rosenberg is doing similar⬆️ as Rick Wilson proposes. He’s gaining a lot of traction with the media, has a large following (and growing) and has been instrumental in helping Dems flip seats.
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/the-country-is-far-better-off-today?utm_medium=reader2
Highly recommend looking at rick wilson's 'Border' substack - ex-Republican thinking strategically
Bruce…I’d love to see Rick’s deal../but all I’m getting is a general ‘g mail’ comment…no campaign outline?
does this work Joan? https://therickwilson.substack.com/p/flip-the-border-narrative?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1887091&post_id=141141316&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=false&r=3hyb6
Makes sense.
Problem:
Meanwhile the civilian population in Gaza is not only unhoused by bombing, having severe shelter problems after heavy rain, but... unless there has been some unannounced radical change since 2 US Senators returned from the border weeks ago with catastrophic reports, many are starving, without clean water, without medicines and essential medical supplies.
Overmuch jaw jaw AND war war, too, but if there's no emergency aid -- a unilateral US airdrop if need be -- great numbers of essential young voters will turn against Biden and his administration.
Such action -- precedent, the 1948 Berlin airlift and the Marshall Plan, helping BOTH German civilians AND European victims of the Nazi onslaught -- would cause huge GOP hysteria... while undermining anti-American propaganda and potentially relieving tensions that could expand the war.
Above all, it would fulfil a humanitarian obligation -- better late than never.
And win the support of young voters at a time of still extraordinary American complacency in the face of the greatest threat facing the United States since the attack on Fort Sumter.
Concerning the 1948 precedent, bear in mind the crimes of the same nature as 10/7 but on an infinitely greater scale committed by a German regime not long before and the immense direct cost to America of the Second World War, both in human lives lost and materiel.
Where the current situation differs is that WW2 resulted in a huge burst in industrial activity to feed the war machine, whereas blocking arms supplies to Ukraine will impact America's arms industry. Now, I have no love for any form of arms industry or modern war but, quite apart from undermining BOTH endangered NATO allies AND the United States' international standing and reputation for reliability in meeting essential obligations, effective MAGA support for Putin through the sabotaging of Ukrainian defenses must adversely affect American industries and workers...
IF YOU HAVE CONTACTS IN AFFECTED INDUSTRIES, EITHER EMPLOYERS OR WORKERS, REMIND THEM OF WHAT M.A.G.A. ACTUALLY MEANS FOR THEM, NOW.
Bruce many thanks for the Rick Wilson referral…..he’s special!
Ditto. Love his observation: "Republicans suck at playing defense".
The link works for me
Joan, "FAR MORE COMPELLING communications campaign needs to occur"
We missed that boat Joan. Staring in the 1987 time frame the far right began buying AM radio stations all over America. I first heard Rush Limbaugh in a shuttle bus at Eastman Kodak company in 1987. Just taking a shuttle bus exposed me to Rush Limbaugh. Eventually, and not after many years, AM stations all over America, newly owned by the far right, were broadcasting not just Limbaugh, but, literally hundreds of paid patsies for the far right.
Now? Turn on your AM radio and thumb through the stations during the day ANYWHERE in America and you will hear, all day long, far right nuts spouting trash.
Not even ONE AM station touts the successes of the Biden administration. Just constant evil associated with "the left".
The guy who lives across from me spends every Saturday working in his garage with the door open playing a nut named "Michael Savage "all .... day .... long". So, if I am working on one of my several lawnmowers or motorcycles, rather than having a nice quiet time with my tools, I have to hear Michael Savage nut odyssey for the whole day.
Democrats have totally failed where reaching out to EVERYONE matters. Fox News has attracted even those I thought were reasonable people. AM radio has sucked in all the rural people. Yes, AM radio is still in every tractor sold by every company selling tractors with a cab folks.
The Republicans began in 1987. Maybe they reach their goal in 2024. Dems? Have not even STARTED trying to roll out a communication to all plan.
True that, Mike. I remember in the early 90's hearing one of my former stellar local AM radio stations have a news broadcast that sounded awfully biased (at the time, I was working graveyard shifts, and listened to Art Bell overnight because it was entertaining. I had come in at 1800 for an overtime shift, and discovered a news station that touted itself as "fair and balanced". Nothing of the sort.)
OMG Ally. I love(d) Art Bell. He had the best callers. They all were 100% sure they had seen aliens or whatever. I think he probably saved my life as I would listen to him as I drove home from New Haven, CT to Maine. Fascinating stuff.
I've recently discovered John Fugelsang on Progressive Radio although I catch the reruns of his late night call in show.
Thanks for reminding me about Art Bell. You made my day.
He got me through many a shift…
Mike…agree on the ‘missed boat’ deal ….think the impact of your neighbor’s favorite radio channels just plain scary… I’m not apt to forget your ‘Saturday afternoon sharing’….
“To rally the growing number of voters who do not consume news through traditional media, the campaign is trying to reach them on social media, with videos from influencers and even those with smaller followings.
During a stop in North Carolina this month, Mr. Biden made an hourlong visit to the home of a supporter who had his student loans canceled through a federal program. The man’s son later posted a video of Mr. Biden’s visit on TikTok, which drew millions of views — a template for how the campaign hopes to reach voters in new ways.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/us/politics/biden-trump-election-taylor-swift.html?unlocked_article_code=1.R00.pyur.oEZUGXaCSbdu&bgrp=a&smid=url-share
And I would use billboards at key transportation hubs with each new DAMAGING EVENT and what its impact is on the Democracy Doomsday Clock!
Billboards all over the country are the way to go. Thank you for saying that
Tell it to those with advertising snap. So far it’s money down the drain. Maybe get some help from Lincoln Project
Joan- I like your vision of how the messaging needs to go. One of the emerging Freedom Caucus tropes, I recall, was how they denigrated Democratic candidates (John Kerry, Al Gore) for “droning” , etc, solidifying the “nattering nabob” image. What I’m hearing you say is: State the truth, bu
State the truth, but with a keen understanding of the American appreciation of wry humor. John Stewart embodies this to the tee! So glad he’s back. Along these lines, the Taylor Swift phenomenon. Isn’t it interesting that the Repugs are losing their minds over Swift’s embrace of her power to support Biden?
