“The Republican Party’s new favorite talking point is calling Democrats communists,” Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) said yesterday on the floor of the U.S.
History preserves words like fascism, not to make political arguments easier, but to make dangerous patterns harder to ignore.
Democracy isn’t defined by what leaders call themselves. It’s defined by whether power remains accountable, dissent remains protected, and the law applies equally to everyone.
Patriotism asks us to defend democratic principles. Loyalty to power asks us to defend those who hold it. History reminds us they are never the same thing.
I think this pretty much proves that the 'promise' of America was never real.
It was always a bunch of rich white men trying to get richer on the backs of an underclass by saying whatever is politically expedient with no intention of ever backing up their 'promises'.
These men know that ultimately the constitution was written to offset the wild claims of the Declaration of Independence of 'equality'. That being forced to add the Bill of Rights was considered a huge setback that they have been trying to remove ever since.
They have set their sights on the 14th Amendment.
... and the 19th..
but anyone who thinks that the 13th isn't on the table for them is crazy.
Why are we continuing to support this? Why did 6 democrats vote for, and PASS, the NDAA yesterday? Which not only includes all the money Trump wanted for his war with Iran, but changes the name of the Defense department AND they rolled SAVE into it because now voter suppression is part of their defense against "communism" (known by what used to be normal people as SNAP and Medicaid).
The six House Democrats who voted for the NDAA are Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (N.C.), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Adam Gray (Calif.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.). We meed to do a better job of promoting democrats that are dedicated to a social democratic agenda.
Maine is presently faced with the following choices to replace Golden: Paul "I was Trump before Trump was Trump" LePage or Matt Dunlap. Dunlap would be the far better choice for us all, but I'm not sure he'll win. We are either going all in or we're going to get back to reason. Hard saying not knowing.
Punkette, I doubt Perez feels that she will be reelected time after time. I think she won the last time because her opponent was clearly a nut case. Once again she should not have voted for this.
Unfortunately he comes from a red district so it's 50/50 whether whomever replaces him is literally the mini Trump ex-governor that we had before Janet Mills.
Eadie, Perez represents a conservative district in WA. Her opponent last time was mad Joe Kent. She cannot win in that district being a social democrat or looking progressive. That being said, she should not have voted for this. Her opponent this time has tried to link her to "radical" Ds in Olympia although she has nothing to do with WA state government. He is also trying to look more progressive than he probably is.
Michele, democrats in red districts have been failing our democratic agenda for decades. We are either committed to a republic that serves our democratic principles or we should just throw in the towel. We are in the fight of our lifetime and we are losing, because of Sinema a decade ago and now Perez and the other five turncoats, who have shifted their allegiance. If the senate passes this NDAA, I understand the SAVE act was rolled in as well. As you are aware it's another voter suppression law requiring citizens to prove they have a right to VOTE. This is where the rubber meets the road. Democrats need to decide what they are willing to fight for.
BLB, I'm so sorry. I don't understand your reply. Could you clarify it for me. I'm sorry to be so dense. BTW, I'm going to ask the 6 Democrats why they voted for the NDAA. If they answer, I'll let you know.
If it's the history part that is confusing then that is a very long conversation not for the comment section. But long story short version is that the 'founding fathers' weren't just flawed people. The Progressives wrote the Declaration of Independence. And the Federalists wrote the Constitution. They never intended for us to have any rights. But the Ghosts of the Revolution would not let the constitution pass without the promise of the Bill of Rights. Officially they got their way but everything is specifically worded to give the edge to the government and not the people.
It was never intended to be fair.
All the things they taught us about freedom and equality... nothing but BS.
The dirty little secret about Leonard Leo's SCOTUS campaign that put us here is that he is exactly right. The 'founders' would have sided with him. Everytime. Because they were also a bunch of greedy, white supremacists.
The Patrick Henrys and Thomas Paines were loud but outvoted.
Just like now.
We are trying to fight to save a country that not only has never met our promise of equality but has no intention of ever doing so.
I'd say we need a new Constitution.. but given the level of hate in the country right now is such that there is no possibility of compromise. (also on purpose)
It's not yet law if it's not approved in the Senate. Too much handwringing and not enough fight back to empower electing those who CAN overturn it. Our votes are our voices loud and clear. The Democrats who agreed should be examined carefully. They are all subject to November.
So, instead of continuing trying to create a more perfect union, you want to throw away? You don't want to use the framework to keep struggling upward?
Why are you carrying water for fascists and autocrats?
Believe me when I say that the promise is UP TO YOU and every person who can and should vote. Please do not bee such a doomsayer! IF any of the 6 Democrats is from YOUR state (I don't know for most of you anyway) it is up to you to find better candidates. THERE is a lot left to save and people who are getting out to register new voters in the High schools and resisting in any way legally possible are carrying the message. Stop with the OH WOE IS ME and get out there like those of us who doing the work.
I'd like to think that the promise of America is aspirational; there have been times that we move forward, as with the 13th and 14th Amendments, and the Civil Rights and Votings Acts, and times when we slide backward, like now. Perhaps the promise is the opportunity effort, not the achievement.
BLB, it may be similar to owning an old house that needs major repairs that will take time and money to make. The house has some good features and salvageable parts. Do we tear it down or try overhauling it? We'd weigh many factors. Now imagine a situation where 300 million people (or maybe 200 million) with different priorities want input into the decision. It's likely the process will come to a standstill, leaving much bitterness behind. Unless we can find a way to come to a meting of the minds about what to do. This is a tall order; in the meantime we need co co-exist and work toward rebuilding.
The impulse to follow "the better angels of our nature" has always faced intense opposition, sometimes within the heart of the same person, but the founders did agree to establish a republic, not another monarchy. Glaring contradictions to that egalitarian ideal existed, and still exist, but a number of events in our history have reduced that discrepancy, and we were on something of a roll, pre-Reagan. Now the quest for authentic equal rights and protection under law is under attack from our own government. The script is familiar and does not end well; except to the degree enough of us say "no" to thugs.
What Miller and Rubio say are the most terrifying USian speeches I've ever heard., as if Hitler won the war and they were here to manage the subjugation.
Y’all, these are all valid points. The original three co-equal branches of government that the Founders gave us were really quite good; the real problem was, then and now, that greedy, corrupt people are looking out for their own interests and to hell with everyone else. (Follow the money, anyone?). Nothing will change until more honest people, starting with the local dog catcher, are elected and push through reforms; all three branches need a good housecleaning, starting with the current orange POTUS and five SCOTUS justices. Once Congress sees that there’s no personal advantage in backing corruption they’ll be more apt to stop supporting him.
Cut off the unlimited flow of money and lies, and bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Abolish (or at least reform) the Electoral College; there may have been a good reason for it 250 years ago, but it has outlived its purpose.
For about the last ten years basic manners and overall human decency have been discouraged (starting with mocking a disabled reporter); notice how many people can’t seem to express themselves without throwing in at least one F-bomb when speaking or writing?
Congress must (finally) fix the broken immigration system, and of course get rid of the current crop of ICE thugs. If these people are trying so hard to come here, they have the snap and ambition to contribute to our country. It’s always been like this; even Alexis de Tocqueville lauded both our diversity and our women. And for heaven’s sake, pass the ERA!
Bring back phonics in schools and cut out these ineffective methods that have been proven time and again not to work. Same with English grammar; there are eight parts of speech, not four. If we could cut out these ridiculous wars (looking at you, W) we could maybe have enough money to enable more people to go to college without starting life with massive debt. Same idea with industrial technology schools; there’s a crying need for plumbers, welders, and other trades. Not everyone is necessarily college-bound, but they have another type of skill that will help our economy and give them a good life.
Close the loopholes that allow people to stop paying into Social Security after a certain (high) salary, and stop allowing ANYONE (looking at you again, W) to raid the SS Trust Fund. Stop allowing US corporations to have a foreign headquarters office (which often consists of a tiny office and a telephone receptionist) while doing all work in the U.S. in order to avoid the IRS.
Reform the insurance law that allows corporations to only employ workers for 39 hours a week in order to avoid having to offer them health insurance (looking at you, Starbucks); if you’re working (no matter what your job is) you should be able to get medical care if you’re sick and hurting. Many eldercare, daycare, and janitors (among others) have no opportunity for insurance. Keep the government out of exam rooms; no woman’s health and fertility should be compromised because of some politician’s personal beliefs (looking at you, Ken Paxton). Birth control should be free, and accessible to everyone—hand it out on street corners if need be. This will help to stop the OOPS pregnancies and prevent so much poverty. Realize that if it doesn’t affect you personally you don’t need to be involved in other people’s lives, i.e. birth control, LGBTQ issues, abortion, etc.—mind your own business. And for heaven’s sake, raise the minimum wage!
Yes we continue to work on making things better BUT we need to look at the ways and means we use to make things better. Are those ways and means working at present? I think not. In my opinion the powers that be in this country are insane. They are doing the same things for 30 to 40 years expecting different results! The middle class is a thing of the past, the climate is in ruins, our children are not educated, our housing situation is a disaster, our women’s bodies are controlled by the government, our elderly are mainly forgotten, our national debt is exploding and life for all but the wealthy is survival and worry for most. Serious change in the power structure of this country is desperately needed and pinning our hopes on an upcoming election in to my way of thinking, is insanity.
Now, THAT has always been a struggle, more impeded than supported by our institutions of governance. So VOTE! And let your elected officials know what you expect from them.
Yep. We have struggled always to ‘form a more perfect union’. But does that mean you should throw up your hands and give up? It’s not perfect RIGHT NOW so I quit? Instead how about you notice the opportunities to make it better.
Yawn. It's being made all the time. Citizens today are more cynical than ever before. Who still asks what they can do for their country instead of asking what their country does for them... ?
Hello JBR... Another Sign of Trump Crime Syndicate Grift... Per Mary Trump: "Eric Trump’s newest venture illustrates the point perfectly. He became Chief Strategy Advisor for Foundation Future Industries, a robotics company that, almost immediately afterward, secured twenty four million dollars in Defense Department contracts to develop humanoid robots for potential battlefield use. We are expected to believe this happened because Eric Trump possesses unique expertise in robotics. The company told CNBC that Eric invested before joining as an adviser. If you believe that, I have a bridge I would be to sell to you" || The Terminator is coming, as Bob Dylan once said., "Money Doesn't Talk, It Swears'....
Capitalism is the result of people's actions within a system. Capitalism is not out of control. For the past 50 years we have witnessed the degradation of the quality of our lives while the oligarch class rose by using the capitalist system against us. And we let them.
So, using the capitalist system (which btw is the best system for people throughout history) the oligarchs have essentially rendered us serfs. We are working harder than ever and buying expensive goods that are junk.
There is no sound economic reason why things are so expensive. Oligarchs consumed industries and created monopolies which price gouge at will. Politicians, controlled by oligarchs, pander. They toss around the word "affordability" to make us feel like they care. We need to:
1. Defeat the fascists.
2. Clean bought and afraid politicians out of the Democratic Party.
3. Actually show up as the people in control of things.
4. Decide that we want to live in a free market democratic country.
Capitalism (an economic system) is the best system for quickly transitioning from an agrarian subsistence economy to an industrialized economy, which results in a huge increase in wealth.
Whether it's also good for the people is a different question. That entirely depends on how the wealth produced by the people is distributed, so on the form of government (political system).
If, politically, you have strong unions and multiple political parties and a democratic Constitution, then over time, more and more people may financially/materially benefit from the wealth generated.
But if, politically, you have a neofascist regime, then the 99% will always be kept under control through denying them material wealth (or giving it only to sycophants).
In the meantime: there are no "bought and afraid politicians" inside the Democratic Party. This kind of cynicism is exactly what neofascism needs to thrive.
Yesterday, six House Democrats voted to give Trump another $1.15 trillion for defense, including $73 billion meant to help cover the rising costs of his failing, economy-destroying war. This same defense policy bill would further integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries.
Six conservative Democrats voted for the legislation: Henry Cuellar of Texas ($2.3 million); Don Davis of North Carolina ($4 million); Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington ( $431,000), Jared Golden of Maine $1 million), who’s retiring; Vicente Gonzalez of Texas (397,000), and Adam Gray of California ($60,000). Without their votes, the defense policy bill would have failed.
And even more Democrats voted in favor of Trump’s voter suppression agenda – helping pass Republicans’ Voter ID Act, which was stuffed into a bill that otherwise purports to limit insider trading by members of Congress.
Thirteen Democrats voted for this bill anyway, including five named above: Cuellar, Davis, Golden, Gonzalez, and Gluesenkamp Perez. The other eight are Kathy Castor of Florida; Josh Gottheimer ($2.3 million) of New Jersey; Marcy Kaptur ($227,000) of Ohio; Susie Lee of Nevada ($858,000); Jared Moskowitz of Florida ($833,000); Chris Pappas of New Hampshire ($823,000), Darren Soto of Florida ($482.000) and Derek Tran of California ($199.000).
See? THIS is why fascism is being installed in the US. It's because of the low political literacy of the LEFT, who constantly votes AGAINST its own best interests, and only because people like you don't understand what "democracy" means.
In a democracy, a politician has to represent his CONSTITUENTS first and foremost, NOT his party.
So Democrats representing right-leaning districts HAVE to vote for legislative compromises that are more right-wing than Democrats representing left-leaning districts. That's not proof of corruption, it's exactly how a democracy is supposed to work... !!
As to donations: what you guys don't understand is that after the SC Citizens United ruling, there is no way to create a real, effective campaign without massive corporate money. That's just how it is.
Is that the Democrats' fault? No, quite the opposite! It's a conservative SC that is responsible for this ruling, and soon after it went into effect, Nancy Pelosi and a Democratic House immediately repealed it.
Now... Democrats are waiting for "we the people" to finally give them the legal power needed to sign that campaign finance reform bill into law and make it impossible for corporations to distort elections.
Instead of doing so, however, "we the people" refuse to truly inform ourselves and then turn AGAINST Democrats.
This is why the left in the US truly deserves a neofascist power grab. It's the direct result of refusing to take your civic duty seriously.
Finally, Schiff and Jeffries are actually progressives. So if you want to use the fact that WE THE PEOPLE force them to accept big corporate money to turn against them, you're basically adopting a kamikaze strategy.
Is capitialism good for humans. Recall, there are eight billion+ of us now, but only a few men are wealthy, and they are sucking up as much wealth as they can in these dark times. You can read what google AI has to say (recall this is Free AI, and it does make mistakes--though these brief summaries seem logical and are starting places for discussion and research.
My statement: We live in the Extraction World invented by men over 10,000 long terrible years of being human on this planet.
You can see a short summary of this if you use google AI (free AI).
My query: Please list the areas in which men have extracted wealth from Earth Resources (like water, mining, and yes, computers and AI) over the last 10,000 Earth years. Thank you.
Google AI Response:
Over the last 10,000 years, human civilization has shifted from managing surface resources to extracting deep geological materials and manipulating atomic-level resources.
Here are the primary areas where humans have extracted wealth from Earth's resources.
Water and Agriculture
• Surface Irrigation: Diverting rivers for large-scale farming.
• Aquifer Depletion: Pumping deep groundwater for industrial agriculture.
• Desalination: Extracting fresh water from oceans using energy.
• Hydroelectric Power: Harnessing river currents for massive electricity generation. [1]
Minerals and Mining
• Surface Quarrying: Gathering stone, clay, and sand for construction.
• Precious Metallurgy: Mining gold, silver, and gems for currency.
• Base Metals: Extracting copper, bronze, and iron for infrastructure.
• Industrial Minerals: Mining phosphates, potash, and limestone for fertilizer. [2, 3, 4]
Energy Resources
• Biomass Harvest: Stripping forests for timber and charcoal fuel.
• Coal Extraction: Subsurface mining of carbon-rich sedimentary rock.
• Hydrocarbon Drilling: Extracting liquid petroleum and natural gas deposits.
• Nuclear Fission: Mining and refining uranium ore for power.
Advanced Materials and Technology
• Silicon Harvesting: Refining high-purity quartz sand for semiconductor chips.
• Rare Earth Elements: Mining neodymium, dysprosium, and lithium for electronics.
• Cooling Infrastructure: Using massive water reserves to cool data centers.
• Grid Electricity: Burning fossil fuels to power AI training models. [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
________________________________________
To explore this timeline further, I can provide more detail. Please let me know if you would like me to:
• Focus on the environmental impact of a specific era.
• Detail the exact minerals required to build modern AI hardware.
• Break down the timeline by specific historical eras (e.g., Bronze Age vs. Digital Age).
My query: This is an interesting summary. Please add the ways in which men have used human labor to achieve their goals of wealth creation. An example is using young children to mine various metals and substances that permit creation of objects like coins and weapons.
Google AI Response: Throughout history, the extraction of Earth's resources has been systematically powered by the exploitation of human labor. Wealth creation has relied on forcing or incentivizing specific groups to perform high-risk, intensive physical work.
