When politics begins to divide people into "real humans" and "others," democracy has already entered dangerous territory. History suggests that dehumanizing language is rarely just rhetoric—it often prepares the ground for actions that once seemed impossible.
As a student of social sciences and statistics, I will tell you that the bottom 30% of any population--Ivy League grads, nurses, Nobel Prize winners, any group....--is going to be pretty insane. That 30% comes up again and again in studies of people's beliefs as the subset of the population that believes absolute bullshit--science deniers, global warming deniers, anti-vaxxers, adherents to various woo-based diets and "health" regimes, people who not only believe in ghosts and angels and devils, but believe they have seen/met them, racists, bigots, misogynists, etc....
They also tend to be the most ego-bound to their belief structures, and the most difficult to persuade that they are wrong.
The answer really is not to be concerned about converting them to reason. It is to put mechanisms in place to prevent their delusions from becoming policy and to punish intentional, false speech that causes harm. Cut them off from their audiences and they die from lack of attention.
And of course Trump went ballistic and threatened their broadcast licenses. They are under no legal obligation to broadcast Trump’s lies and delusions.
The best thing about not airing on the standard TV stations is that they know their audience knows it will be bull shit! We all know, so that makes me feel a hell of a lot better!
Reality: Reuters just reported two (2) additional U.S. deaths: 🙏
Reuters & MSNOW: Two (2) U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in an Iranian attack. Axios Sat. Update: 1 serviceman MIA. CENTCOM with holding names per Next of Kin protocol.
July 18, 202610:27 AM PDT Updated 8 mins ago. Obviously, IRAN has long distance missiles & drones.
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Per Bloomberg: 7/17/26 WTI Crude & Liquid Gas up ⬆️ 4.8% now.
No surprise that the faux liberal bloviators James Carville and Mike Smerconish chastised the networks for not giving his lies, threats, boasts and insults valuable airtime. For once some MSM companies did the right thing.
They used to be obligated. Since many presidents indulge in lies and delusions at one time or another, maybe its best to broadcast them and let people decide. Without lies and delusions, you have no politics. And without delusions, ...not many commenters here:)
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
I know that, so far at least, this is fictional Bill; however, the part of “You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life" is similar to what Muammar Gaddafi said, wasn't it? How did that turn out for him?
"Unchecked power"? Last time I checked (no pun intended) the courts have stopped him quite often, usually correctly, sometimes not. Article III checks power quite well.
The courts may have stopped him many times, usually only temporarily, until our corrupt SCOTUS weighs in. But the legislature, Senate and Representatives, have been USELESS so far. We need ALL three branches of government working, if we are to rely on the checks and balances as our constitution envisions.
True, but as one former president once said, let's see them enforce their ruling. (Andrew Jackson in reference to violating treaties made with Native Americans and remember whose portrait hangs in the Oval)
The DOJ has been disregarding many Court orders for the last eighteen months. I expect it to disregard all Court orders as far as limits to Executive power in the next four months. And trump most certainly will disregard the rule of law to ensure his unrestrained abuse of power.
The courts stop him until he reaches the top court, which affirms his actions. They have already supported his racism and his need for additional powers in our government to do what he wants, and they have nearly affirmed his proposal to do away with our forefathers' definition of citizenship. Yes, they have checked him on a few small things, but with respect to the things that truly touch and alter our democracy, they have sided with him.
Thanks for this observation--namely that what he says is not aimed at normal people who actually care about others and the U.S. as a democracy. It's aimed at his cultists and fellow travelers to help them justify to themselves their power and money grabs, illegal behavior, violence, fanaticism and cruelty. If it creates strong reactions on the left all the better. His end game is to declare a national emergency, invoke special powers and create as much chaos and disfunction as he can around the 2026 elections.
Many of those 70 million voters were either too lazy or too stupid too pay attention to the deeply fascist rhetoric and behavior of right-wingers over the decades or even the fascist insurrection on January 6 2021.
Yes, they voted for a twice-impeached convicted fraudster. That's the central tragedy of your ailing democracy that is making you the laughting stock of the civilised world.
I agree that the 30% have always been there and represent outlandish beliefs. However, they haven't been running our country before, certainly not as president!
Add Tim Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017),
and Maria Ressa's How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future (2022),
and Heather Cox Richardson's Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (2023, 2024),
and Bernie Sanders's Fight Oligarchy (2025).
For those who really want to immerse themselves in twentieth century fascism/naziism, I recommend The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship, by Ernst Fraenkel (reprinted English edition by The Lawbook Exchange, 2006, 2010)
In On Tyranny, Professor Snyder gives us the abbreviated advice succinctly in his twelfth admonition: "Make Eye Contact and Small Talk."
Thank you for the link. I do hope that the US will be able to seek justice for all the money stolen, as well as the January 6th insurrection. Otherwise we are finished as a country.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that after the Dems take power put Trump his sons and all his cronies in jail for years and years I’m all for that!
Fortunately, most of them are 55+ and are followers and not leaders.
The next several Federal elections should be about removing the over 65 Republicans in the House, Senate and SCOTUS, plus the ones that have served more than 12 years.
We need to point out who is funding all of the bullshit behind each campaign because it's not the constituents.
I agree with you on term limits, but would push back on the concept that age is an adequate filter for competence. Several younger-than-65 politicians certainly come to mind.
If you look at the Nobel Prize winners, self-made billionaires, writers, artists and musicians most of them had their breakthroughs in their 20's, 30's and 40's. Certainly not all, because most of them had their best output, if you will before age 50.
The oligarchs aren't interested in buying Progressives. They want politicians that will allow them to get rich and stay rich. The worst of the billionaires seem to be the trustifarians like DJT that have never worked a day in their life.
Today Maine voters in every county elect their delegates to next week's pop up convention to select the Democratic senate nominee. The Maine Democratic party and county committees are doing a formidable job. Local media even held debates with all candidates.
Some candidates have proven progressive track records and attracted significant voter support in the recent primaries - Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson, and Nirav Shah.
The others are a vote splitting Schumer shill (Kleban who dropped out of the primary when Mills got in), running vanity campaigns (Wood and Costello), or two seeking name recognition (can't remember.)
None have the proven ability of primary winner Graham Platner - whose platform and personal skill resulted in an historic primary victory for progressives, and who was hounded out of the election by a concerted effort of personal and anti-progressive resentments, and shameless self promotion, by people who built a bogey man of unsubstantiated allegations piled on acknowledged and apologized for distasteful elements of Platner's past. After the damage was done, the Morning Joe team, no fans of Platner, demonstrated that the most damning Politico report did not actually have the documentary evidence they claimed to have. And the owners of Politico have given techno-fascist Peter Thiel an award.
The campaign rests on the generosity and priorities of Platner voters who hopefully will see the bigger picture and put their dismay aside to Vote Blue to take back the Senate. Vote Blue No Matter Who cannot always rest on the shoulders of progressives. But this is no time to sit on our hands to send a message to the party - by cutting our nose to spite our face and reelecting Trump enabler Susan Collins..
I would have voted for Platner, but even more I would have and will vote AGAINST Collins. I hope I'm typical of former Platner voters - it's my belief, which I hope is widely shared, that THE most important thing Mainers must do this November is Vote Blue/Dump Collins. We/our delegates must run the candidate most likely to get people to do that. Having watched the candidates' discussion ( it wasn't much of a debate, imo) Jackson and, surprisingly, Kleber, I thought came off strongest. Shenna's "performance" was really not effective. (I voted for her to be the Dem candidate for Governor.) Shah didn't really stand out. We need to run someone who can capture Platner's AND Mills' voters AND a meaningful number of purple and some red Mainers, because it really is bottom v top, less left v right, for this election and going forward. We need a Senator who will represent ALL Mainers, which I think was the most powerful message Platner had, and he conveyed it very well.
Then how do you 'see' all of the followers of 'Charlie Kirk'...............they were certainly not a 55+ in age group!!!! When I attended the earlier demonstrations for Democracy.....there were a lot of the 55+ attending and doing the work behind the scenes!
And yes, there are millions of 55+ that are Democrats and Independents and millions of them used to be Republicans that voted for Reagan and even Nixon. But, they realized that since the oligarchs took over the Republican Party, they can no longer support what it has become.
There will always be a Charlie Kirk or Joe Rogan out there preaching to the Gen-z, Gen-x, millennial group. That's why we need to embrace the Mandami's.
GJ, I echo Bonnie MacEvoy. There needs to be term limits. Period.
But age should not be the measure. Under your proposed net, Bernie Sanders (84) and Maxine Waters (88), two vital progressive activists would be swept away. Nancy Pelosi, arguably one of the most effective speakers in U.S. history was in her 70s and 80s when she led a House that actually checked Trump.
Bottom line: Age is neither the problem nor the solution.
The problem is the absence of term limits. It's the problem with our Congress, with our Supreme Court, and if Donald has his way, with our presidency.
Human nature makes the rules. When a person in office is aware that there's no limit to how long they can serve in that office, their focus shifts from being effective in the office to remaining in office as long as possible. Because we humans are resistant to change. Same is comfortable. Change is uncomfortable.
The person with unlimited time in office thinks, "I must spend all my time schmoozing my large donors so they will help fund my next campaign." Accomplishing something doesn't even enter the picture.
The person with a limited time in office thinks, "I must accomplish as much as I can, because I have only 8 years to do it."
Term limits may motivate a bad actor to do as much damage as possible in the time they have, but the extent of that damage will be confined to their limited term. Dissatisfied voters then have a chance to make a change.
On the flip side of the coin, a representative who creates a lot of good for constituents during their term will motivate voters to choose a similar successor.
The Supreme Court needs to be expanded to have as many Justices as there are Circuit Courts in the country. Term limits should be configured to give every President two opportunities to appoint Justices requiring super majority approval in the Senate regardless of wether the filibuster exists or not.
Cabinet positions should also require super majorities for appoint.
Rules for the Senate and the House in the interest of a strong democracy should be instituted via Constitutional amendments and not dependent on individual integrity and character of politicians.
As much as I love Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders, I would trade them for getting rid of Tom Cotton, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Ted Cruz, Deb Fischer, Rick Scott and many others. They vote however the party leadership tells them to vote and refuse to work in a bipartisan manner. The Federal minimum wage was last updated in 2009 and none of the above have supported raising it since then. And they are all multi-millionaires.
So we have to hope that someone is elected that is willing to help the average American and is not beholden to the wealthy people that got them elected again and again. We all know how often that happens especially with Republican politicians.
Term limits GJ, has its dark side as does the longevity of one's term in Congress or the Senate; neither is a fix for whatever ails our nation. The solution is within the hands of the responsible and well-educated electorate. That should not exclude those who are not well-educated; those who are not responsible, I would hope would simply not vote. However, there is no way, nor should there be a way, to stop them from voting. That essentially, in my viewpoint at least, is the conundrum of a democratic republic. We have to find a way to include "new fresh ideas" that are expectedly inherent with the fresh incoming reps and still keep the retired or election losers in the game for advice based on experience. The newly elected would have the final say on any direction a new bill or idea that may go forward. No one said that democracy wouldn't be messy.
By allowing politicians like Strom Thurmond, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley to continue to represent their states long past their "sell-by" date we are doing a disservice to the people they don't represent. And we all know, it is damn near impossible to ever vote them out of office.
The majority of trump voters were white and that is much more than only those 55 years old and above. As a whight citizen, that satistic is deeply disturbing as it implies that white voters are overwhelmingly white supremacist.
" the over 65 Republicans in the House, Senate" Ever hear of "what goes around comes around"? A few Democrats over 65. And if youth is good, explain Cortez, Pressley, Tlib, Jayapal, Tayleo Green, Boebert, Crockett.
Jayapal is articulate, well educated, passionate, an excellent thinker, and, from the old expression used in the 1940's, she can tell the difference between shit and Shinola (shoe polish, for you youngsters in the crowd.) And she works damn hard.
My Senators are 73 and 82 years old. They have both been reelected multiple times. One is a Republican and one is an Independent. There are plenty of worthy replacements out there. And ones with way more energy to do battle with the other party.
Our process for picking candidates is flawed. I've talked with many good candidates that were smarter and more qualified that the person that won the primary. But, they didn't have the looks or the name recognition or the money behind them. Case in point, Shenna Bellows in Maine. She came in 4th in the primary and has done an excellent job as Secretary of State. Tommy Tuberville doesn't have the brains God gave lettuce and he's a two term Senator from Alabama.
The GOP-aligned superpac, the Senate Leadership Fund, is still maintaining its initial pledge of $44 million to Mike Collins in the Georgia Senate race against Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The financials of the rally-going MAGA voters do not come close to accounting for the millions upon millions of dollars that pour in to GOP campaigns. But it seems to be more fun to wage City Mouse vs. Country Mouse culture wars than to identify and klieg light the power brokers trying to corrupt our elections and democratic institutions.
I agree that there are always irrational fringe groups. There are many people, not a fringe group, who have spiritual experiences, including visions of angels, precognition, intuitive knowing that a loved one is in difficulty or has died, and many other phenomena, and are rational and persuadable. Others have not had such experiences. From a scientific standpoint, over a century of research demonstrates that PSI abilities are real, even if they’re not fully understood. You can be religious and accept science. Scientific paradigms evolve as well, and the new paradigms don’t fully explain what is observed either, i.e., from Newtonian physics to quantum physics.
Yeah, no. There have been no legitimate studies that show that "psi" or any other supernatural phenomena exists. To paraphrase Sean Carroll, no scientist anywhere calibrates their instruments, which are precise to a degree that is almost incomprehensible, to account for the influence of some sort of supernatural being or force.
There are a number of studies that show that ecstatic experience can be reliably induced by meditation, breathing exercises or hallucinogens, and that experience can be life-changing, creating a sense of being at one with the universe. I don't discount the value or solace of such experience, but I also don't believe it justifies belief in supernatural forces or entities. Your mileage may vary.
You are incorrect. Read the literature, starting with The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin. Parapsychologists calibrate their instruments exceptionally well because they know that skeptics will doubt them for not doing so. Look up the Galileo Commission and read its report, available online at no charge. Skeptics refused to look through Galileo’s telescope.
There is widespread belief that there has never been proof of PSI. It is repeated often enough that many people believe it, even though it’s wrong. That’s the nature of an old paradigm being hard to dislodge.
My mileage does vary, because I’ve had such experiences, as do many people, without hyperventilation, etc, and they’re validated by parapsychological research. Thunder and lightning were thought to be supernatural until people understood electricity.
You could say the same thing about the unconscious. You can’t touch it, feel it, or measure it. Most well-trained psychologists and psychiatrists admit the existence of this unmeasurable reality, including the famous Carl Jung whose theories (along with Freud) relied on it. Modern science has its limitations.
Freedom, this is how far down your road I will go with you: We humans use only a percentage of our sentient capacity. The percentage varies by whoever is conducting the research. Obviously, some people are more sentient than others. I'll even agree that some extraordinary capabilities are not understood or misunderstood.
But when you start talking about visions and angels and ghosts and other "paranormal phenomena," you're just spouting nonsense, regardless of the "literature" you quote to back you up.
Yes, "you can be religious and accept science," but science doesn't need anyone's acceptance. The truth is, you can't be scientific and accept religion.
Science is evidence-based. Religion is based on ... nothing, really. It's based on myth, legends and feelings. None of which are facts or evidence.
Spirituality and religion can be based on an objective evaluation of your own experiences. The findings of parapsychology are done with objective discipline in laboratories. Scientists are objectively considering a paradigm that includes consciousness as a necessary constituent. I’ve cited two sources that you can check, or not. I don’t need to convince you but suggest you keep an open mind that you may not know enough to dismiss spiritual experience out of hand.
Um. . .but that depends on how you score "insane."
You mention "science deniers, global warming deniers, anti-vaxxers, adherents to various woo-based diets and "health" regimes, people who not only believe in ghosts and angels and devils, but believe they have seen/met them, racists, bigots, misogynists, etc...."
A lot of this belief is just on the level of "silly."
"I've got a St. Christopher I wear to keep me safe in the car" is not going to influence the elections much. "I don't like mixing with people who are "different" also won't influence what you think about inflation or the war in Iran much. Although I agree with what you say, I think it is the rabid 10% of this 30% that we need to worry about.
I’ll take those odds! “Cut them off from their audiences” means: boycott the legacy networks and the corporations supporting them. Turn to your choice of independent journalists for your news and updates! Stay focused on raising your voice and support for Pro-democracy organizations & Democratic candidates!! Candidates that do NOT take $$$$ from corporate, crypto, American-Israel pac, etc…
This is our time in our country’s history to stand up and pushback!! We must vote, encourage and support our neighbors to vote, and be united in our efforts to win in the November midterms and every election after that. Vote BLUE & be proud you supported your country’s future!
I agree that most institutions in the U.S. aren’t immunizing people from conspiracism. I fear that universities aren’t teaching, you know, critical thinking. (Duke University spawned Miller and Princeton, Hegseth). But what do you mean by “bottom 30%”? Shouldn’t that just be “30%”?
IMHO critical thinking needs to be taught far earlier than the university level. What critical thinking I have was learned in high school. Then I applied it when I went on to university.
Fred, I would assert that critical thinking can be – and should be – taught to students of any age. It's just a matter of adjusting the complexity of examples to be age-appropriate.
Social media and cable news has allowed them to crawl out from under there rocks. So. I think "education is the silver bullet" quoting the West Wing and through education and critical thinking that that 30% can be encouraged back under their rocks.
The departure from reason and reality by that bottom 30% is closely associated with religiosity. The promotion of hyper-religiosity is a threat to civilization, whether it’s the cult of ultra-orthodox Judaism, extremist Muslim variants, or “Christian” fanaticism.
Andrew Weissmann's excellent #1 New York Times bestseller "Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America" provides an excellent constitutional road map for how to punish intentional false speech that damages confidence in elections. Other nations have done this, we can too.
In a Democracy where freedom of thought and speech are still allowed this is what happens. There are 70% of others who believe differently. Why not focus on the power of the 70%?
Because the opposition does not have an organized pro-active leadership with a coherent platform. I have ceased saying "Democrats" both because of the party's inability to do more than be reactive to the regime's actions, and because to win now that we are in this deep we need to organize the opposition more broadly.
There are brilliant individual voices out there who are in this fight to win. But there is not yet solidarity (ooooh, scary leftist word) and cohesiveness.
Somehow the Democratic party has chosen to read from the divisive script to play up the rivalry between progressive and moderate candidates, and sit back and see how the primaries turn out and then try to patch things up. That is way too late in the process to be trying to hash out what the opposition should be standing for. And it certainly isn't the way to attract independents and disaffected voters and non-voters.
30% welded into a common force with a common (manipulated) understanding is a lot more powerful than a 70% that is not. Look at how the fragmented Republican party shed its dissenters and morphed into a MAGA cult with the right people in the right places with their hands on the levers of power. They even wrote their own bible with Project 2025.
What will it take to turn this around? Setting aside egos, working together for the common good. Sitting down like the founders did, together, and reaching common ground on what they stood for. Writing it down. Pledging their lives and fortunes. It's not like nobody's ever done it before.
You know already Georgia, that you and I are 100% aligned regarding a shadow cabinet. The official Democratic Party does not have the courage to be a catalyst for one. So others need to fill the void. Some of them can be well known Democrats. Some can be independents. But as Bill said, the movement needs a leader. Who will that be? It needs to be someone with a strong, confident and uncompromising voice. It could be left, medium-left/liberal, or centrist.
I definitely favor more progressive candidates, but right now I just want to see someone who is a fighter and also a field general who can organize and inspire others. AOC and Pete B are ideologically much different but they both have that factor. And they are not the only ones.
I have often supported what I considered the less damaging candidate instead of the best. In my voting years I’ve only once voted for a 3rd party and that was a mistake. It was the John Anderson option. I think it was Anderson, Carter and Reagan? Recalling our side 3rd party Greens like Ralph Nader cutting Al Gore’s chances. Or the Green candidate in 2016. I do agree with you about ending our fussing over moderate and progressive yet I become my own worst enemy when I want us to dispatch mostly unpopular issues and frankly ones I disagree with. But we don’t we hold onto issues for dear life. Most of us a hardwired to think a certain way because we are told that it’s the right way. We listen to our chosen leaders. I won’t go into specifics since that will only breed immediate disagreement here.
So what is the best was to extricate ourselves from this nightmare? Well, all species need leaders. The birds of the sky follow that one bird at the front. The lion has her pride and the gorilla clan has its gray back.
I agree that a strong voice must rise. But I’m unsure if we will unite sufficiently to defeat the evil. I’m reminded of past comments from soldiers who said, “I was just following orders.” I find it extraordinary that Americans could fall into this inferno as we have. There is little doubt that Trump is planning to invoke the Insurrection Act and call out troops in cities across the nation and indeed, suspend the election if he can get away with it. We are in a big pickle.
All this Democratic Party basihing is the culmination of many years of psy ops -- not only from Republicans but from the Russians, the Chinese, the Saudis, and others.
The Democratic Party has a platform. IMHO we wuz screwed in the 2024 election. Our platform is superior to theirs. We are a big tent party and need tolerance and patience.
In order to confront the insurrection act, unitary executive theory, etc we need to target the enemy. IMHO Trump's most vulnerable spot today is still Epstein. We are a minority party in Congress an need a few Republicans to stand up to him.
Canadian here. I’ve been watching from a distance (with great dismay) and what strikes me repeatedly is the lack of cohesive messaging. At some point all the anger about the trashing of your democracy needs to turn away from against Trump into big tent messaging about what you are for (the 70%) and what you as the children of the revolution deserve - no one is above the law; everyone pays their fair share; the economy must work for everyone; everyone deserves the dignity of affordable housing, healthcare and food; there’s more that unites us than divides us etc. And there needs to be clear messaging about legitimate concerns around immigration, culture war issues etc. What messaging would you need to have to bring along the more socially conservative people who are struggling to make ends meet? I can think of a lot of older people who may be slower to evolve on social issues or have concerns about social issues who may need to feel heard. And this messaging should be supported by cohesive proof points and counter points. If the messaging includes clear support of laws applying to everyone, then actions in future to prosecute corruption or the Epstein files should not be seen as lawfare. Maybe there is clear messaging and it’s not getting coverage in the media.
