As a former Custodian of Classified Materials, I am appalled. Stealing, hiding, and refusing to return classified materials should have resulted in hefty fines and years in prison!
ANYONE ELSE would have been JAILED as soon as the missing docs were discovered. NO EXCEPTIONS! Cheetolini is so massively unqualified and outright dangerous he MUST be prevented from getting access again, by an epic voter turnout in November.
If I’m not mistaken, he’s starting to get classified material as a candidate. There is so much wrong with that picture that my brain breaks when I think of it.
Plus he has put two sketchy characters on the Senate Intelligence committee put there by his acolyte Mike Johnson of New Apstolic Reformation infamy. Again, I see Thomas and Alito and the other 4 on SCOTUS poised to give him the election even if he does not win it. We must make the difference in votes clear by getting the vote out. Vote, vote, vote!
I've been distracted as we lost our last cat and hadn't been able to keep up with the news.
Losing our last cat was hard but not as hard as seeing the Heritage Foundation Project 2025/ Clarence Thomas/Aileen Cannon version of the Harry Houdini surprise gut punch to Democracy and the rule of law.
When I was eleven, I was hospitalized. My mother who hated cats let me take my cat to Hancock point because she felt sorry for me as I still had a fever when we drove the 13 hours to Hancock point. The cat got lose there and was gone two days. Six weeks later back in Wilmington, DE, she had four part coon cat kittens. I kept Emily for many years. Emily disappeared and was gone three weeks. Of course, I being "cats are every thing" person was devastated. She came back with a broken jaw and lived happily ever after on baby food. years and years later, a cat I called Sunshine showed up to live with us, different state. He was nearing 20 years when he vanished. 15 days later, I woke to him sitting in the window. I thought I was dreaming. He didn't wander after that and spent the rest of his life sleeping under my chin at night. You will be in my thoughts.
Ditto to what I wrote to Jim; thank you so much for sharing your amazing cat stories. I'm not really a cat person, but I have recently adopted my second cat. Last one was a feral cat who was with me for 10 years. Miss Kitty who is with me know, lost her "mom" of 10 years who died unexpectedly in March. Her grown children were not able to take her, neither was any of the local shelters. One kindly posted her story in FB. I've seen and passed over many a cat in need of a home. I live in a tiny studio, and thought it was impossible. But something about Miss Kitty's photo grabbed my heart..and I had to call. I got a call back within minutes from the shelter who then gave my info to her family. They called within minutes as well. A friend drove me to meet Miss Kitty and while she was somewhat aloof, she didn't hate me! Her family brought her to me, along with her carrier, litter box and most favorite tower and we've been slowly working things out over the past three weeks. I've started a FB page to tell our story, starting with a slide show I made from photos my friend took from out meeting. Here's the link if you'd like to see it...I'm kind of proud of how it captured her!! https://www.facebook.com/61561322020208/videos/3669820083266941
So sorry about the cat. I'm not going through that again - the last one was the last. Yes, that Aileen Cannon headline was bad to wake up to this morning. The French are getting a lot of mileage out of the size of that ear-covering, incidentally! (They think it's a stage prop).
Interesting about what the French think (I'm a francophile and have spent a lot of time in France. It's my second country.) I'll check out their reaction and it could be correct. I certainly know that the fist pump was an act.
Of course it's a prop. He barely got nicked, if it was even the bullet that hit him and not glass, which has been floated as a possibility, or even a nick he himself induced. The cameras were all on the other side of his head, so we can't really see. We have a story being crafted and there is much to be critical about that would indicate we should not take the bait, hook, line, and sinker. I just fear that we are so far behind this plot, it's already over.
Jim, I am so sorry. I understand. Our dog was bitten by a raccoon this weekend and so has had a surgery and is wearing the cone of shame. He is a very lucky dog indeed and an old dog. We are so happy he is still with us. We have managed to keep up with the news although we have been turning off the national news. The NYT online Morning has the headline: Trump names his successor. And Vance is truly awful. We must not let them prevail in November and vote D up and down the ballot.
Jim, I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand completely. I am coming up on the anniversary of losing my heart cat (we let him go; he was old and sick), and even with two new furry feline beings in my life, I mourn him and miss him.
As we do. Their lives are so short but so very sweet and wonderful. Cannot imagine existing without having animals - unable to "do" horses anymore after losing my boy - but cats & dogs (and right now a bird!!) make life worthwhile. AND need to be cared for which sure does take your mind off health & politics (thank god).
As do all these comments from like minded humans!!
Sympathy for your loss. The closest I feel that there may be a god and Heaven is in my relationships with animals. There is a wonderful book “ Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and other unexplained powers of animals “ by Rupert Sheldrake.
So sorry about your cat - it just takes the light out of your day. Last few years I only have had one cat and it was really hard to lose her - took me months before I could look for another one. There ae so many who truly deserve homes. But it takes time. Hang in there.
It says so much that the former guy is the first to live in the WH and have NO animals as pets - nor, I'm guessing, did any of his offspring ever have any interest in them. But then the lack of empathy encompasses humans and animals, doesnt it?
Certainly telling to me - dont know about anyone else.
I'm so sorry about....your cat. While getting out a massive Democratic vote in November is of utmost urgeny, it helps me to also stay in touch with simple human pleasures...like enjoying relationships with out pets. I hope you find them safely and quickly!
Another favorite of mine is the "Amazing Randi" (James Randi), who, unlike Houdini wanted to believe in psychics, was like Houdini in exposing all the fakes he could. Houdini's wife tried to communicate with him through any possible real psychic for 10 years before giving up since everyone tested could be dis-proven.
After James Randi had showed Johnny Carson (himself a magician) how to test Uri Geller (make him use the props Carson provided) Geller failed. I believe Randi had done the spoon bending trick on Carson's show but not revealed how it was done. When Carson later asked Geller how Randi had done it, Geller claimed Randi really had magical powers like he had (to me, on days when he had enough psychic strength which was in short supply the day Carson provided the props).
Sorry, but by lost, I meant died in my arms after making his way to me (like he always did, no matter how bad he felt), early in the morning insisting I needed his lap time as much as he did.
He came to us 12 years ago, obviously having been a well loved lap cat, perhaps left out doors after his primary staff passed away. We had decided Gidget was to be our last cat a dozen years ago but he showed up at our patio door with this attitude that implied "You know you are going to become my new staff, let me in and make a lap." He and Gidget became great friends as he comforted her until she passed in March of 2023. He seemed lost and lonely for a while, but made up for it by quadrupling the time he wanted to spend on our laps, up to 4 hours at a time, frequently "helping" me by pawing at the keyboard as I was at the computer.
Thank you James … you are correct - I am, have always been and will be till the end of my natural [and a spiritual one - if there is such a thing]… life!!!
Of course the supremes will try to hand him the election, not a doubt in my mind.
BTW where have the dems been, they seemed to have checked out? I feel this community is trying harder to save democracy than our elected officials. Smh...
I'm not saying don't be critical, but it's way too easy to think others aren't doing their part even when they are. We can only see what we see, and there's a lot we can't see.
What I've chosen to see is a victory in November too big to be overturned.
We are working in Indiana. We have some great candidates....but need a whole lot more...to stand up! State Rep in my district 8 has it on a silver platter this year. People are tired of spending their money and time. He gets money from big donors in Indy from their GOP out of state. It is hard for a Democrat to win. Scary!
I send her money and used a dummy email to thank her for taking on trying to Impeach SCOTUS justices Thomas and Alito. I had been writing Dick Durbin, begging him to be on the right side of history. At this point I sent money he could have gotten to her, and I also told him to pass the baton if he is afraid of getting Trump angry. If you want to get energized, at the end of Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, where she talks about the modern day development of fascism, she ends with how famous fascists have lost their power. Trump is one of the people in the book. She tells us on page 246, "In March 2015, Berlusconi had proposed to 'transform Forza Italia into the Republican Party.' That same month, Trump set up an exploratory committee for a presidential campaign that accelerated the Republican Party's transformation into a version of Forza Italia. The GOP's authoritarian drift predated Trump. Yet by 2020, the party had become the tool of a personalist leader whose priorities were staying in office to avoid prosecution, maintaining his personality cult, advancing Putin's foreign policy goals, and mainstreaming the far right. Studies conducted by Pippa Norris and other political scientists rank the GOP among the most extremist parties in the West in terms of its rejection of liberal democratic values. In positions on immigration, crusades against racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, and attitudes toward ethnic and religious minorities have places it close to the platforms of the parties of sitting autocrats like Erdroğan and Modi. " She is right on the money and still is. Somehow everyone forgot that it was those policies playing out in the Covid-19 crisis, which terrified everyone. She goes on to say, "With access to nuclear weapons and command of the world's most powerful military, Trump has been a far more dangerous and disruptive leader than Berlusconi. Yet, Berlusconi's decade in power merits attention as a cautionary tales for America, Brazil and other nations under now under antidemocratic assault. The Italian prime minister operated in an open society but gradually eroded support for government accountability, mutual tolerance, respect for freedom of expression, and other bedrock democratic values. By 2009, he had merged his party with the far-right AN to form the People of Freedom coalition, which governed Italy on an anti-immigrant, pro-White Christian platform until his ouster in 2011. Italy may have remained a nominal democracy, but Berlusconi turned government into a vehicle for accumulating more personal wealthy and power on the model of the illiberal leaders he so admired. " Americans have very short attention spans and memories, or we would not be entertaining the idea of a criminal running for office. More global political knowledge and we could be learning from what others have done. What I take heart in is learning as much as I can about the powers at play here, and also to use that knowledge to inform others. I understand from Prof. Kathleen Belew where the Right wing agenda has come from and how they made plans to coalesce with the Christian Nationalists and infiltrate government as apposed to just defying it, after reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Para Military America. I feel we need to take heart in knowing that people have overthrown fascist regimes, but mostly their own policies lead to their ends. So, We the People, need to save our democracy and cannot count on any one politician to do it. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
A day or so before the Ear Show, hearts rose with the love and support of the crowd in Detroit. Don't fall for this latest devastating attempt at a torpedo. Hasn't worked - the YouTubers are saying, 500 a hit, that nothing will make them abandon Biden.
Yes and start writing postcards to voters even 5 or10 a day. Refresh your printing skills. And to those who say “God will help US” please say “God helps those who help themselves.” We are on a precipice, pushed by all the powers supposed to protect US.
I’m hoping that the Biden administration redacts the info or refuses to provide it. So I remember correctly that Trump didn’t provide the info to Biden in 2020?
The first book describes how Trump's people failed to show up at required transition briefings, or immediately eliminated any who had spoken on Climate Change.
The second on how he and his sponsors want to change Non-partisan Civil Service positions into politically appointed positions with loyalty oaths to Trump (and maybe the party), instead of the people and Constitution as evolved for nearly 240 years.
Chris Christie told Trump he was required by law to send people to all the agencies to attend briefings and read the material produced to describe what and how the agencies were supposed to work, what they had been doing, etc, so they would have the best starting point even if they changed the goals and procedures (while being advised of legal requirements, also).
"...Tips for Federal Agencies When Creating Transition Briefing Materials
By Dan Hyman, Troy Thomas and Catherine Manfre
With less than two weeks until Election Day, much of the nation’s attention is focused on the presidential campaigns. Behind-the-scenes, however, career civil servants are quietly preparing for a potential transition and a turnover of political appointees.
According to the federal transition law, agencies are required to complete three major tasks prior to Election Day:
Submit updated lists of politically-appointed positions to the Office of Personnel Management for compilation in the 2020 Plum Book.
Create a succession plan for senior leadership positions by September 15.
Compile agency briefing materials by November 1 to assist new administration officials or second-term leadership.
To date, more than 140 agencies have teams of career employees leading this transition work. Since May, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration have convened leaders from these teams to coordinate transition activities and facilitate the sharing of best practices.
Agencies have met the first two milestones and are working to complete their briefing materials by the November 1 deadline. In their simplest form, the briefing materials are like an “Agency 101” of the key facts, figures and issues. They enable new leadership to get up to speed quickly so they can hit the ground running.
Four tips to maximize the effectiveness of agency briefing materials
While federal law requires agency transition teams to “create briefing materials related to the presidential transition that may be requested by eligible candidates,” it does not specify what contents should be included. Based on guidance issued by OMB and GSA, as well as best practices from past transitions, the following tips will help agencies maximize the effectiveness of their briefing materials.
Tip one: Provide a baseline understanding of the agency
Recipients of briefing materials – whether they are transition review teams for an incoming first-term administration or newly appointed leadership for a second-term administration – will have varying degrees of familiarity with the agency prior to arriving. Some may have prior experience with the agency (though it is likely dated), while others could be experts in the policy area. These materials must provide readers with the agency’s full background and current context, including at a minimum:
Organizational charts that include key positions.
Recent budget history and a current budget proposal.
Top issues and challenges.
Congressional oversight committees and issues.
Impact of COVID-19 on the agency’s priorities and internal operations.
Tip two: Be succinct
Agencies should focus on the top issues and the most relevant data. Recipients of briefing materials are busy individuals who may not have time to read lengthy reports. Many agencies have begun streamlining information to make it more digestible. During the 2016-17 transition, the Department of Defense created a series of one- and two-page papers on the top five to 10 priority issues they believed were most important to newcomers.
Tip three: Include key insights
The best materials go beyond agency statistics and conventional issues to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities facing new leaders. During the 2016-17 transition, the FBI linked its bureau’s locations with a list of threats to national security. They also created a map pinned with color-coded offices according to the year they opened. The visual representation of the bureau’s newest locations generated conversations on where emerging threats were located.
Key insights should include:
The parts of the agency’s budget that have been most impacted by the pandemic.
Significant changes in workforce demographics, such as the retirement of baby boomers and the number of employees eligible for retirement.
The agency’s current top priorities.
Tip four: Take advantage of digital formats
Historically, the briefing materials have been produced as reports in thick binders. However, digital versions make it easier to distribute to the intended recipients, especially now when so many federal officials and transition leaders are working remotely..."
is another good start to see which President's provided the most effective preparation of transition briefings and support (Trump's appears to be the worst in modern times, although FDR was also a bit rude to Hoover who did want to cooperate more).
Clarification on this would be valuable. If he lost his security clearance when he left office, he'd need to be cleared again and that's not a guarantee. Also, anyone on his team (Vance) would have to be cleared as well. Biden is as courteous as they come, but at minimum, the process could be pursued very, very slowly.
Thank you Professor for reminding us again the details of the massiveness of this case that was just dismissed and the length of time it has been delayed. We need this reminder of the severity of the act and charges brought and more importantly, justice delayed is justice denied. The Republican nominee and his choice for VP must be stopped, period. And to circumvent our corrupt Handful of SCOTUS judges, we must VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET, no matter where you live in this country. Nothing is more important than that at this time, nothing. And don’t think that the war will be over then, it will just be a very victorious battle. Keeping our “eye on the prize” must be imbedded in us, and that prize is DEMOCRACY.
I recall that the Trump administration didn’t extend that courtesy to candidate Biden in 2020. I hope that the Biden administration does the same. Or if they do provide info, redact it a la Bill Barr.
trump is a convicted felon and if Biden doesn't deny him access to classified material he is a damn fool and puts this country and our allies at tremendous risk !! JD Vance is just as bad and if the dems don't use that against trump they have lost all sight that the end game here is to win the election or democracy does its last death spiral.
Not quite true, actually. David Petraeus, for instance gave SCI material to his girlfriend and only got a slap on the wrist. Then there have been Presidents - LBJ and Trump to my knowledge - who compromised classified programs with impunity. Not saying Trump shouldn't be prosecuted, for there's good reason to think he revealed it to foreign leaders; Putin and Orban for examples.
People who are well connected like Petraeus and Scooter Libby get treated more leniently than people like Chelsea Manning, John Kyriakos, or Reality Winner.
True. Trump’s sin wasn’t that he had classified materials in his possession but that he obstructed their retrieval by NARA. If he had simply returned them when confronted, the matter would have been closed. He didn’t, and the chase was on. And so far, he’s escaping accountability.
Dan, to me, what is presented here, so often appears pretty much "black and white".., but in reality it is not. And, that is why lawyers and judges are able to present objections supported by their learned (Harvard, Yale, et al) points of view. I will stress, it is their "learned" position for which they find support either in the form of previous rulings or people with a certain political bent ($$$$.$$). So, it never fails to piss me off when something as obvious as boxes and boxes and undisclosed boxes and "hidden rooms" and over-sights & mis-steps by "the FBI (etc)" are suddenly rolled out onto the table by "learned" graduates who have passed the bar-exams...., when a slam-dunk case, after months and months of journalistic (tabloid-level) reporting.., suddenly, hahahaa Aileen Canon shoots her load, and the whole thing shits-the-bed! "Classify" this any way you want, but I rest my case!
Some things appear black and white that are not. Other things are. For example, the SCOTUS majority opinion on immunity appears to be wrong in a way that a child should be able to understand, which is to say that I would have flunked John Roberts if I was his 5th grade teacher, let alone allow him to get into law school.
Here's the test. You tell a person you disagree with them, you raise legitimate issues, and they dismiss your conclusion without any attempt to address the issues. That's why I'm convinced I had a better understanding of the "justice" concept as a 5th grader than the chief justice of the most powerful nation on earth.
MadRussian12A. You said it all. Reading HVR today is tough. Especially the ending with vance, this is all such scary shit!
Such a lack of integrity from most of the republicans party and especially Fox (News???) and the people who listen, only to the disinformation on Fox! My heart aches and my stomach churns😫😡😬
Send $5 to Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s Democratic Senator, if you can. He needs it as Trump/Vance will use millions to defeat him. Republicans have all but destroyed the middle class with trickle down
I can never unsee the RU contingent in the Oval Office w/o US representation right after he took office and DJT looking the most comfortable amongst others than we have ever seen with his "US fellow citizens". I quote "fellow citizens" as I'm not sure he is in fellowship with his fellow citizens. I believe in my heart he is in legion with RU as that's where he gets big money and "love" to do whatever he sees fit like Putin.
Not only is it not outrageous: Trump is what Putin calls a “useful idiot.” I already had seen the films of him with the Moscow beauty pageant in 2013 asking for Putin to come and see it; then the Steele dossier; but most recently a photograph of him and his first wife in Moscow with the domes behind them. That’s when everything clicked: gold, money, Trump/Putin. We are in grave danger if Trump is “elected” and even if he isn’t. We have been promised “a bloodbath.” Are we prepared to win and hold on?
Referring documents as "classified" lulls me to sleep. We "classify" just about everything the government does. The level is what we need to be specific about. There are three main designations: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret (TS). We also stamp those documents with other terms like "NO FORN" for example: The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. So, instead of handing me (libtard drivel) "boxes & boxes" of classified documents... let's get to the meat. How many documents were marked Secret or Top Secret...? Or, stamped "NO FORN"? Those are the "documents" that #45 needs to be castrated for waving around! Let's not diminish the significance by merely referring to boxes of "classified" material. Let's front page how much was marked Secret, Top Secret, NO FORN!! I don't think the American taxpayer/citizen will be pleased. Front Page that!!
Keeping in mind that I was a deputy sheriff, and as such had no clearances per se, I knew that releasing information from investigations or handing out copies of reports would be at the least a violation of policy and at worst be antithetical to the mission of a police investigation.
Some things you just don't do. Stealing classified documents, regardless of their classification, is among those.
And chump gets a pass for the most egregious example. Plus, his refusal to return documents and try to fool the FBI. Deep dungeon. Cannon is definitely expecting a SC seat.
And you have no idea what is in them to make such judgement to yawn over (sorry). Over classification may be an issue. But, under classification and outright contempt of the system to protect National Security is insane, esp. as the wannabe POTUS.
I agree we should focus on the meatier, but the "graymail" exposure in court is what DJT is operating to as the corrupt individual he is as alternate to dismissal. His "declassification" BS lies is part of the graymail and outright contempt of the value of classified material as a threat vs his hammer.
Agree Bill. And, another little detail: The 'need' to know. Even a president might not pass that test. We live in a very finite world. And it's good that we do. There are things worth standing-up for. Standing up will be very important come November. We'll see.
Yes. But first things first. All three branches of government in a landslide. Democrats are the three musketeers (all for one and one for all). Republicans are the three stooges (all for one orange Jesus).
And then the next day when he decided not to join the other delegates at the war graves because a light drizzle endangered the helicopter.(!) He stayed in all day. Doing what?
Let's see here.. Orban is a "FORN" , right? The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. Has FORN-Orban been shown any of those "classified" papers that are missing? GMAFB.., what do you think? As a vet of 22 years, with a 'military mind'.., I think #45 needs to be de-balled. Whewww!
When I woke up this morning and saw the headline about the case dismissal, that was my first reaction, too. Just couldn't remember Teixeira's name at the time.
As a former U.S. Army Intelligence member with a Top Secret Crypto clearance (the highest), I, too, am appalled by all of this. The rule is solid: nothing is to be revealed to another who does not have the appropriate security clearance, but even if he/she does have the clearance, nothing is to be disclosed to one who does not have the need to know. I suspect that those close associates of Putin who started having "accidents" in late 2022 has something to do with those missing classified documents. I feel certain that the American Intelligence Community knows why they met untimely fates.
Spot on, Richard. I was never in a classification position (local law enforcement) but I knew (and know) the dangers of letting the bad guys know what we've got on them. I had one co-worker do federal time for giving information (very minor information) to a federal inmate.
Thank you for that! I could follow Navalny and Kara-Murza but wasn’t aware of the disappearances you are referring to. Haunting: photographs of the ‘30’s with the headless bodies in the Kremlin. Then there were the generals who “disappeared” leaving Stalin almost unable to take on Hitler for lack of military leadership.
Can someone tell me the difference between Stalin and Putin except in numbers? Is there a difference?
For me, the coincidence between Trump having those classified intelligence documents and those deaths is too coincidental. I truly do believe that Trump has committed treasonous acts.
Read the article and think I found Trump’s Putin dream. It’s quite clear in the “sultanate oligarchy.” I emailed myself the article in the hope of passing it on to “educated” people who don’t understand what Trump and SCOTUS are setting US up for. Time to remind of the following: Putin speaks perfect English (to Trump) and the book entitled “Everything Trump Touches Dies.”
I am uncleared due to having bipolar disorder. The US national security complex doesn't like to give clearances to people with mental health issues, somewhat understandably. However, our facility security officer recently shared some bullshit that said the government is understanding if you have a mental health disorder. This is utter BS from my own experience.
We are witnessing the absolute corruption of our judicial/political system laid out before our very eyes, in real time. The corruption goes all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. We've got some huge problems to deal with. I fear that we are teetering at the brink. People who are fairly well educated are going around wearing MAGA caps.