Here are the primary ways human labor has been organized and exploited to generate wealth from resources:
Enslavement and Forced Labor
• Chattel Slavery: Treating humans as legal property to harvest cash crops and mine precious metals.
• Debt Bondage: Forcing individuals to work indefinitely to pay off inflating, unpayable debts.
• Corvée Labor: Requiring citizens to perform unpaid state labor for infrastructure like canals and roads.
• Penal Labor: Utilizing prison populations for high-risk resource extraction like logging and mining. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Child and Vulnerable Labor
• Artisanal Mining: Employing children to crawl into narrow, unstable shafts for cobalt, gold, and tin.
• Agricultural Harvesting: Using children for hazardous tasks like operating sharp machinery or handling pesticides.
• Textile Workshops: Exploiting young workers for high-dexterity tasks in cramped, poorly ventilated mills. [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Colonial and Migrant Exploitation
• Indentured Servitude: Binding workers to multi-year contracts with minimal pay to build colonial infrastructure.
• Migrant Guest-Workers: Employing foreign workers for harsh seasonal labor without giving them legal protections.
• Imperial Conscription: Forcing conquered populations to harvest local resources like rubber, timber, and spices. [11]
Digital and Cognitive Labor
• Data Labeling: Paying low-wage workers in developing nations to tag images for AI training.
• Content Moderation: Exposing digital laborers to traumatic media to filter and clean internet platforms.
• Gig Economy: Utilizing independent contractors for delivery and transit without providing traditional benefits.
________________________________________
To explore this human labor timeline further, tell me if you want to:
• Focus on the laws and reforms that historically ended specific labor practices.
• Detail the modern supply chain of child labor in electronics manufacturing.
• Analyze how AI and automation might replace or shift these labor dynamics. [12, 13]
Let me know which direction you would like to take.
My statement: Humans are currently being used by a few men to extract massive wealth to make laws and policies to benefit a few wealthy men among the over eight billion humans who are alive at this time. It is true that efforts to stop these practices have taken place, but men like Trump, Xi, Netanyahu, and Putin are working hard to put a stop to these efforts. This is a hard time for humans--the Eight billion of us!
Google AI Response: The relationship between governance, wealth accumulation, and the global population is a central subject of debate in modern geopolitics and economics. Perspectives on how global leaders influence these dynamics vary significantly depending on political, national, and economic viewpoints. [1, 2]
Perspectives on Global Governance and Wealth
• Critiques of Wealth Concentration: Many economists and social advocates argue that global economic structures allow a small percentage of individuals to accumulate vast wealth, often influencing policies that reinforce economic disparities. Critics frequently point to tax structures, deregulation, and the privatization of resources as mechanisms that favor capital over labor. [3, 4, 5, 6]
• The Role of National Leaders: Leaders such as Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Vladimir Putin operate under vastly different political and economic systems, each drawing distinct forms of support and criticism:
o Proponents of their policies often argue that deregulation, economic nationalism, state-led development, or strong national security measures are essential for driving economic growth, maintaining stability, and protecting national interests.
o Critics, conversely, argue that these approaches can consolidate power, weaken democratic institutions, prioritize corporate or state elites, and undermine international cooperation on global challenges like human rights and economic inequality. [7, 8, 9, 10]
Global Challenges Facing the Population
With the global population exceeding eight billion people, international organizations frequently highlight interconnected pressures facing humanity:
• Economic Inequality: The gap between global wealth owners and lower-income populations remains a critical focus for organizations like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. [11]
• Resource Management: Balancing the energy and material needs of billions of people with environmental sustainability requires navigating complex regulatory and geopolitical landscapes.
• Policy Reforms: Ongoing debates persist worldwide regarding the effectiveness of international treaties, labor laws, and wealth redistribution policies designed to protect vulnerable populations. [12]
________________________________________
To explore these systemic issues further, let me know if you would like to:
• Examine global wealth statistics and trends published by international economic organizations.
• Analyze the different economic models (e.g., state capitalism vs. free-market capitalism) used by these nations.
• Look into the history of international labor standards and how they are enforced globally. [13, 14]
Let me know which areas you would like to investigate next.
What IS capitalism? Surely NOT what is happening now in this country where the less fortunate are being trampled on by trump and his maga minions in the House and Senate; where the oligarchs control the supreme stench court which has emboldened POTUS to commandeer our federal budget making it his personal purse!
You are talking about politics. Capitalism is an economic system. The politicians yielded power to the oligarchs who in turn kept them fat and compliant while they raided and manipulated a capitalistic system for their own ends.
The only thing Republicans offer….every time…..is tax breaks. They throw enough to the masses to keep us docile,while giving the 1% the entire treasury.
They have done this by cutting services to the people. They are still cutting essential services , but now they are doing their billionaire giveaway by adding to our deficit/ debt with gay abandon.
Recognized even by the founders, who chose not ‘to let the perfect be the enemy of the good’. Each generation has taken up the project, two steps forward and one step back, to build a better nation. To be clear, we are in a ‘one step back’ phase, but that is the sad nature of corruptible human beings.
I should have been more clear when I posted a response this morning. I was specifically writing to Kelli Klymenko about this comment, "Democracy isn’t defined by what leaders call themselves. It’s defined by whether power remains accountable, dissent remains protected, and the law applies equally to everyone." This is a description of an aspiration we have not yet achieved that, frankly, we should have been able to achieve by now.
I am old enough to remember when democracy in the US was much closer to what we aspired to than it is now.
You do not have to go back very far ( pre Nixon/ Reagan) to find a government that contained adults working for the people’s interests instead of entirely for their own.
No, but without some guardrails like antitrust laws ENFORCED, and a tax code that is far more equitable than the current one, it is out of control. This is no longer capitalism, it is a fascist oligarchy.
Healthcare for all is not free. It is prioritized over making bombs. I want my tax dollars used for social safety net and quality of life services vs overt killing machines. I support a defense dept but the Pentagon budget and direction is out of control. IMHO
All our problems are fixable and affordable. It is just a matter of priorities. As long as we allow the oligarchs to own the government, courts, media, and politicians their priorities will be advanced rather than ours. Nothing will get fixed until we get rid of big money in politics, have real electoral reform to counter election subversion, and demand that our representatives prioritize the common good over the care and feeding of the billionaire class.
We currently have a system that allowed a lying malignant narcissist, racist, misogynist, pedophile, xenophobic fascist (now totally out of control since his dementia has removed all inhibitions and grasp of reality) to gain power and put the Project 2025 White Christian nationalists in control of all levels of the federal government. The billionaire-class oligarchs own our mainstream and social media, control the corrupt Supreme Court, and subvert elections and politicians with their big money masquerading as free speech.
We should not be trying to go back to the neoliberal “normal” of the past several decades that has gutted the middle class and increased poverty to transfer wealth to the oligarchs. We need another New Deal, another Progressive Era.
What is free healthcare? I have been PAYING TAXES since 1965 when I worked in my first full time job! Medicare is NOT free healthcare! We contributed toward its funding!
The government should not provide you with health care. I paid into Medicare through work and now I receive Medicare benefits, but I still pay for it. And I pay a pretty high price because my income is at a certain level.
I also have private insurance because Medicare doesn’t pay for everything.
The employer should pay for your healthcare or at least a large portion of it. Employers used to.
Health insurance companies will never loosen their grip in their profits and control of Congressional lobby.
Healthcare should not be tied to employment. It makes it difficult for an employee to leave an undesirable employer, and many people work jobs that do not provide healthcare benefits, or are unable to work. We are unique among developed first world nations in not providing universal healthcare. It has been shown in many studies that universal healthcare would provide cheaper and better healthcare than our current broken for-profit model.
The will not voluntarily give them up, nor will other industries that fatten up on our public money and our wallets. We must demand change from our representatives, on the streets, and through our votes.
Most people who are part of the medical industry in this country will be the first to agree that our way too expensive, way too inefficient system is broken.
We are inevitably headed for a universal health insurance system, but not before a lot of people die needlessly from this stupid system that makes Insurance CEOs , and for profit hospitals very rich, causes good Doctors to give up in frustration , and makes patients and their various Doctors adversaries rather than a healthcare team.
''Joe McCarthy Comes Back and Gets Confused: Republicans have defeated communism by redefining it as anything that helps people who shop at Walmart instead of owning it."
Joe McCarthy could crawl out of the grave, march into Republican headquarters, and demand to see the communist plot destroying America. They would hand him a proposal to lower insulin prices.
He would blink.
“That’s it?”
“Well, yes,” they would say. “The government is helping regular people.”
Then Joe would look around and notice the same crowd pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into favored corporations, buying stakes in private companies, recruiting Wall Street bankers to move public money around, and arranging giant contracts for their friends.
“Isn’t that government control of the economy?” he might ask.
Now he is just being difficult.
Republicans would explain that government interference is socialism when a family gets help buying groceries, but free enterprise when a corporation gets ten billion dollars and a private meeting at the Pentagon.
A hungry child gets lunch and suddenly Lenin is kicking down the schoolhouse door. A bankrupt company gets rescued by taxpayers and somehow the bald eagle starts singing.
These are also the people warning that affordable health care threatens liberty while applauding nuclear deals with authoritarian monarchies. Because nothing says freedom like public money, private profit, limited oversight, and a ruler who keeps mentioning nuclear weapons.
The Republican economic platform is actually very simple. Government must stay out of business, unless business needs cash, contracts, protection, subsidies, ownership guarantees, or a small nuclear side hustle.
Communism is not government control anymore.
Communism is when the money reaches someone who actually needs it.
So, are we now experiencing the unfolding of the American tragedy, the result of the fatal flaw in our Constitution, i.e., the Electoral College, two U.S. Senators for each state, regardless of the state's population; decisions handed down by the Supreme Court that eviscerate the democratic process (complete immunity from criminal prosecution of the president while in office, the Citizens United case, Shelby County vs. Holder, and others.) The U.S. is now a de facto dictatorship, with the Supreme Court and the Congress unable or unwilling to check the reckless power of the president. Trump blithely ignores Congress in continuing to prosecute the war against Iran as well as threatening Canada with a 50% tariff on goods imported from Canada, both actions being unconstitutional.
The problem is that high-flown description of democracy has never been an accurate portrayal of your country. Patriotism is the worst possible angle for Democrats to focus on as it has always been an effective tool of the right. Johnson rightly called it the last refuge of scoundrels and Trump returns to it again and again in his vituperative attacks on his political opponents. You are a country of laws and they are being ignored and overriden by this lawless administration and in my opinion that should be the proper focus of any election campaign. Claiming that you are more patriotic than them is a fool's errand.
Russell, I agree that crowing about which party is more patriotic would not be an effective campaign strategy. But there would be no harm in reclaiming patriotism as part of a larger, more comprehensive campaign.
We need to find that sweet spot where we recognize that the U.S. electorate is largely ignorant, but we don't treat them as if they are ignorant. The best teachers are able to find that sweet spot.
For example, the U.S. public needs to be re-educated regarding the definition of patriotism. It is not "my country, right or wrong," but rather, "working toward a more perfect union."
Dale-It's sad but the truth is for too many a perfect union is allowing a dictator daddy to be in control to eliminate people who they say are not "real" or deserving Americans.
Maybe, GinaAM, but part of the education process is opening peoples' eyes to all the benefits of a diverse society.
Without a diverse population, what happens to their favorite Chinese and Mexican restaurants? Who will build their privacy fences or put new roofs on their houses? Who will do their landscaping? Who will clean their hotel rooms? Who will pick their produce or process their poultry? Who will care for their aging parents or grandparents?
Able-bodied white folks never had those jobs and they don't want them, not for any rate of pay.
We preserve history. And like Heather does here with Jim McGovern, we need it to be made meaningful today. And convincing. Not mere vacuous puerile and harmful name calling.
Democracy is partaking, making leaders accountable and (agreed) dissent is necessary and protected.
Partaking means engaging our thought processes and reasoning, not just drinking it in.
I believe the founders believed that *the good* would prevail..as we, the majority, define it, insist on it, and live it.
''Joe McCarthy Returns and Finds the Wrong America: Republicans have redefined communism as anything that helps people who do not own a corporation.''
Republicans now call affordable health care, lower grocery costs, and basic arithmetic communism. Meanwhile, corporate welfare remains sacred capitalism. This satire follows Joe McCarthy into a political madhouse where calculators are dangerous and billion-dollar handouts are freedom. https://essayx.substack.com/p/joe-mccarthy-returns-and-finds-the
Legal Attack Attacks in N.Y. Times Reporters Thrown Out of Court just minutes go.
All reporting credit to LISA RUBIN MSNOW who was in the Courtroom. [3:30 EST]
"The federal government withdrew grand jury subpoenas that would have compelled three (3) New York Times reporters to testify about confidential sources regarding President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet."
"The reversal occurred after U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian sharply criticized the government attorneys for [in a fusillade citing many] legal errors."
Can we please find more plain speaking and up for the fight against MAGA fascism Dems like Jim McGovern. To effectively oppose Trump you don’t have to be rude, radical, or intemperate. You do have to be a logical and level headed truth teller with the spine to stay on message and stay the course when attacked. Like Jim McGovern
Please tell him we are doing all we can to elect a Democratic majority, so that he can again chair the Rules Committee.
"The House Rules Committee decides the procedures under which legislation is debated and voted on in the House of Representatives. Often called the "traffic cop of Congress," it controls which bills reach the floor, how long they are debated, and whether amendments can be added."
THE RED SCARE IS BACK! McGovern SLAMS Fascist Republicans for Absurd “Communist Attack
You betcha. Incarnation of the devil? I don't believe in devils per se, but evil is certainly a thing. To me it involves the worst forms of off-the-charts narcissism. The "Mr. Hyde" aspects of our human nature.
And Jim McGovern just said what I’ve been saying for years the Democrats don’t give a shit about anything that happens under a Democrat president. All the Democrats want all the Democrats need all the Democrats care about is to be in control. Nothing more nothing less the policies don’t matter the results don’t matter if they’re in control they’re fine. Nobody on the left set a peep not a fucking peep while 15 million illegals came here without knowing who they are without any vetting without any vaccinations, which is the holy Grail of the left and now we have women raped we have hundreds of Americans killed. We have crime running rampant and I have a chart that shows that but I can’t post it here because between Heather and Google won’t allow it. You go over the DuckDuckGo and you can see all the truth. It’s fucking sickening. All you want is control of the rules committee yeah guess what? It’s the same thing as stacking the Supreme Court that that’s all you want is control nothing more. Ukraine and Russia are at war right now because of a Democrat president MISTAKE AND LIES , even though he was a good president.
The red scare Joanna really? Have you seen the platform for the DSA? Instead of being ignorant and a superficial dermatologist like most liberals that see a headline they like, and they jump on it like a bitch in heat who never questioned who never pushed back who just Bowen Virginia flex whenever you see a Heather post or words or a headline that you like. Go look up the DSA platform. If you’re not scared shitless, then you should leave this country.
You have a communist and an antisemite leading the city of New York of all places. Wait till I find that guy Jeffrey as ignorant as they come in my opinion and as hateful as they come and is unaware as they come.
You know what pal-I don’t engage with uninformed morons. And your lord and savior Trump has screwed EVERYTHING up in a mere 18 months. Quite a record. Why are you even a subscriber to Heather Cox Richardson? I can’t imagine you understand much of what she is writing about given the fact that you have a 4th grade education, and I am being generous estimating that it’s even at a 4th grade level
By the way, now that I read further, I understand why you’re using a fourth grade level because that’s as high as you got about as stupid as you’ve got this ignorant as you’ve got. Just curious if you still need your mommy to wipe your ass. ? I answered you below. Now run along child
Uninformed uninformed you live in a fucking cave Richard you’re not in touch with reality pal. Uninformed uninformed you live in a fucking cave Richard you’re not in touch with reality pal.
I was just told another idiot. I have surmised a few times that what Heather uses this fact or information for you. Reads all the liberal journals, CNNMS now the New York Times, the guardian Reuters, and every other link that she uses, which are all either left-leaning or wacko left-leaning. Puts them in her own words, and then uses them as the links to support what they already have said to her. Do used to be a very well respected historian Now she’s nothing more than a capitalist sucking $2 million a month from you idiots who Bow and genuflect at everything she says. Just check out her links but you won’t. Not a right, leaning link ever.
Do you think I’m gonna sit through 28 boring minutes of a lecture of bull shit to wait for the important highlights? What kind of a moron is he to do that? Let me explain something to you there, Richard, you’ve been inculcated. You have been fooled, you have been lemminged. You have been sold a bag of shit and you bought it and paid full price. I could matriculate around you with my eyes closed, so keep up with your below average liberal insults.
