Today a Russian court sentenced 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in a high-security penal colony after convicting him of espionage in a secret three-day trial.
In 1979, the small insurance company I was working for in Davis, CA are a 2nd shift computer operator. Since part of our job was to interact with him several times a day, it was easy to see that he was bright and pick up things much faster than the other operators. About 2 weeks after he started, he wasn't there at his usual time. Rumors flew about what happened.
As it turned out, he had lied about how long he had worked for one of his references and it took 2 weeks for HR to uncover this. The company that he had worked for actually gave him a decent reference, but because of this one misstatement of fact on his resume, he was immediately terminated.
Anyway, that's what we were told at the time and we never heard from him again.
Was this a significant lie? Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lied to the faces of several Senators including Susan Collins about whether they would uphold precedent. And Kavanaugh lied about being a sexual predator, but hey it's a white man's word against a woman's so it's apparently okay with MAGAs.
But, there is no oversight for SCOTUS, so Gorsuch and Kavanaugh will likely be on the court long after many of us have passed.
"For the past few days, I’ve felt like Homer Simpson after he accidentally turned a toaster into a time machine and came back to find that Ned Flanders was the unchallenged dictator of the world."
To keep myself sane, I've been taking breaks (from almost full time volunteering for Democrats and democracy) by listening to The SagaThing podcast.
John and Andy (American scholars of Icelandic and Medieval literature ) are the Car Talk Guys of literary studies. A good way to run your brain under water and clear your head. You can go for the greats Njal and Egil, listen chronologically, or skip around. They are all excellent. Enjoy.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have been binging Vikings Valhalla. The SagaThing might be good background. It might also help understand what is going on with Thiel and Vance and their Tolkien obsession.
My apologies. I cannot figure out the tech problem. This link always gets me there on my phone. But the link in the Comment did not. Maybe how it was formatted double space?
A friend referred me to Heather Cox Richardson and I referred her to the Bulwark… and the ‘comments’ to both are what are sustaining me…. Along with the “writing”
When BK was going through his hearings and the woman came out with the drunken attempted rape story, I wrote about that, to support her, because I had a similar experience to hers. I was playing in a rock band and was about 19. We had a gig at a club in WV, I think I remember which one, but I'm not totally sure. After the gig at about 2:30 AM, we stopped at someone's house on the way home...which was 30 minutes from our homes. We had never been there before...it was dark and they invited us over for drinks and some fun. We were all pretty drunk by 4 AM. I'm a sleepy drunk...and I found an unused bed to lay down on. After a bit a girl I did not know curled up next to me. She wanted some "action" and I was not interested...she REALLY was not my type. I just hugged the wall and turned away from her. I realized during the BK hearings that if I had been a girl and she a boy, I very likely would have been raped. I wrote about this on FB to illustrate to my conservative friends how her story could be true. I could remember approximately where the house was, but not exactly...because the band dropped me at my sisters house on the way home...so from that I could give an agency like the FBI a radius of about 2-5 miles. My sister called my parents to tell them I was there...I needed to work off the alcohol before going home. My sister covered for me and my parents never knew how drunk I was that night...or that I had been to a party where there was at least attempted sex...there were other bedrooms...and I never asked what happened. Our band also played frat parties...so I know how drunken that scene becomes. One was shut down by campus police...and the floor tiles were were coming up because there was so much draft beer from the kegs on the floor. I can imagine BK being one of those guys.
Mike, I too played in rock bands and I too get tired when I smoke or drink. I just hit a wall and I'm done. I've had similar experiences with "groupies" but I was too scared of getting the clap or getting someone pregnant. Not that I wasn't interested, it's just that my paranoia always won out. Plus I was usually stoned, not drunk.
Anyway, I worked in New Haven, CT where the BK incident(s) occurred and like with any college there are always parties going on. But, if I recall correctly, BK was in high school as well as college, so WTF, why did his parents allow him to get in those situations before he was even 18. He went to a prep school and from his testimony he was drunk a lot and didn't show very good judgment and obviously felt like he could get away with anything that happened.
I have no reason not to believe Dr. Ford's testimony and she had absolutely nothing to gain from telling her story in front of the assholes on the judiciary committee like Grassley and Graham.
And for five years we have 2 sexual predators on the Supreme Court both of whom have taken money from billionaires. The Party of Trump is the party of quid pro quo. The billionaires have their agenda as Biden has pointed out.
Did you know that if you commit rape or incest in Texas resulting in pregnancy of the victim you have less than a five per cent chance of being convicted of rape or paying any compensation to the victim or their family.
Rape is a violent crime, not a crime of passion, and the GOP could care less about prosecuting these crimes or even sending rape kits to the lab.
Gary, my experience with "wealthier" people is they don't care if their kids get drunk or stoned as long as nothing "bad" reflects on them. My X wife's sister who I love and get along with married into a VERY wealthy family. Her step daughter had her "sweet 16" party at their VERY large house with a pool. Many of the kids were in the basement game room, with pinball machines, video games, pool table etc. Many more were outside. There was a keg of beer provided by the parents. (this was pre-social media) and a lot of uninvited kids were showing up. My Niece's parents asked Uncle Mike to go take a walk through and see how things were. I was younger, hipper...and they felt I was a good "spy".
Having been to Grateful Dead shows and made some pot brownies in my life, I recognized the smell of weed as soon as I opened the basement door. I confiscated 3 pot pipes from the stunned party goers....and told them the parents were ok with the beer, but not pot in the house. (I guess that level of bust, was too much risk) I gave the pipes to the collected parents who were knocking down martini's at a pretty good rate. Then they asked me to go troll outside.
WOW, the scene rivaled anything I had seen at a gig. Drugs, sex and rock & roll in an ever expanding parking lot. The word had gotten out and this was pre or very early cell phones. The liquor stores must have thought it was New Years Eve.
This party was in a DC suburb where a lot of elected and "influential" people live. I didn't witness any teenage rape that night...but all of the elements were there to make it easy.
I can't remember if the parents pulled the plug early...but they blamed the pot on "other kids", "outsiders"...not their sweet babies.
My best friend's graduation party was so boozy that guys were vomiting all over their front lawn. Back then, parents didn't get busted for serving underage kids, and back then the legal age was 21. In fact, the parents bought the booze and retired to their bedroom. I sloshed down tequila sunrises all night. 49 years later and I still don't remember how I got home.
Being a young woman, and being drunk, high, or both, or neither, is a dangerous thing. This is because of the patriarchy that still says Dr. Ford either lied or deserved to be raped. By extension, Kavanaugh said via the Supreme Court chorus that women's bodies don't really belong to them.
Sounds like a scene from a Molly Ringwald movie complete with the parent's not giving a shit.
I've played a lot of frat and sorority parties and never witnessed anything like that. But, I'm not a very observant person.
My high school GF was the valedictorian of her 800 person high school class. Her SAT score was 780 math and 800 English. She is head of the pediatric unit at a major medical school. She introduced me to marijuana and alcohol. I would be shocked if she doesn't still smoke pot.
It is amazing to me that the GOP is fine with owning guns and drinking beer cause, you know, freedom, yet they are opposed to legalizing pot.
I'm going to venture a Guess that the other computer operators and their mediocre boss felt threatened and made sure to get rid of the guy that shined a light.
It’s time to begin arresting Russian nationals charging them with espionage so as to trade them for Americans. First place to arrest them is at the Russian cultural attaché while pulling out all our staff in Russia. It’s a rogue state.
It’s prep for another performance. If chump cheats enough to win, it’s day one of hostage release (remind anybody of Ronnie’s coup de grace in 1980). If he doesn’t, it will be ongoing shadow government, like he is doing every day since he realized that running was the way to avoid any accountability, ever.
Correct an exact playbook from Reagan. I’m very perplexed on the current direction we are moving in. I still wonder how extremism on the right has taken such a detour. Then I’m reminded of our own foolish direction as “woke” democrats and yes I’m using a hostile term to describe us.
To think that at this very dangerous moment we can’t even agree on who the democratic candidate should be because he is reportedly too old and frail and can’t keep a simple thought together and who nominated a running mate that really shows poorly in case he should drop out. I nominate Adam Shiff for president and Gretchen for VP. How’s dat, lol?
I'm with Kamala all the way (if Joe bows out). She ran one of the largest Federal or State agencies in the country as CA AG, plus she was a US Senator, and (hello) the VEEP for 3 1/2 years.
She is extremely personable and has been working the under 40 crowd for quite some time.
I posted this on Civil Discourse this am - just happened upon it:
"I just watched a chat with AOC where she mentioned that Repubs(Mike Johnson) are already talking about a lawsuit(?) to prevent name changes on election ballots. If so, and you think about where this could conceivably (at this current time) end - at the Supreme Court. I have to wonder if this is something that could actually happen? Seems to me, if so, this move by donors & some Democrats could be a really stupid one. Well, even without all that - my feelings are that its stupid as close as we are to the election. But that alone is my opinion.
This would appear to me a good conversation to have with the people who want to "change horses in mid-stream" (favorite quote)."
Yes and he is in law to George Soros. Now that Hillary’s right hand lady Huma is engaged to Soros’ son perhaps Hillary and Adam Schiff would make a good Democratic ticket. Hillary wants it bad, and Soros certainly has plenty of money to throw at a campaign.
Personally I think our Congressman from MD would make an EXCELLENT President...Jamie Raskin. But whoever the Dem nominee turns out to be, we must come together (right now everybody) and beat Trump. Nov 5 is D Day and there cannot be an Ike speech written and actually given about losing and taking the blame. I just got an "I like Ike" T shirt that I plan to wear, until this is sorted out.
It’s times like these that I need to wax philosophical and think of that famous quote that “people are deserving of those they elect.” I don’t accept it but the storm is approaching. I’m beginning to translate my 7 cats names into Italian in case I need to flee my homeland. My cat Muffin would be Focacinna. Jezebel = Jezebela, Elenore = Elenora, Big Willie = Gulliamo Grande, Babe = Bambino, Wild Man = (I forgot) and Ringo stays the same name and Nefertiti remains in spirit.
JD yea, DJT is already stating that Putin will stop the war, etc etc...Kim won't fire rockets...apparently the only way to deal with an autocrat now is to become one...Where did the party of law and order go ? The "moral" majority ? "Tear down that wall"...not build a wall...and D-Day vets invaded Normandy to end Communism....really...what about the photos of FDR, Churchill and Stalin....working together to stop the Nazi bastard. WTF...
Stalin got screwed by Hitler, sort of pissed him off. I read somewhere that he took to his bed for weeks before his generals talked him into fighting back. Putin will screw chump but not til he’s through with him. But chump will never fight anything but his own government.
Also, there is little or no reason for a citizen of the United States to travel to Russia. I don't care if their grandmother lives in Russia or their employer has an office there. The answer is "NO!" Or, as was once the cry during the early Viet Nam years, "Hell no, I won't go."
I hope you don't mind if I finish that thought for you.
In a sane world, people treat other people the way they would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. When people stop treating other people the way they would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot, the world goes insane. And it's just that simple.
You say "seems like" implying perception in lieu of reality. That's good. That means you're not like Mike Lindell who thinks perception is reality. Frank also replied to my comment. See my reply to his comment.
With respect, I disagree. It often goes by the board, and when it does, we notice it. But when humans make something good happen, it's for one reason and one reason alone, and that reason is because it didn't go by the board in a real conflict, and we tend to ignore that because it's what we were expecting.
For example, since Biden's election, and regardless of perception, the American economy has improved, crime is down, infrastructure improvements are improving people's lives, and America's standing in the world has gone from trending downward to trending upward. That is for one reason and one reason alone, which is an administration that follows the golden rule. They're not perfect, but authoritarians are the only people who claim to be perfect.
Ill stick with my comment. None of what you have just mentioned has stopped a "renegade" Dem movement (including Nancy Pelosi? ) from urging Biden to stand down, even given his extolling (rightly) the track record you are presenting.
As one who lived with a husband whose early stage if small errors and forgetting turned to anger and some violence and, finally, total darkness. I’m not as concerned about the NOW as the Biden (who I have supported and cheered on until now) of 2026. It’s not a pretty picture.
A plan right out of the ‘playbook’ …divide , conquer, chaos. The fatigue is just at a 4 now , it’ll get worse. Stand by your man! If it’s needed Harris can pick up .. I’d lay bets she’ll wield the baton…watch. The track records are exemplary. Stay the course.🫶
I like the guy who noted that very, very few people who worked for him during his, I hate to call it, presidency. They almost all tell stories of a 'man' who was impatient with truth and facts, didn't listen, and said strange things. This is his resume and his references.
-Yes, JL, BUT, the only qualifications for the Presidency are age - 35- and born in the USA, so even a convicted felonious nimcompoop like the trumpster/dumpster qualifies - just ask the unjustices on the Supreme Court and Aileen Cannon - that's all he needs.
Pretty simple- the people that play by the rules are following the rules. CONservatives stopped being ethical long ago and now willingly break the law. They have been chipping away for a long time. Never forget the S&L scandal of the the 1970s-80s where most of the scoundrels got off. Then in the 2000s with the financial collapse, then COVID....
The over regulating of the government has allowed the CONservatives to become an organized crime organization. Lewis Powell's Memo provided the plan. Always notice how when they do things unethical that should be illegal, they hide behind the law.
In a same world on the security briefings, they would feed bad info on purpose to see where that info would end up and then use that to put him in jail. The problem now is that the whole republican leadership would protect him and call it a lie. I know, becasue Grassley and Ernst both have said as such.
I'm not sure I understand what all that has to do with 'the over regulating of the government'. In fact, I have learned from many sources that most of the financial disasters our country has experienced have been due to UNDER regulation. Regulation is really just another word for accountability!
Rickey, what a great idea! They would have to keep the false briefings secret from everyone but trump. But wouldn’t it be interesting to see how far the “intelligence” would spread?
Barbara Jo, I suggest they feed him daily political cartoons. They say a lot in few words with big pictures, many of which will be his caricature, which he'll love.
Well, he's only just become a candidate - and this in spite of his convict status. So I hope so too. He'd probably have to ask Putin or Orban to tell him what they meant, anyway.
JD, I believe candidate's receiving briefings have been by convention, not bound by law or other requirement, and I think they typically increase in classification levels once someone is President-elect. That said, IIRC the former guy didn't approve briefing Biden, and it wasn't done (perhaps someone will correct me if wrong )
If (when) Trump leaks some classified information, and is caught doing so, he’ll no doubt use it to amplify his victim hood. Do we really want a “whiner in chief”.
They didn't let Biden have anything, remember? He got no briefings or help with transition. And he was rightfully elected. I wish they would do the same with Trump, at least if and until he is elected.