Since the documents were seized by the FBI before Jack Smith was appointed, I’d think the argument that a special prosecutor was unconstitutional, however specious I think Judge Cannon’s claims here are, wouldn’t stop A case from going forward, even if it stops THIS case. I realize if Darth Rumpus wins, it will be called off.
Good to remember that the Nazi Party started off by contesting municipal, state and federal elections, which led to big business circles financing electoral campaigns, followed by Hitlers unscrupulous tactics turning the voting balance in the Reichstag in the Nazi's favour. Sound familiar? Soon after Hitler gained power, he declared the Nazi Party to be the only political party in Germany, and after crushing the Nazi Party's socially oriented wing, Hitler's word became the supreme and undisputed command. What began as the promise of jobs to the dissatisfied, unemployed masses post WWI ended in...we all know what.
That aside, it stuns me to think that any American, least of all those on the judiciary would want to live in a world where their wives, sisters, daughters and granddaughters are forced into having children, denied the right to life-saving abortion care and, in the future, contraception. Added to this is the imposition of militant Christian 'values' and a gun culture where it's not safe to send your hordes of future kids to school, least of all attend any public event. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This is not about the promise of jobs.
I've said this before, I say it every chance I get, and I'll say it again here. There are precisely two Christian values. The first is that a person must listen to their heart and their mind, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict. The second is that people must listen to one another, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict.
Ref: Matthew 7:12 & 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 6:31 & 10:25-37, John 14:12 & 15:12.
Translation: When you hear "Christian Nationalism," think anti-Christian. In other words, don't confuse real Christians with hypocrites labelling themselves as Christian.
James, I understand your point. But from the outside looking in, you sound just like cops who work with abusive/corrupt officers and do nothing about it, and then whine "but not all cops" when those corrupt officers do something off the charts bad (Derek Chauvin, anyone?)
I understand your point. If I thought your interpretation of my statement was correct, then I would alter my previous statement. But that's not what I'm saying. Personally, I don't think there should be tolerance for corruption of any kind. But my point is that the word "Christian" either means something, or it's just a tool for separating "us" from "them." And that's what so-called Christian Nationalists are doing with it. We can let them get away with it, or we can keep calling their bluff until they crawl back into their dark caves.
Derek Chauvin is a murderer, and George Floyd was his innocent victim, plain and simple.
The problem with Christianity IMHO is the old testament depicting God as an angry, judgmental, genocidal tyrant who saw humanity as wicked and justified his actions as a moral necessity - absolute fodder for Christian Nationalism.
Very different to the teachings of Christ - in essence, love one another.
But JD Chilcutt, our public education system has become so corrupt and corrosive that objective thinking seems almost quaint. I couldn’t think of a better word today for what the loss of liberal arts education from middle school through undergraduate school means to Americans. Plus we don’t sing together or read novels (reading for fun and information that’s not about jobs). Then there’s trickledown, the Republicans’ trickery to let them get richer and kill unions leading to Citizens United. Greed and racism may kill US yet. Building from the bottom up and the middle out may save US.
Thanks Sioux... Are the Siths behind DJT?... He is definitely on the Dark-Side... He does indeed have the Luck-Of-The-Devil... Where is Yoda when you need him!!!
Disclosure of material with a Top Secret or TS NO FORN designation is a treasonous offense and the FBI, CIA, NSA know #45 is guilty of its disclosure. Such an act is above presidential. Lock him up!
Why doesn't Joe issue an executive order that states that no convicted felon can run for national office? If one can't serve in the military . . . umm, Commander in Chief? There is so much wrong with what is going on and nobody is doing anything officially but hand wringing and " We'll see-ing."
"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." —Abraham Lincoln.
That was as true in his age as it is in ours. This doesn't depend on what Biden does. It depends on what Biden and the rest of us do.
''This afternoon, in the hall of the RNC convention, attendees chanted, “Fight, fight, fight,” as they punched an arm in the air, in an eerie echo of Germany in the 1930s.''
Gail, should have.....! We live in an alternate universe. tRump is a convicted criminal and has and is getting away with many crimes. Yet his supporters are all in as though reality did not exist. As for the most reprehensible, despicable low-life character ever to exist in the public sphere all truths are presented in their opposite. How can there be that many people many of who are not stupid buy into such insanity? Once again we are witness to people's ability to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING!!
If it was any normal person they'd be rotting in a jail right now under the sheer weight of all those stolen documents. These people simply do not care.
Rightly so. I am terrified at the prospect of pro Putin ticket taking the White House. JD Vance was raised by sociopaths and is now one in his own right.
1) President has completely different authority over classified documents than anyone else. He can declassify anything he wants.
As for Clinton what planet do you live on? She got caught sending classified materials to her yahoo account which is against the law. She had 1000's of emails including top secret government secrets. Those emails were likely hacked. The email server had a basic firewall and was run by someone who didn't have any authority to handle or store classified materials.
1) That is incorrect. He cannot unilaterally declassify everything. (I worked in this field. Did/do you?). Plus, he was no longer the President when he stole the materials.
2) Inaccurate spin. She used a private email for government business (btw, so did Ivanka and Jared). She didn’t “send them to herself.” And she suffered the consequences—she was denied the Presidency (and we got stuck with a buffoon).
I never said he could declassify "everything". You did. However his relationship to classified materials is completely different than Biden or Clinton. The laws in place are civil not criminal for President and classified materials.
Not winning an election is NOT a consequences. That's a joke.
This is why many many of us( patriotic, tax paying, law abiding citizens ) will forever not trust our country to be ours. We are not being asked, we are not being heard. The so called legal system has been neutered by a $$$$$$$$$$$$loving maniacs with no caring for law and or Order! Don’t kid yourselves, this country has no Law and order. Just kings and power egos because those types are hiding their true identity.
Is anybody surprised. I am not. The task has always been this 45 % of American is corrupted which to me more horrifying than Trump, Vance and the “bent” leaders of the GOP. We are not storming the beaches of Normandy and being slaughtered, we are fighting for our lives as sailors in the midst of Pearl Harbor, we are not the 101st airborne freezing in the winter Battle of the Bulge or my father flying daylight B 17 missions over Germany, all we are asked to do is vote and get others to do the same and with their political trauma we have found ourselves in which takes a special kind of resilience, courage and commitment. We have the clarity and leadership of Heather and others which we thank God for.
I met someone in the USA this weekend who has never voted. She says “she is not a political person”. Are there actually civics classes in schools that explain what Democracy means?
Half a century ago, the Koch family, fascists to the core, took it upon themselves to destroy the American public school system. They succeeded. How? No one, but no one votes in school board elections. It has the lowest rate of participation of any of the public elections. They seeded the election with candidates who were their hand picked know-nothings.
The first thing to hit the dust? Civics. What used to be a center of history in the US schools system was done away with it. And with that, so went one of the best pubic school systems in the world.
50 years later, we a reaping that whirl wind. Just as the Koch family planned.
Civics classes can be intellectually useful, but practicing the skills of self-governance and democracy is essential. As a teacher for over 40 years I know how difficult yet helpful it is to teach democracy in a culture that is dominated by authoritarian institutions: patriarchal families, religions, businesses, schools. As a teacher in more progressive times and in progressive schools, I held class meetings daily to settle disputes, plan schedules, even rearrange the furniture. Some of the most effective and practical problem-solving I've ever experienced was with elementary school children. People who grow up in institutions in which they have no power never learn to develop the power necesary to function in a democracy.
A history teacher in a local charter school drew a chalk ship on the floor of her classroom, to scale, and had the kids stay in it every day for a week to give them an idea of conditions on a slave ship. There wasn't room to lie down, nor for all of them to sit at once.
Really? A new aspect of his lack of character I hadn't heard.
Trying to catch news of the documents trial and seeing dumpty with the stage bandage on the tiny "wound" in his ear. Covered so no one can see there's nothing there. Except maybe the bruise from the exploding blood capsule.
It’s a “pull up the ladder boys I’m aboard, “but what about the rest of them in the water?” The hell with them I want to go get lunch”. That’s how people that don’t need any kind of tax break see the rest of us. If you say “a rising tide lifts all boats” I would agree with you, the key is being on the boat. It’s a I got mine, screw you attitude.
I have the impression that many who see themselves as better than others, or at least tell themselves that they are, don't give a rat's posterior about what happens to America, or even to humanity, so long as they have more stuff than anybody else. Like the billionaires building survival bunkers to escape the chaos they are busy promoting. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
Them and others like them were considered a part of the silent majority - even with all of the BIG BUCKS they had/have - but look at them now. We’re now - most of us who read, consume and follow HCR’s ideas and publications - are part of the silent majority … hello people, we have got to begin to act like we’re in the majority: so in lieu of common sense [which ain’t so common anymore] let’s add some “smart sense” … are choices are right versus wrong and good versus evil or bad!!!
The hands-of-time are not made to be turned back - maybe held back for an hour depending upon the season and much sunlight we’d like to add to our day - but we have to do the right thing(s) to keep America and Americans moving forward - NOT backwards!!!
It is practically impossible to know anything about school board candidates. There often isn’t any reporting that explains to voters the positions, beliefs, or funding of these individuals. Maybe even all of the candidates are being influenced by the Koch's organization.
Why rely on "reporting"? With school board and other local races, the best source of info is usually your own circle and "the grapevine." The address of any candidate is on file with election officials, local and often state. It's often possible to find out how long a candidate has lived in the district. Is there a League of Women Voters chapter in the area? They can be a great source of info. Etc.
Where I live, school boards *are* part of local government. We elect them like we elect the planning board, the zoning board, the library trustees, and other officials. (Some officials, however, are appointed by our elected officials.) P.S. "America" doesn't put out a ballot. Ballots are different in every jurisdiction. And if you're not paying attention to who and what are on your ballot, rest assured that other people are -- and you may not like the results.
I was taught the basics, but I did not encounter any effort to explain how complicate our society and it's governance is, and the consequences when any part of that network breaks down. Yes, like the "libertarians" I don't want excessively intrusive or heavy-handed goverment, but as much as it takes. How many "back office" services are needed to keep our major cities livable? Just sewage alone?
Having heard what you said about the undermining of effective public education, I feel lucky that I went through school in the 1950’s and 1960’ in my small town that we joked was 15 years behind the rest of the country. I got civics and history taught by bright and competent teachers.
Before I got to middle school, I was taught a remarkable amount of stuff that was either pretty useless (Like memorizing the stats of how many bananas South American countries produced in a year) to stuff, mostly "historical", that just was documentably no ore than myth. One of the few lessons I remember keenly and with gratitude was how the NAZIs controlled people with propaganda, and how a number of classic logical fallacies worked.
The thing is, that evidence-based thinking should have been a key part of that education, along with the "The Three "R"s, by which I mean "key". "Crap Detection" is another phrase I have heard for it, and it is a survival skill in a world in which not everything that is said is true.
Excellent assessment, Carol-Ann. I graduated high school nearly 50 years ago; I had all kinds of history, both American and World, Civics, Social Science, Physics and Chemistry, 4 years of English, and (gods help me), math through three years that included Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. I didn't have a Capstone project, or a Community Service provision in my schooling, it was all books.
I also have to say that where I live now (here in the Willamette Valley) school board elections are critically important.
You went to school in what I call the "golden age of American public education." If autocracies depend on an uneducated underclass, having a learned public simply won't do.
The New England colonies had public education as one of their basic tenets. Talk about ignoring/forgetting our roots. Education so sacred to the slave holders, that teaching an enslaved person how to read was considered a crime.
And now the MAGA party exalts ignorance. As they say in New York, go figure.
Sadly, not always, and if there are, many don't pay attention.
But then, the right-wing fanatics want to hand all the education money over to charter schools so that the wealthy can spend tax money to send their kids to indoctrination academies (or get taxpayers to cover the cost for the "schools" their kids are already attending).
In Ohio, where I live and vote, the General Assembly gives much of our school tax money to vouchers for private schools, and strapped voters don’t realize that is why their local school districts often have ballot funding for local schools, because they don’t get the tax money they are supposed to have. Ohio is seriously gerrymandered and we have had yet another scandal involving First Energy bribing our former General Assembly speaker and the former GOP head. Both men went to Federal prison, they are awaiting state prosecution, and our former Public Utilities board head killed himself after his arraignment on charges involving the First Energy scandal. This isn’t over by a long shot.
Our Republican former chief justice, Maureen O’Connor, wants to get a citizen redistricting initiative on the ballot. She doesn’t like the gerrymandering, and so far, our attorney general, Dave Yost, hasn’t approved the initiative language. Citizens have signed a petition for it.
George’s, Project 2025 recommends “requiring students in public high schools to take a military entrance exam called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).
The proposed requirement would extend to schools that “receive federal funding,” the document says. That means the requirement would apply to students attending public schools and any private schools that receive federal funds.”
Wealthy parents well might want to avoid sending their children to any school that requires taking the exam—it’s a short step to conscription. Students in private schools would be exempt.
I had some dental work done this Spring and the tech (a young mother) told.me she wasn't even aware CF45 was running, or that he was standing trial at the time. She said that news bores her.
People will be bored and not involved with politics and voting, wake up one day and wonder why they no longer have the rights they took for granted. And why has everything they've known changed or gone? Why are they living in a dystopia, wondering if they are having a nightmare and hoping to wake up? People are sleepwalking into hell (metaphorically speaking). That pretty much sums up what waits for us if we don't convince enough people to get some information between their ears and learn to give a damn.
That's true, Kathy. Her own daughter, around 12 years old, has to tell the mom about the convicted felon running again and sitting at trial. Let's hope the daughter recognizes the danger of closing one's eyes to current events, and how keeping them open may also keep her choices open when she becomes an adult.
A lot of younger people are worried about the messes being handed to them. My daughter and her husband decided not to have kids. That it would not be fair to them.
J L, I think that's been going on longer than we've been alive.
That said, we have 3 children and 3 grandkids, and no matter what happens this November, their world wiIl scarcely resemble the world we all grew up in here in the States, in so many ways. I understand the hesitancy young people have toward bringing children into this world.
A lot of people are angry because corporations moved manufacturing abroad and the middle class has shrunk. So they vote for the party that enabled that.
The effect was to undermine labour unions, "incidentally" according to a major Canadian bank document i read years ago. A broad union based workforce would stand as some degree of bulwark against wealth concentration at the top, at the same time increase consumer demand/savings/investment throughout society.
I’m retired now but I was a union member for over 30 years, unions are far from perfect but they do represent working people who company owners and boards just want to use. I had a producer tell me one time that crew members were like tools that if worn out could easily be replaced by another, he could have cared less about the stress of working 80 hour weeks other than what it cost him in overtime.
When you add "what's beneficial for society" to calculating "what's in it for me" it is patently obvious that "consumers" who make up "the market" are workers and vice versa. Substantial efforts to cheat workers reduces consumers ability to buy. Recessions are self-reinforcing for that reason. Yet in some nations a few families live like kings while the average citizen scratches for survival.
Money can organize because it has money. Society can organize if there this enough collective will to overcome the resistance of concentrated money, which, among among other potential checks and balances, is a wisely utilized vote. There is a lot of effort to distract from attention from what seems to me is "Common Sense".
Yeah, it just does not make sense. But it makes emotional sense to vote for the people that feed your anger, even if what they are proposing is far, far worse than working to change things.
Thank you! Love what I found when I went to check out his book. There are so many books on the idiocy of thug leaders today. I have not really looked a lot due to my lack inability to focus well. I love that they have audio so I can do something whilst listening. Love Horowitz and will order that book.
And this one caught my attention and made me laugh. Might as well trying laughing on the way, no?
This Won't Help: Modest Proposals for a More Enjoyable Apocalypse by by Eli Grober and Tantor
Thanks, Molly—how did you know I desperately needed some humor today?
Profiles in Ignorance is funny and appallingly scary due to leaders' lack of knowledge and understanding. Extensive footnotes document his findings. I enjoy reading The Borowitz Report due to Andy's quirky sense of humor!
Until he saw the debate? That's all he knew about what was going on over the last 4 years? He was never going to vote for President Biden. That was a convenient excuse.
Biden isn’t senile, he’s older, but his debate performance when he was ill didn’t help, nor did the press tell the full story or call out Trump’s Gish gallop of lies. The donors and pundits got spooked, so they were calling for Biden to step down.
Well, over the next few months these two people need to muster up some “small sense” from somewhere or from someone [HCR’s “Letters” and chats could be one] and give or add some critical analysis to their thought-processes when it comes to politics, government and American life!!!
Sigh. They walk amongst us. The line I use with no vote people is basically, if you're upset with what is happening and refuse to vote for change, you're enabling the other side.
Rarely, Annie. And very, very, few people even know what fascism is. That is part of how we got here. That and allowing totally unqualified people to run for any office.
She and 32% of America (and that's the stat from 2020--it's usually worse). It's astounding. My first response to such folks is to say, "Oh, did they cancel the election? It's not happening? Oh, wait, that's right: IT IS. It's happening whether you vote or not. What you mean to say is that, YOU DON'T CARE, and nothing--not one, single thing that can happen, will get decided, proposed--NONE of that affects YOU in any way. Ever. In fact, you so don't care, that you want your neighbor's vote to count DOUBLE, since 1) there's still an election and 2) you're not voting, but they are--would you like ME to decide your schedule for this week? No? Okay--glad we're clear on that."
My parents educated us in the importance of voting. My mother’s father did that with all of his children and before he died, he took each of them to register to vote at 21. My late uncle ensured my aunts were registered to vote at 21. This was before the amendment lowering voting age to 21. I registered to vote at 18 and have voted in all presidential and most off season elections. I vote in even small elections as they are important also.
I have missed one election, off year, no national candidates and no ballot measures. I had the wrong date in my head, and had been traveling so no local news for the week before hand. That was probably 25 years ago.
I have voted in every election since I was old enough to, except for a special election two years ago when I had Covid. I do not understand not voting. If you don't vote, you lose your right to complain.
Did you have a conversation with them about how voting is the only time your voice gets to be heard?
I told my friend that my son (who lives in gerrymandered Austin) says he votes because it's his duty and even though most times it doesn't matter, one day it could.
Annie, a long ago former partner of mine was proud of not voting 😤, so I told him to never, ever, complain about the state of local/state/national policies. Personally I don’t get it, but it is (so far) a free country to participate or not as you choose.
Not free if we in concert fail to keep freedom alive. The overall trend of the universe is toward decay. We living things sail against the wind, and that takes effort.
"toward decay" i guess you mean increasing entropy. It does make you wonder, however, how the "whole thing" got "wound up" in the first place if "decay" is all there is.
On that front, I don't know if adversarial politics is a wrecker as much as the USA - I don't think so. In general politics is more polarized internationally than it used to be, different flavours for different nations. Immigration is often a top item. It seems in excess of 98% Aussie voting public is enrolled. and about 90% vote. So, it's "civil duty"... Aussies managed to ban automatic weaponry back in the late 90s after a mass shooting. Little to none of that since. They have an Australian Electoral Commission which on the surface tries to inform, encourage partici pation, remain even-handed.
Requiring people to vote merely conceals the reasons that so many people in the US don't vote: because what happens in an election has little to no effect on their lives. Also -- both Australia and Canada are parliamentary systems. Candidates run for parliament in districts or ridings that are of manageable size. In Canada, they are much, much smaller than a U.S. congressional district. IIRC no one runs province-wide, so no candidate has to deal with a "district" the size of California, New York, Illinois, Texas, etc., the way U.S. Senate candidates do. And no one runs nation-wide the way the president does.
I'm not sure size should have a disqualifying argument for making voting a mandatory civics duty. Eg registering your vehicle, following traffic laws, etc etc. Anyway, various ngos either advocate for or against. Eg the very conservative Cato Institute is against it. The liberal Brookings Institute is for it. Here's a link from Brookings... https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-shouldnt-voting-be-mandatory/
If you don't register your vehicle, get it inspected as required, follow traffic laws, etc., there are consequences that most of us most of the time want to avoid. This is not the case with voting or not voting. Most of the time, in most elections, we see little in the way of consequences regardless of who's elected. Political wonks see consequences, of course, but most voters don't.
Voting is an act of faith. Making it mandatory is a little like requiring church attendance: you don't have to believe, you just have to show up. Think of not-voting as a symptom of something wrong in the body politic. Mandatory voting conceals that symptom. And the differences between the U.S. system and parliamentary systems are considerable. Trust me on this, or read up on it yourself.
It’s shameful there is so much ignorance about government and about how someone want a dictator to do the heavy lifting for them. We don’t need a dictator, we need to have our voices heard as citizens.
not nearly enough nor in the way they should be functioning. 50 years of Republican underfunding public education in this country has created a nation full of credulous, gullible people who haven't the faintest idea of U.S. or world history or civic privileges/obligations.
In that case she should have been exposed to Civics. I worked in publishing, and it was common knowledge that Civics was often taught by coaches. Maybe she had a weak teacher. Or maybe she went to a private school where it was considered unimportant.
Thanks for your POV. Khan Academy and TEDx is very good.
Sometimes if you strip down your keyword search, you get the sweetspot with Google. Yes, there is extra vetting to do, and it's a Best Practice to vet what you hear or read.
Here is a few YouTube examples to explain Gerrymandering-
-Gerrymandering | US government and civics | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Thanks for your POV. Sometimes if you strip down your keyword search, you get the sweetspot with Google. Yes, there is extra vetting to do, but with AI advancing in the future, it's a Best Practice to vet your research. I support journalists using Substack, because many are transparent with their reference footnotes.
I'm not surprised either. Are USians more worried about inflation (whose causes they mostly don't understand) than about the end of our aspiring democracy? It's a toss-up, but I'm going to do what I can.
Susanna, The problem, in my view, with centering democracy as a campaign issue is that most people, some might say justifiably, view it as an abstraction. Accordingly, I believe the focus must shift to what it would mean to lose our democracy and how our way of life would change. Trump already has stated he would enact the Insurrection Act on Day 1 of his presidency. He’s already spoken about rounding up his political enemies. In a word, we can’t relent on prevailing upon people to imagine what America would look like were the President to start moving the Military around to put down our voices, our right to protest policy we oppose, perhaps indefinitely detaining us. This is not without precedent. Trump had wanted to criminalize protesters around Black Lives Matter for the murder of George Floyd.
Note I’ve barely touched upon rights and freedoms that would be ripped away, nor have I mentioned women losing control of their bodies, nor what it would mean were we unable to depend on an independent judiciary (we’re already starting to see what that would look like), or depend on the rule of law, or an independent Justice department, or an independent Federal Communications Commission—all things Trump has said he would do, and I’m just getting started.
Ultimately, we have less than 4 months before the General to urge voters to listen to the things Trump and J.D. Vance say and the people they admire. No one should doubt that whatever freedoms we have in this country, whatever one likes about this country, dramatically would change.
The coup is almost over. Step one - paralyse the legislature. Step 2, seize the courts. Both these have been achieved. Step 3 will be to purge the military and key administrative positions immediately after returning to the WH, followed by arresting key political enemies at the same time as taking over or banning unfriendly media, suspending unions (that will be explained as temporary). Then it’s taking over police and schools in blue states.