I agree with you, too, Daniel. When the fascists hold all the power cards, it is hard to imagine how to defeat fascism. This pickle (to quote Bill Katz) has been germinating for at least half a century, in narrowing what government can do (cutting taxes, funding), undermining education, spawning right-wing judicial candidates, and the "vast Right-Wing conspiracy" of taking over the mass media.
The birds in the sky share the leadership position with a rhythm that is superb to watch. Head out into open spaces ( valleys often) & watch numerous flocks at sundown changing leader positions !
Right, Georgia, the more the "moderate" Democrats whine about the more liberal candidates the more it sinks in that the moderate Democrats do not campaign on taking the money out of politics and makes me think that they favor the rights of their wealthy Oligarch donors over the rights and treatment ordinary everyday citizens.
I wish you would lead this movement Georgia. I'd be your number 2 if you would have me - although there are smarter people than me who I am sure would be greater in this position.
It would be stupid to ignore the unhinged Fascist minority Barbara.
Especially when the unhinged Fascists hold power at every level of the federal government. The rule of law exists on a knifes edge today and the American public hasn't been in this much danger since the Civil War.
Where did I say to ignore the fascists in power? The 30% do not hold the power. This is propaganda thinking. This regime currently has power over us but they do not hold the power. The power resides with the 70% who need to rise up.
Your post said "Why don't we concentrate on the 70 percent?"
My view is that the perversion of the 30% needs to be understood by the rest of us so everyone will feel the need to participate in elections to counter the fascist 30%. To accomplish that, we need to make the 70% awafe of what the 30% want to accomplish.
Understand what? They are a cult with no power. We need to get out the vote. We need to clean PAC soaked incumbents/candidates out of the Democratic Party, embrace the rising DSA and know the issues like our own name. We have too much work to do to keep navel gazing about the 30%.
Go to AIPAC Tracker and integrityindex.us. See who in the Democratic Party Leadership is more aligned with Israel that us. Schumer said his first allegiance is to Israel. Races such as Michigan where Schumer and AIPAC are spending over $30 million to defeat a progressive candidate like Mamdani who has done wonders for the people of NYC. The Democratic Party allowed djt to win-twice through ineptitude, arrogance and allegiance to Israel.
Oy! But worse than flat earthers are all ones who know better but insist on not participating and are proud to not vote and claim both sides are the same.
Speaking here, of course, with the new discovery that I’m an unhuman…..
I heard the new “trend” by “influencers” is making not voting at all cool. Acting as though not voting at all is an actual “vote”. They are proud to be CHOOSING the right to vote.
Oy oy. How does a mind get so incredibly bent? Perhaps it is the first amendment which allows the individual to have freedom of thought and expression. But it is a pathetically flawed mind that can act on those thoughts. Though McCarthy did. And it appears we are here again.
Hello J L ... As an Adolescent in the 1950s, DJT parked himself in front of the Television.... That seems to be the 'Real America' to DJT... DJT is a 'Throw-Back', and wants to impose his Retardation on all of the USA...
He has no likes. Subjugating is just part of the orders he’s been given. He’s Putin’s puppet, kept in his place through their regular phone chats and being on the payroll. Possibly his gift for grift could mean he could buy Putin by now, but he wouldn’t dream of it because his mind is too narrow, his head too empty, and his hero worship too ingrained.
In the Kremlin and the WH (dc, fla, etc) I wish hackers could make every computer and cellphone in the Kremlin and the White House(s) - DC, FL, NJ…- show clips from Death of Stalin. They’d just appear and play for some random number of minutes and there’d be no way to stop them, even powering off and rebooting wouldn’t work.You’d just have to wait for the clip to end. And several minutes later another clip would start.
A report came out today that students in 3rd grade in a Md. county are woefully below grade level. So, we do what we usually do - hold a summer school program, which, I believe, is hardly enough time to increase their reading scores significantly before school starts in a month and a half.
I think you may be wrong… 8 years old is premium for catching up in reading .. especially if home life is encouraging (turning off all other distractions) for 1/2-3/4 hours of engaging everyone in the family group to share a small book … read over at meal time ( no screens on ! Hand held or across the room on a tv)!
Home encouragement can be as important as school time.
Of course, if children are read to or if parents engage their children to talk about school, their day, what they learned or did. When I go out to dinner, I see families sitting together all with their cell phones poised near their face, including the children. Of course, I will not dismiss other factors, such as learning disabilities, etc.
Too bad their elders in the Democratic Party could only read dollar signs from AIPAC. Younger people give me more hope than old people. The older politicians should hang their heads in shame. Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, M. Garland, S. Collins and all of them ignored the signs of what was brewing. Look at what they have left to the younger people in this Country. And the elder voters to refuse to even consider more progressive candidates. The elders in America need to do some considerable self-reflection and decide how they are going to make it up to younger generations.
That's the same bs people have been saying since Reagan. IMHO as someone who is old, I've been waiting for the "youth vote" to kick in since 1982, and it NEVER HAS. As some who has been a party official, I've been dealing with hired help who don't know jack about politics as long as I can remember. Gen z and Gen x have let us down.
IMHO we actually won in 2016 and 2024. Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania in 2024?
According to the data sources I checked Gen Z has become a major voting bloc in this country. In the 2024 election 41 million Gen Z were eligible to vote and 47% of them did. In the 2020 election 50% of eligible GenZ voters turned out at the polls. It is way past time to stop slamming the youth. We, the elders, got us into this nightmare. Frankly I am counting on the younger, more progressive thinking voters to get us out of this. Source: The Voting Institute
Sez you. We spend a disproportionate amount of the limited funds we get, which seldom come from people under 50, on the "youth vote."
Those of us who volunteer are generally diminished by the bull shit artists stealing our funds, who provide no (0) value, and who publicly disrespect people like Pelosi, who has been the number 1 tar baby for the enemy.
Whereas we should dominate the youth vote, in 2024, we lost the them. .
The establishment Democratic Party managed to lose twice to djt. The Democratic Party diddled for decades while the Heritage Foundation, Christian Nationalists, Tea Party were like a hurricane brewing out in the Atlantic (Republican Party) gathering enough strength to morph in MAGA.
The Schumer coalition is spending many millions to defeat change within the Democratic Party. We should be outraged at what they wrought but instead we finger point and look the other way.
“I've been dealing with hired help who don't know jack about politics as long as I can remember. Gen z and Gen x have let us down.”
Hey, you old curmudgeon,
Those generations may have let you down, but not at all as badly as our generations have let them down. We’ve spent the last 45 years taking everything we can from their future, sticking them with a dirty hot planet and a shit ton of debt and them and their families in seriously bad shape.
I have a couple of people I text with and they either abbreviate things like, IMO, or answer a question with one word. And my daughter is one of them, which is bizarre because she wrote a novel with long sentences and several words I had to look up (don't tell her the last part).
And one assumes that everyone they meet can read. The sad part is the Republcans keep adding more and more bureaucracy to applying for and keeping SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, etc when they can't even read a form. And trying to get someone in an agency to assist is increasingly more difficult.
I wonder if some of this is our generation carrying our own standards of “good communication” into technologies that developed after us.
Many of us adapted our existing writing habits to email, texting, and social media. Younger, digital-native generations developed entirely new conventions for those platforms: abbreviations, emojis, GIFs, memes, and other forms of shorthand that communicate surprisingly rich information within those contexts.
Does that make them illiterate? I don’t think so. By the same logic, would someone who can’t write in cursive be considered illiterate today?
I’d argue literacy is better understood as mastery of a range of communication skills, knowing what style fits what setting. Your daughter is a perfect example. She can write a novel with a sophisticated vocabulary and also answer a text with “IMO” or a single emoji. That’s not a lack of literacy. It’s code-switching.
Where I do share your concern is when someone has only one communication mode and carries texting conventions into every context. If texting becomes the only language someone speaks, then we’ve lost something important.
Also, who exactly was tested? Most of Gen Z has already finished school, so “can’t read at grade level” isn’t even a straightforward measure for the generation as a whole. If this came from NAEP, those assessments only test certain grades, and “Proficient” on NAEP is not the same thing as “at grade level.”
I’d be interested in seeing the original study rather than a statistic that’s been repeated without context.
Only Two-Thirds Of American Millennials Believe The Earth Is Round
ByTrevor Nace,Former Contributor. Explore More
Apr 04, 2018, 07:55am EDTMay 16, 2022
Millennials in America sometimes get a bad reputation, this time for good reason. A recent survey found that just 66 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 years old have "always believed the world is round."
YouGov polled 8,215 US adults on February 8th, 2018 to get a representative idea of America's views on the shape of the Earth. What they found would make any scientist shake their heads, a surprising percentage of responders weren't convinced the Earth is round.
The survey found that 2% of Americans firmly believe the Earth is flat, with interesting differences segmented by age, religion, income, and political affiliation.
Of the thousands of American adults surveyed, the percent that always believed the Earth is round decreased with younger generations. In total, 84% of Americans responded that they believe the Earth is round. While the large majority believe the world is round, young millennials aged 18 to 24 are more likely to subscribe to the flat Earth belief (4%).
Religious beliefs appear to be correlated with one's likelihood to subscribe to a flat Earth. YouGov found that 52 percent of flat earthers consider themselves "very religious."
Robin Andrews with IFLScience pointed out that staunch religious conservatives tend to hold a disbelief in science and are unwilling to support scientific research and findings.
Comparing religious beliefs, YouGov found that Democrats are slightly less likely to believe the Earth is round than Republicans (83 versus 89 percent, respectively). This, perhaps, could be an overprint of younger generations more likely to lean Democratic and older generations more likely to lean Republican. While YouGov didn't find a significant variation in flat Earth beliefs geographically, they did find a significant variation based on income level.
The survey found that those with an income less than $40,000 (79%) are much less likely to believe the world is round compared to those with an income over $80,000 (92%).
Why "however"? False beliefs are one thing. It's a matter of knowing how to get accurate knowledge.
What Homo Viator refers to is immoral beliefs. It is immoral to believe that some human beings would be "less human" than others. This belief characterizes Nazism, and now also the neofascist GOP leadership and its ideologues.
The correct level of mask DOES work against COVID but vaccination works better still; and the unvaccinated are going to die in the long run, it might be from complications of measles that wipes your prior immunities...science is truth
My question is...who are these communists? Have they named names; do they know who is the communist leader or candidate; is there a communist national headquarters; is there a communist manifesto or policy position; we should call things by their proper names - words matter; is the word communist merely a private dialect created by deceitful, reckless trump people to maintain a fearful environment? What does it say about our culture that deception and lies are so easy to market????
I was at my daughter’s soccer game and heard one of the parents say “they even have an open communist running nyc now.” Most people don’t even know what communism is.
Many of the ideas expressed in the book as HCR points out are straight out of FASCIST mindset. Remember their stated devotion to FRANCO and Mussolini, who started the Fascism in Italy and Spain before Germany, and mentioned in the UNHUMANS book. That Vance et alia believe that should totally disqualify them from any political office ever again. I think that is the unstated point in the HCR post.
Yes, and Heathers point is this is how many of the far right leaders think. Look at all the horrible cuts this regime has made, including health care, food, climate change, CDC, inspectors and the rule of law to name a few. The idealogy of the regime is to get rid of all that don’t believe in their agenda. Starve them, hurt them, kill them. They want progressives gone! They want to create their own fiefdoms that they dominate women and get rid of people of color. We must realize what we are up against and fight back every way we can!
If you ask most of the people in this forum, the answer is that "communists" don't exist.
It is a fabrication to distract the public from the Administrations failures and crimes. Murders at sea, murders on our streets, ripping apart families and communities, costly unwinnable war, Epstein/Maxwell/Blanche/Trump/Epstein/Trump/Child Rapists, ever increasing prices, healthcare deprived hungry people, crypto theft, pardons for sale...Republican corruption and failure on every subject. Failure and crimes beyond any in US history.
If you ask the Fascists calling out ""communists" who they are - it's most of the people on this forum. In fact, most of America that has not drunk the Kool Aide. They are demonizing as "Unhuman" you and me.
Agree!! My questions were not really directed at this substack/forum - although I appreciate all the responses - but more rhetorical that I would pose to the trump people/followers.
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own land
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
They conflate Democrats, who are not hive mind thinkers, progressive, centrist, Democratic Socialists and anyone who doesn’t support Trump as “Communists.” There are only 3,000 or so genuine Communist Party members in the U.S., and they are very un-influential. Democratic socialism has its biggest attraction in larger cities. Communists don’t like Democratic Socialists because of the latter’s belief in fair play. I get frustrated at the DNC and DCCC, who think they have to play the same big money game imposed in Citizens United. Some people confuse Muslims, Democrats and Communists as one giant Borg trying to assimilate the nation. They think all Muslims are Islamists, which is untrue, and white Christian Nationalists would ban all non-Christian faiths except for Judaism. Some WCNs like Owen Lebbon would ban Judaism and treat Black citizens as inferior becaise that mindset is only still too prevalent in the U.S. Doug Wilson, who is Owen Lebbon’s mentor, would ban all but his own version of Chrisitanity and establish a theocracy, and the Catholics in the white Christian Nationalist movement (I have no use for their views as my coreligionists,) would soon find themselves with the Protestants declarjng war on them.
As Heather said I her letter, Stephanie, they are saying anyone to the left of trump fascists are communist. And they will claim that every protester they kill or imprison during the civil uprising after refusing to seat Democratic winners in the midterm elections.
For all the people who are part of the conspiracy movement and the Christian Nationalists, there are talking points in these speeches that resonate with them, that the rest of us will not get and will think sounds crazy. They are catering to very deranged groups, but somehow they have the power to act on this too, until some court may or may not stop them. Not only is Trump throwing protesters who do not follow him into prison for sentences that violent criminals do not get if they are far right, but he is trying to include the rest of the countries of the world in his sham. I am in Europe and watching them bend over backwards to keep the US in NATO and Trumps troops and weapons on the ground in Europe. To do this, they debase themselves and sell out democratic practices in their country. Rubio met with 67 leaders and asked them to help Trump go after people and groups he deems unworthy. Meanwhile he is spending billions of our tax dollars propping up far right candidates globally. People have to protest this and NSPM-7.
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own land
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
The origin of the political/ cultural divide was the onset of paid, professional lobbyists, and the PACs that cycle ex congresspeople through their ranks for excessive “salaries”. The truly irresponsible “decisions” of SCOTUS since that time has cemented the process into the winner/loser mindset of the political class.
Make lobbying. A felony and we might see some Legislators who make decisions on what is right for the country. Take away the money and we might see Representatives who desire to serve rather than to enrich themselves.
Linda, while I agree with you in principle, how can you make lobbying a felony? It is really a form of collective bargaining. A group of people share an objective or a grievance, so they organize to bring their objective/grievance to the attention of the person(s) with the power to address their concern.
Corporate executives would love to get rid of unions so they can treat employees however they please with impunity. When a single worker walks off the job in protest, they get fired. When the entire workforce goes on strike, they get attention.
Lobbying can exist, but it must be heavily regulated so that it is a collective messaging system and not a bribery operation.
Advocacy groups lobbying politicians is one thing, the professional lobbying industry quite another. At the past three COP summits, professional lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry have outnumbered delegates. The same playbook used by lobbyists for the tobacco industry denying the link between smoking and lung cancer is now being deployed by lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry to cast doubt on the science of climate change. There is a whole network of right-wing lobby groups (the Atlas Network) operating as charities when they are nothing of the kind. There seems to be no regulation at all of these activities.
Russell, the NRA comes to mind. It began as a gun safety organization that served gun owners. It has morphed into a threatening/bribery organization that serves gun manufacturers.
Lobbying very quickly became a vehicle for bribery. There are no guardrails that prevent out and out bribery of public officials.
Furthermore, the elected representatives have stopped doing their own research on issues, and instead vote on bills dependent on which lobbiest offers more goodies.
What they are doing is felonious, if not traitorous. Find a way other than outlawing the practice, and I will be totally on board.
In my opinion, Dale, corporate lobbying is more inline with Oligarchic post Citizens United money in politics but has been effective much longer by providing politicians with money for campaigns and lucrative post politics jobs lobbying their ex colleagues. If there were a way to police lobbyists and inform the voters of the lobbyists' dealings with their representatives and the identity of those who back any political advertising maybe keeping it legal would work.
How many voters would actually keep track that kind of information?
Lobbying works because it happens mostly without notice.
Mystic Shadow, I agree with you. We have allowed [choose your villain] to distort and/or overturn the definition of lobbying.
Indeed, Citizens United is the rotten apple that has rotted the entire basketful of apples. That's because the majority of benchwarmers on SCOTUS are, themselves, corrupt beyond salvage and should be impeached.
Lobbying, by its original definition is bringing an issue to the attention of the person(s) who can bring about remedy. Anyone who goes beyond that definition should be held accountable, either financially or by removal from their position. This is not hard to do, but the powerful refuse to do it.
John Roberts refuses to adopt and enforce a code of ethics because he, himself, is corrupt, indirectly taking millions in income from his wife's clients who have business before The Court. So his 5 cohorts continue in their corruption with impunity. Likewise with legislators who refuse to hold themselves accountable.
Can enforcement work? It works in the private sector. When I worked in the corporate world, every company had a policy regarding "gifts" from vendors. The maximums varied by company, but they were all small, usually the cost of a restaurant dinner. Failure to abide by these rules would result in immediate dismissal after investigation.
Around 1980, I worked in the corporate headquarters of TG&Y Stores. Several dozen buyers decided the rule didn't apply to them and accepted "thank you gifts" from vendor reps, in the form of expense-paid Aspen vacations, cruises, home remodels and more.
How is that possible? Keep in mind that a quarterly supply of Scotch® tape for over 1,300 stores would be over $1 million. A few thousand for a cruise was nothing for the vendor rep.
In any event, the buyers got caught. The FBI took up residence in our building for several weeks. The buyers and their staff went to prison. The threat of job loss and imprisonment is a powerful deterrent.
No ex congressperson should be permitted to lobby in Congress for 5 years after leaving Congress. Many run for Congress simply as a stepping stone to lobbying firms, where the salaries are far higher than being a mere Congressional Representative or Senator.
So I’m guessing you think you have any alternative to elections ? And by the way Mystic shadow I just reread her post and she called it reasonable. No wonder she’s so much internal dilemma in her life. Your comments about socialize medicine and wealth tax as this analogy. You can get more fact out of your post than one dog smelling another one’s butt. I’ve provided the facts on the wealth tax. And I provided the reason we don’t have socialized medicine in this country, but I’ve also offered you the opportunity since we’re such a free country to move anywhere you want that provides socialize medicine while you wait six months for a brain aneurysm to be fixed by surgery, like my friend who waited six months for the surgery while they gave him blood thinners in the meantime. Six months.
Hey Gloria, are you allowed to vote for whoever you want? Does anyone prevent you from voting whoever you want to vote for? Does everybody have the right to vote? Then what the hell are you talking about? You’re talking about gullibility is what you’re talking about and the problem with today’s Americans. They don’t have the ability to make up their own mind especially the left who are nothing but a bunch of liberal activist lemmings right now which is really sad to see. The Democrat party is imploding upon itself and splintering in direction. Nobody ever imagined could happen in the United States. Self induced wounds, self-inflicted wounds.
Well, Gloria, maybe you’ll wake up to the fact that that’s so wrong… and that’s why we have elections. That’s how 13 million more people voted for Joe Biden the incompetent legislator for 40 years who got 13 million more votes than Barack Obama the GOD Try to explain that to me, would you please in English
Look it up. But you won't believe the results because you don't want to. Find research that provides evidence to the contrary and let me know what you found.
''The Communists Are in HR, Please Complete Your Training Module''
America has apparently entered the “communists are hiding in Human Resources” phase of authoritarian decline, which is both hilarious and terrifying, like watching a clown juggle chainsaws in a maternity ward.
According to the latest fever dream from Trumpworld, the United States is under siege by leftists, progressives, journalists, college administrators, civil-rights lawyers, tattooed protesters, and presumably anyone who has ever asked whether the office thermostat could be set above meat-locker temperature. J.D. Vance warned that communists no longer wave red flags. Now they “march through HR.” So remember, when Brenda emails you about completing workplace harassment training, that may actually be the opening shot of the Bolshevik Revolution.
The intellectual foundation for this national panic is a book titled Unhumans, endorsed by the usual parade of men who look like they were assembled in a basement from spare podcast parts. Its thesis is beautifully simple: the left wants to strip people of their humanity, so the patriotic solution is to strip the left of its humanity first. This is apparently what passes for moral clarity in circles where Francisco Franco is treated like a misunderstood life coach.
Trump then unveiled “stunning” evidence that China purchased voter information that was publicly available for purchase. This is less Watergate than discovering your phone number in the phone book. His own released documents reportedly pointed toward Russian efforts to help defeat Biden, but reality has never been allowed to interrupt a good grievance recital.
Naturally, Trump demanded that alleged noncitizens be identified and removed from eligibility, pushed another voting-restriction bill, and called for broadcast licenses to be revoked. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping’s lavish state visit remains on schedule. Evidently, China is conducting an unprecedented attack on American democracy, but the alleged mastermind is still welcome for dinner, photographs, and whatever dessert best complements constitutional collapse.
Then Stephen Miller delivered a lecture on who looks “normal,” a bold choice from a man whose public presence suggests an undertaker who has just been informed the corpse requested a second opinion.
The message is clear: democracy is in danger, therefore democracy must be suspended until Republicans can win every election for the next hundred years.
Cisco Aguilar, chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, offered the most rigorous scholarly rebuttal available:
Thanks, Michael! I click all the tabs except for journalist, college administrator, and any sort of attorney (but especially the vote to have a warmer than meat locker indoor environment).
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own land
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
The Third Reich was successful until it wasn't. But I am appalled at how closely Vance/Miller/Bannon/Vought seem to be following the playbook. Rhyming, not repeating.
Dehumanization is the first step. Once you've convinced people that a group isn't fully human—they're vermin, invaders, criminals, subhuman—killing them becomes acceptable.
That's the required mentality for genocide.
And it's happening now. The language about immigrants. The rhetoric about minorities. The dehumanizing imagery. It's the same playbook, same steps.
History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. And we're watching the rhyme scheme unfold in real time.