Bonnie, As much as I share the urgency of your call, I’m also keenly aware, as the window to November narrows, that we must prioritize how we spend calories. In that regard, first and foremost, we need to press for a Democratic Party that’s fully unified and that can shed a light, chapter and verse, on concrete examples of the harms that would flow from the 2025 game plan. I would add, regardless of how often Donald Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025, we must emphatically amplify, quoting Robert Reich, that “[h]is aids wrote it, his PAC promotes it, and his national campaign press secretary appears in the recruitment video.”
Indeed. And someone needs to slap some sense into the brainless whiners in the Dem. Party that keep playing into the GQP’s hands.
Pull your heads out you morons. Cheetolini and his fanatical minions are doing their best to lose this election, with their Palin-esque VP pick (vacuous fanatic), and Cheetolini’s own rambling verbosity and injury coverup.
Unfortunately, the whiny hand-wringers are insisting on creating news stories to distract from the self-inflicted damage the GQP hatefest/convention is doing.
George, One factor I only recently have come to understand relates to the interest among a sizable number not only for Biden to step down but also for removal of the whole ticket. Whatever the grounds, they could not possibly compensate for the chaos that would ensue.
Accordingly, while I’ve harbored concerns about Biden for some time, I no longer trust the Democratic establishment responsibly to manage changing course at this point.
It sure sounds like the “Democratic Establishment “ has been bought and paid for by Putin’s minions. Sadly, that’s not hard to believe since there is so much utterly corrupting money sloshing around all of our elections (EXACTLY HOW THE FEDERALIST SCUM (and their puppets/minions that now infest our courts) WANT IT). We expect the GQP to be corrupt beyond question, but sadly, the “establishment” Dems are questionable.
With the shockingly stupid statements oozing out about Dems wanting Biden to give up (and that truly is what they’re asking for - giving the election to Cheetolini since that is the guaranteed result from a change at this point), it’s clear that massive amounts of money or favors have been exchanged to buy the careers of these cowards.
George, Respectfully, I don’t subscribe to your thinking. I believe the failure of Biden’s calamitous debate performance to put to rest the doubts about his capacity to campaign, instead, reinforced them, and rightly has caused great concern that has not since been mitigated. In that regard, my consternation rests with Democratic elected officials I’ve only recently come to understand seem incapable of getting fully on board and unified with one another.
Yup. And the result will be another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Remember Shrub (Bush Jr.), and Hillary? We’re about to repeat history a third time.
No amount of wishing will make the perfect candidate appear, but the whining and hand-wringing WILL embolden the already massively biased and cowardly mass media to pile on with “Biden being pressured to bail” stories when there are actual news stories that could have been covered. (sharks, cannibals,unquestioned ear injuries, etc)
You are really over-blowing the debate performance. If you watched the whole thing, you must have noticed that Biden got better toward the end while all Trump did was firehose lies. Stop letting the NYT and its followers define facts for you.
Let's be clear minded on this and the debate performance, tRump has been much, much worse. The Biden performance was bad, yes, but was it one off? Seems to be. Keep in mind that the MSM is now playing both ends against the democrats. They know if they really go after and expose the CONservatives for what they will do if they seep back in power, the retaliation will be harsh and real. They do not fear that the liberals will retaliate as history has shown. The feeding frenzy over Biden has been, to say the least, bizarre and even more salacious than I ever imagined. Even though Biden is respected, he is not feared. MAGAs are the Silver Shirts of the 1920s-30s.
Like it or not, the reality is that many voting Americans are concerned about Biden's age and mental competency to go another year or two, to say nothing about four more years. That's the reality that has put us on the defensive instead of the offensive. Biden suffers from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg syndrome, when old age clouds judgment. The Biden/Harris administration has been outstanding. That now has almost no bearing on the campaign because it has focused, not on Trump's corruption, dishonesty and incompetence, but rather on Biden's condition.
A cabal of media figures, backed by billionaires, wants to get rid of Biden's approach to taxes, unions, etc., and have ginned up a story about Biden's mental competence that just isn't supported by the evidence of his daily work. We've got to stop being suckered by them and support our ticket. At half-speed, Biden is still way better than Trump would be with his staff of sycophants and fascists.
I'm convinced that Biden can do the job, but I'm not a part of that 15% or so that needs to be persuaded. That's now our task when it should be attack, attack, attack. Like it or not, we're on the defensive and there are reasons for it (Biden's stumbling speech at times, for example.)
And this administration's past performance is history. It's over. Competence is an issue - is Biden competent enough to go another 4 1/2 years. That is what many voters have on their minds. It is what it is. It would be folly for us to ignore that fact. We all share the frustration. This should be a zero contest, but it isn't. Why? Biden's perceived mental fitness to do the job, even now.
I no longer see this upcoming election as a choice between two candidates. I see it as a choice between a democracy or an authoritarian government. PERIOD.
I will vote for Biden even if he is on life-support.
You ae absolutely correct, IMO, Miselle: this election is between retaining a democratic form of government or ceding power to a would-be dictator. That such a low life at Trump could command this kind of loyalty is an insult to our electorate.
Exactly. But when folks that should be opposing Cheetolini openly talk about it, it adds validity to a massively over covered non -story.
Cheetolini has been spewing batsh*t crazy crap for months (along with sleeping through trials, being convicted of massive fraud, rape, and a big pile of felonies), but let’s focus on the guy that’s three years older.
I'm with you on your last point, Barbara Jo. The Dems are blowing this right now. Others have used the term "bed wetters", and while I think it's appropriate, perhaps "pants wetters" is more so.
Well spoken, GeoC. The (R)ss-holes only real hope for winning this election is for the libtards to dump Biden & Harris. The Electoral Collegiates will take care of the rest. So far, the Russian 'Intelligence Community' is handling things quite well. AOC might only be one of the few with her head on straight. But, she'll be out-of-the-pool, they'll see to that. Bernie? No factor.
George, right now I think the Dems are outdoing them. MAGA has been spewing lies all along, and whatever exposure Dem PR has provided so far, hasn't begun to change the dial, short of a major poll reversal in the final week or two of the campaign. Americans are already putting in their early votes.
To the MAGA people, Trump's lies, convictions, insurrection activity, racism, failed businesses, philandering, fraudulent activities (Trump University and Trump Charitable Organization - both shut down because of fraud) mean nothing. They don't care. Why? Because Trump will crush the hated opposition, i.e., women's rights advocates, gay rights advocates, minorities and immigrants. ["The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?" You can google the study.
Yes it's a blend paternalism, racism, nativism and Christian fundamentalism which considers a majority of Americans as sinning and more likely damned. They've swallowed their own Kool-Aid. Also, thanks to Fox
The oligarchs couldn't have asked for anything more, it's mana from heaven: cheap form of mass communications that permits them to spread deception that corrals and herds the masses - Fox News [sic,] Newsmax, One American Network, Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and more. Thomas Frank explained this in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" 2004. Hit them with the wedge issues: abortion, women's rights advocates, gay rights advocates, immigrants, etc.
You can call me a whiny handwringer all you want, if you want, and I can call you MAGA-Blue. Where’s that get anybody?
Sure, Biden’s still a thousand times better than Trump, but he has demonstrated a profound and disqualifying incapacity. Voters need a better choice than two obviously unacceptable candidates.
So giving up the election by wishing for a perfect candidate seems like a clever option???
There is ZERO CHANCE for anyone else to have even a remote mathematical chance to beat Cheetolini, and I’m pretty sure we agree that that is the only goal that matters. Sadly, Dems have a long history of losing close elections when a subset of the voters decide that the candidate is imperfect and then throw away their votes on an alternative (Nader??, any of the fringe candidates taking votes from Hillary?), or simply refusing to vote at all which is roughly the same as voting for the scumwad from the GQP.
WHAT incapacity? Did you see the master class in international relations he gave to reporters? His shredding of Lester Holt and the media performance? Stop doing Sulzberger's bidding.
He ‘shredded’ Lester Holt?! I saw the interview and don’t think any shredding occurred (or would, if attempted, have been appropriate). I was talking about Biden’s debate with Trump.
I presume you agree that Trump is a weak opponent. Biden not only lost the debate he was, at times, incoherent. That, to me, demonstrates incapacity. So-so performances in other settings (he was best in the press conference but I wouldn’t say that even there he was at his best) do not change what happened at the debate.
Jamie: Holy s**t. He had just returned from several transatlantic trips, jet-lagged, with a cold, and on an unnamed cold medication (possibly Benadryl, which is known to cause cognitive issues), facing a fire hose of lies and THAT’S the sole reason you were convinced he’s in decline, deteriorated, incapacitated?
Here’s a great link to share/amplify:📣 “BREAKING: In newly leaked audio, Kevin Roberts, the leader of Project 2025, says he knows Donald Trump is lying about not knowing about Project 2025 in order to fool Americans into voting for him. Retweet to make sure every American hears this.”
Barbara Jo Krieger, have you seen the new ad by The Seneca Project about JD Vance? This is really chilling, and a bold reminder to all of us who think Project 2025 needs to be shouted about and unmasked for the truly misogynistic aim. https://youtu.be/IMASRJnCVwA?feature=shared
Correct. Do any of you know where there is a factual accounting of The assassination attempt on Trump? I’ve avoided reading anything because I want facts not hype and hysteria. Thanks.
There are several top Democrats at this moment calling for Biden to withdraw. The more they give that oxygen, the more undecided voters hear that only Biden is disqualified. Trump has many, many more problems. The Dems are making a self-fulfilling prophecy by giving Trump a pass and pounding on Biden. So yes, let's comment on Project 2025, felonies, lies, mental health, gang of grifters, cozy with dictators, etc.
Bonnie, I only would note, contrary to Biden, that Trump has so absorbed the base of his Party that he’s not likely to lose many votes regardless of a deep-dive into his disqualifying attributes. In contrast, because Biden voters largely are not nearly as inspired and energized, I continue to press for our currently fractured Party to unify around a plan to proceed were Biden, rightly in my view, to pass the torch.
I just watched a discussion with Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias of the most critical aspect of P2025 that could allow Trump to take control of the government.
absolutely! That is why I posted a comment yesterday asking everyone to do an internet search on Project 2025 every time they log onto it. We need to keep it trending right up to election time.
There's also a gold mine in exposing MAGA's enormous lie-machine just form Trump's speech alone if handled well. Overdoing the "special effects" would tune me out, though, must say. I saw a god-awful one the other day trying to take on Project 2025. But maybe i'm too "smart" for my own good. It felt like a propaganda ad to me. Then, i've tuned out so much political advertising since the 50s. It was so transparently biased.
Carole, Because I’m away from home with only a cell phone, I don’t know how to post a link on Substack. However, I can tell you I excerpted Reich’s text from his Inequality Media Civic Action newsletter from last Friday. I imagine were you to start typing the quoted text into Google, the newsletter would pop up.
Robert Reich asks: How could a convicted felon who attempted a coup on America be the leading candidate for president? Ans Because scapegoating works.
Never mind that Trump is a convicted felon and attempted a coup. A thief, grifter and a rapist. An orange blaspheming antichrist. A psychotic narcissist. A tool for Putin.
Trump scapegoats immigrants exactly the same way Hitler scapegoated Jews. Never mind that he is the poster boy for sanctions for using illegals on his job sites.
I really admire former Representative Adam Kinzinger for his courage to serve on the 06jan21 Select Committee. Before President Trump spoke at the G.O.P. convention, Mr Kinzinger predicted what President Trump would say. Adam nailed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8WQdjdBqJk
Okay.. you have to ask the Republican party about that. Trump's party. The whole party is rotten to the core for Trump. How are you going to do that? The SCOTUS was of no help!! The ONLY way is to defeat Trump at the polls.
I'm really quite disgusted with the constant talk of Pres. Biden stepping down from running for President. Pelosi, Schumer and Schiff and other Democrats suggesting it are helping to tear the party apart. This talk needs to stop. 104 days until the election and replacing the present candidates with someone else would completely destroy the campaign and the possibility of success (as Professor Richardson has discussed). Democrats have got to stop the bickering over one single debate and support our candidate. Efforts to dismantle the party makes me wonder if you have switched parties.
When tfg first talked about the 'bullet' going past him he referred to it as a 'really big mosquito' so now staying it was a bullet is changing that story, which of course he always does.
Watching Trump dramatically kiss the helmet of the slain former fire chief made me cringe. It epitomized Trump, who used him as a cheap prop after failing to call his family. How can anyone support this grotesque, twisted human?
And he kissed the helmet with the same stagey affect he used when he infamously ambled across a platform to hug an American flag. His unemotional, performance, obviously manipulative, was such an insult to a life lost that one might wonder if it was the act of a psychopath.
Well yeah, there have been many, some of whom offered professional observations from a distance. I was using it to make a connection between two events to demonstrate his purely manipulative nature.
It is truly chilling to see his sycophants kowtowing to his every word and act! When will the media get on his case like they are doing to Biden. The real sick-o is the orange menace not Biden!
In late January, 2017, Trump sent a seal team into Yemen to kill some ISIS leaders. It was a disaster as CNN points out in this CNN reporting of how the whole thing went down. Many civilians were killed in the raid as well as a Seal. It was reported elsewhere that convicted felon Donald Trump did not monitor his first military event from the WH situation room, but rather from a swanky DC restaurant.
To my knowledge, this is the first time CFDT violated the 5th commandment - Thou Shalt Not Kill. It was a botched operation that should never have taken place.
This was a harbinger of what kind of commander in chief CFDT would be. How many times did the 5 time draft dodger put "losers and suckers" in harms way?
And then he invited the parents of the murdered Seal to his first speech to Congress labeling them a "gold star" family.
Interesting. The failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran pretty much cost Jimmy Carter his second term. That event was never mentioned in the 2020 campaign, was it?
Thank you for the reminder! There were so many horrible episodes during 45's administration! It is hard to keep track of it all. The COVID-19 debacle overshadowed everything else. He took incompetence to a whole new level!
I find the way he grabs the flag with that goofy grin and nearly dry-humps it to be absolutely disgusting. I told my husband that when Trump does that, there is a thunder-clap of vaginas around the nation slamming shut.
As a kid, I saw Gorgeous George "wrestle" with nonstop obvious cheating and baffled looking referees who never seemed to be looking at him when he did. They could never find the items he "hid" so obviously for the crowd to see. It was all part of the show, the more outrageous, the more people showed up expecting him to be caught.