My question to Americans is - what will you do about it if voting isn’t enough?
Sophie, While I would acknowledge that Trump/ Trumpism has absorbed Congress and the judiciary, the point of my comment was to illustrate a rhetorical strategy aimed at galvanizing enough Democratic voters to win a sufficient number of races up and down the ballot that 1) would preclude the advent of “Step 3” and 2) would mark the start of building back our civic institutions.
Definitely worth fighting for! I hope you prevail at the ballot box, but you probably know already that it won’t stop there even if you do. After all, look at the past 4 years.
Sophie, I’m not aware of anyone who believes even if we win handily the resistance won’t be brutal. Still, I would submit, as long as we clearly prevail, down ballot Democratic candidates will be seated in early January and a Democratic President will be inaugurated on Jan. 20th.
That’s true, up to the Midterms. Biden did well to get much of his programme through by then, as he knew there’d be gridlock afterwards if the Republicans got even a small majority. Which is what happened. Bipartisanship became a lot harder after 2008 (some say under Newt Gingrich, more than a decade earlier), almost entirely due to the Republicans. Now they have metastased into MAGA, it’s become wholly impossible.
Barbara Jo, I think you, we all, are precisely on track by talking about what we ALREADY see changing as a result of the MAGAts. It is no longer what WILL be happening, ...it is ALREADY happening all around us! Look at the SUPREME COURT! ...and how it has determined that women must relinquish control of their bodies and the right to privacy or control or treatment of their own bodies! Look at our schools and school boards and the ways in which their funding has been distorted! Look at the news media, although much of the distortion and misuse of information in those places is driven by corporate money and "hits" and the prodigious funding by corporations, which our courts have deemed to be "people" deserving to be given "free speech" via their anonymous dollars which end up lopsidedly going to fund the MAGAts who have taken over the Republican Party. This is about what has already happened right in front of us!
JohnM, Precisely! Accordingly, speaking metaphorically, we are at war with a Party prepared to do whatever it takes to hold power. I say every one of us must step up.
Very good points. "Save Our Democracy" and similar slogans are popular locally. Some people have suddenly discovered postcarding and phone/text banking, etc. I'm all "Democracy was in trouble before 2016 -- where were you?" IMO using Project 2025 is the way to go, selecting particular points for different audiences.
Susanna, I agree regarding Project 2025, and would note I’ve been informed that FiieldTeam6 has provided text relative to the same that one can use on any of its postcards. Once I get started, I will add 1 further sentence referring the recipient to a synopsis of P-25, probably the one posted on Democracy Docket.
As a final point, I also would add that the placard I carry in various standouts reads, “Vote like your right depend on it—‘cause they do!”
I agree that we must in all honesty, clarity...with references...repeat what it will mean to our country, our children, our long held relationships with countries all over the world if Donald Trump becomes our President.
As we each and all recognize, there are many forces supporting the destruction of our country, our freedoms, respect and appreciation of humanity, persons of color, freedom to worship or not, new arrivals to our country who are willing to work in the most humble of jobs, disrespect for women, disregard for children, our earth, climate change and its obvious effects on all of life.
We must do all that we are able to do. Violence is not the way.
And the Trump Party is running on that platform! These folks are completely ill informed. Inflation is a world wide problem. It cannot be repaired by a political party. (People hate wage and price controls). I wonder would happen once they notice that prices had not gone down? Many cannot/do not see past the border.
Bringing back anti-trust might help. Monopolies control markets. I was taught that in school. Competition tends to regulate prices. When there are too few players, those left just divide up the spoils like gangsters dividing up territories or banks colluding to set interest rates (as in the LIBOR scandal).
Annie- Yes, inflation is a world-wide problem, but as Catherine Rampell pointed out yesterday in the WAPO, inflation is tied to supply and demand. In economics supply and demand are repeated ad nauseam in every course I ever took.
Biden had some policies which increased the supply of money people had to spend on food, shelter and other necessities. But he didn't personally go to the fossil fuel producers and tell them to raise their prices or to Walmart or McDonalds.
The administration kick started the economy with billions in stimulus money and also with the 60,000 infrastructure projects which have actually helped make America great.
Opinion Hey, corporate greed is gone! Just look at the price of a Big Mac.
Consumer spending data provides an economics lesson, with a side of fries.
By Catherine Rampell and Aden Barton
Great news, America! We finally beat greed. Those blaming inflation on money-grubbing corporations will be delighted to learn that those same money-grubbers have, amazingly, now turned altruistic.
Overall prices fell in June from a month earlier. And burger lovers may soon especially benefit from this largesse, because fast-food chains have begun mobilizing for the “value menu wars.”
In recent weeks, fast-food chains have been slashing prices left and right, first with the Burger King $5 Your Way Meal in mid-June. Then came the McDonald’s $5 Meal Deal, also available for a limited time. Not to be outdone, Taco Bell joined the fray with its $7 Luxe Cravings Box. Seemingly every chain is trying to undercut its competitors.
But Ronald McDonald, established philanthropist though he may be, did not suddenly stop caring about profits. Nor have companies been shamed into cutting prices by presidential jawboning (despite President Biden’s recent claims). These companies are just responding to changes in consumer demand.
Exactly as they did when they raised prices before, inspiring all that feverish, anti-greed jawboning to begin with.
“Greedflation” proponents argue that corporations used inflation as a smokescreen to raise prices independent of higher operating costs. And, look, it is true that companies sometimes raised prices even more than their own input costs increased. But that’s precisely what you’d expect when consumer demand is strong.
During the pandemic, consumers were unusually flush with cash. This was a consequence of forced savings (people were stuck at home, forgoing travel and fine dining) as well as generous fiscal policy (e.g., stimulus checks from both the Trump and Biden administrations). When that high household demand collided with stuck supply chains, businesses raised prices.
That is, businesses of all types, from mom-and-pop shops to multinationals, reacted to long lines of customers combined with higher costs by raising what they charged. If they hadn’t, they’d have been left with endless empty shelves.
The aggregate amount of greed in the economy hadn’t suddenly spiked. Companies didn’t start caring about making money again. The explanation is more banal: Demand exceeded supply.
Inflation at fast-food restaurants has gotten outsize attention, in part because burgers and nuggets have traditionally been such a bargain. A TikTok bemoaning the exorbitant $16.10 price tag on a (specialty) McDonald’s meal went viral, making it all the way to the White House. McDonalds released its own McFlation fact check to convince customers its price increases were not so dramatic. Ironically, the Big Mac has had among the lowest price growth of well-known fast-food items.
Even with these supersized burger prices, customers continued to order fast food at (and eventually above) pre-pandemic levels because they had leftover money to spend. Plus, tight labor markets were putting upward pressure on wages. In turn, prices kept rising as Americans kept ordering. And ordering. And ordering.
But in recent months, consumer demand has cooled. Consumers have now spent much of their pandemic savings, federal data shows. Wage growth has slowed. And interest rates are higher, meaning it’s more expensive to buy things on credit.
This is all especially true for lower-income households. They have always had less discretionary income to work with, but in recent years, they’ve also been hit harder by inflation. They exhausted their pandemic savings earlier than their higher-income neighbors.
All of this made consumers a little more price-sensitive and less eager to spend on nonnecessities. In fact, data from consumer analytics firm Numerator shows that spending at limited-service restaurants grew from late 2022 to around September 2023 — and then flattened out, especially for low-income customers. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, spending would actually be down.
This shift forced companies to work harder to get customers in the door. As Ian Borden, chief financial officer of McDonald’s, put it in an April earnings call: “Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers … that are certainly visiting less frequently.” In response, Borden urged the adoption of a “street-fighting mentality to win.”
The company’s not-so-secret weapon in this street fight? Value menus. And thus the ensuing race to the bottom in fast-food prices that we’re now getting a (delicious) taste of.
It’s not just fast food, either. Big-box stores such as Walmart and Target also slashed prices this summer to lure back shoppers. The president, who apparently thinks greedflation is a winning political message, has tried to take credit for these discounts. The White House has said retailers are “answering the call” from Biden to “give families more breathing room.”
But the truth is that multinationals aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re still just trying to make money.
This recent up-and-down pricing roller coaster confirms an old adage: The best cure for high prices is high prices. If inflation was caused primarily by greed or sneaky corporate behavior, prices should’ve stayed high. Instead, high prices eventually nudged customers to scale back spending, which in turn incentivized companies to offer better deals. An economics lesson, with a side of fries.
It’s the ones who don’t see past their stock holdings who are more disgusting. Greed starts there and donates up the chain to to the most traitorous of our nation. They have no concept of “ We the people,” just “me and mine.” It is so very disheartening.
So do I -- is that news? There's no rule that says emotion can't be informed by information and values. In fact, I believe it usually is. I make major purchases the same way: gather information about several alternatives then go with my gut.
I’m afraid you will have to be like your father. Because you’re not getting rid of the Orange Dictator by just voting. Besides, if Biden should win the election, the Extreme Court will simply declare the outcome void - because if their beloved leader doesn’t win, it clearly must mean that the election was stolen by Biden and therefore illegal, right? I think ordinary Americans will have to take up arms and storm the beaches, or go down in a fascist empire…
So it is. When Biden wins the election, Trump will appeal, and SCOTUS will decide that he is right and declare him winner. They have been testing the waters and found that all is ok. After all, did riots break out after their decision on the case "DJ Trump vs United States"? Nope. The Extreme Court view themselves as uncontested supreme rulers over all, and they are right. Nobody can stop them anymore.
I added a like agreeing with you, but damn, it’s tough to like this idea. The Supreme Court most certainly has been enabled. Weak Dems are too slow to react too. They still play by rules that the other party laughs off and scoffs at.
Exactly that. The Dems try to stay morally superior. It’s like reading the rules of the chess game to your opponent to explain that what he is doing is cheating while at the same time he is punching you in the face.
It’s too late for voting. The (literal) Supreme Court will declare the election results void if Biden wins, and nobody can challenge that decision. Hate to say it, but Putin and the Rethuglicans are better at the long game than the Dems… If youbwant to save democracy, you will literally have to fight for it.
My father-in-law understood the terror of serving his country in WWII but he also knew his duty and he faced it fully.
There remain a few true heroes within this country and throughout the world. We must stand together with such as these or we will lose this country to those with short term ambitions who will give us over to our enemies for a few pieces of silver.
When documents were found at the home of President Biden and at the home of the former Vice President , Mike Pence....they each opened their homes for the documents to be properly returned, offering no excuses....nor did they attempt to conceal them. There has been no further need for searches or investigations.
There is no comparison to the opposing character qualities between Biden and Pence vs. Trump.
I’m so glad to see you covering the Cannon scandal as this is the big story today, not the latest Republican circus. It’s impossible to overstate how dangerous this is for the American people. We have a man who committed crimes to become president (already convicted in New York). Now having become president, he can no longer be held accountable for ANY crime. He steals classified documents and distributes them among the country’s enemies. This includes secrets shared by allies. Do people not realize that officials acting on behalf of the US Government - including the Supreme Court- just told our allies that we will not protect our security or theirs? Do Americans not understand what grave danger we are facing, and apparently will be facing without allies? People jumping up and down for joy at the thought of having our very own dictator don’t seem to realize that his loyalties aren’t to America or any Americans, including MAGA. Endangering national security is not a game, and people need to wake up; it’s not safe to vote for a single Republican in this election.
Yet I would emphasize that Judge Aileen "Loose" Cannon, a lame duck appointment by Trump as he was heading out the door, 7 million + votes a loser, has fired the first cannonball at the metaphorical Fort Sumter of our precious Union. For a trial court judge, who is duly bound to adjudicate matters based on the record produced via evidence, to even entertain a motion to dismiss, much less grant same while flying in the face of the Morrison v. Olsen precedent among many others, and simply (from what I have read, albeit not reading her ruling yet) following the Federalist Society/MAGA company line, is simply unthinkable.
I think the Federalist Society has told her EXACTLY what to say and do with everything presented to her. She is NOT qualified nor smart enough to have come up with these ridiculous decisions. Let’s hope the 11th Circuit knocks her down.
And to do so in the face of long established precedent to the contrary, essentially thumbing her nose at the Supreme Court, really puts her beyond the pale.
I liken Aileen Cannon's Heritage Foundation/Clarence Thomas/ inspired, wildly illogical decision to the surprise gut punch that legend has Harry Houdini dying from.
We must not allow such a surprising Houdini gut punch to destroy Democracy as we know it.
And still...we are gut punched, day after day. And still we are surprised by it. Can we not anticipate any of this?
I'm pretty sure the final gut punch will be that all of our wringing of hands, all of our disbelief, all of our determination that this will be resolved at the voting booth...will be the election is already lost to Republican high-jinks.
Folks we need to be strategizing now, what will happen when we win the election and the results are turned over, by what ever genie is up the Republican sleeves.
I'm not talking revolution, but perhaps the infighting of Democrats needs to stop and focus on what surely will be a contested/reversed result. Has January 6 taught us nothing.
Young people often voice the right answers when they are challenged, but their hearts are not in it. They can't imagine how difficult their lives will become without a functioning democracy. You can't put old shoulders on a young person. They are relying on us to fight the present battle with the republicans. Their hair is not on fire as it is at a Taylor Swift concert. Our leaders in congress have not made the case to them as Obama did. It's very sad. Minorities both black and white will suffer!
Don’t give up ~ we must fight like h*ll to protect their future. The Republicans don’t care about our children and our elders. Hang in there and contribute as much as you can.
I respectfully disagree. While only about 36% of 18 to 29s are registered (before the massive registration drives planned for this August to mid-October), more than 70% of those 18 to 29s who are already registered vote regularly in general elections which exceeds the percentage of older adults who regularly vote in most states!
Thank you for setting me straight. Those statistics better fit my impression of young people. However, I'm certainly not a statistician and have reported only my impressions of where young people are. My impressions are based on family, friends and people I interact with in a variety of locations and jobs.
Trump can’t even vote in Florida as he’s a convicted felon who hasn’t been sentenced and assessed fines or court costs. It is utterly abnormal to have a convicted felon as a major party candidate.
“ Welcome to the USA a gated community and resort for the wealthy and powerful autocrats of the world “ The land of the greed and home of the knave. And please close and lock the gate behind you
Ultimately, they (the GOP) are pawns in the game. The Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation have fancied this scenario for years: dismantle the government of checks and balances and allow the world's oligarchs to plunder unhindered by regulations and rule of law. The issue now is a charade of characters steeped in sound bites and pretense vs. a party of the people, for the people.
Agreed 💯! Buried in the White Nationalist wish list are the tax cuts, cuts to the American safety net, and the destruction of any binding regulations that kept Americans safe and healthy.
No, but it becomes more and more clear that Biden will not win. No circular firing squad, but Biden needs to step aside and help designate the right person to take his place. There is simply no way for a Biden/Harris ticket to carry any of the swing states that are vital to win this election. Sigh, disappointing, but quite obvious if you don't let your hyperpartisanship blind your true vision.
According to CNN tonight, their current electoral map shows Trump with many paths to victory and Biden with few. Would a new candidate have more? If so, time to bite the bullet and change horses.
I don't understand all the objections to polls... No one said anything about how bad the polls are when Biden was leading Trump in 2020. Polls are in fact an extremely accurate estimate of where things are at the time they are done. Can that change? Of course it can. But looking at polls where you are down by almost 10 points with four months to go suggests that you will need a LOT OF SKILLED EFFORT AND A LOT OF LUCK to pull off an upset. It CAN be done, but is that something to bank our country's future on? Especially when there are clear alternatives that have a better chance. If the latter were not true, I would be with all the Biden supporters saying, "HEY WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO MOVE THE NEEDLE!" Maybe we would and maybe we wouldn't, but if that was the ONLY option, then of course we would have to take it.
But it is NOT the only option. In fact there are several (possibly MANY) alternative Democratic nominees available to pick up the football and try to score a touchdown. Harris (of course), Whitmer, Shapiro, Booker, Klobuchar, even Buttigieg (although I prefer him for VP if anything). ALL of the above are polling better than Biden in the swing states. So WHY are we capitulating to a Biden re-run when (a) there are got options, and (b) there are several good reasons to try to get Biden to step aside.
So, yes, the polls are saying Biden has virtually no chance in 2024. Is that FOR SURE? No, of course not, there is never anything "for sure" in politics (if you don't believe me, take a short trip back to 2016 when we all assumed that there was NO way Trump could win and he beat Clinton). But given the odds and the obvious reasons that Biden is a poor candidate this time around (his age and his inability to communicate clearly enough are good ones, IMHO), since there ARE alternatives, it behooves us to look at then seriously.
Every passing day I become more convinced that without a more exciting and coherent messenger at the top of the ticket Dems are going to lose, and possibly badly. I’ve watched Biden several times now, scripted and unscripted, and it feels like it wouldn’t take much for him to slip into a disastrous debate-like performance. None of his performances have been reassuring. He is not bringing in the voters we need, and he may be losing some. trump is losing none of his voters. And while polls are imperfect, they are ignored completely only at great risk.
I know. Last night was the first time I felt really, really worried. Everything is going Trump’s way at the moment, and it scares me. Of course that can change in a heartbeat, but I agree that one more disastrous performance from Biden could sink us, especially if it’s after the convention.
Republicans of the MAGA sort (are there any other) buoy along on a roll now.
Trump has turned his near assassination into hero worship -- for himself, first of all, but residually also for all those 11 million AR-15s out in the hands of many more loose nuts, demented, and angry young men. God, do those MAGA folk love their violence and all its mass murder weaponry -- in addition to their cult leader's calls 2nd-amendment "solutions" through all his public life.
And bless the heart of Aileen Cannon, scheming with Corrupt Clarence so that when their cult leader gets elected in November, our Long Dong Silver proselytizer can retire, with Aileen Cannon quickly filling his seat on the Forever Clarence court -- thank you dear Donald.
They're on a roll, all who hate American law, who hate democracy, but will so readily salute our fascists and billionaires whom from highest offices in the land they enable.
They want authoritarian rule. (Or more correctly Oligarchy). They are all deeply fearful people. Authoritarianism, they believe will alleviate their fears. They have wonderful memories/fantasies of their 1950s/60s childhoods when the world was a safe and simple place. There may also be childhood trauma in the mix, which has a way of short circuiting the brain.
I think you are on to something. Their entrenched anger is the primary motivator of the MAGAts. They don't know its origin, nor are they prone to introspection. But its cause is the fallout from wealth disparity and Covid when everything changed and will never be the same. The best they can do is blame someone while running around in a self-destructive circle. No wonder they like Trump and Putin. They represent wealth and "retribution" and they want some.
I agree, and for the most part, we are in denial. I hope we can adjust with all my heart. Everyone is out of kilter and believes things will return to "before."
The entrenched anger was let loose when we elected a Black man as president. The embedded racism and its friends, homophobia and misogyny were let loose, and we're reaping the results.
Good morning, Ally. You are right. Even now, he is vilified. I think how lucky we've been to have two presidents with patience, integrity, and 'smarts.' That seems to be grounds for resentment among the MAGA crowd.
The middle-aged ones I knew as teens in high school were anti-social personality disorder, or borderline. Difficult childhoods goes without saying. No gold-plated crib as chump had.
Well, the New World Order while definitely an elitist organization was principally rich liberals who coupled with elite financiers (Kennedys, Rockefellers, etc.)
The supporters are uninformed. They don’t believe he will take away Social Security and Medicare. They don’t believe he will be a dictator. They live in a fantasy world.
We need to get the documentary, “You’ve Been Trumped “ and the new MOVIE (not the fake TV show) “The Apprentice “ circulating so people see what a fool, bad busman, racist with no moral fiber!
Unfortunately, for some, the idea of a dictator is quite appealing. As long as the hate is focused on someone other than them (even temporarily), they enjoy the idea of someone else making all the decisions, never having to think, to feel uncertain about gray areas, because every choice or decision is framed for them as black and white. Of course, the problem with “strong-man” leaders is that they’re never satisfied, will always grasp for more power, more repression…
Yup this was the pattern used by Hitler and Mussolini pre-WWII. And the masses followed like lemmings. Ignoring the massive violations of rights, permitting war to be started and raising their arms in Sig Heil. We are heading down that same path, and sadly the Democrats will need someone other than their current standard bearer to lead us out of the morass. There is simply not enough popular support for Biden anymore, regardless of whether that is good or not (and I don't think it is good, but it is reality).
There used to be a joke in Italy - Mussolini exhorting the Italians to go and fight. "Armiamoci e partite!" The first word is in the first person plural "Let us arm ourselves" and the second is in the imperative "and (you) go!" Sorry, that doesn't translate very well, but it was the same principle.
That's funny. Reminds me of the scene in "Pirates of Penzance" where the troopers alternately march and countermarch singing "Yes, forward on the foe" (interested readers can Google "When the foeman bares his steel" for a video). Yes, I'm looking for something to smile about today.
Anne-Louise — I get that! In the 70s, there was a book called “Games People Play,” and the one that I think of regarding Trump is called “Let’s you and him fight.” 😏
Have you seen “A Gentleman in Moscow”? Its a fictional look at Russia, then the USSR and it’s frighteningly repressive society from the 20s through the 50s.
You do realize, don't you, that we live with Dems? And Dems -- they're the paralyzed ones, the ones singing the Pollyanna tunes for Simon Rosenberg, but also the ones totally wonked out and out of touch with all our great humanities that have in fact remained in touch with the U.S. working classes our billionaires and dark money goons have long been preying upon.
What to do, Marlo? Join those haplessly convulsing over the age of an otherwise wise and decent president we otherwise luckily yet have (however yet briefly)?
And yet they have excluded apt uses of humanities, same as have the schools.
I'm not being sarcastic, Marlo. I'm recalling the Nam war, when I was a U.S. Army Spec. 5 Vietnamese translator-interpreter (certified at the highest level).
The U.S. had absolutely nothing of any human value then and there. Subsidizing a corrupt, out-of-touch Saigon regime? Yes. Floating State Dept. humanly empty abstractions? Yes. Full of the paraphernalia, supplies, and instruments of military campaigning -- yes -- howitzers, troops, bomb sorties, concertina wire, Claymores, helicopter gunships, body bags, agent orange -- more stuff, more stuff, but never anything of any human content.
Dems today quote no humanities. Are no more moved by the human today than the U.S. was in that instrument-rich, paraphernalia-rich insanity back then. Only today for Dems it's poll numbers, phone banks, yard signs, and all the other non-human stuff, stuff, stuff -- but no ability to speak back to MAGA, back to the corrupt Clarence court, back to the criminal felon Donald ever with anything from our best human heritage. Our best truly human passion.
No matter for sarcasm, Marlo, as the monsters energized by lies and fantasy but-all-too-human hysteric, victimized scripts roll over us.
