Heather draws the lines exactly where the two Americas live opposite each other.
It's sad, pathetic, to see so many millions of Americans as in love with reality TV fantasyland as that Clarence court is in love with its billionaires whose constant bribes make up for the Republican justices' steady perjuries.
Heather draws the lines exactly where the two Americas live opposite each other.
It's sad, pathetic, to see so many millions of Americans as in love with reality TV fantasyland as that Clarence court is in love with its billionaires whose constant bribes make up for the Republican justices' steady perjuries.
They have their fantasies, too, the perjured, bribed, and corrupted on that, formerly the highest court in the land. They fancy themselves aristocrats, poised as above and beyond the law as the orange felon they've crowned monarch.
Can the millions of decent, hard-working Americans rally to counter the fraudulent fantasyland, the landscape of fear and hatred over which billionaires like Elon Musk preside? (Thanks, Heather, for the additional note today of how European democracies are holding that guy to criminal account.)
Can Dems cease their stew of self-immolation and begin the job of rallying behind the one decent guy poised to beat parade of criminality by which Trump yet works for nasties like Orban, Putin, the North Korean dictator, and the Iranian master funders of repressing women and funding terror?
We have to assume the platform released by the RNC is how the Republicans want to make America great again. Convicted felon Donald Trump spent 4 years and did absolutely nothing to make America great. Robert Rech lays out 40 promises CFDT made and broke.
More serfs, and more fodder for recreating the baby scoop era. There is also the desire to force white women to have more babies while Black women are punished period.
Mary cat: ah yes, the good old days. When social workers were required to check under the bed for men’s shoes before the single mom could get or keep AFDC.
They do seem to never have grown up, and are still holding mother responsible for how their lives have turned out. The way to punish mom for being so powerful and mean, is to oppress her via sexism and forcing her to become chattel again. Scared little men who can't take responsibility for their own failings.
American multinationals bought into Milton Friedman’s delusional economics, and it enriched the few at the expense of the many. I personally would like to see an end of stock buybacks, stock options, overpayment of executives, and more concerns about ordinary employees. The execs are an untalented lot who look no further than the next quarter.
They bought into Friedman's Big Lie, and bent America to conform to it. How many current laws and policies could pass an "of the people, by the people, for the people" review. How many laws and circumstances favor the rich over the poor? Why is the law so often far more aggressive on petty crimes of the poor than massive crimes of the wealthy?
Stock options have been a way to pay talented workers when a startup doesn't have much cash. They have helped the tech revolution grow, and we are all benefitting. Likewise, Share buybacks not only preserve cash for profitable companies that pay dividends, they also help retain talent because they make stock options more valuable.
I personally find stock buybacks far less objectionable than companies’ underinvestment in the employees that create their profits. Liveable wages and predictable work hours should be mandated. Once workers are taken care of, once our environment is protected, companies should be free to deploy their capital as they deem fit. It should be a priority setting situation, not either/or.
What HAS been argued from Reagan forward is that showering the lords with additional money would allow them to bestow "jobs, jobs, jobs" and other wonders of nobesse obilge that never made any sense since no one hires as a hobby. The hire to serve a market of people with money to spend, but that's not how it went.
Companies bought companies bought companies, "downsizing" staff with every agglomeration. Defined benefit pensions were scrapped, unions busted, jobs and whole manufacturing sectors massively offshored, Trillions provably diverted to shady offshore tax shelters (Panama Papers, etc.) the right to buy election results declared Constitutionally protected, the "Reaganomic refeudalization of society that is somehow wildly popular even if it's consequences are not. Reaganomics is a ripoff, period. It was never anything different.
Yes, but past the basics, if we start micro-managing what companies can do to maximize profits, we create inefficiencies that will make the economy suffer. Instead, we should raise taxes just enough (undoing the Trump tax cuts should be enough) and elect politicians who will spend those funds in a way that the voting public needs (not wants). To operate well, companies need stable regulatory and tax frameworks. Some might even need some government support to reduce risks enough to produce something the public needs. But that's it. Public policy should be implemented by accountable politicians, not by mandating companies to spend their funds in specific ways (besides the basic environmental and labor laws).
The above funds an agenda without containing companies' efficiencies and ability to make profits.
Politically, I like Biden's way of putting it: "Giving everyone a fair shot. "
That "underinvestment in the employees that create their profits" is only slightly removed from slavery. It certainly benefits the owners at the expense of those who do the actual work.
stock buybacks is what the corporations spend the money on instead of employees! That is the point. It is more profitable for the CEO and rich shareholders. Instead of good wages , benefits, and growing the actual company...
I agree. It is also an iffy strategy at best. Nearly half of stock buybacks fail to affect share prices. It is a market so buying and selling shares (even if you’re buying back and retiring your own) are affected by the market’s perception of share price, future value, etc.
Corporations stick to this iffy practice as a sop to shareholders. Buybacks are most common in commodity companies that don’t have any other way to spur growth.
They are usually an empty strategy and should taxed at a 50% rate.
Any activity in a society becomes society's business when it imposes impacts on society and it's members. Drink till you puke at home, but not driving down a public street and don't endanger your kids. Don't pollute shared resources, etc. Impacts of commercial activity should be examined for direct and indirect effects on society and it's members, but not regulated more than necessary. I suspect that the "sweet spot" there is hard to hit fully accurately, but blanket "deregulation" seems to have unleashed a whole heap of trouble for ordinary citizens, including monopolization, looming plutocracy and climate disaster.
I cringe when I read that Jim and then I look at my retirement account and realize that I am complicit in their buyback schemes.
What's as bad as the stock buy backs is the Republicans allowing mega-monopolies to proliferate. My start-up in 1991 could have been bankrupted by a company that had grown through M&As. And if they had gone after my little company directly they would have. Fortunately the went after 4 Fortune 500 companies that stood up to the mega-corporation as we enjoyed the show.
True. You can thank the late judge Robert Bork for failing to enforce our laws against business monopolies. It’s a big reason why we overpay for basic goods and services, and things like internet and cellular service that costs more and is far slower than that overseas. It also affects how expensive cable service is, with the proliferation of local monopolies.
Robert Bork was the guy who carried out Nixon’sorder to fire the Watergate special prosecutor Alexander Butterfield, which failed to stop the Watergate scandal.
Kathy As a member on the Nixon White House Enemies List, I followed Watergate closely. Attorney General Eliot Richardson, when he was Acting Secretary of State, personally conducted my exit interview from the Foreign Service.
He refused Nixon’s order to fire Special Prosecutor Archbold Cox. Bork finally did it.
Alexander Butterfield was the person in the White House who handled the tape recorder in Nixon’s office. That there were tapes was revealed during the Erwin Senate Hearing and ultimately the Supreme Court ordered Tricky Dick to release the tapes—-and resignation to avoid senate impeachment.
"It’s a big reason why we overpay for basic goods and services, and things like internet and cellular service that costs more and is far slower than that overseas. "
Yet the Internet was invented here, with public money. I am convinced that the Internet revolution would have been retarded and limited considerably had it not been the work of a pubic agency, as was (sort of) the World Wide Web. It made mincemeat of the claim that we need our feudal lords to leads toward anything good. Naturally corporations have done all in their power to dominate the Internet since it grew huge. Private enterprise contributes too, as it did with cell service, but in a democratic republic, we still should be making the rules.
Some details, corrections, and evidece of two resignations over the order to fire Archibald Cox, the Special Prosecutor while Butterfield was the deputy Assistant to President Nixon (like Cassidy Hutchinson was to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows). Butterfield revealed the secret tape system that sealed Nixon's fate, and his actions inspired Cassidy Hutchinson to step up for the truth.
Attorney General Eliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus are my heroes who both resigned before 3rd ranking Bork followed the illegal order to fire Archibald Cox
Sorry I missed some other postings, was staying with my cat the last 90 minutes before he passed, and haven't had time to catch up on the comments from the last day or two.
You are not complicit. You would be complicit if your voting shares were enough to exert influence. They’re not.
In mu opinion, both Republicans and Democrats are complicit in the monopolistic business culture. The last presidency where monopolistic corporate mergers were challenged routinely was the Clinton Administration. Not even the Biden administration is doing near enough. Obama, Trump, snd Bush did almost nothing in this space.