A 5th grade classmate's dad was a circus escape artist and taught us some tricks. From him, I knew what "Hey Rube!" meant as a code for all circus hands to come to the aid, and that Rubes were outsiders. I hadn’t heard of “kayfabe” since we didn’t really watch wrestling other than a few live matches, though my dad did like boxing, though, and took us to more in service boxing events as part of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs in Hawaii (great with the mix of services and many great athletes in the service during the Korean War then going on. When I was in basic training, I learned the rough of “Hey Rube!” was “Ten Men!” Other code words in wrestling were not so hard to figure out such as “Face” and “Heel” (as in Gorgeous George being the very profitable Heel, and inspiration for a 15 year old Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali). Then there were the “marks,” all those not in on the gag, the audience especially.
Which brings me to a lesson related to many Trump followers and Gorgeous George’s, to me, most astonishing gag with his golden Georgie Pins he handed out.
“…George's hair, which was long, curly and yellow, was kept in place by gold-plated bobby pins which he called "Georgie pins" and passed out by the handful to adoring fans.
The first batch cost him $85 for half a pound. When he found out how fast he was handing them out, he had to switch to cheaper ones—gold only in color. But the need to economize didn't faze George. He once appeared on a radio show being taped for the armed forces overseas, and the beribboned, high-ranking officers present decided they had better get some souvenir Georgie pins or their wives would never forgive them. George ordered them to line up like so many recruits, then ordered his valet to spray their hands with scent. After that he made them repeat after him the customary oath: "I solemnly swear and promise I will never confuse this gold Georgie pin with a common, ordinary bobby pin, so help me Gorgeous George..."
Does it seem to anyone else but me that Gorgeous George could have ghostwritten the gag of the GOP convention?
“…I remember the guy who would bring our jackets back to the dressing room. Every time he did, someone would yell "Kayfabe." ... Then one night, the guy decided to stand up for himself and told the whole dressing room: "I don't mind the yelling, but I want to let you know that my name is not Kayfabe. It's Mark." ... What he didn't know is that wrestlers called people outside of the business "marks"—that's why we were yelling kayfabe in the first place.
— Pat Patterson, describing his interaction with a ring attendant in the Pacific Northwest Wrestling territory during the early 1960s…”
Actually Trump did call his family and spoke with them on Tuesday. Biden also tried to call and his call was refused. Please don’t spread lies, that only makes the Democrats look worse.
Of course he went off the rails in his convention-concluding speech. But let's get simple again.
All MAGA dangers reduce to two:
1) Calls to violence;
2) Disregard for civilization.
We’ve a long record – on video – of Trump calling for beatings, storm troopers to stand by, use of the 2nd amendment, invective and demeaning insults, and many more phrases urging, too, stochastic physical violence.
His attacks on civilization combine scorn for law, ignorance of humanities, and contempt for all traditions and precedents (including personal freedoms) so he, corrupt Clarence court, and all MAGA rot into new dark ages.
Isn't it far easier to subjugate when we learn conveniently to see life as so many units?
That is, no need for humanities in schools when testing so nicely turns all into numbers. All into rank-&-file. All into group identity. Abstractions. Categories. All nicely rational, to serve corporate offices, which in turn serve what, other than accounting bottom lines?
I was pretty young, may still in single digits when I heard someone on the radio (circa 1950s) talking about Nazi death camps. The line that for some reason stuck with me and I have remembered many ties since, was that those who shuffled the cards that indicated who was next to be killed were worse than those doing the actual killing. I could never quite make up my mind if that was true. Maybe they are both just as evil.
As you write this, J L, I'm listening to Allan Lichtman on the Meidas Touch.
Professor Lichtman hates polls (numbers games of a peculiarly perverse value). A 100% correct prognosticator of presidential winners for every election since 1984, he hates even more the spinelessness of Dems today, who flock from backing their president, as they confuse stagecraft with doing president things.
Lichtman uses data in his measuring. He values numbers, if they're apt numbers. Otherwise he has contempt for those who flock to the chimerical, rather as your Nazi guards shuffling the cards of death.
What's the opposite of spinelessness? It would be Dems capable of citing humanities, seeing the human -- citing the human in quoting from best Dems around us seeing and doing the best things.
Cannot. Just polls. Assume no point in quoting anything human. Only one thing that counts -- having Lord Magic at the top, with lordly slick stagecraft.
We see what they are. Also, I would like to know how they got their sampling. This is not door to door knocking, but people responding on line or over the phone. No one I know would respond to such a poll. So, that leaves the people who would. Those have been characterized as not necessarily voting, but liking to be heard. So, Jay Kuo talks about the difference between results in polls of people who actually and are likely to vote, versus polls that includes people who are not voting, or likely to vote, and the former are more favorable to Biden.
Linda-Thanks for this link that breaks down how bogus polls are being used to create the narrative that an overwhelming number of Dems want Biden to step down. Lies, lies and more lies. Only the truth will set us free.
Hurts so bad, hurts so much, Linda -- that Dems so paralyze themselves.
If they loved America, they'd be full of the literacy to cite Americans, to quote each other, to enthuse over the decency and human needs in their various communities.
But no humanities, no humanity sustains them. Only wonk numbers. Polls. Stats in no human context.
As I've said before, I've seen this crippling dehumanization before, when I was Nam translator in the U.S. Army, when all its Ivy League elites then, too, moved to idiot abstractions, even more idiot trust in numbers (pipeline supplies), as Dems today similarly slave only to poll numbers for helpless, victim-paralysis.
RIGHT ON Linda! The inconsistency between what we hear as results of polls not matching what we know from our own experience seems a corollary of the fundamental paradox of believers in tRump's lies about the state of the world despite their own lived experience. They succumb to the "kayfabe" Heather has described in today's LFAA! Frankly it is simply UNBELIEVABLE that more than 50% of any accurately conducted poll would prefer a return of tRump to office. Period.
Here’s a question I have been asking many of my friends who are obsessed with poll numbers. How many times in the past ten years have you responded to a poll? The answer I get most often is none. So who is responding to these polls. In the past few years I have lost faith in any polls and more recently the same goes for pundits.
That is what I am saying. Jay Kuo points out that these polls often include people who do not intend to vote, but want to be heard. So, the media, which seems to be filled with Ivy League grads who cannot draw a line between two points when it comes to understanding this election and whose ethics have them writing for clicks and not to save our country from fascism, where journalists don't fare too well. No one I know responds to polls that come over the internet. However, apparently Biden did a door to door poll where they had 100,000 respondents. Their results were that 75% were voting for Biden. I do not know more than that, but it is talked about here. This was sent to me from Kathy. Still a lot of work to do but Biden can win and Cheatolini just keeps making it easier.
She is such a brilliant politician that I hope we see big things for her in the future. She is spelling out the reality of the moment. We need everyone to fight 100% for the Biden-Harris ticket!
I have stopped answering polls because they always end with a request for money. I tell them that I contribute where I want to and gladly will give my opinion if you really want it, but I won’t combine the two
Stagecraft is no substitute for statecraft. Eloquence and clarity is the mark of skilled leadership, such as Lincoln or FDR on the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but best spun fabrications passed off as truths just leads one into traps. Fiction can be a vehicle for profound truths, when offered as fiction. Lies, by definition, are led to mis-lead. Lies killed in the pandemic. The kill every day. We can never know for sure we have the truth, and we can sometime spread lies or errors unknowingly,
I was unaware of that. I will look into it. So strange (and corrupt) that aid and comfort to the NAZIs by wealthy corporations and individuals tended to be officially swept under the rug. It is a strain of corruption that is way too accepted and tears at the heart of "liberty and justice for all". It is personified by Trump.
The U.S. didn't just get Nazis "swept under the rug." Its classified program, "Operation Paperclip," from 1945 on brought 1,600 of them as physicists, chemists, doctors, and engineers to staff corporate America.
Rather similarly to how, from 1991 on, the U.S. State Department coordinated U.S. financial interests and recent Ivy League grads to invest in the Soviet Union's former nomenklatura, and so float the thievery, rape of resources, and other floating of the new oligarchy there.
Evil “dealer” Stephen Miller comes immediately to mind. And he’s Jewish and was even harshly criticized by his rabbi as I recall from a story long ago. And he’s still prominently on the Trump wagon unlike many in that disastrous administration who have since become rabid anti-Trumpers.
I really admire former Representative Adam Kinzinger for his courage to serve on the 06jan21 Select Committee. Before President Trump spoke at the G.O.P. convention, Mr Kinzinger predicted what President Trump would say. Adam nailed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8WQdjdBqJk
Trump is a conman turned showman, while remaining a conman. The utter fakery of professional wrestling is entirely consistent with Trump. There is no truth in him. The presence of the professional faker and their minions at the RNC is a visible sign of the complete collapse of the Republican Party into the MAGA cult.
My son (now 37) loved the WWF when he was 5 or 6. He had several action figures, including Hulk Hogan. I’m ashamed to say that my husband took him to a WWF spectacle once, and I asked him about the experience this morning after reading Heather’s newsletter. He said it seemed like performance and he thought it was harmless fun at the time, but we both sort of marveled at our parenting lapse in supporting this ridiculous entertainment. I mean Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was one thing, but... Suffice to say, my son’s WWF period didn’t make it past first grade, which right about where it should have ended. Trump never really made it past that stage.
Ha! I had a similar experience with my younger son (now 43). He became enraptured by WWF when we returned to the US after 7 years in Thailand. He was 12 at the time. I was appalled by it. I actively and vocally hated WWF. In retrospect, I think this might have been a form of adolescent rebellion. The sudden move was pretty traumatic for all of us. He grew out of it after a while and turned into a fine man.
In the late 80’s, I think, I worked on a film starring Hulk Hogan that Vince McMahon produced with WWF money that he had a lot of. They used to talk about flying back to Connecticut in the private jet together after putting on one of their “shows”, drinking champagne and having a grand time, it was all a show, nothing about it was real, except when they stomped around the ring, they were looking for the softest places to land. The people who believed in it are the very same people who are the maggot base. They could fill arenas with 15 thousand people who all bought into it, no wonder the orange turd is so attracted to them. It was a very lucrative conn job that made a lot of people wealthy, like Terry aka Hulk Hogan, who was working as a bouncer in FL and beat up a WWF champion when he got out of line in the bar, that got their attention and soon he was Hulk Hogan, that’s how I remember it anyhow. We know exactly who the maggots are, they have been WWF fans for decades, and they want to run the country, WTF???
I was astonished to learn that a theory of professional wrestling exists. Even more astonished to learn that it has gone through a classic stage and is now in a neoclassic era.
I thought it was just crap, I still think that. The dregs to which humans can sink. On second thought. Does it have any “six degrees of separation” from the Met Gala…
Hopefully, it'll include documented observations of animal behavior like a robin harassing a butterfly, a red hawk wrangling with a squirrel, or a woodchuck stealing a squash -- we need everyday actual and real. What's under that ear bandage?
Thank you for the link Miselle. I noted Tennessee Brando’s portrait of John Prine behind him on the wall. Any friend of Prine is a friend of mine. Thanks again.👍
Pro wrestling was exactly what I thought of after the “attempted assassination” when, instead of allowing the secret service to actually protect him and get him out of there, he raised his fist for the photo op.
As I read about said professional wrestling theory, and learned of its name "kayfabe”, I was struck by (since I don't know the etiology of the word) it could be pronounced several ways: Kay-Fabe, Ka-FAB-ee, KA Fa Babe I noted that it kind of tripped off the tongue like "cofeve."
I'll get more coffee. Pro wrestling, at the moment, seems to be better than watching what our national political parties have become, which is a sorry state of affairs.
Yeah, puzzled me, too. According to Google, it’s KAY-fabe, rhymes with HAY-babe. Merriam-Webster agrees on the pronunciation and says its origin is obscure. Might be related to piglatin for “fake”.
The WWE/pro-wrestling connection to Trump is a worthy observation. I remember watching local pro wrestling on rainy Saturday afternoons in the early 1960's when there was nothing else to do or watch on TV. I always felt a bit guilty and dirty just warching. It certainly portrayed good guys, bad guys, and refs that could go either way as well. Trump has always elicited a similar sense of uneasy dirt and naughtyness. Now I see why -- kayfbe!
People who participate in neokayfabe have found a socially permissable structure to express there sadism and psychopathology. Media should be calling Trump's emphasis on Hannibal Lecter for what it is. A shout out to sadists and psychopaths.
My dad, who fought in WWII, would disagree with Ms Guilfoyle. He would not be backing Mr Trump, not for an instant. He knew what fascism is; he saw it developing under the 2nd Bush administration; he opposed the Tea Party types; and he was aghast at the ignorance of so many people about our country's founders and history and ideals. I miss him every day, but I'm glad he died before he was faced with us turning our backs on what truly makes us "great" - caring for the "least of these."
My Dad also fought in WWII. He was a bombardier who fought in the South Pacific. I have a tattoo of the tail art of his plane on my leg. It reminds me, every day, that the fight against fascism is never finished.
We lost him in 2009 and I’m glad he’s not around to see what this country he fought so hard to defend has become.
My dad fought in Korea, and died in December 2020. He was 93. He couldn’t stand Trump and voted for Hilary in 2016 and for Biden in 2020. He thought Trump was a disgrace to the United States.
My dad was born in 1934 so too young for WWII but served during Korea. In addition to all you mention about your dad, the LYING would have also been a deal breaker. His character didn’t allow him to lie and he instilled the same in me. Never mind his insane and evil “ideology”, just the fact everything out of his mouth is a lie shows what he is.
My dad once said he never voted after Nixon… because since he’d voted for Nixon he was too stupid to be allowed to vote. He was embarrassed. Will the cult members ever realize what they are doing and have any shame over following “America’s Hitler”?
I have posted this in several spots today. I had hoped to get to the letters earlier and post a comment that more would see as they viewed the comments (but sadly, next door neighbor had an alcohol fueled party outside, which devolved into a singing-fest (ugh) till about 3 am.
I watched the speech and must admit I lost part of it to sleep. Where Trump told the truth was in his plan for the planet and climate. It is 'Drill Baby Drill!' and good bye to Earth as we have known it. He was also clear about the Ukraine, they will be lucky to survive under him if he's elected; and there is no future for Palestinians in Gaza from what I could here him shouting. Finally, his idea of bringing a divided America back to unity is that the Democrats don't criticize him but he gets free reign. It was classic Trump: heads I win, tails, you lose.
Thanks for mentioning the climate. Dictators may very well come and go, but global warming and the accompanying climate change (ever getting worse) is here to stay, unless action is taken now, not later.
My family has its share of Democrats, just not green ones. Mostly they don't care about this issue.
AGREED Matt, the climate remains THE most important issue for the USA as well as for the world, a sad reminder of the importance of remaining involved and invested with as many responsible governments as we can find across our globe, very much including at the least, NATO governments. The dilemma of what to do with a formerly responsible government like Hungary becomes another dilemma worthy of some real hard thinking.