My only wish for you is that you actually meet a Nazi and they treat you like they treated a Jew and you will never utter the word again. Trying to compare it to anyone or anything today.
The League of Voters, who are well known 'normal' looking humans, successfully overturned (past tense) Trump's authoritarian "EO" to restrict Early & Mail-in voting.
See, "League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump: Filed in federal court on April 2, 2026 The League's pro-voting court victory successfully challenged an executive order [EO] by President Donald Trump attempting to restrict voting.
BottomLine: In June 2026, last month a federal judge blocked trump's BS "EO" order.
Rural voters in Mississippi & far away Voters In Alaska even a scored a major legal victory at SCOTUS. However, calendar the date your state's operations. Your ballot MUST be processed within 5 days of Election Day.
DOUBLE CHECK the deadlines with your state registrars of Voters. The Feds are NOT in control of National Elections.
Look at the pathetic source from which this destructive language originates. Question these sources! Do these persons only exist for short term power and financial gain or is their concern for maintaining the health of our government, protecting one another as the great nation we have been formed to be? Does this behavior yield trust in us as a nation? Can we NOT see America imploding???
America is a place big enough for everyone. Together we must continually strive for excellence in every field using the huge variety of gifts and talents we have been given.
There will always be "enemies of our freedoms....self-serving leeches.....who are constantly working , not only to destroy our Democracy but to PROFIT from its citizenry.
Along with trying "to keep our noses above water" ie care for our families, keep our jobs in order to pay for our ever increasing living expenses, we must make ourselves aware of actions Congress is taking that will take away our freedoms ie our power as citizens of this great nation. WE ARE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...that means EACH of us; all colors, new arrivals who were born with a different language, each of us respectful of faith or no faith, etc... We can maintain our freedoms with respect only if we work to keep together. This country is worth the effort. We must remind ourselves that FREEDOM HAS NEVER BEEN FREE!!!!
"Miller told the State Department attendees: 'It’s not a coincidence that when you look at these violent antifa demonstrations, you see any photograph of those who are assembled, to be blunt, not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person, not one looks normal. They’re all deformed in some way, in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism.'" Kind of the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? If one really wants to go on subjective evaluations, all one has to do is take a good look at Miller and see the ghoulishness of his figure. According to his assessment on "Antifa" people, he would fit right in very comfortably.
Yes, Riad, when I read Miller's statement about appearance, I thought, "Of all the people who have any right to criticize someone's physical appearance, Stephen Miller is the one gargoyle who should keep his mouth shut."
This is exactly why we need to stand together as a united front! We need to push back against the obscene policies and behaviors of the extremists! Stand up people w/ your voice, your vote, your support of candidates and Pro Democracy organizations. Be counted…be peaceful…be proactive and choose your role in our collective history!!
Everybody should take these speeches seriously and realize that when the midterm elections turn out to be a blue tsunami, trump will unleash federal agents from every agency and even the military to sabotage swing state election operations to undermine the lawful outcome of the elections. And when the country erupts in massive civil unrest, he will use those same forces to quell all opposition. Hegseth and trump have been purging the military leadership of people of color, women, and anyone that they believe will honor the oath to protect and preserve the Constitution. Expect trump and his minions to act the way Iran did when they murdered tens of thousands of their own people a few months ago.
It is probably time to prepare for a
Isn't it rich that Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller describe anyone as unattractive or deformed?
Along with all the other nonsense that comes out of their mouths, the statements by Miller and Bannon about the appearance of other people are particularly ludicrous coming from actual ugly freaks.
i've read all the comments till here...and i'm not sure that m/any of you are getting the point of this 'dehumanization' tack...
it's easier to kill some THING(esp if it's ugly) than someONE...
create a paramilitary...rile up maga and if/when there's any resistance to the regime, set them loose...
i don't know what to suggest to prepare for this...but americans are alREAdy seeing people killed with impunity...being prodded and given the go ahead, what makes so many of you think that they'll stop there?
Oh they won’t stop there, Isaac. This is fertilizer being put on a seed that was planted a long time ago and has lain dormant in American soil. We’ve seen it sprout here and there before, but never like this. It’s time to become really, really scared. Correction the time to become really scared was ten years ago. Now is the time to remember why the second amendment was written into the constitution.
or...people can just keep on making jokes/poking fun at people who will be more than happy to put a few rounds into them...just for laughs.
i'm glad that there ARE a number of you that understand the seriousness of what's going on. i don't want to have to watch a 'jews in the ghettos' reenactment in my lifetime.
Isaac: Thank you for making clear in real and horrible terms what we are facing from the de-humanizers. We saw what they intend in what unfolded here in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in January with the ICE thugs (who are not gone and have branched out to other cities). We witnessed the "reenactment" you and I and everyone on this thread don't want to see.
Yesterday I was talking with a community organizer who pointed out that how the neighborhoods responded in January (whistles, observers, protectors, defenders on many fronts, etc) was possible because of what people learned as a result of George Floyd's murder. People got to know each other. She said the key is one-to-one connection. When ICE descended upon Mpls and StPaul, people knew who to contact.
The jokes are also necessary. Not to do nothing about this rhetoric, but so that we can see it in it's full gaslighting audacity. What we do after we laugh is important. Standing with those being targeted is important - since we are essentially all being targeted. Refusing to defend the argument they are making, as if it is real, is important. Speaking up for the larger “we” without apology and for the policies that people actually want is important. Amplifying voices that celebrate diversity and interconnectedness is important. We have to get louder, bolder and more inclusive.
Nor do I. There must be value somehow in, not poking fun at, but using our own brushes to paint those who would put rounds in us for what they are.
Presently, ICE is organized by white trash and those who think they're white and somehow that they're doing right… personally I think it will be helpful to keep identifying them as they are so more will realize that they're playing on the D team and defect.
It looks inevitable. Everything said and being put in place to systematically kill or lock up anyone that gets in their way. The courts are not coming to the rescue even if ruling for democracy. The military, the FBI, National Guard and intelligence agencies all under control for the purpose of feeding a narcissists need for power, money and fame. This will end but not well. How many people willing to give the ultimate sacrifice will be needed?
Trump is just a figurehead, albeit a very dangerous one. and even though you didn't state it this way, Mitch, all those factions are complicit. the 'courts' not only 'are not coming to the rescue', they're the ones that green lighted much of what followed when they gave Trump the ok to do with impunity whatever might be deemed necessary as president.
and then there's all the incredible amount of money backing the regime. these are 'the people behind the curtain'. the true rulers.
solutions will be on you all...do NOT count on any semblance of legality for backup/fallback...community organization is essential.
Demonizing your opponent is the first rule before destroying them. It's how wars have always been fought but demonizing your own country is not new. It's the ugliest of monsters when religion enters.
Just as in the slave era, the pro-slavery droogs created “cognitive dissonance” — rather than having empathy for the horrific treatment of Africans brought to the US, people were encouraged to see them as sub-human, more similar to animals than humans. Thus empathy was replaced by justified exploitation and abuse. Hitler did the same to the Jews in Germany. And now we have “unhumans” and “radical left lunatics.” Thus you see ICE and the detention centers brutalizing humans who they have decided are less than human. How far we have sunk.
Yes. Now what to do. Any suggestions, ideas about the upcoming elections aftermath if indeed there is an aftermath considering the fascist armed violence.
I’m thinking CALL YOUR GOVERNOR to protect the vote outcomes….your State’s
national guard. Your local & state police. I’m focused on taking actions now.
It is cultivation of sociopathy; a pretext for persecution, exploitation, or genocide. It's like claiming that another person is only 3/5th human, if that. Many US founders may not have walked the talk, but the document that all the current hullabaloo has been about is premised on the use rights of all, yet Lincoln's condemned "same old serpent" in the way in every age. The must be more that we can do collectively to send it packing.
Spot on. We need leadership to send it packing, and it won't come from the current DNC folks, but from others under a broader umbrella of the resistance.
It's like they are channeling some zombie movie and characterizing democrats as the zombies who must be eradicated. The confessional nature of their statements is stunning.
I have never believed they would stop with people they currently kill, but they would expand their list of people they think should be killed or imprisoned.
Isaac, let me assure you I definitely “get it.” Once you can establish that another class of humans is somehow not human, all bets are off. The rules of human decency no longer apply and hunting season is on. This is where pogroms originate. There is still time to pull away from this abyss, but the clock is ticking loudly
Well Isaac, what do you suggest we do? Do you own an automatic weapon? Willing to use it against those who would happily kill us "unhumans"?
I ask myself the same question. And no, i don't own an automatic weapon--but i know how to use one.
I remember taking an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC when i joined the Corps fifty-eight years ago.
That oath is forever.
So, what is to be done? Getting organized is the first step, isn't it?
How many of us will take Jefferson's words to heart about the tree of liberty needing to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and TYRANTS.
We know who they are. I suppose come the November election we'll know what must be done.
Well, my oath is scheduled to expire on 12/31/2099. Not the same oath as USMC but for law enforcement with "honorably retired" status. I will stand with you, Michael.
Michael. despite a very good life there, i moved away from the US over 25 yrs ago, KNOWing it could never come to much good...that was obvious even then from the 'day to day happenings'.
as i said in my first post. i have no suggestions except to organize within your communities first. i am not proposing any sort of violence.
i am only trying to emphasize the dangers of what's already obvious.
Isaac, I hope you continue to have a good life in, where are you, Europe? Canada? Right wing authoritarian governments are on the rise around the world. We here in "the land of the free and the home of the brave" (i stiffle my gag reflex when i say this) must consider how far we are willing to let trump and his ilk continue ravaging our communities and our environment before we realize we must take a stand.
I am not now "proposing any sort of violence," but I will not passively wait in orderly fashion by the cattle cars on my way to some gulag or gas chamber.
You don't think this is possible here?
Look around, brother. We are already here. The fascist thugs are slowly moving their way up the color spectrum...with their god and the law on their side.
michael...it seems a bit obvious from your responses that you haven't read my comments. not only today...i've been TRYing to give people on this site a heads up for at LEAST 6 months...
i live in the NL(Holland, to most of you). wonderful country. worth what i gave up.
i'd be a liar if i said i saw what's happening now coming those decades ago...but when i did, i was intent on warning people...
And no, i haven't seen many of your previous comments; I am relatively new to Substack.
But it's clear that commenters on this site see and understand the perilous condition we in this country are in (if i were young enough i'd be in Ukraine helping in their fight. Remember the International Brigades, Orwell included, who went to fight Franco's fascists).
no matter how the situation evolves, christine, your kids are smart for what they're saying. according to an article i read, red states possess 45% of the weapons to 25% of the blue states. and i would imagine that many of them are just waiting for an opportunity to use those weapons for quite a while...
each of you must make the choices you feel you need to make, Michael. i'm not contesting your choices.
one of my careers in america was as a nurse. i've been shot. that put a dead stop on my other, pre-nursing career as a musician. i tend to the wounded. for me, once i pick up a gun, they've already won, though i WOULD to defend people i love/care about.
but, like i said, each must make the choices of how to handle their situations.
Those detention centers are for us…they plan a hitler move on america and if we continue to diddle we will all be in one on the way to the ovens. I have watched in disbelief how cowardly so many congressmen have been. How they give full-throated support to genocide and torture…for a few pieces of silver..unbelievable, disappointing, treasonous. The Peter Principle in full bloom in america
If you take every quote from these guys and turn it around they are talking about themselves. That’s the thing with narcissists… they are always talking about themselves.
When miller looks in the mirror, he sees the most deviant and demented freak on this planet! As the sub human trump’s Nazi like propaganda minister, he as the authority to put his hatred for non white humans into action!
Let’s face the facts, Nazi Republicans are a minority party because they don’t represent the majority of Americans. They represent the wealthy and business segment of our society along with cult followers who have shown poor thinking skills in interviews that delegitimize themselves.
Due to their minority place the Nazi Republicans can throw a lot of $$ into elections but the electorate is responding to this “buy election” approach abetted by SCOTUS’s Citizen United decision by saying, “No More!”. Right now the Muskrat is going to be indicted by the state election commission on the illegal attempt to buy voters in Wisconsin with million $ checks. Although the Muskrat didn’t pass $$ to voters, the fact that he proposed such a strategy was illegal.
Election reform has to be the first order of business when the Democrats take both Congressional chambers. There are many issues in election reform, including an honest gerrymandering reform, but Australia has a very law regarding elections. In that country all Australians are required to vote under a financial penalty.
This type of reform would make the American electorate robust and force the Nazi Republicans to be concerned about governing and policy rather than trying to buy elections and try to elect psychopaths who have no business in government.
Australia also has a preferential voting system which is much more representative of people's wishes than a first past the post system. And, it has independent federal and state electoral commissions that do many important things including monitoring electoral boundaries to ensure one vote one value as much as possible.
It makes an enormous difference to participation and that is a good thing overall. But, participation doesn't mean informed participation.
Australia's main far right party (One Nation) has risen a lot in popularity recently. Many are starting to see it as the answer to their economic difficulties. But, because they aren't informed, they don't realise that One Nation doesn't actually have policies to help struggling people and it's main backer is a billionaire who thinks Australian workers should be paid the same amount that workers in African countries are paid. These people also dislike Trump and his tariffsand wars but they don't know that One Nation supports the war with Iran and One Nation has deep connections to MAGA and Trump.
Here’s the problem: many laborers have zero holidays. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. No health insurance, no sick days, no vacation time. Making it a holiday will mean nothing to them.
Clearly the right to vote and have that vote count as much as any other is the right that furthers and protects all the others. It is crazy that our laws allow it to ever be gamed or maliciously denied.
Cisco Aguilar was 100% right when he said "That was some bullshit," but just because it was ridiculous doesn't mean that it was funny. We need to take this bullshit seriously. I'm not sure what we can do to prevent the wannabe dictator from calling a last-minute emergency to prevent our elections. I'm confident that if the elections take place, we'll win, but I'd like some folks more knowledgeable than i am to give me some insight into how we, the people, can prevent that kind of potential disaster.
However comical, however serious the bullshit and the attempts, they will be challenged across the land by teams of lawyers now quite used to winning lawsuits, aided by poll workers, poll watchers and ordinary citizens voting in record numbers. Many states have already passed laws to the effect that 'touch our voting systems, ballot boxes or interfere in our election process and counting in any way and we'll arrest you, no matter who you are.'
The Constitution doesn't spell out that many things. Specifying that states, not the executive branch, control the 'time, manner and place' of elections is one of them. The more legal action against them, the stronger the precedent, based on that very plain Constitutional article.
Keep in mind all this actually landed with a thud yesterday on Fox News, of all places. They affirmed there was "no proof" for any of this, and his own election poodle walked out in front of the White House and said there was "no evidence" a single voting machine was tampered with or one vote was "stolen" by China, Venezuela or anybody else in 2020. One swell foop -- they themselves neutered their own demented boss. And the Senate isn't going to pass SAVE, no matter how much he whines, wheezes, wheedles, begs and drools. Ain't gonna happen.
I continue to be amazed at just how nutso they are. Were they just a bit saner, a bit more self-controlled, a teensy-bit more rational, they'd pose a greater danger. Most of this can't pass a basic giggle test. Be strong.
Hello ICTT.... I hope that you are right... However the Courts Are Slow, and DJT is Demented Enough, and Desperate Enough to Defy Court Decisions... Look at the Iran War AUMF... I say, 'Divine Intervention' cannot come soon enough...
I’m not so sure that the day the orange buffoon exits stage left that a more rational substitute wouldn’t be more dangerous. 47 as a vessel catches attention. What’s going on behind the scene worries me. Innocuous as I am, I wonder how many databases I populate.
Or.....how many participants who subscribe to the great "Heather Cox Richardson's "LETTERS" appreciate your comments. This is still AMERICA and we are free to share our comments and different opinions with one another...agree or disagree!!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA....LAND THAT I LOVE!!!!!
Right! Reactive measures are not going to cut it. We need to prevent the damage before it happens, not hope for some kind of roll back that will inevitably come too late.
And we need to do side that the SCOTUS SIX might actually be a part of this coup.
At every turn the Trump plan has been to ask for forgiveness, not permission and even when permission is finally denied MUCH TOO LATE, they still bull doze further. Let’s say Dems win House and Senate. We know right out of the gate, Trump lawyers, aka the DOJ will contest any Dems wins…representation delayed and then will Little Mikey seat them…more delay.
BIG BALLS via DOGE has more and more detailed information one every single American than China has, including our social security numbers so if MAGA loses, will Musk pull something.
We have been so brainwashed into accepting our rights being chipped, our morality being chipped, expecting less and less from politicians, from clergy, from each other.
Trump knows he’s toast if he loses the next election, and the legal scrutiny won’t end with him. So naturally, every day brings a new apocalypse that will supposedly arrive unless the SAVE ACT IS PASSED IMMEDIATELY. Soon the ‘Dumocrats’ will be manning UFO’s, then they’ll be training dinosaurs.
I prefer the phrase “Save His Ass Act”, a term coined by Bill Corbett on Lucien Truscott’s substack. I will default to the term whenever the topic is raised!
Trump has chosen to live his life this way. He learned from his father and continues the family tradition by influencing his sons and daughter. They are a family of "thieves and robbers".
He is more focused on his airplane than the citizens of the USA. His sons and daughter have more friends in the Middle East than in the USA.
Vance and his family are flying everywhere in Europe and Asia....paid for by US citizens. What a life!!!!
Trump is constantly focused on the grounds of the White House and the terrible condition of "the pool" while citizens struggle to pay their monthly bills due to constantly rising prices as their incomes remain the same.
Why are we in a WAR in Iran started by the President WITHOUT GOING TO CONGRESS!!! AND...this man wants to stay in power....in my opinion....FORGET ABOUT IT!!!!
All he thinks about is money. He spends it so easily with NO RECOGNITION of the blood, sweat and tears it takes citizens to work long hours often in difficult situations to feed their families, to pay rent/mortgages/doctor's bills/fuel to drive their vehicles to work....etc Donald Trump NEVER needs to think about theses struggles because THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS PAY HIS BILLS!!!!
"...and his own election poodle walked out in front of the White House and said there was "no evidence" a single voting machine was tampered with..." Who's dat "election poodle," ICTT?
I am reminded of a rape/sodomy trial of a case that I investigated. The initial defense was "never there, didn't happen, wasn't me" until the DNA came back with a 99.9 percentile that it was the guy I arrested; when that came back, the defense changed to "it was consensual." The trial started, and we got about 1/3 of the way through the trial before a defense witness caused a mistrial. We started again the following day, with a new jury (in the interim, the defense counsel more intensely counselled her witnesses on proper conduct and behavior in the courtroom) and away we went. One fellow, who had not yet been called in the initial proceeding, missed the memo about the defense change and testified at length about how the "didn't know her, never saw her before, never happened" defense had been changed.
Guy was found guilty. The judge asked if I would escort the jury out because they were scared of the witnesses...
The ICE murderers will be sent to monitor elections in dozens of locations almost exclusively in urban sites. We need to urge the voters to vote as early as possible to make sure you are still registered, vote in person early as ICE won't be able to cover the sites early. If they do, there needs to be blowback in the press and against each of the Republican candidates they are trying to foist on us.
I know, that many people prefer to vote on Election Day, but if you do be prepared for the Fascist masked brownshirts.
ps. Robert Hubbell just wrote about this split-screen reaction. Great alarm by Congressman Hines (D-CT) and most of us, Fox News avoiding it all like the plague...Worth a serious dive:
Well worth the read or listen. We are not helpless. Hines type "all is lost" rhetoric is harmful as it perpetuates anxiety and prevents us from doing the work needed to have a blowout election.
I’d add that Hines is also a day late and a dollar short. The rest of have been shouting from the rooftops for at least 18 months now and been told we were overreacting (kinda used to that being a woman). 🤷♀️
"The doomsayers will keep churning their dire predictions, frightening and demotivating voters by convincing them that voting is pointless because Trump will override the will of the people in the midterms." from Hubbell's cited substack.
I don't hear anyone saying that "voting is pointless." Not sure why Hubbell is so exercised by those who would take note of the extremist rhetoric and tendencies of our president et al and to keep these possibilities in awareness. Voting may not be the magic sword that on November 3rd necessarily slays all dragons.
You don’t have to have anybody come out and say “voting is pointless” out loud. You can fill people with so much fear that they become paralyzed, however. I’ve seen WAY too many people on this Substack spend their energies trying to paint the worst, direst picture imaginable. Combine that with the anti-voting scare tactics of the far right —- well, not hard to see situation where just enough people don’t vote in order for them to win… The counterbalance is that Republicans couldn’t be more demoralized and likely to stay home in November…
Jim Hines is on the Intelligence Committee and is very familiar with each of those 95% redacted documents Trump shamelessly put out. He wants people to understand what horseshit it all is — I give him real deference for that.
ICTT, there may be people who will be afraid to vote, either in person or even by mail: some naturalized (immigrant ) citizens, especially if they are persons of color. if people are too afraid to vote I think it's because of the threatening rhetoric and actions of the president and his minions more than it is because of those who warn of this Administration's worst-case-scenario threats.
Here’s what you can do: vote in every local election. Run for office, even for the school board or city council, or volunteer to work on the campaign of someone whose values you endorse. Join a chapter of Indivisible. Write and call your elected representatives, daily even. Get trained to be an election observer, or work at the polls. Join the Visibility Brigade and put signs on bridges. Show the 30% that we are strong, united, powerful.
I agree. Reading all these comments, I keep asking myself, what are we as currently free people going to do? How do we prevent our elections from being cancelled? Why are we all not in the streets right now? I have not seen any organized protests scheduled in the near future. I am very concerned. Getting out the vote, having strong candidates will not matter if the election is stopped!
Homan threatened Americans with more killings unless complaints about ICE stop, Hegseth made a similar comment which seems to threaten us to improve our "morale". Do they think we've forgotten who we are? They are escalating, and we remain loud and peaceful. We outnumber them, and the world is watching.
I thought Homan's comments were positively chilling -- telling us more would be killed if we didn't stop complaining. That's like a serial abuser blaming the victim: "you made me do it"
I was a child during the McCarthy witch hunts, and I remember living with the feeling that the adults were frightened. I am an adult now, and I am frightened.