Unfortunately it’s true, and I wish President Obama and his AG Eric Holder had woken up to the outright fraud the bankers were engaged in. To be fair, the Republicans deserve their share of the blame for encouraging it.
To me, Rubin and others in the Bill Clinton administration tried some daring experiments that didn't work, hoping for more innovation to be enabled (Like Sandy Weill wanted as the biggest promoter of ending Glass-Steagall). They got their wish but look at who of all people regretted it in 2012.
Guardrails always seem necessary, though they can be improved to make them more effective without being too limiting.
"...So Weill proposes biting the bullet, accepting the regulation of commercial banking, while splitting off investment banking from banking.
"So let commercial banks take deposits and make commerce loans and real estate loans in such a way that they are not going to risk the taxpayer dollars. If they want to hedge what they're doing in their investments, let them do it in a way that it can be mark-to-market on a daily basis.”
An exchange for derivatives
“In derivatives,” says Weill, “we should have an exchange, where you can have a mark-to-market, a place where they can trade, so that you don’t have a problem that can build up over multiple years, and all of a sudden you see a big collapse. If it was marked to market every single day, you'd be able to protect the balance sheets of the different companies.
The world has changed
Does Weill regret what he did at Citigroup? Not really. Weill says that the megabanks were right for their time but the world has changed.
As a result of too much concentration of investments, too much leverage, not enough transparency with a lot of off-balance-sheet items, we had the meltdown of 2008 and trust in the financial system was broken. This has led to efforts to regulate everything in the financial sector, including futile efforts to distinguish market-making trading from proprietary trading. Weill believes that these efforts will continue and in the end will stifle creativity in the financial sector. Instead, the sector should take another route and allow regulation of commercial banking and separate that from investment banking, where creativity and leadership can prosper..."
Just an aside here, that in reality what blind-since-birth people can actually do can knock your socks off, including skiing and riding a bike down the street. I've seen it. The blind actually can lead the blind, but none are so blind as those who will not see; which is why Trump remains in the presidential race, ,
I've had plenty of surprises from blind people. For instance, I learned only recently that a man I'd encountered on several occasions was blind. I'd never have known it.
One of the most inspiring characters I met in a lifetime was blind since childhood. Jacques Lusseyran set up a resistance network as a student in occupied Paris and handled recruitment... Arrested and sent to Buchenwald, he survived.
A man with a spellbinding presence.
*
Here, we've been speaking of moral blindness, a total lack of discernment. An inability to perceive anything but surface effects.
"Great" devoid of context is just snakeoil, like sloganeering for Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes. America's history is has always been a blend. That's human nature, and some human qualities make us our own worst enemies.
We can learn a lot from our own past about what has worked out favorably and what has not and attempt to reconcile it with present circumstances. A lot has improved and a lot hasn't. Those who extol the "good old days" devoid of context are indulging in delusional fantasies. Often it's a desire to elude responsibilities in a "golden age" of impulsive asssholery without pesky accountability, as formerly sold to fascist Italy or Germany.
They have hooked people by appealing to emotional cultural issues, and then dragged them along with the false claims about the economy and making things better for the middle class. Apparently people trust the GOP with their money and well-being because the GOP is on their side about trans kids and draq queens.
We need Moonshot ideas that make headlines. Not just powerful speeches repackaged as “I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message.” Trump voters are bloodthirsty for Project 2025. Let’s “leak” OUR 2025 reinvention of Government. Like... Turn voting into a $1B national lottery ticket. 🗳️=🎟️
I mentioned this some months ago: There are billboards strategically placed throughout America. Check to see where, in your town, they are. I'll bet they are at railroad crossings, and when one is forced to stop because of a 'local' going through (slowly!), one can read in a relatively undisturbed manner the contents of the billboard. Many people will pass by this crossing several times per day. That billboard will do what Trump always does, "pound, pound, pound" every lie, half-truth, promise, etc. His loyal followers become imbued with that tripe because they are hanging on his every word. Billboards can have the same affect. Then, move on to cable TV advertising which is relatively inexpensive and allows for the "pound, pound, pound" idea to create or support a change in ideas or beliefs.
100 000% with your closing paragraph. What we have currently is a grotesque, demeaning farce, one that makes America look both corrupt and ridiculous in the eyes of the world.
What is more, the whole "horse race" ritual is so much a part of the country's folklore that voters are quite unable to see the wood for trees when faced with something as radically unprecedented as the current attempt to use the ballot box to overthrow the Republic.
I suspect that, even if all the readers in the little LFAA community were to read what I have just written, most would still be unable to take in the threat the country faces, because it seems so unconceivable.
P.S. In this context I'd rather "capture the attention" than "entertain".
The bought-and-soldier Justices would have none of that! But then, neither would he or we. Whatever our failings, we don't suffer from that kind of moral idiocy...
Why wait for the next elections to restore and protect voting rights? Signing them into law now restores a necessary protection when it is most needed. We won't have another free and fair election if Trump wins.
Agreed. Biden should restore the right to vote to all felons. It would be so beneficial for the country, for Dems and impossible for MAGA to complain about.
I watched the Michigan barnburner. As much to the point was the unadulterated enthusiasm of the pastor presenter in standing behind Biden regardless of the media, donors et al who are pronouncing on the optics on a very bad night then finding every false scrap which might be framed to show Biden's "cognitive decline". While many polls say Biden is "too old" he nonetheless is statistically tied with Trump. At this late date, do those critics really think they can find a new leader who can do better at this point in the race? It was great to see voters' rejection of pundit criticism.
Voters rejection of pundits criticism is a better measure of the polls than the polls. When have they been right lately?
I am so TIRED of pundits talking about the polls, so tired of media talking about Biden stepping down and especially infuriated by Democrats not standing by their candidate who won more than 3,800 delegates in the primary. Biden won! To even speak of him stepping down is to do what Republicans are doing....to delegitimize our election process.
If we are worried about the 'on the fence' voter, it's time to take a page from the Republicans. Gaslight the hell out of them. Even better, scare the hell out of them with what DT will do. Project 2025. From now on, the only words from a Democrat should be that everything DTs says is a lie, he's a convict, a rapist, a child rapist, a fascist, will be a dictator and will toss our nation to Russia, North Korea, and China in a nano second.
close enough! I wonder if we can get a pro Biden voter surge esp with publicity, publicity, publicity. After all, "think of the alternative"! Worst case, Harris has to pick up the presidency, and that, i think, not likely! (this term at least).
Donald Trump's name is all over the court records revealed in the case of convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein I personally read court transcripts available on the Internet of a 14-year-old virgin that Trump raped. When she asked him what she should do if she got pregnant, he threw money on her stomach and told her -- with heartbreaking distain -- to get an abortion. By the way he also peed on her.
The list of people that were involved with Jeffrey Epstein and flew to his island which locals called "Sex Island" in the Virgin Islands includes Trump.
Also, you might read the book by James Patterson entitled Filthy Rich or watch the Netflix documentary or read the book entitled The Spider by Barry Levine.
I mark "like" but feel the deepest disgust... and somehow do not see many of those whom the beast has corraled as feeling any differently from me if they can come to face the painful truth... not only about their savior's perversions but the gross inadequacy that has to underlie them.
Ashley, In the '90's People magazine had a big article on this young girl being raped by Trump and Epstein also. I use to keep copies of the magazine until I cleaned out my attic. In the article it said Epstein was angry that Trump got to her first!! That is when I knew what a creep he was and disgusting. The girl who was raped and her family were threatened with death if they came continued seeking justice so they quit for fear of their life. Karma is long overdue for this disgusting man!
Ashley, I began opening the attachment. It’s extensive. The woman in question was prepared to have a press conference in 2016 but after receiving death threats, pulled back and dropped the accusations. I’m wondering if this could be used somehow.
Believe me, no one hates Trump more than I do, and no one would like to see him in jail for anything and everything, but I looked into this issue a little bit and I'm not sure the evidence is there. He was trying to do a real estate deal with Epstein at the time, buying some property in Florida (?) and develop, so it is possible that the communications, messages, and plane trips were linked to that. But of course, no matter what, Trump knew who Epstein was (said he liked them young) and still had no problem associating with him and trying to do business with him.
What do they say of lifelong criminals as their arrest is being questioned? He's probably guilty of something like that. My mother always said, be careful of the company you keep.