Thanks for covering another day full of hair-raising events, Dr. Richardson! From the abominable sentence of Evan Gershkovich to the ridiculous display of ignorance by Ms. Guilfoyle, and so much in between.
PS: There is obviously a reason why there are no medical reports out of the trump camp about his injured ear - even his sons confirmed that it was 'nothing' to write home about. That stupid bandage was a "PR stunt", as another celebrity stated.
Barbara, I just spit my drink at the computer screen~ lol!
Thanks. I needed that. I went on a rant last week and avoided the comment section for a few days. I spared myself the pearl-clutching, but missed some of the funny stuff.
Thank you for the link. I frequently refer to George Conway's article, Unfit for Office (The Atlantic, October 2019) Glad he's taking this to the next level.
Thanks Marli for sharing Conway’s ad. The more people are educated about the truth of Trump’s pathology the better. Let’s not forget about his enablers either-they’ve got some issues to deal with too. (There’s “mental illness involved with believing that skin color or gender makes a human being “superior” to other human beings.)
Human nature is a mixed bag as are our collective circumstances. It seems to me that we have the capacities and we have (at least at this point) to enable the missions the Constitutional Preamble talks about, relieve a great deal of suffering, pain and anger, encourage awe and gratitude for our hour upon the stage, and minimize the occurrence of lives that are nasty, brutish, and short. I think that yearning for "a better world" (or a better species-wide relationship with our world) is as old as recorded history, and probably older, but unmitigated ego (Latin for "I") gets in the way.
I think that "Truth", both in the sense of accuracy, as well as in the sense of honesty, is our road out of "hell". That, and knowing that truth, even in the sciences and explicitly in the sciences, always remains an unfinished quest, but seeing, listening, feeling and thinking openly supplies a fertile basis for varied degrees of confidence. And yes, Phil Balla, I think the arts play as vital a role as the sciences in that empowering awareness, when pursued with integrity. And I think that integrity means conversations in good faith, at least when it really matters. A willingness as a society to collectively detect and reject lies and lying and rewarding efforts to tell truths, or at least our best efforts at good faith, since surely all of us are confused about some things.
And critically, seeing ourselves as both uniquely individual and inherently social beings, whose actions affect one another and that it matters. Would that not be a step toward a "better", more joyful world?
One encounters frequent references to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" but mostly in reference to the beauty and painful irony of their love affair. But that story is part of a larger one which Shakespeare introduces as:
"Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."
In the play, it happens (though too often doesn't) that the loss of two beloved children breaks the narcissistic madness that left a long wake of sorrow:
'Where be these enemies?—Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love,
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished."
Upon which both families vow to abandon their hatred. Shakespeare's work is replete with keen and resonant observations of human nature, in addition to the amazing beauty of it's language, both of which has kept it alive for centuries. We pay a dear price for narcissistic road rage, for greed. It's the enemy of old that, in the end, might doom our whole species to perish from the Earth.
Terrifying times indeed when lies are all we hear from the (once) GOP (now the Government of Putin) and mainstream media makes bank on those lies so just won’t quit. We need to bring back the fairness doctrine!!
Yeah... Understatement of the year in Heather's article: "the media appears simply to be letting it go on Trump’s say-so, something that adds to the sense that media outlets are treating Trump and Biden differently." No sh*t...
I had a similar, albeit perhaps less blunt thought last Saturday upon seeing the endless replaying of the near Van Goghing of the Don, as I flashed back to the great American philosopher Maxwell Smart---
Statement from President Joe Biden on Trump’s RNC Speech
“Last night the American people saw the same Donald Trump they rejected four years ago. For over 90 minutes, he focused on his own grievances, with no plan to unite us and no plan to make life better for working people. He avoided mentioning his Project 2025 agenda, but still proudly flaunted the worst of MAGA extremism. Americans know exactly where he wants to take this country. They know that he inflicted pain and cruelty on the women of America by overturning Roe v Wade. They know that he destroyed our economy once and will inflict pain on the middle class, that he wants to gut the checks and balances of our Constitution and rule as a dictator on day one.
“Donald Trump’s dark vision for the future is not who we are as Americans. Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box. I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone.
“The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”
Please note Kimberly that nearly all the heroes of D-Day have now passed to join their comrades who were buried in French soil. They are not posting their views about the state of the country on social media. Yet they do speak to us from history with the bitter sacrifices they made to defeat the fascists. They gave their youth and their lives in the Great Crusade to defend democracy against the existential threat of fascism. They fought to eliminate Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe. They would certainly shake their heads in disbelief at the betrayal of Ukraine that would occur under a Trump-Vance Administration. They would recognize Trump as an appeaser of Putin, a contemporary Chamberlain.
Mark Jennings, I’m reminded of what my late father-in-law had to say about the end of WWII, “ we should be fighting the Russians”. He was a high ranking officer who arrived in France a couple of days after D-Day. He’s rolling in his military cemetery grave at what’s happening now. And he was always a Republican!
Thank you for highlighting Trump's connection to the world of wrestling (I had forgotten he made Linda McMahon his director of the SBA). Given Trump has spent his entire adult life creating a fake public image of who he is, I am not surprised that when he entered the competitive world of politics (so different than the real estate and reality TV worlds in which he saw himself as the only player on a field to himself) he chose the fake reality of wrestling as his model.
I urge the Biden - Harris campaign (in its commercials) and Joe and Kamala themselves (in their speeches) to call out Trump's use of the **Fake World of Wrestling** as his method of selling his candidacy. Trump always says he's telling the truth. But the entire wrestling world is a lie... is scripted... like a TV soap opera. I believe Trump has handed the Democrats the key to convincing America once and for all (except of course for the MAGA Cult) that Trump is a 100 percent fake person running campaign that is absolutely fake in its claims that he cares about anyone other than himself.
She’s learned the Neokayfabe game well then. World class instruction. Russian’s can help this crew learn even more. Russian Neokayfabe is on a whole nother level. They give PHD’s in political technology.
Betcha the chump nuts taught Putin a thing or two with that Neokayfabe crap. Or did the Russian monsters know already, or didn’t they bother with the performance, just went straight to the gulag, or worse…
The media is repeating “Hillary’s emails” with “Biden’s age,” and once again letting Trump off the hook. It seems that the media didn’t learn their lesson from 2016 and how their reporting allowed a demagogue into office. But maybe the media thrives off the chaos that Trump brings. They are playing with fire because the stakes are higher. Trump will eliminate freedom of speech like Putin and Xi.
Always an interesting column from Dr. Richardson. I particularly liked the last paragraph. Ms. Guilfoyle's remarks could be both a verbal gaffe and evidence of a person devoid of basic historical knowledge, not just either-or. While the malevolence of the MAGA cult is always before us, it is useful to remember one of the tools of historical (and current events) analysis: be reluctant to attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
Important to give equal time asking Trump to withdraw. He's got many more disqualifications than just his age.
As a rule. significant lies on your job application will get you disqualified or fired, especially if the job is an important one.
Here's a difference J L.
In 1979, the small insurance company I was working for in Davis, CA are a 2nd shift computer operator. Since part of our job was to interact with him several times a day, it was easy to see that he was bright and pick up things much faster than the other operators. About 2 weeks after he started, he wasn't there at his usual time. Rumors flew about what happened.
As it turned out, he had lied about how long he had worked for one of his references and it took 2 weeks for HR to uncover this. The company that he had worked for actually gave him a decent reference, but because of this one misstatement of fact on his resume, he was immediately terminated.
Anyway, that's what we were told at the time and we never heard from him again.
Was this a significant lie? Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lied to the faces of several Senators including Susan Collins about whether they would uphold precedent. And Kavanaugh lied about being a sexual predator, but hey it's a white man's word against a woman's so it's apparently okay with MAGAs.
But, there is no oversight for SCOTUS, so Gorsuch and Kavanaugh will likely be on the court long after many of us have passed.
"For the past few days, I’ve felt like Homer Simpson after he accidentally turned a toaster into a time machine and came back to find that Ned Flanders was the unchallenged dictator of the world."
- Tom Nichols
"A searing reminder that Trump is unwell"
The Atlantic Daily, July 19
To keep myself sane, I've been taking breaks (from almost full time volunteering for Democrats and democracy) by listening to The SagaThing podcast.
John and Andy (American scholars of Icelandic and Medieval literature ) are the Car Talk Guys of literary studies. A good way to run your brain under water and clear your head. You can go for the greats Njal and Egil, listen chronologically, or skip around. They are all excellent. Enjoy.
https://sagathingpodcast.
wordpress.com/
https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/episode-archive/
Thanks for the suggestion. I have been binging Vikings Valhalla. The SagaThing might be good background. It might also help understand what is going on with Thiel and Vance and their Tolkien obsession.
Good heavens, how could Thiel and Vance NOT see Trump as a modern-day Sauron, obsessed with the ring of power?
Lots of good Saga Thing episodes elements of the Viking age.
https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/2020/08/16/saga-brief-19-sailing-in-the-viking-age-interview-with-dana-dalicsak/
https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/2020/06/21/saga-brief-18-women-of-the-viking-world-interview-with-johanna-katrin-fridriksdottir/
I loved the Viking series. Republicans not much as it depicts some very strong female characters.
The first link brought up a warning that the page is not private and that you should close the page.
My apologies. I cannot figure out the tech problem. This link always gets me there on my phone. But the link in the Comment did not. Maybe how it was formatted double space?
Hope this works.
https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/
Or google
Saga Thing podcast.
It's worth the effort
Your new link is fine. Thank you.
Gosh!!! Thank YOU!!!!!
LOL. Thank you for sharing this, lin. Gave me a much-needed laugh.
A friend referred me to Heather Cox Richardson and I referred her to the Bulwark… and the ‘comments’ to both are what are sustaining me…. Along with the “writing”
GOTTA take heart…. And I do….
Speaking of referrals.
Great CSpan guest scholar segment on the Founders and demagoguery
Eli Merritt
Author, "Disunion Among Ourselves: The
Perilous Politics of the American Revolution"
https://www.c-span.org/series/?washingtonJournal
When BK was going through his hearings and the woman came out with the drunken attempted rape story, I wrote about that, to support her, because I had a similar experience to hers. I was playing in a rock band and was about 19. We had a gig at a club in WV, I think I remember which one, but I'm not totally sure. After the gig at about 2:30 AM, we stopped at someone's house on the way home...which was 30 minutes from our homes. We had never been there before...it was dark and they invited us over for drinks and some fun. We were all pretty drunk by 4 AM. I'm a sleepy drunk...and I found an unused bed to lay down on. After a bit a girl I did not know curled up next to me. She wanted some "action" and I was not interested...she REALLY was not my type. I just hugged the wall and turned away from her. I realized during the BK hearings that if I had been a girl and she a boy, I very likely would have been raped. I wrote about this on FB to illustrate to my conservative friends how her story could be true. I could remember approximately where the house was, but not exactly...because the band dropped me at my sisters house on the way home...so from that I could give an agency like the FBI a radius of about 2-5 miles. My sister called my parents to tell them I was there...I needed to work off the alcohol before going home. My sister covered for me and my parents never knew how drunk I was that night...or that I had been to a party where there was at least attempted sex...there were other bedrooms...and I never asked what happened. Our band also played frat parties...so I know how drunken that scene becomes. One was shut down by campus police...and the floor tiles were were coming up because there was so much draft beer from the kegs on the floor. I can imagine BK being one of those guys.
Mike, I too played in rock bands and I too get tired when I smoke or drink. I just hit a wall and I'm done. I've had similar experiences with "groupies" but I was too scared of getting the clap or getting someone pregnant. Not that I wasn't interested, it's just that my paranoia always won out. Plus I was usually stoned, not drunk.
Anyway, I worked in New Haven, CT where the BK incident(s) occurred and like with any college there are always parties going on. But, if I recall correctly, BK was in high school as well as college, so WTF, why did his parents allow him to get in those situations before he was even 18. He went to a prep school and from his testimony he was drunk a lot and didn't show very good judgment and obviously felt like he could get away with anything that happened.
I have no reason not to believe Dr. Ford's testimony and she had absolutely nothing to gain from telling her story in front of the assholes on the judiciary committee like Grassley and Graham.
And for five years we have 2 sexual predators on the Supreme Court both of whom have taken money from billionaires. The Party of Trump is the party of quid pro quo. The billionaires have their agenda as Biden has pointed out.
Did you know that if you commit rape or incest in Texas resulting in pregnancy of the victim you have less than a five per cent chance of being convicted of rape or paying any compensation to the victim or their family.
Rape is a violent crime, not a crime of passion, and the GOP could care less about prosecuting these crimes or even sending rape kits to the lab.
Gary, my experience with "wealthier" people is they don't care if their kids get drunk or stoned as long as nothing "bad" reflects on them. My X wife's sister who I love and get along with married into a VERY wealthy family. Her step daughter had her "sweet 16" party at their VERY large house with a pool. Many of the kids were in the basement game room, with pinball machines, video games, pool table etc. Many more were outside. There was a keg of beer provided by the parents. (this was pre-social media) and a lot of uninvited kids were showing up. My Niece's parents asked Uncle Mike to go take a walk through and see how things were. I was younger, hipper...and they felt I was a good "spy".
Having been to Grateful Dead shows and made some pot brownies in my life, I recognized the smell of weed as soon as I opened the basement door. I confiscated 3 pot pipes from the stunned party goers....and told them the parents were ok with the beer, but not pot in the house. (I guess that level of bust, was too much risk) I gave the pipes to the collected parents who were knocking down martini's at a pretty good rate. Then they asked me to go troll outside.
WOW, the scene rivaled anything I had seen at a gig. Drugs, sex and rock & roll in an ever expanding parking lot. The word had gotten out and this was pre or very early cell phones. The liquor stores must have thought it was New Years Eve.
This party was in a DC suburb where a lot of elected and "influential" people live. I didn't witness any teenage rape that night...but all of the elements were there to make it easy.
I can't remember if the parents pulled the plug early...but they blamed the pot on "other kids", "outsiders"...not their sweet babies.
My best friend's graduation party was so boozy that guys were vomiting all over their front lawn. Back then, parents didn't get busted for serving underage kids, and back then the legal age was 21. In fact, the parents bought the booze and retired to their bedroom. I sloshed down tequila sunrises all night. 49 years later and I still don't remember how I got home.
Being a young woman, and being drunk, high, or both, or neither, is a dangerous thing. This is because of the patriarchy that still says Dr. Ford either lied or deserved to be raped. By extension, Kavanaugh said via the Supreme Court chorus that women's bodies don't really belong to them.