Don't let fear capture our VOTES, or our minds and emotions. There are more of us. TOGETHER WE CAN HOLD OUR COUNTRY AND ITS HARD EARNED FREEDOMS!
We must remember the men and women before us who, as regular citizens have stood with one another for the freedoms those before them had spilt their blood. They too had to face the paralyzing monster of "fear". It was the call of duty and the more intense call of personal survival!!! Survival in that moment. TODAY IS OUR MOMENT!!!! Someone fought for us, now it is our turn. There are many weapons we can use to battle this determined enemy. I am going to use the weapons I am able to use to keep our country free as possible, as did those who came before me. This is our time to choose to do something to hold onto this great country, "THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE"!
We must think of our children and young adults who need to see our courage in the face of fear...as our beloved ancestors demonstrated to us through their sacrifices.
I agree - don’t be paralysed by fear. Up to a certain level, it can be channeled into useful action. Courage is in acting in spite of fear. But the fear is still there.
Unhuman also sounds like when someone dies and instead of developing rigor mortis (as opposed to Mitch McConnell’s case where he was diagnosed with rigor tortoise.), they “turn” into a zombie, or maybe both. Finally McConnell explained.
You know things are bad & you get to a point where you have to say “ Enough Buffoonery” & you can’t bring yourself to read Heather’s letter. I’ll try tomorrow (7/18 at 0900 HST). For now, I leave the words of cartoonist Gary Larson from the Far Side .. “ May I be excused, my brain is full.”
I actually believe HCR does not think our country is continuing to circle the drain. For the past several months in her politics chats, she has emphasized that though she cannot predict the future, she feels optimistic about where the country is headed. Further, though she has admitted to being exhausted at times, I believe she sees herself as on a mission to out-pace the anti-democracy folks; so she's not about to quit.
Our job is to hang in there with her every step of the way!
Well said, Lynette. The drain image was more my own projection than anything the excellent Dr. Richardson has said. I'm old and grew up in much better and happier times than these, thinking that the best was yet to be. The vile madness that the current administration pursues on a daily basis is a depressing rejection of the imperfect good that once was. But it angers me and makes me more likely to resist. We must "rage, rage against the dying of the light" in political as well as personal terms.
I don't know how she keeps her marbles. She needs to take more days off, go fishing with Buddy, play with the dog, gossip with her girlfriends, go out for coffee, etc. Her continued mental health is of our greatest concern.
Agree, but I think Dr. Richardson is energized by the mission. I'm more concerned for her physical health, stretching herself too thin. But she's probably the best judge of that, and she has at least one other person close to her to keep an eye on her. So we cross our fingers and head once more into the breach.
I enjoy her Saturday morning chats with Joanne Freeman. The topics may be heavy but the banter is lighthearted. Heather seems to be well maintaining her balance which may be linked to her frequent kayaking. I can’t imagine her discipline.
Thank you for introducing the word discipline. That was something I'd taken for granted that needed to be added to the discussion. It takes a lot of discipline simply to complete and defend a doctoral dissertation, and even more so to pursue an academic career. So Dr. Richardson's evident discipline may well stem from her career preparation. And it is energized by the need for fact-based assessment of the current administration in historical context.
I’m back & read yesterday’s letter this morning. Certainly not very uplifting. I have the highest respect for Prof Heather. She has to be the most resilient person in the world & she keeps grounded. A role model for us all. To this day, I still can’t fathom why people support & defend the maga agenda. In trump 1.0, I used to ask his supporters, “When did America stop being great? Was it on my watch during my 30 years on Active Duty? I fought the Cold War went to Iraq for OIF, helped design, build, maintain the Submarine Force. Did I do something wrong? All I ever got as answers was regurgitated Fox News dibble.
In a war, task number one; de-humanize the enemy. Task number two; abandon any and all moral and ethical guardrails. It’s ok, even expected, to lie. (“The first casualty of any war is the truth.”)
But, you have to have a war. So, invent one out of whole cloth if you must.
MAGA is desperate to hold on to a diminishing number of supporters. As the midterm elections draw near, and conditions favoring Trump and Republicans continue to diminish, expect ever more radical and ridiculous MAGA claims.
So, we are antifa (whatever they say it is), unhuman and now we are clearly ugly and deformed. I suppose we will be incontinent next. And yet the people wearing masks are the government agents. It's an awful lot to process for an old lady. I think I need to go rest.
It’s definitely bullshit , but scary as hell. They’re telling us exactly what the plan is. Where are the sane legislators to stop it? Otherwise I fear a civil war if a National Emergency is declared and the midterms don’t take place.
It sounds like Rwanda. Instead of "Unhuman," the opposition was called cockroaches, and when the signal was given via radio, ordinary people turned on their neighbors and murdered them. Is that what Trump wants to unleash when he gives the signal? The Rwandans had only machetes. MAGA is heavily armed with guns. Do they want to unleash a bloodbath and finally get rid of liberals, non-white people, LGBTQ people? Do people imagine that Rwandans are unique and this could not happen here?
Why do you think Dems don’t have weaponry? Just because we don’t march around cosplaying Rambo doesn’t mean we’re defenseless. And no, I don’t see my neighbors, MAGA as some may be, rising up and killing neighbors. Stop with the fear.
I have read a lot about Rwanda, and I hope it does not happen here, but I have also heard a lot of loose talk down through the years about a "race war." And we all saw the attack on Jan. 6. I know what happened in Wilmington and in other places. I know the history of lynching. It just takes the right triggers for violence to be unleashed. It is naive to think that what has happened in other times and places couldn't possibly happen in our time and place. And we have the most heavily armed population in the history of the world.
Germany had a, well-educated population living in an advanced country in the West. Few could have imagined what ultimately happened there.
I hope we escape. I do not want any part of this. But political leaders now get death threats routinely. The history of the civil rights movement is shot through with violence. When you start talking about "Unhuman," that is the language of genocide.
Would you have believed a president of Harvard would be involved with a sex trafficker? And that the long-time president of Bard, a much admired orchestra conductor and educator also be involved with Epstein? Decades ago if someone had told you school shootings would become common, would you have believed it? Would you have believed masked men in unmarked vehicles would shoot people on the streets of American cities, would you have believed it?
I concur with your comment. I grew up in a time when persons who had usually earned a leadership position were, in my ignorance, more disciplined, who chose to lead by demonstrating good character...to be a role-model to those who were younger.
My beliefs have been transformed as I have "matured". It is a disappointment especially in these times when good character is so absent....so much so that finding someone who is honest is RARE.
...And more and more people feel compelled to carry a gun or "spray" to protect themselves.
And Pat, as you shared..."masked men shooting innocent persons, ...hardworking people, trying to provide for their families, families who are now left without their beloved, hardworking father...his example, his love...!!!! Why are those murderers NOT IN JAIL! Those watching in person or watching TV saw this happen. MANY OF US SAW THIS HAPPEN!!!! WHO WILL CARE FOR THE victims WIVES -THEIR CHILDREN. Their families will be scared for life...their loss is huge....an empty space no one can fill. Now these families must fight against allowing the monster of "HATRED" to take their lives as well as the lives of their friends and fellow workers!!!
It’s everyday sane Americans that need to stop it. Like when “influencers” throw out bull shit. You might think it’s complete farce and bull shit but your kid might not.
If there was ever a time for good parenting and guidance, it is now. Talk to your kids or any young people you have a relationship with. Talk to anyone who says something they “heard” and are completely wrong.
I have a discussion every other day it seems with my kid about the news. And I don’t just say Trumo are a ridiculous speech last night. I say this is what he said. This is why it is dangerous and this is how it affects you.
When ICE kills anyone, I say…after they get all the immigrants, they aren’t disbanding a hundreds of billion dollar cash cow. They’ll be looking for other targets. What if it’s the kids at your school that belong to frat X or sorority Y they deem a threat?
If the DOJ can target powerful wealthy people with no evidence, what if a town cop has it out for YOU? Should he be able to stop you for no reason. Arrest you as a for of punishment with no evidence? And if she says, “that will never happen”, I say, “that is happening right now.”
I remind her that her generation of women LOST rights. Misogyny is not only on the rise on line but supported by this administration. The president is an adjudicated sexual assaulter, the Defense Sect paid a woman for harassment and his own mother said he was an abuser of women. The VP wants her to be a birthing unit (even while his own wife enjoys a career) until she then transitions to middle aged babysitter.
The action taken by Trump, Rubio, and fascist Stephen Miller in an effort to manufacture a 2026 version of the "Red Scare" is both supremely distressing and utterly predictable.
Many older voters remember the Red Scare in 1947–1954 when Senator Joe McCarthy convinced Americans that communism was taking over the country. In response, the government took aggressive — often unconstitutional — actions against people suspected of being radicals.
Trump and his fascist henchman are trying a similar gambit, this time against any groups that criticize his administration and Democrats in particular. Faced with widespread unpopularity and growing MAGA disenchantment, Trump, Rubio, and Miller are concocting stories to instlll fear and distrust in the still-gullible members of the Republican faithful. They are setting the stage for an unprecedented level of election interference and voter suppression leading up to mid-term elections.
Yes -- waiting them to release some black and white propaganda short films with over the top dramatic music about the Leftist Communists hiding under every bed and door.
Careful….what number Fast and Furious are we on? How about Spider-Man, Batman, etc.
MAGA is just a reboot of the original GOP from at least Reagan, even before. It was the GOP, the. All the sequels that were equally bad and just named a little different. GOP II…THE TEA PARTY…RETURN OF THE GOP…THE FREEDOM CAUCUS….THE GOP….MAGA.
Same shit, more extreme effects. Like when Furious found cars in space I think? Now it’s GOP…MAGA IN MARS.
Except the version doesn’t save women and children and have the few minority co stars. This one rapes the women, beats the children into submission and the minorities are the enemies.
"You will find that all the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you will – whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent, and I hold if that course of argumentation that is made for the purpose of convicting the public that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle and making exceptions to it where will it stop."
With Miller, like all these scum, his attack is a confession - when one wants to put up a list of the "weird looking", Santa Monica High's lifetime freshman lock-him-in-his-locker candidate is one weird dude - a cross between Nosferatu and a gargoyle.
We have to wonder what kind of insults and bullying Steve Miller must have been the target of during childhood and adolescence, for him to have become so cruelly obsessed with people's faces and head shapes, so ready to attack others on these grounds.
All beings suffer, but I wonder with the likes of Miller if it is more just the choice of a sociopathic style of life that uses our human proclivities as a tool of self-serving manipulation? Greed and hatred easily sidetrack can empathy and conscience, and history is filled with extreme examples. Remember when it was fashionable for Republicans to claim "Greed is good"? That one faded in the "Great Recession", but only the part about saying it out load. Ambition is one thing, but greed, by definition, is excessive and unjust. Those who choose to exploit always concoct a pretext to explain their predations away, and make it "holy. The "every accusation is a confession" thing is not a bug, but the feature, because confusing you the the nature of the game.
Yes, we all suffer in some way. The mystery is why some people try to alleviate suffering with sociopathic cruelty to others, disguised as ambition and justified by greed. Stephen and his master both seem to have gone this route. I do remember the Greed is Good Age, JL, and how the smiling Reagan made greed respectable.
I am aware of those self-centered emotions in my own nature, and expect that some of that is typical. Even, to some degree necessary, as in the warning to secure your own oxygen mask before helping the kids. But that can take over to nightmare extremes without incorporation of what Joe McCarthy's accuser named as "decency". It may not sound like much, but history shows how bad things get without it.
“The Prairieland defendants got maximum sentences — longer than any January 6rioter. The concealed FBI evidence was brushed aside.”
“Between June 23 and July 1, federal judges in Fort Worth sentenced fifteen Prairieland defendants to a combined 556 years and two months in prison. On July 6, the final federal defendant added six more.”
“The longest sentence handed down to any January 6 defendant — for a violent, coordinated attempt to overturn a presidential election, in which more than 140 police officers were injured — was 22 years. Stewart Rhodes got 18 for seditious conspiracy. Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 of them on day one and commuted the rest — Rhodes walked free.”
“Longer Than January 6. Say the numbers out loud.
“Both judges applied the terrorism sentencing enhancement to every count. Both ordered the sentences to run consecutively rather than concurrently — a discretionary choice that turned what could have been survivable sentences into life. Both denied every post-trial motion for acquittal or a new trial. Both framed the sentences explicitly as deterrence.”
🩸🩸🩸 “I'm going to post this video every day so we never forget what the 34x POS convicted felon who incites political violence, adjudicated rapist & pedophile Trump did on J6” 🩸🩸🩸 ~ Morgan J. Freeman
When politics begins to divide people into "real humans" and "others," democracy has already entered dangerous territory. History suggests that dehumanizing language is rarely just rhetoric—it often prepares the ground for actions that once seemed impossible.
However, if it’s true that 30% of Americans are “flat earthers”, we’re in a heap of trouble.
As a student of social sciences and statistics, I will tell you that the bottom 30% of any population--Ivy League grads, nurses, Nobel Prize winners, any group....--is going to be pretty insane. That 30% comes up again and again in studies of people's beliefs as the subset of the population that believes absolute bullshit--science deniers, global warming deniers, anti-vaxxers, adherents to various woo-based diets and "health" regimes, people who not only believe in ghosts and angels and devils, but believe they have seen/met them, racists, bigots, misogynists, etc....
They also tend to be the most ego-bound to their belief structures, and the most difficult to persuade that they are wrong.
The answer really is not to be concerned about converting them to reason. It is to put mechanisms in place to prevent their delusions from becoming policy and to punish intentional, false speech that causes harm. Cut them off from their audiences and they die from lack of attention.
Thanks to the networks that chose NOT to give air time to the unpresidential president of our country!
Yes, I agree.I was pleasantly surprised that these networks did not carry this potus’s bs speech.Small victories.
And of course Trump went ballistic and threatened their broadcast licenses. They are under no legal obligation to broadcast Trump’s lies and delusions.
The best thing about not airing on the standard TV stations is that they know their audience knows it will be bull shit! We all know, so that makes me feel a hell of a lot better!
Saturday Update:
Reality: Reuters just reported two (2) additional U.S. deaths: 🙏
Reuters & MSNOW: Two (2) U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in an Iranian attack. Axios Sat. Update: 1 serviceman MIA. CENTCOM with holding names per Next of Kin protocol.
July 18, 202610:27 AM PDT Updated 8 mins ago. Obviously, IRAN has long distance missiles & drones.
************************************
Per Bloomberg: 7/17/26 WTI Crude & Liquid Gas up ⬆️ 4.8% now.
Well, not yet anyway.
No surprise that the faux liberal bloviators James Carville and Mike Smerconish chastised the networks for not giving his lies, threats, boasts and insults valuable airtime. For once some MSM companies did the right thing.
They used to be obligated. Since many presidents indulge in lies and delusions at one time or another, maybe its best to broadcast them and let people decide. Without lies and delusions, you have no politics. And without delusions, ...not many commenters here:)
Except CBS, of course.
I don’t think CBS is in total control yet…
From my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums"
A Fireside Chat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
I know that, so far at least, this is fictional Bill; however, the part of “You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life" is similar to what Muammar Gaddafi said, wasn't it? How did that turn out for him?
Riad:
Yes. As I recall it, Gaddafi claimed, "My people -- they love me!"
I suppose it is more or less equally true coming from our current president.
\Vince S
And how long was Gaddafi in power?
His fireside chat is taking place next to the gates to hell and the devil is standing behind him with his pitchfork.
A two-headed devil with the totally normal looking human heads of Stephen Miller and Russell Vought.
Bill, good work. Thanks for that.
We have a president someone with unchecked power to do unlimited harm. He spreads lies knowing his cult needs to hear them to justify doing more harm.
"Unchecked power"? Last time I checked (no pun intended) the courts have stopped him quite often, usually correctly, sometimes not. Article III checks power quite well.
The courts may have stopped him many times, usually only temporarily, until our corrupt SCOTUS weighs in. But the legislature, Senate and Representatives, have been USELESS so far. We need ALL three branches of government working, if we are to rely on the checks and balances as our constitution envisions.
True, but as one former president once said, let's see them enforce their ruling. (Andrew Jackson in reference to violating treaties made with Native Americans and remember whose portrait hangs in the Oval)
The DOJ has been disregarding many Court orders for the last eighteen months. I expect it to disregard all Court orders as far as limits to Executive power in the next four months. And trump most certainly will disregard the rule of law to ensure his unrestrained abuse of power.
The courts stop him until he reaches the top court, which affirms his actions. They have already supported his racism and his need for additional powers in our government to do what he wants, and they have nearly affirmed his proposal to do away with our forefathers' definition of citizenship. Yes, they have checked him on a few small things, but with respect to the things that truly touch and alter our democracy, they have sided with him.
It doesn't seem to matter.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/02/judiciary-trump-administration-separation-of-powers
Thanks for this observation--namely that what he says is not aimed at normal people who actually care about others and the U.S. as a democracy. It's aimed at his cultists and fellow travelers to help them justify to themselves their power and money grabs, illegal behavior, violence, fanaticism and cruelty. If it creates strong reactions on the left all the better. His end game is to declare a national emergency, invoke special powers and create as much chaos and disfunction as he can around the 2026 elections.
There are over 70 million member of his "cult." They are called citizens who vote.
Do you understand what a "cult" is? Try following Dr. Steven Hassan on substack.
Many of those 70 million voters were either too lazy or too stupid too pay attention to the deeply fascist rhetoric and behavior of right-wingers over the decades or even the fascist insurrection on January 6 2021.
Not so sure there are that many.
Yes, they voted for a twice-impeached convicted fraudster. That's the central tragedy of your ailing democracy that is making you the laughting stock of the civilised world.
I agree that the 30% have always been there and represent outlandish beliefs. However, they haven't been running our country before, certainly not as president!
They sure are now!
It was certainly worthy of its own episode of 'The Outer Limits'.
How exactly can we punish intentional, false speech when it is the POTUS making these speeches?
See Andrew Weissmann's #1 New York Times bestseller "Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America". See also https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/25/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-begins-prison-sentence-latam-intl
If Brazil can do it we can too.
Thomas:
Add Tim Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017),
and Maria Ressa's How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future (2022),
and Heather Cox Richardson's Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (2023, 2024),
and Bernie Sanders's Fight Oligarchy (2025).
For those who really want to immerse themselves in twentieth century fascism/naziism, I recommend The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship, by Ernst Fraenkel (reprinted English edition by The Lawbook Exchange, 2006, 2010)
In On Tyranny, Professor Snyder gives us the abbreviated advice succinctly in his twelfth admonition: "Make Eye Contact and Small Talk."
Start now! Read and lead.
\Vince S
Thank you for the link. I do hope that the US will be able to seek justice for all the money stolen, as well as the January 6th insurrection. Otherwise we are finished as a country.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that after the Dems take power put Trump his sons and all his cronies in jail for years and years I’m all for that!
Same way we can’t hold him responsible for any other irresponsible or illegal he does because it’s a-ok with the other half of Congress.
And don't forget, also OK with the side the Robert's court is held so dearly by our Führer.
You can't. NY Times v. Sullivan. Complain to the NY Times.
All that 30% needs to do is be more passionate and involved than the 70% and freedom is lost.
Fortunately, most of them are 55+ and are followers and not leaders.
The next several Federal elections should be about removing the over 65 Republicans in the House, Senate and SCOTUS, plus the ones that have served more than 12 years.
We need to point out who is funding all of the bullshit behind each campaign because it's not the constituents.
I agree with you on term limits, but would push back on the concept that age is an adequate filter for competence. Several younger-than-65 politicians certainly come to mind.
Bonnie, the problem for me is that I like my Senators and Rep as long as they are able to do the job.
If you look at the Nobel Prize winners, self-made billionaires, writers, artists and musicians most of them had their breakthroughs in their 20's, 30's and 40's. Certainly not all, because most of them had their best output, if you will before age 50.
The oligarchs aren't interested in buying Progressives. They want politicians that will allow them to get rich and stay rich. The worst of the billionaires seem to be the trustifarians like DJT that have never worked a day in their life.
Yes, I'm surprised GL would stereotype over-55s as "followers and not leaders."
Today Maine voters in every county elect their delegates to next week's pop up convention to select the Democratic senate nominee. The Maine Democratic party and county committees are doing a formidable job. Local media even held debates with all candidates.
Some candidates have proven progressive track records and attracted significant voter support in the recent primaries - Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson, and Nirav Shah.
The others are a vote splitting Schumer shill (Kleban who dropped out of the primary when Mills got in), running vanity campaigns (Wood and Costello), or two seeking name recognition (can't remember.)
None have the proven ability of primary winner Graham Platner - whose platform and personal skill resulted in an historic primary victory for progressives, and who was hounded out of the election by a concerted effort of personal and anti-progressive resentments, and shameless self promotion, by people who built a bogey man of unsubstantiated allegations piled on acknowledged and apologized for distasteful elements of Platner's past. After the damage was done, the Morning Joe team, no fans of Platner, demonstrated that the most damning Politico report did not actually have the documentary evidence they claimed to have. And the owners of Politico have given techno-fascist Peter Thiel an award.
The campaign rests on the generosity and priorities of Platner voters who hopefully will see the bigger picture and put their dismay aside to Vote Blue to take back the Senate. Vote Blue No Matter Who cannot always rest on the shoulders of progressives. But this is no time to sit on our hands to send a message to the party - by cutting our nose to spite our face and reelecting Trump enabler Susan Collins..
"The owners of Politico have given... Peter Thiel an award"?!! I was under the impression that Politico was a reliable source. Please tell me more.
I would have voted for Platner, but even more I would have and will vote AGAINST Collins. I hope I'm typical of former Platner voters - it's my belief, which I hope is widely shared, that THE most important thing Mainers must do this November is Vote Blue/Dump Collins. We/our delegates must run the candidate most likely to get people to do that. Having watched the candidates' discussion ( it wasn't much of a debate, imo) Jackson and, surprisingly, Kleber, I thought came off strongest. Shenna's "performance" was really not effective. (I voted for her to be the Dem candidate for Governor.) Shah didn't really stand out. We need to run someone who can capture Platner's AND Mills' voters AND a meaningful number of purple and some red Mainers, because it really is bottom v top, less left v right, for this election and going forward. We need a Senator who will represent ALL Mainers, which I think was the most powerful message Platner had, and he conveyed it very well.