Phil — I have had similar thoughts, regarding Dems and how they make their case. For all his (and their) dysfunction, 45 touches an emotional chord in his followers, and Dems have generally missed the boat with that. When their world is shifting so rapidly, he gives them an emotional grab bar, while Dems quote statistics. Before the evidence of Biden’s decline, I thought this was the way we might lose the election. (Before I get pounced on, I’m not saying Joe and his team are not up to the job. I’m saying the public’s perception of him is that he isn’t.)
Your work in Viet Nam sounds daunting, being as clear-eyed as it seems you were. So challenging to do a job when we can see that its basic foundation is just mush.
Phil, this is not hapless, it is carefully thought out politics with clear observations of reality. You can stick your head in the sand and ignore reality or you can face it clear and steely-eyed, knowing that you may not like the results, but whatever it is, it is reality. We aren't convulsing over his age. We are convulsing over the fact that there won't be enough people to vote for him BECAUSE of that AND MANY OTHER issues he has. And the end result will be a loss which could be avoided, but only if the entire party recognizes the problem and works to solve it. I have loved Biden but I no longer feel he can lead this country and based on the editorials written in the past two weeks, many others agree (the NY Times, George Clooney, many Congress critters, etc.).
1. The Democratic party will implode if the candidate is changed at this late date. 2. A film actor is not any wiser than anyone else.
3. The news media is not reporting the news but driving it!
4. Many people are not familiar with elderly behavior in the physical sense, so are not paying attention to Biden’s words, his integrity, his compassion. I felt very consoled by his speech after the shooting.
Patent nonsense. If that is the case, then it will certainly implode when Trump beats the crap out of Biden in the election. So given the alternatives available, I would at least rather TRY to get a decent candidate opposite Trump and hope that they (he or she) bring a better fight than Biden will ever mount.
He should never have run again at age 81 and he should NOW step down for the good of the party AND the good of the country. And he then MIGHT have a legacy of greatness which will disappear in a heartbeat when he sells this country down the river to Trump and his minions.
I wonder, Annie, about your use of the word "news" (in your point 3).
Might behoove us better to see "the news media" as driving, above all, scripts. That is, well-rehearsed narratives immemorial from times past.
Various observers on this thread have well noted a number of apt story lines behind the MAGA crowd's passion for their Trump. Victimization. Loss of racial privilege. Other losses due to successes of women, gays, and people of color. Add to that feelings of not being seen, much less valued, by elites -- our bi-coastal elites with their college educations, super-good scores on standardized tests, and scorn, disdain for flyover country. All of these are well-known scripts, from which news media and social media algorithms well profit.
Then add in the interests of the billionaire classes to be freed from laws, taxes, and the various health, safety, finance, and environmental regulations of "the state." The personnel of the Clarence court (and sundry related like Aileen Cannon, like J.D. Vance, like Mike Johnson) hate this state, and intend to immunize their Trump and themselves over and above it. And free their billionaire "friends" all the more to their super profitable predations.
All old scripts, Annie. All well-rehearsed in most of our great plays, novels, memoirs, films, and other arts, to which today's Dem are totally blind.
I think people are underestimating the President, but I wish the DNC would study and apply Rachel Bitecofer’s advice. They are not as effective at communicating with the public.
Yeah, but Michigan (which Biden MUST win again to even have a chance at winning the election) is NOT all Detroit. It is basically a Democratic stronghold in Detroit and a few other cities and Republican everywhere else. Biden is LOSING in Michigan right now by 6+ % pts. He will have to pull off a miracle to win Michigan, whereas a Harris Whitmer ticket might actually win Michigan going away.
'...The United States manufactured or imported just over 24.4 million AR-15 and AK-style guns—which are often known as assault rifles or modern sporting rifles—from 1990 to 2020, a firearm industry group estimated Wednesday, with a record number added in 2020, as Democratic lawmakers call to ban the sale of the popular weapons amid the mounting toll of mass shootings carried out with them..."
Thank you so much Heather for your webinar tonight on Project 2025! I have posted it in several places and hope people take advantage of it. It's going to be a rough few months! My birthday is November 7, two days after Election Day! In 2020, it was announced on November 7, that Biden won and want that again this year! Wish me luck! Good night now!
Sadly luck isn't going to win this. We need clear-headed honesty with ourselves as to what the problem is (Biden) and a willingness on the part of the entire party to put aside differences and make the proper political moves to give ourselves at least a fighting change to win in 2024. Without that, we are pretty much doomed. SIgh....
Yes, unfortunately any attempt by the party to unseat Biden without his consent is probably doomed. Delegates would have to revolt against their own pledges and that isn't likely to happen. I generally agree that Harris is probably to logical choice, although not 100% sure of that. But assuming that is the case, the VP for me seems fairly obvious. It is EITHER Gretchen Whitmer (her comment that she is not running is obvious NOW since there is no "opening" for her, but may no longer be relevant when/if Biden steps aside and there IS an opening) or Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania. Longer shots would be Cory Booker (not likely to see two Black candidates on the same ticket though), Amy Klobuchar (I love Amy but don't think she is as strong a candidate as Whitmer). There are probably others, maybe even Pete Buttigieg for VP (although I still am not convinced the country is ready for either a gay President or VP as much as I personally would love to see it).
The benefit(s) of Whitmer or Shapiro are fairly obvious. The ticket needs at least one candidate from one of the major swing states and Michigan or Pennsylvania would be perfect.
Anyway, as you note, the first call has to be Biden's, but if he looks at the situation with real political honesty (is that an oxymoron LOL?) he has to come to grips with the fact that what should be a legendary Presidency for 2020-2024 will go down in ignominy if he runs in 2024 and loses as he is virtually certain to do. He will either be remembers as a G.O.A.T. or just a goat. Sigh...
Get over your anti-gay bigotry, dude. As a Black man, you should be a little more tolerant. He has been a highly competent Secretary of Transportation for the Biden administration. He was one of the principal responsible officials for bringing the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment Act into being and then into use. He was heavily involved in transportation safety acts, including auto, rail and air. There are many more accomplishments which you can act as if they didn't happen, but they did and Buttigieg was a key player in all of it.
And I only suggested him for VP, and I did say I didn't think this country was ready for a gay VP or President but I still believe he would be excellent if he actually won the job.
Aileen Cannon has made a mockery of the law. Trump’s mishandling of those documents… (I’m sure there are more) is an enormity. “They’re mine.” NO. Who else saw them? Our national security is at risk, once again, bc of Trump’s proclivity for dictators and henchmen. Aileen Cannon should be disbarred.
I am not sure she meets disbarment standards in Florida, as it would be the Florida Bar who would have to determine that. She does need to be reversed and another judge assigned to her case who isn’t so biased in favor of Trump.
It goes back further than Garland. I do think Garland has been overly cautious, but the SCOTUS majority ignores the constitution and its history by legalizing bribery and ignoring the Founders’ principle that the president is NOT above the law.
Once again, Heather, I take exception to your writing the "Republican Party." It's time to name it what it is, a cult.
If Trump gets elected, we can count on either Thomas or Alito retiring and Cannon being named to the Court If Trump dies peacefully in his bed (or in any other circumstances), he'll have left us in the grip of J.D. Vance, a man who has shown us that he's willing to sell his intelligence and his morality for the possibility of becoming president.
So it is incumbent on all of us to educate our friends and neighbors and everyone else about Project 2025. Here's a comment that I posted in the Boston Globe this afternoon:
Read Project 2025.
Unless you're a rich, white, Christian male, your rights will be taken away from you.
Women--no reproductive freedom for you, no ability to divorce for you,
LGBTQ+ folks--no marriage for you
Military veterans--reduced pensions/limited healthcare/no PTSD help for you
Families with young children--no Head Start, no nutrition assistance for you
Immigrants--family separation for you, deportation for you
Civil servants--unless you can prove your loyalty to the dictator, no federal jobs for you
All of us--no clean air, no clean water, no climate studies for us
A King for all of us, almost 250 years after we fought for our freedom from King George III
Looking at trump tonight at the convention, I am amazed how fast his bleeding cheek healed, with not a single scar, and how his ear is hidden (well staged!) by a spotless bandage... If this was part of a play, we would complain that the make up wasn't good! And why "assassination? he was shot at, simply like many others in the past few years, including children, for whom I have much more sorrow than for this bad actor! And why were his shoes off???
The blood looked to me to be smeared across his cheek, not from a laceration but from his touching his ear after it was nicked. I find it strange that there has been no official report on his wound(s). For HIPAA reasons of course they can't go into details.
He will not allow them or anyone to talk about what happened or they will be fired. Really, a bullet from an AK rifle would have ripped his ear and head off. Fake, fake just like trump and his hair and tan, and his charity and university and and….
But who should believe any physician report when Donny bone spurs had the illustrious Ronnie Jackson declare him so fit as to live forever and 40 pounds under his actual weight.
When he was crouched down, a photo showed that 3 lines of blood dripped from his ear down his cheek. Then someone wiped part of it away before he stood up. The lines were not scratches.
I can answer that question. My mother was born in Berlin in 1916. She was born to a father and mother who had come from Krakow, Poland in earlier 1900’s to Germany. My grandfather was a tailor and my grandmother was a seamstress. They had four children: two girls, two boys. My mother ended up being a milliner and catered to quite a few elite women until 1933 when Hitler and the SS went on their rampage. She and her siblings left Germany in the nighttime and each escaped to Brussels where an uncle lived. My mother couldn’t stand what she saw in Belgium so she sought passage to London where her older sister was located. In 1938, she boarded the USS CUNARD in Liverpool for her destiny to land at Ellis Island. She saw things she never revealed to my sister and I. One of her brothers saw SS officers pick a baby up from the carriage and throw it to the ground.
Mind you, my mother and her siblings had to leave their parents behind but they tried desperately to get them out. The Nazis made up excuses that my grandmother was ill with typhoid. The Nazis came to my grandparents home and took them to a work camp. See, the Germans who turned their heads as to what was happening to Jews, merely said that the ones taken to camps were “going on vacation”. When the Wall came down in the 80’s, my uncle, who lived in London, flew to Germany to search for his parents. Nazis kept copious notes on every single person they murdered. He found that in January 1942, his parents died in a van with 9 others. They were gassed at the camp known as Chelmno. It was devastating for my mother as she felt they didn’t do enough to get them out but they did.
Even as I write this, I feel tearful. We simply cannot fall to this insanity so it will take all of us to keep talking, writing, use social media, and educate those who will listen.
Marlene, my heart goes out to you and your family. Thank for sharing your story. Chelmno is northeast of Warsaw, and when I visit in the next few years, I’ll leave stones in memory of your grandparents.
My boss, who was an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan, and is now deceased, had a similar background. He was able to come to the U.S. and lived here before and during the war. He served in the U.S. Army as a German interpreter for American interrogators questioning captured Nazi officers and officials. His father was a schoolteacher and had fought in the Imperial German Army during WWI. His parents were deported and killed at Chelmno. I served as a law clerk for my now deceased boss, and he was one of the finest people I’ve ever known.
OMG one of my great uncles and his family were murdered by the Nazis at Chelmno. It was a little later than January 1942, I believe mid-1942, but it was definitely a killing center early in the war. Wow, seeing that town's name in your report made me shake. Sigh...
Yes, even some American companies supported the Nazis before we entered the war, sigh. But it was global politics and as we see today, strange bedfellows can easily be made.
When I saw the headline this morning, my stomach lurched. This is traitorous outrage, minimally. My heart hurts. I will stay and I will fight. Meanwhile, my cousin in Ireland reached out and for the first time since all this chaos began in 2015, I was able to imagine myself in a quiet place where this chaos could not touch me. ☘️🍀
As HCR reported accurately JACK SMITH has stated publicly that his office will appeal but, Jack's Team has not done so yet.
As much as I would like to see Loose Cannon publicly scalded by the 11th Circuit for a 3d time , I concur with ANDREW WEISSMANN's early analysis to wit:
Do NOT appeal ! Siimply refile the same allegations through a United States Attorney Office [US AO]. If I were the Chief of the Florida US AO, I know who I would hire immediately.
Ransom, Andrew is on "X" @AWeissmann. Here's Andrew's X Post:
" Jack Smith could avoid the delay and insanity/inanity of the Supreme Court and just have the INDICTMENT REFILED [Caps added] by the US Attorney -- as the flaw per Judge Cannon is that Jack Smith, as a Special Counsel, is too independent of the Department of Justice."
" Note, that conclusion by Cannon's is the OPPOSITE [ Andrew's Caps] of what Trump has been claiming: i.e. that Smith is a lackey the Administration!" [Andtew's ! Point].
Sabrina, Andrew spelled out his proposed refiling tactic was on one of the MSNBC afternoon shows which was fragmented given co-host RNC coverage. But, I have quoted Andrew's "X" post verbatim above. ⬆️
Unfortunately I doubt they can just bring Smith on as a regular US Attorney. Those ranks are filled as civil service and you have to take the exam, get hired into a normal position, etc. That is one of the reasons Special Counsels and Independent Prosecuters were created, to avoid the civil service requirements for hiring. Obvious Smith would be qualified but they can't "end run" around the civil service procedures (that's precisely why those procedures exist and why SCs and IPs are handled differently).
But they could have any US Attorney already on staff refile the charges. It might take a bit of time as there are procedures they have to follow, but it would be another route.
As a former Custodian of Classified Materials, I am appalled. Stealing, hiding, and refusing to return classified materials should have resulted in hefty fines and years in prison!
ANYONE ELSE would have been JAILED as soon as the missing docs were discovered. NO EXCEPTIONS! Cheetolini is so massively unqualified and outright dangerous he MUST be prevented from getting access again, by an epic voter turnout in November.
If I’m not mistaken, he’s starting to get classified material as a candidate. There is so much wrong with that picture that my brain breaks when I think of it.
Plus he has put two sketchy characters on the Senate Intelligence committee put there by his acolyte Mike Johnson of New Apstolic Reformation infamy. Again, I see Thomas and Alito and the other 4 on SCOTUS poised to give him the election even if he does not win it. We must make the difference in votes clear by getting the vote out. Vote, vote, vote!
I've been distracted as we lost our last cat and hadn't been able to keep up with the news.
Losing our last cat was hard but not as hard as seeing the Heritage Foundation Project 2025/ Clarence Thomas/Aileen Cannon version of the Harry Houdini surprise gut punch to Democracy and the rule of law.
I hope our Democracy does better than Houdini.
When I was eleven, I was hospitalized. My mother who hated cats let me take my cat to Hancock point because she felt sorry for me as I still had a fever when we drove the 13 hours to Hancock point. The cat got lose there and was gone two days. Six weeks later back in Wilmington, DE, she had four part coon cat kittens. I kept Emily for many years. Emily disappeared and was gone three weeks. Of course, I being "cats are every thing" person was devastated. She came back with a broken jaw and lived happily ever after on baby food. years and years later, a cat I called Sunshine showed up to live with us, different state. He was nearing 20 years when he vanished. 15 days later, I woke to him sitting in the window. I thought I was dreaming. He didn't wander after that and spent the rest of his life sleeping under my chin at night. You will be in my thoughts.
Ditto to what I wrote to Jim; thank you so much for sharing your amazing cat stories. I'm not really a cat person, but I have recently adopted my second cat. Last one was a feral cat who was with me for 10 years. Miss Kitty who is with me know, lost her "mom" of 10 years who died unexpectedly in March. Her grown children were not able to take her, neither was any of the local shelters. One kindly posted her story in FB. I've seen and passed over many a cat in need of a home. I live in a tiny studio, and thought it was impossible. But something about Miss Kitty's photo grabbed my heart..and I had to call. I got a call back within minutes from the shelter who then gave my info to her family. They called within minutes as well. A friend drove me to meet Miss Kitty and while she was somewhat aloof, she didn't hate me! Her family brought her to me, along with her carrier, litter box and most favorite tower and we've been slowly working things out over the past three weeks. I've started a FB page to tell our story, starting with a slide show I made from photos my friend took from out meeting. Here's the link if you'd like to see it...I'm kind of proud of how it captured her!! https://www.facebook.com/61561322020208/videos/3669820083266941
So sorry about the cat. I'm not going through that again - the last one was the last. Yes, that Aileen Cannon headline was bad to wake up to this morning. The French are getting a lot of mileage out of the size of that ear-covering, incidentally! (They think it's a stage prop).
Interesting about what the French think (I'm a francophile and have spent a lot of time in France. It's my second country.) I'll check out their reaction and it could be correct. I certainly know that the fist pump was an act.
So do i
Of course it's a prop. He barely got nicked, if it was even the bullet that hit him and not glass, which has been floated as a possibility, or even a nick he himself induced. The cameras were all on the other side of his head, so we can't really see. We have a story being crafted and there is much to be critical about that would indicate we should not take the bait, hook, line, and sinker. I just fear that we are so far behind this plot, it's already over.
So do I.
A CNN photographer, purely by chance, got a video of the bullet en route.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/politics/video/doug-mills-trump-rally-photo-src-digvid
I hope so too. I also feel for you about your cat, it always hurts to lose one.
Losing a beloved pet is devastating.
Anticipating loss is about as devastating. For our furry family members and our country.
Jim, I am so sorry. I understand. Our dog was bitten by a raccoon this weekend and so has had a surgery and is wearing the cone of shame. He is a very lucky dog indeed and an old dog. We are so happy he is still with us. We have managed to keep up with the news although we have been turning off the national news. The NYT online Morning has the headline: Trump names his successor. And Vance is truly awful. We must not let them prevail in November and vote D up and down the ballot.
Jim, I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand completely. I am coming up on the anniversary of losing my heart cat (we let him go; he was old and sick), and even with two new furry feline beings in my life, I mourn him and miss him.
As we do. Their lives are so short but so very sweet and wonderful. Cannot imagine existing without having animals - unable to "do" horses anymore after losing my boy - but cats & dogs (and right now a bird!!) make life worthwhile. AND need to be cared for which sure does take your mind off health & politics (thank god).
As do all these comments from like minded humans!!
Sympathy for your loss. The closest I feel that there may be a god and Heaven is in my relationships with animals. There is a wonderful book “ Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and other unexplained powers of animals “ by Rupert Sheldrake.
So sorry about your cat - it just takes the light out of your day. Last few years I only have had one cat and it was really hard to lose her - took me months before I could look for another one. There ae so many who truly deserve homes. But it takes time. Hang in there.
This mess will still be there, sadly!
I just have to add this little snipe.
It says so much that the former guy is the first to live in the WH and have NO animals as pets - nor, I'm guessing, did any of his offspring ever have any interest in them. But then the lack of empathy encompasses humans and animals, doesnt it?
Certainly telling to me - dont know about anyone else.
Jim, Losing your cat and democracy on the same day is truly sad.
So sorry about your cat. It's so hard.
I'm so sorry about....your cat. While getting out a massive Democratic vote in November is of utmost urgeny, it helps me to also stay in touch with simple human pleasures...like enjoying relationships with out pets. I hope you find them safely and quickly!
Who/dini...
My father saw Harry H. make an elephant disappear on the stage of the Palace.
The true parts of the Harry Houdini legend (and the lost details) that I believe are pretty much at https://www.historyhit.com/how-did-harry-houdini-die/
Another favorite of mine is the "Amazing Randi" (James Randi), who, unlike Houdini wanted to believe in psychics, was like Houdini in exposing all the fakes he could. Houdini's wife tried to communicate with him through any possible real psychic for 10 years before giving up since everyone tested could be dis-proven.
After James Randi had showed Johnny Carson (himself a magician) how to test Uri Geller (make him use the props Carson provided) Geller failed. I believe Randi had done the spoon bending trick on Carson's show but not revealed how it was done. When Carson later asked Geller how Randi had done it, Geller claimed Randi really had magical powers like he had (to me, on days when he had enough psychic strength which was in short supply the day Carson provided the props).
See https://www.sciencealert.com/the-amazing-randi-has-passed-away-leaving-a-legacy-for-generations-of-skeptics
I hope you found your furry family member.
Sorry, but by lost, I meant died in my arms after making his way to me (like he always did, no matter how bad he felt), early in the morning insisting I needed his lap time as much as he did.
He came to us 12 years ago, obviously having been a well loved lap cat, perhaps left out doors after his primary staff passed away. We had decided Gidget was to be our last cat a dozen years ago but he showed up at our patio door with this attitude that implied "You know you are going to become my new staff, let me in and make a lap." He and Gidget became great friends as he comforted her until she passed in March of 2023. He seemed lost and lonely for a while, but made up for it by quadrupling the time he wanted to spend on our laps, up to 4 hours at a time, frequently "helping" me by pawing at the keyboard as I was at the computer.
Coming from a nonbeliever - allow me to say an Amen or three of them to that!!!
He must not have official (electoral) access to our White House and all that it entails … again!!!
Your words imply that you are a believer in something that is good, which is democracy. In my book, that makes you are a believer.
Thank you James … you are correct - I am, have always been and will be till the end of my natural [and a spiritual one - if there is such a thing]… life!!!
Of course the supremes will try to hand him the election, not a doubt in my mind.
BTW where have the dems been, they seemed to have checked out? I feel this community is trying harder to save democracy than our elected officials. Smh...
I'm not saying don't be critical, but it's way too easy to think others aren't doing their part even when they are. We can only see what we see, and there's a lot we can't see.
What I've chosen to see is a victory in November too big to be overturned.
We are working in Indiana. We have some great candidates....but need a whole lot more...to stand up! State Rep in my district 8 has it on a silver platter this year. People are tired of spending their money and time. He gets money from big donors in Indy from their GOP out of state. It is hard for a Democrat to win. Scary!
Pres Biden called for a "pause" in the campaign and took a ad down. Don't know how long this will go on.
That's a BIG mistake in my opinion.
Biden/Harris are back today. Lester Holt was not kind. MSM has a lot to answer for.
Why a mistake? I thought it was the only thing to do at that point.