Well, you are as a whiner If Biden was president right now, you would talk about how great the economy is how the stock market is been the best the best it’s ever been in
my life and if you ever read anything, you know that the actual evidence shows that Donald Trump has increased the wealth of the bottom 25% of the population more than any president in history. Every single economic indicator is doing great compared to Biden compared to anyone actually. And if you would like to try to refute that I would love to destroy every word of your argument. In fact, that’s what I live for. I come on here every day to see the liberal funny Farm, and wonder if it’s everyone in the same building, looking like idiots and spewing nonsense. And then patting each other in the back. Heyyyy duuuude that was a pretty good post man. Yikes. I see this group here and thank God it’s only .2% of the Democratic Party but it scares the shit out of me but this is the educated group supposedly. It only demonstrates improves that education is a theoretical issue. So long as it stays amongst you and classroom. It does nothing. The only way it does anything is when it applies to real life. It very seldom does that. One of the liberals here get doctorates in women’s studies, or the history of the butt plug, or the tampon, and expected to make them wealthier or more respected. So fucking pathetic if wasn’t so sad
Professor Cox Richardson's newsletter reaches around 7 million people everyday. I'm guessing only she and a handful of other Substack columnists posted McGovern's column in the media.
And EVERY Republican politician is too cowardly and/or on the take to say anything against the Trump Fascist government.
Yes, the good Professor cover much ideologically destructive ground:
Further on Saudi Arabia nuke tech & per CNBC, "For its civilian energy grid, Saudi Arabia is actively working to construct up to 16 nuclear power reactors. Rather than "just buying" a plug-and-play solution, Saudi Arabia signed a major joint declaration on civil nuclear energy with the United States to secure foreign technology, engineering designs, and technical know-how to physically build [nuclear grid] infrastructure on Saudi soil."
AKA, "How I stopped worrying & learned to love the bomb" in the Middle East.
Just a Q. Does any country have a thorium design functional reactor?
Per Google AI:
*China: Achieved a breakthrough with a 2-megawatt experimental TMSR. In
2024, the prototype reached full operational capacity, and scientists successfully demonstrated continuous refuelling without shutting down the reactor.
* India has been executing a three-stage nuclear plan since 1954 to eventually transition its fleet entirely to thorium. They are building the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor specifically designed to test this thorium fuel cycle.
*Denmark: Private companies like Copenhagen Atomics are developing containerized, 100-megawatt thorium molten salt reactors meant to be transportable by truck or train.
I’m rescinding position that the republican party is extinct. Not like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the maga sycophants will continue wallow deeper in slime, algae, puke, lies, etc… only to stand inches tall and wear the title Fascist Republican
And the worst thing is when this is going through Internet explorer or Google it takes a response many times and instead of being right below the person you’re responding to it moves it down three or four post so it doesn’t gel. And bravo to Dr Richardson yeah if you like horror movies that are unreal yeah bravo.
Superb column of bullshit. She hasn’t put out an totally honest column since the two years I’m reading and I don’t mean lying. I mean distortions I mean, omitting half the facts so that you swayedin One Direction and you guys are so easily swayed . It’s like butter it’s like your Eskimo’s and Heather’s got ice to sell you.
This is a watershed speech, daring Democrats to speak just like McGovern on the House floor. This could be the small explosion that starts burning the fascist ideology until it crumbles. If not, then Heil Trump will go with the Nazi salute soon. GIVE THEM HELL, DEMOCRATS!
Hell will freeze over before you ever see a Republican politician give a speech criticizing the Trump regime. Even the lame duck Senators and Congressmen are afraid to utter a discouraging word.
From now until the election it will be silence of the Republicans and most of the MSM.
JL Graham I just looked in the dictionary there’s a picture of your view, the word, absolute, fucking moron, and I never heard a definition until now now I see a dictionary don’t lie I even looked it up in Wikipedia, and there you were hating , fucking moron
You motherfucking moron, using the word Nazi. I would love nothing more to be a spectator watching when some Nazi gets a hold of you and thinks you’re a Jew.
And tortures you limb from limb for years and starves, you and Burns you and gases you but keeps you alive so you suffer even more I have never seen so many haters in my entire life. It’s absolutely sickening that someone in America could be so stupid or ignorant. But here you are JL.
Certainly would not, JL. How about we try it, next demonstration? Bigger than Nuremberg? some enormous vertical banners with the face that blocked a thousand ships instead of a swastika? Sieg heil! Sieg heil!
This is a broken damn speech. Are you kidding me the man said nothing.
And take your Nazi rhetoric and your heil Trump and stick it up your fucking ass
Lucky I’m in a good mood today. Frank or I would totally destroy you embarrass you here on this website on this Substack for being a fucking moron.
I wish for you. Is it one day you made a Nazi and he thinks you’re Jewish he treats you the same way, the Nazis treated the Jews and then you’ll never use the fucking word or influence again you piece of shit at the bottom of the ocean
I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT EVERY SINGLE NEGATIVE COMMENT FROM A LEFT ON THESE POSTS WENT TO THE MINNEAPOLIS LEARING CENTER FOR EDUCATION. AND THAT’S NOT A TYPO THE LEARING CENTER, THE LEARING CENTER THE LEARING CENTER. Waste fraud and abuse. And we’re finally doing something about it just like the tariffs we’re finally doing something about it just like six presidents that claim that Iran wasn’t supposed to have a nuclear weapon and while Obama gave him the cash to do so six presidents did nothing until now until it’s almost too late. And then you got a fucking idiot calling Netanyahu award criminal when Hamas is the government of the Palestinians. A terrorist organization determined to wipe out the entire state of Israel.
Well, Richard, if there was any Maga fascism to oppose there wouldn’t be any need for any commentary and there isn’t any need for any commentary because it only exists between your ears between your hateful Donald Trump ears I’m getting sick and tired of you. People blaming Donald Trump, Donald Trump Donald Trump as if he turned the world upside down in a year and a half. Joe Biden fuck this country for the next 10 years at least with illegals. Barack Obama Obama was the most divisive president we’ve had in the last 50 years. And you’re talking about Donald Trump. Donald Trump policies every single one of them has been winning for the American people. And if it wasn’t for all the fraud and waste, we wouldn’t be talking about this at all, but Donald Trump is cleaning it up and you call it cutting costs well guess what we’re cutting fraud is what we’re doing and it needs to stop billions billions billions billions of fraud Medicaid Medicare snap education.
Now you’re being totally deceitful Heather it’s horrid what you’re saying here why don’t you direct them instead to view the charter of the DSA so they can see exactly what they want to do to America. Which by the way would take away your ability to make a profit here anymore. Superb column she’s not telling you the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth are you kidding me? Why is it that when she post something you just bow and genuflect you don’t investigate you don’t pushback. You don’t research to see if there’s anything she left out pathetic.
From Tina Brown's message today supporting your Great Leader:
Pardon Me?
We have a president who loves cheats. They are his tribe, his confreres, his soulmates. In his second term, he has pardoned them with abandon. Among those he has proudly exonerated are crypto king Changpeng Zhao (currently worth $108 billion) whose Binance platform was an open house for money laundering by Hamas, Houthis, Russian oligarchs, take your pick. Clemency was also showered upon pornography payment mogul Jason Galanis, sentenced for swindling the Oglala Sioux Nation and other investors out of $60 million; former reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted of scamming banks for over $30 million in fraudulent loans,; Julio Herrera Velutini, the Italian-Venezuelan billionaire banker accused of bribing Puerto Rico’s then-governor, and whose daughter donated a total of $3.5 million to MAGA Inc.; and South Florida health care fraudster Paul Walczak, who pled guilty to multi-million dollar tax fraud, and whose pardon was bestowed three weeks after his mother Elizabeth Fago attended a $1 million-a-head Mar-a-Lago fundraiser.
By the way, where is the column for the dislikes? All I see is alike you mean 64 of you lemmings like it not one person didn’t like it and you don’t think there’s a little something curious about that
She is becoming one of the most deceitful people on the planet in my estimation
Barney are you alive today? Every single president cheats but you don’t wanna call out liberal cheaters only right wing cheaters only Margaret cheaters.
Why does cheating has cost us hundreds of American lives raped women and $1 trillion and we’re gonna be suffering Biden’s cheating for the next decade now do you wanna wake the fuck up or you wanna deny that. ?
Obamas cheating did the same damn thing… if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. And by way barney, the reason for the war Ukraine AND IRAN right now there’s a democrat cheater…… actually, two of them.
Do you wanna live in denial go for it? The left doesn’t give a shit how bad things are as long as our rent control you fucked the education system in this country for 40 years, but she never called it out.
You kept your fucking mouth shut at six 15 million illegals strolled into the country killed Americans raped women brought drugs, brought trafficking, broad crime
WHEN THE NUMBER OF THOSE CRIMES SHOULD BE ZEEEEEEEEEERO.
I sent you three long posts and guess what happens here now it’s even getting worse now my post disappear. How the hell are you ever gonna hear the truth?
Go chew on my post there Barney. And my point in both of my posts is right up your alley. Write up your hateful, consumed and hate brain. If there’s anything left there.
Did you see my answer you’re talking about millions I’m talking about billions and trillions. And I’m looking for that guy Jeffrey so I can continue my post this morning. I didn’t have time. Jeffrey, the publicist or the publicate the publication. publicate this Jeffrey. Yeah publicate that’s the word.
Barney are you alive today? Every single president cheats but you don’t wanna call out liberal cheaters only right wing cheaters only Margaret cheaters.
Why does cheating has cost us hundreds of American lives raped women and $1 trillion and we’re gonna be suffering Biden’s cheating for the next decade now do you wanna wake the fuck up or you wanna deny that. ?
Obamas cheating did the same damn thing… if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. And by way barney, the reason for the war Ukraine AND IRAN right now there’s a democrat cheater…… actually, two of them.
Do you wanna live in denial go for it? The left doesn’t give a shit how bad things are as long as our rent control you fucked the education system in this country for 40 years, but she never called it out.
You kept your fucking mouth shut at six 15 million illegals strolled into the country killed Americans raped women brought drugs, brought trafficking, broad crime
WHEN THE NUMBER OF THOSE CRIMES SHOULD BE ZEEEEEEEEEERO.
So Barney haven’t heard from you now why don’t you shut the fuck up and go back to your cave and stop whining? And complaining about bullshit when right now this country is running on all cylinders. In fact, the Wall Street Journal put out some tax advice the other day wanna hear it ?
It says as follows. To all the people here who have been SUFFERING And they actually capitalize suffering, the inordinate And large increases in their stock market invest investments. We are offering this tax advice to help you with your. UN ANTICIPATED LARGER TAX BURDEN DUE TO THE GAINS THAT YOU’VE MADE. ooooooops
Well, as soon as you use the word criminal you’re already a left-wing lunatic. And there’s no coming back from that. I just got done telling you what Obama and Biden did. Are you unable to read? Biden allowed 11 to 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 illegals to waltz into this country and the cost of that has already been $1 trillion pal 1, trillion taxpayer dollars. Would you like to see the number of women that have been raped by illegals? Would you like to see the number of America’s that have been killed by illegals would you like to see the number of crimes committed by illegals? THAT NUMBER SHOULD BE ZERO SHOULD I REPEAT MYSELF 12 TIMES BEFORE IT GETS BETWEEN THE VAPID EMPTINESS BETWEEN YOUR EARS. ?
Obama cheated by dividing this country and try to do it without people being totally aware Trevon could have been my son the police acted stupidly BLMN antifa, ragged throughout the country without stopping it and he fed the mullers in Iran with enough money to put us at war today do you want to complain about the war there you go? And let’s see how smart you are. Excuse my expression, but you dumb fuck tell us the reason that Ukraine and Russia are at war right now and I’m not gonna answer another one of your questions but continue to insult you and embarrass you here if you don’t answer the question. Why are you Ukraine and Russia at war right now whose fault is that? And I’ll say what I just said to Jeffrey. I’ll say it to you if Joe Biden was doing every single thing that Donald Trump was doing right now you wouldn’t hear a fucking peep from the left not a peep you know why I’ll tell you why if you wanna know who truly rules over you you’re not allowed to criticize them then you know who the leaders are and your proof of that is above what did Obama do? What did Biden do? Those were your autocratic leaders who you weren’t allowed to criticize even when the guy was non-compass Mentís for almost 2 years. He didn’t have a fucking brain wave left in his head and you wanna run them for reelection. You are absolutely sick and lost.
You have been so duped it’s actually sad to see Duped. Have you ever looked at all her resources? Not one of them is right of center not one they’re all left-wing or wacko left-wing sources. It’s kinda like you’re in court and you’re the defendant, and Heather is the prosecution, and she tells all the stories and has all the links and all the resources and all the sources and all the research And they all tell half the story, and then you’re not allowed a difference because you accept everything she says, without research on your own, without questioning without pushback, and without realizing that every one of her links or left-wing links or worse
Here’s the funniest thing that actually could be happening. She reads all these left-wing resources puts A compilation of them in her own words, and then uses the same resources to validate them. What a fucking fool you are.
Go see if you can find a Newsmax anywhere in her links go see if you can find a Fox News anywhere in her links. See if you can find any right, leaning sources in her links. Yikes. Ooooooops. Here all you lame liberals let me tell you half the story and then back it up with my own resources that I choose myself because I know nobody is gonna question me
I would love to tell you to your face you ignorant slut you were one of the most despicable humans that I’ve ever met talking like you talk I sent you three or four posts. You can’t say a word about them not a word because they’re all true. If Joe Biden were president right now and I had shot a couple of people you would say well look with these people did they deserved it? That woman should’ve got out of the car when the policeman told her too and Freddy was fighting the week before and he shouldn’t have been back there with a gun in his pocket, you had to blame them, but no because it’s Trump. Every fucking thing is bad. Well guess what?
Every fucking thing is great right now and you whiner should shut up and enjoy the wealth and enjoy the happiness just like the soccer fans they couldn’t say enough about this country We should take you a lot of view and we should send you somewhere overseas and let the soccer fans that Lovett here reside here instead
See Heather blocks any memes here so you can’t see the truth. And Google is supporting it. You go to DuckDuckGo and you can tell the truth here they squelched the truth. Barack Obama, Obama fed Iran, enough money to put us at war right now.
It's appropriate (and historically accurate) for Jim McGovern to have invoked Mussolini. People joke and call Trump 'Hair Furor' but if he resembles anybody from history, it's fat, swaggering Benito, who liked making faces and sneering in front of crowds to show them all how superior and brilliant he was.
On top of so many evils, a reminder that Il Douche has never laughed once in his too-long, miserable life. How could he? He takes no pleasure in anything, has no sense of humor, irony or self-awareness. He sneers, jeers, smirks and preens while pumping that invisible concertina, pretending he has something original or interesting to say. One continuous charade of puffed-up quackery -- lashing out, attacking, grabbing things that don't belong to him, fucking up everything around him.
Fitting to recall what happened to Benito Mussolini in Milan one fine day in 1945 as his own party, allies and brownshirts finally abandoned him. Hint: it wasn't by the hand of his enemies. Take note, Republicans.
And, to paraphrase the Beach Boys, "wouldn't it be nice" if someday soon, the Mango Mussolini meets the same fate as his clean-pated predecessor, even though unlike IL Duce, it would take industrial strength cable to get the job done
"a legendary, heavy-lift lattice boom crawler crane"
Every day, in every way, I learn a little more.
Such is my ignorance, that when I wanted to write that comment I had to google "What do you call something that lifts something heavy up?" and the best google could come up with was "a crane, dummy!" - which I thought was rather dull.
He smiles when he's put someone down or thinks he's said something 'terribly clever' -- but never ever out of joy and certainly never at another person's achievements. It's a smile/smirk of cruelty.
Lauriemcf, my maternal grandmother was like that. She had a "resting bitch face," and wore her hair tightly pulled back and arranged in a bundled reed (not braided) wreath that encircled the back of her head.
The only time she smiled was when she was relating a story of the misfortune or humiliation of someone else. Of course, she was an evangelical.
Well, as long as we are rhapsodizing about the demise of dictators from the recent past, rather than weaving elaborate plans involving the repurposing of heavy machinery to give The Loser President/Dictator (and his minions) a Mussolini-style send off, I have another vision.
Instead, when the time comes, send said Dictator into the partially completed bunker under the partially completed ballroom with a cyanide capsule and a pistol.
“They don’t want to talk about the real issues, the bread and butter issues. They don’t want to talk about affordability. …. These guys, they dust off the same, tired, old talking points, every time they’re backed into a corner. Every time a new poll comes out saying that your economic agenda sucks, what they do is they change the subject. They try to divert attention. It is pathetic. … But fine. They…want to play that game, let’s play that game. Let’s talk about the Republican Party.?"
No: Democrats, talk about the Democrats! We've had enough about the president's egregious failures and foibles. By now Democratic leaders should have had an action plan for January 3, 2027. (Or two plans, depending on who wins.) They don’t seem to. Some people have jumped on the It's-heresy-for-Dems-to-critique-Dems bandwagon; See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil of the Party. This is a disservice to voters and to all Americans hoping for a more responsive government.