If tonight's LFAA by itself doesn't inspire you to get involved to do Everything Possible to defeat them, read the history of how this is just yet one more in a Very Long cycle of GOP treachery of working against the USA to achieve their wicked purpose. From Nixon secretly working behind the scenes to extend the Vietnam War to Reagan working secretly with Khomeini of Iran to keep our hostages in captivity until after the 1980 election and every illegitimate GOP admin since, this is what they do. The only difference now is that there's no secrecy involved.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-56-year-long-crisis-of-treasonous-3fe
There were no surprises here. We are the choir. It’s time for screaming from the rooftops.
Time to become iron snowflakes.
Naw, Oregon snowflakes. Just a few of them and the entire state shuts down because snow doesn't happen enough to have the right equipment on hand to deal with what is routine in the north and east.
Your good at this Ally
That's the ticket.
Best idea ever.
Don't iron snowflakes look like those marital arts throwing stars?
The thought occurred. Open for interpretation.
Here, Here!!
Sorry, had to read it this morning because of a district party meeting about upcoming elections locally. Attended last night
Ken Buck is regrettably my representative (and I think the rethugs will take this opportunity to get rid of Boebert as the former R state party chair is running--away from his 2022 arrest record for DUI IN AN ELECTRIC BRONCO! and having a gun while drunk. I'm sure the rethugs will not be pleased about the electric Bronco.
BK, thanks for sharing this! I knew about each of these episodes but including the names and the numbers just sent chills down my spine. Why do none dare call it treason??
We think alike, Marge. Whether in secret or the open when they work Against the country and its people, harming all of us, costing many thousands of lives over time, "offering aid & comfort",....yes, it's treason. But, as you say, none dare call it that.
Dems have always been softer on holding them accountable during my lifetime and Merrick Garland is sadly continuing that experience as the GOP reps are still casting votes that are against the oath of office they swore to and getting away with it. Save but a select few, most of the thousands of insurrectionists who tried to overthrow the government are being given only the most basic of penalties and the "former guy" pardoned people that should be behind bars until old age. They count on Garland and the Dems to be soft on everything so know they can get away with it.
We are living thru a time when the consequences for these most egregious crimes as Thom Hartmann points out have been mostly inconsequential and that bodes ill for the future. But, that's my bleak side. I still hope and pray that when even those hardcore GOP votes step inside and close the curtain that, when they push that lever even they can't vote for the demented lying souls that have taken over their former party.
Instead of an ad campaign that would actually help, it seems the Dem ad campaign is directed at me, and likely people like me, who will never vote Repub. I am buried under an avalanche of begging emails. I never respond to them. I know enough to know who to support. Since I have limited resources, I have to be selective and their barrage is more hinderance than helpful. Communicate with non-MAGAts with the ammunition that repubs have piled high. Near me is a large billboard with the cretin’s ugly visage staring down. What happened to maddog’s billboard campaign of 2020? Your suggestions are great. Wish powers that be would listen.
Postcard campaigns are an effective way to reach out to potential voters. Hand written cards seem to do better than commercially produced 'literature.' Doing five a day takes less than an hour.
It is a way to DOO something. I writ postcards with my daughter. Also a way to donate by providing stamps, post cards and time.
I have written many postcards and wonder how we have tracked that this is a winning strategy. I honestly don't believe that it is helpful to anyone but the writer and sender.
One of the groups I write postcards for is Environmental Voter Project. They have regular sessions where they show results of studies they have done on the influence of hand written postcards. There is evidence it makes a difference, the difference doesn’t have to be great, just a small percentage makes a difference in outcomes. There are other groups that have shown increased voting but I can’t remember which ones.
And you are right it does make me feel better to do something.
A great suggestion, also love "Just Say NO to the Bully" index cards placed around. There is a web site that prints "coin" messages that can be put around. Can't find it at the moment. As to the DNC, spend the money on quoting the insanity that repubs spew non stop
There is also a website that sells rocks with themed messages that can be dropped about as you take a walk. They are actually pottery rocks. Nothing that will do damage if thrown.
Wonder if Google knows.
Jeri, I’m with you. The thought of the constant barrage of emails for which I then have to take the time to set up a filter to send to junk mail actually stops me from donating. I will, eventually, but right now my email is overloaded enough!
It is really disgusting that the money for this is wasted. They know me, they know I will never be a chump nut. They know every time I give a dime. Do something that might move the needle. I only have one vote and Joe will have it, should I live so long.
They paid 50 MILLION for tfg's legal fees. Sickening especially when we have children in our own neighborhoods going to bed hungry.
They have never disputed what is important. Money for the rich. Period. Yet the poor and those on the brink lap it up. But billionaire supporters want more, more, more. Heard my Mama say "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer," all my childhood. She would be gobsmacked today.
I think they do it so much because it is very inexpensive and easy to do. I send mass mailings to a group and it takes about a minute to set it up. And I’m not a tech person at all.
It has a negative effect on me. I'm sure it must result in donations but I will never respond to such.
The ad campaign may be to get you to vote, period. Seems to be a lot of people who are planning to either stay home or not vote the top of the ticket.
I can't imagine. I have always voted and will if I can crawl. Those who stay home are ignorant, stupid or evil. This is no time to try third parties, or seek perfect solutions. It is to avoid Putin's takeover. If the religious nuts get raptured in the process, so much the better.
Jeri-Agree. Are they too arrogant to read Heather, Joyce’s, or Jeff’s Substacks to learn about the great ideas “we the people” have for what could speak to a broader electorate?
Times a wasting
I too get an avalanche of texts everyday. I wish I could donate to many of them but that's not gonna happen.
Nor can I. I get requests for $5.00. Insane when I feel like they waste that much with every email.
Democrats keep asking for money and don’t seem to get anywhere. I see no effective ad campaigns. IEach one needs to speak loudly and cause some protest in their districts that attracts the lame media IMHO.
Yesterday Biden team announced a $250,000,000 ad budget
Most on useless emails to me, no doubt.
And texts, too. :(
I always "stop" those and phone messages. Stay away from my phone, beggers and hackers. So far, I just delete emails, but that may change soon.
I like the billboard idea. Gets people's attention, and everyone sees them.
I sure hope not Jeri
Holy Smokes!
If it's any consolation drump et al are much worse.
That is an excellent idea. Show the American people the truth of MAGA Republicans. They don't care about anything but pleasing the Orange menace, one of the worst men in our history. How these people live with themselves is beyond my understanding.