Then how do you 'see' all of the followers of 'Charlie Kirk'...............they were certainly not a 55+ in age group!!!! When I attended the earlier demonstrations for Democracy.....there were a lot of the 55+ attending and doing the work behind the scenes!
And also Mandami's followers.
And yes, there are millions of 55+ that are Democrats and Independents and millions of them used to be Republicans that voted for Reagan and even Nixon. But, they realized that since the oligarchs took over the Republican Party, they can no longer support what it has become.
There will always be a Charlie Kirk or Joe Rogan out there preaching to the Gen-z, Gen-x, millennial group. That's why we need to embrace the Mandami's.
GJ, I echo Bonnie MacEvoy. There needs to be term limits. Period.
But age should not be the measure. Under your proposed net, Bernie Sanders (84) and Maxine Waters (88), two vital progressive activists would be swept away. Nancy Pelosi, arguably one of the most effective speakers in U.S. history was in her 70s and 80s when she led a House that actually checked Trump.
Some research suggests that people become more conservative as they age. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mr-personality/201410/why-are-older-people-more-conservative
Other research shows that people don't change. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/706889
Still other research demonstrates that people become more liberal with age. https://gwern.net/doc/dual-n-back/2007-danigelis.pdf
Bottom line: Age is neither the problem nor the solution.
The problem is the absence of term limits. It's the problem with our Congress, with our Supreme Court, and if Donald has his way, with our presidency.
Human nature makes the rules. When a person in office is aware that there's no limit to how long they can serve in that office, their focus shifts from being effective in the office to remaining in office as long as possible. Because we humans are resistant to change. Same is comfortable. Change is uncomfortable.
The person with unlimited time in office thinks, "I must spend all my time schmoozing my large donors so they will help fund my next campaign." Accomplishing something doesn't even enter the picture.
The person with a limited time in office thinks, "I must accomplish as much as I can, because I have only 8 years to do it."
Term limits may motivate a bad actor to do as much damage as possible in the time they have, but the extent of that damage will be confined to their limited term. Dissatisfied voters then have a chance to make a change.
On the flip side of the coin, a representative who creates a lot of good for constituents during their term will motivate voters to choose a similar successor.
Unlimited terms, not age, is our enemy.
The Supreme Court needs to be expanded to have as many Justices as there are Circuit Courts in the country. Term limits should be configured to give every President two opportunities to appoint Justices requiring super majority approval in the Senate regardless of wether the filibuster exists or not.
Cabinet positions should also require super majorities for appoint.
Rules for the Senate and the House in the interest of a strong democracy should be instituted via Constitutional amendments and not dependent on individual integrity and character of politicians.
In a sense voting is term limits.
As much as I love Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders, I would trade them for getting rid of Tom Cotton, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Ted Cruz, Deb Fischer, Rick Scott and many others. They vote however the party leadership tells them to vote and refuse to work in a bipartisan manner. The Federal minimum wage was last updated in 2009 and none of the above have supported raising it since then. And they are all multi-millionaires.
So we have to hope that someone is elected that is willing to help the average American and is not beholden to the wealthy people that got them elected again and again. We all know how often that happens especially with Republican politicians.
All true. At 92 Ralph Nader is working harder than most members of Congress regardless of age. Look at Bernie.
Term limits GJ, has its dark side as does the longevity of one's term in Congress or the Senate; neither is a fix for whatever ails our nation. The solution is within the hands of the responsible and well-educated electorate. That should not exclude those who are not well-educated; those who are not responsible, I would hope would simply not vote. However, there is no way, nor should there be a way, to stop them from voting. That essentially, in my viewpoint at least, is the conundrum of a democratic republic. We have to find a way to include "new fresh ideas" that are expectedly inherent with the fresh incoming reps and still keep the retired or election losers in the game for advice based on experience. The newly elected would have the final say on any direction a new bill or idea that may go forward. No one said that democracy wouldn't be messy.
By allowing politicians like Strom Thurmond, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley to continue to represent their states long past their "sell-by" date we are doing a disservice to the people they don't represent. And we all know, it is damn near impossible to ever vote them out of office.
There you go again, blaming the boomers.
The majority of trump voters were white and that is much more than only those 55 years old and above. As a whight citizen, that satistic is deeply disturbing as it implies that white voters are overwhelmingly white supremacist.
" the over 65 Republicans in the House, Senate" Ever hear of "what goes around comes around"? A few Democrats over 65. And if youth is good, explain Cortez, Pressley, Tlib, Jayapal, Tayleo Green, Boebert, Crockett.
Jayapal is articulate, well educated, passionate, an excellent thinker, and, from the old expression used in the 1940's, she can tell the difference between shit and Shinola (shoe polish, for you youngsters in the crowd.) And she works damn hard.
My Senators are 73 and 82 years old. They have both been reelected multiple times. One is a Republican and one is an Independent. There are plenty of worthy replacements out there. And ones with way more energy to do battle with the other party.
Our process for picking candidates is flawed. I've talked with many good candidates that were smarter and more qualified that the person that won the primary. But, they didn't have the looks or the name recognition or the money behind them. Case in point, Shenna Bellows in Maine. She came in 4th in the primary and has done an excellent job as Secretary of State. Tommy Tuberville doesn't have the brains God gave lettuce and he's a two term Senator from Alabama.
That's a straw man argument. No one is contending that being younger is necessarily good in itself when it comes to political representation.
"...over-55s as "followers and not leaders." Speak for yourself, GL.
The GOP-aligned superpac, the Senate Leadership Fund, is still maintaining its initial pledge of $44 million to Mike Collins in the Georgia Senate race against Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The financials of the rally-going MAGA voters do not come close to accounting for the millions upon millions of dollars that pour in to GOP campaigns. But it seems to be more fun to wage City Mouse vs. Country Mouse culture wars than to identify and klieg light the power brokers trying to corrupt our elections and democratic institutions.
Our 30% or more must be more passionate.......
Yes.
Those 30% used to be called "the lunatic fringe". John Birchers and McCarthyites were all relegated to the ignominy which they deserved.
But… they’re baaack.
That was when both Parties had politicians who represented a wider spectrum of political beliefs.
And George Floydists and BLM and....
I appreciate your use of woo. Secretary Brainworm is a primary example of someone who believes in woo to the detriment of the public health.
Stephen Miller’s depiction of antifa protesters made me wonder if he was actually looking at a film of the J6 rioters.
As usual every accusation coming from these delusional monsters is a confession of their own mendacity.
channeling Goebbels - always accuse others of what you are doing....
I agree that there are always irrational fringe groups. There are many people, not a fringe group, who have spiritual experiences, including visions of angels, precognition, intuitive knowing that a loved one is in difficulty or has died, and many other phenomena, and are rational and persuadable. Others have not had such experiences. From a scientific standpoint, over a century of research demonstrates that PSI abilities are real, even if they’re not fully understood. You can be religious and accept science. Scientific paradigms evolve as well, and the new paradigms don’t fully explain what is observed either, i.e., from Newtonian physics to quantum physics.
Yeah, no. There have been no legitimate studies that show that "psi" or any other supernatural phenomena exists. To paraphrase Sean Carroll, no scientist anywhere calibrates their instruments, which are precise to a degree that is almost incomprehensible, to account for the influence of some sort of supernatural being or force.
There are a number of studies that show that ecstatic experience can be reliably induced by meditation, breathing exercises or hallucinogens, and that experience can be life-changing, creating a sense of being at one with the universe. I don't discount the value or solace of such experience, but I also don't believe it justifies belief in supernatural forces or entities. Your mileage may vary.
You are incorrect. Read the literature, starting with The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin. Parapsychologists calibrate their instruments exceptionally well because they know that skeptics will doubt them for not doing so. Look up the Galileo Commission and read its report, available online at no charge. Skeptics refused to look through Galileo’s telescope.
There is widespread belief that there has never been proof of PSI. It is repeated often enough that many people believe it, even though it’s wrong. That’s the nature of an old paradigm being hard to dislodge.
My mileage does vary, because I’ve had such experiences, as do many people, without hyperventilation, etc, and they’re validated by parapsychological research. Thunder and lightning were thought to be supernatural until people understood electricity.
But yet billions of people believe there is an omnipotent and omnipresent being that watches over all of us 24/7/365.
You could say the same thing about the unconscious. You can’t touch it, feel it, or measure it. Most well-trained psychologists and psychiatrists admit the existence of this unmeasurable reality, including the famous Carl Jung whose theories (along with Freud) relied on it. Modern science has its limitations.
That’s one reason for the trips to South America for ayahuasca.
Freedom, this is how far down your road I will go with you: We humans use only a percentage of our sentient capacity. The percentage varies by whoever is conducting the research. Obviously, some people are more sentient than others. I'll even agree that some extraordinary capabilities are not understood or misunderstood.
But when you start talking about visions and angels and ghosts and other "paranormal phenomena," you're just spouting nonsense, regardless of the "literature" you quote to back you up.
Yes, "you can be religious and accept science," but science doesn't need anyone's acceptance. The truth is, you can't be scientific and accept religion.
Science is evidence-based. Religion is based on ... nothing, really. It's based on myth, legends and feelings. None of which are facts or evidence.
Spirituality and religion can be based on an objective evaluation of your own experiences. The findings of parapsychology are done with objective discipline in laboratories. Scientists are objectively considering a paradigm that includes consciousness as a necessary constituent. I’ve cited two sources that you can check, or not. I don’t need to convince you but suggest you keep an open mind that you may not know enough to dismiss spiritual experience out of hand.
Um. . .but that depends on how you score "insane."
You mention "science deniers, global warming deniers, anti-vaxxers, adherents to various woo-based diets and "health" regimes, people who not only believe in ghosts and angels and devils, but believe they have seen/met them, racists, bigots, misogynists, etc...."
A lot of this belief is just on the level of "silly."
"I've got a St. Christopher I wear to keep me safe in the car" is not going to influence the elections much. "I don't like mixing with people who are "different" also won't influence what you think about inflation or the war in Iran much. Although I agree with what you say, I think it is the rabid 10% of this 30% that we need to worry about.
I agree, particularly after my book club has read "The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging" by Noelle Cook.
Thank you for another book I must read!
If you read it by Tuesday, the DAUK is having the author come to their meeting which is 7:30 pm British time.
I doubt I could obtain the book that quickly, but appreciate the offer.
I’ll take those odds! “Cut them off from their audiences” means: boycott the legacy networks and the corporations supporting them. Turn to your choice of independent journalists for your news and updates! Stay focused on raising your voice and support for Pro-democracy organizations & Democratic candidates!! Candidates that do NOT take $$$$ from corporate, crypto, American-Israel pac, etc…
This is our time in our country’s history to stand up and pushback!! We must vote, encourage and support our neighbors to vote, and be united in our efforts to win in the November midterms and every election after that. Vote BLUE & be proud you supported your country’s future!
I agree that most institutions in the U.S. aren’t immunizing people from conspiracism. I fear that universities aren’t teaching, you know, critical thinking. (Duke University spawned Miller and Princeton, Hegseth). But what do you mean by “bottom 30%”? Shouldn’t that just be “30%”?
"But what do you mean by “bottom 30%”? Shouldn’t that just be “30%”?"
If I was a kinder person, yes.
It's not 'unkind' to simply call a spade a spade.
Unless you subscribe to the theory 'some things are better left unsaid'.
IMHO critical thinking needs to be taught far earlier than the university level. What critical thinking I have was learned in high school. Then I applied it when I went on to university.
Fred, I would assert that critical thinking can be – and should be – taught to students of any age. It's just a matter of adjusting the complexity of examples to be age-appropriate.
Social media and cable news has allowed them to crawl out from under there rocks. So. I think "education is the silver bullet" quoting the West Wing and through education and critical thinking that that 30% can be encouraged back under their rocks.
Of course education is the silver bullet. That is why the right has been doing everything it can, for decades, to limit access to it.
It used to be illegal to teach a black person to read.
The departure from reason and reality by that bottom 30% is closely associated with religiosity. The promotion of hyper-religiosity is a threat to civilization, whether it’s the cult of ultra-orthodox Judaism, extremist Muslim variants, or “Christian” fanaticism.
Can this claptrap get any more insane than unhumanizing anyone who is not MAGA?
Well I must admit, I think of dear leader as subhuman bc I cannot fathom a human being acting this way.
The technical term is "dehumanization." Setting the stage for persecution.
Andrew Weissmann's excellent #1 New York Times bestseller "Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America" provides an excellent constitutional road map for how to punish intentional false speech that damages confidence in elections. Other nations have done this, we can too.
Well stated. This whole situation is so insane but it is coming from the source of corruption and insanity (the whole f%#*ing adminstration.
The unlimited ability to rationalize ANYTHING. Those mentioned anti truth people all have a rationale to justify their ignorance.
In a Democracy where freedom of thought and speech are still allowed this is what happens. There are 70% of others who believe differently. Why not focus on the power of the 70%?
Because the opposition does not have an organized pro-active leadership with a coherent platform. I have ceased saying "Democrats" both because of the party's inability to do more than be reactive to the regime's actions, and because to win now that we are in this deep we need to organize the opposition more broadly.
There are brilliant individual voices out there who are in this fight to win. But there is not yet solidarity (ooooh, scary leftist word) and cohesiveness.
Somehow the Democratic party has chosen to read from the divisive script to play up the rivalry between progressive and moderate candidates, and sit back and see how the primaries turn out and then try to patch things up. That is way too late in the process to be trying to hash out what the opposition should be standing for. And it certainly isn't the way to attract independents and disaffected voters and non-voters.
30% welded into a common force with a common (manipulated) understanding is a lot more powerful than a 70% that is not. Look at how the fragmented Republican party shed its dissenters and morphed into a MAGA cult with the right people in the right places with their hands on the levers of power. They even wrote their own bible with Project 2025.
What will it take to turn this around? Setting aside egos, working together for the common good. Sitting down like the founders did, together, and reaching common ground on what they stood for. Writing it down. Pledging their lives and fortunes. It's not like nobody's ever done it before.
The modern incarnation is a shadow cabinet.
You know already Georgia, that you and I are 100% aligned regarding a shadow cabinet. The official Democratic Party does not have the courage to be a catalyst for one. So others need to fill the void. Some of them can be well known Democrats. Some can be independents. But as Bill said, the movement needs a leader. Who will that be? It needs to be someone with a strong, confident and uncompromising voice. It could be left, medium-left/liberal, or centrist.
I definitely favor more progressive candidates, but right now I just want to see someone who is a fighter and also a field general who can organize and inspire others. AOC and Pete B are ideologically much different but they both have that factor. And they are not the only ones.
Jon Osoff is one!
Agreed!
I have often supported what I considered the less damaging candidate instead of the best. In my voting years I’ve only once voted for a 3rd party and that was a mistake. It was the John Anderson option. I think it was Anderson, Carter and Reagan? Recalling our side 3rd party Greens like Ralph Nader cutting Al Gore’s chances. Or the Green candidate in 2016. I do agree with you about ending our fussing over moderate and progressive yet I become my own worst enemy when I want us to dispatch mostly unpopular issues and frankly ones I disagree with. But we don’t we hold onto issues for dear life. Most of us a hardwired to think a certain way because we are told that it’s the right way. We listen to our chosen leaders. I won’t go into specifics since that will only breed immediate disagreement here.
So what is the best was to extricate ourselves from this nightmare? Well, all species need leaders. The birds of the sky follow that one bird at the front. The lion has her pride and the gorilla clan has its gray back.
I agree that a strong voice must rise. But I’m unsure if we will unite sufficiently to defeat the evil. I’m reminded of past comments from soldiers who said, “I was just following orders.” I find it extraordinary that Americans could fall into this inferno as we have. There is little doubt that Trump is planning to invoke the Insurrection Act and call out troops in cities across the nation and indeed, suspend the election if he can get away with it. We are in a big pickle.
We've met the enemy and it is us. Pogo.
All this Democratic Party basihing is the culmination of many years of psy ops -- not only from Republicans but from the Russians, the Chinese, the Saudis, and others.
The Democratic Party has a platform. IMHO we wuz screwed in the 2024 election. Our platform is superior to theirs. We are a big tent party and need tolerance and patience.
In order to confront the insurrection act, unitary executive theory, etc we need to target the enemy. IMHO Trump's most vulnerable spot today is still Epstein. We are a minority party in Congress an need a few Republicans to stand up to him.
Canadian here. I’ve been watching from a distance (with great dismay) and what strikes me repeatedly is the lack of cohesive messaging. At some point all the anger about the trashing of your democracy needs to turn away from against Trump into big tent messaging about what you are for (the 70%) and what you as the children of the revolution deserve - no one is above the law; everyone pays their fair share; the economy must work for everyone; everyone deserves the dignity of affordable housing, healthcare and food; there’s more that unites us than divides us etc. And there needs to be clear messaging about legitimate concerns around immigration, culture war issues etc. What messaging would you need to have to bring along the more socially conservative people who are struggling to make ends meet? I can think of a lot of older people who may be slower to evolve on social issues or have concerns about social issues who may need to feel heard. And this messaging should be supported by cohesive proof points and counter points. If the messaging includes clear support of laws applying to everyone, then actions in future to prosecute corruption or the Epstein files should not be seen as lawfare. Maybe there is clear messaging and it’s not getting coverage in the media.
I agree with you, too, Daniel. When the fascists hold all the power cards, it is hard to imagine how to defeat fascism. This pickle (to quote Bill Katz) has been germinating for at least half a century, in narrowing what government can do (cutting taxes, funding), undermining education, spawning right-wing judicial candidates, and the "vast Right-Wing conspiracy" of taking over the mass media.
I totally agree, Bill. I didn't click "Like" because I can't say I like any of it, to understate the obvious!!
The birds in the sky share the leadership position with a rhythm that is superb to watch. Head out into open spaces ( valleys often) & watch numerous flocks at sundown changing leader positions !
Right, Georgia, the more the "moderate" Democrats whine about the more liberal candidates the more it sinks in that the moderate Democrats do not campaign on taking the money out of politics and makes me think that they favor the rights of their wealthy Oligarch donors over the rights and treatment ordinary everyday citizens.
I wish you would lead this movement Georgia. I'd be your number 2 if you would have me - although there are smarter people than me who I am sure would be greater in this position.
It would be stupid to ignore the unhinged Fascist minority Barbara.
Especially when the unhinged Fascists hold power at every level of the federal government. The rule of law exists on a knifes edge today and the American public hasn't been in this much danger since the Civil War.
Where did I say to ignore the fascists in power? The 30% do not hold the power. This is propaganda thinking. This regime currently has power over us but they do not hold the power. The power resides with the 70% who need to rise up.
Your post said "Why don't we concentrate on the 70 percent?"
My view is that the perversion of the 30% needs to be understood by the rest of us so everyone will feel the need to participate in elections to counter the fascist 30%. To accomplish that, we need to make the 70% awafe of what the 30% want to accomplish.
Understand what? They are a cult with no power. We need to get out the vote. We need to clean PAC soaked incumbents/candidates out of the Democratic Party, embrace the rising DSA and know the issues like our own name. We have too much work to do to keep navel gazing about the 30%.
Go to AIPAC Tracker and integrityindex.us. See who in the Democratic Party Leadership is more aligned with Israel that us. Schumer said his first allegiance is to Israel. Races such as Michigan where Schumer and AIPAC are spending over $30 million to defeat a progressive candidate like Mamdani who has done wonders for the people of NYC. The Democratic Party allowed djt to win-twice through ineptitude, arrogance and allegiance to Israel.
This is what I think about. Not the 30%.
Oy! But worse than flat earthers are all ones who know better but insist on not participating and are proud to not vote and claim both sides are the same.
Speaking here, of course, with the new discovery that I’m an unhuman…..
I heard the new “trend” by “influencers” is making not voting at all cool. Acting as though not voting at all is an actual “vote”. They are proud to be CHOOSING the right to vote.
So stupid.
Oh but they are so much smarter than us all. Just ask them.
As long as the 'wackos' mentioned by Mike Hammer etc do not vote, OK by me. And yet when their ideas are shoved to the side....will they react worse?
Oy oy. How does a mind get so incredibly bent? Perhaps it is the first amendment which allows the individual to have freedom of thought and expression. But it is a pathetically flawed mind that can act on those thoughts. Though McCarthy did. And it appears we are here again.
Oy is right Amy.
Well, 48% of Gen Z can't read at grade level.
Roy Cohn is the direct connection 'tween Trump and Joe McCarthy.
Hello J L ... As an Adolescent in the 1950s, DJT parked himself in front of the Television.... That seems to be the 'Real America' to DJT... DJT is a 'Throw-Back', and wants to impose his Retardation on all of the USA...
Though I'm not sure that Trump believes in anything except subjugating as many people as possible.
while making himself and his family as rich as possible.
He has no likes. Subjugating is just part of the orders he’s been given. He’s Putin’s puppet, kept in his place through their regular phone chats and being on the payroll. Possibly his gift for grift could mean he could buy Putin by now, but he wouldn’t dream of it because his mind is too narrow, his head too empty, and his hero worship too ingrained.
In the Kremlin and the WH (dc, fla, etc) I wish hackers could make every computer and cellphone in the Kremlin and the White House(s) - DC, FL, NJ…- show clips from Death of Stalin. They’d just appear and play for some random number of minutes and there’d be no way to stop them, even powering off and rebooting wouldn’t work.You’d just have to wait for the clip to end. And several minutes later another clip would start.
And Ike is the direct connection ‘tween. The Dulles brothers.
Really? If true, that is awful!
It is true. look it up...Cohen was part of both McCarthyism and trump..He helped trump become the sleeze he is...
And for good measure, add Roy Cohn's employment as NYC Mafia Mouthpiece.
Yes, I know that. My comment was about the 48% of children not Cohn who was a horrible person, I agree.
How these threads are linked by those lines isn't helpful.
A report came out today that students in 3rd grade in a Md. county are woefully below grade level. So, we do what we usually do - hold a summer school program, which, I believe, is hardly enough time to increase their reading scores significantly before school starts in a month and a half.
I think you may be wrong… 8 years old is premium for catching up in reading .. especially if home life is encouraging (turning off all other distractions) for 1/2-3/4 hours of engaging everyone in the family group to share a small book … read over at meal time ( no screens on ! Hand held or across the room on a tv)!