Whatever the Dems do, I wish they would shut up with all the public criticism. Hash out behind closed doors whether to keep or replace the president (keeping in mind that Harris comes with reelecting Biden and, if he can’t continue as prez, she will.) I have resumed listening to music while I drive, not news or podcasts, because I have reached my limit and need to preserve (what’s left of) my sanity.
Simon Sinek's Podcast "A Bit of Optimism" is awesome and "Pivot" with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway always includes irreverent humor that's good for a much needed smile. Also, Kara Swisher's interview of Gretchen Whitmer in Swisher's Podcast "On with Kara Swisher" gave me hope. These, and especially Scott Galloway's "No Mercy, No Malice" essay read by George Hahn each Saturday on the Prof G Podcast are great listening.
Charles Blow has made exactly this point, and he mentioned that presidential predictor Allan Lichtman has stated it would be disastrous for the Democrats to dump the President at this stage. If they do that, they’ll lose for sure.
He's not the only one. Meantime the media/pundits and some dems/donors continue an anti-Biden campaign without letup. Who do they really think will change the polling picture at this point?
So much media coverage of what the monied class pronounces Is surely GOING TO happen when no one can know. Not talking about what HAS happened and IS happening as Dr. Richardson does.
“Polls continue to show that Biden’s popularity has not suffered from the debates…”
Moneymen—those who buy and sell their country and place bets on it—continue to panic and withhold moolah.
Mindless Media and the Gutless Party machinery continue to plan suicide and make a big show of their death wish for America.
I’ll confess that my intuition, which has served me well, is at war with my analytical faculty.
Intuition says Joe Biden’s doing fine, while the Man Who Would Be King is very near the end of his tether.
The analytical faculty is not troubled by questions about Biden’s undoubted competence but by people’s blindness to any reality beyond the most superficial telescreen appearances.
At the same time, this rational mind is very aware, both from observation and from personal experience, of the fact that the physical processes of aging are not smooth and continuous but tend to advance in short, sharp shocks. The mind may stay lucid and dynamic to the end. Physical infirmity tires and spoils appearances. Once again, most people do not see beyond the surface—and that is why is why old people who are far more compos mentis than most of us are often treated as though they were “silly old fools”.
I recall my powerful, strong-minded mother tiring of the struggle to make carers understand that because she was seriously enfeebled she was in no way any less her old self. "I can't be bothered," she said, "It's a waste of energy". She was all there until her last breath.
Incidentally, I am quite critical of aspects of Biden’s performance, but those show the downside of great and wide-ranging experience, which can be overmuch habit-forming, so that settings are not always adjusted sufficiently to take account of such facts as when a trusted ally falls into the hands of a mendacious confidence trickster.
Thank you, Ally, but this calls for courage, total determination and constant presence of mind, together with readiness to face violence, whichever way the votes go.
If ordinary people retain even 1% of their senses, they will recognize that they'd be better off with a bag of cement or Caligula's horse than with the MAGA madman.
I keep vacillating between letting him go and keeping him in. If he loses, we’ll all conclude he made a huge mistake. If he wins, we praise Allah. One thing I am sure of. We, the US and NATO have made a gigantic mistake with Ukraine. A no nato pledge would have stopped it. We never learn. Now we must be all in. There is no choice although there will be a settlement probably with a no nato clause. So where has it gotten only terror and death of Ukrainians. For nothing.
Here’s how Biden wins in November: Every vacillator, doubter, wait-and-see sideliner watches his speech in Detroit, comes to the sudden realization that doing two full-time jobs (campaigning to beat the most dangerous sociopath in the world AND working as President of the U.S. while the second-most dangerous sociopath stands beside a row of nuclear missile-launching buttons) is exhausting and mindnumbing for a person of any age, and starts spreading their words of unabashed support to everyone in line at the bank, in grocery stores, at church and at the water cooler. Pick up a yard sign, get a bumper sticker, post praise for the GOAT on social media and stop letting the mainstream media reality show pundits and pollsters tell us how to think. We don’t need more drama, we need full-on support. Now. The clock is ticking.
CFDT is running a reality TV show while Biden is running a campaign. There is only one star in the CFDT team. Only 4 of his entire cabinet and senior staff endorse him and to the person, they say he is UNFIT for office.
CFDT takes credit for everything positive that happened during his Presidency. But he accomplished so little no one notices. There aren't even supporting actors in his reality show -- they are just cameos he hires to tell everyone how great he is. But even that ship has sailed except for the most vile Republican politicians and a few donors that he has promised tax breaks to.
The media gives CFDT a pass for every little thing he does. Unfortunately, mixed with the dozens of little things which show he is demented and an asshole ,are lots of big things they let slide - like pardoning 143 felons who literally defrauded the government out of billions and violent criminals. And you know there was quid pro quo for a lot of them, if not all. When was the last time you saw a story about this in the media.
If for no other reason Bill than these insane pardons, I will not vote for CFDT. But, I understand your concerns.
Let’s turn this around for a moment. Suppose Mexico invited Russia to position nukes close to the border with the U.S. no, a better example is 1962 Cuban Missile Crises. What did we do? Early brought the world doe with a nuclear war. Now turn it around and what do you have in Ukraine. Ukraine is to Russia that Cuba is to the US. Comprende?
That has been a talking point that Russia has promoted. But we didn’t invade Cuba, we weren’t trying to annex it. Russia is trying to recreate the old Soviet Union.
We’d better rally to defeat Trump and Trumpism or we may not have a second chance! If he’s re-elected, we’ll likely have a “Putin-like” election in 2028, completely controlled by the government! If we rest on our laurels and sleepwalk through November, we’ll regret it come January 21, 2025!
Mary Trump is much saner and more realistic about her uncle than many in the public. It’s probably because she’s a psychologist and grew up living in the real world, unlike her uncle and his dysfunctional family.
We should definitely call him late for dinner, Ozempic or no. Wait! The more Whoppers he eats ... I wonder if there's a correlation between what goes into his mouth and what comes out.
He called himself John Barron in an effort to publicize himself. My guess is that he was too much of a cheapskate to hire a press flack and would have stiffed any press flack just like he did with suppliers and contractors.
We ARE Phil , we.the.people. ARE staying the 💙 course.
Four More Years, Joe! Your track record not only set the precedent it’s the best Presidency EVAH ( that’s my Maine accent btw and thanks Susan for YOUR latest addition to ridding bullies).
If you’re not with the BLUE TSUNAMI you’re with the losing party poopers ,period.
Heather, thank you so very much, congratulation with a little c from this old little p , pat.
You point out the papers coming around , YEA! 🗣️call out the bully bunch , cheap credit cheaters who voted no - stolen accolades, further claims to the infamous coup.
Patricia Davis -- I cannot read what your comment (or emoji) is. Substack isn't working the way it used to, at least on my computer. Later, it shows on the Email notice. Mystery.
Gah! In our little berg, our property taxes just jumped 20%. Part of that is a new fire station, but also another jiggering of property values and the school budget allocation. But the town, after the smack of the tax bill last week, trumpeted that Susan got us 4 million dollars toward the $11M station. I don't even know how it's going to cost 11m, but Susan will save us from ourselves. I'm so so tired of it.
I live in Montgomery County, OH, and our property taxes went up due to reassessments. Mine for my condo are around $300 a month. Our schools still have to ask for levies which get voted down, and the reason is that our Republican gerrymandered legislature gives voucher money to private schools and the money is supposed to go to public schools. SCOTUS has enabled this, and I think tax money should only be used for public schools. Public schools are a public good.
The same situation re vouchers has happened in NH as well. We've had a quadrafecta for the past 6 years. Fortunately Sununu's not running again. We have an Executive Council that negotiates contracts etc and they've had a super majority of Republicans who've consistently REFUSED to fund Planned Parenthood even though NO money goes to funding abortion care. (and the Education Commissioner has NEVER attended public schools and home schooled his 7 kids. and is all n re giving public education monies to private and religious schools by giving them public tax monies to via vouchers.)
I have never wavered in my support and admiration of Joe Biden, nor in my faith that he understands bullies and knows exactly how to “put the Ralphie on them”
I would add that it is frighteningly sad and pathetic that we seem to have so many of our fellow Americans seemingly so enthusiastically enamored with the “dark side” … the evils of mankind … that which represents those approaches to life that are deemed wrong by so many of those of us who represent the silent majority … let’s surround the Biden/Harris team with our gratitude, eagerness and excitement and let’s trounce the opposition and continue moving our nation forward - not backwards!!!