That crossed my mind
I agree with you. I agree with what Robert Hubbell today. Scroll down to the part which says, Senior Democrats Criticized for Doom and Gloom Leaks to the Press, and see what he quotes AOC as saying. https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/the-education-of-aileen-cannon?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I send her money and used a dummy email to thank her for taking on trying to Impeach SCOTUS justices Thomas and Alito. I had been writing Dick Durbin, begging him to be on the right side of history. At this point I sent money he could have gotten to her, and I also told him to pass the baton if he is afraid of getting Trump angry. If you want to get energized, at the end of Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, where she talks about the modern day development of fascism, she ends with how famous fascists have lost their power. Trump is one of the people in the book. She tells us on page 246, "In March 2015, Berlusconi had proposed to 'transform Forza Italia into the Republican Party.' That same month, Trump set up an exploratory committee for a presidential campaign that accelerated the Republican Party's transformation into a version of Forza Italia. The GOP's authoritarian drift predated Trump. Yet by 2020, the party had become the tool of a personalist leader whose priorities were staying in office to avoid prosecution, maintaining his personality cult, advancing Putin's foreign policy goals, and mainstreaming the far right. Studies conducted by Pippa Norris and other political scientists rank the GOP among the most extremist parties in the West in terms of its rejection of liberal democratic values. In positions on immigration, crusades against racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, and attitudes toward ethnic and religious minorities have places it close to the platforms of the parties of sitting autocrats like Erdroğan and Modi. " She is right on the money and still is. Somehow everyone forgot that it was those policies playing out in the Covid-19 crisis, which terrified everyone. She goes on to say, "With access to nuclear weapons and command of the world's most powerful military, Trump has been a far more dangerous and disruptive leader than Berlusconi. Yet, Berlusconi's decade in power merits attention as a cautionary tales for America, Brazil and other nations under now under antidemocratic assault. The Italian prime minister operated in an open society but gradually eroded support for government accountability, mutual tolerance, respect for freedom of expression, and other bedrock democratic values. By 2009, he had merged his party with the far-right AN to form the People of Freedom coalition, which governed Italy on an anti-immigrant, pro-White Christian platform until his ouster in 2011. Italy may have remained a nominal democracy, but Berlusconi turned government into a vehicle for accumulating more personal wealthy and power on the model of the illiberal leaders he so admired. " Americans have very short attention spans and memories, or we would not be entertaining the idea of a criminal running for office. More global political knowledge and we could be learning from what others have done. What I take heart in is learning as much as I can about the powers at play here, and also to use that knowledge to inform others. I understand from Prof. Kathleen Belew where the Right wing agenda has come from and how they made plans to coalesce with the Christian Nationalists and infiltrate government as apposed to just defying it, after reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Para Military America. I feel we need to take heart in knowing that people have overthrown fascist regimes, but mostly their own policies lead to their ends. So, We the People, need to save our democracy and cannot count on any one politician to do it. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
A day or so before the Ear Show, hearts rose with the love and support of the crowd in Detroit. Don't fall for this latest devastating attempt at a torpedo. Hasn't worked - the YouTubers are saying, 500 a hit, that nothing will make them abandon Biden.
I think our excellent and decent President called off campaigning for a time after the assassination attempt. We must get going double time soon.
Yes and start writing postcards to voters even 5 or10 a day. Refresh your printing skills. And to those who say “God will help US” please say “God helps those who help themselves.” We are on a precipice, pushed by all the powers supposed to protect US.
I’m hoping that the Biden administration redacts the info or refuses to provide it. So I remember correctly that Trump didn’t provide the info to Biden in 2020?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Risk
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schedule_F_appointment
The first book describes how Trump's people failed to show up at required transition briefings, or immediately eliminated any who had spoken on Climate Change.
The second on how he and his sponsors want to change Non-partisan Civil Service positions into politically appointed positions with loyalty oaths to Trump (and maybe the party), instead of the people and Constitution as evolved for nearly 240 years.
Chris Christie told Trump he was required by law to send people to all the agencies to attend briefings and read the material produced to describe what and how the agencies were supposed to work, what they had been doing, etc, so they would have the best starting point even if they changed the goals and procedures (while being advised of legal requirements, also).
See https://presidentialtransition.org/blog/creating-transition-briefing-materials/
"...Tips for Federal Agencies When Creating Transition Briefing Materials
By Dan Hyman, Troy Thomas and Catherine Manfre
With less than two weeks until Election Day, much of the nation’s attention is focused on the presidential campaigns. Behind-the-scenes, however, career civil servants are quietly preparing for a potential transition and a turnover of political appointees.
According to the federal transition law, agencies are required to complete three major tasks prior to Election Day:
Submit updated lists of politically-appointed positions to the Office of Personnel Management for compilation in the 2020 Plum Book.
Create a succession plan for senior leadership positions by September 15.
Compile agency briefing materials by November 1 to assist new administration officials or second-term leadership.
To date, more than 140 agencies have teams of career employees leading this transition work. Since May, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration have convened leaders from these teams to coordinate transition activities and facilitate the sharing of best practices.
Agencies have met the first two milestones and are working to complete their briefing materials by the November 1 deadline. In their simplest form, the briefing materials are like an “Agency 101” of the key facts, figures and issues. They enable new leadership to get up to speed quickly so they can hit the ground running.
Four tips to maximize the effectiveness of agency briefing materials
While federal law requires agency transition teams to “create briefing materials related to the presidential transition that may be requested by eligible candidates,” it does not specify what contents should be included. Based on guidance issued by OMB and GSA, as well as best practices from past transitions, the following tips will help agencies maximize the effectiveness of their briefing materials.
Tip one: Provide a baseline understanding of the agency
Recipients of briefing materials – whether they are transition review teams for an incoming first-term administration or newly appointed leadership for a second-term administration – will have varying degrees of familiarity with the agency prior to arriving. Some may have prior experience with the agency (though it is likely dated), while others could be experts in the policy area. These materials must provide readers with the agency’s full background and current context, including at a minimum:
Organizational charts that include key positions.
Recent budget history and a current budget proposal.
Top issues and challenges.
Congressional oversight committees and issues.
Impact of COVID-19 on the agency’s priorities and internal operations.
Tip two: Be succinct
Agencies should focus on the top issues and the most relevant data. Recipients of briefing materials are busy individuals who may not have time to read lengthy reports. Many agencies have begun streamlining information to make it more digestible. During the 2016-17 transition, the Department of Defense created a series of one- and two-page papers on the top five to 10 priority issues they believed were most important to newcomers.
Tip three: Include key insights
The best materials go beyond agency statistics and conventional issues to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities facing new leaders. During the 2016-17 transition, the FBI linked its bureau’s locations with a list of threats to national security. They also created a map pinned with color-coded offices according to the year they opened. The visual representation of the bureau’s newest locations generated conversations on where emerging threats were located.
Key insights should include:
The parts of the agency’s budget that have been most impacted by the pandemic.
Significant changes in workforce demographics, such as the retirement of baby boomers and the number of employees eligible for retirement.
The agency’s current top priorities.
Tip four: Take advantage of digital formats
Historically, the briefing materials have been produced as reports in thick binders. However, digital versions make it easier to distribute to the intended recipients, especially now when so many federal officials and transition leaders are working remotely..."
The wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_transition
is another good start to see which President's provided the most effective preparation of transition briefings and support (Trump's appears to be the worst in modern times, although FDR was also a bit rude to Hoover who did want to cooperate more).
This is disgrace! He is clearly guilty of treason, and giving him access to classified info is the worst decision in the history of bad decisions!
It’s time to understand “useful idiot” which Trump has been since his first trip to Moscow to see the gold domes.
Trump works for Putin. We will be the new Russia owned by Putin!
I don't think he cares about that. His minions might but he found the briefings boring.
But useful, for all kinds of purposes
Clarification on this would be valuable. If he lost his security clearance when he left office, he'd need to be cleared again and that's not a guarantee. Also, anyone on his team (Vance) would have to be cleared as well. Biden is as courteous as they come, but at minimum, the process could be pursued very, very slowly.
This is such a scary point...
Thank you Professor for reminding us again the details of the massiveness of this case that was just dismissed and the length of time it has been delayed. We need this reminder of the severity of the act and charges brought and more importantly, justice delayed is justice denied. The Republican nominee and his choice for VP must be stopped, period. And to circumvent our corrupt Handful of SCOTUS judges, we must VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET, no matter where you live in this country. Nothing is more important than that at this time, nothing. And don’t think that the war will be over then, it will just be a very victorious battle. Keeping our “eye on the prize” must be imbedded in us, and that prize is DEMOCRACY.
I recall that the Trump administration didn’t extend that courtesy to candidate Biden in 2020. I hope that the Biden administration does the same. Or if they do provide info, redact it a la Bill Barr.
trump is a convicted felon and if Biden doesn't deny him access to classified material he is a damn fool and puts this country and our allies at tremendous risk !! JD Vance is just as bad and if the dems don't use that against trump they have lost all sight that the end game here is to win the election or democracy does its last death spiral.
Yes. I totally agree. The Republican cry is Fight, Fight, Fight! Ours must be Vote, Vote, Vote!
… and especially in those swing states to truly capture and make a decisive showing in the electoral college vote segment of our vote-process!!!
Register, register, register. Swamp Republicans. Millions of unregistered trend Democratic.
FT 6 has texted well over a million in the past several days. Thanks to a donor, texts to Arizona today and tomorrow. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Thursday is Florida day on FT 6 Textarcade. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ft6arcade24bamk.
Also Florida day on FT 6 phonebank. https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
Daniel, thanks for sharing FT 6’s efforts.
Daniel, these links are not working.
Amen!
Cheetolini! Priceless! Worthy of Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"!
Great movie. Nice reference. 👍😁
In this case, my junior high brain spells it "The Great Dicktater".
🤣🤣🤣Thanks Ally. I needed that. Visualized, it’s too priceless. If you could see the organic sweet potatoes on my kitchen counter….
🤣🤣🤣
Was that the first movie in which Charlie Chaplin had spoken dialog?
Yes
Not quite true, actually. David Petraeus, for instance gave SCI material to his girlfriend and only got a slap on the wrist. Then there have been Presidents - LBJ and Trump to my knowledge - who compromised classified programs with impunity. Not saying Trump shouldn't be prosecuted, for there's good reason to think he revealed it to foreign leaders; Putin and Orban for examples.
People who are well connected like Petraeus and Scooter Libby get treated more leniently than people like Chelsea Manning, John Kyriakos, or Reality Winner.
True. Trump’s sin wasn’t that he had classified materials in his possession but that he obstructed their retrieval by NARA. If he had simply returned them when confronted, the matter would have been closed. He didn’t, and the chase was on. And so far, he’s escaping accountability.
And those working with him! It is time to clean house!
Cheetolini. A new one! Love it!
You mean like Joe Biden? Or Hillar
Right ? At a bare minimum, the refusal to return and the conspiracy to hide them ! That's black and white - at least as I see it..
Dan, to me, what is presented here, so often appears pretty much "black and white".., but in reality it is not. And, that is why lawyers and judges are able to present objections supported by their learned (Harvard, Yale, et al) points of view. I will stress, it is their "learned" position for which they find support either in the form of previous rulings or people with a certain political bent ($$$$.$$). So, it never fails to piss me off when something as obvious as boxes and boxes and undisclosed boxes and "hidden rooms" and over-sights & mis-steps by "the FBI (etc)" are suddenly rolled out onto the table by "learned" graduates who have passed the bar-exams...., when a slam-dunk case, after months and months of journalistic (tabloid-level) reporting.., suddenly, hahahaa Aileen Canon shoots her load, and the whole thing shits-the-bed! "Classify" this any way you want, but I rest my case!
Some things appear black and white that are not. Other things are. For example, the SCOTUS majority opinion on immunity appears to be wrong in a way that a child should be able to understand, which is to say that I would have flunked John Roberts if I was his 5th grade teacher, let alone allow him to get into law school.
Here's the test. You tell a person you disagree with them, you raise legitimate issues, and they dismiss your conclusion without any attempt to address the issues. That's why I'm convinced I had a better understanding of the "justice" concept as a 5th grader than the chief justice of the most powerful nation on earth.
I agree James. After even a complex thing is factored / broken down to simplicity, it should always pass the "construction paper and crayon test."
MadRussian12A. You said it all. Reading HVR today is tough. Especially the ending with vance, this is all such scary shit!
Such a lack of integrity from most of the republicans party and especially Fox (News???) and the people who listen, only to the disinformation on Fox! My heart aches and my stomach churns😫😡😬
Send $5 to Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s Democratic Senator, if you can. He needs it as Trump/Vance will use millions to defeat him. Republicans have all but destroyed the middle class with trickle down
Schooled in law, but not in National Security.
Those in the business know it takes years to understand the long implications. We worked off the John Walker treasonous actions for years.
That was his strongest case.
DJT corrupts everything that he touches...
… and a lot of what he doesn’t or hasn’t touched!
It is like miasma, oozing and seeping everywhere
Treason, anyone?
Or espionage, perhaps?
I can never unsee the RU contingent in the Oval Office w/o US representation right after he took office and DJT looking the most comfortable amongst others than we have ever seen with his "US fellow citizens". I quote "fellow citizens" as I'm not sure he is in fellowship with his fellow citizens. I believe in my heart he is in legion with RU as that's where he gets big money and "love" to do whatever he sees fit like Putin.
That does beg an interesting question, Pensa. I've read some things from Greg Olear that would make that seem not too outrageous to consider.
Not only is it not outrageous: Trump is what Putin calls a “useful idiot.” I already had seen the films of him with the Moscow beauty pageant in 2013 asking for Putin to come and see it; then the Steele dossier; but most recently a photograph of him and his first wife in Moscow with the domes behind them. That’s when everything clicked: gold, money, Trump/Putin. We are in grave danger if Trump is “elected” and even if he isn’t. We have been promised “a bloodbath.” Are we prepared to win and hold on?
There are STILL missing Top Secret documents.
Referring documents as "classified" lulls me to sleep. We "classify" just about everything the government does. The level is what we need to be specific about. There are three main designations: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret (TS). We also stamp those documents with other terms like "NO FORN" for example: The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. So, instead of handing me (libtard drivel) "boxes & boxes" of classified documents... let's get to the meat. How many documents were marked Secret or Top Secret...? Or, stamped "NO FORN"? Those are the "documents" that #45 needs to be castrated for waving around! Let's not diminish the significance by merely referring to boxes of "classified" material. Let's front page how much was marked Secret, Top Secret, NO FORN!! I don't think the American taxpayer/citizen will be pleased. Front Page that!!
When I had a secret clearance, the consequences for me were made clear.
Keeping in mind that I was a deputy sheriff, and as such had no clearances per se, I knew that releasing information from investigations or handing out copies of reports would be at the least a violation of policy and at worst be antithetical to the mission of a police investigation.
Some things you just don't do. Stealing classified documents, regardless of their classification, is among those.
And chump gets a pass for the most egregious example. Plus, his refusal to return documents and try to fool the FBI. Deep dungeon. Cannon is definitely expecting a SC seat.
And you have no idea what is in them to make such judgement to yawn over (sorry). Over classification may be an issue. But, under classification and outright contempt of the system to protect National Security is insane, esp. as the wannabe POTUS.
I agree we should focus on the meatier, but the "graymail" exposure in court is what DJT is operating to as the corrupt individual he is as alternate to dismissal. His "declassification" BS lies is part of the graymail and outright contempt of the value of classified material as a threat vs his hammer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graymail
Agree Bill. And, another little detail: The 'need' to know. Even a president might not pass that test. We live in a very finite world. And it's good that we do. There are things worth standing-up for. Standing up will be very important come November. We'll see.
I believe they were Top Secret documents that were missing. There has been speculation they went to Putin or Kim Jong Un.
Yes. But first things first. All three branches of government in a landslide. Democrats are the three musketeers (all for one and one for all). Republicans are the three stooges (all for one orange Jesus).
Compare DJT's treatment with that of Reality Winner, or Jack Teixeira... DJT is a Clear, and Present Danger... No Wonder Why Putin Favors DJT...
And these friendly visits to discuss.... matters of state with Orbàn.
And at least one private meeting with Putin.
We know about Helsinki, and the other thing that sticks in my memory is Paris, the radiant smile, Putin's thumbs-up to him. https://time.com/5451539/putin-trump-thumbs-up-paris-wwi-commemoration/
And then the next day when he decided not to join the other delegates at the war graves because a light drizzle endangered the helicopter.(!) He stayed in all day. Doing what?
VP pick of Vance is fealty to Putin.
Hopefully the choice of Vance will cost the Republicans millions of Slavic votes, given Vance's opposition to the Ukraine.
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/04/23/jd-vances-dismissive-attitude-toward-ukraine-is-an-insult-to-70000-ukrainian-americans-in-ohio/
Let's see here.. Orban is a "FORN" , right? The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. Has FORN-Orban been shown any of those "classified" papers that are missing? GMAFB.., what do you think? As a vet of 22 years, with a 'military mind'.., I think #45 needs to be de-balled. Whewww!
He’s working for Putin. Hillary was right. He’s a Russian asset.
When I woke up this morning and saw the headline about the case dismissal, that was my first reaction, too. Just couldn't remember Teixeira's name at the time.
Please let me know who Teixeira is. The name looks Portuguese (?) which makes no sense.
Yeah James.., he needs to be "de-balled" too.
As a former U.S. Army Intelligence member with a Top Secret Crypto clearance (the highest), I, too, am appalled by all of this. The rule is solid: nothing is to be revealed to another who does not have the appropriate security clearance, but even if he/she does have the clearance, nothing is to be disclosed to one who does not have the need to know. I suspect that those close associates of Putin who started having "accidents" in late 2022 has something to do with those missing classified documents. I feel certain that the American Intelligence Community knows why they met untimely fates.
Spot on, Richard. I was never in a classification position (local law enforcement) but I knew (and know) the dangers of letting the bad guys know what we've got on them. I had one co-worker do federal time for giving information (very minor information) to a federal inmate.
Thank you for that! I could follow Navalny and Kara-Murza but wasn’t aware of the disappearances you are referring to. Haunting: photographs of the ‘30’s with the headless bodies in the Kremlin. Then there were the generals who “disappeared” leaving Stalin almost unable to take on Hitler for lack of military leadership.
Can someone tell me the difference between Stalin and Putin except in numbers? Is there a difference?
Regarding those close to Putin who mysteriously died: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/how-the-mysterious-deaths-of-23-elite-russians-sparked-a-global-murder-mystery-20221230-p5c9gb.html
For me, the coincidence between Trump having those classified intelligence documents and those deaths is too coincidental. I truly do believe that Trump has committed treasonous acts.
Thank you, Richard.
Read the article and think I found Trump’s Putin dream. It’s quite clear in the “sultanate oligarchy.” I emailed myself the article in the hope of passing it on to “educated” people who don’t understand what Trump and SCOTUS are setting US up for. Time to remind of the following: Putin speaks perfect English (to Trump) and the book entitled “Everything Trump Touches Dies.”
Jack Smith is appealing, to hopefully get beyond the corruption that is Cannon-Trump.
Laser-beam intelligence, that Jack Smith.
The Eleventh Circuit should reverse and reassign the case to another judge. Thomas’s decision isn’t very good precedent.
The 11th Circuit would reverse but, going the Appellate route effectively continues the de-facto Stay; Stop the Stay.
I do not recall a 'concurrence' that was largely dicta - not related to the merits of the Majority Opinion.
I concur with Andrew Weissmann @AWeissmann & others that Thomas' dicta was some form of improper messaging.
In a sane world
I am uncleared due to having bipolar disorder. The US national security complex doesn't like to give clearances to people with mental health issues, somewhat understandably. However, our facility security officer recently shared some bullshit that said the government is understanding if you have a mental health disorder. This is utter BS from my own experience.
We are witnessing the absolute corruption of our judicial/political system laid out before our very eyes, in real time. The corruption goes all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. We've got some huge problems to deal with. I fear that we are teetering at the brink. People who are fairly well educated are going around wearing MAGA caps.
Racism and greed may be our destruction. And the president is correct about wisdom. That cannot be taught only arrived at by morality and experience.
Yes, an intent to appeal was announced but, appeals gobble up time.
Since the documents were seized by the FBI before Jack Smith was appointed, I’d think the argument that a special prosecutor was unconstitutional, however specious I think Judge Cannon’s claims here are, wouldn’t stop A case from going forward, even if it stops THIS case. I realize if Darth Rumpus wins, it will be called off.
Good to remember that the Nazi Party started off by contesting municipal, state and federal elections, which led to big business circles financing electoral campaigns, followed by Hitlers unscrupulous tactics turning the voting balance in the Reichstag in the Nazi's favour. Sound familiar? Soon after Hitler gained power, he declared the Nazi Party to be the only political party in Germany, and after crushing the Nazi Party's socially oriented wing, Hitler's word became the supreme and undisputed command. What began as the promise of jobs to the dissatisfied, unemployed masses post WWI ended in...we all know what.
That aside, it stuns me to think that any American, least of all those on the judiciary would want to live in a world where their wives, sisters, daughters and granddaughters are forced into having children, denied the right to life-saving abortion care and, in the future, contraception. Added to this is the imposition of militant Christian 'values' and a gun culture where it's not safe to send your hordes of future kids to school, least of all attend any public event. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This is not about the promise of jobs.
I've said this before, I say it every chance I get, and I'll say it again here. There are precisely two Christian values. The first is that a person must listen to their heart and their mind, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict. The second is that people must listen to one another, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict.
Ref: Matthew 7:12 & 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 6:31 & 10:25-37, John 14:12 & 15:12.
Translation: When you hear "Christian Nationalism," think anti-Christian. In other words, don't confuse real Christians with hypocrites labelling themselves as Christian.
James, I understand your point. But from the outside looking in, you sound just like cops who work with abusive/corrupt officers and do nothing about it, and then whine "but not all cops" when those corrupt officers do something off the charts bad (Derek Chauvin, anyone?)
I understand your point. If I thought your interpretation of my statement was correct, then I would alter my previous statement. But that's not what I'm saying. Personally, I don't think there should be tolerance for corruption of any kind. But my point is that the word "Christian" either means something, or it's just a tool for separating "us" from "them." And that's what so-called Christian Nationalists are doing with it. We can let them get away with it, or we can keep calling their bluff until they crawl back into their dark caves.
Derek Chauvin is a murderer, and George Floyd was his innocent victim, plain and simple.
The problem with Christianity IMHO is the old testament depicting God as an angry, judgmental, genocidal tyrant who saw humanity as wicked and justified his actions as a moral necessity - absolute fodder for Christian Nationalism.
Very different to the teachings of Christ - in essence, love one another.
The young don’t know, their parents don’t seem to care, and so many of the grandparents either found “God,” greed, or dementia.
But JD Chilcutt, our public education system has become so corrupt and corrosive that objective thinking seems almost quaint. I couldn’t think of a better word today for what the loss of liberal arts education from middle school through undergraduate school means to Americans. Plus we don’t sing together or read novels (reading for fun and information that’s not about jobs). Then there’s trickledown, the Republicans’ trickery to let them get richer and kill unions leading to Citizens United. Greed and racism may kill US yet. Building from the bottom up and the middle out may save US.
As the Buddha said “You think you have time.”
JD Chilcut: we may not have time but we can get started if we can have 40 years of Dems.
Darth Rumpus? Priceless...
Thank you. I’ve been binge-watching Star Wars movies as comfort cinema and decided he needs a Sith Lord name.
Thanks Sioux... Are the Siths behind DJT?... He is definitely on the Dark-Side... He does indeed have the Luck-Of-The-Devil... Where is Yoda when you need him!!!
Hmmmm. Yoda in office, he is. Of President, Hmmm?