Home encouragement can be as important as school time.
Of course, if children are read to or if parents engage their children to talk about school, their day, what they learned or did. When I go out to dinner, I see families sitting together all with their cell phones poised near their face, including the children. Of course, I will not dismiss other factors, such as learning disabilities, etc.
They’re blaming social media I believe?
Yes, and smart phones where you can watch a video or whatever, from anywhere.
Too bad their elders in the Democratic Party could only read dollar signs from AIPAC. Younger people give me more hope than old people. The older politicians should hang their heads in shame. Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, M. Garland, S. Collins and all of them ignored the signs of what was brewing. Look at what they have left to the younger people in this Country. And the elder voters to refuse to even consider more progressive candidates. The elders in America need to do some considerable self-reflection and decide how they are going to make it up to younger generations.
That's the same bs people have been saying since Reagan. IMHO as someone who is old, I've been waiting for the "youth vote" to kick in since 1982, and it NEVER HAS. As some who has been a party official, I've been dealing with hired help who don't know jack about politics as long as I can remember. Gen z and Gen x have let us down.
IMHO we actually won in 2016 and 2024. Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania in 2024?
According to the data sources I checked Gen Z has become a major voting bloc in this country. In the 2024 election 41 million Gen Z were eligible to vote and 47% of them did. In the 2020 election 50% of eligible GenZ voters turned out at the polls. It is way past time to stop slamming the youth. We, the elders, got us into this nightmare. Frankly I am counting on the younger, more progressive thinking voters to get us out of this. Source: The Voting Institute
Sez you. We spend a disproportionate amount of the limited funds we get, which seldom come from people under 50, on the "youth vote."
Those of us who volunteer are generally diminished by the bull shit artists stealing our funds, who provide no (0) value, and who publicly disrespect people like Pelosi, who has been the number 1 tar baby for the enemy.
Whereas we should dominate the youth vote, in 2024, we lost the them. .
Keep passing on your support in every setting .. personal encounters, written , family meals , etc !
The establishment Democratic Party managed to lose twice to djt. The Democratic Party diddled for decades while the Heritage Foundation, Christian Nationalists, Tea Party were like a hurricane brewing out in the Atlantic (Republican Party) gathering enough strength to morph in MAGA.
The Schumer coalition is spending many millions to defeat change within the Democratic Party. We should be outraged at what they wrought but instead we finger point and look the other way.
We are a big tent party and Schumer is not a party official. You don't know jack about it. You've been spreading false information.
Has there ever been a good time when the electoral college could have been eliminated? This would be a very different country without it.
“I've been dealing with hired help who don't know jack about politics as long as I can remember. Gen z and Gen x have let us down.”
Hey, you old curmudgeon,
Those generations may have let you down, but not at all as badly as our generations have let them down. We’ve spent the last 45 years taking everything we can from their future, sticking them with a dirty hot planet and a shit ton of debt and them and their families in seriously bad shape.
What a whiny colicky piss baby victim you are.
You are your own BS.
And 10-15% of adults can't read at all.
and many of those who can, don't.
We are up to 21% illiteracy in this country. Another thing is we are reading more words than ever but not in the form of books.
I have a couple of people I text with and they either abbreviate things like, IMO, or answer a question with one word. And my daughter is one of them, which is bizarre because she wrote a novel with long sentences and several words I had to look up (don't tell her the last part).
And one assumes that everyone they meet can read. The sad part is the Republcans keep adding more and more bureaucracy to applying for and keeping SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, etc when they can't even read a form. And trying to get someone in an agency to assist is increasingly more difficult.
I wonder if some of this is our generation carrying our own standards of “good communication” into technologies that developed after us.
Many of us adapted our existing writing habits to email, texting, and social media. Younger, digital-native generations developed entirely new conventions for those platforms: abbreviations, emojis, GIFs, memes, and other forms of shorthand that communicate surprisingly rich information within those contexts.
Does that make them illiterate? I don’t think so. By the same logic, would someone who can’t write in cursive be considered illiterate today?
I’d argue literacy is better understood as mastery of a range of communication skills, knowing what style fits what setting. Your daughter is a perfect example. She can write a novel with a sophisticated vocabulary and also answer a text with “IMO” or a single emoji. That’s not a lack of literacy. It’s code-switching.
Where I do share your concern is when someone has only one communication mode and carries texting conventions into every context. If texting becomes the only language someone speaks, then we’ve lost something important.
Interesting statistic. What’s the source?
Also, who exactly was tested? Most of Gen Z has already finished school, so “can’t read at grade level” isn’t even a straightforward measure for the generation as a whole. If this came from NAEP, those assessments only test certain grades, and “Proficient” on NAEP is not the same thing as “at grade level.”
I’d be interested in seeing the original study rather than a statistic that’s been repeated without context.
I keep seeing a lot of numbers thrown around with no citations.
These conspiracy ridden fools should spend more time studying the French Revolution and less time on communist takeover fantasies.
"It was the best of times &the worst of times"
Only Two-Thirds Of American Millennials Believe The Earth Is Round
ByTrevor Nace,Former Contributor. Explore More
Apr 04, 2018, 07:55am EDTMay 16, 2022
Millennials in America sometimes get a bad reputation, this time for good reason. A recent survey found that just 66 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 years old have "always believed the world is round."
YouGov polled 8,215 US adults on February 8th, 2018 to get a representative idea of America's views on the shape of the Earth. What they found would make any scientist shake their heads, a surprising percentage of responders weren't convinced the Earth is round.
The survey found that 2% of Americans firmly believe the Earth is flat, with interesting differences segmented by age, religion, income, and political affiliation.
Of the thousands of American adults surveyed, the percent that always believed the Earth is round decreased with younger generations. In total, 84% of Americans responded that they believe the Earth is round. While the large majority believe the world is round, young millennials aged 18 to 24 are more likely to subscribe to the flat Earth belief (4%).
Religious beliefs appear to be correlated with one's likelihood to subscribe to a flat Earth. YouGov found that 52 percent of flat earthers consider themselves "very religious."
Robin Andrews with IFLScience pointed out that staunch religious conservatives tend to hold a disbelief in science and are unwilling to support scientific research and findings.
Comparing religious beliefs, YouGov found that Democrats are slightly less likely to believe the Earth is round than Republicans (83 versus 89 percent, respectively). This, perhaps, could be an overprint of younger generations more likely to lean Democratic and older generations more likely to lean Republican. While YouGov didn't find a significant variation in flat Earth beliefs geographically, they did find a significant variation based on income level.
The survey found that those with an income less than $40,000 (79%) are much less likely to believe the world is round compared to those with an income over $80,000 (92%).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/04/04/only-two-thirds-of-american-millennials-believe-the-earth-is-round/
Why "however"? False beliefs are one thing. It's a matter of knowing how to get accurate knowledge.
What Homo Viator refers to is immoral beliefs. It is immoral to believe that some human beings would be "less human" than others. This belief characterizes Nazism, and now also the neofascist GOP leadership and its ideologues.
Well, we should just throw them in the ocean and wave goodbye! Let them fall over the edge!
And yet, 70% of us are not … does that make us all commies, per the fascist regime?
You mean like BELIEVING that Women can be men? Or that men can get pregnant?
Or that world is going to be destroyed by climate in 12 years? Or that masks work against COVID? Should I go on?
The correct level of mask DOES work against COVID but vaccination works better still; and the unvaccinated are going to die in the long run, it might be from complications of measles that wipes your prior immunities...science is truth
Not in 12 years but the situation is looking grim.
My question is...who are these communists? Have they named names; do they know who is the communist leader or candidate; is there a communist national headquarters; is there a communist manifesto or policy position; we should call things by their proper names - words matter; is the word communist merely a private dialect created by deceitful, reckless trump people to maintain a fearful environment? What does it say about our culture that deception and lies are so easy to market????
I was at my daughter’s soccer game and heard one of the parents say “they even have an open communist running nyc now.” Most people don’t even know what communism is.
And some people are fascist.
Well, LM, you witnessed an uninformed, illiterate example of the multitudes of people whose cultural literacy is woefully underdeveloped.
Many of the ideas expressed in the book as HCR points out are straight out of FASCIST mindset. Remember their stated devotion to FRANCO and Mussolini, who started the Fascism in Italy and Spain before Germany, and mentioned in the UNHUMANS book. That Vance et alia believe that should totally disqualify them from any political office ever again. I think that is the unstated point in the HCR post.
Yes, and Heathers point is this is how many of the far right leaders think. Look at all the horrible cuts this regime has made, including health care, food, climate change, CDC, inspectors and the rule of law to name a few. The idealogy of the regime is to get rid of all that don’t believe in their agenda. Starve them, hurt them, kill them. They want progressives gone! They want to create their own fiefdoms that they dominate women and get rid of people of color. We must realize what we are up against and fight back every way we can!
And they appear to prefer a fascist over anyone with even a hint of socialism about them. Can’t fix stupid. But we have the numbers to outvote them.
I'm becoming increasingly worried that won't matter.
I wonder if these fools are fans of senseless killings of American citizens LM?
They use communism as a way to scare the uninformed about democrats and democracy. This is there new way to demonize the left.
Does it have something to do with the government taking over the means of production? Hmmm where have i seen that recently??
Bingo!!!
If you ask most of the people in this forum, the answer is that "communists" don't exist.
It is a fabrication to distract the public from the Administrations failures and crimes. Murders at sea, murders on our streets, ripping apart families and communities, costly unwinnable war, Epstein/Maxwell/Blanche/Trump/Epstein/Trump/Child Rapists, ever increasing prices, healthcare deprived hungry people, crypto theft, pardons for sale...Republican corruption and failure on every subject. Failure and crimes beyond any in US history.
If you ask the Fascists calling out ""communists" who they are - it's most of the people on this forum. In fact, most of America that has not drunk the Kool Aide. They are demonizing as "Unhuman" you and me.
Agree!! My questions were not really directed at this substack/forum - although I appreciate all the responses - but more rhetorical that I would pose to the trump people/followers.
Heard :)
🕯️ The Ledger of Nations
In Russia’s domain, where the iron fist rules,
The ledger is built out of policing tools.
Near thirty-eight percent of their federal state
Is fed to the forces of weaponized weight; 🪆
For national defense and security squads,
They starve all the public to answer their gods.
A pattern of power where citizens bleed,
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own land
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
Same goes for Antifa.
That's me 🤗
Yup!
The right knows we aren’t communists, they use the word to scare people away. They use it to bring people to them to escape from evil communism
Yes! Well said!
They conflate Democrats, who are not hive mind thinkers, progressive, centrist, Democratic Socialists and anyone who doesn’t support Trump as “Communists.” There are only 3,000 or so genuine Communist Party members in the U.S., and they are very un-influential. Democratic socialism has its biggest attraction in larger cities. Communists don’t like Democratic Socialists because of the latter’s belief in fair play. I get frustrated at the DNC and DCCC, who think they have to play the same big money game imposed in Citizens United. Some people confuse Muslims, Democrats and Communists as one giant Borg trying to assimilate the nation. They think all Muslims are Islamists, which is untrue, and white Christian Nationalists would ban all non-Christian faiths except for Judaism. Some WCNs like Owen Lebbon would ban Judaism and treat Black citizens as inferior becaise that mindset is only still too prevalent in the U.S. Doug Wilson, who is Owen Lebbon’s mentor, would ban all but his own version of Chrisitanity and establish a theocracy, and the Catholics in the white Christian Nationalist movement (I have no use for their views as my coreligionists,) would soon find themselves with the Protestants declarjng war on them.
It says we’re lazy in civic intellect at best and complete idiots at worst.
They use that term for anyone they don't like. We're going to see terrible things in this country soon.
I'm sure and I fear the days leading up to and including election day.
As Heather said I her letter, Stephanie, they are saying anyone to the left of trump fascists are communist. And they will claim that every protester they kill or imprison during the civil uprising after refusing to seat Democratic winners in the midterm elections.
I guess that's the strongest epithet they can come up with. Well, sticks and stones and all that......
Good questions — the final two long questions…
It says we’re an empire.
For all the people who are part of the conspiracy movement and the Christian Nationalists, there are talking points in these speeches that resonate with them, that the rest of us will not get and will think sounds crazy. They are catering to very deranged groups, but somehow they have the power to act on this too, until some court may or may not stop them. Not only is Trump throwing protesters who do not follow him into prison for sentences that violent criminals do not get if they are far right, but he is trying to include the rest of the countries of the world in his sham. I am in Europe and watching them bend over backwards to keep the US in NATO and Trumps troops and weapons on the ground in Europe. To do this, they debase themselves and sell out democratic practices in their country. Rubio met with 67 leaders and asked them to help Trump go after people and groups he deems unworthy. Meanwhile he is spending billions of our tax dollars propping up far right candidates globally. People have to protest this and NSPM-7.
We have never had a democracy. Elections are opinion polls. The wealthiest are the "deciders", a term used by President George W. Bush.
This was never more true than today with unlimited money flowing into not just campaigns but into lawmaker’s coffers as well.
What's the practical alternative? Our political system is definitely flawed.
It's what we have to work with.
Trump, his enablers and handlers are a clear danger to us and to the world.
I don't have time to argue over corporate vs progressive Democratic candidates.
I'm voting Blue in November because we need to push back as hard as possible against the policies of this administration.
🕯️ The Ledger of Nations
In Russia’s domain, where the iron fist rules,
The ledger is built out of policing tools.
Near thirty-eight percent of their federal state
Is fed to the forces of weaponized weight; 🪆
For national defense and security squads,
They starve all the public to answer their gods.
A pattern of power where citizens bleed,
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own land
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
The origin of the political/ cultural divide was the onset of paid, professional lobbyists, and the PACs that cycle ex congresspeople through their ranks for excessive “salaries”. The truly irresponsible “decisions” of SCOTUS since that time has cemented the process into the winner/loser mindset of the political class.
Make lobbying. A felony and we might see some Legislators who make decisions on what is right for the country. Take away the money and we might see Representatives who desire to serve rather than to enrich themselves.
Linda, while I agree with you in principle, how can you make lobbying a felony? It is really a form of collective bargaining. A group of people share an objective or a grievance, so they organize to bring their objective/grievance to the attention of the person(s) with the power to address their concern.
Corporate executives would love to get rid of unions so they can treat employees however they please with impunity. When a single worker walks off the job in protest, they get fired. When the entire workforce goes on strike, they get attention.
Lobbying can exist, but it must be heavily regulated so that it is a collective messaging system and not a bribery operation.
Advocacy groups lobbying politicians is one thing, the professional lobbying industry quite another. At the past three COP summits, professional lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry have outnumbered delegates. The same playbook used by lobbyists for the tobacco industry denying the link between smoking and lung cancer is now being deployed by lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry to cast doubt on the science of climate change. There is a whole network of right-wing lobby groups (the Atlas Network) operating as charities when they are nothing of the kind. There seems to be no regulation at all of these activities.
Russell, the NRA comes to mind. It began as a gun safety organization that served gun owners. It has morphed into a threatening/bribery organization that serves gun manufacturers.
Lobbying very quickly became a vehicle for bribery. There are no guardrails that prevent out and out bribery of public officials.
Furthermore, the elected representatives have stopped doing their own research on issues, and instead vote on bills dependent on which lobbiest offers more goodies.
What they are doing is felonious, if not traitorous. Find a way other than outlawing the practice, and I will be totally on board.
Lobbying is nothing more than legalized bribery.
In my opinion, Dale, corporate lobbying is more inline with Oligarchic post Citizens United money in politics but has been effective much longer by providing politicians with money for campaigns and lucrative post politics jobs lobbying their ex colleagues. If there were a way to police lobbyists and inform the voters of the lobbyists' dealings with their representatives and the identity of those who back any political advertising maybe keeping it legal would work.
How many voters would actually keep track that kind of information?
Lobbying works because it happens mostly without notice.
Mystic Shadow, I agree with you. We have allowed [choose your villain] to distort and/or overturn the definition of lobbying.
Indeed, Citizens United is the rotten apple that has rotted the entire basketful of apples. That's because the majority of benchwarmers on SCOTUS are, themselves, corrupt beyond salvage and should be impeached.
Lobbying, by its original definition is bringing an issue to the attention of the person(s) who can bring about remedy. Anyone who goes beyond that definition should be held accountable, either financially or by removal from their position. This is not hard to do, but the powerful refuse to do it.
John Roberts refuses to adopt and enforce a code of ethics because he, himself, is corrupt, indirectly taking millions in income from his wife's clients who have business before The Court. So his 5 cohorts continue in their corruption with impunity. Likewise with legislators who refuse to hold themselves accountable.
Can enforcement work? It works in the private sector. When I worked in the corporate world, every company had a policy regarding "gifts" from vendors. The maximums varied by company, but they were all small, usually the cost of a restaurant dinner. Failure to abide by these rules would result in immediate dismissal after investigation.
Around 1980, I worked in the corporate headquarters of TG&Y Stores. Several dozen buyers decided the rule didn't apply to them and accepted "thank you gifts" from vendor reps, in the form of expense-paid Aspen vacations, cruises, home remodels and more.
How is that possible? Keep in mind that a quarterly supply of Scotch® tape for over 1,300 stores would be over $1 million. A few thousand for a cruise was nothing for the vendor rep.
In any event, the buyers got caught. The FBI took up residence in our building for several weeks. The buyers and their staff went to prison. The threat of job loss and imprisonment is a powerful deterrent.
No ex congressperson should be permitted to lobby in Congress for 5 years after leaving Congress. Many run for Congress simply as a stepping stone to lobbying firms, where the salaries are far higher than being a mere Congressional Representative or Senator.
Congress should have a limit on what they can except from lobbyists. Of course that is all gone because of the SCOTUS!
Which is why they want to remain in power until death!
Apparently there are landslides every so often. It's all a lot more messy to cover up.
So I’m guessing you think you have any alternative to elections ? And by the way Mystic shadow I just reread her post and she called it reasonable. No wonder she’s so much internal dilemma in her life. Your comments about socialize medicine and wealth tax as this analogy. You can get more fact out of your post than one dog smelling another one’s butt. I’ve provided the facts on the wealth tax. And I provided the reason we don’t have socialized medicine in this country, but I’ve also offered you the opportunity since we’re such a free country to move anywhere you want that provides socialize medicine while you wait six months for a brain aneurysm to be fixed by surgery, like my friend who waited six months for the surgery while they gave him blood thinners in the meantime. Six months.
Hey Gloria, are you allowed to vote for whoever you want? Does anyone prevent you from voting whoever you want to vote for? Does everybody have the right to vote? Then what the hell are you talking about? You’re talking about gullibility is what you’re talking about and the problem with today’s Americans. They don’t have the ability to make up their own mind especially the left who are nothing but a bunch of liberal activist lemmings right now which is really sad to see. The Democrat party is imploding upon itself and splintering in direction. Nobody ever imagined could happen in the United States. Self induced wounds, self-inflicted wounds.
The majority don’t get their way when the wealthy disagree.
Well, Gloria, maybe you’ll wake up to the fact that that’s so wrong… and that’s why we have elections. That’s how 13 million more people voted for Joe Biden the incompetent legislator for 40 years who got 13 million more votes than Barack Obama the GOD Try to explain that to me, would you please in English
Gilens and Page 2014 study
Look it up. But you won't believe the results because you don't want to. Find research that provides evidence to the contrary and let me know what you found.
Take care.
Wow, gillens and Page study in 2014. Why don’t you just quote me the rights and voting of citizens when Socrates was around.
Do you know the difference between a study and reality? You should probably start there.
I just showed you an actual election result that proves you’re wrong and gillen and Page are idiots who live in a theoretical world.
If gillen and Page were right then, how did Biden win?
''The Communists Are in HR, Please Complete Your Training Module''
America has apparently entered the “communists are hiding in Human Resources” phase of authoritarian decline, which is both hilarious and terrifying, like watching a clown juggle chainsaws in a maternity ward.
According to the latest fever dream from Trumpworld, the United States is under siege by leftists, progressives, journalists, college administrators, civil-rights lawyers, tattooed protesters, and presumably anyone who has ever asked whether the office thermostat could be set above meat-locker temperature. J.D. Vance warned that communists no longer wave red flags. Now they “march through HR.” So remember, when Brenda emails you about completing workplace harassment training, that may actually be the opening shot of the Bolshevik Revolution.
The intellectual foundation for this national panic is a book titled Unhumans, endorsed by the usual parade of men who look like they were assembled in a basement from spare podcast parts. Its thesis is beautifully simple: the left wants to strip people of their humanity, so the patriotic solution is to strip the left of its humanity first. This is apparently what passes for moral clarity in circles where Francisco Franco is treated like a misunderstood life coach.
Trump then unveiled “stunning” evidence that China purchased voter information that was publicly available for purchase. This is less Watergate than discovering your phone number in the phone book. His own released documents reportedly pointed toward Russian efforts to help defeat Biden, but reality has never been allowed to interrupt a good grievance recital.
Naturally, Trump demanded that alleged noncitizens be identified and removed from eligibility, pushed another voting-restriction bill, and called for broadcast licenses to be revoked. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping’s lavish state visit remains on schedule. Evidently, China is conducting an unprecedented attack on American democracy, but the alleged mastermind is still welcome for dinner, photographs, and whatever dessert best complements constitutional collapse.
Then Stephen Miller delivered a lecture on who looks “normal,” a bold choice from a man whose public presence suggests an undertaker who has just been informed the corpse requested a second opinion.
The message is clear: democracy is in danger, therefore democracy must be suspended until Republicans can win every election for the next hundred years.
Cisco Aguilar, chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, offered the most rigorous scholarly rebuttal available:
“That was some bullsh*t.”
Peer review complete.
Thanks, Michael! I click all the tabs except for journalist, college administrator, and any sort of attorney (but especially the vote to have a warmer than meat locker indoor environment).
🕯️ The Ledger of Nations
In Russia’s domain, where the iron fist rules,
The ledger is built out of policing tools.
Near thirty-eight percent of their federal state
Is fed to the forces of weaponized weight; 🪆
For national defense and security squads,
They starve all the public to answer their gods.