Gary S,
I would love to see more Republicans who have courage, and have been educated as to their expected responsibilities in doing the job of protecting and caring for the people of the USA. Do they not realize that when they make a "god" of one man, they are making themselves dispensable. Finding another "power hungry, money hungry zoombie is easy. Finding a wise, respecful, well educated "servant" of the people is a rarity now-a-days.
Those elected within the Democratic Party must step up with courage! They too must not put personsal agendas before the citizens (and those who would like to be) . Many are quiet. Some of our Democratic leaders are pouring out their lives to save and to build onto the foundations of freedom and justice fought for from our beginnings.
We have recently lost young lives who gave themselves to serve and protect our nation. This is serious. Parents have lost their children, Husbands/wives have been killed. Children have lost a parent. What have WE sacrificed for freedom, for the care of our planet home, for safety, for the education of our children, for freedom to worship or not...we have the FREEDOM to choose, BUT FOR HOW LONG!?
Please, many members of the Republican Party...take an honest look at yourselves....you look like mindless zoobies following someone's every word. You are following someone who is a criminal ! You have lost your autonomy as a human being and you are leading many naive people to hell with you!!!
Who are we today? Who will we become? We must not sell our souls to the highest bidder!
At one time, in our histories.... WE WERE PEOPLE AT THE BORDER!!!!
The greatness of America is that we are a mix of all the world and for most of the time, we have been able to get along. We must constantly and with good hearts work to improve all of our points of entry ...we must help one another as we have been given aid in our family's past.
And by the way...we are the ones buying/selling the drugs!!!! We choose the drug, then we are the ones who die or cause others to die. Let's look at another reality.
Sorry, Gary...these many words were NOT all pointed to your comment. It was just "Republican leaders" and "the border" that "set me off".
Democrats Do offer bipartisan solutions!
Yo.. Emily Pfaff, good post. Keeping in mind, that 98% of us posting here would not vote for Don Mega-suck, we-uns.., should keep our negative feelings (negative waves) about 'Joe' to ourselves when encountering other good folks, i.e., non-subscribers to HCR et al.., period. Feeding them (err ahh "sharing") tid-bits of 'good' they might be able to chew on //might\\ be okay but please remember, they've been hearing all the negative crap.., like: inflation is out of control.., Joe is a pedophile-photos prove it.., our country is a messs.., prices are thru the roof.., "Karens" (liberals) are everywhere.., U-krane is another Afganistan.., and on and on. And these "folks" get most of this baloney from talk radio, facebook dis-info posts, and the oil-truck driver. So, your well-intended "tid-bit" will probably go over like a lead-balloon. Being subtle probably will be seen-thru, meaning you lose. Don't lose. Unless you're wandering amongst street-dwellers the "folks" you are encountering 'have jobs' or are already receiving some Gov't stippend (welfare, food stamps, debitcard, heating assistance, SSI, etc) so they blame the Gov't ("Joe") for putting them in that "terrible" position. The reality being, for them, America has never been greater, but they don't see it that way. They march around hearing some photo-genic asshole/rich kid telling them..., teling them.., America sucks. So, again.., keep your negative-waves regarding this President, OR this Administration to yourself or posting here on HCR where they can't see it. Or, they'll just think your the one full of shit... and you LOSE. Don't LOSE!!
I've been donating to The Lincoln Project for that very reason, to support ads that showcase the hypocrisy on the part of the far right.
So, it’s a kind of Schrödinger’s immigration policy? It is a pressing matter that needs to be addressed immediately, but at the same time it can wait another year… Of course they use this to stop funding for Ukraine: Trumpski and the GOP (Goons Obeying Putin) have orders from Moscow to do just that. They will gleefully deliver the head of American democracy on a silver platter to their master in the Kremlin - in exchange for a handsome personal reward, no doubt…
Is Trump "The Manchurian Candidate" -- well, "The Moscovite Candidate" -- or does he just act that way? Did they re-program him during the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013? Just kidding ... I think ...
It was clear in Helsinki. Wish people had noticed. Well, way before that but MSM blathered on about the Schitt deliveries every day of his “administration”
Yes. Crystal Clear in Helsinki. The soccer ball. The smiles. The "I trust Putin when he says he didn't interfere ("help me :") in the election. Despite our entire intelligence apparatus and Republican committee reports that said Russia DID!
And the big one. The private meeting with Putin. No transcripts, no notes, no witnesses to remember. What deals were made then? Convince me they weren't talking about Ukraine. He might as well have flown the Russian flag over the White House.
If there had been ANY patriots in Trumps cabinet at that time, they would have invoked the 25th Amendment, removed him and then charged him with treason. Of course, then we would have started down the road to the "Rapture". Pence and Pompeo in the lead.
Has anyone connected the Rapture prediction with the current conflagration in Israel? Has anyone looked at the religious composition of our politicians?
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/gaza-war-evangelical-leaders-cheer-end-world-1234884151/
https://wapo.st/3Or7ivQ (no paywall)
Gee Bill, you have been reading my mind. We have traitors and religious nuts, and the MSM just la de dahs. I wish the nuts would get raptured and leave us the hell alone. That cretin Mike Huckabee on TV blathering about holocaust victims makes me heave. He is a proponent of that crap and raking in the money. He is not alone. And Putin/Netanyahu are just hanging on til we totally lose our minds. Glad Rolling Stone noticed.
Totally clear. 2 hours, not 1 record of discussion. We had so many opportunites to stop this runaway train.
My gast was flabbered. Yet it passed off the front pages in a flash. No wonder Putin is hanging on. What a pleasure it would be to see his blimp punctured. Make it two.
Michael Unlike ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ Bone Spur Donald never learned to shoot. Perhaps he could throw a golf club or double cheeseburger.
@Dutch Mike - you've allowed me a clear picture in my mind of the GOP tactics by using the words "Schrodinger's immigration policy."
Sorry, the following thoughts are going to be in the tl;dr category.
Summary: The rich get richer at the expense of the 99%.
This is the kind of situation we find ourselves in when people are so lazy or apathetic they refuse to read the article under the (misleading) headline. Or worse - they allow themselves to be spoon fed the poison propaganda.
"News" of the type Rupert Murdoch & Fox, Rush Limbaugh (Rot In Hell), Steve Bannon, OAN, Newsmax, and all the foreign troll bots offer to stoke FEAR and OUTRAGE instead of FACTS and PERSPECTIVE.