Sounds like a scene from a Molly Ringwald movie complete with the parent's not giving a shit.
I've played a lot of frat and sorority parties and never witnessed anything like that. But, I'm not a very observant person.
My high school GF was the valedictorian of her 800 person high school class. Her SAT score was 780 math and 800 English. She is head of the pediatric unit at a major medical school. She introduced me to marijuana and alcohol. I would be shocked if she doesn't still smoke pot.
It is amazing to me that the GOP is fine with owning guns and drinking beer cause, you know, freedom, yet they are opposed to legalizing pot.
I'm going to venture a Guess that the other computer operators and their mediocre boss felt threatened and made sure to get rid of the guy that shined a light.
Generally, employers don't offer the job to an applicant until they check their references and history.
unless you're running for office. Especially as a Republican. forgive me if your comment was snark (as we say on DK)
LOL I was stating a fact.
Barrett is there until the next generation at least.
It’s time to begin arresting Russian nationals charging them with espionage so as to trade them for Americans. First place to arrest them is at the Russian cultural attaché while pulling out all our staff in Russia. It’s a rogue state.
It’s prep for another performance. If chump cheats enough to win, it’s day one of hostage release (remind anybody of Ronnie’s coup de grace in 1980). If he doesn’t, it will be ongoing shadow government, like he is doing every day since he realized that running was the way to avoid any accountability, ever.
Correct an exact playbook from Reagan. I’m very perplexed on the current direction we are moving in. I still wonder how extremism on the right has taken such a detour. Then I’m reminded of our own foolish direction as “woke” democrats and yes I’m using a hostile term to describe us.
To think that at this very dangerous moment we can’t even agree on who the democratic candidate should be because he is reportedly too old and frail and can’t keep a simple thought together and who nominated a running mate that really shows poorly in case he should drop out. I nominate Adam Shiff for president and Gretchen for VP. How’s dat, lol?
Bill Maher nominated Newsome and Whitmer, glad the 2024 Democrat race is starting…. Really people
I'm with Kamala all the way (if Joe bows out). She ran one of the largest Federal or State agencies in the country as CA AG, plus she was a US Senator, and (hello) the VEEP for 3 1/2 years.
She is extremely personable and has been working the under 40 crowd for quite some time.
I posted this on Civil Discourse this am - just happened upon it:
"I just watched a chat with AOC where she mentioned that Repubs(Mike Johnson) are already talking about a lawsuit(?) to prevent name changes on election ballots. If so, and you think about where this could conceivably (at this current time) end - at the Supreme Court. I have to wonder if this is something that could actually happen? Seems to me, if so, this move by donors & some Democrats could be a really stupid one. Well, even without all that - my feelings are that its stupid as close as we are to the election. But that alone is my opinion.
This would appear to me a good conversation to have with the people who want to "change horses in mid-stream" (favorite quote)."
Anyone else heard anything like this?
Agree. Whitmer has stated that she will not be running. Someone suggested Andy Beshear. Geesh! Stop!
Newsome? Oh-My-God.
Adam is hated by the Republicans. I have never heard them say a good word about him since he is smart and totally amazing! They are afraid of him. LOL
Yes and he is in law to George Soros. Now that Hillary’s right hand lady Huma is engaged to Soros’ son perhaps Hillary and Adam Schiff would make a good Democratic ticket. Hillary wants it bad, and Soros certainly has plenty of money to throw at a campaign.
Oh, puhleeze. Whitmer is co-chair of Biden's re-election campaign!
So what?
Look into her work as governor.
Personally I think our Congressman from MD would make an EXCELLENT President...Jamie Raskin. But whoever the Dem nominee turns out to be, we must come together (right now everybody) and beat Trump. Nov 5 is D Day and there cannot be an Ike speech written and actually given about losing and taking the blame. I just got an "I like Ike" T shirt that I plan to wear, until this is sorted out.
Bill Katz.YES ASAP
#stillridenwithbiden
I got one vote yaaaaa.
Remember that tRump said they had all the votes they need to win....foreshadowing?
Trump is also and always full of male bovine manure.
It’s times like these that I need to wax philosophical and think of that famous quote that “people are deserving of those they elect.” I don’t accept it but the storm is approaching. I’m beginning to translate my 7 cats names into Italian in case I need to flee my homeland. My cat Muffin would be Focacinna. Jezebel = Jezebela, Elenore = Elenora, Big Willie = Gulliamo Grande, Babe = Bambino, Wild Man = (I forgot) and Ringo stays the same name and Nefertiti remains in spirit.
No cheating. Planning ahead, taking no chances on a fair election. Why Dems need their Schitt organized and clear to all. Fat chance…
JD yea, DJT is already stating that Putin will stop the war, etc etc...Kim won't fire rockets...apparently the only way to deal with an autocrat now is to become one...Where did the party of law and order go ? The "moral" majority ? "Tear down that wall"...not build a wall...and D-Day vets invaded Normandy to end Communism....really...what about the photos of FDR, Churchill and Stalin....working together to stop the Nazi bastard. WTF...
Stalin got screwed by Hitler, sort of pissed him off. I read somewhere that he took to his bed for weeks before his generals talked him into fighting back. Putin will screw chump but not til he’s through with him. But chump will never fight anything but his own government.
DJT is a self centered bully with no sense of how really ignorant he is.
Also, there is little or no reason for a citizen of the United States to travel to Russia. I don't care if their grandmother lives in Russia or their employer has an office there. The answer is "NO!" Or, as was once the cry during the early Viet Nam years, "Hell no, I won't go."
"It’s time to begin arresting Russian nationals"
Are you channeling Trump, or are you serious?
75 likes? Who the fuck are you people?
Absolutely not. Becoming the problem only escalates the problem. We would lose the very things we stand for and probably not succeed at their game.
To say nothing of 34 convictions for felonies.
And how about all those trips on Epstein’s jet that came to light? That NO ONE is talking about….
In a sane world.
I hope you don't mind if I finish that thought for you.
In a sane world, people treat other people the way they would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. When people stop treating other people the way they would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot, the world goes insane. And it's just that simple.
I always thought so, seems I’m in a minority these days.
You say "seems like" implying perception in lieu of reality. That's good. That means you're not like Mike Lindell who thinks perception is reality. Frank also replied to my comment. See my reply to his comment.
Nothing to add. "Seems" that we are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Yes, James, the "golden rule" for all its widespread origins, usually goes by the board in real conflict.
With respect, I disagree. It often goes by the board, and when it does, we notice it. But when humans make something good happen, it's for one reason and one reason alone, and that reason is because it didn't go by the board in a real conflict, and we tend to ignore that because it's what we were expecting.
For example, since Biden's election, and regardless of perception, the American economy has improved, crime is down, infrastructure improvements are improving people's lives, and America's standing in the world has gone from trending downward to trending upward. That is for one reason and one reason alone, which is an administration that follows the golden rule. They're not perfect, but authoritarians are the only people who claim to be perfect.
Ill stick with my comment. None of what you have just mentioned has stopped a "renegade" Dem movement (including Nancy Pelosi? ) from urging Biden to stand down, even given his extolling (rightly) the track record you are presenting.
As one who lived with a husband whose early stage if small errors and forgetting turned to anger and some violence and, finally, total darkness. I’m not as concerned about the NOW as the Biden (who I have supported and cheered on until now) of 2026. It’s not a pretty picture.
That sums it up JD…”in a sane world”. .. it is NOT period.
Rupert and the disciples of Reagan have worked hard to make it anything but. And succeeded beyond my wildest imagination.
A plan right out of the ‘playbook’ …divide , conquer, chaos. The fatigue is just at a 4 now , it’ll get worse. Stand by your man! If it’s needed Harris can pick up .. I’d lay bets she’ll wield the baton…watch. The track records are exemplary. Stay the course.🫶
Agree, I’d bet on her if she’s given a chance
I like the guy who noted that very, very few people who worked for him during his, I hate to call it, presidency. They almost all tell stories of a 'man' who was impatient with truth and facts, didn't listen, and said strange things. This is his resume and his references.
-Yes, JL, BUT, the only qualifications for the Presidency are age - 35- and born in the USA, so even a convicted felonious nimcompoop like the trumpster/dumpster qualifies - just ask the unjustices on the Supreme Court and Aileen Cannon - that's all he needs.
They don’t check the curriculum vitae nowadays
The apex of irony!
How do they explain Trump now receiving secuirity briefings, when a convicted felon cannot get a security clearance, I wonder.
Pretty simple- the people that play by the rules are following the rules. CONservatives stopped being ethical long ago and now willingly break the law. They have been chipping away for a long time. Never forget the S&L scandal of the the 1970s-80s where most of the scoundrels got off. Then in the 2000s with the financial collapse, then COVID....
The over regulating of the government has allowed the CONservatives to become an organized crime organization. Lewis Powell's Memo provided the plan. Always notice how when they do things unethical that should be illegal, they hide behind the law.
In a same world on the security briefings, they would feed bad info on purpose to see where that info would end up and then use that to put him in jail. The problem now is that the whole republican leadership would protect him and call it a lie. I know, becasue Grassley and Ernst both have said as such.
I'm not sure I understand what all that has to do with 'the over regulating of the government'. In fact, I have learned from many sources that most of the financial disasters our country has experienced have been due to UNDER regulation. Regulation is really just another word for accountability!
Rickey, what a great idea! They would have to keep the false briefings secret from everyone but trump. But wouldn’t it be interesting to see how far the “intelligence” would spread?
Sherman, My understanding, were Trump to receive briefings, is that the intelligence shared would be sufficiently innocuous.
Barbara Jo, I suggest they feed him daily political cartoons. They say a lot in few words with big pictures, many of which will be his caricature, which he'll love.
Doug, his cartoon image would have to be sufficiently “strong and powerful” to keep his rage in check.
LOL! Love it!
Yes, that rings true to what I recall reading.
And perhaps even a planted piece or two to see where it end up?
Who is giving him security briefings?
I believe Trump is NOT receiving security briefings. I hope I read that someplace.
Well, he's only just become a candidate - and this in spite of his convict status. So I hope so too. He'd probably have to ask Putin or Orban to tell him what they meant, anyway.
Aren’t candidates supposed to receive them?
In a normal world, yes. I doubt anyone in the US Intelligence communities really wants to trust Trump with anything sensitive.
How about the nuclear codes..l
JD, I believe candidate's receiving briefings have been by convention, not bound by law or other requirement, and I think they typically increase in classification levels once someone is President-elect. That said, IIRC the former guy didn't approve briefing Biden, and it wasn't done (perhaps someone will correct me if wrong )
Then skip it with the Trojan Horse…
Victor Orban (sorry, it's early but I couldn't resist)
Candidates get them to prepare for a possible presidency.
In a “normal” election, yes, but I believe Trump has been identified as a security risk.
I feel a court case coming on.
🤦🏻♀️
If (when) Trump leaks some classified information, and is caught doing so, he’ll no doubt use it to amplify his victim hood. Do we really want a “whiner in chief”.
They didn't let Biden have anything, remember? He got no briefings or help with transition. And he was rightfully elected. I wish they would do the same with Trump, at least if and until he is elected.
He shouldn’t be getting security briefings.
Bonnie, As much as I share the urgency of your call, I’m also keenly aware, as the window to November narrows, that we must prioritize how we spend calories. In that regard, first and foremost, we need to press for a Democratic Party that’s fully unified and that can shed a light, chapter and verse, on concrete examples of the harms that would flow from the 2025 game plan. I would add, regardless of how often Donald Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025, we must emphatically amplify, quoting Robert Reich, that “[h]is aids wrote it, his PAC promotes it, and his national campaign press secretary appears in the recruitment video.”
Indeed. And someone needs to slap some sense into the brainless whiners in the Dem. Party that keep playing into the GQP’s hands.
Pull your heads out you morons. Cheetolini and his fanatical minions are doing their best to lose this election, with their Palin-esque VP pick (vacuous fanatic), and Cheetolini’s own rambling verbosity and injury coverup.
Unfortunately, the whiny hand-wringers are insisting on creating news stories to distract from the self-inflicted damage the GQP hatefest/convention is doing.
George, One factor I only recently have come to understand relates to the interest among a sizable number not only for Biden to step down but also for removal of the whole ticket. Whatever the grounds, they could not possibly compensate for the chaos that would ensue.
Accordingly, while I’ve harbored concerns about Biden for some time, I no longer trust the Democratic establishment responsibly to manage changing course at this point.
It sure sounds like the “Democratic Establishment “ has been bought and paid for by Putin’s minions. Sadly, that’s not hard to believe since there is so much utterly corrupting money sloshing around all of our elections (EXACTLY HOW THE FEDERALIST SCUM (and their puppets/minions that now infest our courts) WANT IT). We expect the GQP to be corrupt beyond question, but sadly, the “establishment” Dems are questionable.
With the shockingly stupid statements oozing out about Dems wanting Biden to give up (and that truly is what they’re asking for - giving the election to Cheetolini since that is the guaranteed result from a change at this point), it’s clear that massive amounts of money or favors have been exchanged to buy the careers of these cowards.
George, Respectfully, I don’t subscribe to your thinking. I believe the failure of Biden’s calamitous debate performance to put to rest the doubts about his capacity to campaign, instead, reinforced them, and rightly has caused great concern that has not since been mitigated. In that regard, my consternation rests with Democratic elected officials I’ve only recently come to understand seem incapable of getting fully on board and unified with one another.
Yup. And the result will be another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Remember Shrub (Bush Jr.), and Hillary? We’re about to repeat history a third time.
No amount of wishing will make the perfect candidate appear, but the whining and hand-wringing WILL embolden the already massively biased and cowardly mass media to pile on with “Biden being pressured to bail” stories when there are actual news stories that could have been covered. (sharks, cannibals,unquestioned ear injuries, etc)
You are really over-blowing the debate performance. If you watched the whole thing, you must have noticed that Biden got better toward the end while all Trump did was firehose lies. Stop letting the NYT and its followers define facts for you.
Let's be clear minded on this and the debate performance, tRump has been much, much worse. The Biden performance was bad, yes, but was it one off? Seems to be. Keep in mind that the MSM is now playing both ends against the democrats. They know if they really go after and expose the CONservatives for what they will do if they seep back in power, the retaliation will be harsh and real. They do not fear that the liberals will retaliate as history has shown. The feeding frenzy over Biden has been, to say the least, bizarre and even more salacious than I ever imagined. Even though Biden is respected, he is not feared. MAGAs are the Silver Shirts of the 1920s-30s.
And that's what the media is rolling on since the debate. Now it's in CAPS, so to speak.
Yes. The created turmoil is for ratings.