Now, are there caveats with this? Yes, unfortunately yes there are … there are basically two to three things that are weighing Biden’s poll numbers down: Age, cognitive abilities … and inflation. But common among each of these is our ignorance … is the campaign using smoke and mirrors to hide Biden’s deficiencies - hence, we maybe faced with a “Weekend at Bernie’s” scenario [no more debates this presidential campaign round; let’s be presidential and hold two or three more news conferences … I was against holding any “Biden - trump” debates period which I have stated in the past] and yes, the inflation rate is still headed in the right direction - but how soon will grocery prices, gasoline prices show substantive/noticeable downward movement to the average American citizen and voter?
Ohhhh, and the promises Biden is making about many of the things he wants to get done in his second term require favorable votes in the U.S. House and Senate, so he must remember and we must remember - he cannot do it along!!!
To be clear, speaking is separate from cognition. Well-educated people with good vocabularies and public speaking experience may be able to hide their cognitive decline, even dementia, until they start putting the ice cream in the oven.
A memory expert pointed out that not being able sometimes to retrieve something like a person’s name becomes more common with age. The memory is not gone, but takes longer to find. It is not memory loss. Nor short-term memory loss associated with dementia.
Stuttering experts say that fighting a stutter uses up a sizeable chunk of your mental energy and focus. It amazes me that the imperfect speaker that Joe Biden is could keep convincing people to elect him. Maybe accomplishing something is more important than talking about it?
Oh, oh....not bribes--such a nasty sounding word. Gratuities, dontcha know? Gratuities provide a much classier mental picture. Yeah, the highest court in the land waiting tables and serving their betters with favorable rulings along with their enabling of decreased regulation for more profit. So much "class". The trashy Trumps have managed to bring the Court down to their level.
Hear hear , Phil!!!! Excellent job of wrapping up the facts that Heather awards us with.
We mustn’t forget how many of us are not manipulated by all this malarkey . We are well educated and determined not to be smothered by a few perverts.
Let’s hold hands and go forward( not backwards), to make our country thrive in goodness and in success for all. Remember our children. They have choices to make that will affect them…. We had and have our choices. The planet( not just one country) needs our support in order to thrive.
Our power is telling the facts and helping others see the difference between phony and reality.
Phil, thanks so much for your clear-headed analysis. If we had a year in which to choose another candidate, we would have many possibilities who would have time to organize a campaign and build a war chest, and Biden might have been thankful. However, with less than four months, another choice is virtually impossible. Yes, Biden has to be exhausted, and remember that before the 2020 election he made it clear that he wouldn't have entered the race but for the fact that Trump had come close to destroying the country during his reign of terror. We know that he's jeopardizing the remainder of his life, because Trump has been emboldened by the totally corrupt right wing of SCOTUS and having his henchmen assembled without guardrails. We have to change our usual behavior of internal squabbles and ignore the press and its insistence on ignoring Trump's proven criminality while pillorying Biden, and giving us our sole chance to beat the frightening parade that is intent on taking us back hundreds of years and feeding the despots.
Well said. I agree that the American oligarchs see themselves as the aristocracy. Nice reminder that the aristocracy are dictators, with total control over their powerless peons and serfs.
The best way to deal with those "repressing women" is to elect a black woman as President-Kamala Harris-with Biden by her side as a third time Vice President....
Problem is it's hard to reset a history like ours when the levers for change are in the hands of elites and people whose job it is to keep the controversy going because their paychecks depend upon it continuing.
Heather draws the lines exactly where the two Americas live opposite each other.
It's sad, pathetic, to see so many millions of Americans as in love with reality TV fantasyland as that Clarence court is in love with its billionaires whose constant bribes make up for the Republican justices' steady perjuries.
They have their fantasies, too, the perjured, bribed, and corrupted on that, formerly the highest court in the land. They fancy themselves aristocrats, poised as above and beyond the law as the orange felon they've crowned monarch.
Can the millions of decent, hard-working Americans rally to counter the fraudulent fantasyland, the landscape of fear and hatred over which billionaires like Elon Musk preside? (Thanks, Heather, for the additional note today of how European democracies are holding that guy to criminal account.)
Can Dems cease their stew of self-immolation and begin the job of rallying behind the one decent guy poised to beat parade of criminality by which Trump yet works for nasties like Orban, Putin, the North Korean dictator, and the Iranian master funders of repressing women and funding terror?
Biden said: “It’s time for us to stop treating politics like entertainment and reality TV.”
We have to assume the platform released by the RNC is how the Republicans want to make America great again. Convicted felon Donald Trump spent 4 years and did absolutely nothing to make America great. Robert Rech lays out 40 promises CFDT made and broke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yky9xGsjQTE&t=54s
But this time he has SCOTUS to back up his schemes.
CFDT had both Houses of Congress to do his bidding in the for the first two years of his Presidency and still did nothing to make America great.
They should change MAGA to MAMA - Make America Mediocre (or Medieval) Again.
Perhaps Make America Grotesque Again as in Jim Crow suppression and lynch mob enabling.
And forcing women to stay at home in poverty, and make babies they can't afford to care for.
More serfs, and more fodder for recreating the baby scoop era. There is also the desire to force white women to have more babies while Black women are punished period.
Mary cat: ah yes, the good old days. When social workers were required to check under the bed for men’s shoes before the single mom could get or keep AFDC.
Unfortunately, I’ve feared it will come to exactly that, and I’m a white female.
I don't think their plan is to make things more of a picnic for any women, even white ones.
MAMA is a better name just because they are a bunch of whinny crybabies in need of a good swat in the britches.
They do seem to never have grown up, and are still holding mother responsible for how their lives have turned out. The way to punish mom for being so powerful and mean, is to oppress her via sexism and forcing her to become chattel again. Scared little men who can't take responsibility for their own failings.
From the link you provided:
"...1:45: Goodkind, Nicole. “Companies Spent 140 Times More on Stock Buybacks than Wages and Americans Should Be ‘Outraged,’ Say Sanders, Schumer.” Newsweek, 4 Feb. 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-chuck-schumer-tax-plan-1317417
Great for the Stock Buy Back beneficiaries but not for you, me, or America as a whole.
Buybacks were illegal but Ronnie Raygun took care of that. Because the rich really needed his help....
American multinationals bought into Milton Friedman’s delusional economics, and it enriched the few at the expense of the many. I personally would like to see an end of stock buybacks, stock options, overpayment of executives, and more concerns about ordinary employees. The execs are an untalented lot who look no further than the next quarter.
They bought into Friedman's Big Lie, and bent America to conform to it. How many current laws and policies could pass an "of the people, by the people, for the people" review. How many laws and circumstances favor the rich over the poor? Why is the law so often far more aggressive on petty crimes of the poor than massive crimes of the wealthy?
Amen to all of this.
Stock options have been a way to pay talented workers when a startup doesn't have much cash. They have helped the tech revolution grow, and we are all benefitting. Likewise, Share buybacks not only preserve cash for profitable companies that pay dividends, they also help retain talent because they make stock options more valuable.
He should have received the Plutocratic Meddle of Serfdom for his loyal service.
I personally find stock buybacks far less objectionable than companies’ underinvestment in the employees that create their profits. Liveable wages and predictable work hours should be mandated. Once workers are taken care of, once our environment is protected, companies should be free to deploy their capital as they deem fit. It should be a priority setting situation, not either/or.
Couldn't one argue that the money used for stock buybacks could be used elsewhere instead, employees well being for one?
What HAS been argued from Reagan forward is that showering the lords with additional money would allow them to bestow "jobs, jobs, jobs" and other wonders of nobesse obilge that never made any sense since no one hires as a hobby. The hire to serve a market of people with money to spend, but that's not how it went.
Companies bought companies bought companies, "downsizing" staff with every agglomeration. Defined benefit pensions were scrapped, unions busted, jobs and whole manufacturing sectors massively offshored, Trillions provably diverted to shady offshore tax shelters (Panama Papers, etc.) the right to buy election results declared Constitutionally protected, the "Reaganomic refeudalization of society that is somehow wildly popular even if it's consequences are not. Reaganomics is a ripoff, period. It was never anything different.