As ALWAYS, FOLLOW THE MONEY. The wealthy are happy to support tax cuts, defunding the IRS, business deregulation, and government bailouts when they claim to be "too big to fail." Just because they are "rich" too many are also given privileges, as if they are "right."
Now add to that Elon Musk, who has taken a global platform (Twitter) and destroyed its utility and value, while allowing it to be overrun with bigotry and vile attacks.
I'm just going to stop now.
But thanks for making me think.
I think you're right on target. The obscenely rich want to get even more obscenely richer, and it's therefore in their best interest that they can buy their own rules, which means that the common people should have no means to establish any rules. And this means it is in the best interest of the rich that democracy is destroyed, especially for a narcissist tech bro like Musk, who wants to rule the world the way he likes it.
Further to your point & Deeply concerning is Charlie Sykes’s discussion of “democracy needs capitalism BUT capitalism does not need democracy”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BjvTDxyTT29KgJCoq5cOg?si=mzkkf6kKQEiNtb0b-HKTXw
that statement is so on target. The biggest lie of all time was Milton Freidman and his "freedom to be free" series that promoted the "free" market which was unregulated and predatory. Now conservatives are rolling back child labor laws to fill the labor shortage void. Shameful....
Democracy doesn’t ‘need’ capitalism any more than it ‘needs’ socialism. It is true that neither needs democracy.
Thank You, Lorna. This interview by Charlie Sykes is astounding and important. Sharing.
Yup.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS.
Money is a form of power, as are powers of office, as is violence. The more a society leans toward corruption, the more interchangeable these types of power become. Monopolies of such powers is tyranny.
JL and Dutch, I'm not so sure that all of the 1% are in line with the likes of Elon "Even More" Musk. They just have a disproportionately large voice (well, who with several 100Billion to spend wouldn't). I would posit that we need to get our messages very clear, precise and very loud, very painful, and quickly. I'm not so sure that, right now, "make the rich pay" will return the votes we need (those on the fence). I think the Presidents economic programs are some way toward that goal, and are maybe speaking loudly enough on their own.
No way are President Biden's successful programs being communicated enough on their own. There needs to be a new communication plan that is bold, consistent, and plainly spoken. They can take their cues from UAW's Shawn Fain. He's been a brilliant spokesperson for not only his union workers, but also for President Biden.
It's not so much a matter of "Make the Rich Pay" (although https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/13/wealthiest-americans-tax-income-propublica-investigation ) but the degree to which the economy has been systematically warped to favor enriching the richest since the Reagan Revolution. That and the degree to which de facto bribery, actions that whatever they are labeled, produce the same outcomes as bribery around the purchase of political outcomes, have become legalized and normalized. That's the one ring to rule them all, and it's easily documented, hiding in plain sight.
The rich are the minority and happily practice tyranny. The sop called death tax (inheritance) was one of the ways we were able to slow down wealth concentration as well as the progressive tax system. The conservatives and libertarians have convinced many Americans that it is wrong to use the wealth of the country, redistributed by force (government) to make life better for our citizens.
Check the stats and it is fully evident that "Reaganomics" has "redistributed" wealth on a massive scale; only into the pockets of would-be feudal lords, and out of ours.
Great start, keep going…
The wealthy - remember there are a lot of wealthy liberals out there, but for some reason they do not put money in areas that conservatives have to counter them like MSM and social media. Musk could have been outed from buying Twitter, Zuckerberg could have been buried at Facebook. Many claim to desire to be taxed more, but they have sat on the sidelines in the media wars. It is almost as if they like their tax cuts and ignore the actions of those taking away the rights of the people. Money talks.
Rickey, I live in NC. We have exactly 100 counties. I have often wondered why some wealthy individual, just as a thought experiment, if for no other reason, wouldn’t pay 100 individuals $30k in an election year (Nov thru Nov) to get every eligible voter registered, and set up a campaign to get those voters to the polls. It would cost three million dollars to see what democracy would actually look like, and would, I suspect, help the poor and working class far more than the ‘philanthropic’ donations the wealthy use to show they ‘care’.
This would be a drop in the bucket for any multi-millionaire, much less a billionaire. Any sports star, Hollywood celebrity, Buffet-like businessman who claims they should be taxed more could swing it. But they won’t. Why? Because democracy means a wealth tax. It also means electoral reform, like ranked choice voting, which both parties oppose, because it dilutes their political power.
Any aspect of concentrated wealth opposes democracy. Any lip service to the contrary is just that; blowing smoke.
Tom! That's a brilliant idea. I wish I was rich.
Of course, "we" could provide a similar effort by automatically registering everyone to vote when they turn 18. Then make voting mandatory. (Like in Australia). Voting day would be a national holiday - Saturday? Or Vote by mail. You can select any candidate (I LOVE RCV) or just check none of the above and mail it in. But for a couple of minutes, you HAVE to think about it.
How to enforce that? Require an "I voted" card in order to drive or buy booze or get into a concert or get married or eat at a restaurant...
I'm comfortable with making voting a requirement for every citizen - are you?
I’d come at it a bit differently, with a carrot instead of a stick, when it comes to ‘mandatory’ voting. Don’t exactly know what Australia’s ‘penalties’ are, but I’d do something to encourage voting, by, say, giving vouchers for food/housing/health care with possession of the ‘I voted’ card you describe.
Agree totally with automatic voter registration when a person turns 18, as well as your national holiday Election Day idea. But because many would still have to work on that day, I would also mandate a 10-day early voting period, letting the states decide whether that be consecutive days or slightly spread out.
I think a person has the right to choose not to vote without penalty, as that is itself a vote, from a philosophical standpoint. Better to go the encouragement route as opposed to the penalty one, imo.
I like it. "A carrot in in every pot" - if you vote.
Could be a basket of benefits.
Was just thinking about here in Iowa my rep, Zach Nunn, is on the record to oppose the "Death Tax" or inheritance tax. I believe that came about in our country as a remedy to European royalty wealth concentration being passed from one generation to another. Now the wealthy have convinced many Americans that they too can keep their wealth to pass on. This just keeps allowing wealth to concentrate especially to people that did nothing to earn it. The trust fund babies that are listed in Jane Mayer's book Dark Money, are intent on destroying our democratic republic to keep their wealth.
Warren Buffet said it well when he stated that not having inheritance taxes is like giving your olympic spots to athletes whose parents were Olympians before with no trials. Good information, but empty concern as he has the wealth to do something like you suggest.