Like it or not, the reality is that many voting Americans are concerned about Biden's age and mental competency to go another year or two, to say nothing about four more years. That's the reality that has put us on the defensive instead of the offensive. Biden suffers from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg syndrome, when old age clouds judgment. The Biden/Harris administration has been outstanding. That now has almost no bearing on the campaign because it has focused, not on Trump's corruption, dishonesty and incompetence, but rather on Biden's condition.
A cabal of media figures, backed by billionaires, wants to get rid of Biden's approach to taxes, unions, etc., and have ginned up a story about Biden's mental competence that just isn't supported by the evidence of his daily work. We've got to stop being suckered by them and support our ticket. At half-speed, Biden is still way better than Trump would be with his staff of sycophants and fascists.
I'm convinced that Biden can do the job, but I'm not a part of that 15% or so that needs to be persuaded. That's now our task when it should be attack, attack, attack. Like it or not, we're on the defensive and there are reasons for it (Biden's stumbling speech at times, for example.)
Remember that we elected an administration. Compare this administration with the last one. Competence over chaos. Service over theft.
And this administration's past performance is history. It's over. Competence is an issue - is Biden competent enough to go another 4 1/2 years. That is what many voters have on their minds. It is what it is. It would be folly for us to ignore that fact. We all share the frustration. This should be a zero contest, but it isn't. Why? Biden's perceived mental fitness to do the job, even now.
I no longer see this upcoming election as a choice between two candidates. I see it as a choice between a democracy or an authoritarian government. PERIOD.
I will vote for Biden even if he is on life-support.
You ae absolutely correct, IMO, Miselle: this election is between retaining a democratic form of government or ceding power to a would-be dictator. That such a low life at Trump could command this kind of loyalty is an insult to our electorate.
Exactly. But when folks that should be opposing Cheetolini openly talk about it, it adds validity to a massively over covered non -story.
Cheetolini has been spewing batsh*t crazy crap for months (along with sleeping through trials, being convicted of massive fraud, rape, and a big pile of felonies), but let’s focus on the guy that’s three years older.
I dont think the campaign has focused on that.
Richard and others, this commentary by Mehdi Hasan is an excellent perspective:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/15/democrats-joe-biden-maga?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
I'm with you on your last point, Barbara Jo. The Dems are blowing this right now. Others have used the term "bed wetters", and while I think it's appropriate, perhaps "pants wetters" is more so.
It is so shocking to me to see this happening.
Pardon if you've seen this already. It explains that point better than I could.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPRxuOWkr1E&t=6s
For the ship to proceed, there's got to be a rudder..., steered by someone. (boink)
Well spoken, GeoC. The (R)ss-holes only real hope for winning this election is for the libtards to dump Biden & Harris. The Electoral Collegiates will take care of the rest. So far, the Russian 'Intelligence Community' is handling things quite well. AOC might only be one of the few with her head on straight. But, she'll be out-of-the-pool, they'll see to that. Bernie? No factor.
George, right now I think the Dems are outdoing them. MAGA has been spewing lies all along, and whatever exposure Dem PR has provided so far, hasn't begun to change the dial, short of a major poll reversal in the final week or two of the campaign. Americans are already putting in their early votes.
To the MAGA people, Trump's lies, convictions, insurrection activity, racism, failed businesses, philandering, fraudulent activities (Trump University and Trump Charitable Organization - both shut down because of fraud) mean nothing. They don't care. Why? Because Trump will crush the hated opposition, i.e., women's rights advocates, gay rights advocates, minorities and immigrants. ["The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?" You can google the study.
Yes it's a blend paternalism, racism, nativism and Christian fundamentalism which considers a majority of Americans as sinning and more likely damned. They've swallowed their own Kool-Aid. Also, thanks to Fox
The oligarchs couldn't have asked for anything more, it's mana from heaven: cheap form of mass communications that permits them to spread deception that corrals and herds the masses - Fox News [sic,] Newsmax, One American Network, Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and more. Thomas Frank explained this in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" 2004. Hit them with the wedge issues: abortion, women's rights advocates, gay rights advocates, immigrants, etc.
You can call me a whiny handwringer all you want, if you want, and I can call you MAGA-Blue. Where’s that get anybody?
Sure, Biden’s still a thousand times better than Trump, but he has demonstrated a profound and disqualifying incapacity. Voters need a better choice than two obviously unacceptable candidates.
So giving up the election by wishing for a perfect candidate seems like a clever option???
There is ZERO CHANCE for anyone else to have even a remote mathematical chance to beat Cheetolini, and I’m pretty sure we agree that that is the only goal that matters. Sadly, Dems have a long history of losing close elections when a subset of the voters decide that the candidate is imperfect and then throw away their votes on an alternative (Nader??, any of the fringe candidates taking votes from Hillary?), or simply refusing to vote at all which is roughly the same as voting for the scumwad from the GQP.
Sadly, I remember
You may have a point there. Right now the Dems, aided by the usual hungry media, are virtually destroying Biden, if not Harris as collateral damage.
Agreed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPRxuOWkr1E&t=6s
HRC didn’t lose because people like you and me voted for Jill Stein or Ralph Nader. (In fact, but for the Electoral College, HRC won!)
WHAT incapacity? Did you see the master class in international relations he gave to reporters? His shredding of Lester Holt and the media performance? Stop doing Sulzberger's bidding.
He ‘shredded’ Lester Holt?! I saw the interview and don’t think any shredding occurred (or would, if attempted, have been appropriate). I was talking about Biden’s debate with Trump.
I presume you agree that Trump is a weak opponent. Biden not only lost the debate he was, at times, incoherent. That, to me, demonstrates incapacity. So-so performances in other settings (he was best in the press conference but I wouldn’t say that even there he was at his best) do not change what happened at the debate.
I saw Holt being shredded by Biden. Holt was speechless when Biden challenged the media’s free pass to Trump
Jamie: Holy s**t. He had just returned from several transatlantic trips, jet-lagged, with a cold, and on an unnamed cold medication (possibly Benadryl, which is known to cause cognitive issues), facing a fire hose of lies and THAT’S the sole reason you were convinced he’s in decline, deteriorated, incapacitated?
at this point - suicide.
Perhaps, then, this would be of interest to you:
isidewith.com/elections/2024-presidential-quiz
AOC has a video that pretty much nails it.
Here’s a great link to share/amplify:📣 “BREAKING: In newly leaked audio, Kevin Roberts, the leader of Project 2025, says he knows Donald Trump is lying about not knowing about Project 2025 in order to fool Americans into voting for him. Retweet to make sure every American hears this.”
https://x.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1812115437250924907
I'm very wary about this audio - it's on X.
Reposted. Ty
Barbara Jo Krieger, have you seen the new ad by The Seneca Project about JD Vance? This is really chilling, and a bold reminder to all of us who think Project 2025 needs to be shouted about and unmasked for the truly misogynistic aim. https://youtu.be/IMASRJnCVwA?feature=shared
MLRGRMI, Thank you for the post. While I will circulate it broadly, I remain convinced that voters primarily vote the top of the ticket.
Thank you. What you've said is what's important now. The Dems have got to get out the vote big time no matter who the candidate is.
Correct. Do any of you know where there is a factual accounting of The assassination attempt on Trump? I’ve avoided reading anything because I want facts not hype and hysteria. Thanks.
There are several top Democrats at this moment calling for Biden to withdraw. The more they give that oxygen, the more undecided voters hear that only Biden is disqualified. Trump has many, many more problems. The Dems are making a self-fulfilling prophecy by giving Trump a pass and pounding on Biden. So yes, let's comment on Project 2025, felonies, lies, mental health, gang of grifters, cozy with dictators, etc.
Bonnie, I only would note, contrary to Biden, that Trump has so absorbed the base of his Party that he’s not likely to lose many votes regardless of a deep-dive into his disqualifying attributes. In contrast, because Biden voters largely are not nearly as inspired and energized, I continue to press for our currently fractured Party to unify around a plan to proceed were Biden, rightly in my view, to pass the torch.
I just watched a discussion with Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias of the most critical aspect of P2025 that could allow Trump to take control of the government.
https://youtu.be/EhZfiIVdoNk?si=yiuN_yIeHweMQ-p1
@B Evans, I greatly appreciate you posting this provocative link. Aside from my making use of it, I will circulate it broadly.
absolutely! That is why I posted a comment yesterday asking everyone to do an internet search on Project 2025 every time they log onto it. We need to keep it trending right up to election time.
Barbara Krieger. Absolutely
There's also a gold mine in exposing MAGA's enormous lie-machine just form Trump's speech alone if handled well. Overdoing the "special effects" would tune me out, though, must say. I saw a god-awful one the other day trying to take on Project 2025. But maybe i'm too "smart" for my own good. It felt like a propaganda ad to me. Then, i've tuned out so much political advertising since the 50s. It was so transparently biased.
I will look up this Reich reference & if I cant would like a link
Carole, Because I’m away from home with only a cell phone, I don’t know how to post a link on Substack. However, I can tell you I excerpted Reich’s text from his Inequality Media Civic Action newsletter from last Friday. I imagine were you to start typing the quoted text into Google, the newsletter would pop up.
1. "Two sides one must vanqish the other"
Calls for Trump to withdraw? Because it's not fair? Not fair?
Manafort, Stone, Mccarthy, Roy Cohn Nixon and our Donald. .. This is an American game (not Germany in the 30's), and it's not fair.
2. "The media seems to be treating Donald and Biden differently" .... no shit Sherlock!
The goodies versus the baddies, it's an American game.
remember you elect and administration not just the president. Ask people if they want the money changers back in the temple....
Vote for a yellow dog before any Republican
Robert Reich asks: How could a convicted felon who attempted a coup on America be the leading candidate for president? Ans Because scapegoating works.
Never mind that Trump is a convicted felon and attempted a coup. A thief, grifter and a rapist. An orange blaspheming antichrist. A psychotic narcissist. A tool for Putin.
Trump scapegoats immigrants exactly the same way Hitler scapegoated Jews. Never mind that he is the poster boy for sanctions for using illegals on his job sites.
Register more Democrats. https://www.fieldteam6.org/all-volunteer-ops
I really admire former Representative Adam Kinzinger for his courage to serve on the 06jan21 Select Committee. Before President Trump spoke at the G.O.P. convention, Mr Kinzinger predicted what President Trump would say. Adam nailed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8WQdjdBqJk
🤔🗽✌️⚖️😇
In this vid., cut when I was traipsing around Ukraine two years ago, Mr Kinzinger advises each of us on what we should do to stand by our republic. He nailed it then as he has nailed it now. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5021441/user-clip-brav-rep-kinzinger
good links Ned
Thank you, Sir.
Okay.. you have to ask the Republican party about that. Trump's party. The whole party is rotten to the core for Trump. How are you going to do that? The SCOTUS was of no help!! The ONLY way is to defeat Trump at the polls.
Equal time is a dodo
yes
I'm really quite disgusted with the constant talk of Pres. Biden stepping down from running for President. Pelosi, Schumer and Schiff and other Democrats suggesting it are helping to tear the party apart. This talk needs to stop. 104 days until the election and replacing the present candidates with someone else would completely destroy the campaign and the possibility of success (as Professor Richardson has discussed). Democrats have got to stop the bickering over one single debate and support our candidate. Efforts to dismantle the party makes me wonder if you have switched parties.
When tfg first talked about the 'bullet' going past him he referred to it as a 'really big mosquito' so now staying it was a bullet is changing that story, which of course he always does.
Watching Trump dramatically kiss the helmet of the slain former fire chief made me cringe. It epitomized Trump, who used him as a cheap prop after failing to call his family. How can anyone support this grotesque, twisted human?
And he kissed the helmet with the same stagey affect he used when he infamously ambled across a platform to hug an American flag. His unemotional, performance, obviously manipulative, was such an insult to a life lost that one might wonder if it was the act of a psychopath.
Who wonders, I diagnosed him long ago
Well yeah, there have been many, some of whom offered professional observations from a distance. I was using it to make a connection between two events to demonstrate his purely manipulative nature.
Manipulation, his only skill
And what's astonishing, or simply disturbing — depending on one's point of view — are the millions susceptible to it.
It is truly chilling to see his sycophants kowtowing to his every word and act! When will the media get on his case like they are doing to Biden. The real sick-o is the orange menace not Biden!
seems so, all humans have an Achilles Heel maybe
truly!
yeah saw the flag wrap too, god
Creepy to act out affection.
I wanted to look away from the insincere glare.
And holding an upside down Bible on Lafeyette Square! DC
In late January, 2017, Trump sent a seal team into Yemen to kill some ISIS leaders. It was a disaster as CNN points out in this CNN reporting of how the whole thing went down. Many civilians were killed in the raid as well as a Seal. It was reported elsewhere that convicted felon Donald Trump did not monitor his first military event from the WH situation room, but rather from a swanky DC restaurant.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/03/politics/yemen-raid-trump-obama/index.html
To my knowledge, this is the first time CFDT violated the 5th commandment - Thou Shalt Not Kill. It was a botched operation that should never have taken place.
This was a harbinger of what kind of commander in chief CFDT would be. How many times did the 5 time draft dodger put "losers and suckers" in harms way?
And then he invited the parents of the murdered Seal to his first speech to Congress labeling them a "gold star" family.
Keep reminding people
Competence over chaos.
Good language
Interesting. The failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran pretty much cost Jimmy Carter his second term. That event was never mentioned in the 2020 campaign, was it?
Funny, that. <sarcasm font>
Thank you for the reminder! There were so many horrible episodes during 45's administration! It is hard to keep track of it all. The COVID-19 debacle overshadowed everything else. He took incompetence to a whole new level!
His life's greatest success was as a reality TV star. He can no more stop those kinds of staged moves than he can fly to the moon.
It is his excuse for a core
and he did not even do that. Credit Mark Burnet.
Mark Burnet had a boardroom stage built. Because 45's actual boardroom was shabby. So much for the REALITY in The Apprentice.
Dr. Frankenstein
I wonder how much longer he'll wear his badge of honor on his ear?
It was nauseating. Truly.
It was pure performance art - it disgusted me too. It was like when he hugged and kissed the flag - only worse.
(Pardon my verbiage to those easily offended.)
I find the way he grabs the flag with that goofy grin and nearly dry-humps it to be absolutely disgusting. I told my husband that when Trump does that, there is a thunder-clap of vaginas around the nation slamming shut.
Miselle, no offense taken!!! I am rolling on the floor with laughter! Oh how I needed that!
Hugging the American flag just totally creeps me out.
Same.
Actually, for me it's his smile when he does it.
me too on the cringe, that was something else. Trump is a prop con. Look at the cheap souvenir shops, they wouldn't be there if there weren't buyers!