...and that it's falsely propping up the stock market?
Yes, but past the basics, if we start micro-managing what companies can do to maximize profits, we create inefficiencies that will make the economy suffer. Instead, we should raise taxes just enough (undoing the Trump tax cuts should be enough) and elect politicians who will spend those funds in a way that the voting public needs (not wants). To operate well, companies need stable regulatory and tax frameworks. Some might even need some government support to reduce risks enough to produce something the public needs. But that's it. Public policy should be implemented by accountable politicians, not by mandating companies to spend their funds in specific ways (besides the basic environmental and labor laws).
The above funds an agenda without containing companies' efficiencies and ability to make profits.
Politically, I like Biden's way of putting it: "Giving everyone a fair shot. "
That "underinvestment in the employees that create their profits" is only slightly removed from slavery. It certainly benefits the owners at the expense of those who do the actual work.
Exactly, John.
stock buybacks is what the corporations spend the money on instead of employees! That is the point. It is more profitable for the CEO and rich shareholders. Instead of good wages , benefits, and growing the actual company...
I agree. It is also an iffy strategy at best. Nearly half of stock buybacks fail to affect share prices. It is a market so buying and selling shares (even if you’re buying back and retiring your own) are affected by the market’s perception of share price, future value, etc.
Corporations stick to this iffy practice as a sop to shareholders. Buybacks are most common in commodity companies that don’t have any other way to spur growth.
They are usually an empty strategy and should taxed at a 50% rate.
T. Roosevelt talked about a "Square Deal".
Any activity in a society becomes society's business when it imposes impacts on society and it's members. Drink till you puke at home, but not driving down a public street and don't endanger your kids. Don't pollute shared resources, etc. Impacts of commercial activity should be examined for direct and indirect effects on society and it's members, but not regulated more than necessary. I suspect that the "sweet spot" there is hard to hit fully accurately, but blanket "deregulation" seems to have unleashed a whole heap of trouble for ordinary citizens, including monopolization, looming plutocracy and climate disaster.
I cringe when I read that Jim and then I look at my retirement account and realize that I am complicit in their buyback schemes.
What's as bad as the stock buy backs is the Republicans allowing mega-monopolies to proliferate. My start-up in 1991 could have been bankrupted by a company that had grown through M&As. And if they had gone after my little company directly they would have. Fortunately the went after 4 Fortune 500 companies that stood up to the mega-corporation as we enjoyed the show.
True. You can thank the late judge Robert Bork for failing to enforce our laws against business monopolies. It’s a big reason why we overpay for basic goods and services, and things like internet and cellular service that costs more and is far slower than that overseas. It also affects how expensive cable service is, with the proliferation of local monopolies.
Robert Bork was the guy who carried out Nixon’sorder to fire the Watergate special prosecutor Alexander Butterfield, which failed to stop the Watergate scandal.
Kathy As a member on the Nixon White House Enemies List, I followed Watergate closely. Attorney General Eliot Richardson, when he was Acting Secretary of State, personally conducted my exit interview from the Foreign Service.
He refused Nixon’s order to fire Special Prosecutor Archbold Cox. Bork finally did it.
Alexander Butterfield was the person in the White House who handled the tape recorder in Nixon’s office. That there were tapes was revealed during the Erwin Senate Hearing and ultimately the Supreme Court ordered Tricky Dick to release the tapes—-and resignation to avoid senate impeachment.
Republicans were angry that Bork’s Supreme Court nomination failed. They got even, multiple times over.
"It’s a big reason why we overpay for basic goods and services, and things like internet and cellular service that costs more and is far slower than that overseas. "
Yet the Internet was invented here, with public money. I am convinced that the Internet revolution would have been retarded and limited considerably had it not been the work of a pubic agency, as was (sort of) the World Wide Web. It made mincemeat of the claim that we need our feudal lords to leads toward anything good. Naturally corporations have done all in their power to dominate the Internet since it grew huge. Private enterprise contributes too, as it did with cell service, but in a democratic republic, we still should be making the rules.
Butterfield was the Nixon aide who revealed the secret taping system. Bork fired Archibald Cox.
Some details, corrections, and evidece of two resignations over the order to fire Archibald Cox, the Special Prosecutor while Butterfield was the deputy Assistant to President Nixon (like Cassidy Hutchinson was to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows). Butterfield revealed the secret tape system that sealed Nixon's fate, and his actions inspired Cassidy Hutchinson to step up for the truth.
See https://www.pbs.org/video/unum-chat-ken-burns-and-cassidy-hutchinson-ksd93f/
Attorney General Eliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus are my heroes who both resigned before 3rd ranking Bork followed the illegal order to fire Archibald Cox
Sorry I missed some other postings, was staying with my cat the last 90 minutes before he passed, and haven't had time to catch up on the comments from the last day or two.
You are not complicit. You would be complicit if your voting shares were enough to exert influence. They’re not.
In mu opinion, both Republicans and Democrats are complicit in the monopolistic business culture. The last presidency where monopolistic corporate mergers were challenged routinely was the Clinton Administration. Not even the Biden administration is doing near enough. Obama, Trump, snd Bush did almost nothing in this space.
Unfortunately it’s true, and I wish President Obama and his AG Eric Holder had woken up to the outright fraud the bankers were engaged in. To be fair, the Republicans deserve their share of the blame for encouraging it.
To me, Rubin and others in the Bill Clinton administration tried some daring experiments that didn't work, hoping for more innovation to be enabled (Like Sandy Weill wanted as the biggest promoter of ending Glass-Steagall). They got their wish but look at who of all people regretted it in 2012.
Guardrails always seem necessary, though they can be improved to make them more effective without being too limiting.
See https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2012/07/25/rethinking-capitalism-sandy-weill-says-bring-back-glass-steagall/
"...So Weill proposes biting the bullet, accepting the regulation of commercial banking, while splitting off investment banking from banking.
"So let commercial banks take deposits and make commerce loans and real estate loans in such a way that they are not going to risk the taxpayer dollars. If they want to hedge what they're doing in their investments, let them do it in a way that it can be mark-to-market on a daily basis.”
An exchange for derivatives
“In derivatives,” says Weill, “we should have an exchange, where you can have a mark-to-market, a place where they can trade, so that you don’t have a problem that can build up over multiple years, and all of a sudden you see a big collapse. If it was marked to market every single day, you'd be able to protect the balance sheets of the different companies.
The world has changed
Does Weill regret what he did at Citigroup? Not really. Weill says that the megabanks were right for their time but the world has changed.
As a result of too much concentration of investments, too much leverage, not enough transparency with a lot of off-balance-sheet items, we had the meltdown of 2008 and trust in the financial system was broken. This has led to efforts to regulate everything in the financial sector, including futile efforts to distinguish market-making trading from proprietary trading. Weill believes that these efforts will continue and in the end will stifle creativity in the financial sector. Instead, the sector should take another route and allow regulation of commercial banking and separate that from investment banking, where creativity and leadership can prosper..."
Like CFDT! That says it all!
I saw a culture wars item in America’s very right-wing National Review:
‘Integrate DEI into Everything We Do’:
Pentagon School System Pushes Progressive Ideology on Children of Service Members
I did not know what DEI means, so I looked it up, and found:
D.E.I.
Diversity—Equity—Inclusion
This knowledge left me even more mystified. So, I asked myself...
What’s wrong with E PLURIBUS UNUM?
Is America’s motto “progressive”? Is it “regressive”?
Is it “status quo”... Or is it and all represents just... MEANINGLESS?
The current reality is, of course, E PLURIBUS DUO (From the Many, TWO).
On the one hand, those who are “MORE EQUAL”
&
THE OTHERS… (The Leftovers, the Losers) on the other…
Which, being interpreted, meaneth:
U.I.E.
UNIFORMITY—INJUSTICE—EXCLUSION
*
A friend commented:
“That which is not understood becomes meaningless.
E PLURIBUS UNUM
has a very deep meaning…
one that is not usually understood.
Thus, the motto has ceased to mean anything
for most of today's world.”
*
And I was brought back to lines I had written seven years earlier:
*
He has divided
his country
He has divided
brother against sister
sister against sister
son against father
husband against wife
*
That’s how it is
and no one’s safe
as long as he walks free
*
a time bomb
strapped to the back of the nation
*
Two sayings from the Gospel of Thomas:
*
LOGION 34
Jesus said:
“If a blind person leads a blind person,
both of them will fall into a hole.”