I often wonder why the liberal leaning wealthy have sat by and watched the radical leaning wealthy implement the Lewis Powell Memo with surgical precision. Money talks.
In answer to Dutch Mike: yeah...and then, because they are of no further use, those same recipients of Russian rewards, get one final reward--that of being shoved out of a high window.
The framers of the Constitution feared "factions" just about more than anything else as the one thing that could bring down the form of government they were creating. Extremist Republicans would have fit their definition of a faction.
Yes David. Thomas Ricks wrote about the Framers concern in First Principles. The current minority of republicans are exactly what they feared.
So..... a new ammendment?
I'd go for "Get the #*$&% excessive money OUT of the voting and legislating process."
...and actually make them pay a fair tax. Don't allow excessive compensation $56,000,000,000/yr. is a touch excessive for Judge Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware...Hurrah for women!!! A man wouldn't have had the balls!
That would take Supreme Court term limits. Immediately gets rid of Roberts and Thomas, but the damage is done and can only be undone by Congress. Which means flipping the House and keeping the Senate.
All politics is local. Get out there.
Politics is local and global, just as we all have individual consciousness and values, and we are part and parcel of a society. Congress is instrumental, but ideally are agents of the public will, and that outcome is frustrated both by tolerated corruption and the expectation that Biden (or Trump) and/or Congress can "fix it" for us. Positive change begins with the aggregated public examining, prioritizing and expressing, individually and together, what they want. If enough of us prioritized "clean government", it would happen. Social movements and leaders of varying sorts (elected or grass roots) provide a nucleus around which support can sometimes gather. HCR has done this. Woody Guthrie wrote " This machine kills fascists " on his guitar.
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
HJR-54
MoveToAmend.org
How can any of the office holders who voted not to accept the results of the 2020 electoral college be permitted to run for office ever again, as prohibited under the 14th Amendment, Section 3.
James, I think it's a slow burner that will have its day. Maybe it's the only way to clean out the MAGAt infested Congress and Senate in one fell swoop (as they say).
Wish I would live so long.
You wouldn’t want to be around for the climate chaos that is coming; regardless of who wins elections.
These people are beyond words; in fact t I think that we need a new word to express extreme mental nausea.
I'll still go with malignant narcissists. They don't care who or what is harmed, even generations to come, so long as they get to rule the roost.
Words fail me, but I try. “Extreme mental nausea” is Endemic in chump world. Stamp it out. Worse than any pandemic
Oh my, such activity and it’s the middle of the night.
I guess I was unclear. I’m the one who feels the extreme mental nausea when I read Heather’s account of that parcel of rogues. I’m sure German could supply the desired word.
I’m not even sure that they want to rule the roost: They want to destroy it. They have the support of at least a quarter of the nation so it’s going to be a tough job to learn how to live with them.
P.S. Heather needs a day off. She has worked right through the weekend.
Many of us suffer, as you do, from the extreme mental nausea when we are subjected to any account of that "parcel of rogues." It's not Heather that causes the reaction; it's the subject that is front and center 24/7. Chump's visage and voice are enough to trigger it, but that so many find that appealing is the germ that is infection our country.
If I gave you the impression that I was blaming Heather then I have misspoken again. :-)
Just didn't want anyone to think that I was upset with LFAA. No, you didn't
Thanks, Jeri. LFAA?
Oh, and by the way in case anyone thought that "parcel of rogues" was no more than a cutesy insult, it refers to those 1707 Scottish parliamentarians who voted their nation out of existence. For money. I knew of few other such traitorous legislators until today's House Republicans came along.
Trump needs termination.
He was terminated, And resurrected by traitors. Call them what they are.
Exclusive: Hotelier Robert Bigelow gives Trump $1 million for legal feeshttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/donor-bigelow-gave-trump-1-mln-legal-fees-donate-20-million-more-2024-01-30/
Here’s one more. It’s so discouraging.
Yep, and I get requests for $5.00. I used to give $50, now lucky if I can give half of that. Where are our big bucks
Watch that lingo TC, I'd hate to read your messages coming from a cell.
His term already terminated, but he had the termendous termerity to carry on about it so.
Incarceration. Institutionalization.
Incarceration with the door bricked up.
Save tax dollars, imagine a fatal “medical event”.
My spouse's daily prayer.
Mine too. And my spouse prayed the same until her departure last year.
Not a fatal event-- a massive CVA leaving him bed bound, incontinent, unable to speak, but fully aware of his circumstances
Best fatal— he’d still be their cult leader as long as his eyes opened with a glimmer of brain function.
And a martyr in death. Hell on earth appeals to my evil inner self
TC, I see what you did there, “TNT”
So much of Trump always. He's been messing up the Senate's bipartisan immigration deal to restrict border crossings. It took a hit last week when Donald Trump pushed Congress to reject it. ABC headlined, 'Immigration emerges as key 2024 election wedge issue for Trump, vulnerability for Biden'. Border security was a centerpiece of Donald Trump's successful 2016 campaign, and he is now repeating those messages (and in many cases going further than he did eight years ago, accused of echoing Hitler in saying immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country") to energize and unite his supporters against what Republicans have dubbed "Biden's border crisis." (ABC)
What about the Trump Effect beyond our border? Ishaan Tharoor, author of WAPO's , Today's WorldView, opens the door to Trump's very long, dark reach with, 'Behind Biden’s Middle East crises is the long tail of Trump’s legacy'
'Former president Donald Trump is on the warpath. As the Biden administration grapples with a spiraling set of crises in the Middle East, the Republican presidential front-runner has seized on the moment to score political points. A drone attack launched by an Iran-affiliated militant group based in Iraq hit a U.S. base on the Jordanian-Syrian border over the weekend, killing three U.S. troops and wounding dozens of others. Some Republicans in Washington want the White House to pursue severe, escalatory measures, including targeted strikes within Iran.'
'President Biden’s apparent desire to calibrate the response and avoid a wider conflict with Iran offered plenty of grist for Trump’s spinning mill. “This brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender,” Trump posted on social media, adding that such a strike on U.S. forces in the region “would NEVER have happened” on his watch.'
'Attacks on U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria did take place while Trump was president. But that’s besides the point: Trump and a number of his Republican colleagues are pinning the sense of chaos in the region on the Biden administration, and setting that against the image of “peace through strength” that the former president sought to cultivate.'