The Dems should have done massive, top to bottom soul- searching back in 2016 when that vulgar lying bigoted business failure won the presidency. (That victory is beyond comprehension.) It’s only now since the "Democratic Socialists" are succeeding over entrenched Democrats that the Party establishment has even begun to open their eyes to what voters might be looking for. Give us affordable healthcare! Affordable housing! Affordable and safe-to-eat food. Affordable childcare and education. An equitable tax system. A wage structure where the top echelon isn’t making hundreds of times what lower-level workers earn. An end to blatant corruption in government and within the oligarch class. A judicial system that truly safeguards citizens against governmental despotism and corruption. Fiscal responsibility. Protection of our environment. Positive international relations.
The idea of a shadow cabinet is often suggested. I’ve had a niggling unease with this idea. What is actually being proposed? Do we really need another layer of bureaucracy? Maybe those proposing it will give a fuller picture of how this would operate. We don’t have the structures and recognized authority for a formal shadow govenment as the UK does, and establishing this new institution might be nearly as cumbersome and difficult as amending our Constitution.
Just as the the Federalist Society and the Hetirage Foundation conceived’ Project 2025, liberal counterparts to these groups (the American Constitution Society, the Constitutional Accountability Center, etc.) .could cooperate with Democratic leaders. And we do have Congressional committees which already give ranking members a way to make the party’s priorities heard and challenge the majority’s proposals. This isn’t the place for a detailed outline of the rolel and rules of Congressional committees. Suffice it to say, Democrats don’t make use of the power they do have. In conjunction with progressive think thanks, Democrats could use their committee roles much more agressively and creatively than they’ve done. Why don’t they? Is it corrupt complicity with the bipartisan status quo? Is it laziness? Whetever it is, we need to shake the Democrats into action.
I agree that the Democrats need to wake up to the realities of what it will take to build back a democracy that can withstand the authoritarian attacks. The Democratic Party structure has lost all credibility and is essentially no longer functioning in a meaningful way.
The shadow cabinet is meant to be, in my mind, the opposition's functional equivalent of the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society but not beholden to corporate donors, rather to the voters. It is there to develop policy that is coherent, cohesive, and responsive to the people's needs, whether in the majority or out. It is a forum for the best thinkers in the opposition to hammer out a compromise (a good thing) that works for the majority, with the recognition that change takes time and that positions have to evolve to respond to geopolitical and economic forces. It is there to play the long game, develop talent, and provide rapid responses to the other party's views. Its purpose is to communicate what the opposition stands for, and to be proactive rather than solely reactive.
You may hate what the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society have brought us to, and despise every word of Project 2025, but the persistence, focus, and messaging strategy behind the effort are things Democrats have lacked.
The shadow cabinet is meant to be the intellectual organizing structure for a new opposition party. I think of it as a modern version of the loose organization of our founders 250 years ago. They came together with a wide range of ideas on how government should be run, and went through years of false starts with the Articles of Confederation, but they compromised and kept at it. Ideally, the shadow cabinet should evolve into the formal leadership structure of a new party.
I don't see it as much different from what you are looking for.
“The shadow cabinet is meant to be the intellectual organizing structure for a new opposition party. I think of it as a modern version of the loose organization of our founders 250 years ago.” This is a superb statement of what a shadow cabinet could be, Georgia. Not what we see in the UK, but a way of organizing efforts to bring about change. Serving a purpose similar to that of the Committees of Correspondence in pre-Revolutionary America. And yes, a rapid-fire response effort with a long-game view. And no Big Money! :) And in the end, a new or at least very different Party. “… and yes I said yes…”
And as the Japanese say (I paraphase), It’s okay to fall down seven times if we get up eight.
Thank you so much for your prior comments—they provoked me to think more deeply about what a shadow cabinet in America needs to be and how it would function in the current political landscape.
I listened to the audio version of The Day After yesterday, and it convinced me that we need to birth a new, broader opposition party built on more than the bones and ashes of the current Democratic Party. We are fighting fascism (I think we need to name it, and not continue to euphimize it as MAGA or the Trump regime), and the only way to do that is with the muscular use of majority power to get big money out of politics, to root out corruption and return to a government with integrity, to reform SCOTUS, and to do, for the people, what they cannot do for themselves to provide equitable opportunity.
We have done it all before in our history when faced with existential threats. I am confident we can do it again, but it will take the best ideas from a wide range of new voices. Frances Perkins was a new voice under Roosevelt, and she contributed so much to the New Deal and to a bedrock of American prosperity, Social(ist) Security. Now it’s our turn to gather those new voices and give them a place to debate policy goals and how to achieve them while addressing the fiscal fiasco that will be Trump’s “legacy” to America.
Thank you too, Georgia. Yes, a broader opposition is a must-have; we have begun new parties before in our history. The parties are so entrenched today, to safeguard the perks of their leaders above all. It’s even difficult to get a third-party candidate on a ballot now. A ‘shadow cabinet’ might not quickly become a new party (even if that were the best case scenario). Right now the immediate need is for Democrats (progressives, hopefully) to win control of both the House and Senate in the midterms. (The president is almost achieving that for us!) Democratic candidates must be pushed to run as fearless progressives who will act to end to this war so that tax dollars can be redirected to programs addressing affordability. And they need to seize on this president’s corrupt practices and hang on like a pit bull. IMO, eradicating corruption has to be a central point in the platform of every candidate. Money corruptly stolen from the tax coffers is money unavailable for housing, healthcare, education.
First drops of a brainstorm: maybe what we need as a forerunner to a new party are resurrected Committees of Correspondence (Correspondents!), updated to meet current needs. State-level committees who would draft progressive talking points for candidates. Not the whole litany of ‘his’ offenses, not a rant but a salient statement having broad appeal, radical in its ability to connect with people’s needs. In return for signing on to campaign on these talking points, candidates would be given get-out-the-vote support and local exposure.
“Now it’s our turn to gather those new voices and give them a place to debate policy goals and how to achieve them while addressing the fiscal fiasco that will be Trump’s “legacy” to America.” Excelsior, Georgia!
You’ve written a superb, concise yet comprehensive description of the concept of the “shadow cabinet .” Now to send it out to progressives and forward thinking Democratic leaders and demand that they start thinking this way. Thank you
"Give us affordable healthcare! Affordable housing! Affordable and safe-to-eat food. Affordable childcare and education. An equitable tax system. A wage structure where the top echelon isn’t making hundreds of times what lower-level workers earn. An end to blatant corruption in government and within the oligarch class. A judicial system that truly safeguards citizens against governmental despotism and corruption. Fiscal responsibility. Protection of our environment. Positive international relations."
You read that - and, actually, it doesn't REALLY sound that much to ask for, does it? I mean, not in a country as wealthy as the US? It's not as if you're asking for diamonds on every dinner plate? Or a private tutor for every kid? Or an on duty doctor 24/7 in a shed at the bottom of the garden?
But you put those ideas to your every day US man in the street - and it would seem like a fantasy, a hopeless dream - despite the fact that quite a few countries in Europe have it - or are at least trying to attain it. They know the goal is there, and are heading towards it.
Contrary to popular legend, it seems that Americans aren't ambitious ENOUGH!
It seems to me that what HCR has called "the liberal consensus", a dominant political viewpoint even when I was growing up, and even Ike endorsed it, is now being called "communist". A president who repeatedly ignores and violates democratically crafted laws is called "patriotic".
Trump has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Trump has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
Trump has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
If what you're asking for is fiscal responsibility, an "equitable tax system," and a lot of free and affordable things for a lot of people, then I'm guessing you are in favor of much higher taxes on the wealthy and high-income taxpayers, and a vibrant economy to generate a lot of revenue. I don't think all those things are compatible.
I only spent a few weeks in Sweden and a couple of days in Denmark, but yes, I think I picked up a generally more cheerful vibe from interactions I observed. And private enterprise was very much alive and well. Even the windmills were OK.
1. I mentioned affordable things, not free things, Robert.
2. Yes, I am in favor of higher taxes on the very wealthy. Wealth is either taxed, i.e. returned to a common ante to be used for the common good, or it’s retained. What is all that retained wealth used for? Some no doubt is used philanthropically. Some is invested in manufacturing or service industries. But so much is used to buy multiple homes and the desired accoutrements for each one, then multiple vehicles, multiple everything. When did human beings start believing that possessions and wealth well beyond what any individual needs or can use, were part of the necessaries of life? As for how wealth is invested, what kind of businesses are we building? What kind of growth are we promoting? We must start considering the effects of growth on the planet. Surely the fires and floods and global warming of recent years and the droughts have brought this home to us.
3. A vibrant economy generates revenue, but is the amount of revenue generated the best measure of a vibrant economy? Look at the world we’ve had for the last thirty or so years. Many consider these years (most of them) a time of great economic vibrancy. The age of globalization and multinational corporations. The digital age. Now the age of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies. But how many of the eight billion people on the planet today share in the vibrancy? I don’t know, but things seem out of balance.
4. “I don't think all those things are compatible.” Then think again, think harder, think differently, Robert. I’m not sure that the change we’re seeking can be reduced to one overarching goal. If we were to try, we might say that it is this: wealth created by those who contribute labor in tandem with those who contribute capital, should be shared much more equitably. But this view may depend on the relative value we give to human effort versus money.
"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits." - Abraham Lincoln
Well, we've had good economies before when taxes on the wealthy were a lot higher, so I think we can again. And also, if we could have better health care and the things that help people, it would be less expensive for business and for us—so everybody might be willing to pay more to have everybody covered and helped.
Such a shame - we have "a lot of revenue" - and we keep spending it on wars, instead of The People. The money fuelling the lunacy in Iran mostly comes from the taxes of those with lower incomes than Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Jim, the World Population Review's records don't go that far back. Other analysts having been doing the research for quite some time, but I don't have time to investigate.
My own guess is that the people of the U.S. have never been very happy. I think white Americans were pretty optimistic in the 1950s, but their optimism would have been offset by Black Americans who were held at a distinct disadvantage.
As I look backwards through U.S. history, I can't see an era during which the majority of Americans were truly happy. I suspect it's because the U.S. has been under the constant shadow of ignorance, religion, racism, fear of "other" sexuality, and unmet financial expectations.
No doubt we fell several notches after JFK's assassination, and never recovered after that, through the present day.
If I never heard that whiney voice or his name again, it would be like we reached the Emerald City.
🎶You're outta the woods, You're outta the dark, You're outta the night! Step into the sun, step into the light!🎶🎶 (That's for Bryan Sean McKown, frequent commentor and singer)
Could Trump's handlers possibly have kept the fact from Trump that Ukraine is the sole superpower now and they are kicking Putin's ass?
While Putin continues to commit daily war crimes by attacking civilian targets, Ukraine has focused on military targets. The Ukrainians have disabled Putin's Shadow fleet of tankers and military ships in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. They have destroyed four Blackberry Warehouses which will bankrupt thousands of small businesses. They have destroyed oner 100 sub-stations in Crimea in the past 4 weeks. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are dead and most of those killed in 2026 have been killed with drones. Every road and railroad bridge has either been destroyed or severally disabled into Crimea.
And now compare that to what our "mighty military" has accomplished in Iran. Yeah we have killed school girls like Putin and over 400 US military personnel are dead, but as far as military targets go, we suck.
Russia is no longer communist, nor does it claim to be. China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba still claim to be "communist", but that probably has Karl Marx turning over in his grave. Russia is now a proto-typical fascist country. Patel is probably going there to take lessons.
Thinking Kash is trying to save his job and be a delivery boy when visiting the Kremlin for his “sensitive trip to Russia scheduled for October 14–15, 2026.”
Coming tomorrow is an article that has been challenging for me to write because it is personal in several ways. It's the first of a two-part "Architecture of..." series and is called "The Architecture of Division."
Here's an excerpt:
...Before exploring further, let us reflect on an older wedge, where the manipulation is safely in the past and no one has to defend a side.
In 2003, the country was marched into two wars. Many Americans dissented. I was one of them. We gathered, marched, wrote, and questioned. And the answer we received was not an argument. The answer was simple: to question the President in wartime was to dishonor the troops.
You remember how it worked. Long before the right made “cancel culture” its rallying cry, it canceled the Dixie Chicks for one sentence their singer spoke from a stage in London. [2] In an important act of patriotism, American restaurants renamed their potatoes. [3] When we asked whether the war was necessary, we were told we fight them there so we do not have to fight them here.
When we pointed out that neither country had attacked us, that question was treated as betrayal. The tactic was not to debate the dissent. The tactic was to make dissent shameful. The citizen who asked questions was recast as a traitor giving the enemy aid and comfort.
They used our concern for the troops as the dividing wedge.
“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” — George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20, 2001 ...
Had a similar thought re: attacks on The Dixie Chicks when they exercised their 1st amendment right. Give a listen to “I’m Not Ready To Make Nice” especially the lines “shut-up and sing or your life will be over” and one person teaching their kid to hate. DJT has given hate a headline and encouragement to violence every time he opens his mouth.
So very true. He has created a role for bullies and provides a license to normalize egregious behavior. And whenever he tries to piece together a coherent sentence of bluster he hides his deep cowardice. The Dixie Chicks and their courage to jeopardize the success by speaking truth to power continues to inspire.
So very true. He has created a role for bullies and provides a license to normalize egregious behavior. And whenever he tries to piece together a coherent sentence of bluster he hides his deep cowardice. The Dixie Chicks and their courage to jeopardize the success by speaking truth to power continues to inspire.
I don't know about that, but in a bit of history from 40 years ago, one of Reagan's cabinet secretaries excluded the Beach Boys from a July 4 celebration, and the secretary soon had to resign. Almost everyone knew that group was a deep part of Americana.
Representative McGovern's speech was excellent. It is good to see Democrats speaking out--and his words on the House floor provide a fabulous blueprint for others to follow. And then there is your explication, Heather, that takes his words further, points out what was lacking in his description of fascism, and puts his words in context with scholarly works on fascism. Spread the word, enlist others to spread it, too. And thanks to you both.
McGovern gets 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻for his speech, for sure. And, as Prof. Richardson points out, he omitted the horrific corruption that’s behind so much of the “affordability” issue. Dems must take a lesson from Peter Magyar, who won Hungary in large part by showing his countrymen and women how the devastating corruption of the government was leaving them with crumbling buildings and roads, failing schools, and terrible healthcare.
“Affordability” is fine to talk about, but without details showing where tax $ are going to corruption and grift, it’s just another buzzword.
Dems, attack the corruption! Show the people where their money is going! Show them how we’re manipulated into attacking each other so that we won’t get in the way of their theft.
What is it you think Democrats are doing on the campaign trail, in the House, the Senate, at state levels? Every single one of them is making corruption, incompetence, fuckupery the true campaign issues of 2026, as they should. Pete Buttigieg mentions it every chance he gets, everywhere he goes. The same with Talarico, Vindman, Brown, Osoff, Newsom, Pritzker...the list is long and gets longer each day. And a reminder: "it's the economy, stupid" used to work pretty damn well as a motive to get people to the polls.
What is it with this far-left circular firing squad mentality of going after everybody you don't consider 99 and 44/100% pure? What does it get you at the end of the day?
ICTT: And you aren't contributing to the circular firing squad with this post?
I didn't see anything in Marcia's post that is objectionable--she's pointing out something that Magyar was doing--being specific about what the corruption in Hungary actually cost the average voter. That important link to affordability is not yet out there in the media here.
"What is it you think Democrats are doing on the campaign trail, in the House, the Senate, at state levels? ...
What is it with this far-left circular firing squad mentality of going after everybody you don't consider 99 and 44/100% pure? What does it get you at the end of the day? "
"At the end of the day a lot of people are tired of decades of lip service."
To this day, a lot of people refuse to see the progress made by Democratic efforts - against Republican opposition since FDR's New Deal and ever after.
Even as Republicans are destroying all Democratic progress in essential and emergency government services, civil rights, economic justice, environmental protections, equitable taxation, and government regulation of banking and manufacturing industries. Those weren't 'lip service' they were hard won Democratic improvements. The loss of which are devastating.
What if the devil (or angel) is in the details, and also how the whole puzzle fits? What if the answers are simple yet complicated? Take for example the founders of our system who "brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" yet many held slaves, displaced native habitation, and subjugated women. What if the "perfect" society is at some point illusionary, but an ever more-perfect society is not? Trump and his ilk promise a new Golden Age that never was, but historically we as a species muddle, and fail, and have done some reprehensible things, and yet as a whole have progressed. As far as I can see the ages of kings, war lords, pharaohs, and superstition were comparatively nasty, and both repression and social liberation has been an ongoing theme. The one thing I'm pretty sure is true is that we get a better, more fruitful purchase on reality with finding, acknowledging, and admitting what is evidently true than if otherwise.
Historically some Republicans and Democrats have bequeathed us some great gifts, and also some behaved shamefully. In the present I would say that the nominal Republican party is pretty thoroughly corrupted, and some variation of the Democratic Party is our best hope, but it's legitimate to wonder how we got here, and if any behaviors on our part, certainly myself included, contributed to a significant unraveling governance of, by and for the whole of the people? And with such treachery afoot as we see in the daily news, don't we need to take a hard look and triage our habitual strategies? And what does that look like? There is bound to be serious controversy. There must be solidarity.