*
LOGION 72
*
A man said to him:
“Tell my brothers to divide my father’s possessions with me.”
He said to him:
“O man, who has made me a divider?”
He turned to his disciples and said to them:
“I am not a divider, am I?”
Just an aside here, that in reality what blind-since-birth people can actually do can knock your socks off, including skiing and riding a bike down the street. I've seen it. The blind actually can lead the blind, but none are so blind as those who will not see; which is why Trump remains in the presidential race, ,
Thanks for that aside.
I've had plenty of surprises from blind people. For instance, I learned only recently that a man I'd encountered on several occasions was blind. I'd never have known it.
One of the most inspiring characters I met in a lifetime was blind since childhood. Jacques Lusseyran set up a resistance network as a student in occupied Paris and handled recruitment... Arrested and sent to Buchenwald, he survived.
A man with a spellbinding presence.
*
Here, we've been speaking of moral blindness, a total lack of discernment. An inability to perceive anything but surface effects.
MAGA's would denounce "E Pluribus Unum as Marxism from the pit of hell, were it not already engraved on our most sacred tokens.
"Great" devoid of context is just snakeoil, like sloganeering for Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes. America's history is has always been a blend. That's human nature, and some human qualities make us our own worst enemies.
We can learn a lot from our own past about what has worked out favorably and what has not and attempt to reconcile it with present circumstances. A lot has improved and a lot hasn't. Those who extol the "good old days" devoid of context are indulging in delusional fantasies. Often it's a desire to elude responsibilities in a "golden age" of impulsive asssholery without pesky accountability, as formerly sold to fascist Italy or Germany.
That is one of the better Robert Reich commentaries, exposes. That nobody can deny.
They have hooked people by appealing to emotional cultural issues, and then dragged them along with the false claims about the economy and making things better for the middle class. Apparently people trust the GOP with their money and well-being because the GOP is on their side about trans kids and draq queens.
Trump was just shot.
Gary, thanks for the link! Everyone should see this. Lincoln Project could distribute this widely.
Promises are all Donald Trump can make. He is all about 'We're going to this and going to that,' which is all anyone who has no portfolio can say.
Could not agree more with that sentiment.
I disagree. I work in advertising. The campaigns that “go viral” don’t do that by serendipity.
Coordinated effort, strategy, and money propel brand stories into the media—with messages brands choose. Paid influencers shape perception.
Biden has a $100MM+ war chest. What else is that money for?
Biden’s current plan lacks an effort to shape the narrative/reality.
Ad dollars that don’t entertain are ignored/wasted.
Where we may agree… make campaigns 100% federally funded. Take ALL fundraising/bribing/“gratuity” OUT of politics.
Agreed on all of this. I am not seeing ads that will help spread the Dem narrative.
Campaign finance reform and the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine.
These would go a long way to making our country sane again.
We need Moonshot ideas that make headlines. Not just powerful speeches repackaged as “I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message.” Trump voters are bloodthirsty for Project 2025. Let’s “leak” OUR 2025 reinvention of Government. Like... Turn voting into a $1B national lottery ticket. 🗳️=🎟️
I mentioned this some months ago: There are billboards strategically placed throughout America. Check to see where, in your town, they are. I'll bet they are at railroad crossings, and when one is forced to stop because of a 'local' going through (slowly!), one can read in a relatively undisturbed manner the contents of the billboard. Many people will pass by this crossing several times per day. That billboard will do what Trump always does, "pound, pound, pound" every lie, half-truth, promise, etc. His loyal followers become imbued with that tripe because they are hanging on his every word. Billboards can have the same affect. Then, move on to cable TV advertising which is relatively inexpensive and allows for the "pound, pound, pound" idea to create or support a change in ideas or beliefs.
To be cheaper and more effective, make it $1,000,000 for one lucky voter in each congressional district.
I like that idea, although the odds would range from 1 in 242 million to 1 in 155 million.
100 000% with your closing paragraph. What we have currently is a grotesque, demeaning farce, one that makes America look both corrupt and ridiculous in the eyes of the world.
What is more, the whole "horse race" ritual is so much a part of the country's folklore that voters are quite unable to see the wood for trees when faced with something as radically unprecedented as the current attempt to use the ballot box to overthrow the Republic.
I suspect that, even if all the readers in the little LFAA community were to read what I have just written, most would still be unable to take in the threat the country faces, because it seems so unconceivable.
P.S. In this context I'd rather "capture the attention" than "entertain".
Mr. Biden is correct, but the media outlets buy into Trump’s gaudy, lying distractions.
Just curious...why do you call him 'Mr. Biden' not President Biden?
It was a mistake on my part. President Biden is indeed the President.
. . . and that is why I cancelled my Washington Post subscription!
JL Graham, Or… Biden could challenge Trump/Dobbs to defend fellow rapists.
Lift the statute of limitations.
Force the news to carry that headline to term.
He COULD get his age out of the headlines by making historic/necessary news.
How about if Biden declares now, that he has won the election and is starting his 2nd term? Run with it and see where it goes?
The bought-and-soldier Justices would have none of that! But then, neither would he or we. Whatever our failings, we don't suffer from that kind of moral idiocy...
Why wait for the next elections to restore and protect voting rights? Signing them into law now restores a necessary protection when it is most needed. We won't have another free and fair election if Trump wins.
Agreed. Biden should restore the right to vote to all felons. It would be so beneficial for the country, for Dems and impossible for MAGA to complain about.
YES!!!
Polls continue to show that Biden’s popularity has not suffered from the debates. Something to keep in mind going forward.
“I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down”
That was my anthem when going through a particularly difficult time at work. Rings true today!
The Chumbawumba president! I foresee a tongue-in-cheek Dark Brandon Patty punchy in the merch store soon.
Do you have a lot of dough, Jane?
What does THAT mean, Bill Katz? Do YOU?
Her stated name is Jane Dough. Ha ha ha.
I watched the Michigan barnburner. As much to the point was the unadulterated enthusiasm of the pastor presenter in standing behind Biden regardless of the media, donors et al who are pronouncing on the optics on a very bad night then finding every false scrap which might be framed to show Biden's "cognitive decline". While many polls say Biden is "too old" he nonetheless is statistically tied with Trump. At this late date, do those critics really think they can find a new leader who can do better at this point in the race? It was great to see voters' rejection of pundit criticism.
Voters rejection of pundits criticism is a better measure of the polls than the polls. When have they been right lately?
I am so TIRED of pundits talking about the polls, so tired of media talking about Biden stepping down and especially infuriated by Democrats not standing by their candidate who won more than 3,800 delegates in the primary. Biden won! To even speak of him stepping down is to do what Republicans are doing....to delegitimize our election process.
If we are worried about the 'on the fence' voter, it's time to take a page from the Republicans. Gaslight the hell out of them. Even better, scare the hell out of them with what DT will do. Project 2025. From now on, the only words from a Democrat should be that everything DTs says is a lie, he's a convict, a rapist, a child rapist, a fascist, will be a dictator and will toss our nation to Russia, North Korea, and China in a nano second.
We don't have to gaslight them. We have the truth on our side--just scare the hell out of them with the truth of Project 2025 and Agenda 47.
I agree. People deserve to know how Project 2025 will screw the public and public interest seriously.
Thank you. We Dems have been far too nice for far too long. CFDT does not "misspeak" or "dissemble" or anything else. He is a gawdam liar.
Plain and simple.
Along with rapist, traitor, and wannabe dictator.
close enough! I wonder if we can get a pro Biden voter surge esp with publicity, publicity, publicity. After all, "think of the alternative"! Worst case, Harris has to pick up the presidency, and that, i think, not likely! (this term at least).
Susan -- ?? "a child rapist" ?? Who and when was that?
Donald Trump's name is all over the court records revealed in the case of convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein I personally read court transcripts available on the Internet of a 14-year-old virgin that Trump raped. When she asked him what she should do if she got pregnant, he threw money on her stomach and told her -- with heartbreaking distain -- to get an abortion. By the way he also peed on her.