'Taking a wrecking ball to diplomacy with Tehran, Trump broke the nuclear deal forged between Iran and world powers, restored a slate of sanctions on the Islamic Republic and assassinated influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike. Trump’s policy on Israel, meanwhile, amounted to a tight bear hug of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the boosting of the agenda of the Israeli right. He was punitive to the Palestinians — markedly shifting U.S. policy against them by formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, shuttering a U.S. consulate intended for Palestinians, and brokering “peace” deals between Israel and a clutch of Arab monarchies that further sidelined Palestinian political aspirations.'
'After coming to office, the Biden administration muddled along in the Middle East. Its initial halfhearted rhetoric about restoring human rights to the center of U.S. policy soon melted away as the White House pursued closer cooperation with Saudi Arabia and maintained the status quo with Israel, eager to build on Trump-era normalization agreements. It struggled to make any headway on Iran — Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign led to an even more hard-line, uncompromising government taking hold in Tehran and the Iranian regime unshackling its nuclear program and dispensing with the measures of transparency that had been mandated by the nuclear deal.'
'Earlier this month, Rafael Grossi, the U.N.’s atomic agency chief, said Iran’s nuclear program was “galloping ahead” and urged for diplomacy to fill the breach “to prevent the situation deteriorating to a degree where it would be impossible to retrieve it.” Now, as the White House contemplates opening new fronts of conflict with Iran, diplomacy is not in the picture.'
“Iran was not dissuaded from pursuing its nuclear quest — quite the contrary,” wrote Le Monde columnist Gilles Paris this week, referring to Trump’s legacy in the region. “America’s word has been devalued, which partly explains the inability of Biden’s administration to re-engage with Tehran. Nor has the Islamic Republic been driven back into its borders, as witnessed by the resilience of the ‘axis of resistance’ after October 7, which unexpectedly expanded with attacks in the Red Sea by its Yemeni allies, the Houthis.”
'The likelihood of an Iranian nuclear weapon is far greater now than it was in 2018, when Trump killed the deal against the wishes of many Western allies. “Iranian leaders may see acquiring nuclear weapons as a way to gain newfound assurance that it won’t be attacked by Israel or the United States — freeing the axis of resistance to wreak far more havoc,” wrote Ali Vaez in Foreign Affairs. “Plus, Iranian officials who want the country to get a nuclear weapon (Tehran itself is likely divided on whether to go nuclear) could view this as a moment of great opportunity. Iran’s rivals, after all, are distracted by the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, competition with China, and elections.”
'Deadly attack on U.S. troops highlights an open-ended military mission'
'If Trump set in motion the deepening risk of a nuclear Iran, he also encouraged the acceleration of Israel’s far-right drift. David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, is a deeply ideological champion of the Jewish settler movement and an open skeptic of the two-state solution — the vision of two Israeli and Palestinian states existing side-by-side that has been the official policy of successive Democratic and Republican administrations. Friedman and a coterie of other Trump officials set about emboldening Netanyahu and his allies, who embarked on a series of settlement expansions and seemed forever poised to carry out de jure annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. Their efforts poured more dirt on the grave of the two-state solution at a time when the Palestinian national movement itself was in crisis and the Palestinian cause seemed even less of a priority among Arab governments.'
'That’s no longer the case in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and the hideous war in Gaza that has followed. Arab leaders as well as U.S. and European officials have all revived talk of the two-state solution as a necessary objective to bring stability to the region. But Trump and his allies are attacking Biden for taking this line and applying pressure to Netanyahu’s government.'
“He speaks continuously about this need to impose a two-state solution, which I think is tone-deaf right now,” Friedman told an Israeli TV network this week, referring to Biden. He also criticized Biden’s apparent attempts to lower the intensity of the Israeli campaign — which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, in a matter of months. “At no time did the United States put any handcuffs or limitations on Israel’s ability to respond” when Trump was in office, Friedman said.'
'Navigating war and domestic anger, Netanyahu may be trying to hold on until Trump, a friend and political fellow traveler, potentially wins reelection. He has reason to believe that a Trump return could help consolidate his position and energize his far-right allies.'
'While Palestinians have always criticized the United States as an unfair broker in the conflict, the Trump administration put its whole weight on the Israeli side of the scale and asked for no Israeli concessions in return. Its much-derided peace plan that it unveiled in 2020 dispensed with any illusion of creating a viable, sovereign Palestinian state; the Palestinian leadership wasn’t even briefed on Trump’s stillborn “deal of the century.” Erased from the international conversation and subject to an increasingly impotent Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian public slumped into the depths of disillusionment and despair.'
“There’s no going back on what we’ve been able to do,” Friedman said in a 2021 interview with the New York Times. “I’m frankly somewhere between addicted and intoxicated with what I’ve been able to do, and how much joy it gives me.” (WAPO) Article was copied in full.
David Friedman can go to hell.
I can’t think of one crisis that we are dealing with today that has not been created or made worse by the “long tail of Trump’s legacy.” Not one. Of course Netanyahu and Putin are waiting for chump’s return. And all will be well - for them
Agree. It's a monstrous choice, but we can't let the traitorous fascists win.
Will try to do my part, but harder than it ever has been before
It's exhausting, disturbing... So much bad shit going on.
That was the plan, per Bannon. Hard to shovel it away fast enough
Thank you, Jeri, for this article. I agree with you; there is not one single foreign or domestic program that was not made worse by Trump and his cronies (Stephen Miller springs to mind).
Thank you, Fern.
Will someone please explain how it is that money received by Trump’s organization can be used for his private purposes. Why is that not considered personal income? Does he have to pay taxes on that money which is not used for the advancement of his campaign, but which goes to pay lawyers for his defense in a criminal case? Something smells fishy here.
I was wondering the same thing. Is it legal to use campaign contributions as a giant Go Fund Me for legal fees?
Ya think?
Thank you Heather. While Putin, through State-sponsored social media disinformation and propaganda will continue to polarize, divide, and destabilize the United States, he really doesn’t have to do much.
The Mueller Report provided plenty of evidence of collusion with Putin (Manafort providing poll data to his Russian handler for what, book research?) Flynn undermining sanctions on Russia set forth by then President Obama (why hasn’t Flynn been subjected to court-martial and stripped of his military pension?)