As a kid, I saw Gorgeous George "wrestle" with nonstop obvious cheating and baffled looking referees who never seemed to be looking at him when he did. They could never find the items he "hid" so obviously for the crowd to see. It was all part of the show, the more outrageous, the more people showed up expecting him to be caught.
A 5th grade classmate's dad was a circus escape artist and taught us some tricks. From him, I knew what "Hey Rube!" meant as a code for all circus hands to come to the aid, and that Rubes were outsiders. I hadn’t heard of “kayfabe” since we didn’t really watch wrestling other than a few live matches, though my dad did like boxing, though, and took us to more in service boxing events as part of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs in Hawaii (great with the mix of services and many great athletes in the service during the Korean War then going on. When I was in basic training, I learned the rough of “Hey Rube!” was “Ten Men!” Other code words in wrestling were not so hard to figure out such as “Face” and “Heel” (as in Gorgeous George being the very profitable Heel, and inspiration for a 15 year old Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali). Then there were the “marks,” all those not in on the gag, the audience especially.
Which brings me to a lesson related to many Trump followers and Gorgeous George’s, to me, most astonishing gag with his golden Georgie Pins he handed out.
See https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/03/17/george-was-villainous-gutsy-and-gorgeous
“…George's hair, which was long, curly and yellow, was kept in place by gold-plated bobby pins which he called "Georgie pins" and passed out by the handful to adoring fans.
The first batch cost him $85 for half a pound. When he found out how fast he was handing them out, he had to switch to cheaper ones—gold only in color. But the need to economize didn't faze George. He once appeared on a radio show being taped for the armed forces overseas, and the beribboned, high-ranking officers present decided they had better get some souvenir Georgie pins or their wives would never forgive them. George ordered them to line up like so many recruits, then ordered his valet to spray their hands with scent. After that he made them repeat after him the customary oath: "I solemnly swear and promise I will never confuse this gold Georgie pin with a common, ordinary bobby pin, so help me Gorgeous George..."
Does it seem to anyone else but me that Gorgeous George could have ghostwritten the gag of the GOP convention?
Even Better? Try this from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe
“…I remember the guy who would bring our jackets back to the dressing room. Every time he did, someone would yell "Kayfabe." ... Then one night, the guy decided to stand up for himself and told the whole dressing room: "I don't mind the yelling, but I want to let you know that my name is not Kayfabe. It's Mark." ... What he didn't know is that wrestlers called people outside of the business "marks"—that's why we were yelling kayfabe in the first place.
— Pat Patterson, describing his interaction with a ring attendant in the Pacific Northwest Wrestling territory during the early 1960s…”
Despicable
Utterly disgusting and disrespectful.
Actually Trump did call his family and spoke with them on Tuesday. Biden also tried to call and his call was refused. Please don’t spread lies, that only makes the Democrats look worse.
Biden called on Monday. Trump on Tuesday. Setting the facts straight.
I stand corrected. Biden called on Monday and the family refused to take his call. Trump called on Tuesday and spoke with the family then.
Happy?
Trump called it became an issue that made him look bad.
IMHO I think it spoke volumes that the family refused to take Biden’s call.
They had been at Trump's rally, after all.
Step back and thing about it — extraordinarily disrespectful, not to mention impolite. Of course it's on brand for MAGAs.
he's a showman...not a human being
Are you kidding?
Of course he went off the rails in his convention-concluding speech. But let's get simple again.
All MAGA dangers reduce to two:
1) Calls to violence;
2) Disregard for civilization.
We’ve a long record – on video – of Trump calling for beatings, storm troopers to stand by, use of the 2nd amendment, invective and demeaning insults, and many more phrases urging, too, stochastic physical violence.
His attacks on civilization combine scorn for law, ignorance of humanities, and contempt for all traditions and precedents (including personal freedoms) so he, corrupt Clarence court, and all MAGA rot into new dark ages.
That and total subjugation.
Yes, J L.
Isn't it far easier to subjugate when we learn conveniently to see life as so many units?
That is, no need for humanities in schools when testing so nicely turns all into numbers. All into rank-&-file. All into group identity. Abstractions. Categories. All nicely rational, to serve corporate offices, which in turn serve what, other than accounting bottom lines?
I was pretty young, may still in single digits when I heard someone on the radio (circa 1950s) talking about Nazi death camps. The line that for some reason stuck with me and I have remembered many ties since, was that those who shuffled the cards that indicated who was next to be killed were worse than those doing the actual killing. I could never quite make up my mind if that was true. Maybe they are both just as evil.
As you write this, J L, I'm listening to Allan Lichtman on the Meidas Touch.
Professor Lichtman hates polls (numbers games of a peculiarly perverse value). A 100% correct prognosticator of presidential winners for every election since 1984, he hates even more the spinelessness of Dems today, who flock from backing their president, as they confuse stagecraft with doing president things.
Lichtman uses data in his measuring. He values numbers, if they're apt numbers. Otherwise he has contempt for those who flock to the chimerical, rather as your Nazi guards shuffling the cards of death.
What's the opposite of spinelessness? It would be Dems capable of citing humanities, seeing the human -- citing the human in quoting from best Dems around us seeing and doing the best things.
Cannot. Just polls. Assume no point in quoting anything human. Only one thing that counts -- having Lord Magic at the top, with lordly slick stagecraft.
Here is a deconstruction of an NORC poll. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/17/2255111/-So-Two-Thirds-of-us-want-Biden-to-drop-out-Huh?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
We see what they are. Also, I would like to know how they got their sampling. This is not door to door knocking, but people responding on line or over the phone. No one I know would respond to such a poll. So, that leaves the people who would. Those have been characterized as not necessarily voting, but liking to be heard. So, Jay Kuo talks about the difference between results in polls of people who actually and are likely to vote, versus polls that includes people who are not voting, or likely to vote, and the former are more favorable to Biden.
Linda-Thanks for this link that breaks down how bogus polls are being used to create the narrative that an overwhelming number of Dems want Biden to step down. Lies, lies and more lies. Only the truth will set us free.
Hurts so bad, hurts so much, Linda -- that Dems so paralyze themselves.
If they loved America, they'd be full of the literacy to cite Americans, to quote each other, to enthuse over the decency and human needs in their various communities.
But no humanities, no humanity sustains them. Only wonk numbers. Polls. Stats in no human context.
As I've said before, I've seen this crippling dehumanization before, when I was Nam translator in the U.S. Army, when all its Ivy League elites then, too, moved to idiot abstractions, even more idiot trust in numbers (pipeline supplies), as Dems today similarly slave only to poll numbers for helpless, victim-paralysis.
RIGHT ON Linda! The inconsistency between what we hear as results of polls not matching what we know from our own experience seems a corollary of the fundamental paradox of believers in tRump's lies about the state of the world despite their own lived experience. They succumb to the "kayfabe" Heather has described in today's LFAA! Frankly it is simply UNBELIEVABLE that more than 50% of any accurately conducted poll would prefer a return of tRump to office. Period.
god bless you
Here’s a question I have been asking many of my friends who are obsessed with poll numbers. How many times in the past ten years have you responded to a poll? The answer I get most often is none. So who is responding to these polls. In the past few years I have lost faith in any polls and more recently the same goes for pundits.
That is what I am saying. Jay Kuo points out that these polls often include people who do not intend to vote, but want to be heard. So, the media, which seems to be filled with Ivy League grads who cannot draw a line between two points when it comes to understanding this election and whose ethics have them writing for clicks and not to save our country from fascism, where journalists don't fare too well. No one I know responds to polls that come over the internet. However, apparently Biden did a door to door poll where they had 100,000 respondents. Their results were that 75% were voting for Biden. I do not know more than that, but it is talked about here. This was sent to me from Kathy. Still a lot of work to do but Biden can win and Cheatolini just keeps making it easier.
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/biden-harris-campaign-chief-says-biden-is-absolutely-in-this-race-215247429608
I also got this from someone else with AOC. I recently sent her money because of her taking on the SCOTUS.
https://youtu.be/hKOYyEjLCHI?si=uwGc8EpjkU9EXrV1
She is such a brilliant politician that I hope we see big things for her in the future. She is spelling out the reality of the moment. We need everyone to fight 100% for the Biden-Harris ticket!
I have stopped answering polls because they always end with a request for money. I tell them that I contribute where I want to and gladly will give my opinion if you really want it, but I won’t combine the two
Stagecraft is no substitute for statecraft. Eloquence and clarity is the mark of skilled leadership, such as Lincoln or FDR on the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but best spun fabrications passed off as truths just leads one into traps. Fiction can be a vehicle for profound truths, when offered as fiction. Lies, by definition, are led to mis-lead. Lies killed in the pandemic. The kill every day. We can never know for sure we have the truth, and we can sometime spread lies or errors unknowingly,
But we know when we are lying. It's a choice.
My OMG moment was when I realized that IBM sent technicians to the camps to oversee the data processing. Blew me away. Still does…
I was unaware of that. I will look into it. So strange (and corrupt) that aid and comfort to the NAZIs by wealthy corporations and individuals tended to be officially swept under the rug. It is a strain of corruption that is way too accepted and tears at the heart of "liberty and justice for all". It is personified by Trump.
Let's be specific, J L.
The U.S. didn't just get Nazis "swept under the rug." Its classified program, "Operation Paperclip," from 1945 on brought 1,600 of them as physicists, chemists, doctors, and engineers to staff corporate America.
Rather similarly to how, from 1991 on, the U.S. State Department coordinated U.S. financial interests and recent Ivy League grads to invest in the Soviet Union's former nomenklatura, and so float the thievery, rape of resources, and other floating of the new oligarchy there.
I heard it when Michael Lewis spoke about it on C-span years ago. Don’t remember which book. He has exposed so much crap.
And contrast that with what happened to those who showed even a passing interest in communism.
Evil “dealer” Stephen Miller comes immediately to mind. And he’s Jewish and was even harshly criticized by his rabbi as I recall from a story long ago. And he’s still prominently on the Trump wagon unlike many in that disastrous administration who have since become rabid anti-Trumpers.
Stephen Miller is as racist as they come.
I really admire former Representative Adam Kinzinger for his courage to serve on the 06jan21 Select Committee. Before President Trump spoke at the G.O.P. convention, Mr Kinzinger predicted what President Trump would say. Adam nailed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8WQdjdBqJk
🤔🗽✌️⚖️😇
In this vid., cut when I was traipsing around Ukraine two years ago, Mr Kinzinger advises each of us on what we should do to stand by our republic. He nailed it then as he has nailed it now. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5021441/user-clip-brav-rep-kinzinger
But the msm is only quoting or playing the first part….
We’re now analyzing American politics through the lens of professional wrestling theory. Jesus. 😵💫
Trump is a conman turned showman, while remaining a conman. The utter fakery of professional wrestling is entirely consistent with Trump. There is no truth in him. The presence of the professional faker and their minions at the RNC is a visible sign of the complete collapse of the Republican Party into the MAGA cult.
My son (now 37) loved the WWF when he was 5 or 6. He had several action figures, including Hulk Hogan. I’m ashamed to say that my husband took him to a WWF spectacle once, and I asked him about the experience this morning after reading Heather’s newsletter. He said it seemed like performance and he thought it was harmless fun at the time, but we both sort of marveled at our parenting lapse in supporting this ridiculous entertainment. I mean Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was one thing, but... Suffice to say, my son’s WWF period didn’t make it past first grade, which right about where it should have ended. Trump never really made it past that stage.
Ha! I had a similar experience with my younger son (now 43). He became enraptured by WWF when we returned to the US after 7 years in Thailand. He was 12 at the time. I was appalled by it. I actively and vocally hated WWF. In retrospect, I think this might have been a form of adolescent rebellion. The sudden move was pretty traumatic for all of us. He grew out of it after a while and turned into a fine man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNNhrxnICZc&t=460s
You might find this informative.
In the late 80’s, I think, I worked on a film starring Hulk Hogan that Vince McMahon produced with WWF money that he had a lot of. They used to talk about flying back to Connecticut in the private jet together after putting on one of their “shows”, drinking champagne and having a grand time, it was all a show, nothing about it was real, except when they stomped around the ring, they were looking for the softest places to land. The people who believed in it are the very same people who are the maggot base. They could fill arenas with 15 thousand people who all bought into it, no wonder the orange turd is so attracted to them. It was a very lucrative conn job that made a lot of people wealthy, like Terry aka Hulk Hogan, who was working as a bouncer in FL and beat up a WWF champion when he got out of line in the bar, that got their attention and soon he was Hulk Hogan, that’s how I remember it anyhow. We know exactly who the maggots are, they have been WWF fans for decades, and they want to run the country, WTF???
They must have paid the Hulk a nice chunk of change.
Nowadays, remember, you cannot spell conservative with CON.
I was astonished to learn that a theory of professional wrestling exists. Even more astonished to learn that it has gone through a classic stage and is now in a neoclassic era.
We thought we were in late stage capitalism, and it turned out that we were in late stage pro wrestling. Learn something new every day.
Best laugh I've had in days!
Sadly brilliant.
Thanks for the snortle
I thought it was just crap, I still think that. The dregs to which humans can sink. On second thought. Does it have any “six degrees of separation” from the Met Gala…
I can scarcely wait to see the next evolution of the 'art'.
Hopefully, it'll include documented observations of animal behavior like a robin harassing a butterfly, a red hawk wrangling with a squirrel, or a woodchuck stealing a squash -- we need everyday actual and real. What's under that ear bandage?
None of those are fake, so are irrelevant in this context.
I've posted this several places today. Apologies to anyone who might be upset with that. I am not a troll, really.
Tennessee Brando breaks it down for us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNNhrxnICZc&t=460s
Thank you for the link Miselle. I noted Tennessee Brando’s portrait of John Prine behind him on the wall. Any friend of Prine is a friend of mine. Thanks again.👍
Me, too!
Pro wrestling was exactly what I thought of after the “attempted assassination” when, instead of allowing the secret service to actually protect him and get him out of there, he raised his fist for the photo op.
As I read about said professional wrestling theory, and learned of its name "kayfabe”, I was struck by (since I don't know the etiology of the word) it could be pronounced several ways: Kay-Fabe, Ka-FAB-ee, KA Fa Babe I noted that it kind of tripped off the tongue like "cofeve."
I'll get more coffee. Pro wrestling, at the moment, seems to be better than watching what our national political parties have become, which is a sorry state of affairs.
Yeah, puzzled me, too. According to Google, it’s KAY-fabe, rhymes with HAY-babe. Merriam-Webster agrees on the pronunciation and says its origin is obscure. Might be related to piglatin for “fake”.