"Dems must take a lesson from Peter Magyar, who won Hungary in large part by ..."
American voters opposed to Trump and Republican Trumpism must take a lesson from Hungarians who opposed Orban and Orbanism. Hungarians across the political spectrum, including the far left, united for Peter Magyar, a former Orban official and the current leader of a center right party. Even if they had to hold their nose, they understood that voting as a strategic joint exercise in taking power was the only way to the reform they wanted.
I just got back from Budapest. A beautiful and interesting city. However, after talking to a few Hungarians, I do not believe there will be much of an improvement in Hungary. The medical system is in shambles, taxes on things like food are very high (27% on food) and people do not seem to be very happy. I'm afraid Magyar will soon team up with Trump and Orban.
Surely it will take time for the country (theirs and ours) to recover from a fascist corrupt regime that destroyed important infrastructure and institutions. In the US, I would guess it will take many years, if not decades, to rebuild our institutions. This is not any overnight fix.
I find it useful to remember that Nazism was, among all the rest that it was, a program of permission and peer pressure. In my father's hometown of Kuppenheim, near Baden Baden Germany, the synagogue was destroyed but the ancient Jewish graveyard remained because the mayor stalled for years on an issue of cost. In my Dad's birth town of Freiburg im Breisgau, an Allied carpet bombing late in the war had relatively low casualties, because the Catholic mayor built bomb shelters against orders from Berlin. In the oldest Christian city in Germany, Fulda, the synagogue was destroyed, but without orders. Innuendo and impatience only. On and on it goes. Much was double sided in similar ways. Doctors escaped euthanasia orders by claiming personal weakness. They were laughed at and mocked, but were not punished. None of this brought the regime down, but not all of it is black and white, either. My grandmother, a doctor, was doctor for six satellite lumber camps of the Natzeiler-Struthof concentration camp, among all her other civilian medical duties. She rescued three prisoners and kept them in her home. Two were escapees. The cost for discovery would have been death. I'm not apologizing for these people. I'm just saying that Nazism had a thread of choice, and it's very wise to remember that when we speak of it as it comes again. The new Nazis likely are operating in that circle of choice as well. Not all will choose well. They sure didn't the first time. Some chose better than others. It would be useful to keep reaching out to keep the notion of choice alive among them.
Wise words, and even wiser recommendations. The truth is that when these people finally fall, it will likely be by the hand of those they screwed, lied to, misled, finagled, fleeced and robbed. Somebody will "choose" not to be an asshole, not to be a stooge, not to repeat lies they know are lies, will disobey an order, refuse to go along with the bullshit.
We are getting very close to that moment now. Some might argue it's already happening.
It's so important to know about history such as this, and even more important to try to learn from it or even somehow progress in a way that it doesn't happen again. Trump and the regime doesn't care to learn, they don't want us to know about it, instead bumbling and emulating, in a most foolhardy fashion following Nazism to the horrid end.
Thank you for telling your family's personal account of living through Nazi Germany. There are fewer people that have that connection to the horrors of World War II every year at a time when it's so needed and so important for younger generations to have some kind of reference and understanding of it.
Some readers may want to explore how the Germans experienced the subtle and not-so-subtle corrosion of the judiciary 90 years ago. I recommend Ernst Fraenkel,The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship.
Faith Petric was a Rosie The Riveter during WW2. She worked in the Civil Rights Movement, and was targeted by Joe McCarthy. She wrote and performs this song.
Ain't Done Nothing If You Ain't Been Called A Red (Live / 1984)
Awesome. And remember after women were told to go to work to support the war effort, they were told to go back home to open up jobs for the men coming back home. The propaganda needs to stop.
And the (mostly) white women who went to work in “Men’s Jobs” returned home and displaced Black women who had taken jobs lower down the food chain (nannying, cooking, housework), leaving Black women jobless and without means to support their families. But that is rarely found in history books.
Please supply citations for your claim that White women in WW2 government jobs afterwards replaced Black women from their traditional jobs low paying jobs. I've only found that there was generally a return to the pre-war (discriminatory) status quo. Although FDR's directive desegregating WW2 government work for women contributed to the growing Civil Rights Movement
During WW2 Black women worked as Rosies, Wendys (welders) and Government Girls (office workers - including in cryptology and intelligence.) As did other minority women.
"Black and minority women were also part of these corps of fabled “Rosies.” An estimated 600,000 African-American women fled oppressive and often demeaning jobs as domestics and sharecroppers. They chose instead to help build airplanes, tanks and ships, fueling America’s “arsenal of democracy.” National Association of Black Military Women
"You won’t find WWII era ads or recruitment posters encouraging black women to enter the factories, government offices, or ship yards, but approximately 600,000 African-American women did just that.
Despite their achievements, these black Rosie the Riveters still do not receive the same attention as their white counterparts. This maybe partially due to the fact that 44% of black women were already working in menial jobs outside the home before WWII, or that black women were the last one hired (after white males who had deferments, white women, and black men). So many black women did not get their jobs until the later part of the war."
"During World War II, African American women served in vital, though frequently segregated and underdocumented, roles within military intelligence, cryptanalysis, and tactical postal tracking operations. They worked to decrypt enemy communications, trace strategic troop movements, and manage critical information networks despite facing systemic discrimination. Cryptography and Codebreaking Arlington Hall Station: A unit of African American women was stationed at Arlington Hall Station in Virginia, serving alongside thousands of other female cryptologists to process intercepted messages. Signal Intelligence: These personnel applied math, pattern recognition, and linguistic skills to decode tactical messages, track enemy supply lines, and monitor communications for Axis ties. Classified Contributions: Much of their specific individual data and precise operational rosters remained classified, omitted from mainstream historical records, or attributed broadly. Postal Intelligence and Logistic: The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: Commanded by Major Charity Adams, this was the only all-Black female battalion of the Women's Army Corps to be deployed overseas (serving in Birmingham and Rouen, France). Information Security & Flow: While framed as postal sorting, the battalion processed millions of pieces of mail and tracked troop locations, securing an essential communication lifeline for frontline intelligence and morale in the European Theater. Notable Undercover and International Figures: Josephine Baker: Operating as an official agent for French intelligence and the Resistance, the iconic entertainer used her celebrity status to move freely across borders. She gathered vital observations on German military installations and smuggled secrets written in invisible ink on her sheet music.
"During World War II, a segregated unit of African American women worked as cryptologic and intelligence personnel at Arlington Hall Station in Virginia. Key figures from this classified effort include Annie Briggs, Elsie Scott, and Genevieve Collins. Roles and Contributions:Monitored commercial and international traffic logs to track foreign trade and spot entities collaborating with Axis powers. Handled production, decoding, and clerical support within the segregated B-3-b unit.Provided critical intelligence data despite facing strict racial segregation and systemic discrimination on the home front. Post-War Service: Annie Briggs served as an assistant to Colonel William Coffee starting in 1944 and is noted as an early Black woman leader in the unit.Elsie Scott and others continued government intelligence work into the post-war era with the Army Security Agency and the National Security Agency, with some rising to section heads."
I appreciate the work you did to find these citations. I was commenting on something I learned in grad school 30 years ago, so I’m unable to accurately cite that information. Thank you for filling in the blanks.
Tip of the iceberg. And of course it's not in textbooks until it is. And now the Republican regime has been banning know facts. Heard on CSpan some GOP white supremacist grilling the head of the Smithsonian American History Museum on whether it was appropriate to have Latina Power caps in the gift shop. As though that were a bad thing. Where they cannot ban, bowdlerize, and distort exhibitions, the Republican regime is proposing signs outside museums " This museum wants you to hate your country." It is like warning labels I've seen on NIH papers saying something like 'The administration has to keep this publication available, but we want you to know we think it is dangerously wrong.'
KUDOs to Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) for his statement on the House floor! For one thing, every word was entered in the Congressional Record: It's documented history now. I 'm sure every complicit GOPer was outraged, but his address put it out in the open..
The cards are on the table. If anyone disagrees with what he said, the response should be fundamental - PROVE HIM WRONG (their silence is very loud, in fact it's practically deafening. )
p.s. Thank you Dr. Heather for this post. Once again, you've been timely and accurate.
I look forward to a day when Trump’s name, corruption, and sheer stupidity are no longer mentioned. VOTE like your future depends on it. VOTE like your children and grandchildren deserve better. Just VOTE.
Nothing Stinky has done has succeeded in distracting the public from them. Considering the lengths he and his gang have gone to shift our attention, he must really be worried about what's in there ever seeing the light of day!
The only reason that the Democrats are willing to discuss them is to try to get Trump out of the picture.
I mean.. what exactly did Biden do about the Epstein files?
The part no one ever wants to admit is that Epstein didn't come up with those plans on his own. I don't even think Maxwell did.
I think they were always under orders from another Government.
And I expect that government is the one we just signed our defense industry err Department of War over to. And is the reason that the senate will pass the NDAA which now includes not only all the money Trump wanted for his war but has the SAVE act rolled in for good measure.
If this country survives (and I'm not sure it should at this point) I guarantee that the next President is going to ignore them too.
The absurdity of this attack is unbounded. It is as though Trump — who probably came up with the idea/approach — was mentored by a red-baiting bigot…you know, like Roy Cohn……
When the red-baiting, closeted gay bigot lay dying of AIDS, Trump wouldn't go anywhere near him, never visited him, never called him, pretended he didn't exist, forgot all about their supposed deep "friendship."
That sounds like someone else once in Trump's close circle of "friends" who's been in the news recently. E..something or other, Stein...can't quite remember now. Hmmm.
trump is gay, too, so that’s what they shared. The whole raping women thing is for public consumption — a beard to hide behind. Women and girls are just currency for their deals. Also with epstein, putin, and the tates. Have you seen how trump touches and strokes the naked skin of male athletes? Eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww. Super creepy.
"In his 1951 'The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements,' Hoffer noted that demagogues needed a disaffected population whose members felt they had lost the power they previously held, that they had been displaced either religiously, economically, culturally, or politically."
Sometimes forgotten now, but the very first lie in interwar Germany the Nazis picked up on and turned into a cause célebrè was the myth that Germany was about to win the war in 1918 when "liberals" "traitors" "communists" "Jews" "pacifists" and "cowardly generals" in the Army cut a secret deal with the British behind the Army's back to snatch the glory of victory away from the German people through a dishonorable Armistice. It has since become known as the 'stab-in-the-back myth' (or Dolchstoßlegende if you're into long German nouns) and German historians trace that as the very first of many lies people were only too willing to believe to rationalize their own defeat in war.
Trump has set America up for its next myth, one that Kegsbreath and idiots like Scalise and JD are already busy manufacturing -- that Democrats are communists hell-bent on "defeating" America just as victory arrives. The fuckupery mixed with lies is supposed to be the next smoke-and-mirrors game to conceal the fact that we have screwed ourselves in Iran big time by pursuing a pointless, needless war simply to satisfy Il Douchebag's desire to undo what the black guy did.
Woe to those who don't fight back against the first stupid, outrageous myth. More are sure to follow if they don't.
History preserves words like fascism, not to make political arguments easier, but to make dangerous patterns harder to ignore.
Democracy isn’t defined by what leaders call themselves. It’s defined by whether power remains accountable, dissent remains protected, and the law applies equally to everyone.
Patriotism asks us to defend democratic principles. Loyalty to power asks us to defend those who hold it. History reminds us they are never the same thing.
The law, in this country, has never been applied equally to everyone.
Which is exactly why we continue to work to fulfill the promise of America, right?
I think this pretty much proves that the 'promise' of America was never real.
It was always a bunch of rich white men trying to get richer on the backs of an underclass by saying whatever is politically expedient with no intention of ever backing up their 'promises'.
These men know that ultimately the constitution was written to offset the wild claims of the Declaration of Independence of 'equality'. That being forced to add the Bill of Rights was considered a huge setback that they have been trying to remove ever since.
They have set their sights on the 14th Amendment.
... and the 19th..
but anyone who thinks that the 13th isn't on the table for them is crazy.
Why are we continuing to support this? Why did 6 democrats vote for, and PASS, the NDAA yesterday? Which not only includes all the money Trump wanted for his war with Iran, but changes the name of the Defense department AND they rolled SAVE into it because now voter suppression is part of their defense against "communism" (known by what used to be normal people as SNAP and Medicaid).
What exactly is left to save?
The six House Democrats who voted for the NDAA are Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (N.C.), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Adam Gray (Calif.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.). We meed to do a better job of promoting democrats that are dedicated to a social democratic agenda.
Maine is presently faced with the following choices to replace Golden: Paul "I was Trump before Trump was Trump" LePage or Matt Dunlap. Dunlap would be the far better choice for us all, but I'm not sure he'll win. We are either going all in or we're going to get back to reason. Hard saying not knowing.
Matt Dunlap I an excellent candidate with a long history of excellent service to the citizens, and the state, of Maine.
Sigh. The usual suspects, who will keep getting re-elected term after term. 😩
Punkette, I doubt Perez feels that she will be reelected time after time. I think she won the last time because her opponent was clearly a nut case. Once again she should not have voted for this.
The good news is that Golden won't be back.
Unfortunately he comes from a red district so it's 50/50 whether whomever replaces him is literally the mini Trump ex-governor that we had before Janet Mills.
Eadie, Perez represents a conservative district in WA. Her opponent last time was mad Joe Kent. She cannot win in that district being a social democrat or looking progressive. That being said, she should not have voted for this. Her opponent this time has tried to link her to "radical" Ds in Olympia although she has nothing to do with WA state government. He is also trying to look more progressive than he probably is.
Michele, democrats in red districts have been failing our democratic agenda for decades. We are either committed to a republic that serves our democratic principles or we should just throw in the towel. We are in the fight of our lifetime and we are losing, because of Sinema a decade ago and now Perez and the other five turncoats, who have shifted their allegiance. If the senate passes this NDAA, I understand the SAVE act was rolled in as well. As you are aware it's another voter suppression law requiring citizens to prove they have a right to VOTE. This is where the rubber meets the road. Democrats need to decide what they are willing to fight for.
Well said and good question, BLB.
BLB, I'm so sorry. I don't understand your reply. Could you clarify it for me. I'm sorry to be so dense. BTW, I'm going to ask the 6 Democrats why they voted for the NDAA. If they answer, I'll let you know.
You said, We all had to work to save America.
I said, I'm not sure she's worth saving.
If it's the history part that is confusing then that is a very long conversation not for the comment section. But long story short version is that the 'founding fathers' weren't just flawed people. The Progressives wrote the Declaration of Independence. And the Federalists wrote the Constitution. They never intended for us to have any rights. But the Ghosts of the Revolution would not let the constitution pass without the promise of the Bill of Rights. Officially they got their way but everything is specifically worded to give the edge to the government and not the people.
It was never intended to be fair.
All the things they taught us about freedom and equality... nothing but BS.
The dirty little secret about Leonard Leo's SCOTUS campaign that put us here is that he is exactly right. The 'founders' would have sided with him. Everytime. Because they were also a bunch of greedy, white supremacists.
The Patrick Henrys and Thomas Paines were loud but outvoted.
Just like now.
We are trying to fight to save a country that not only has never met our promise of equality but has no intention of ever doing so.
I'd say we need a new Constitution.. but given the level of hate in the country right now is such that there is no possibility of compromise. (also on purpose)
So perhaps we really do need to start over.
It's not yet law if it's not approved in the Senate. Too much handwringing and not enough fight back to empower electing those who CAN overturn it. Our votes are our voices loud and clear. The Democrats who agreed should be examined carefully. They are all subject to November.
So, instead of continuing trying to create a more perfect union, you want to throw away? You don't want to use the framework to keep struggling upward?
Why are you carrying water for fascists and autocrats?
The legend of the Republic.
I'm not willing to fork over my sons and daughter for your legend.
Believe me when I say that the promise is UP TO YOU and every person who can and should vote. Please do not bee such a doomsayer! IF any of the 6 Democrats is from YOUR state (I don't know for most of you anyway) it is up to you to find better candidates. THERE is a lot left to save and people who are getting out to register new voters in the High schools and resisting in any way legally possible are carrying the message. Stop with the OH WOE IS ME and get out there like those of us who doing the work.
The United States of America is left and needs US all to save it.
I'd like to think that the promise of America is aspirational; there have been times that we move forward, as with the 13th and 14th Amendments, and the Civil Rights and Votings Acts, and times when we slide backward, like now. Perhaps the promise is the opportunity effort, not the achievement.
"What exactly is left to save?"