No, Putin doesn’t have to do much. He has Trump to provide chaos, inciting extremists in Congress, essentially his co-conspirators and accessories after the fact. The election deniers, the false electors, people in Federal, State, and Local government ready to pounce on whatever unfolds in November and finish the job they started. These criminals should not be allowed anywhere near public office or public service. They are “Proud Boys” in suits, happily ignoring the suffering and sacrifice of generations before us to defeat fascism. They don’t care about treaties and alliances, the United States as a partner in defense, trade, and climate action. It is only about power and self-enrichment while dipping their hands in the blood of everyone buried at Arlington.
On a connected note:
In the United States, in 2024, democracy is on the ballot. Recent research states 75% of people consume their news on social platforms.
With so much at stake, do you trust Musk and Zuckerberg -or is it time for an ad-free, subscriber-supported civic social network that doesn't sell or share data with marketers, shadowy political operatives, or billionaires.
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To my way of thinking, what is on the ballot in 2024 is the Constitution, rule of law, and the integrity of the oath of office taken by elected officials. All three are disrespected and forsaken. These are the pillars of government! This country is in chaos because these three pillars have all but collapsed. If any one of these three were upheld, tRump and the Republican Party would have been banished by now.
Indeed. Especially if banished equals expelled, indicted, and awaiting long prison sentences.
Yup!
'"For the United States to walk away from the conflict at this crucial moment and cut off support to Ukraine would be an own goal of historic proportions,” Burns said' - HCR
That is just what I said about Brexit in the UK before the referendum.
BUT THEY DID IT ANYWAY.
It has since been proven that Russia played not a small part in manipulating and funding that result.
Result - breaking up the EU, nice one Vlad.
He just got started.
How can so few selfish pricks cause so much heartache? Zelenskyy did not do tfg’s bidding and lie about Hunter Biden, causing The First Impeachment. Donnie is a savage , a mass murderer and a complete fraud. How different our lives would be if he had been impeached when we first had the chance. 🤡💩🎃 And now we must clean House asap.
And indeed, Trump’s vindictiveness about that is likely the root of his desire to pull funding from Ukraine, consequences be damned.
Exactly the point I failed to make. Thanks!
It seems to me that the Biden folks really need to get the nation’s attention on the ramifications of the this ersatz impeachment….think it’s time for large billboards in key elections areas that identify what’s at stake…I’d send Newsom out as he attracts media…maybe Taylor if at all possible…I’d do a LOT MORE THAN just the local dems complaining online….years ago in the California legislature I used to do poverty lobbying for Catholic Charities etc and I used supermarket carts with statewide petitions in grocery bags to attract media attention to the HUMAN COSTS of certain legislation….i know it sounds funky but I really think it’s time for some ‘theater’…..
Trump is legally disqualified to run for Presidency. Why few have brought this up?
Hiro, retired conservative Judge Luttig brought it up again yesterday. https://twitter.com/judgeluttig?lang=en. It's a bit strange, but in this case, our constitution is designed to defend itself, so how does it do that. I think the right people are working it on the Colorado issue. I'm hoping that it will be resolved, and that the Constitution will be handed a loaded rocket launcher.
Does the Constitution have balls, or is it impotent
I think it is one of the most impotent documents in the current world, Jeri. Don't y'all.
The document is not the problem. The Constitution is a progressive legal framework. The trashing of constitutional law was accelerated by every American who did not vote for Hillary Clinton.
The Founders and Framers expected, allowed for, and invited improvement and amendment. Towards
a better realized equality before the law.
This has been overturned by Charles Koch bagman Leonard Leo's Federalist Society 'originalism' carried to deadly absurdity. So that miscreants like Clarence Thomas argue that anything not explicitly anticipated and included in the original document is unconstitutional.
And even that is not good enough for today's Republican party when the conservative Supremes don't give them exactly what they want.
Beware of Charles Koch's plan to amend the constitution. He has an agenda and some don't realize what it is. He would make it impotent. The "originalists" are just wolves in sheep's clothing.
The trashing of constitutional law was accelerated by the Democratic Party establishment in 2016 by nominating Hillary Clinton in a rigged game to do the bidding of its corporate donors, and by Democratic primary voters ignorant of the political landscape in a populist-fueled, change election year.
Votes aren’t owned, they are earned.
Your agenda is to reelect Trump to accelerate disaster in hopes of a socialist revolution. So of course Democratic candidates and Democratic voters are the target of your ire. No matter the irreparable harm.
that should have been initiated right after the election.
Too big to prosecute?
These Republican quislings, toadies, abettors of criminality.
I just finished the English translation of Keigo Higashino's "A Death in Tokyo." Recommend it highly, especially for any desirous of careful dissection of the damages that set in, metastasize, and hurt, grow fear, hate, and cover-up more widely.
An artist can convey exactly how so many spineless souls indulge so deeply in rancor, criminality, stochastic terror violence, lying, and cover-up.
If it were a sound, the mendacity of the Speaker and his accomplices in the House and Senate would vaporize the eardrums of the living, and wake the dead.
But such are the believers in the thrall of their leader, that they are deaf to any utterance to which he does not assent and therefore deaf to truth, deaf to justice, deaf to the remnant of conscience that once whispered to them, no.
Most nicely put, R Dooley.
I'm reluctant, however, to credit so much evil to a mere life-long criminal, fraud, rapist -- even if he comes, too, in his clown-show caked-on layers of orange make-up, his stench-emitting diapers.
Isn't it really a much larger miasma? So many more ostensibly genteel enablers of dark money, theocratic violence against women, glorifiers of gun terror, destroyers of schools, allies of dictators and murderers worldwide?
Oh yes, but most people are lazy and he is an evil they have allowed into their lives, their very homes and now it is too late. So they gather themselves to him in desperation they deny.
And yes again, there is an abundance of evil but he is the pustule that is festering on our body politic at the moment, threatening to burst.
We are getting daily lessons
Yes, Jeri, we are getting those, what you call "daily lessons."
But unless we illuminate the bastards with humanities, we're getting no lessons.
Social science talk -- wonk formulae, abstracted categories, the dead phrases from stats, numbers, and neutered classrooms -- let nobody see the massive human damage our Republicans have sunk to ever since they hitched themselves to the orange fat guy criminality.