The list of people that were involved with Jeffrey Epstein and flew to his island which locals called "Sex Island" in the Virgin Islands includes Trump.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/feb/01/instagram-posts/we-fact-checked-a-years-old-epstein-list-with-166/
Also, you might read the book by James Patterson entitled Filthy Rich or watch the Netflix documentary or read the book entitled The Spider by Barry Levine.
I mark "like" but feel the deepest disgust... and somehow do not see many of those whom the beast has corraled as feeling any differently from me if they can come to face the painful truth... not only about their savior's perversions but the gross inadequacy that has to underlie them.
This the story, Ashley? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/04/donald-trump-teenage-rape-accusations-lawsuit-dropped
Ashley, In the '90's People magazine had a big article on this young girl being raped by Trump and Epstein also. I use to keep copies of the magazine until I cleaned out my attic. In the article it said Epstein was angry that Trump got to her first!! That is when I knew what a creep he was and disgusting. The girl who was raped and her family were threatened with death if they came continued seeking justice so they quit for fear of their life. Karma is long overdue for this disgusting man!
Ashley, I began opening the attachment. It’s extensive. The woman in question was prepared to have a press conference in 2016 but after receiving death threats, pulled back and dropped the accusations. I’m wondering if this could be used somehow.
I suspect that is a reference to his numerous visits to Jeffrey Epstein...
Thanks, Ally House. Totally forgot about Epstein!
Believe me, no one hates Trump more than I do, and no one would like to see him in jail for anything and everything, but I looked into this issue a little bit and I'm not sure the evidence is there. He was trying to do a real estate deal with Epstein at the time, buying some property in Florida (?) and develop, so it is possible that the communications, messages, and plane trips were linked to that. But of course, no matter what, Trump knew who Epstein was (said he liked them young) and still had no problem associating with him and trying to do business with him.
What do they say of lifelong criminals as their arrest is being questioned? He's probably guilty of something like that. My mother always said, be careful of the company you keep.
Whatever the Dems do, I wish they would shut up with all the public criticism. Hash out behind closed doors whether to keep or replace the president (keeping in mind that Harris comes with reelecting Biden and, if he can’t continue as prez, she will.) I have resumed listening to music while I drive, not news or podcasts, because I have reached my limit and need to preserve (what’s left of) my sanity.
I find listening to classical radio with no news other than traffic reports more relaxing.
Simon Sinek's Podcast "A Bit of Optimism" is awesome and "Pivot" with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway always includes irreverent humor that's good for a much needed smile. Also, Kara Swisher's interview of Gretchen Whitmer in Swisher's Podcast "On with Kara Swisher" gave me hope. These, and especially Scott Galloway's "No Mercy, No Malice" essay read by George Hahn each Saturday on the Prof G Podcast are great listening.
You don’t win a fight by punching yourself in the face. Every Democrat needs to get to work attacking the real enemy— MAGA and Trump.
Agree!
I peeked at the NY Times front page this morning and zero/zip/nada about Detroit. I guess they couldn't find anything wrong so why report on it.
Charles Blow has made exactly this point, and he mentioned that presidential predictor Allan Lichtman has stated it would be disastrous for the Democrats to dump the President at this stage. If they do that, they’ll lose for sure.
He's not the only one. Meantime the media/pundits and some dems/donors continue an anti-Biden campaign without letup. Who do they really think will change the polling picture at this point?
So much media coverage of what the monied class pronounces Is surely GOING TO happen when no one can know. Not talking about what HAS happened and IS happening as Dr. Richardson does.
Very true, and this is exactly why I read these articles.
5PM: see, I told you
“Polls continue to show that Biden’s popularity has not suffered from the debates…”
Moneymen—those who buy and sell their country and place bets on it—continue to panic and withhold moolah.
Mindless Media and the Gutless Party machinery continue to plan suicide and make a big show of their death wish for America.
I’ll confess that my intuition, which has served me well, is at war with my analytical faculty.
Intuition says Joe Biden’s doing fine, while the Man Who Would Be King is very near the end of his tether.
The analytical faculty is not troubled by questions about Biden’s undoubted competence but by people’s blindness to any reality beyond the most superficial telescreen appearances.
At the same time, this rational mind is very aware, both from observation and from personal experience, of the fact that the physical processes of aging are not smooth and continuous but tend to advance in short, sharp shocks. The mind may stay lucid and dynamic to the end. Physical infirmity tires and spoils appearances. Once again, most people do not see beyond the surface—and that is why is why old people who are far more compos mentis than most of us are often treated as though they were “silly old fools”.
I recall my powerful, strong-minded mother tiring of the struggle to make carers understand that because she was seriously enfeebled she was in no way any less her old self. "I can't be bothered," she said, "It's a waste of energy". She was all there until her last breath.
Incidentally, I am quite critical of aspects of Biden’s performance, but those show the downside of great and wide-ranging experience, which can be overmuch habit-forming, so that settings are not always adjusted sufficiently to take account of such facts as when a trusted ally falls into the hands of a mendacious confidence trickster.
Nicely said, Peter.
Thank you, Ally, but this calls for courage, total determination and constant presence of mind, together with readiness to face violence, whichever way the votes go.
If ordinary people retain even 1% of their senses, they will recognize that they'd be better off with a bag of cement or Caligula's horse than with the MAGA madman.
I keep vacillating between letting him go and keeping him in. If he loses, we’ll all conclude he made a huge mistake. If he wins, we praise Allah. One thing I am sure of. We, the US and NATO have made a gigantic mistake with Ukraine. A no nato pledge would have stopped it. We never learn. Now we must be all in. There is no choice although there will be a settlement probably with a no nato clause. So where has it gotten only terror and death of Ukrainians. For nothing.
Here’s how Biden wins in November: Every vacillator, doubter, wait-and-see sideliner watches his speech in Detroit, comes to the sudden realization that doing two full-time jobs (campaigning to beat the most dangerous sociopath in the world AND working as President of the U.S. while the second-most dangerous sociopath stands beside a row of nuclear missile-launching buttons) is exhausting and mindnumbing for a person of any age, and starts spreading their words of unabashed support to everyone in line at the bank, in grocery stores, at church and at the water cooler. Pick up a yard sign, get a bumper sticker, post praise for the GOAT on social media and stop letting the mainstream media reality show pundits and pollsters tell us how to think. We don’t need more drama, we need full-on support. Now. The clock is ticking.
Great campaign speech, Bob. Keep it up!
I liked your comment so much, I shared it on my FB page! Thanks!
CFDT is running a reality TV show while Biden is running a campaign. There is only one star in the CFDT team. Only 4 of his entire cabinet and senior staff endorse him and to the person, they say he is UNFIT for office.
CFDT takes credit for everything positive that happened during his Presidency. But he accomplished so little no one notices. There aren't even supporting actors in his reality show -- they are just cameos he hires to tell everyone how great he is. But even that ship has sailed except for the most vile Republican politicians and a few donors that he has promised tax breaks to.
The media gives CFDT a pass for every little thing he does. Unfortunately, mixed with the dozens of little things which show he is demented and an asshole ,are lots of big things they let slide - like pardoning 143 felons who literally defrauded the government out of billions and violent criminals. And you know there was quid pro quo for a lot of them, if not all. When was the last time you saw a story about this in the media.
If for no other reason Bill than these insane pardons, I will not vote for CFDT. But, I understand your concerns.
Tfg has a new revenue stream: selling pardons. Oh wait. I meant receiving “gratuities” after he pardons criminals—his tribe.
Biden made a big mistake? Seriously Bill....we vote. If DT wins, it's on us!
And what will you do when your replacement to Biden loses to CFDT?
If we let Putin win in Ukraine, he won’t stop there. We aren’t nation building in Ukraine; we’re supporting their efforts to fight back an aggressor.
If we replace Joe on the ticket (which is what the Rs want), we will lose.
We agreed to do so under the Budapest Agreement and NATO commitments, which of course Vladimir Putin detests.
Let’s turn this around for a moment. Suppose Mexico invited Russia to position nukes close to the border with the U.S. no, a better example is 1962 Cuban Missile Crises. What did we do? Early brought the world doe with a nuclear war. Now turn it around and what do you have in Ukraine. Ukraine is to Russia that Cuba is to the US. Comprende?
That has been a talking point that Russia has promoted. But we didn’t invade Cuba, we weren’t trying to annex it. Russia is trying to recreate the old Soviet Union.