BLB, it may be similar to owning an old house that needs major repairs that will take time and money to make. The house has some good features and salvageable parts. Do we tear it down or try overhauling it? We'd weigh many factors. Now imagine a situation where 300 million people (or maybe 200 million) with different priorities want input into the decision. It's likely the process will come to a standstill, leaving much bitterness behind. Unless we can find a way to come to a meting of the minds about what to do. This is a tall order; in the meantime we need co co-exist and work toward rebuilding.
what crap
The impulse to follow "the better angels of our nature" has always faced intense opposition, sometimes within the heart of the same person, but the founders did agree to establish a republic, not another monarchy. Glaring contradictions to that egalitarian ideal existed, and still exist, but a number of events in our history have reduced that discrepancy, and we were on something of a roll, pre-Reagan. Now the quest for authentic equal rights and protection under law is under attack from our own government. The script is familiar and does not end well; except to the degree enough of us say "no" to thugs.
Thank you J.L Graham
True, Sister.
All here should view this: https://carriekaufman.substack.com/p/miller-and-rubio-go-full-mein-kampf?embedding_publication_id=20533
What Miller and Rubio say are the most terrifying USian speeches I've ever heard., as if Hitler won the war and they were here to manage the subjugation.
"The rest of the media was so focused on Trump’s obfuscation speech, they didn’t even see what was happening behind their backs."
That was the plan all along.
First the media got badgered. Then they were threatened. It seems to have worked out as planned. They have now actually joined the The Cult.
that is terrifying.
Operation paperclip?
I don't doubt those people were the real roots of the present Regime.
Y’all, these are all valid points. The original three co-equal branches of government that the Founders gave us were really quite good; the real problem was, then and now, that greedy, corrupt people are looking out for their own interests and to hell with everyone else. (Follow the money, anyone?). Nothing will change until more honest people, starting with the local dog catcher, are elected and push through reforms; all three branches need a good housecleaning, starting with the current orange POTUS and five SCOTUS justices. Once Congress sees that there’s no personal advantage in backing corruption they’ll be more apt to stop supporting him.
Cut off the unlimited flow of money and lies, and bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Abolish (or at least reform) the Electoral College; there may have been a good reason for it 250 years ago, but it has outlived its purpose.
For about the last ten years basic manners and overall human decency have been discouraged (starting with mocking a disabled reporter); notice how many people can’t seem to express themselves without throwing in at least one F-bomb when speaking or writing?
Congress must (finally) fix the broken immigration system, and of course get rid of the current crop of ICE thugs. If these people are trying so hard to come here, they have the snap and ambition to contribute to our country. It’s always been like this; even Alexis de Tocqueville lauded both our diversity and our women. And for heaven’s sake, pass the ERA!
Bring back phonics in schools and cut out these ineffective methods that have been proven time and again not to work. Same with English grammar; there are eight parts of speech, not four. If we could cut out these ridiculous wars (looking at you, W) we could maybe have enough money to enable more people to go to college without starting life with massive debt. Same idea with industrial technology schools; there’s a crying need for plumbers, welders, and other trades. Not everyone is necessarily college-bound, but they have another type of skill that will help our economy and give them a good life.
Close the loopholes that allow people to stop paying into Social Security after a certain (high) salary, and stop allowing ANYONE (looking at you again, W) to raid the SS Trust Fund. Stop allowing US corporations to have a foreign headquarters office (which often consists of a tiny office and a telephone receptionist) while doing all work in the U.S. in order to avoid the IRS.
Reform the insurance law that allows corporations to only employ workers for 39 hours a week in order to avoid having to offer them health insurance (looking at you, Starbucks); if you’re working (no matter what your job is) you should be able to get medical care if you’re sick and hurting. Many eldercare, daycare, and janitors (among others) have no opportunity for insurance. Keep the government out of exam rooms; no woman’s health and fertility should be compromised because of some politician’s personal beliefs (looking at you, Ken Paxton). Birth control should be free, and accessible to everyone—hand it out on street corners if need be. This will help to stop the OOPS pregnancies and prevent so much poverty. Realize that if it doesn’t affect you personally you don’t need to be involved in other people’s lives, i.e. birth control, LGBTQ issues, abortion, etc.—mind your own business. And for heaven’s sake, raise the minimum wage!
Yes we continue to work on making things better BUT we need to look at the ways and means we use to make things better. Are those ways and means working at present? I think not. In my opinion the powers that be in this country are insane. They are doing the same things for 30 to 40 years expecting different results! The middle class is a thing of the past, the climate is in ruins, our children are not educated, our housing situation is a disaster, our women’s bodies are controlled by the government, our elderly are mainly forgotten, our national debt is exploding and life for all but the wealthy is survival and worry for most. Serious change in the power structure of this country is desperately needed and pinning our hopes on an upcoming election in to my way of thinking, is insanity.
Now, THAT has always been a struggle, more impeded than supported by our institutions of governance. So VOTE! And let your elected officials know what you expect from them.
Yep. We have struggled always to ‘form a more perfect union’. But does that mean you should throw up your hands and give up? It’s not perfect RIGHT NOW so I quit? Instead how about you notice the opportunities to make it better.
I love you moniker! Clementine! A song and a film and a connection to Churchill also the small orange!
Thanks!
This is an incredibly important point that almost never gets made.
Yawn. It's being made all the time. Citizens today are more cynical than ever before. Who still asks what they can do for their country instead of asking what their country does for them... ?
Capitalism is out of control.
Hello JBR... Another Sign of Trump Crime Syndicate Grift... Per Mary Trump: "Eric Trump’s newest venture illustrates the point perfectly. He became Chief Strategy Advisor for Foundation Future Industries, a robotics company that, almost immediately afterward, secured twenty four million dollars in Defense Department contracts to develop humanoid robots for potential battlefield use. We are expected to believe this happened because Eric Trump possesses unique expertise in robotics. The company told CNBC that Eric invested before joining as an adviser. If you believe that, I have a bridge I would be to sell to you" || The Terminator is coming, as Bob Dylan once said., "Money Doesn't Talk, It Swears'....
Eric's strategery is straight through the gilded oval.
Capitalism is the result of people's actions within a system. Capitalism is not out of control. For the past 50 years we have witnessed the degradation of the quality of our lives while the oligarch class rose by using the capitalist system against us. And we let them.
So, using the capitalist system (which btw is the best system for people throughout history) the oligarchs have essentially rendered us serfs. We are working harder than ever and buying expensive goods that are junk.
There is no sound economic reason why things are so expensive. Oligarchs consumed industries and created monopolies which price gouge at will. Politicians, controlled by oligarchs, pander. They toss around the word "affordability" to make us feel like they care. We need to:
1. Defeat the fascists.
2. Clean bought and afraid politicians out of the Democratic Party.
3. Actually show up as the people in control of things.
4. Decide that we want to live in a free market democratic country.
Capitalism (an economic system) is the best system for quickly transitioning from an agrarian subsistence economy to an industrialized economy, which results in a huge increase in wealth.
Whether it's also good for the people is a different question. That entirely depends on how the wealth produced by the people is distributed, so on the form of government (political system).
If, politically, you have strong unions and multiple political parties and a democratic Constitution, then over time, more and more people may financially/materially benefit from the wealth generated.
But if, politically, you have a neofascist regime, then the 99% will always be kept under control through denying them material wealth (or giving it only to sycophants).
In the meantime: there are no "bought and afraid politicians" inside the Democratic Party. This kind of cynicism is exactly what neofascism needs to thrive.
Yesterday, six House Democrats voted to give Trump another $1.15 trillion for defense, including $73 billion meant to help cover the rising costs of his failing, economy-destroying war. This same defense policy bill would further integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries.
Six conservative Democrats voted for the legislation: Henry Cuellar of Texas ($2.3 million); Don Davis of North Carolina ($4 million); Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington ( $431,000), Jared Golden of Maine $1 million), who’s retiring; Vicente Gonzalez of Texas (397,000), and Adam Gray of California ($60,000). Without their votes, the defense policy bill would have failed.
And even more Democrats voted in favor of Trump’s voter suppression agenda – helping pass Republicans’ Voter ID Act, which was stuffed into a bill that otherwise purports to limit insider trading by members of Congress.
Thirteen Democrats voted for this bill anyway, including five named above: Cuellar, Davis, Golden, Gonzalez, and Gluesenkamp Perez. The other eight are Kathy Castor of Florida; Josh Gottheimer ($2.3 million) of New Jersey; Marcy Kaptur ($227,000) of Ohio; Susie Lee of Nevada ($858,000); Jared Moskowitz of Florida ($833,000); Chris Pappas of New Hampshire ($823,000), Darren Soto of Florida ($482.000) and Derek Tran of California ($199.000).
Dollar amounts are AIPAC money.
Adam Schiff-$5.6 million
Hakeem Jeffries-$1.5 million
George Latimer-$19 million
Kartheryn Clark-$900,000
Go to AIPAC Tracker
And that will give me the response I need for the next fund-raising letter from any of these reps. They can all pound sand.
Democrats? More likely Bumbocrats! Sucking up to trump! No wonder all too many talking heads note ‘the democrats better get their shit together’!
See? THIS is why fascism is being installed in the US. It's because of the low political literacy of the LEFT, who constantly votes AGAINST its own best interests, and only because people like you don't understand what "democracy" means.
In a democracy, a politician has to represent his CONSTITUENTS first and foremost, NOT his party.
So Democrats representing right-leaning districts HAVE to vote for legislative compromises that are more right-wing than Democrats representing left-leaning districts. That's not proof of corruption, it's exactly how a democracy is supposed to work... !!
As to donations: what you guys don't understand is that after the SC Citizens United ruling, there is no way to create a real, effective campaign without massive corporate money. That's just how it is.
Is that the Democrats' fault? No, quite the opposite! It's a conservative SC that is responsible for this ruling, and soon after it went into effect, Nancy Pelosi and a Democratic House immediately repealed it.
Now... Democrats are waiting for "we the people" to finally give them the legal power needed to sign that campaign finance reform bill into law and make it impossible for corporations to distort elections.
Instead of doing so, however, "we the people" refuse to truly inform ourselves and then turn AGAINST Democrats.
This is why the left in the US truly deserves a neofascist power grab. It's the direct result of refusing to take your civic duty seriously.
Finally, Schiff and Jeffries are actually progressives. So if you want to use the fact that WE THE PEOPLE force them to accept big corporate money to turn against them, you're basically adopting a kamikaze strategy.
Utterly absurd.
"In the meantime: there are no "bought and afraid politicians" inside the Democratic Party." Horse puckey.
Not exactly a rational argument, is it? ;-)
Is capitialism good for humans. Recall, there are eight billion+ of us now, but only a few men are wealthy, and they are sucking up as much wealth as they can in these dark times. You can read what google AI has to say (recall this is Free AI, and it does make mistakes--though these brief summaries seem logical and are starting places for discussion and research.
My statement: We live in the Extraction World invented by men over 10,000 long terrible years of being human on this planet.
You can see a short summary of this if you use google AI (free AI).
My query: Please list the areas in which men have extracted wealth from Earth Resources (like water, mining, and yes, computers and AI) over the last 10,000 Earth years. Thank you.
Google AI Response:
Over the last 10,000 years, human civilization has shifted from managing surface resources to extracting deep geological materials and manipulating atomic-level resources.
Here are the primary areas where humans have extracted wealth from Earth's resources.
Water and Agriculture
• Surface Irrigation: Diverting rivers for large-scale farming.
• Aquifer Depletion: Pumping deep groundwater for industrial agriculture.
• Desalination: Extracting fresh water from oceans using energy.
• Hydroelectric Power: Harnessing river currents for massive electricity generation. [1]
Minerals and Mining
• Surface Quarrying: Gathering stone, clay, and sand for construction.
• Precious Metallurgy: Mining gold, silver, and gems for currency.
• Base Metals: Extracting copper, bronze, and iron for infrastructure.
• Industrial Minerals: Mining phosphates, potash, and limestone for fertilizer. [2, 3, 4]
Energy Resources
• Biomass Harvest: Stripping forests for timber and charcoal fuel.
• Coal Extraction: Subsurface mining of carbon-rich sedimentary rock.
• Hydrocarbon Drilling: Extracting liquid petroleum and natural gas deposits.
• Nuclear Fission: Mining and refining uranium ore for power.
Advanced Materials and Technology
• Silicon Harvesting: Refining high-purity quartz sand for semiconductor chips.
• Rare Earth Elements: Mining neodymium, dysprosium, and lithium for electronics.
• Cooling Infrastructure: Using massive water reserves to cool data centers.
• Grid Electricity: Burning fossil fuels to power AI training models. [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
________________________________________
To explore this timeline further, I can provide more detail. Please let me know if you would like me to:
• Focus on the environmental impact of a specific era.
• Detail the exact minerals required to build modern AI hardware.
• Break down the timeline by specific historical eras (e.g., Bronze Age vs. Digital Age).
Let me know how you would like to proceed.
[1] https://www.desware.net
[2] https://www.youtube.com
[3] https://www.ebsco.com
[4] https://www.linkedin.com
[5] https://www.youtube.com
[6] https://www.instagram.com
[7] https://mshasafetyservices.com
[8] https://www.source-material.org
[9] https://www.theguardian.com
My query: This is an interesting summary. Please add the ways in which men have used human labor to achieve their goals of wealth creation. An example is using young children to mine various metals and substances that permit creation of objects like coins and weapons.
Google AI Response: Throughout history, the extraction of Earth's resources has been systematically powered by the exploitation of human labor. Wealth creation has relied on forcing or incentivizing specific groups to perform high-risk, intensive physical work.
Here are the primary ways human labor has been organized and exploited to generate wealth from resources:
Enslavement and Forced Labor
• Chattel Slavery: Treating humans as legal property to harvest cash crops and mine precious metals.
• Debt Bondage: Forcing individuals to work indefinitely to pay off inflating, unpayable debts.
• Corvée Labor: Requiring citizens to perform unpaid state labor for infrastructure like canals and roads.
• Penal Labor: Utilizing prison populations for high-risk resource extraction like logging and mining. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Child and Vulnerable Labor
• Artisanal Mining: Employing children to crawl into narrow, unstable shafts for cobalt, gold, and tin.
• Agricultural Harvesting: Using children for hazardous tasks like operating sharp machinery or handling pesticides.
• Textile Workshops: Exploiting young workers for high-dexterity tasks in cramped, poorly ventilated mills. [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Colonial and Migrant Exploitation
• Indentured Servitude: Binding workers to multi-year contracts with minimal pay to build colonial infrastructure.
• Migrant Guest-Workers: Employing foreign workers for harsh seasonal labor without giving them legal protections.
• Imperial Conscription: Forcing conquered populations to harvest local resources like rubber, timber, and spices. [11]
Digital and Cognitive Labor
• Data Labeling: Paying low-wage workers in developing nations to tag images for AI training.
• Content Moderation: Exposing digital laborers to traumatic media to filter and clean internet platforms.
• Gig Economy: Utilizing independent contractors for delivery and transit without providing traditional benefits.
________________________________________
To explore this human labor timeline further, tell me if you want to:
• Focus on the laws and reforms that historically ended specific labor practices.
• Detail the modern supply chain of child labor in electronics manufacturing.
• Analyze how AI and automation might replace or shift these labor dynamics. [12, 13]
Let me know which direction you would like to take.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org
[2] https://quizlet.com
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org
[4] https://www.modernslavery.gov.au
[5] https://www.planksip.org
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org
[7] https://chrissmith.house.gov
[8] https://www.humanium.org
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org
[10] https://www.chegg.com
[11] https://fiveable.me
[12] https://fiveable.me
[13] https://brewminate.com
My statement: Humans are currently being used by a few men to extract massive wealth to make laws and policies to benefit a few wealthy men among the over eight billion humans who are alive at this time. It is true that efforts to stop these practices have taken place, but men like Trump, Xi, Netanyahu, and Putin are working hard to put a stop to these efforts. This is a hard time for humans--the Eight billion of us!
Google AI Response: The relationship between governance, wealth accumulation, and the global population is a central subject of debate in modern geopolitics and economics. Perspectives on how global leaders influence these dynamics vary significantly depending on political, national, and economic viewpoints. [1, 2]
Perspectives on Global Governance and Wealth
• Critiques of Wealth Concentration: Many economists and social advocates argue that global economic structures allow a small percentage of individuals to accumulate vast wealth, often influencing policies that reinforce economic disparities. Critics frequently point to tax structures, deregulation, and the privatization of resources as mechanisms that favor capital over labor. [3, 4, 5, 6]
• The Role of National Leaders: Leaders such as Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Vladimir Putin operate under vastly different political and economic systems, each drawing distinct forms of support and criticism:
o Proponents of their policies often argue that deregulation, economic nationalism, state-led development, or strong national security measures are essential for driving economic growth, maintaining stability, and protecting national interests.
o Critics, conversely, argue that these approaches can consolidate power, weaken democratic institutions, prioritize corporate or state elites, and undermine international cooperation on global challenges like human rights and economic inequality. [7, 8, 9, 10]
Global Challenges Facing the Population
With the global population exceeding eight billion people, international organizations frequently highlight interconnected pressures facing humanity:
• Economic Inequality: The gap between global wealth owners and lower-income populations remains a critical focus for organizations like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. [11]
• Resource Management: Balancing the energy and material needs of billions of people with environmental sustainability requires navigating complex regulatory and geopolitical landscapes.