Sioux, How about Tangerine Palpatine?
And when the helmet was removed..
Disclosure of material with a Top Secret or TS NO FORN designation is a treasonous offense and the FBI, CIA, NSA know #45 is guilty of its disclosure. Such an act is above presidential. Lock him up!
WE SHOULD ALL BE APPALLED. But Trump represents the low bar. If fact the bar is so low you would have to lie on your back to mambo under it.
Why doesn't Joe issue an executive order that states that no convicted felon can run for national office? If one can't serve in the military . . . umm, Commander in Chief? There is so much wrong with what is going on and nobody is doing anything officially but hand wringing and " We'll see-ing."
"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." —Abraham Lincoln.
That was as true in his age as it is in ours. This doesn't depend on what Biden does. It depends on what Biden and the rest of us do.
Sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if he could do that. Also, it is about timing, timing, timing.
Thanks James for your reply. It's why I asked the question. Abe knew innately what we need to do. But I can't issue executive orders.
This:
''This afternoon, in the hall of the RNC convention, attendees chanted, “Fight, fight, fight,” as they punched an arm in the air, in an eerie echo of Germany in the 1930s.''
Following chump, who follows the fuhrer
Gail, should have.....! We live in an alternate universe. tRump is a convicted criminal and has and is getting away with many crimes. Yet his supporters are all in as though reality did not exist. As for the most reprehensible, despicable low-life character ever to exist in the public sphere all truths are presented in their opposite. How can there be that many people many of who are not stupid buy into such insanity? Once again we are witness to people's ability to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING!!
Technically, he and all of his enablers should be charged with treason.
Gotta wonder what the 2 billion Saudi payment was for. 🧐
If it was any normal person they'd be rotting in a jail right now under the sheer weight of all those stolen documents. These people simply do not care.
Rightly so. I am terrified at the prospect of pro Putin ticket taking the White House. JD Vance was raised by sociopaths and is now one in his own right.
He has the courts!
Yet somehow that reasoning does not apply to President Biden, just as it didn’t apply to Hillary Clinton…
See my reply to James. Biden and Pence gave the materials back; Trump didn’t. See the difference? What classified materials did Hillary take?
Give the materials back? Are you serious? Try taking classified materials from your local
military base and see if bringing them back gets you off the hook?
Hell no.
1) President has completely different authority over classified documents than anyone else. He can declassify anything he wants.
As for Clinton what planet do you live on? She got caught sending classified materials to her yahoo account which is against the law. She had 1000's of emails including top secret government secrets. Those emails were likely hacked. The email server had a basic firewall and was run by someone who didn't have any authority to handle or store classified materials.
1) That is incorrect. He cannot unilaterally declassify everything. (I worked in this field. Did/do you?). Plus, he was no longer the President when he stole the materials.
2) Inaccurate spin. She used a private email for government business (btw, so did Ivanka and Jared). She didn’t “send them to herself.” And she suffered the consequences—she was denied the Presidency (and we got stuck with a buffoon).
I never said he could declassify "everything". You did. However his relationship to classified materials is completely different than Biden or Clinton. The laws in place are civil not criminal for President and classified materials.
Not winning an election is NOT a consequences. That's a joke.
And Gail,
This is why many many of us( patriotic, tax paying, law abiding citizens ) will forever not trust our country to be ours. We are not being asked, we are not being heard. The so called legal system has been neutered by a $$$$$$$$$$$$loving maniacs with no caring for law and or Order! Don’t kid yourselves, this country has no Law and order. Just kings and power egos because those types are hiding their true identity.
Is anybody surprised. I am not. The task has always been this 45 % of American is corrupted which to me more horrifying than Trump, Vance and the “bent” leaders of the GOP. We are not storming the beaches of Normandy and being slaughtered, we are fighting for our lives as sailors in the midst of Pearl Harbor, we are not the 101st airborne freezing in the winter Battle of the Bulge or my father flying daylight B 17 missions over Germany, all we are asked to do is vote and get others to do the same and with their political trauma we have found ourselves in which takes a special kind of resilience, courage and commitment. We have the clarity and leadership of Heather and others which we thank God for.
I met someone in the USA this weekend who has never voted. She says “she is not a political person”. Are there actually civics classes in schools that explain what Democracy means?
Half a century ago, the Koch family, fascists to the core, took it upon themselves to destroy the American public school system. They succeeded. How? No one, but no one votes in school board elections. It has the lowest rate of participation of any of the public elections. They seeded the election with candidates who were their hand picked know-nothings.
The first thing to hit the dust? Civics. What used to be a center of history in the US schools system was done away with it. And with that, so went one of the best pubic school systems in the world.
50 years later, we a reaping that whirl wind. Just as the Koch family planned.
Want informed citizens? Bring back civics.
Good luck with that.
Civics classes can be intellectually useful, but practicing the skills of self-governance and democracy is essential. As a teacher for over 40 years I know how difficult yet helpful it is to teach democracy in a culture that is dominated by authoritarian institutions: patriarchal families, religions, businesses, schools. As a teacher in more progressive times and in progressive schools, I held class meetings daily to settle disputes, plan schedules, even rearrange the furniture. Some of the most effective and practical problem-solving I've ever experienced was with elementary school children. People who grow up in institutions in which they have no power never learn to develop the power necesary to function in a democracy.
Thank you.
A history teacher in a local charter school drew a chalk ship on the floor of her classroom, to scale, and had the kids stay in it every day for a week to give them an idea of conditions on a slave ship. There wasn't room to lie down, nor for all of them to sit at once.
Too bad little Donnie never had such a teacher.
Little Donnie cold cocked his music teacher. How do you think he would have taken to being corralled?
Really? A new aspect of his lack of character I hadn't heard.
Trying to catch news of the documents trial and seeing dumpty with the stage bandage on the tiny "wound" in his ear. Covered so no one can see there's nothing there. Except maybe the bruise from the exploding blood capsule.
This is how Turkey got Erdogan.
They started in the schools 35 years ago.
Civics and critical thinking. How not to play the fool.
And education for whole challenge of life, not just trade school training.
Isn't it odd. BTW, how it is often those with the most money of all think that those with the least resources already have too much going for them?
It’s a “pull up the ladder boys I’m aboard, “but what about the rest of them in the water?” The hell with them I want to go get lunch”. That’s how people that don’t need any kind of tax break see the rest of us. If you say “a rising tide lifts all boats” I would agree with you, the key is being on the boat. It’s a I got mine, screw you attitude.
I have the impression that many who see themselves as better than others, or at least tell themselves that they are, don't give a rat's posterior about what happens to America, or even to humanity, so long as they have more stuff than anybody else. Like the billionaires building survival bunkers to escape the chaos they are busy promoting. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
Them and others like them were considered a part of the silent majority - even with all of the BIG BUCKS they had/have - but look at them now. We’re now - most of us who read, consume and follow HCR’s ideas and publications - are part of the silent majority … hello people, we have got to begin to act like we’re in the majority: so in lieu of common sense [which ain’t so common anymore] let’s add some “smart sense” … are choices are right versus wrong and good versus evil or bad!!!
The hands-of-time are not made to be turned back - maybe held back for an hour depending upon the season and much sunlight we’d like to add to our day - but we have to do the right thing(s) to keep America and Americans moving forward - NOT backwards!!!
It is practically impossible to know anything about school board candidates. There often isn’t any reporting that explains to voters the positions, beliefs, or funding of these individuals. Maybe even all of the candidates are being influenced by the Koch's organization.
Why rely on "reporting"? With school board and other local races, the best source of info is usually your own circle and "the grapevine." The address of any candidate is on file with election officials, local and often state. It's often possible to find out how long a candidate has lived in the district. Is there a League of Women Voters chapter in the area? They can be a great source of info. Etc.
No kids in school & no local grapevine interested in school boards. Tried the League of Women Voters - nothing on our local school board ...
America has too many lines on a ballot. School boars should be part of local government.
Where I live, school boards *are* part of local government. We elect them like we elect the planning board, the zoning board, the library trustees, and other officials. (Some officials, however, are appointed by our elected officials.) P.S. "America" doesn't put out a ballot. Ballots are different in every jurisdiction. And if you're not paying attention to who and what are on your ballot, rest assured that other people are -- and you may not like the results.
That’s exactly why I vote. I took government in summer school and it was required.
I was taught the basics, but I did not encounter any effort to explain how complicate our society and it's governance is, and the consequences when any part of that network breaks down. Yes, like the "libertarians" I don't want excessively intrusive or heavy-handed goverment, but as much as it takes. How many "back office" services are needed to keep our major cities livable? Just sewage alone?
Brava Carol-Ann ! Your recollection of details is identical with mine. At the time though, I was not aware of 'who' to point the finger at.
Having heard what you said about the undermining of effective public education, I feel lucky that I went through school in the 1950’s and 1960’ in my small town that we joked was 15 years behind the rest of the country. I got civics and history taught by bright and competent teachers.
So on point Carol-Ann the failure of the schools to engage students in this way has lead us right to this situation
Before I got to middle school, I was taught a remarkable amount of stuff that was either pretty useless (Like memorizing the stats of how many bananas South American countries produced in a year) to stuff, mostly "historical", that just was documentably no ore than myth. One of the few lessons I remember keenly and with gratitude was how the NAZIs controlled people with propaganda, and how a number of classic logical fallacies worked.
The thing is, that evidence-based thinking should have been a key part of that education, along with the "The Three "R"s, by which I mean "key". "Crap Detection" is another phrase I have heard for it, and it is a survival skill in a world in which not everything that is said is true.
Excellent assessment, Carol-Ann. I graduated high school nearly 50 years ago; I had all kinds of history, both American and World, Civics, Social Science, Physics and Chemistry, 4 years of English, and (gods help me), math through three years that included Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. I didn't have a Capstone project, or a Community Service provision in my schooling, it was all books.
I also have to say that where I live now (here in the Willamette Valley) school board elections are critically important.
You went to school in what I call the "golden age of American public education." If autocracies depend on an uneducated underclass, having a learned public simply won't do.
The New England colonies had public education as one of their basic tenets. Talk about ignoring/forgetting our roots. Education so sacred to the slave holders, that teaching an enslaved person how to read was considered a crime.
And now the MAGA party exalts ignorance. As they say in New York, go figure.
At least in one part of the country, teaching a Native American to read was punishable by death.
I wrote essentially the same thing before I read further comments...Ooops.
The book Dark Money was very illuminating! The Kochs and their cronies are pure evil.
wow, that is "interesting"! I gather there's a news source on that one. PLus, i just read several items after a google search. wow.
Sadly, not always, and if there are, many don't pay attention.
But then, the right-wing fanatics want to hand all the education money over to charter schools so that the wealthy can spend tax money to send their kids to indoctrination academies (or get taxpayers to cover the cost for the "schools" their kids are already attending).
In Ohio, where I live and vote, the General Assembly gives much of our school tax money to vouchers for private schools, and strapped voters don’t realize that is why their local school districts often have ballot funding for local schools, because they don’t get the tax money they are supposed to have. Ohio is seriously gerrymandered and we have had yet another scandal involving First Energy bribing our former General Assembly speaker and the former GOP head. Both men went to Federal prison, they are awaiting state prosecution, and our former Public Utilities board head killed himself after his arraignment on charges involving the First Energy scandal. This isn’t over by a long shot.
Our Republican former chief justice, Maureen O’Connor, wants to get a citizen redistricting initiative on the ballot. She doesn’t like the gerrymandering, and so far, our attorney general, Dave Yost, hasn’t approved the initiative language. Citizens have signed a petition for it.
Very good update Kathy Hughes;keep LFAA posted.
George’s, Project 2025 recommends “requiring students in public high schools to take a military entrance exam called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).
The proposed requirement would extend to schools that “receive federal funding,” the document says. That means the requirement would apply to students attending public schools and any private schools that receive federal funds.”
Wealthy parents well might want to avoid sending their children to any school that requires taking the exam—it’s a short step to conscription. Students in private schools would be exempt.
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/verify/project-2025-verify/yes-project-2025-recommends-requiring-military-entrance-exams-for-public-high-school-students/536-6d799964-87b7-4cfc-9f1c-4925ab4dc22d
Too bad that the tax-exemptions of religious schools aren't seen as receiving federal funding because, in my way of thinking, they certainly are.
How frighteningly sad!!!
I had some dental work done this Spring and the tech (a young mother) told.me she wasn't even aware CF45 was running, or that he was standing trial at the time. She said that news bores her.
People will be bored and not involved with politics and voting, wake up one day and wonder why they no longer have the rights they took for granted. And why has everything they've known changed or gone? Why are they living in a dystopia, wondering if they are having a nightmare and hoping to wake up? People are sleepwalking into hell (metaphorically speaking). That pretty much sums up what waits for us if we don't convince enough people to get some information between their ears and learn to give a damn.
That's true, Kathy. Her own daughter, around 12 years old, has to tell the mom about the convicted felon running again and sitting at trial. Let's hope the daughter recognizes the danger of closing one's eyes to current events, and how keeping them open may also keep her choices open when she becomes an adult.
A lot of younger people are worried about the messes being handed to them. My daughter and her husband decided not to have kids. That it would not be fair to them.
I understand. I have three nieces and am concerned for their futures.
J L, I think that's been going on longer than we've been alive.
That said, we have 3 children and 3 grandkids, and no matter what happens this November, their world wiIl scarcely resemble the world we all grew up in here in the States, in so many ways. I understand the hesitancy young people have toward bringing children into this world.
If they really want a couple of kids, there are millions who need a home and organizations (which should be licensed and legion) to help them.
A lot of people are angry because corporations moved manufacturing abroad and the middle class has shrunk. So they vote for the party that enabled that.
The effect was to undermine labour unions, "incidentally" according to a major Canadian bank document i read years ago. A broad union based workforce would stand as some degree of bulwark against wealth concentration at the top, at the same time increase consumer demand/savings/investment throughout society.
I’m retired now but I was a union member for over 30 years, unions are far from perfect but they do represent working people who company owners and boards just want to use. I had a producer tell me one time that crew members were like tools that if worn out could easily be replaced by another, he could have cared less about the stress of working 80 hour weeks other than what it cost him in overtime.
When you add "what's beneficial for society" to calculating "what's in it for me" it is patently obvious that "consumers" who make up "the market" are workers and vice versa. Substantial efforts to cheat workers reduces consumers ability to buy. Recessions are self-reinforcing for that reason. Yet in some nations a few families live like kings while the average citizen scratches for survival.
Money can organize because it has money. Society can organize if there this enough collective will to overcome the resistance of concentrated money, which, among among other potential checks and balances, is a wisely utilized vote. There is a lot of effort to distract from attention from what seems to me is "Common Sense".
Yeah, it just does not make sense. But it makes emotional sense to vote for the people that feed your anger, even if what they are proposing is far, far worse than working to change things.
It seems that our self-centered "Reptile" brain gets off on it.
Not with the dumbing down of America by republicans.
I suggest reading Profiles in Ignorance by Andy Borowitz.
Thank you! Love what I found when I went to check out his book. There are so many books on the idiocy of thug leaders today. I have not really looked a lot due to my lack inability to focus well. I love that they have audio so I can do something whilst listening. Love Horowitz and will order that book.
And this one caught my attention and made me laugh. Might as well trying laughing on the way, no?
This Won't Help: Modest Proposals for a More Enjoyable Apocalypse by by Eli Grober and Tantor
Thanks, Molly—how did you know I desperately needed some humor today?
I know Eli Grober, will check out his book.
Profiles in Ignorance is funny and appallingly scary due to leaders' lack of knowledge and understanding. Extensive footnotes document his findings. I enjoy reading The Borowitz Report due to Andy's quirky sense of humor!
I spoke to a young woman who said she wasn’t going to vote. I was appalled. We fought so hard for the RIGHT to vote.
I talked to a man who said he was going to vote for Biden until he saw the debate.
Until he saw the debate? That's all he knew about what was going on over the last 4 years? He was never going to vote for President Biden. That was a convenient excuse.
His newspaper told him the Biden is senile.
Biden isn’t senile, he’s older, but his debate performance when he was ill didn’t help, nor did the press tell the full story or call out Trump’s Gish gallop of lies. The donors and pundits got spooked, so they were calling for Biden to step down.
Which, unfortunately, means they are spineless and ignorant.
Well, over the next few months these two people need to muster up some “small sense” from somewhere or from someone [HCR’s “Letters” and chats could be one] and give or add some critical analysis to their thought-processes when it comes to politics, government and American life!!!
Sigh. They walk amongst us. The line I use with no vote people is basically, if you're upset with what is happening and refuse to vote for change, you're enabling the other side.
League of Women Voters does high school civics education, but this is summer vacation. You can offer:
The Civics Center for high school voter registration
https://www.thecivicscenter.org/
Teen Vogue on “Every GenZ Issue JD Vance is Against “
https://www.threads.net/@drleolam/post/C9eEA7fxvaS/?xmt=AQGz-3tYzANHVetVYFsAvNAssNR_AdbCEGWZMxEFCgWBfQ
Rarely, Annie. And very, very, few people even know what fascism is. That is part of how we got here. That and allowing totally unqualified people to run for any office.
… as well as SOCIALISM …
History. There is even film of it.
She and 32% of America (and that's the stat from 2020--it's usually worse). It's astounding. My first response to such folks is to say, "Oh, did they cancel the election? It's not happening? Oh, wait, that's right: IT IS. It's happening whether you vote or not. What you mean to say is that, YOU DON'T CARE, and nothing--not one, single thing that can happen, will get decided, proposed--NONE of that affects YOU in any way. Ever. In fact, you so don't care, that you want your neighbor's vote to count DOUBLE, since 1) there's still an election and 2) you're not voting, but they are--would you like ME to decide your schedule for this week? No? Okay--glad we're clear on that."
Guilt-trips rarely work, and when they do it's generally in the very short term.
My parents educated us in the importance of voting. My mother’s father did that with all of his children and before he died, he took each of them to register to vote at 21. My late uncle ensured my aunts were registered to vote at 21. This was before the amendment lowering voting age to 21. I registered to vote at 18 and have voted in all presidential and most off season elections. I vote in even small elections as they are important also.
I have missed one election, off year, no national candidates and no ballot measures. I had the wrong date in my head, and had been traveling so no local news for the week before hand. That was probably 25 years ago.
I have voted in every election since I was old enough to, except for a special election two years ago when I had Covid. I do not understand not voting. If you don't vote, you lose your right to complain.
Did you have a conversation with them about how voting is the only time your voice gets to be heard?
I told my friend that my son (who lives in gerrymandered Austin) says he votes because it's his duty and even though most times it doesn't matter, one day it could.
Annie, a long ago former partner of mine was proud of not voting 😤, so I told him to never, ever, complain about the state of local/state/national policies. Personally I don’t get it, but it is (so far) a free country to participate or not as you choose.
But the thing is, it will not continue to be free if folks don’t participate. The very foundation of a democracy is the duty of the citizen to vote.
Annie, exactly what I tried to point out….to no avail…free country until it isn’t.
Not free if we in concert fail to keep freedom alive. The overall trend of the universe is toward decay. We living things sail against the wind, and that takes effort.
This is precisely why my parents brought us up to consider voting important.
"toward decay" i guess you mean increasing entropy. It does make you wonder, however, how the "whole thing" got "wound up" in the first place if "decay" is all there is.
In Australia voting is a civic requirement. Not in Canada, though our turnouts are generally higher than in the US.
Frank, I’ve thought the Australian’s had the right idea on this assuming, of course, the voters actually pay attention/study the issues.
On that front, I don't know if adversarial politics is a wrecker as much as the USA - I don't think so. In general politics is more polarized internationally than it used to be, different flavours for different nations. Immigration is often a top item. It seems in excess of 98% Aussie voting public is enrolled. and about 90% vote. So, it's "civil duty"... Aussies managed to ban automatic weaponry back in the late 90s after a mass shooting. Little to none of that since. They have an Australian Electoral Commission which on the surface tries to inform, encourage partici pation, remain even-handed.
https://www.aec.gov.au/elections/federal_elections/voter-turnout.htm
https://www.aec.gov.au/
Requiring people to vote merely conceals the reasons that so many people in the US don't vote: because what happens in an election has little to no effect on their lives. Also -- both Australia and Canada are parliamentary systems. Candidates run for parliament in districts or ridings that are of manageable size. In Canada, they are much, much smaller than a U.S. congressional district. IIRC no one runs province-wide, so no candidate has to deal with a "district" the size of California, New York, Illinois, Texas, etc., the way U.S. Senate candidates do. And no one runs nation-wide the way the president does.
I'm not sure size should have a disqualifying argument for making voting a mandatory civics duty. Eg registering your vehicle, following traffic laws, etc etc. Anyway, various ngos either advocate for or against. Eg the very conservative Cato Institute is against it. The liberal Brookings Institute is for it. Here's a link from Brookings... https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-shouldnt-voting-be-mandatory/
If you don't register your vehicle, get it inspected as required, follow traffic laws, etc., there are consequences that most of us most of the time want to avoid. This is not the case with voting or not voting. Most of the time, in most elections, we see little in the way of consequences regardless of who's elected. Political wonks see consequences, of course, but most voters don't.
Voting is an act of faith. Making it mandatory is a little like requiring church attendance: you don't have to believe, you just have to show up. Think of not-voting as a symptom of something wrong in the body politic. Mandatory voting conceals that symptom. And the differences between the U.S. system and parliamentary systems are considerable. Trust me on this, or read up on it yourself.
Do it Yourself government. And if you don't, who does?
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." - Pericles
It’s shameful there is so much ignorance about government and about how someone want a dictator to do the heavy lifting for them. We don’t need a dictator, we need to have our voices heard as citizens.
And we need to hear one another, but in good faith. Not a pack of provable lies.
That's probably considered too old-fashioned, like teaching grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
not nearly enough nor in the way they should be functioning. 50 years of Republican underfunding public education in this country has created a nation full of credulous, gullible people who haven't the faintest idea of U.S. or world history or civic privileges/obligations.
Curious to know the age of this non-voter.
She’s around 60 I think. I found it appalling.
In that case she should have been exposed to Civics. I worked in publishing, and it was common knowledge that Civics was often taught by coaches. Maybe she had a weak teacher. Or maybe she went to a private school where it was considered unimportant.
You can get a custom education by using Google. And Google’s AI tool called Gemini is really valuable too.
You can get data and facts, including the ones others make up. Education takes another, more strenuous level of effort.
Thanks for your POV. Khan Academy and TEDx is very good.
Sometimes if you strip down your keyword search, you get the sweetspot with Google. Yes, there is extra vetting to do, and it's a Best Practice to vet what you hear or read.