If we lose, I’ll hold the media accountable, not Biden
We’d better rally to defeat Trump and Trumpism or we may not have a second chance! If he’s re-elected, we’ll likely have a “Putin-like” election in 2028, completely controlled by the government! If we rest on our laurels and sleepwalk through November, we’ll regret it come January 21, 2025!
Apparently Donald hates being called Donald.
Gets upset.
Just saying.....
Donaldism? 😅
Really want to irritate himm?
The Donald
that's what we New Yorkers have called him for decades
His late first wife Ivana called him the Donald.
And what happened to Ivana? She “tripped” on her stairs in her apartment and died?
Really? Was there an inquest?
I don’t know, but given Donald’s penchant for lies, I doubt it.
That must be why Mary Trump calls him "Donald" in her social media -- I've often wondered why.
Mary Trump is much saner and more realistic about her uncle than many in the public. It’s probably because she’s a psychologist and grew up living in the real world, unlike her uncle and his dysfunctional family.
And she says she can't find a single positive, redeeming quality in him. . .the only human being of whom she can say that!
She knows her uncle all too well, I’d say.
Oh yes Doug, she knows
Then what does he like?
We should definitely call him late for dinner, Ozempic or no. Wait! The more Whoppers he eats ... I wonder if there's a correlation between what goes into his mouth and what comes out.
Apparently "Sir", given those fake stories he likes to tell.
Probably something like King. He used to calll in to radio stations & say his jam was Baron.
He called himself John Barron in an effort to publicize himself. My guess is that he was too much of a cheapskate to hire a press flack and would have stiffed any press flack just like he did with suppliers and contractors.
God, maybe!
Maybe we should try to find out what his close friends call him…oh wait….
Anyway my recent favorite is Baked Jam.
Register more Democrats to rally to defeat Trump.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
To defeat Donald?
We ARE Phil , we.the.people. ARE staying the 💙 course.
Four More Years, Joe! Your track record not only set the precedent it’s the best Presidency EVAH ( that’s my Maine accent btw and thanks Susan for YOUR latest addition to ridding bullies).
If you’re not with the BLUE TSUNAMI you’re with the losing party poopers ,period.
Heather, thank you so very much, congratulation with a little c from this old little p , pat.
You point out the papers coming around , YEA! 🗣️call out the bully bunch , cheap credit cheaters who voted no - stolen accolades, further claims to the infamous coup.
Unite Sisters, no better a time to TOOT.
Unite Dems , let’s give MAGA the BOOT.
💙💙VOTE ALL …ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
Patricia Davis -- Four more years, Joe and Kamala. They're a team.
🫶
Patricia Davis -- I cannot read what your comment (or emoji) is. Substack isn't working the way it used to, at least on my computer. Later, it shows on the Email notice. Mystery.
Hugs Judith, like Iris Dement sings 🎶..I try to live my life accordingly🎶
I agree, and I hope you are able to send Susan Collins packing.
Gah! In our little berg, our property taxes just jumped 20%. Part of that is a new fire station, but also another jiggering of property values and the school budget allocation. But the town, after the smack of the tax bill last week, trumpeted that Susan got us 4 million dollars toward the $11M station. I don't even know how it's going to cost 11m, but Susan will save us from ourselves. I'm so so tired of it.
I live in Montgomery County, OH, and our property taxes went up due to reassessments. Mine for my condo are around $300 a month. Our schools still have to ask for levies which get voted down, and the reason is that our Republican gerrymandered legislature gives voucher money to private schools and the money is supposed to go to public schools. SCOTUS has enabled this, and I think tax money should only be used for public schools. Public schools are a public good.
The same situation re vouchers has happened in NH as well. We've had a quadrafecta for the past 6 years. Fortunately Sununu's not running again. We have an Executive Council that negotiates contracts etc and they've had a super majority of Republicans who've consistently REFUSED to fund Planned Parenthood even though NO money goes to funding abortion care. (and the Education Commissioner has NEVER attended public schools and home schooled his 7 kids. and is all n re giving public education monies to private and religious schools by giving them public tax monies to via vouchers.)
They act as if money is for themselves alone. Texas, Oklahoma and Florida have been playing this game for years.
I have never wavered in my support and admiration of Joe Biden, nor in my faith that he understands bullies and knows exactly how to “put the Ralphie on them”
I would add that it is frighteningly sad and pathetic that we seem to have so many of our fellow Americans seemingly so enthusiastically enamored with the “dark side” … the evils of mankind … that which represents those approaches to life that are deemed wrong by so many of those of us who represent the silent majority … let’s surround the Biden/Harris team with our gratitude, eagerness and excitement and let’s trounce the opposition and continue moving our nation forward - not backwards!!!
Now, are there caveats with this? Yes, unfortunately yes there are … there are basically two to three things that are weighing Biden’s poll numbers down: Age, cognitive abilities … and inflation. But common among each of these is our ignorance … is the campaign using smoke and mirrors to hide Biden’s deficiencies - hence, we maybe faced with a “Weekend at Bernie’s” scenario [no more debates this presidential campaign round; let’s be presidential and hold two or three more news conferences … I was against holding any “Biden - trump” debates period which I have stated in the past] and yes, the inflation rate is still headed in the right direction - but how soon will grocery prices, gasoline prices show substantive/noticeable downward movement to the average American citizen and voter?
Ohhhh, and the promises Biden is making about many of the things he wants to get done in his second term require favorable votes in the U.S. House and Senate, so he must remember and we must remember - he cannot do it along!!!
To be clear, speaking is separate from cognition. Well-educated people with good vocabularies and public speaking experience may be able to hide their cognitive decline, even dementia, until they start putting the ice cream in the oven.
A memory expert pointed out that not being able sometimes to retrieve something like a person’s name becomes more common with age. The memory is not gone, but takes longer to find. It is not memory loss. Nor short-term memory loss associated with dementia.
Stuttering experts say that fighting a stutter uses up a sizeable chunk of your mental energy and focus. It amazes me that the imperfect speaker that Joe Biden is could keep convincing people to elect him. Maybe accomplishing something is more important than talking about it?
Oh, oh....not bribes--such a nasty sounding word. Gratuities, dontcha know? Gratuities provide a much classier mental picture. Yeah, the highest court in the land waiting tables and serving their betters with favorable rulings along with their enabling of decreased regulation for more profit. So much "class". The trashy Trumps have managed to bring the Court down to their level.
It’s a project that goes all the way back to the late Lewis Powell.
Phil, you are a gifted writer. An excellent comment. Thank you.
Almost poetic Phil, really well done and you're quite right about the sad delusionism that affects so many of our fellow Americans.
Hear hear , Phil!!!! Excellent job of wrapping up the facts that Heather awards us with.
We mustn’t forget how many of us are not manipulated by all this malarkey . We are well educated and determined not to be smothered by a few perverts.
Let’s hold hands and go forward( not backwards), to make our country thrive in goodness and in success for all. Remember our children. They have choices to make that will affect them…. We had and have our choices. The planet( not just one country) needs our support in order to thrive.
Our power is telling the facts and helping others see the difference between phony and reality.
Phil, thanks so much for your clear-headed analysis. If we had a year in which to choose another candidate, we would have many possibilities who would have time to organize a campaign and build a war chest, and Biden might have been thankful. However, with less than four months, another choice is virtually impossible. Yes, Biden has to be exhausted, and remember that before the 2020 election he made it clear that he wouldn't have entered the race but for the fact that Trump had come close to destroying the country during his reign of terror. We know that he's jeopardizing the remainder of his life, because Trump has been emboldened by the totally corrupt right wing of SCOTUS and having his henchmen assembled without guardrails. We have to change our usual behavior of internal squabbles and ignore the press and its insistence on ignoring Trump's proven criminality while pillorying Biden, and giving us our sole chance to beat the frightening parade that is intent on taking us back hundreds of years and feeding the despots.
Well said. I agree that the American oligarchs see themselves as the aristocracy. Nice reminder that the aristocracy are dictators, with total control over their powerless peons and serfs.
The best way to deal with those "repressing women" is to elect a black woman as President-Kamala Harris-with Biden by her side as a third time Vice President....
If history is an indicator.....
Problem is it's hard to reset a history like ours when the levers for change are in the hands of elites and people whose job it is to keep the controversy going because their paychecks depend upon it continuing.
I sincerely hope so!!!