• Policy Reforms: Ongoing debates persist worldwide regarding the effectiveness of international treaties, labor laws, and wealth redistribution policies designed to protect vulnerable populations. [12]
________________________________________
To explore these systemic issues further, let me know if you would like to:
• Examine global wealth statistics and trends published by international economic organizations.
• Analyze the different economic models (e.g., state capitalism vs. free-market capitalism) used by these nations.
• Look into the history of international labor standards and how they are enforced globally. [13, 14]
Let me know which areas you would like to investigate next.
[1] https://www.foreignaffairs.com
[2] https://today.uconn.edu
[3] https://www.cliffsnotes.com
[4] https://medium.com
[5] https://www.cambridge.org
[6] https://peoplesworld.org
[7] https://dctransparency.com
[8] https://www.facebook.com
[9] https://www.instagram.com
[10] https://www.theguardian.com
[11] https://www.youtube.com
[12] https://www.dars.gov.et
[13] https://time.com
[14] https://thehill.com
What IS capitalism? Surely NOT what is happening now in this country where the less fortunate are being trampled on by trump and his maga minions in the House and Senate; where the oligarchs control the supreme stench court which has emboldened POTUS to commandeer our federal budget making it his personal purse!
You are talking about politics. Capitalism is an economic system. The politicians yielded power to the oligarchs who in turn kept them fat and compliant while they raided and manipulated a capitalistic system for their own ends.
The only thing Republicans offer….every time…..is tax breaks. They throw enough to the masses to keep us docile,while giving the 1% the entire treasury.
They have done this by cutting services to the people. They are still cutting essential services , but now they are doing their billionaire giveaway by adding to our deficit/ debt with gay abandon.
Recognized even by the founders, who chose not ‘to let the perfect be the enemy of the good’. Each generation has taken up the project, two steps forward and one step back, to build a better nation. To be clear, we are in a ‘one step back’ phase, but that is the sad nature of corruptible human beings.
Yes, that concept remains aspirational, to put it kindly.
When my Middle School Students called out "that's not fair!" I reminded them of two things.
1. The fair is in August
2. The fair thing about life is that it is unfair to everyone.
Fairness is aspirational and worked towards by electing real people who are free to actually work for the people.
I should have been more clear when I posted a response this morning. I was specifically writing to Kelli Klymenko about this comment, "Democracy isn’t defined by what leaders call themselves. It’s defined by whether power remains accountable, dissent remains protected, and the law applies equally to everyone." This is a description of an aspiration we have not yet achieved that, frankly, we should have been able to achieve by now.
I am old enough to remember when democracy in the US was much closer to what we aspired to than it is now.
You do not have to go back very far ( pre Nixon/ Reagan) to find a government that contained adults working for the people’s interests instead of entirely for their own.
So we should get rid of it altogether rather than continuing to perfect it?
No, but without some guardrails like antitrust laws ENFORCED, and a tax code that is far more equitable than the current one, it is out of control. This is no longer capitalism, it is a fascist oligarchy.
Whose we! The oligarchs control the system! Personally, i boycott as many trump supporting businesses that I can!
True. But if you don’t like it, change it.
Beautifully said. Fascists always smear democracy defenders as communists. We just want free healthcare!
Let’s keep protesting in the streets and singing the no kings anthem together: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-kings-anthem
Healthcare for all is not free. It is prioritized over making bombs. I want my tax dollars used for social safety net and quality of life services vs overt killing machines. I support a defense dept but the Pentagon budget and direction is out of control. IMHO
The Defense Department cannot pass an audit. Give it more money?! Insane!
All our problems are fixable and affordable. It is just a matter of priorities. As long as we allow the oligarchs to own the government, courts, media, and politicians their priorities will be advanced rather than ours. Nothing will get fixed until we get rid of big money in politics, have real electoral reform to counter election subversion, and demand that our representatives prioritize the common good over the care and feeding of the billionaire class.
We currently have a system that allowed a lying malignant narcissist, racist, misogynist, pedophile, xenophobic fascist (now totally out of control since his dementia has removed all inhibitions and grasp of reality) to gain power and put the Project 2025 White Christian nationalists in control of all levels of the federal government. The billionaire-class oligarchs own our mainstream and social media, control the corrupt Supreme Court, and subvert elections and politicians with their big money masquerading as free speech.
We should not be trying to go back to the neoliberal “normal” of the past several decades that has gutted the middle class and increased poverty to transfer wealth to the oligarchs. We need another New Deal, another Progressive Era.
What is free healthcare? I have been PAYING TAXES since 1965 when I worked in my first full time job! Medicare is NOT free healthcare! We contributed toward its funding!
The government should not provide you with health care. I paid into Medicare through work and now I receive Medicare benefits, but I still pay for it. And I pay a pretty high price because my income is at a certain level.
I also have private insurance because Medicare doesn’t pay for everything.
The employer should pay for your healthcare or at least a large portion of it. Employers used to.
Health insurance companies will never loosen their grip in their profits and control of Congressional lobby.
Healthcare should not be tied to employment. It makes it difficult for an employee to leave an undesirable employer, and many people work jobs that do not provide healthcare benefits, or are unable to work. We are unique among developed first world nations in not providing universal healthcare. It has been shown in many studies that universal healthcare would provide cheaper and better healthcare than our current broken for-profit model.
The will not voluntarily give them up, nor will other industries that fatten up on our public money and our wallets. We must demand change from our representatives, on the streets, and through our votes.
But hit on the problem. profits. Insurance companies will not give up the profits for patients!
That is what we have a House and Senate for. They have to be pushed into making universal health care a law.
Most people who are part of the medical industry in this country will be the first to agree that our way too expensive, way too inefficient system is broken.
We are inevitably headed for a universal health insurance system, but not before a lot of people die needlessly from this stupid system that makes Insurance CEOs , and for profit hospitals very rich, causes good Doctors to give up in frustration , and makes patients and their various Doctors adversaries rather than a healthcare team.
Thanks for the link to the song!
Standing ovation for McGovern!!!!
Why are we ignoring the signs that occurred exactly 100 years ago?
Or longer. The battle between liberty worthy of the name and domination is about "as old as dirt".
''Joe McCarthy Comes Back and Gets Confused: Republicans have defeated communism by redefining it as anything that helps people who shop at Walmart instead of owning it."
Joe McCarthy could crawl out of the grave, march into Republican headquarters, and demand to see the communist plot destroying America. They would hand him a proposal to lower insulin prices.
He would blink.
“That’s it?”
“Well, yes,” they would say. “The government is helping regular people.”
Then Joe would look around and notice the same crowd pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into favored corporations, buying stakes in private companies, recruiting Wall Street bankers to move public money around, and arranging giant contracts for their friends.
“Isn’t that government control of the economy?” he might ask.
Now he is just being difficult.
Republicans would explain that government interference is socialism when a family gets help buying groceries, but free enterprise when a corporation gets ten billion dollars and a private meeting at the Pentagon.
A hungry child gets lunch and suddenly Lenin is kicking down the schoolhouse door. A bankrupt company gets rescued by taxpayers and somehow the bald eagle starts singing.
These are also the people warning that affordable health care threatens liberty while applauding nuclear deals with authoritarian monarchies. Because nothing says freedom like public money, private profit, limited oversight, and a ruler who keeps mentioning nuclear weapons.
The Republican economic platform is actually very simple. Government must stay out of business, unless business needs cash, contracts, protection, subsidies, ownership guarantees, or a small nuclear side hustle.
Communism is not government control anymore.
Communism is when the money reaches someone who actually needs it.
So, are we now experiencing the unfolding of the American tragedy, the result of the fatal flaw in our Constitution, i.e., the Electoral College, two U.S. Senators for each state, regardless of the state's population; decisions handed down by the Supreme Court that eviscerate the democratic process (complete immunity from criminal prosecution of the president while in office, the Citizens United case, Shelby County vs. Holder, and others.) The U.S. is now a de facto dictatorship, with the Supreme Court and the Congress unable or unwilling to check the reckless power of the president. Trump blithely ignores Congress in continuing to prosecute the war against Iran as well as threatening Canada with a 50% tariff on goods imported from Canada, both actions being unconstitutional.
"power remains accountable, dissent remains protected" yeah I think we lost that for a while now, Kelli..
The problem is that high-flown description of democracy has never been an accurate portrayal of your country. Patriotism is the worst possible angle for Democrats to focus on as it has always been an effective tool of the right. Johnson rightly called it the last refuge of scoundrels and Trump returns to it again and again in his vituperative attacks on his political opponents. You are a country of laws and they are being ignored and overriden by this lawless administration and in my opinion that should be the proper focus of any election campaign. Claiming that you are more patriotic than them is a fool's errand.
Russell, I agree that crowing about which party is more patriotic would not be an effective campaign strategy. But there would be no harm in reclaiming patriotism as part of a larger, more comprehensive campaign.
We need to find that sweet spot where we recognize that the U.S. electorate is largely ignorant, but we don't treat them as if they are ignorant. The best teachers are able to find that sweet spot.
For example, the U.S. public needs to be re-educated regarding the definition of patriotism. It is not "my country, right or wrong," but rather, "working toward a more perfect union."
Dale-It's sad but the truth is for too many a perfect union is allowing a dictator daddy to be in control to eliminate people who they say are not "real" or deserving Americans.
Maybe, GinaAM, but part of the education process is opening peoples' eyes to all the benefits of a diverse society.
Without a diverse population, what happens to their favorite Chinese and Mexican restaurants? Who will build their privacy fences or put new roofs on their houses? Who will do their landscaping? Who will clean their hotel rooms? Who will pick their produce or process their poultry? Who will care for their aging parents or grandparents?
Able-bodied white folks never had those jobs and they don't want them, not for any rate of pay.
We preserve history. And like Heather does here with Jim McGovern, we need it to be made meaningful today. And convincing. Not mere vacuous puerile and harmful name calling.
Democracy is partaking, making leaders accountable and (agreed) dissent is necessary and protected.
Partaking means engaging our thought processes and reasoning, not just drinking it in.
I believe the founders believed that *the good* would prevail..as we, the majority, define it, insist on it, and live it.
''Joe McCarthy Returns and Finds the Wrong America: Republicans have redefined communism as anything that helps people who do not own a corporation.''
Republicans now call affordable health care, lower grocery costs, and basic arithmetic communism. Meanwhile, corporate welfare remains sacred capitalism. This satire follows Joe McCarthy into a political madhouse where calculators are dangerous and billion-dollar handouts are freedom. https://essayx.substack.com/p/joe-mccarthy-returns-and-finds-the
Helping citizens survive has long been condemned by republicans along with Social Security, Medicare and public education.
BREAKING:
Legal Attack Attacks in N.Y. Times Reporters Thrown Out of Court just minutes go.
All reporting credit to LISA RUBIN MSNOW who was in the Courtroom. [3:30 EST]
"The federal government withdrew grand jury subpoenas that would have compelled three (3) New York Times reporters to testify about confidential sources regarding President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet."
"The reversal occurred after U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian sharply criticized the government attorneys for [in a fusillade citing many] legal errors."
trump & todd Debacle.
It’s clear that November will determine if we still have a democracy or if the great American experiment has failed.
Well stated succinctly and truthfully. Thank you!
Is that really how democracy is defined?
Government of, by and for the people works for me. When that is really what's happening that is. All for one and one for all. Why not?
All for one!
One for all!
And everyman for himself!
Moe, Larry and Curly
..and please pass the potatoes… kept at the level of surviving not to notice
Solution? The Good guys seem to be losing.
They lost in 2010... they are just finally figuring it out.
Can we please find more plain speaking and up for the fight against MAGA fascism Dems like Jim McGovern. To effectively oppose Trump you don’t have to be rude, radical, or intemperate. You do have to be a logical and level headed truth teller with the spine to stay on message and stay the course when attacked. Like Jim McGovern
Bravo to Rep. McGovern. I agree we need many more like him. And Brava to Dr. Richardson for another superb column.
Rep. Jim McGovern.
Washington, DC Office
phone: 202-225-6101
Please tell him we are doing all we can to elect a Democratic majority, so that he can again chair the Rules Committee.
"The House Rules Committee decides the procedures under which legislation is debated and voted on in the House of Representatives. Often called the "traffic cop of Congress," it controls which bills reach the floor, how long they are debated, and whether amendments can be added."
THE RED SCARE IS BACK! McGovern SLAMS Fascist Republicans for Absurd “Communist Attack
.https://youtu.be/tnPAFriZtUQ?si=oR4qQl7JzUr5Ge5B.
Trump and Joe McCarthy had the same creepy tutor. And yeah; zero decency.
Hello J L.. Roy Cohn?...
You betcha. Incarnation of the devil? I don't believe in devils per se, but evil is certainly a thing. To me it involves the worst forms of off-the-charts narcissism. The "Mr. Hyde" aspects of our human nature.
At the time Cohn was just an accessory, he learned from Joe how to weaponize obstinacy.
In any case, practitioners of the "Dark Arts".
McGovern turns it on at the 28:00 minutes point. From there to the end contains the important highlights, imo..
I forgot is it the left hand or right hand that salutes?
Then listen to him, Bill. Skip to the 28:00 point and hear the good bits of his speech. :)
Thanks for the phone number. I just called his office to thank him.
Thank him for what exactly I love to hear this one. Omg Another satisfied, Duped , customer
Will do!
And Jim McGovern just said what I’ve been saying for years the Democrats don’t give a shit about anything that happens under a Democrat president. All the Democrats want all the Democrats need all the Democrats care about is to be in control. Nothing more nothing less the policies don’t matter the results don’t matter if they’re in control they’re fine. Nobody on the left set a peep not a fucking peep while 15 million illegals came here without knowing who they are without any vetting without any vaccinations, which is the holy Grail of the left and now we have women raped we have hundreds of Americans killed. We have crime running rampant and I have a chart that shows that but I can’t post it here because between Heather and Google won’t allow it. You go over the DuckDuckGo and you can see all the truth. It’s fucking sickening. All you want is control of the rules committee yeah guess what? It’s the same thing as stacking the Supreme Court that that’s all you want is control nothing more. Ukraine and Russia are at war right now because of a Democrat president MISTAKE AND LIES , even though he was a good president.
The red scare Joanna really? Have you seen the platform for the DSA? Instead of being ignorant and a superficial dermatologist like most liberals that see a headline they like, and they jump on it like a bitch in heat who never questioned who never pushed back who just Bowen Virginia flex whenever you see a Heather post or words or a headline that you like. Go look up the DSA platform. If you’re not scared shitless, then you should leave this country.
You have a communist and an antisemite leading the city of New York of all places. Wait till I find that guy Jeffrey as ignorant as they come in my opinion and as hateful as they come and is unaware as they come.
You know what pal-I don’t engage with uninformed morons. And your lord and savior Trump has screwed EVERYTHING up in a mere 18 months. Quite a record. Why are you even a subscriber to Heather Cox Richardson? I can’t imagine you understand much of what she is writing about given the fact that you have a 4th grade education, and I am being generous estimating that it’s even at a 4th grade level
By the way, now that I read further, I understand why you’re using a fourth grade level because that’s as high as you got about as stupid as you’ve got this ignorant as you’ve got. Just curious if you still need your mommy to wipe your ass. ? I answered you below. Now run along child
Uninformed uninformed you live in a fucking cave Richard you’re not in touch with reality pal. Uninformed uninformed you live in a fucking cave Richard you’re not in touch with reality pal.
I was just told another idiot. I have surmised a few times that what Heather uses this fact or information for you. Reads all the liberal journals, CNNMS now the New York Times, the guardian Reuters, and every other link that she uses, which are all either left-leaning or wacko left-leaning. Puts them in her own words, and then uses them as the links to support what they already have said to her. Do used to be a very well respected historian Now she’s nothing more than a capitalist sucking $2 million a month from you idiots who Bow and genuflect at everything she says. Just check out her links but you won’t. Not a right, leaning link ever.
Do you think I’m gonna sit through 28 boring minutes of a lecture of bull shit to wait for the important highlights? What kind of a moron is he to do that? Let me explain something to you there, Richard, you’ve been inculcated. You have been fooled, you have been lemminged. You have been sold a bag of shit and you bought it and paid full price. I could matriculate around you with my eyes closed, so keep up with your below average liberal insults.