Here is a few YouTube examples to explain Gerrymandering-
-Gerrymandering | US government and civics | US government and civics | Khan Academy
https://youtu.be/WfxBuwMGTts?si=Nurr8Tn61iDw7CqL
-What is Gerrymandering? | Quick Learner
https://youtu.be/6jlI7lqo5Rs?si=AcyWmuALy0d5eQMT
-Gerrymandering: Controversial Political Redistricting Explained | History
https://youtu.be/Fm9hi1QkLVo?si=NpcaRokmX_LrjTST
Google cannot give you a framework for the facts you search.
Thanks for your POV. Sometimes if you strip down your keyword search, you get the sweetspot with Google. Yes, there is extra vetting to do, but with AI advancing in the future, it's a Best Practice to vet your research. I support journalists using Substack, because many are transparent with their reference footnotes.
that's interesting, i use Google to advance my personal education from public schooling and subsequent personal interest since.
I'm not surprised either. Are USians more worried about inflation (whose causes they mostly don't understand) than about the end of our aspiring democracy? It's a toss-up, but I'm going to do what I can.
Susanna, The problem, in my view, with centering democracy as a campaign issue is that most people, some might say justifiably, view it as an abstraction. Accordingly, I believe the focus must shift to what it would mean to lose our democracy and how our way of life would change. Trump already has stated he would enact the Insurrection Act on Day 1 of his presidency. He’s already spoken about rounding up his political enemies. In a word, we can’t relent on prevailing upon people to imagine what America would look like were the President to start moving the Military around to put down our voices, our right to protest policy we oppose, perhaps indefinitely detaining us. This is not without precedent. Trump had wanted to criminalize protesters around Black Lives Matter for the murder of George Floyd.
Note I’ve barely touched upon rights and freedoms that would be ripped away, nor have I mentioned women losing control of their bodies, nor what it would mean were we unable to depend on an independent judiciary (we’re already starting to see what that would look like), or depend on the rule of law, or an independent Justice department, or an independent Federal Communications Commission—all things Trump has said he would do, and I’m just getting started.
Ultimately, we have less than 4 months before the General to urge voters to listen to the things Trump and J.D. Vance say and the people they admire. No one should doubt that whatever freedoms we have in this country, whatever one likes about this country, dramatically would change.
The coup is almost over. Step one - paralyse the legislature. Step 2, seize the courts. Both these have been achieved. Step 3 will be to purge the military and key administrative positions immediately after returning to the WH, followed by arresting key political enemies at the same time as taking over or banning unfriendly media, suspending unions (that will be explained as temporary). Then it’s taking over police and schools in blue states.
My question to Americans is - what will you do about it if voting isn’t enough?
Sophie, While I would acknowledge that Trump/ Trumpism has absorbed Congress and the judiciary, the point of my comment was to illustrate a rhetorical strategy aimed at galvanizing enough Democratic voters to win a sufficient number of races up and down the ballot that 1) would preclude the advent of “Step 3” and 2) would mark the start of building back our civic institutions.
Definitely worth fighting for! I hope you prevail at the ballot box, but you probably know already that it won’t stop there even if you do. After all, look at the past 4 years.
Sophie, I’m not aware of anyone who believes even if we win handily the resistance won’t be brutal. Still, I would submit, as long as we clearly prevail, down ballot Democratic candidates will be seated in early January and a Democratic President will be inaugurated on Jan. 20th.
Political gridlock didn't stop Biden's mostly successful, though critically incomplete, legislative record in the last congress.
That’s true, up to the Midterms. Biden did well to get much of his programme through by then, as he knew there’d be gridlock afterwards if the Republicans got even a small majority. Which is what happened. Bipartisanship became a lot harder after 2008 (some say under Newt Gingrich, more than a decade earlier), almost entirely due to the Republicans. Now they have metastased into MAGA, it’s become wholly impossible.
Yes. If democracy is a word so many don’t begin to understand, better to talk about the things it does.
Deidra, In my view, generally speaking, verbs are more impactful than nouns.
Completely agreeing!
Barbara Jo, I think you, we all, are precisely on track by talking about what we ALREADY see changing as a result of the MAGAts. It is no longer what WILL be happening, ...it is ALREADY happening all around us! Look at the SUPREME COURT! ...and how it has determined that women must relinquish control of their bodies and the right to privacy or control or treatment of their own bodies! Look at our schools and school boards and the ways in which their funding has been distorted! Look at the news media, although much of the distortion and misuse of information in those places is driven by corporate money and "hits" and the prodigious funding by corporations, which our courts have deemed to be "people" deserving to be given "free speech" via their anonymous dollars which end up lopsidedly going to fund the MAGAts who have taken over the Republican Party. This is about what has already happened right in front of us!
JohnM, Precisely! Accordingly, speaking metaphorically, we are at war with a Party prepared to do whatever it takes to hold power. I say every one of us must step up.
Very good points. "Save Our Democracy" and similar slogans are popular locally. Some people have suddenly discovered postcarding and phone/text banking, etc. I'm all "Democracy was in trouble before 2016 -- where were you?" IMO using Project 2025 is the way to go, selecting particular points for different audiences.
Susanna, I agree regarding Project 2025, and would note I’ve been informed that FiieldTeam6 has provided text relative to the same that one can use on any of its postcards. Once I get started, I will add 1 further sentence referring the recipient to a synopsis of P-25, probably the one posted on Democracy Docket.
As a final point, I also would add that the placard I carry in various standouts reads, “Vote like your right depend on it—‘cause they do!”
Barbara Jo Krieger,
I agree that we must in all honesty, clarity...with references...repeat what it will mean to our country, our children, our long held relationships with countries all over the world if Donald Trump becomes our President.
As we each and all recognize, there are many forces supporting the destruction of our country, our freedoms, respect and appreciation of humanity, persons of color, freedom to worship or not, new arrivals to our country who are willing to work in the most humble of jobs, disrespect for women, disregard for children, our earth, climate change and its obvious effects on all of life.
We must do all that we are able to do. Violence is not the way.
Emily, Thank you for writing and expanding upon my reply to Susanna.
And the Trump Party is running on that platform! These folks are completely ill informed. Inflation is a world wide problem. It cannot be repaired by a political party. (People hate wage and price controls). I wonder would happen once they notice that prices had not gone down? Many cannot/do not see past the border.
Bringing back anti-trust might help. Monopolies control markets. I was taught that in school. Competition tends to regulate prices. When there are too few players, those left just divide up the spoils like gangsters dividing up territories or banks colluding to set interest rates (as in the LIBOR scandal).
Annie- Yes, inflation is a world-wide problem, but as Catherine Rampell pointed out yesterday in the WAPO, inflation is tied to supply and demand. In economics supply and demand are repeated ad nauseam in every course I ever took.
Biden had some policies which increased the supply of money people had to spend on food, shelter and other necessities. But he didn't personally go to the fossil fuel producers and tell them to raise their prices or to Walmart or McDonalds.
The administration kick started the economy with billions in stimulus money and also with the 60,000 infrastructure projects which have actually helped make America great.
Here is the Catherine Rampell article from WAPO
Opinion Hey, corporate greed is gone! Just look at the price of a Big Mac.
Consumer spending data provides an economics lesson, with a side of fries.
By Catherine Rampell and Aden Barton
Great news, America! We finally beat greed. Those blaming inflation on money-grubbing corporations will be delighted to learn that those same money-grubbers have, amazingly, now turned altruistic.
Overall prices fell in June from a month earlier. And burger lovers may soon especially benefit from this largesse, because fast-food chains have begun mobilizing for the “value menu wars.”
In recent weeks, fast-food chains have been slashing prices left and right, first with the Burger King $5 Your Way Meal in mid-June. Then came the McDonald’s $5 Meal Deal, also available for a limited time. Not to be outdone, Taco Bell joined the fray with its $7 Luxe Cravings Box. Seemingly every chain is trying to undercut its competitors.
But Ronald McDonald, established philanthropist though he may be, did not suddenly stop caring about profits. Nor have companies been shamed into cutting prices by presidential jawboning (despite President Biden’s recent claims). These companies are just responding to changes in consumer demand.
Exactly as they did when they raised prices before, inspiring all that feverish, anti-greed jawboning to begin with.
“Greedflation” proponents argue that corporations used inflation as a smokescreen to raise prices independent of higher operating costs. And, look, it is true that companies sometimes raised prices even more than their own input costs increased. But that’s precisely what you’d expect when consumer demand is strong.
During the pandemic, consumers were unusually flush with cash. This was a consequence of forced savings (people were stuck at home, forgoing travel and fine dining) as well as generous fiscal policy (e.g., stimulus checks from both the Trump and Biden administrations). When that high household demand collided with stuck supply chains, businesses raised prices.
That is, businesses of all types, from mom-and-pop shops to multinationals, reacted to long lines of customers combined with higher costs by raising what they charged. If they hadn’t, they’d have been left with endless empty shelves.
The aggregate amount of greed in the economy hadn’t suddenly spiked. Companies didn’t start caring about making money again. The explanation is more banal: Demand exceeded supply.
Inflation at fast-food restaurants has gotten outsize attention, in part because burgers and nuggets have traditionally been such a bargain. A TikTok bemoaning the exorbitant $16.10 price tag on a (specialty) McDonald’s meal went viral, making it all the way to the White House. McDonalds released its own McFlation fact check to convince customers its price increases were not so dramatic. Ironically, the Big Mac has had among the lowest price growth of well-known fast-food items.
Even with these supersized burger prices, customers continued to order fast food at (and eventually above) pre-pandemic levels because they had leftover money to spend. Plus, tight labor markets were putting upward pressure on wages. In turn, prices kept rising as Americans kept ordering. And ordering. And ordering.
But in recent months, consumer demand has cooled. Consumers have now spent much of their pandemic savings, federal data shows. Wage growth has slowed. And interest rates are higher, meaning it’s more expensive to buy things on credit.
This is all especially true for lower-income households. They have always had less discretionary income to work with, but in recent years, they’ve also been hit harder by inflation. They exhausted their pandemic savings earlier than their higher-income neighbors.
All of this made consumers a little more price-sensitive and less eager to spend on nonnecessities. In fact, data from consumer analytics firm Numerator shows that spending at limited-service restaurants grew from late 2022 to around September 2023 — and then flattened out, especially for low-income customers. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, spending would actually be down.
This shift forced companies to work harder to get customers in the door. As Ian Borden, chief financial officer of McDonald’s, put it in an April earnings call: “Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers … that are certainly visiting less frequently.” In response, Borden urged the adoption of a “street-fighting mentality to win.”
The company’s not-so-secret weapon in this street fight? Value menus. And thus the ensuing race to the bottom in fast-food prices that we’re now getting a (delicious) taste of.
It’s not just fast food, either. Big-box stores such as Walmart and Target also slashed prices this summer to lure back shoppers. The president, who apparently thinks greedflation is a winning political message, has tried to take credit for these discounts. The White House has said retailers are “answering the call” from Biden to “give families more breathing room.”
But the truth is that multinationals aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re still just trying to make money.
This recent up-and-down pricing roller coaster confirms an old adage: The best cure for high prices is high prices. If inflation was caused primarily by greed or sneaky corporate behavior, prices should’ve stayed high. Instead, high prices eventually nudged customers to scale back spending, which in turn incentivized companies to offer better deals. An economics lesson, with a side of fries.
Thank you for sharing the article.
Instead of "inflation," it should be termed "greedflation." Thanks for sharing this article.
It’s the ones who don’t see past their stock holdings who are more disgusting. Greed starts there and donates up the chain to to the most traitorous of our nation. They have no concept of “ We the people,” just “me and mine.” It is so very disheartening.
Me, Too! Me, Too!
Me too!!!
I use the term USians also. As Americans covers 2 continents.
I picked it up a dozen or so years ago from a Canadian editor I know. I think it's spreading. <g>
Americans vote by emotion, not logic.
So do I -- is that news? There's no rule that says emotion can't be informed by information and values. In fact, I believe it usually is. I make major purchases the same way: gather information about several alternatives then go with my gut.
If Trump and Vance get a pop at their protectionist programme, they’ll be able to worry about even more inflation.
And you can't fix what you won't understand.
I’m afraid you will have to be like your father. Because you’re not getting rid of the Orange Dictator by just voting. Besides, if Biden should win the election, the Extreme Court will simply declare the outcome void - because if their beloved leader doesn’t win, it clearly must mean that the election was stolen by Biden and therefore illegal, right? I think ordinary Americans will have to take up arms and storm the beaches, or go down in a fascist empire…
I have been thinking the same for months. They will not allow themselves to lose this election no matter how blue the landslide.
The coup is on and it is DEEP. We must be prepared for what happens after November and quite frankly, before and during. It is on.
SCOTUS, Cannon, and some of our own weak Dems (looking at you Dick Durbin) are enabling a full scale coup d’etat.
So it is. When Biden wins the election, Trump will appeal, and SCOTUS will decide that he is right and declare him winner. They have been testing the waters and found that all is ok. After all, did riots break out after their decision on the case "DJ Trump vs United States"? Nope. The Extreme Court view themselves as uncontested supreme rulers over all, and they are right. Nobody can stop them anymore.
I added a like agreeing with you, but damn, it’s tough to like this idea. The Supreme Court most certainly has been enabled. Weak Dems are too slow to react too. They still play by rules that the other party laughs off and scoffs at.
Exactly that. The Dems try to stay morally superior. It’s like reading the rules of the chess game to your opponent to explain that what he is doing is cheating while at the same time he is punching you in the face.
Game, set, and match to Donald.
It seems we are going to see war in Europe again.
Everyone on this page is saying vote, vote, vote. I think it's too late for that even, I think that is naive.
I feel the same way many times a day. But then another part of me says if we don’t at least try, they will take us over. At least try.
You are right Cleo. But I think educate is as important as voting... if not more
I absolutely agree, but right now the time is short. There are many things that must be fixed in America, if we get another chance.
It’s too late for voting. The (literal) Supreme Court will declare the election results void if Biden wins, and nobody can challenge that decision. Hate to say it, but Putin and the Rethuglicans are better at the long game than the Dems… If youbwant to save democracy, you will literally have to fight for it.
Christopher L. Groesbeck,
My father-in-law understood the terror of serving his country in WWII but he also knew his duty and he faced it fully.
There remain a few true heroes within this country and throughout the world. We must stand together with such as these or we will lose this country to those with short term ambitions who will give us over to our enemies for a few pieces of silver.
When documents were found at the home of President Biden and at the home of the former Vice President , Mike Pence....they each opened their homes for the documents to be properly returned, offering no excuses....nor did they attempt to conceal them. There has been no further need for searches or investigations.
There is no comparison to the opposing character qualities between Biden and Pence vs. Trump.
VOTE!!!!
I’m so glad to see you covering the Cannon scandal as this is the big story today, not the latest Republican circus. It’s impossible to overstate how dangerous this is for the American people. We have a man who committed crimes to become president (already convicted in New York). Now having become president, he can no longer be held accountable for ANY crime. He steals classified documents and distributes them among the country’s enemies. This includes secrets shared by allies. Do people not realize that officials acting on behalf of the US Government - including the Supreme Court- just told our allies that we will not protect our security or theirs? Do Americans not understand what grave danger we are facing, and apparently will be facing without allies? People jumping up and down for joy at the thought of having our very own dictator don’t seem to realize that his loyalties aren’t to America or any Americans, including MAGA. Endangering national security is not a game, and people need to wake up; it’s not safe to vote for a single Republican in this election.
Excellent point, Angela!
Yet I would emphasize that Judge Aileen "Loose" Cannon, a lame duck appointment by Trump as he was heading out the door, 7 million + votes a loser, has fired the first cannonball at the metaphorical Fort Sumter of our precious Union. For a trial court judge, who is duly bound to adjudicate matters based on the record produced via evidence, to even entertain a motion to dismiss, much less grant same while flying in the face of the Morrison v. Olsen precedent among many others, and simply (from what I have read, albeit not reading her ruling yet) following the Federalist Society/MAGA company line, is simply unthinkable.
I think the Federalist Society has told her EXACTLY what to say and do with everything presented to her. She is NOT qualified nor smart enough to have come up with these ridiculous decisions. Let’s hope the 11th Circuit knocks her down.
And to do so in the face of long established precedent to the contrary, essentially thumbing her nose at the Supreme Court, really puts her beyond the pale.
I liken Aileen Cannon's Heritage Foundation/Clarence Thomas/ inspired, wildly illogical decision to the surprise gut punch that legend has Harry Houdini dying from.
We must not allow such a surprising Houdini gut punch to destroy Democracy as we know it.
And still...we are gut punched, day after day. And still we are surprised by it. Can we not anticipate any of this?
I'm pretty sure the final gut punch will be that all of our wringing of hands, all of our disbelief, all of our determination that this will be resolved at the voting booth...will be the election is already lost to Republican high-jinks.
Folks we need to be strategizing now, what will happen when we win the election and the results are turned over, by what ever genie is up the Republican sleeves.
I'm not talking revolution, but perhaps the infighting of Democrats needs to stop and focus on what surely will be a contested/reversed result. Has January 6 taught us nothing.
Young people often voice the right answers when they are challenged, but their hearts are not in it. They can't imagine how difficult their lives will become without a functioning democracy. You can't put old shoulders on a young person. They are relying on us to fight the present battle with the republicans. Their hair is not on fire as it is at a Taylor Swift concert. Our leaders in congress have not made the case to them as Obama did. It's very sad. Minorities both black and white will suffer!
Don’t give up ~ we must fight like h*ll to protect their future. The Republicans don’t care about our children and our elders. Hang in there and contribute as much as you can.
I respectfully disagree. While only about 36% of 18 to 29s are registered (before the massive registration drives planned for this August to mid-October), more than 70% of those 18 to 29s who are already registered vote regularly in general elections which exceeds the percentage of older adults who regularly vote in most states!
Thank you for setting me straight. Those statistics better fit my impression of young people. However, I'm certainly not a statistician and have reported only my impressions of where young people are. My impressions are based on family, friends and people I interact with in a variety of locations and jobs.
I think they say the right things, but their heart is not in it. Therefore, they are lax about voting and I certainly don't dispute your statistics.
Im having a hard time understanding how she can just make this case "go away." All that was done, and the evidence they obtained- just over and done?
No, she dismissed it, but the prosecutor can and will appeal the dismissal. They can and should remove Judge Cannon from the case.
Trump can’t even vote in Florida as he’s a convicted felon who hasn’t been sentenced and assessed fines or court costs. It is utterly abnormal to have a convicted felon as a major party candidate.
Kathy, he can still vote in Florida.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/trump-convicted-vote-florida/
OK, I stand corrected on that. Even if he couldn’t, DeSantis would let him.
“ Welcome to the USA a gated community and resort for the wealthy and powerful autocrats of the world “ The land of the greed and home of the knave. And please close and lock the gate behind you
I got chills reading this - I could only imagine the Republican convention as a series of Nuremberg rallies
The modern day GOP are a bunch of sick people! Exposing Project 2025 and Agenda 47 must be a top priority!
Ultimately, they (the GOP) are pawns in the game. The Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation have fancied this scenario for years: dismantle the government of checks and balances and allow the world's oligarchs to plunder unhindered by regulations and rule of law. The issue now is a charade of characters steeped in sound bites and pretense vs. a party of the people, for the people.
Agreed 💯! Buried in the White Nationalist wish list are the tax cuts, cuts to the American safety net, and the destruction of any binding regulations that kept Americans safe and healthy.
MAGA Republicans are trying to convince the media that WWII was just a Howdy Doody show. Unbelievable.
The nuclear war that is possible with a tRump presidency will make it look like one.
His political rallies have been exactly like that.
Now is the time for all of us to stop the hand wringing and do our best to stop these Putin supporters.
We need to work together.. no more Democratic circular firing squad.
No, but it becomes more and more clear that Biden will not win. No circular firing squad, but Biden needs to step aside and help designate the right person to take his place. There is simply no way for a Biden/Harris ticket to carry any of the swing states that are vital to win this election. Sigh, disappointing, but quite obvious if you don't let your hyperpartisanship blind your true vision.
According to CNN tonight, their current electoral map shows Trump with many paths to victory and Biden with few. Would a new candidate have more? If so, time to bite the bullet and change horses.
Polls again?!
I don't understand all the objections to polls... No one said anything about how bad the polls are when Biden was leading Trump in 2020. Polls are in fact an extremely accurate estimate of where things are at the time they are done. Can that change? Of course it can. But looking at polls where you are down by almost 10 points with four months to go suggests that you will need a LOT OF SKILLED EFFORT AND A LOT OF LUCK to pull off an upset. It CAN be done, but is that something to bank our country's future on? Especially when there are clear alternatives that have a better chance. If the latter were not true, I would be with all the Biden supporters saying, "HEY WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO MOVE THE NEEDLE!" Maybe we would and maybe we wouldn't, but if that was the ONLY option, then of course we would have to take it.
But it is NOT the only option. In fact there are several (possibly MANY) alternative Democratic nominees available to pick up the football and try to score a touchdown. Harris (of course), Whitmer, Shapiro, Booker, Klobuchar, even Buttigieg (although I prefer him for VP if anything). ALL of the above are polling better than Biden in the swing states. So WHY are we capitulating to a Biden re-run when (a) there are got options, and (b) there are several good reasons to try to get Biden to step aside.
So, yes, the polls are saying Biden has virtually no chance in 2024. Is that FOR SURE? No, of course not, there is never anything "for sure" in politics (if you don't believe me, take a short trip back to 2016 when we all assumed that there was NO way Trump could win and he beat Clinton). But given the odds and the obvious reasons that Biden is a poor candidate this time around (his age and his inability to communicate clearly enough are good ones, IMHO), since there ARE alternatives, it behooves us to look at then seriously.
Every passing day I become more convinced that without a more exciting and coherent messenger at the top of the ticket Dems are going to lose, and possibly badly. I’ve watched Biden several times now, scripted and unscripted, and it feels like it wouldn’t take much for him to slip into a disastrous debate-like performance. None of his performances have been reassuring. He is not bringing in the voters we need, and he may be losing some. trump is losing none of his voters. And while polls are imperfect, they are ignored completely only at great risk.
I know. Last night was the first time I felt really, really worried. Everything is going Trump’s way at the moment, and it scares me. Of course that can change in a heartbeat, but I agree that one more disastrous performance from Biden could sink us, especially if it’s after the convention.
Republicans of the MAGA sort (are there any other) buoy along on a roll now.
Trump has turned his near assassination into hero worship -- for himself, first of all, but residually also for all those 11 million AR-15s out in the hands of many more loose nuts, demented, and angry young men. God, do those MAGA folk love their violence and all its mass murder weaponry -- in addition to their cult leader's calls 2nd-amendment "solutions" through all his public life.
And bless the heart of Aileen Cannon, scheming with Corrupt Clarence so that when their cult leader gets elected in November, our Long Dong Silver proselytizer can retire, with Aileen Cannon quickly filling his seat on the Forever Clarence court -- thank you dear Donald.