The WWE/pro-wrestling connection to Trump is a worthy observation. I remember watching local pro wrestling on rainy Saturday afternoons in the early 1960's when there was nothing else to do or watch on TV. I always felt a bit guilty and dirty just warching. It certainly portrayed good guys, bad guys, and refs that could go either way as well. Trump has always elicited a similar sense of uneasy dirt and naughtyness. Now I see why -- kayfbe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNNhrxnICZc&t=460s
Tenneesee Brando's take on it.
For good guys v bad guys, you can’t beat Lone Ranger reruns. The best part is the opening, with the magnificent Silver on the gallop.
People who participate in neokayfabe have found a socially permissable structure to express there sadism and psychopathology. Media should be calling Trump's emphasis on Hannibal Lecter for what it is. A shout out to sadists and psychopaths.
I watched this clip yesterday. Tennessee Brando knows it and nailed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNNhrxnICZc&t=460s
My dad, who fought in WWII, would disagree with Ms Guilfoyle. He would not be backing Mr Trump, not for an instant. He knew what fascism is; he saw it developing under the 2nd Bush administration; he opposed the Tea Party types; and he was aghast at the ignorance of so many people about our country's founders and history and ideals. I miss him every day, but I'm glad he died before he was faced with us turning our backs on what truly makes us "great" - caring for the "least of these."
My Dad also fought in WWII. He was a bombardier who fought in the South Pacific. I have a tattoo of the tail art of his plane on my leg. It reminds me, every day, that the fight against fascism is never finished.
We lost him in 2009 and I’m glad he’s not around to see what this country he fought so hard to defend has become.
My dad fought in Korea, and died in December 2020. He was 93. He couldn’t stand Trump and voted for Hilary in 2016 and for Biden in 2020. He thought Trump was a disgrace to the United States.
I am with your Dad 100%
My dad was born in 1934 so too young for WWII but served during Korea. In addition to all you mention about your dad, the LYING would have also been a deal breaker. His character didn’t allow him to lie and he instilled the same in me. Never mind his insane and evil “ideology”, just the fact everything out of his mouth is a lie shows what he is.
My dad once said he never voted after Nixon… because since he’d voted for Nixon he was too stupid to be allowed to vote. He was embarrassed. Will the cult members ever realize what they are doing and have any shame over following “America’s Hitler”?
I have posted this in several spots today. I had hoped to get to the letters earlier and post a comment that more would see as they viewed the comments (but sadly, next door neighbor had an alcohol fueled party outside, which devolved into a singing-fest (ugh) till about 3 am.
Too bad your dad hadn't had this:
isidewith.com/elections/2024-presidential-quiz
I watched the speech and must admit I lost part of it to sleep. Where Trump told the truth was in his plan for the planet and climate. It is 'Drill Baby Drill!' and good bye to Earth as we have known it. He was also clear about the Ukraine, they will be lucky to survive under him if he's elected; and there is no future for Palestinians in Gaza from what I could here him shouting. Finally, his idea of bringing a divided America back to unity is that the Democrats don't criticize him but he gets free reign. It was classic Trump: heads I win, tails, you lose.
That's the plutocratic "GOP" Creed.
Thanks for mentioning the climate. Dictators may very well come and go, but global warming and the accompanying climate change (ever getting worse) is here to stay, unless action is taken now, not later.
My family has its share of Democrats, just not green ones. Mostly they don't care about this issue.
AGREED Matt, the climate remains THE most important issue for the USA as well as for the world, a sad reminder of the importance of remaining involved and invested with as many responsible governments as we can find across our globe, very much including at the least, NATO governments. The dilemma of what to do with a formerly responsible government like Hungary becomes another dilemma worthy of some real hard thinking.
The media just yawns for the most part.
Thanks for covering another day full of hair-raising events, Dr. Richardson! From the abominable sentence of Evan Gershkovich to the ridiculous display of ignorance by Ms. Guilfoyle, and so much in between.
Here is a new ad by George Conway which might summarize very well what needs to happen: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/hzz6eGyt
PS: There is obviously a reason why there are no medical reports out of the trump camp about his injured ear - even his sons confirmed that it was 'nothing' to write home about. That stupid bandage was a "PR stunt", as another celebrity stated.
I'm surprised he did not come out on a crutch. Then toss it away. A "MIRACLE".
one meme says "Is anyone else surprised he didn't pretend to be dead for 3 days and then rise again?"
(attributed to Sherry Loucks on Facebook)
The bandage was apparently enough.
Well, JL, he does speak in tongues! 🗣️
Barbara, I just spit my drink at the computer screen~ lol!
Thanks. I needed that. I went on a rant last week and avoided the comment section for a few days. I spared myself the pearl-clutching, but missed some of the funny stuff.
Cheer up, J L. He could always have a relapse that will require the use of a crutch temporarily until he tosses it away?
Morning, Lynell. He just might...
Morning, Ally!
Aw, what a thread. Needed this
Same, JD.
🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂🤣
Or rip the bandage off to show he was miraculously healed.
incredible video and new PAC that George Conway has set up...spread widely...
Just contributed to PsychPac!!!
Thanks for sharing the George Conway ad!
Thank you for the link. I frequently refer to George Conway's article, Unfit for Office (The Atlantic, October 2019) Glad he's taking this to the next level.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/george-conway-trump-unfit-office/599128/?gift=p4GRqRxyScAXMvm0CnpQyWVrY3HHa62AH592zURQZHU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Y'all need to watch Conway's ad Marli posts above.
Also, the media need to follow the "Goldwater Rule" for Biden.
Thanks Marli for sharing Conway’s ad. The more people are educated about the truth of Trump’s pathology the better. Let’s not forget about his enablers either-they’ve got some issues to deal with too. (There’s “mental illness involved with believing that skin color or gender makes a human being “superior” to other human beings.)
Human nature is a mixed bag as are our collective circumstances. It seems to me that we have the capacities and we have (at least at this point) to enable the missions the Constitutional Preamble talks about, relieve a great deal of suffering, pain and anger, encourage awe and gratitude for our hour upon the stage, and minimize the occurrence of lives that are nasty, brutish, and short. I think that yearning for "a better world" (or a better species-wide relationship with our world) is as old as recorded history, and probably older, but unmitigated ego (Latin for "I") gets in the way.
I think that "Truth", both in the sense of accuracy, as well as in the sense of honesty, is our road out of "hell". That, and knowing that truth, even in the sciences and explicitly in the sciences, always remains an unfinished quest, but seeing, listening, feeling and thinking openly supplies a fertile basis for varied degrees of confidence. And yes, Phil Balla, I think the arts play as vital a role as the sciences in that empowering awareness, when pursued with integrity. And I think that integrity means conversations in good faith, at least when it really matters. A willingness as a society to collectively detect and reject lies and lying and rewarding efforts to tell truths, or at least our best efforts at good faith, since surely all of us are confused about some things.
And critically, seeing ourselves as both uniquely individual and inherently social beings, whose actions affect one another and that it matters. Would that not be a step toward a "better", more joyful world?
One encounters frequent references to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" but mostly in reference to the beauty and painful irony of their love affair. But that story is part of a larger one which Shakespeare introduces as:
"Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."
In the play, it happens (though too often doesn't) that the loss of two beloved children breaks the narcissistic madness that left a long wake of sorrow:
'Where be these enemies?—Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love,
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished."
Upon which both families vow to abandon their hatred. Shakespeare's work is replete with keen and resonant observations of human nature, in addition to the amazing beauty of it's language, both of which has kept it alive for centuries. We pay a dear price for narcissistic road rage, for greed. It's the enemy of old that, in the end, might doom our whole species to perish from the Earth.
Terrifying times indeed when lies are all we hear from the (once) GOP (now the Government of Putin) and mainstream media makes bank on those lies so just won’t quit. We need to bring back the fairness doctrine!!
Yeah... Understatement of the year in Heather's article: "the media appears simply to be letting it go on Trump’s say-so, something that adds to the sense that media outlets are treating Trump and Biden differently." No sh*t...
Sherlock is on the job.
MSM fears the conservatives and MAGA because they have shown what they will do...
Way past time, chump and Rupert have squashed it like they will squash any opposition.
Can't the old piece of shit finally have his massive fatal myocardial infarction mid-rant at one of his hatealongs and leave the rest of us in peace?
Ha!
I had a similar, albeit perhaps less blunt thought last Saturday upon seeing the endless replaying of the near Van Goghing of the Don, as I flashed back to the great American philosopher Maxwell Smart---
"Missed him by that much"!🤣
"Van Goghing," Daniel? So profound I had to laugh, right along with the late great Maxwell Smart. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you, Lynell! We have to laugh about some of this stuff so as not to cry, don't we?
Van Goghing of the Don - priceless
Thanks, JD
Perhaps we can put Trump in the Cone of Silence by himself
Ha! Great idea, Dave!
LOL!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Miselle.
JD Vance will then step up. I'm afraid the cancer has metastasized.
I don't think Vance will get the following that trump has. The base's approval of Vance is political. Their approval of trump is Messianic.
"It's a cult, stupid."
certainly the "base" is ready to turn on Vance for the "sin" of marrying a brown woman and having brown children (in their eyes).
Just like Clarence Thomas and others, the ultrawealthy are simply buying the positions of power they want.
Elon Musk is also an existential threat - he may decide to do more than throw money against those of us who want FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY.
Want a preview of Project 2025?
Specifically, the plans to fire career civil servants and experts,
and replace them with conservative loyalists?
Remember when Elon Musk bought Twitter,
for $44 billion ?!
The timing was in late October just before midterm elections (!)
He fired half of Twitter's staff and payroll,
specifically targeting employees who criticized him;
but so indiscriminately that not only were the misinformation monitors and security teams affected,
that he then had to rehire critical staff to keep the platform functional.
He then demanded remaining employees work longer, harder hours on-site, which led to even more resignations.
He posted links to baseless conspiracy theories (including references to the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband).
He "sold" blue authentication checks, and increased fraudulent accounts
He created so toxic a platform I was one of countless others who had to abandon it out of decency and safety concerns.
He beat a $500 million severance lawsuit.
Consider that your warning on Project 2025.
There are multiple sources to cite, but here is a starting point:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/twitter-elon-musk-timeline-what-happened-so-far-rcna57532
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs.html
Thank you
Excellent points! Thank you.
Can you imagine putting Musk in as Treasury Secretary? Wonder if that’s what he thinks he’s buying for his 45 million a month.
But the Heritage folks approve, young and will bend with the wind
It won't matter that Vance isn't Trump. What matters is what he is spouting.
ooh, so true
One of my greatest fears..
Damn good question TC!! 🤔 We sure do wish!! 😆🙄
MCI or a complete cerebral artery blowout.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Trump’s RNC Speech
“Last night the American people saw the same Donald Trump they rejected four years ago. For over 90 minutes, he focused on his own grievances, with no plan to unite us and no plan to make life better for working people. He avoided mentioning his Project 2025 agenda, but still proudly flaunted the worst of MAGA extremism. Americans know exactly where he wants to take this country. They know that he inflicted pain and cruelty on the women of America by overturning Roe v Wade. They know that he destroyed our economy once and will inflict pain on the middle class, that he wants to gut the checks and balances of our Constitution and rule as a dictator on day one.
“Donald Trump’s dark vision for the future is not who we are as Americans. Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box. I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone.
“The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”
Thank you for posting this, Annie! I alternate between not having enough courage to watch the news and being hypnotized by it!
Thank you and I totally agree with you!
Amazing article as always. Thank you
Pulitzer.
Please note Kimberly that nearly all the heroes of D-Day have now passed to join their comrades who were buried in French soil. They are not posting their views about the state of the country on social media. Yet they do speak to us from history with the bitter sacrifices they made to defeat the fascists. They gave their youth and their lives in the Great Crusade to defend democracy against the existential threat of fascism. They fought to eliminate Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe. They would certainly shake their heads in disbelief at the betrayal of Ukraine that would occur under a Trump-Vance Administration. They would recognize Trump as an appeaser of Putin, a contemporary Chamberlain.
Mark Jennings, I’m reminded of what my late father-in-law had to say about the end of WWII, “ we should be fighting the Russians”. He was a high ranking officer who arrived in France a couple of days after D-Day. He’s rolling in his military cemetery grave at what’s happening now. And he was always a Republican!
What can we do with TV initials? TV potatoes, TV fixers, True Vultures, TriVials, Trash Visions, Tripe Vendors, Truth Voiders, ???
Thank you for highlighting Trump's connection to the world of wrestling (I had forgotten he made Linda McMahon his director of the SBA). Given Trump has spent his entire adult life creating a fake public image of who he is, I am not surprised that when he entered the competitive world of politics (so different than the real estate and reality TV worlds in which he saw himself as the only player on a field to himself) he chose the fake reality of wrestling as his model.
I urge the Biden - Harris campaign (in its commercials) and Joe and Kamala themselves (in their speeches) to call out Trump's use of the **Fake World of Wrestling** as his method of selling his candidacy. Trump always says he's telling the truth. But the entire wrestling world is a lie... is scripted... like a TV soap opera. I believe Trump has handed the Democrats the key to convincing America once and for all (except of course for the MAGA Cult) that Trump is a 100 percent fake person running campaign that is absolutely fake in its claims that he cares about anyone other than himself.
With respect to Ms. Guilfoyle, the null hypothesis is probably ignorance with a generous helping of stupidity.
She’s learned the Neokayfabe game well then. World class instruction. Russian’s can help this crew learn even more. Russian Neokayfabe is on a whole nother level. They give PHD’s in political technology.
Betcha the chump nuts taught Putin a thing or two with that Neokayfabe crap. Or did the Russian monsters know already, or didn’t they bother with the performance, just went straight to the gulag, or worse…
All of them soulless.
The media is repeating “Hillary’s emails” with “Biden’s age,” and once again letting Trump off the hook. It seems that the media didn’t learn their lesson from 2016 and how their reporting allowed a demagogue into office. But maybe the media thrives off the chaos that Trump brings. They are playing with fire because the stakes are higher. Trump will eliminate freedom of speech like Putin and Xi.
Media learn their lesson, ha! Rupert has led, they follow him all the way to the bank. Probably offshore…
Always an interesting column from Dr. Richardson. I particularly liked the last paragraph. Ms. Guilfoyle's remarks could be both a verbal gaffe and evidence of a person devoid of basic historical knowledge, not just either-or. While the malevolence of the MAGA cult is always before us, it is useful to remember one of the tools of historical (and current events) analysis: be reluctant to attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
Most likely "rewriting that history to put America on the side of the fascists". Like $COTUS, Republicans are always keen to rewrite history.
Malice is always first with the psychopath's sycophants.