Great novels let us see the human ways crime, cover-up, and lying all mesh and up virulence. Let us see how one set of human weaknesses begets others in helpless spiraling. It was human Trump wanted to please his father. At a young age he saw how Roy Cohn could played the vicious games. For decades the now-diaper-stinking, legally-clear fraud and rapist could get away with it because of the parallel sociopathy built into the DNA of the far right foundations spawned from the Powell memo, from the amoral neutered fueling all biz ed, and the craven bottom lines monetizing the entertainment industry and social media.
Humanities can correct, give necessary perspective -- "daily lessons" -- on all this vulgarity.
Novels such as "The Great Gatsby," "Doctor Zhivago," or "A Death in Tokyo," and personal reporting such as Joan Didion's, James Agee's, Wendell Berry's, or A. J. Liebling's can give us insight into the human such as dehumanized institutions never can.
By November???
Yes, Phil, but do you really think any individual wondering whether to spend their last dollar on food, prescriptions or rent has time to read a novel?
Until we reverse, in major way, not via incremental crumbs, the economic divide afflicting our nation, we’ll never get the chance to reinvigorate the appreciation of the humanities as a concept.
Then maybe you could stop getting in the way.
Then maybe you still don’t grasp the difference between major way and incremental crumbs. Vlad says hello, and to keep it up.
LDAD (LAWYERS DEFENDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY) Calls on Congress to Cease its Unconstitutional Use of the Impeachment Power
Jan 29, 2024
'We, the undersigned, are committed to the United States Constitution, responsible governance, and the rule of law. The current effort to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is contrary to foundational principles of constitutional democracy that help ensure American freedom.'
'Disagreements have been reported for some time between some members of the House of Representatives and Secretary Mayorkas over his management of immigration at our southern border. In response to these disagreements, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has announced that he anticipates a House vote on articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas “as soon as possible.”
'Such a move is worse than a political stunt. It would be both unconstitutional and anti-constitutional. '
'The effect of threats to impeach cabinet secretaries from an opposing party because of policy disagreements brings us to a dangerous place in our constitutional order. If impeachment is allowed to be weaponized as a political instrument, the disturbing result would be to help enable authoritarianism in future presidents, and prevent presidents who adhere to the Constitution from functioning.'
'There are three key elements.'
'First, the Constitution requires proof of' “Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors” to impeach a government official. Constitutional scholar Charles L. Black, Jr. wrote in his widely acclaimed, Impeachment: A Handbook, that the “one and only discussion” of the phrase, “high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” at the Constitutional Convention “quite definitely establishes that ‘maladministration’ was distinctly rejected as a ground for impeachment.”
'As 25 constitutional law experts wrote to Speaker Johnson on January 10:'
'The Constitution forbids impeachment based on policy disagreements between the House and the Executive Branch, no matter how intense or high stakes those differences of opinion. [¶] Yet that is exactly what [the] House … appear[s] poised to undertake. The charges they have publicly described come nowhere close to meeting the constitutional threshold for impeachment.'
'Also on January 10, University of Missouri Law Professor Frank O. Bowman III, an impeachment expert, told the Homeland Security Committee:' “Based on all the information available to me, I have not found any indication that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”
'Second, in the absence of a legal or factual basis for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, it is difficult to rebut the criticism that the motivation is purely partisan and intended to amplify the border issue to advance party power.'
'Corrupting the impeachment process has dangerous anti-constitutional implications. If ordinary citizens begin to regard allegations of impeachable offenses as just one more political maneuver, the institution would be drained of meaning as a constitutional guardrail. Should a president be elected who seeks to abuse his office, that constraint would be useless because citizens would no longer trust that impeachment is anything more than a manipulative tool of one side to gain power over the other.'
'Impeachment was designed by the framers as an institution to ensure that no one, not even a president, is above the law. But the House has put us on the road to eviscerating that first principle of the republic.'
'Third, a goverment based upon the rule of law depends on the accountability of elected officials. Using impeachment to blame others for legislators’ own failings undermines constitutional government. That is what is happening here.'
'The absence of a willing Congress over the past several decades to address the realities underlying the border problem has created the situation in which Secretary Mayorkas operates. '
'The allegations against the Secretary are contrary to the evidence. As reported in the Houston Chronicle, “Mayorkas has overseen a record number of removals [...] including more than 470,000 since May. . . .”
'In November, the non-partisan but libertarian-leaning Cato Institute analyzed the government data and concluded: "Migrants were more likely to be released after a border arrest" under the prior Administration than under Secretary Mayorkas' Administration, and that, “In absolute terms,” the current DHS “is removing 3.5 times as many people per month” as the prior Administration's DHS did.'
'Further, the allegations against the Secretary belie the complexity of immigration laws and policies that have developed over a lengthy period of time. Secretary Mayorkas understands that the immigration challenge has far larger causes than can be addressed by the tools that Congress has provided the executive branch. In an October 30 Washington Post opinion piece, he wrote:'
'[E]conomic, political and climate instability exacerbated in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic is fueling the greatest level of global migration since World War II, particularly in our hemisphere. '
'The Secretary then described the comprehensive approach the Administration has taken within the current framework of laws and resources that Congress has provided, and then spoke truth to legislative power: “Only Congress can bring our immigration and border security systems into the 21st century.”
'It’s easier to make political hay out of problems than to try to solve them. But a rule-of-law society requires elected officials to do the jobs for which they were elected, as defined by the Constitution.'
'Rather than abusing its impeachment power, a responsible Congress concerned about America’s future should address the full range of immigration issues through its legislative powers.'
'We call upon our representatives to cease their misguided focus on impeachment. We also call upon them to fulfill their obligations to the American people and ensure the future of a government of laws.'
Click to sign this Call-to-Action, See link below.
https://ldad.org/letters-briefs/impeachment-power
Great find, Fern. Thank you.
They alerted me because I subscribe, Ally. If you haven't explored LAWYERS DEFENDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY's (LDAD) site, I think that it would interest you.
Thank you!
Fern, following the constitution, it seems an impeachable offense to impeach others for non-impeachable offenses.
While this argument almost seems to elevate the politicalization of impeachment, it would be a a worthy threat to initiate impeachment proceedings against anyone who improperly impeaches Mayorkas. After all, a lawyer can be disbarred for knowingly presenting false accusations, right? (Or wrong?)
Unfortunately, Shawn, I do not understand your argument and must attend to other matters. I suggest you pose your question to LDAD, or perhaps to one of the lawyers, retired or not, who subscribe to LFAA and participate on the forum,
Will do! Great suggestion.