They're on a roll, all who hate American law, who hate democracy, but will so readily salute our fascists and billionaires whom from highest offices in the land they enable.
They want authoritarian rule. (Or more correctly Oligarchy). They are all deeply fearful people. Authoritarianism, they believe will alleviate their fears. They have wonderful memories/fantasies of their 1950s/60s childhoods when the world was a safe and simple place. There may also be childhood trauma in the mix, which has a way of short circuiting the brain.
They are also brainwashed.
Definitely early unresolved trauma — they don’t know what they’re really mad about, so when Rs blame dems, immigrants, “elites” they just agree.
I think you are on to something. Their entrenched anger is the primary motivator of the MAGAts. They don't know its origin, nor are they prone to introspection. But its cause is the fallout from wealth disparity and Covid when everything changed and will never be the same. The best they can do is blame someone while running around in a self-destructive circle. No wonder they like Trump and Putin. They represent wealth and "retribution" and they want some.
I’ve been thinking about my post. Covid was a huge trauma for all of us. I believe it fundamentally changed everything. And not in a good way.
I agree, and for the most part, we are in denial. I hope we can adjust with all my heart. Everyone is out of kilter and believes things will return to "before."
There's a great song in the musical Ragtime: "(We Can Never Go) Back to Before". Although set in a completely different time (1910) it says it all.
The entrenched anger was let loose when we elected a Black man as president. The embedded racism and its friends, homophobia and misogyny were let loose, and we're reaping the results.
Good morning, Ally. You are right. Even now, he is vilified. I think how lucky we've been to have two presidents with patience, integrity, and 'smarts.' That seems to be grounds for resentment among the MAGA crowd.
The middle-aged ones I knew as teens in high school were anti-social personality disorder, or borderline. Difficult childhoods goes without saying. No gold-plated crib as chump had.
The Republicans have done a sterling job in propaganda and distracting them from the people to blame for their predicament.
Not really so safe and simple. In the 1960s and 70s there was already something called the New World Order lurking under the surface.
Yes you are correct. But from a child’s view, the world is completely simple.
Well, the New World Order while definitely an elitist organization was principally rich liberals who coupled with elite financiers (Kennedys, Rockefellers, etc.)
The older ones I know have trauma of some sort.
The supporters are uninformed. They don’t believe he will take away Social Security and Medicare. They don’t believe he will be a dictator. They live in a fantasy world.
We need to get the documentary, “You’ve Been Trumped “ and the new MOVIE (not the fake TV show) “The Apprentice “ circulating so people see what a fool, bad busman, racist with no moral fiber!
How can we get them circulating?
Unfortunately, for some, the idea of a dictator is quite appealing. As long as the hate is focused on someone other than them (even temporarily), they enjoy the idea of someone else making all the decisions, never having to think, to feel uncertain about gray areas, because every choice or decision is framed for them as black and white. Of course, the problem with “strong-man” leaders is that they’re never satisfied, will always grasp for more power, more repression…
Yup this was the pattern used by Hitler and Mussolini pre-WWII. And the masses followed like lemmings. Ignoring the massive violations of rights, permitting war to be started and raising their arms in Sig Heil. We are heading down that same path, and sadly the Democrats will need someone other than their current standard bearer to lead us out of the morass. There is simply not enough popular support for Biden anymore, regardless of whether that is good or not (and I don't think it is good, but it is reality).
There used to be a joke in Italy - Mussolini exhorting the Italians to go and fight. "Armiamoci e partite!" The first word is in the first person plural "Let us arm ourselves" and the second is in the imperative "and (you) go!" Sorry, that doesn't translate very well, but it was the same principle.
That's funny. Reminds me of the scene in "Pirates of Penzance" where the troopers alternately march and countermarch singing "Yes, forward on the foe" (interested readers can Google "When the foeman bares his steel" for a video). Yes, I'm looking for something to smile about today.
Nice! That's exactly it! Thanks for the laugh (I love the Pirates of Penzance).
And then the "modern major general" sings, "yes, but you DON'T GO!"
ROFLMAO!
Anne-Louise — I get that! In the 70s, there was a book called “Games People Play,” and the one that I think of regarding Trump is called “Let’s you and him fight.” 😏
Agree wholeheartedly
Have you seen “A Gentleman in Moscow”? Its a fictional look at Russia, then the USSR and it’s frighteningly repressive society from the 20s through the 50s.
Have you seen "The Death of Stalin"? They all play it straight, and it's one of the funniest films I've ever seen.
That scene where a body rolls down the stairs while characters in the foreground are intoning about something? My sides ached from laughing.
It appeals to laziness and hate.
And those qualities can often be traced back to early trauma…
You ask what we can do, Marlo?
You do realize, don't you, that we live with Dems? And Dems -- they're the paralyzed ones, the ones singing the Pollyanna tunes for Simon Rosenberg, but also the ones totally wonked out and out of touch with all our great humanities that have in fact remained in touch with the U.S. working classes our billionaires and dark money goons have long been preying upon.
What to do, Marlo? Join those haplessly convulsing over the age of an otherwise wise and decent president we otherwise luckily yet have (however yet briefly)?
No need to be sarcastic. I am trying to be practical and realistic. I have done phone banking.
Dems cannot dispense with the human.
And yet they have excluded apt uses of humanities, same as have the schools.
I'm not being sarcastic, Marlo. I'm recalling the Nam war, when I was a U.S. Army Spec. 5 Vietnamese translator-interpreter (certified at the highest level).
The U.S. had absolutely nothing of any human value then and there. Subsidizing a corrupt, out-of-touch Saigon regime? Yes. Floating State Dept. humanly empty abstractions? Yes. Full of the paraphernalia, supplies, and instruments of military campaigning -- yes -- howitzers, troops, bomb sorties, concertina wire, Claymores, helicopter gunships, body bags, agent orange -- more stuff, more stuff, but never anything of any human content.
Dems today quote no humanities. Are no more moved by the human today than the U.S. was in that instrument-rich, paraphernalia-rich insanity back then. Only today for Dems it's poll numbers, phone banks, yard signs, and all the other non-human stuff, stuff, stuff -- but no ability to speak back to MAGA, back to the corrupt Clarence court, back to the criminal felon Donald ever with anything from our best human heritage. Our best truly human passion.
No matter for sarcasm, Marlo, as the monsters energized by lies and fantasy but-all-too-human hysteric, victimized scripts roll over us.
Phil — I have had similar thoughts, regarding Dems and how they make their case. For all his (and their) dysfunction, 45 touches an emotional chord in his followers, and Dems have generally missed the boat with that. When their world is shifting so rapidly, he gives them an emotional grab bar, while Dems quote statistics. Before the evidence of Biden’s decline, I thought this was the way we might lose the election. (Before I get pounced on, I’m not saying Joe and his team are not up to the job. I’m saying the public’s perception of him is that he isn’t.)
Your work in Viet Nam sounds daunting, being as clear-eyed as it seems you were. So challenging to do a job when we can see that its basic foundation is just mush.
Phil, this is not hapless, it is carefully thought out politics with clear observations of reality. You can stick your head in the sand and ignore reality or you can face it clear and steely-eyed, knowing that you may not like the results, but whatever it is, it is reality. We aren't convulsing over his age. We are convulsing over the fact that there won't be enough people to vote for him BECAUSE of that AND MANY OTHER issues he has. And the end result will be a loss which could be avoided, but only if the entire party recognizes the problem and works to solve it. I have loved Biden but I no longer feel he can lead this country and based on the editorials written in the past two weeks, many others agree (the NY Times, George Clooney, many Congress critters, etc.).
1. The Democratic party will implode if the candidate is changed at this late date. 2. A film actor is not any wiser than anyone else.
3. The news media is not reporting the news but driving it!
4. Many people are not familiar with elderly behavior in the physical sense, so are not paying attention to Biden’s words, his integrity, his compassion. I felt very consoled by his speech after the shooting.
💗
"The Democratic party will implode..."
Patent nonsense. If that is the case, then it will certainly implode when Trump beats the crap out of Biden in the election. So given the alternatives available, I would at least rather TRY to get a decent candidate opposite Trump and hope that they (he or she) bring a better fight than Biden will ever mount.
He should never have run again at age 81 and he should NOW step down for the good of the party AND the good of the country. And he then MIGHT have a legacy of greatness which will disappear in a heartbeat when he sells this country down the river to Trump and his minions.
I wonder, Annie, about your use of the word "news" (in your point 3).
Might behoove us better to see "the news media" as driving, above all, scripts. That is, well-rehearsed narratives immemorial from times past.
Various observers on this thread have well noted a number of apt story lines behind the MAGA crowd's passion for their Trump. Victimization. Loss of racial privilege. Other losses due to successes of women, gays, and people of color. Add to that feelings of not being seen, much less valued, by elites -- our bi-coastal elites with their college educations, super-good scores on standardized tests, and scorn, disdain for flyover country. All of these are well-known scripts, from which news media and social media algorithms well profit.
Then add in the interests of the billionaire classes to be freed from laws, taxes, and the various health, safety, finance, and environmental regulations of "the state." The personnel of the Clarence court (and sundry related like Aileen Cannon, like J.D. Vance, like Mike Johnson) hate this state, and intend to immunize their Trump and themselves over and above it. And free their billionaire "friends" all the more to their super profitable predations.
All old scripts, Annie. All well-rehearsed in most of our great plays, novels, memoirs, films, and other arts, to which today's Dem are totally blind.
Did you see how he was received by the workers in Detroit last week? He couldn't speak through the cheers. Big posters, "Motown is Joetown".
I think people are underestimating the President, but I wish the DNC would study and apply Rachel Bitecofer’s advice. They are not as effective at communicating with the public.
Not easy to tell the truth and be believed?
Yeah, but Michigan (which Biden MUST win again to even have a chance at winning the election) is NOT all Detroit. It is basically a Democratic stronghold in Detroit and a few other cities and Republican everywhere else. Biden is LOSING in Michigan right now by 6+ % pts. He will have to pull off a miracle to win Michigan, whereas a Harris Whitmer ticket might actually win Michigan going away.
Who can ignore that Clarence should not have even had an opinion on this case, conflicted with stupid Ginny as he is.
From the article at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/07/20/record-28-million-ar-15-and-ak-style-rifles-entered-us-circulation-in-2020-gun-group-says/
'...The United States manufactured or imported just over 24.4 million AR-15 and AK-style guns—which are often known as assault rifles or modern sporting rifles—from 1990 to 2020, a firearm industry group estimated Wednesday, with a record number added in 2020, as Democratic lawmakers call to ban the sale of the popular weapons amid the mounting toll of mass shootings carried out with them..."
24.4 million by 2020, 28 million in circulation!
Thanks, Jim. " . . . modern sporting rifles" -- some sport!
Thank you so much Heather for your webinar tonight on Project 2025! I have posted it in several places and hope people take advantage of it. It's going to be a rough few months! My birthday is November 7, two days after Election Day! In 2020, it was announced on November 7, that Biden won and want that again this year! Wish me luck! Good night now!
Luck to you! And to the continuation of our Democracy! Luck to us all!
Sadly luck isn't going to win this. We need clear-headed honesty with ourselves as to what the problem is (Biden) and a willingness on the part of the entire party to put aside differences and make the proper political moves to give ourselves at least a fighting change to win in 2024. Without that, we are pretty much doomed. SIgh....
The problems:
Biden has to make the decision. He has the delegates and money.
Harris would then have to be the candidate or they will lose the black vote.
Then they would have to get a Vice President.
Yes, unfortunately any attempt by the party to unseat Biden without his consent is probably doomed. Delegates would have to revolt against their own pledges and that isn't likely to happen. I generally agree that Harris is probably to logical choice, although not 100% sure of that. But assuming that is the case, the VP for me seems fairly obvious. It is EITHER Gretchen Whitmer (her comment that she is not running is obvious NOW since there is no "opening" for her, but may no longer be relevant when/if Biden steps aside and there IS an opening) or Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania. Longer shots would be Cory Booker (not likely to see two Black candidates on the same ticket though), Amy Klobuchar (I love Amy but don't think she is as strong a candidate as Whitmer). There are probably others, maybe even Pete Buttigieg for VP (although I still am not convinced the country is ready for either a gay President or VP as much as I personally would love to see it).
The benefit(s) of Whitmer or Shapiro are fairly obvious. The ticket needs at least one candidate from one of the major swing states and Michigan or Pennsylvania would be perfect.
Anyway, as you note, the first call has to be Biden's, but if he looks at the situation with real political honesty (is that an oxymoron LOL?) he has to come to grips with the fact that what should be a legendary Presidency for 2020-2024 will go down in ignominy if he runs in 2024 and loses as he is virtually certain to do. He will either be remembers as a G.O.A.T. or just a goat. Sigh...
Pete Buttigeg for President? Are you kidding? You can't find anyone dumber? The guy has been totally incompetent, when he shows up at all.
Name one accomplishment? Other than reminding everyone that he is
gay and woke, his political life has been proof that there is no ceiling for inept.
Get over your anti-gay bigotry, dude. As a Black man, you should be a little more tolerant. He has been a highly competent Secretary of Transportation for the Biden administration. He was one of the principal responsible officials for bringing the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment Act into being and then into use. He was heavily involved in transportation safety acts, including auto, rail and air. There are many more accomplishments which you can act as if they didn't happen, but they did and Buttigieg was a key player in all of it.
And I only suggested him for VP, and I did say I didn't think this country was ready for a gay VP or President but I still believe he would be excellent if he actually won the job.
Where can I get my hands on this webinar?!
https://fb.watch/tlR4CZOqog/?
I will wish you luck right now, Lisa!!☘️
Agree, thank you Heather!
Aileen Cannon has made a mockery of the law. Trump’s mishandling of those documents… (I’m sure there are more) is an enormity. “They’re mine.” NO. Who else saw them? Our national security is at risk, once again, bc of Trump’s proclivity for dictators and henchmen. Aileen Cannon should be disbarred.
I am not sure she meets disbarment standards in Florida, as it would be the Florida Bar who would have to determine that. She does need to be reversed and another judge assigned to her case who isn’t so biased in favor of Trump.
My husband who works for a defense contractor would be fired in a heartbeat if he accidentally took even one classified document home. WTF!
why isn’t our media saying that same statement as Lauren. when Biden attended the Debate (under the weather) the Press beat that like a dead horse.
We have a two tiered justice system thanks to Merrick Garland: one for Trump and one for the rest of us!
Whoever thought Garland would have been such a wimp.
It goes back further than Garland. I do think Garland has been overly cautious, but the SCOTUS majority ignores the constitution and its history by legalizing bribery and ignoring the Founders’ principle that the president is NOT above the law.
Once again, Heather, I take exception to your writing the "Republican Party." It's time to name it what it is, a cult.
If Trump gets elected, we can count on either Thomas or Alito retiring and Cannon being named to the Court If Trump dies peacefully in his bed (or in any other circumstances), he'll have left us in the grip of J.D. Vance, a man who has shown us that he's willing to sell his intelligence and his morality for the possibility of becoming president.
So it is incumbent on all of us to educate our friends and neighbors and everyone else about Project 2025. Here's a comment that I posted in the Boston Globe this afternoon:
Read Project 2025.
Unless you're a rich, white, Christian male, your rights will be taken away from you.
Women--no reproductive freedom for you, no ability to divorce for you,
LGBTQ+ folks--no marriage for you
Military veterans--reduced pensions/limited healthcare/no PTSD help for you
Families with young children--no Head Start, no nutrition assistance for you
Immigrants--family separation for you, deportation for you
Civil servants--unless you can prove your loyalty to the dictator, no federal jobs for you
All of us--no clean air, no clean water, no climate studies for us
A King for all of us, almost 250 years after we fought for our freedom from King George III
Thank you for summarizing it. I will pass it on.
I do believe the Repubs/GQP should be given the title of the Fascist Party.
Looking at trump tonight at the convention, I am amazed how fast his bleeding cheek healed, with not a single scar, and how his ear is hidden (well staged!) by a spotless bandage... If this was part of a play, we would complain that the make up wasn't good! And why "assassination? he was shot at, simply like many others in the past few years, including children, for whom I have much more sorrow than for this bad actor! And why were his shoes off???
The blood looked to me to be smeared across his cheek, not from a laceration but from his touching his ear after it was nicked. I find it strange that there has been no official report on his wound(s). For HIPAA reasons of course they can't go into details.
He will not allow them or anyone to talk about what happened or they will be fired. Really, a bullet from an AK rifle would have ripped his ear and head off. Fake, fake just like trump and his hair and tan, and his charity and university and and….
It truly is bizarre. Even a bullet from a 22 would do more than that.
That's not true. He's running for president.
But who should believe any physician report when Donny bone spurs had the illustrious Ronnie Jackson declare him so fit as to live forever and 40 pounds under his actual weight.
When he was crouched down, a photo showed that 3 lines of blood dripped from his ear down his cheek. Then someone wiped part of it away before he stood up. The lines were not scratches.
A reason to bend down and rise with his fist in the air…. Perfect photo op
Have no idea how any women in her right mind could ever vote for this pair
So by definition any woman voting for him is not in her right mind. I tend to agree.
They are brainless. Amber Rose announced at the RNC that Trump was not racist! Isn’t that a joke!
She’s a joke.
Uggh. I guess its a quid pro quo of some kind. I note that she has a lust for lots of money.
If Amber Rose looks at Trump and sees strength, she really can’t see what’s happening.
Oh I wouldn't restrict it by gender. I don't see how anyone in their right mind would vote for them.
I have at times wondered what it must have been like to live in 1930s Germany. I wonder no more as we seem to be living it.
I can answer that question. My mother was born in Berlin in 1916. She was born to a father and mother who had come from Krakow, Poland in earlier 1900’s to Germany. My grandfather was a tailor and my grandmother was a seamstress. They had four children: two girls, two boys. My mother ended up being a milliner and catered to quite a few elite women until 1933 when Hitler and the SS went on their rampage. She and her siblings left Germany in the nighttime and each escaped to Brussels where an uncle lived. My mother couldn’t stand what she saw in Belgium so she sought passage to London where her older sister was located. In 1938, she boarded the USS CUNARD in Liverpool for her destiny to land at Ellis Island. She saw things she never revealed to my sister and I. One of her brothers saw SS officers pick a baby up from the carriage and throw it to the ground.
Mind you, my mother and her siblings had to leave their parents behind but they tried desperately to get them out. The Nazis made up excuses that my grandmother was ill with typhoid. The Nazis came to my grandparents home and took them to a work camp. See, the Germans who turned their heads as to what was happening to Jews, merely said that the ones taken to camps were “going on vacation”. When the Wall came down in the 80’s, my uncle, who lived in London, flew to Germany to search for his parents. Nazis kept copious notes on every single person they murdered. He found that in January 1942, his parents died in a van with 9 others. They were gassed at the camp known as Chelmno. It was devastating for my mother as she felt they didn’t do enough to get them out but they did.
Even as I write this, I feel tearful. We simply cannot fall to this insanity so it will take all of us to keep talking, writing, use social media, and educate those who will listen.
Marlene, my heart goes out to you and your family. Thank for sharing your story. Chelmno is northeast of Warsaw, and when I visit in the next few years, I’ll leave stones in memory of your grandparents.
My boss, who was an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan, and is now deceased, had a similar background. He was able to come to the U.S. and lived here before and during the war. He served in the U.S. Army as a German interpreter for American interrogators questioning captured Nazi officers and officials. His father was a schoolteacher and had fought in the Imperial German Army during WWI. His parents were deported and killed at Chelmno. I served as a law clerk for my now deceased boss, and he was one of the finest people I’ve ever known.
Thanks, Kathy, for that. Seems like we all have a story to tell. 💕
Thank you, Ellie. 🩷
OMG one of my great uncles and his family were murdered by the Nazis at Chelmno. It was a little later than January 1942, I believe mid-1942, but it was definitely a killing center early in the war. Wow, seeing that town's name in your report made me shake. Sigh...
I am sorry for your family, also, Jon. ❤️ Those vans were provided either by Mercedes, Volkswagen, or possibly, Ford and maybe others.
Yes, even some American companies supported the Nazis before we entered the war, sigh. But it was global politics and as we see today, strange bedfellows can easily be made.
From one who knows first hand
We are living it.
Saying that is why FB and T banned me.
When I saw the headline this morning, my stomach lurched. This is traitorous outrage, minimally. My heart hurts. I will stay and I will fight. Meanwhile, my cousin in Ireland reached out and for the first time since all this chaos began in 2015, I was able to imagine myself in a quiet place where this chaos could not touch me. ☘️🍀
If Trump becomes President, chaos will touch everybody in the world. No place will be safe.
Are allies are creating “Plan B” in case Trump is president. They are terrified.
Glad you've got one with four leaves.
As HCR reported accurately JACK SMITH has stated publicly that his office will appeal but, Jack's Team has not done so yet.
As much as I would like to see Loose Cannon publicly scalded by the 11th Circuit for a 3d time , I concur with ANDREW WEISSMANN's early analysis to wit:
Do NOT appeal ! Siimply refile the same allegations through a United States Attorney Office [US AO]. If I were the Chief of the Florida US AO, I know who I would hire immediately.
His name is JACK SMITH.
Stay Safe All
Interesting thought. I listened to Weisman on MSNBC this AM and he laid out the appeal scenario. Pehaps he went into that after I had to go.
Ransom, Andrew is on "X" @AWeissmann. Here's Andrew's X Post:
" Jack Smith could avoid the delay and insanity/inanity of the Supreme Court and just have the INDICTMENT REFILED [Caps added] by the US Attorney -- as the flaw per Judge Cannon is that Jack Smith, as a Special Counsel, is too independent of the Department of Justice."
" Note, that conclusion by Cannon's is the OPPOSITE [ Andrew's Caps] of what Trump has been claiming: i.e. that Smith is a lackey the Administration!" [Andtew's ! Point].
Not a bad idea!
Where when did you see this from Andrew?
Sabrina, Andrew spelled out his proposed refiling tactic was on one of the MSNBC afternoon shows which was fragmented given co-host RNC coverage. But, I have quoted Andrew's "X" post verbatim above. ⬆️
Unfortunately I doubt they can just bring Smith on as a regular US Attorney. Those ranks are filled as civil service and you have to take the exam, get hired into a normal position, etc. That is one of the reasons Special Counsels and Independent Prosecuters were created, to avoid the civil service requirements for hiring. Obvious Smith would be qualified but they can't "end run" around the civil service procedures (that's precisely why those procedures exist and why SCs and IPs are handled differently).
But they could have any US Attorney already on staff refile the charges. It might take a bit of time as there are procedures they have to follow, but it would be another route.
He had to ask the office he isn't a legitimate official of for permission to file. It was granted last night. I'm sure he'll file today.
How much darker can it get before the dawn? When will chaos become opportunity?
It's just gotta.
I am waiting until after Labor Day or maybe Columbus Day.