A pattern of power where citizens bleed,
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own land
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
The Third Reich was successful until it wasn't. But I am appalled at how closely Vance/Miller/Bannon/Vought seem to be following the playbook. Rhyming, not repeating.
Dehumanization is the first step. Once you've convinced people that a group isn't fully human—they're vermin, invaders, criminals, subhuman—killing them becomes acceptable.
That's the required mentality for genocide.
And it's happening now. The language about immigrants. The rhetoric about minorities. The dehumanizing imagery. It's the same playbook, same steps.
History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. And we're watching the rhyme scheme unfold in real time.
In Nazi Germany opponents were labeled “non-Aryan.” In Trump’s America, opponents are called “unhuman.”
Besides, 'unhuman' is an adjective not a verb and Jack Posobiec is an idiot.
My only wish for you is that you actually meet a Nazi and they treat you like they treated a Jew and you will never utter the word again. Trying to compare it to anyone or anything today.
The League of Voters, who are well known 'normal' looking humans, successfully overturned (past tense) Trump's authoritarian "EO" to restrict Early & Mail-in voting.
See, "League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump: Filed in federal court on April 2, 2026 The League's pro-voting court victory successfully challenged an executive order [EO] by President Donald Trump attempting to restrict voting.
BottomLine: In June 2026, last month a federal judge blocked trump's BS "EO" order.
*************************************************************************************
More Good News:
*****************
Rural voters in Mississippi & far away Voters In Alaska even a scored a major legal victory at SCOTUS. However, calendar the date your state's operations. Your ballot MUST be processed within 5 days of Election Day.
DOUBLE CHECK the deadlines with your state registrars of Voters. The Feds are NOT in control of National Elections.
Homo Viator,
Look at the pathetic source from which this destructive language originates. Question these sources! Do these persons only exist for short term power and financial gain or is their concern for maintaining the health of our government, protecting one another as the great nation we have been formed to be? Does this behavior yield trust in us as a nation? Can we NOT see America imploding???
America is a place big enough for everyone. Together we must continually strive for excellence in every field using the huge variety of gifts and talents we have been given.
There will always be "enemies of our freedoms....self-serving leeches.....who are constantly working , not only to destroy our Democracy but to PROFIT from its citizenry.
Along with trying "to keep our noses above water" ie care for our families, keep our jobs in order to pay for our ever increasing living expenses, we must make ourselves aware of actions Congress is taking that will take away our freedoms ie our power as citizens of this great nation. WE ARE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...that means EACH of us; all colors, new arrivals who were born with a different language, each of us respectful of faith or no faith, etc... We can maintain our freedoms with respect only if we work to keep together. This country is worth the effort. We must remind ourselves that FREEDOM HAS NEVER BEEN FREE!!!!
Totally agree , 💩
"Miller told the State Department attendees: 'It’s not a coincidence that when you look at these violent antifa demonstrations, you see any photograph of those who are assembled, to be blunt, not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person, not one looks normal. They’re all deformed in some way, in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism.'" Kind of the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? If one really wants to go on subjective evaluations, all one has to do is take a good look at Miller and see the ghoulishness of his figure. According to his assessment on "Antifa" people, he would fit right in very comfortably.
Yes, Riad, when I read Miller's statement about appearance, I thought, "Of all the people who have any right to criticize someone's physical appearance, Stephen Miller is the one gargoyle who should keep his mouth shut."
This is exactly why we need to stand together as a united front! We need to push back against the obscene policies and behaviors of the extremists! Stand up people w/ your voice, your vote, your support of candidates and Pro Democracy organizations. Be counted…be peaceful…be proactive and choose your role in our collective history!!
True. Which is why it is so shocking to read dehumanizing language in these comments.
Please teach the readers what they should do now, in particular for the midterm.
Everybody should take these speeches seriously and realize that when the midterm elections turn out to be a blue tsunami, trump will unleash federal agents from every agency and even the military to sabotage swing state election operations to undermine the lawful outcome of the elections. And when the country erupts in massive civil unrest, he will use those same forces to quell all opposition. Hegseth and trump have been purging the military leadership of people of color, women, and anyone that they believe will honor the oath to protect and preserve the Constitution. Expect trump and his minions to act the way Iran did when they murdered tens of thousands of their own people a few months ago.
It is probably time to prepare for a
Isn't it rich that Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller describe anyone as unattractive or deformed?
Along with all the other nonsense that comes out of their mouths, the statements by Miller and Bannon about the appearance of other people are particularly ludicrous coming from actual ugly freaks.
i'm sorry to have to point this out, but...
i've read all the comments till here...and i'm not sure that m/any of you are getting the point of this 'dehumanization' tack...
it's easier to kill some THING(esp if it's ugly) than someONE...
create a paramilitary...rile up maga and if/when there's any resistance to the regime, set them loose...
i don't know what to suggest to prepare for this...but americans are alREAdy seeing people killed with impunity...being prodded and given the go ahead, what makes so many of you think that they'll stop there?
Husband of Ruth writing:
Oh they won’t stop there, Isaac. This is fertilizer being put on a seed that was planted a long time ago and has lain dormant in American soil. We’ve seen it sprout here and there before, but never like this. It’s time to become really, really scared. Correction the time to become really scared was ten years ago. Now is the time to remember why the second amendment was written into the constitution.
or...people can just keep on making jokes/poking fun at people who will be more than happy to put a few rounds into them...just for laughs.
i'm glad that there ARE a number of you that understand the seriousness of what's going on. i don't want to have to watch a 'jews in the ghettos' reenactment in my lifetime.
Isaac: Thank you for making clear in real and horrible terms what we are facing from the de-humanizers. We saw what they intend in what unfolded here in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in January with the ICE thugs (who are not gone and have branched out to other cities). We witnessed the "reenactment" you and I and everyone on this thread don't want to see.
Yesterday I was talking with a community organizer who pointed out that how the neighborhoods responded in January (whistles, observers, protectors, defenders on many fronts, etc) was possible because of what people learned as a result of George Floyd's murder. People got to know each other. She said the key is one-to-one connection. When ICE descended upon Mpls and StPaul, people knew who to contact.
it's always great for communities to be organized, melinda. in many different ways...very glad to read your comment. thank you.
The jokes are also necessary. Not to do nothing about this rhetoric, but so that we can see it in it's full gaslighting audacity. What we do after we laugh is important. Standing with those being targeted is important - since we are essentially all being targeted. Refusing to defend the argument they are making, as if it is real, is important. Speaking up for the larger “we” without apology and for the policies that people actually want is important. Amplifying voices that celebrate diversity and interconnectedness is important. We have to get louder, bolder and more inclusive.
Each of us is a target. Some are completely unequipped.
Husband of Ruth writing:
Amen to that, brother.
Nor would I. Never again!
Nor do I. There must be value somehow in, not poking fun at, but using our own brushes to paint those who would put rounds in us for what they are.
Presently, ICE is organized by white trash and those who think they're white and somehow that they're doing right… personally I think it will be helpful to keep identifying them as they are so more will realize that they're playing on the D team and defect.
though the MAGAts tend to be much more heavily armed, and prepared, than the "unhumans" who believe in decency and community support.
Not all of us!
It looks inevitable. Everything said and being put in place to systematically kill or lock up anyone that gets in their way. The courts are not coming to the rescue even if ruling for democracy. The military, the FBI, National Guard and intelligence agencies all under control for the purpose of feeding a narcissists need for power, money and fame. This will end but not well. How many people willing to give the ultimate sacrifice will be needed?
Trump is just a figurehead, albeit a very dangerous one. and even though you didn't state it this way, Mitch, all those factions are complicit. the 'courts' not only 'are not coming to the rescue', they're the ones that green lighted much of what followed when they gave Trump the ok to do with impunity whatever might be deemed necessary as president.
and then there's all the incredible amount of money backing the regime. these are 'the people behind the curtain'. the true rulers.
solutions will be on you all...do NOT count on any semblance of legality for backup/fallback...community organization is essential.
Demonizing your opponent is the first rule before destroying them. It's how wars have always been fought but demonizing your own country is not new. It's the ugliest of monsters when religion enters.
Just as in the slave era, the pro-slavery droogs created “cognitive dissonance” — rather than having empathy for the horrific treatment of Africans brought to the US, people were encouraged to see them as sub-human, more similar to animals than humans. Thus empathy was replaced by justified exploitation and abuse. Hitler did the same to the Jews in Germany. And now we have “unhumans” and “radical left lunatics.” Thus you see ICE and the detention centers brutalizing humans who they have decided are less than human. How far we have sunk.
Yes. Now what to do. Any suggestions, ideas about the upcoming elections aftermath if indeed there is an aftermath considering the fascist armed violence.
I’m thinking CALL YOUR GOVERNOR to protect the vote outcomes….your State’s
national guard. Your local & state police. I’m focused on taking actions now.
It is cultivation of sociopathy; a pretext for persecution, exploitation, or genocide. It's like claiming that another person is only 3/5th human, if that. Many US founders may not have walked the talk, but the document that all the current hullabaloo has been about is premised on the use rights of all, yet Lincoln's condemned "same old serpent" in the way in every age. The must be more that we can do collectively to send it packing.
Spot on. We need leadership to send it packing, and it won't come from the current DNC folks, but from others under a broader umbrella of the resistance.
It's like they are channeling some zombie movie and characterizing democrats as the zombies who must be eradicated. The confessional nature of their statements is stunning.
Exactly
I have never believed they would stop with people they currently kill, but they would expand their list of people they think should be killed or imprisoned.
When it starts its never over. They end up turning on each other.
Isaac, let me assure you I definitely “get it.” Once you can establish that another class of humans is somehow not human, all bets are off. The rules of human decency no longer apply and hunting season is on. This is where pogroms originate. There is still time to pull away from this abyss, but the clock is ticking loudly
Well Isaac, what do you suggest we do? Do you own an automatic weapon? Willing to use it against those who would happily kill us "unhumans"?
I ask myself the same question. And no, i don't own an automatic weapon--but i know how to use one.
I remember taking an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC when i joined the Corps fifty-eight years ago.
That oath is forever.
So, what is to be done? Getting organized is the first step, isn't it?
How many of us will take Jefferson's words to heart about the tree of liberty needing to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and TYRANTS.
We know who they are. I suppose come the November election we'll know what must be done.
Well, my oath is scheduled to expire on 12/31/2099. Not the same oath as USMC but for law enforcement with "honorably retired" status. I will stand with you, Michael.
I will stand.
2099! A.H. in Oregon,
I'll push the wheel chair; you hold the weapons.
PS I absolutely loved my time in Seattle at the University of Washingon! I know it's not Oregon, but kinda close doncha think? ;- )
PNW is PNW. I love Seattle!
Michael. despite a very good life there, i moved away from the US over 25 yrs ago, KNOWing it could never come to much good...that was obvious even then from the 'day to day happenings'.
as i said in my first post. i have no suggestions except to organize within your communities first. i am not proposing any sort of violence.
i am only trying to emphasize the dangers of what's already obvious.
Isaac, I hope you continue to have a good life in, where are you, Europe? Canada? Right wing authoritarian governments are on the rise around the world. We here in "the land of the free and the home of the brave" (i stiffle my gag reflex when i say this) must consider how far we are willing to let trump and his ilk continue ravaging our communities and our environment before we realize we must take a stand.
I am not now "proposing any sort of violence," but I will not passively wait in orderly fashion by the cattle cars on my way to some gulag or gas chamber.
You don't think this is possible here?
Look around, brother. We are already here. The fascist thugs are slowly moving their way up the color spectrum...with their god and the law on their side.
michael...it seems a bit obvious from your responses that you haven't read my comments. not only today...i've been TRYing to give people on this site a heads up for at LEAST 6 months...
i live in the NL(Holland, to most of you). wonderful country. worth what i gave up.
i'd be a liar if i said i saw what's happening now coming those decades ago...but when i did, i was intent on warning people...
Isaac, I've been to the Netherlands years ago.
Nice people. Friendly.
And no, i haven't seen many of your previous comments; I am relatively new to Substack.
But it's clear that commenters on this site see and understand the perilous condition we in this country are in (if i were young enough i'd be in Ukraine helping in their fight. Remember the International Brigades, Orwell included, who went to fight Franco's fascists).
However, at this moment our fight is here!
I agree, but my kids won’t let me buy a gun.
They’re afraid I’ll shoot the first car I see with a Trump sticker!
no matter how the situation evolves, christine, your kids are smart for what they're saying. according to an article i read, red states possess 45% of the weapons to 25% of the blue states. and i would imagine that many of them are just waiting for an opportunity to use those weapons for quite a while...
Isaac, the 2nd amendment wasn't written for trumpers only. When they come to my door, i will not be offering cucumber sandwiches.
Sooner or later, we have to fight for what we value--or lose it.
I fear many of my countrymen and women will continue to go along to get along--until it's too late.
Do you think Gandhi's nonviolence would have worked with Hitler?
each of you must make the choices you feel you need to make, Michael. i'm not contesting your choices.
one of my careers in america was as a nurse. i've been shot. that put a dead stop on my other, pre-nursing career as a musician. i tend to the wounded. for me, once i pick up a gun, they've already won, though i WOULD to defend people i love/care about.
but, like i said, each must make the choices of how to handle their situations.
Where'd you do your nursing?
And shot! Who nursed you
then?
I had the benefit of good nursing, complements of the Navy corpsmen attached to my Marine unit in Quang Nam Province in '69.
You don't need a weapon, Isaac, to be in the fight!
Well Christine, you can man (oops, woman) the barricades and carry water. You won't need a weapon, just your heart and your committment.
Your kids are sensible. Self-inflicted wounds wouldn't be helpful. ;- )
We all need to become extremely fit, so as to run and hide when ICE comes for us all.
Those detention centers are for us…they plan a hitler move on america and if we continue to diddle we will all be in one on the way to the ovens. I have watched in disbelief how cowardly so many congressmen have been. How they give full-throated support to genocide and torture…for a few pieces of silver..unbelievable, disappointing, treasonous. The Peter Principle in full bloom in america
Bannon hasn’t washed his hair since 1963.
And Miller looks like Joseph Göbbels' and Gollum's bastard love child.
I was thinking has Miller even looked in a mirror?!
Can he see his reflection if he does?
😂
Good one!
Not possible. It would break.
There was that picture of him as Gollum with a fish!
What purpose in going down this rabbit hole?
To LAUGH, dear heart. If you don't laugh, you'll shrivel up and die. So go ahead, let out a couple of yuk-yuks. It may save your life.
Exactly! 🩵
Thanks! I needed a laugh this morning.
Look at what Hegseth has done to his body with the tatoos and hatred.
Hello Gloria... Pete Hegseth is a Bad Cartoon...
A bad cartoon with power which makes him dangerous too.
Hegseth is pathetic. And dangerous.
And insecure -- he should be tested for low IQ, not low T.
I’m thinking we need to call him Mr. T.
Lol.
Exactly!
He’s advertising to his coterie at the gym …
Truly, I thought they were talking about themselves.
Yeah,I agree.Bannon and Miller commenting on anyone’s appearance is the ultimate the pot calling the kettle black.Lol.
It is wholly predictable, and echoes Nazi eugenics rhetoric against the physically and mentally handicapped, and against anyone who didn't fit the "Aryan ideal." (Nevermind the actual appearance and physical condition of most Nazi leaders.... and the fact that Hitler evidently suffered from cryptorchidism.) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/19/hitler-really-did-have-only-one-testicle-german-researcher-claims
In Biddeford, Maine yesterday the crowd was a beautiful mix of people - nearly all white, though. I expect we didn't look like ICE bait.
And their boss….caked in orange makeup and wearing a birds nest on the top of his dome.
I know that we are not supposed to comment on how other people look, but…Miller? And Bannon?? Wow!
I picked up on that too. They have mirrors and know they are ugly!
No. I don’t believe they do. A narcissist projects themselves unto others and is incapable of introspection.
If you take every quote from these guys and turn it around they are talking about themselves. That’s the thing with narcissists… they are always talking about themselves.
Especially Stephen Miller who is stark raving mad . No question about it.
Commenting on one's appearance feels juvenile at best.
My comment exactly.
When miller looks in the mirror, he sees the most deviant and demented freak on this planet! As the sub human trump’s Nazi like propaganda minister, he as the authority to put his hatred for non white humans into action!
His resemblance to Josef Goebbels is striking. And not only in the case of appearance.
What Democrats Can Learn From Australia
Let’s face the facts, Nazi Republicans are a minority party because they don’t represent the majority of Americans. They represent the wealthy and business segment of our society along with cult followers who have shown poor thinking skills in interviews that delegitimize themselves.
Due to their minority place the Nazi Republicans can throw a lot of $$ into elections but the electorate is responding to this “buy election” approach abetted by SCOTUS’s Citizen United decision by saying, “No More!”. Right now the Muskrat is going to be indicted by the state election commission on the illegal attempt to buy voters in Wisconsin with million $ checks. Although the Muskrat didn’t pass $$ to voters, the fact that he proposed such a strategy was illegal.
Election reform has to be the first order of business when the Democrats take both Congressional chambers. There are many issues in election reform, including an honest gerrymandering reform, but Australia has a very law regarding elections. In that country all Australians are required to vote under a financial penalty.
This type of reform would make the American electorate robust and force the Nazi Republicans to be concerned about governing and policy rather than trying to buy elections and try to elect psychopaths who have no business in government.
Australia also has a preferential voting system which is much more representative of people's wishes than a first past the post system. And, it has independent federal and state electoral commissions that do many important things including monitoring electoral boundaries to ensure one vote one value as much as possible.
They also have mandatory voting, which makes a difference in participation.
It makes an enormous difference to participation and that is a good thing overall. But, participation doesn't mean informed participation.
Australia's main far right party (One Nation) has risen a lot in popularity recently. Many are starting to see it as the answer to their economic difficulties. But, because they aren't informed, they don't realise that One Nation doesn't actually have policies to help struggling people and it's main backer is a billionaire who thinks Australian workers should be paid the same amount that workers in African countries are paid. These people also dislike Trump and his tariffsand wars but they don't know that One Nation supports the war with Iran and One Nation has deep connections to MAGA and Trump.
Thanks for the added information. I think voting reform bills have to take these considerations seriously.
First thing is, make election day a holiday. Many more would vote.
Here’s the problem: many laborers have zero holidays. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. No health insurance, no sick days, no vacation time. Making it a holiday will mean nothing to them.
But not a Monday or Friday holiday.
I agree completely. Making it a Friday or a Monday would be another tactic.
Unions were excellent at making sure Election Day was a holiday.
Much agreed, along with celebrations of key points of what distinguish our prescribed system from despotism.
Clearly the right to vote and have that vote count as much as any other is the right that furthers and protects all the others. It is crazy that our laws allow it to ever be gamed or maliciously denied.
Let's all learn it quick!!
Cisco Aguilar was 100% right when he said "That was some bullshit," but just because it was ridiculous doesn't mean that it was funny. We need to take this bullshit seriously. I'm not sure what we can do to prevent the wannabe dictator from calling a last-minute emergency to prevent our elections. I'm confident that if the elections take place, we'll win, but I'd like some folks more knowledgeable than i am to give me some insight into how we, the people, can prevent that kind of potential disaster.
However comical, however serious the bullshit and the attempts, they will be challenged across the land by teams of lawyers now quite used to winning lawsuits, aided by poll workers, poll watchers and ordinary citizens voting in record numbers. Many states have already passed laws to the effect that 'touch our voting systems, ballot boxes or interfere in our election process and counting in any way and we'll arrest you, no matter who you are.'
The Constitution doesn't spell out that many things. Specifying that states, not the executive branch, control the 'time, manner and place' of elections is one of them. The more legal action against them, the stronger the precedent, based on that very plain Constitutional article.
Keep in mind all this actually landed with a thud yesterday on Fox News, of all places. They affirmed there was "no proof" for any of this, and his own election poodle walked out in front of the White House and said there was "no evidence" a single voting machine was tampered with or one vote was "stolen" by China, Venezuela or anybody else in 2020. One swell foop -- they themselves neutered their own demented boss. And the Senate isn't going to pass SAVE, no matter how much he whines, wheezes, wheedles, begs and drools. Ain't gonna happen.
I continue to be amazed at just how nutso they are. Were they just a bit saner, a bit more self-controlled, a teensy-bit more rational, they'd pose a greater danger. Most of this can't pass a basic giggle test. Be strong.
Hello ICTT.... I hope that you are right... However the Courts Are Slow, and DJT is Demented Enough, and Desperate Enough to Defy Court Decisions... Look at the Iran War AUMF... I say, 'Divine Intervention' cannot come soon enough...
Yes, I hope Im' right, too! 🙏
I’m not so sure that the day the orange buffoon exits stage left that a more rational substitute wouldn’t be more dangerous. 47 as a vessel catches attention. What’s going on behind the scene worries me. Innocuous as I am, I wonder how many databases I populate.
I wonder if there's a database titled "Subscribers to Heather Cox Richardson who say very nasty things about me."
🤣😳
donna woodward,
Or.....how many participants who subscribe to the great "Heather Cox Richardson's "LETTERS" appreciate your comments. This is still AMERICA and we are free to share our comments and different opinions with one another...agree or disagree!!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA....LAND THAT I LOVE!!!!!
Right! Reactive measures are not going to cut it. We need to prevent the damage before it happens, not hope for some kind of roll back that will inevitably come too late.
And we need to do side that the SCOTUS SIX might actually be a part of this coup.
At every turn the Trump plan has been to ask for forgiveness, not permission and even when permission is finally denied MUCH TOO LATE, they still bull doze further. Let’s say Dems win House and Senate. We know right out of the gate, Trump lawyers, aka the DOJ will contest any Dems wins…representation delayed and then will Little Mikey seat them…more delay.
BIG BALLS via DOGE has more and more detailed information one every single American than China has, including our social security numbers so if MAGA loses, will Musk pull something.
We have been so brainwashed into accepting our rights being chipped, our morality being chipped, expecting less and less from politicians, from clergy, from each other.
Trump knows he’s toast if he loses the next election, and the legal scrutiny won’t end with him. So naturally, every day brings a new apocalypse that will supposedly arrive unless the SAVE ACT IS PASSED IMMEDIATELY. Soon the ‘Dumocrats’ will be manning UFO’s, then they’ll be training dinosaurs.
I prefer the phrase “Save His Ass Act”, a term coined by Bill Corbett on Lucien Truscott’s substack. I will default to the term whenever the topic is raised!
You would never want to call Trump a "smooth criminal". Criminal for sure, but smooth? Hardly.
I'd go with "slimy".
J L Graham,
Trump has chosen to live his life this way. He learned from his father and continues the family tradition by influencing his sons and daughter. They are a family of "thieves and robbers".
He is more focused on his airplane than the citizens of the USA. His sons and daughter have more friends in the Middle East than in the USA.
Vance and his family are flying everywhere in Europe and Asia....paid for by US citizens. What a life!!!!
Trump is constantly focused on the grounds of the White House and the terrible condition of "the pool" while citizens struggle to pay their monthly bills due to constantly rising prices as their incomes remain the same.
Why are we in a WAR in Iran started by the President WITHOUT GOING TO CONGRESS!!! AND...this man wants to stay in power....in my opinion....FORGET ABOUT IT!!!!
All he thinks about is money. He spends it so easily with NO RECOGNITION of the blood, sweat and tears it takes citizens to work long hours often in difficult situations to feed their families, to pay rent/mortgages/doctor's bills/fuel to drive their vehicles to work....etc Donald Trump NEVER needs to think about theses struggles because THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS PAY HIS BILLS!!!!
"...and his own election poodle walked out in front of the White House and said there was "no evidence" a single voting machine was tampered with..." Who's dat "election poodle," ICTT?
John Solomon, part of Dump's "election task force" -- whatever that is.
https://www.ms.now/news/white-house-official-says-intelligence-does-not-support-trump-election-fraud-claims
Talk about the right hand not knowing what the keft hand is doing...
I am reminded of a rape/sodomy trial of a case that I investigated. The initial defense was "never there, didn't happen, wasn't me" until the DNA came back with a 99.9 percentile that it was the guy I arrested; when that came back, the defense changed to "it was consensual." The trial started, and we got about 1/3 of the way through the trial before a defense witness caused a mistrial. We started again the following day, with a new jury (in the interim, the defense counsel more intensely counselled her witnesses on proper conduct and behavior in the courtroom) and away we went. One fellow, who had not yet been called in the initial proceeding, missed the memo about the defense change and testified at length about how the "didn't know her, never saw her before, never happened" defense had been changed.
Guy was found guilty. The judge asked if I would escort the jury out because they were scared of the witnesses...
"It Can't Happen Here." Or can it? Does it?
Not usually. I’ll never say never.
Not yet...or is it starting slowly without our realizing it?
The ICE murderers will be sent to monitor elections in dozens of locations almost exclusively in urban sites. We need to urge the voters to vote as early as possible to make sure you are still registered, vote in person early as ICE won't be able to cover the sites early. If they do, there needs to be blowback in the press and against each of the Republican candidates they are trying to foist on us.
I know, that many people prefer to vote on Election Day, but if you do be prepared for the Fascist masked brownshirts.
ICTT, "one fell swoop." My brain doesn't work without coffee; I couldn't translate that for the longest time. More coffee for me.
Ah, yes, the magic bitter crushed bean juice, or as I call it, "Life's Elixir!"
😁🫶😘
ps. Robert Hubbell just wrote about this split-screen reaction. Great alarm by Congressman Hines (D-CT) and most of us, Fox News avoiding it all like the plague...Worth a serious dive:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/trumps-nothingburger-speech-24-hours?isFreemail=false&post_id=207519816&publication_id=271358&r=4nyd56&triedRedirect=true
Robert Hubbell is always worth a read. Always a little optimism in his writing as well, which is a great bonus.
Totally agree.
Well worth the read or listen. We are not helpless. Hines type "all is lost" rhetoric is harmful as it perpetuates anxiety and prevents us from doing the work needed to have a blowout election.
I’d add that Hines is also a day late and a dollar short. The rest of have been shouting from the rooftops for at least 18 months now and been told we were overreacting (kinda used to that being a woman). 🤷♀️
"The doomsayers will keep churning their dire predictions, frightening and demotivating voters by convincing them that voting is pointless because Trump will override the will of the people in the midterms." from Hubbell's cited substack.
I don't hear anyone saying that "voting is pointless." Not sure why Hubbell is so exercised by those who would take note of the extremist rhetoric and tendencies of our president et al and to keep these possibilities in awareness. Voting may not be the magic sword that on November 3rd necessarily slays all dragons.
You don’t have to have anybody come out and say “voting is pointless” out loud. You can fill people with so much fear that they become paralyzed, however. I’ve seen WAY too many people on this Substack spend their energies trying to paint the worst, direst picture imaginable. Combine that with the anti-voting scare tactics of the far right —- well, not hard to see situation where just enough people don’t vote in order for them to win… The counterbalance is that Republicans couldn’t be more demoralized and likely to stay home in November…
Jim Hines is on the Intelligence Committee and is very familiar with each of those 95% redacted documents Trump shamelessly put out. He wants people to understand what horseshit it all is — I give him real deference for that.
ICTT, there may be people who will be afraid to vote, either in person or even by mail: some naturalized (immigrant ) citizens, especially if they are persons of color. if people are too afraid to vote I think it's because of the threatening rhetoric and actions of the president and his minions more than it is because of those who warn of this Administration's worst-case-scenario threats.
Here’s what you can do: vote in every local election. Run for office, even for the school board or city council, or volunteer to work on the campaign of someone whose values you endorse. Join a chapter of Indivisible. Write and call your elected representatives, daily even. Get trained to be an election observer, or work at the polls. Join the Visibility Brigade and put signs on bridges. Show the 30% that we are strong, united, powerful.
I agree. Reading all these comments, I keep asking myself, what are we as currently free people going to do? How do we prevent our elections from being cancelled? Why are we all not in the streets right now? I have not seen any organized protests scheduled in the near future. I am very concerned. Getting out the vote, having strong candidates will not matter if the election is stopped!
Many of us are out in the streets, just not in the large protests you mention.
Every week I join with 10 to 20 of us on a street corner downtown, and also join another friend to hang signs from an overpass.
The response is overwhelmingly positive to our proDemocracy messages.
I think these frequent, small protests reassure passersby that they are not the crazy ones.
Visit Robert Hubbell’s First Edition substack: he posts photos of small protests across the country everyday.
Then, grab a sign and go join in such a protest!
Homan threatened Americans with more killings unless complaints about ICE stop, Hegseth made a similar comment which seems to threaten us to improve our "morale". Do they think we've forgotten who we are? They are escalating, and we remain loud and peaceful. We outnumber them, and the world is watching.
I thought Homan's comments were positively chilling -- telling us more would be killed if we didn't stop complaining. That's like a serial abuser blaming the victim: "you made me do it"
Exactly.
Exactly!!
The BagMan cometh.
I was a child during the McCarthy witch hunts, and I remember living with the feeling that the adults were frightened. I am an adult now, and I am frightened.
Virginia Kelly,
Don't let fear capture our VOTES, or our minds and emotions. There are more of us. TOGETHER WE CAN HOLD OUR COUNTRY AND ITS HARD EARNED FREEDOMS!
We must remember the men and women before us who, as regular citizens have stood with one another for the freedoms those before them had spilt their blood. They too had to face the paralyzing monster of "fear". It was the call of duty and the more intense call of personal survival!!! Survival in that moment. TODAY IS OUR MOMENT!!!! Someone fought for us, now it is our turn. There are many weapons we can use to battle this determined enemy. I am going to use the weapons I am able to use to keep our country free as possible, as did those who came before me. This is our time to choose to do something to hold onto this great country, "THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE"!
We must think of our children and young adults who need to see our courage in the face of fear...as our beloved ancestors demonstrated to us through their sacrifices.
I agree - don’t be paralysed by fear. Up to a certain level, it can be channeled into useful action. Courage is in acting in spite of fear. But the fear is still there.
Unhuman also sounds like when someone dies and instead of developing rigor mortis (as opposed to Mitch McConnell’s case where he was diagnosed with rigor tortoise.), they “turn” into a zombie, or maybe both. Finally McConnell explained.
Smiley/Laughy Face, Mike,,,
Morning, Lynell!
😁😂😄😉😊
Evening, Ally & Lynell!!
Evening, MaryPat!!!
Evening, MaryPat!
Yeah, that fits.
You know things are bad & you get to a point where you have to say “ Enough Buffoonery” & you can’t bring yourself to read Heather’s letter. I’ll try tomorrow (7/18 at 0900 HST). For now, I leave the words of cartoonist Gary Larson from the Far Side .. “ May I be excused, my brain is full.”
I feel your pain, but imagine hers as she dutifully chronicles the day's misdeeds as our country continues circling the drain.
I actually believe HCR does not think our country is continuing to circle the drain. For the past several months in her politics chats, she has emphasized that though she cannot predict the future, she feels optimistic about where the country is headed. Further, though she has admitted to being exhausted at times, I believe she sees herself as on a mission to out-pace the anti-democracy folks; so she's not about to quit.
Our job is to hang in there with her every step of the way!
Agreed! It will ‘all be worth it’ if a 21st Century ‘Hitler’ is slowed down and eventually STOPPED by the ‘Lady Liberty’ torch!
There cannot be more people who didn’t arrive on boats from the four corners of the world than the people who first colonized ‘America’.
Therefore…immigrants and their descendants, having BUILT the nation, will be its ultimate salvation from an evil Dictator and his ilk.
HCR will rest when the job is done. 👍
Right now, every American she ‘educates’ is one more patriot to stand up to the tyrant and say:
“Destroy my country? I don’t think so!” 🤨
🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽
Well said, Lynette. The drain image was more my own projection than anything the excellent Dr. Richardson has said. I'm old and grew up in much better and happier times than these, thinking that the best was yet to be. The vile madness that the current administration pursues on a daily basis is a depressing rejection of the imperfect good that once was. But it angers me and makes me more likely to resist. We must "rage, rage against the dying of the light" in political as well as personal terms.
Most academics (like HCR) work hard on their teaching and research. This is her “work”.
You got that right, Lynell. I don't always get to her chats in real time, but often listen to them when I am attending to chores.
Afternoon, Ally!
I too mostly miss her chats in real time. Thankful for the recordings. Especially the ability to rewind and play back to listen again when I need to.
Have a great weekend🎶😉
Started out great with a gig along the McKenzie River!
Nice!!
I don't know how she keeps her marbles. She needs to take more days off, go fishing with Buddy, play with the dog, gossip with her girlfriends, go out for coffee, etc. Her continued mental health is of our greatest concern.
Agree, but I think Dr. Richardson is energized by the mission. I'm more concerned for her physical health, stretching herself too thin. But she's probably the best judge of that, and she has at least one other person close to her to keep an eye on her. So we cross our fingers and head once more into the breach.
I enjoy her Saturday morning chats with Joanne Freeman. The topics may be heavy but the banter is lighthearted. Heather seems to be well maintaining her balance which may be linked to her frequent kayaking. I can’t imagine her discipline.
Thank you for introducing the word discipline. That was something I'd taken for granted that needed to be added to the discussion. It takes a lot of discipline simply to complete and defend a doctoral dissertation, and even more so to pursue an academic career. So Dr. Richardson's evident discipline may well stem from her career preparation. And it is energized by the need for fact-based assessment of the current administration in historical context.
I think it's ok for you to hang out for a while, TJB. We'll be here when you decide to hang back in!
I’m back & read yesterday’s letter this morning. Certainly not very uplifting. I have the highest respect for Prof Heather. She has to be the most resilient person in the world & she keeps grounded. A role model for us all. To this day, I still can’t fathom why people support & defend the maga agenda. In trump 1.0, I used to ask his supporters, “When did America stop being great? Was it on my watch during my 30 years on Active Duty? I fought the Cold War went to Iraq for OIF, helped design, build, maintain the Submarine Force. Did I do something wrong? All I ever got as answers was regurgitated Fox News dibble.
I for one am grateful that you and folks like you were there for us.
In a war, task number one; de-humanize the enemy. Task number two; abandon any and all moral and ethical guardrails. It’s ok, even expected, to lie. (“The first casualty of any war is the truth.”)
But, you have to have a war. So, invent one out of whole cloth if you must.
MAGA is desperate to hold on to a diminishing number of supporters. As the midterm elections draw near, and conditions favoring Trump and Republicans continue to diminish, expect ever more radical and ridiculous MAGA claims.
Ralph Averill,
Thank you for your wise words.
So, we are antifa (whatever they say it is), unhuman and now we are clearly ugly and deformed. I suppose we will be incontinent next. And yet the people wearing masks are the government agents. It's an awful lot to process for an old lady. I think I need to go rest.
Trump is ‘incontinent’…but at the ‘other end’ 🗣️💩💩💩💩💩💩💩.
Those of us who are old, female and sporting a lifelong deformity to boot may soon be searching for a friend with an attic.
It’s definitely bullshit , but scary as hell. They’re telling us exactly what the plan is. Where are the sane legislators to stop it? Otherwise I fear a civil war if a National Emergency is declared and the midterms don’t take place.
It sounds like Rwanda. Instead of "Unhuman," the opposition was called cockroaches, and when the signal was given via radio, ordinary people turned on their neighbors and murdered them. Is that what Trump wants to unleash when he gives the signal? The Rwandans had only machetes. MAGA is heavily armed with guns. Do they want to unleash a bloodbath and finally get rid of liberals, non-white people, LGBTQ people? Do people imagine that Rwandans are unique and this could not happen here?
J6 was a practice run.
Why do you think Dems don’t have weaponry? Just because we don’t march around cosplaying Rambo doesn’t mean we’re defenseless. And no, I don’t see my neighbors, MAGA as some may be, rising up and killing neighbors. Stop with the fear.
I have read a lot about Rwanda, and I hope it does not happen here, but I have also heard a lot of loose talk down through the years about a "race war." And we all saw the attack on Jan. 6. I know what happened in Wilmington and in other places. I know the history of lynching. It just takes the right triggers for violence to be unleashed. It is naive to think that what has happened in other times and places couldn't possibly happen in our time and place. And we have the most heavily armed population in the history of the world.
Germany had a, well-educated population living in an advanced country in the West. Few could have imagined what ultimately happened there.
I hope we escape. I do not want any part of this. But political leaders now get death threats routinely. The history of the civil rights movement is shot through with violence. When you start talking about "Unhuman," that is the language of genocide.
Would you have believed a president of Harvard would be involved with a sex trafficker? And that the long-time president of Bard, a much admired orchestra conductor and educator also be involved with Epstein? Decades ago if someone had told you school shootings would become common, would you have believed it? Would you have believed masked men in unmarked vehicles would shoot people on the streets of American cities, would you have believed it?
Pat Hunt,
I concur with your comment. I grew up in a time when persons who had usually earned a leadership position were, in my ignorance, more disciplined, who chose to lead by demonstrating good character...to be a role-model to those who were younger.
My beliefs have been transformed as I have "matured". It is a disappointment especially in these times when good character is so absent....so much so that finding someone who is honest is RARE.
...And more and more people feel compelled to carry a gun or "spray" to protect themselves.
And Pat, as you shared..."masked men shooting innocent persons, ...hardworking people, trying to provide for their families, families who are now left without their beloved, hardworking father...his example, his love...!!!! Why are those murderers NOT IN JAIL! Those watching in person or watching TV saw this happen. MANY OF US SAW THIS HAPPEN!!!! WHO WILL CARE FOR THE victims WIVES -THEIR CHILDREN. Their families will be scared for life...their loss is huge....an empty space no one can fill. Now these families must fight against allowing the monster of "HATRED" to take their lives as well as the lives of their friends and fellow workers!!!
It’s everyday sane Americans that need to stop it. Like when “influencers” throw out bull shit. You might think it’s complete farce and bull shit but your kid might not.
If there was ever a time for good parenting and guidance, it is now. Talk to your kids or any young people you have a relationship with. Talk to anyone who says something they “heard” and are completely wrong.
I have a discussion every other day it seems with my kid about the news. And I don’t just say Trumo are a ridiculous speech last night. I say this is what he said. This is why it is dangerous and this is how it affects you.
When ICE kills anyone, I say…after they get all the immigrants, they aren’t disbanding a hundreds of billion dollar cash cow. They’ll be looking for other targets. What if it’s the kids at your school that belong to frat X or sorority Y they deem a threat?
If the DOJ can target powerful wealthy people with no evidence, what if a town cop has it out for YOU? Should he be able to stop you for no reason. Arrest you as a for of punishment with no evidence? And if she says, “that will never happen”, I say, “that is happening right now.”
I remind her that her generation of women LOST rights. Misogyny is not only on the rise on line but supported by this administration. The president is an adjudicated sexual assaulter, the Defense Sect paid a woman for harassment and his own mother said he was an abuser of women. The VP wants her to be a birthing unit (even while his own wife enjoys a career) until she then transitions to middle aged babysitter.
The action taken by Trump, Rubio, and fascist Stephen Miller in an effort to manufacture a 2026 version of the "Red Scare" is both supremely distressing and utterly predictable.
Many older voters remember the Red Scare in 1947–1954 when Senator Joe McCarthy convinced Americans that communism was taking over the country. In response, the government took aggressive — often unconstitutional — actions against people suspected of being radicals.
Trump and his fascist henchman are trying a similar gambit, this time against any groups that criticize his administration and Democrats in particular. Faced with widespread unpopularity and growing MAGA disenchantment, Trump, Rubio, and Miller are concocting stories to instlll fear and distrust in the still-gullible members of the Republican faithful. They are setting the stage for an unprecedented level of election interference and voter suppression leading up to mid-term elections.
And who was behind McCarthy but Roy Cohn. The same Roy Cohn who took the current president of this country under his wing in his youth.
I heard/read someone say that Trump has found his Roy Cohn again through Todd Blanche
Cohn wasn't a yesman. He was the man who orchestrated McCarthy's commie scare and mentored and orchestrated our current curse.
Yes -- waiting them to release some black and white propaganda short films with over the top dramatic music about the Leftist Communists hiding under every bed and door.
Most likely it will be an AI video on Truth Social in the wee hours of the a.m.
This is now like the plot of a really bad movie. If this were a screenplay, you’d demand a rewrite.
As a screenwriter, I can tell you that you and your screenplay would be thrown out of the office to shouts of "You'll never work in this town again!!"
Careful….what number Fast and Furious are we on? How about Spider-Man, Batman, etc.
MAGA is just a reboot of the original GOP from at least Reagan, even before. It was the GOP, the. All the sequels that were equally bad and just named a little different. GOP II…THE TEA PARTY…RETURN OF THE GOP…THE FREEDOM CAUCUS….THE GOP….MAGA.
Same shit, more extreme effects. Like when Furious found cars in space I think? Now it’s GOP…MAGA IN MARS.
Except the version doesn’t save women and children and have the few minority co stars. This one rapes the women, beats the children into submission and the minorities are the enemies.
"You will find that all the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you will – whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent, and I hold if that course of argumentation that is made for the purpose of convicting the public that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle and making exceptions to it where will it stop."
-- Lincoln
This crap duplicates the trite tripe in the 1950s.
With Miller, like all these scum, his attack is a confession - when one wants to put up a list of the "weird looking", Santa Monica High's lifetime freshman lock-him-in-his-locker candidate is one weird dude - a cross between Nosferatu and a gargoyle.
We have to wonder what kind of insults and bullying Steve Miller must have been the target of during childhood and adolescence, for him to have become so cruelly obsessed with people's faces and head shapes, so ready to attack others on these grounds.
All beings suffer, but I wonder with the likes of Miller if it is more just the choice of a sociopathic style of life that uses our human proclivities as a tool of self-serving manipulation? Greed and hatred easily sidetrack can empathy and conscience, and history is filled with extreme examples. Remember when it was fashionable for Republicans to claim "Greed is good"? That one faded in the "Great Recession", but only the part about saying it out load. Ambition is one thing, but greed, by definition, is excessive and unjust. Those who choose to exploit always concoct a pretext to explain their predations away, and make it "holy. The "every accusation is a confession" thing is not a bug, but the feature, because confusing you the the nature of the game.
Yes, we all suffer in some way. The mystery is why some people try to alleviate suffering with sociopathic cruelty to others, disguised as ambition and justified by greed. Stephen and his master both seem to have gone this route. I do remember the Greed is Good Age, JL, and how the smiling Reagan made greed respectable.
I am aware of those self-centered emotions in my own nature, and expect that some of that is typical. Even, to some degree necessary, as in the warning to secure your own oxygen mask before helping the kids. But that can take over to nightmare extremes without incorporation of what Joe McCarthy's accuser named as "decency". It may not sound like much, but history shows how bad things get without it.
Decency sounds like a VERY BIG deal, JL.
556 Years
“The Prairieland defendants got maximum sentences — longer than any January 6rioter. The concealed FBI evidence was brushed aside.”
“Between June 23 and July 1, federal judges in Fort Worth sentenced fifteen Prairieland defendants to a combined 556 years and two months in prison. On July 6, the final federal defendant added six more.”
“The longest sentence handed down to any January 6 defendant — for a violent, coordinated attempt to overturn a presidential election, in which more than 140 police officers were injured — was 22 years. Stewart Rhodes got 18 for seditious conspiracy. Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 of them on day one and commuted the rest — Rhodes walked free.”
“Longer Than January 6. Say the numbers out loud.
“Both judges applied the terrorism sentencing enhancement to every count. Both ordered the sentences to run consecutively rather than concurrently — a discretionary choice that turned what could have been survivable sentences into life. Both denied every post-trial motion for acquittal or a new trial. Both framed the sentences explicitly as deterrence.”
“What kind of people are not against fascism?”
CRITICAL RESISTANCE
JULY 18 2026 | Substack
https://criticalresistance.substack.com/p/556-years?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
🩸🩸🩸 “I'm going to post this video every day so we never forget what the 34x POS convicted felon who incites political violence, adjudicated rapist & pedophile Trump did on J6” 🩸🩸🩸 ~ Morgan J. Freeman
https://substack.com/@mjfree/note/c-249402186?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
#shorts- HCR and Scott Macfarlane / “How Can We Not Believe What We Saw?” (7/10/26) #J6
https://youtube.com/shorts/7BcVNR6y87Y?is=Ew3NDfw1Y4etqy9Q
.