Well, you are as a whiner If Biden was president right now, you would talk about how great the economy is how the stock market is been the best the best it’s ever been in
my life and if you ever read anything, you know that the actual evidence shows that Donald Trump has increased the wealth of the bottom 25% of the population more than any president in history. Every single economic indicator is doing great compared to Biden compared to anyone actually. And if you would like to try to refute that I would love to destroy every word of your argument. In fact, that’s what I live for. I come on here every day to see the liberal funny Farm, and wonder if it’s everyone in the same building, looking like idiots and spewing nonsense. And then patting each other in the back. Heyyyy duuuude that was a pretty good post man. Yikes. I see this group here and thank God it’s only .2% of the Democratic Party but it scares the shit out of me but this is the educated group supposedly. It only demonstrates improves that education is a theoretical issue. So long as it stays amongst you and classroom. It does nothing. The only way it does anything is when it applies to real life. It very seldom does that. One of the liberals here get doctorates in women’s studies, or the history of the butt plug, or the tampon, and expected to make them wealthier or more respected. So fucking pathetic if wasn’t so sad
Professor Cox Richardson's newsletter reaches around 7 million people everyday. I'm guessing only she and a handful of other Substack columnists posted McGovern's column in the media.
And EVERY Republican politician is too cowardly and/or on the take to say anything against the Trump Fascist government.
Yes, the good Professor cover much ideologically destructive ground:
Further on Saudi Arabia nuke tech & per CNBC, "For its civilian energy grid, Saudi Arabia is actively working to construct up to 16 nuclear power reactors. Rather than "just buying" a plug-and-play solution, Saudi Arabia signed a major joint declaration on civil nuclear energy with the United States to secure foreign technology, engineering designs, and technical know-how to physically build [nuclear grid] infrastructure on Saudi soil."
AKA, "How I stopped worrying & learned to love the bomb" in the Middle East.
What fun!
We're helping the guy who likes to bone saw his critics get a nuclear bomb!
What could go wrong?
This was incredulous to me.
Like all "Republican" statements of "principle"; absolutely no nuclear proliferation- "without cause".
Hard to believe that we're in bed with a country whose favorite weapon is a bone saw.
Different headgear, same result. We'll meet again...don't know where, don't know when...
But, I know we will meet again some Sunny Day.
(Smile). Somewhere over the rainbow.
IMHO they can have all the thorium they want. Same for Iran. Same for us.
Just a Q. Does any country have a thorium design functional reactor?
Per Google AI:
*China: Achieved a breakthrough with a 2-megawatt experimental TMSR. In
2024, the prototype reached full operational capacity, and scientists successfully demonstrated continuous refuelling without shutting down the reactor.
* India has been executing a three-stage nuclear plan since 1954 to eventually transition its fleet entirely to thorium. They are building the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor specifically designed to test this thorium fuel cycle.
*Denmark: Private companies like Copenhagen Atomics are developing containerized, 100-megawatt thorium molten salt reactors meant to be transportable by truck or train.
China.
Welp, that sent me down the thorium 🐇🕳️ Thanks!
Will it stop with thorium? why not just sell shrink-wrapped reactors?
I’m rescinding position that the republican party is extinct. Not like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the maga sycophants will continue wallow deeper in slime, algae, puke, lies, etc… only to stand inches tall and wear the title Fascist Republican
I think that's a contradiction in terms.
And the worst thing is when this is going through Internet explorer or Google it takes a response many times and instead of being right below the person you’re responding to it moves it down three or four post so it doesn’t gel. And bravo to Dr Richardson yeah if you like horror movies that are unreal yeah bravo.
Superb column of bullshit. She hasn’t put out an totally honest column since the two years I’m reading and I don’t mean lying. I mean distortions I mean, omitting half the facts so that you swayedin One Direction and you guys are so easily swayed . It’s like butter it’s like your Eskimo’s and Heather’s got ice to sell you.
This is a watershed speech, daring Democrats to speak just like McGovern on the House floor. This could be the small explosion that starts burning the fascist ideology until it crumbles. If not, then Heil Trump will go with the Nazi salute soon. GIVE THEM HELL, DEMOCRATS!
Hell will freeze over before you ever see a Republican politician give a speech criticizing the Trump regime. Even the lame duck Senators and Congressmen are afraid to utter a discouraging word.
From now until the election it will be silence of the Republicans and most of the MSM.
We need another Margaret Chase Smith... instead we have nothing but a bunch of Susan Collins'
⬆️🎯👏🏼
For what’s it’s worth…I sent Rep McGovern’s speech to my Fl MAGA’s.At least it felt good!
I imagine Trump is just aching to be heiled, but even he knows, that at this point, it would not be good optics.
JL Graham I just looked in the dictionary there’s a picture of your view, the word, absolute, fucking moron, and I never heard a definition until now now I see a dictionary don’t lie I even looked it up in Wikipedia, and there you were hating , fucking moron
You motherfucking moron, using the word Nazi. I would love nothing more to be a spectator watching when some Nazi gets a hold of you and thinks you’re a Jew.
And tortures you limb from limb for years and starves, you and Burns you and gases you but keeps you alive so you suffer even more I have never seen so many haters in my entire life. It’s absolutely sickening that someone in America could be so stupid or ignorant. But here you are JL.
Certainly would not, JL. How about we try it, next demonstration? Bigger than Nuremberg? some enormous vertical banners with the face that blocked a thousand ships instead of a swastika? Sieg heil! Sieg heil!
This is a broken damn speech. Are you kidding me the man said nothing.
And take your Nazi rhetoric and your heil Trump and stick it up your fucking ass
Lucky I’m in a good mood today. Frank or I would totally destroy you embarrass you here on this website on this Substack for being a fucking moron.
I wish for you. Is it one day you made a Nazi and he thinks you’re Jewish he treats you the same way, the Nazis treated the Jews and then you’ll never use the fucking word or influence again you piece of shit at the bottom of the ocean
And like Jon Ossoff.
I was very impressed by his manner when questioning Clayton and Hegseth.
They yammer and clack over everything asked.
Ossoff was like a slow steady drill bit.
Ha! Great minds. I likened him to a gimlet, the other day.
I donated to his campaign after watching the hearings. https://electjon.com/
Voted for Laken. Hard no.
Proud to call Jim McGovern my congressman.
And Jon Ossoff
THIS‼️‼️‼️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT EVERY SINGLE NEGATIVE COMMENT FROM A LEFT ON THESE POSTS WENT TO THE MINNEAPOLIS LEARING CENTER FOR EDUCATION. AND THAT’S NOT A TYPO THE LEARING CENTER, THE LEARING CENTER THE LEARING CENTER. Waste fraud and abuse. And we’re finally doing something about it just like the tariffs we’re finally doing something about it just like six presidents that claim that Iran wasn’t supposed to have a nuclear weapon and while Obama gave him the cash to do so six presidents did nothing until now until it’s almost too late. And then you got a fucking idiot calling Netanyahu award criminal when Hamas is the government of the Palestinians. A terrorist organization determined to wipe out the entire state of Israel.
Well, Richard, if there was any Maga fascism to oppose there wouldn’t be any need for any commentary and there isn’t any need for any commentary because it only exists between your ears between your hateful Donald Trump ears I’m getting sick and tired of you. People blaming Donald Trump, Donald Trump Donald Trump as if he turned the world upside down in a year and a half. Joe Biden fuck this country for the next 10 years at least with illegals. Barack Obama Obama was the most divisive president we’ve had in the last 50 years. And you’re talking about Donald Trump. Donald Trump policies every single one of them has been winning for the American people. And if it wasn’t for all the fraud and waste, we wouldn’t be talking about this at all, but Donald Trump is cleaning it up and you call it cutting costs well guess what we’re cutting fraud is what we’re doing and it needs to stop billions billions billions billions of fraud Medicaid Medicare snap education.
Undiluted truth.
Now you’re being totally deceitful Heather it’s horrid what you’re saying here why don’t you direct them instead to view the charter of the DSA so they can see exactly what they want to do to America. Which by the way would take away your ability to make a profit here anymore. Superb column she’s not telling you the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth are you kidding me? Why is it that when she post something you just bow and genuflect you don’t investigate you don’t pushback. You don’t research to see if there’s anything she left out pathetic.
From Tina Brown's message today supporting your Great Leader:
Pardon Me?
We have a president who loves cheats. They are his tribe, his confreres, his soulmates. In his second term, he has pardoned them with abandon. Among those he has proudly exonerated are crypto king Changpeng Zhao (currently worth $108 billion) whose Binance platform was an open house for money laundering by Hamas, Houthis, Russian oligarchs, take your pick. Clemency was also showered upon pornography payment mogul Jason Galanis, sentenced for swindling the Oglala Sioux Nation and other investors out of $60 million; former reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted of scamming banks for over $30 million in fraudulent loans,; Julio Herrera Velutini, the Italian-Venezuelan billionaire banker accused of bribing Puerto Rico’s then-governor, and whose daughter donated a total of $3.5 million to MAGA Inc.; and South Florida health care fraudster Paul Walczak, who pled guilty to multi-million dollar tax fraud, and whose pardon was bestowed three weeks after his mother Elizabeth Fago attended a $1 million-a-head Mar-a-Lago fundraiser.
By the way, where is the column for the dislikes? All I see is alike you mean 64 of you lemmings like it not one person didn’t like it and you don’t think there’s a little something curious about that
She is becoming one of the most deceitful people on the planet in my estimation
Barney are you alive today? Every single president cheats but you don’t wanna call out liberal cheaters only right wing cheaters only Margaret cheaters.
Why does cheating has cost us hundreds of American lives raped women and $1 trillion and we’re gonna be suffering Biden’s cheating for the next decade now do you wanna wake the fuck up or you wanna deny that. ?
Obamas cheating did the same damn thing… if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. And by way barney, the reason for the war Ukraine AND IRAN right now there’s a democrat cheater…… actually, two of them.
Do you wanna live in denial go for it? The left doesn’t give a shit how bad things are as long as our rent control you fucked the education system in this country for 40 years, but she never called it out.
You kept your fucking mouth shut at six 15 million illegals strolled into the country killed Americans raped women brought drugs, brought trafficking, broad crime
WHEN THE NUMBER OF THOSE CRIMES SHOULD BE ZEEEEEEEEEERO.
Wake the fuck up.
I sent you three long posts and guess what happens here now it’s even getting worse now my post disappear. How the hell are you ever gonna hear the truth?
Go chew on my post there Barney. And my point in both of my posts is right up your alley. Write up your hateful, consumed and hate brain. If there’s anything left there.
Did you see my answer you’re talking about millions I’m talking about billions and trillions. And I’m looking for that guy Jeffrey so I can continue my post this morning. I didn’t have time. Jeffrey, the publicist or the publicate the publication. publicate this Jeffrey. Yeah publicate that’s the word.
Best president we’ve had in 50 years and I’ll be damn if you don’t continue to push to get his face on Mount Rushmore.
Barney are you alive today? Every single president cheats but you don’t wanna call out liberal cheaters only right wing cheaters only Margaret cheaters.
Why does cheating has cost us hundreds of American lives raped women and $1 trillion and we’re gonna be suffering Biden’s cheating for the next decade now do you wanna wake the fuck up or you wanna deny that. ?
Obamas cheating did the same damn thing… if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. And by way barney, the reason for the war Ukraine AND IRAN right now there’s a democrat cheater…… actually, two of them.
Do you wanna live in denial go for it? The left doesn’t give a shit how bad things are as long as our rent control you fucked the education system in this country for 40 years, but she never called it out.
You kept your fucking mouth shut at six 15 million illegals strolled into the country killed Americans raped women brought drugs, brought trafficking, broad crime
WHEN THE NUMBER OF THOSE CRIMES SHOULD BE ZEEEEEEEEEERO.
Wake the fuck up.
Do tell us what Biden and Obama did. And you really should use the word “criminal” instead of “president.”
So Barney haven’t heard from you now why don’t you shut the fuck up and go back to your cave and stop whining? And complaining about bullshit when right now this country is running on all cylinders. In fact, the Wall Street Journal put out some tax advice the other day wanna hear it ?
It says as follows. To all the people here who have been SUFFERING And they actually capitalize suffering, the inordinate And large increases in their stock market invest investments. We are offering this tax advice to help you with your. UN ANTICIPATED LARGER TAX BURDEN DUE TO THE GAINS THAT YOU’VE MADE. ooooooops
In the minute, I tell him the response gets buried. Read it pal read it and weep Best president of your lifetime
Well, as soon as you use the word criminal you’re already a left-wing lunatic. And there’s no coming back from that. I just got done telling you what Obama and Biden did. Are you unable to read? Biden allowed 11 to 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 illegals to waltz into this country and the cost of that has already been $1 trillion pal 1, trillion taxpayer dollars. Would you like to see the number of women that have been raped by illegals? Would you like to see the number of America’s that have been killed by illegals would you like to see the number of crimes committed by illegals? THAT NUMBER SHOULD BE ZERO SHOULD I REPEAT MYSELF 12 TIMES BEFORE IT GETS BETWEEN THE VAPID EMPTINESS BETWEEN YOUR EARS. ?
Obama cheated by dividing this country and try to do it without people being totally aware Trevon could have been my son the police acted stupidly BLMN antifa, ragged throughout the country without stopping it and he fed the mullers in Iran with enough money to put us at war today do you want to complain about the war there you go? And let’s see how smart you are. Excuse my expression, but you dumb fuck tell us the reason that Ukraine and Russia are at war right now and I’m not gonna answer another one of your questions but continue to insult you and embarrass you here if you don’t answer the question. Why are you Ukraine and Russia at war right now whose fault is that? And I’ll say what I just said to Jeffrey. I’ll say it to you if Joe Biden was doing every single thing that Donald Trump was doing right now you wouldn’t hear a fucking peep from the left not a peep you know why I’ll tell you why if you wanna know who truly rules over you you’re not allowed to criticize them then you know who the leaders are and your proof of that is above what did Obama do? What did Biden do? Those were your autocratic leaders who you weren’t allowed to criticize even when the guy was non-compass Mentís for almost 2 years. He didn’t have a fucking brain wave left in his head and you wanna run them for reelection. You are absolutely sick and lost.
Deceipt? I cannot tell whether this is a sarcastic attempt at humor? HCR lists all of her sources (research) at the end of her essay.
You have been so duped it’s actually sad to see Duped. Have you ever looked at all her resources? Not one of them is right of center not one they’re all left-wing or wacko left-wing sources. It’s kinda like you’re in court and you’re the defendant, and Heather is the prosecution, and she tells all the stories and has all the links and all the resources and all the sources and all the research And they all tell half the story, and then you’re not allowed a difference because you accept everything she says, without research on your own, without questioning without pushback, and without realizing that every one of her links or left-wing links or worse
Here’s the funniest thing that actually could be happening. She reads all these left-wing resources puts A compilation of them in her own words, and then uses the same resources to validate them. What a fucking fool you are.
Go see if you can find a Newsmax anywhere in her links go see if you can find a Fox News anywhere in her links. See if you can find any right, leaning sources in her links. Yikes. Ooooooops. Here all you lame liberals let me tell you half the story and then back it up with my own resources that I choose myself because I know nobody is gonna question me
He can’t read. His cat tells him what’s on HCR’s posts.
My cat cut out brain you Barney. Nothing about a pathetic liberal Simp
I would love to tell you to your face you ignorant slut you were one of the most despicable humans that I’ve ever met talking like you talk I sent you three or four posts. You can’t say a word about them not a word because they’re all true. If Joe Biden were president right now and I had shot a couple of people you would say well look with these people did they deserved it? That woman should’ve got out of the car when the policeman told her too and Freddy was fighting the week before and he shouldn’t have been back there with a gun in his pocket, you had to blame them, but no because it’s Trump. Every fucking thing is bad. Well guess what?
Every fucking thing is great right now and you whiner should shut up and enjoy the wealth and enjoy the happiness just like the soccer fans they couldn’t say enough about this country We should take you a lot of view and we should send you somewhere overseas and let the soccer fans that Lovett here reside here instead
See Heather blocks any memes here so you can’t see the truth. And Google is supporting it. You go to DuckDuckGo and you can tell the truth here they squelched the truth. Barack Obama, Obama fed Iran, enough money to put us at war right now.
Can’t wait until Trump “taking points”
are a thing of the past. The gaslighting is getting old.
It's appropriate (and historically accurate) for Jim McGovern to have invoked Mussolini. People joke and call Trump 'Hair Furor' but if he resembles anybody from history, it's fat, swaggering Benito, who liked making faces and sneering in front of crowds to show them all how superior and brilliant he was.
On top of so many evils, a reminder that Il Douche has never laughed once in his too-long, miserable life. How could he? He takes no pleasure in anything, has no sense of humor, irony or self-awareness. He sneers, jeers, smirks and preens while pumping that invisible concertina, pretending he has something original or interesting to say. One continuous charade of puffed-up quackery -- lashing out, attacking, grabbing things that don't belong to him, fucking up everything around him.
Fitting to recall what happened to Benito Mussolini in Milan one fine day in 1945 as his own party, allies and brownshirts finally abandoned him. Hint: it wasn't by the hand of his enemies. Take note, Republicans.
Indeed.
And, to paraphrase the Beach Boys, "wouldn't it be nice" if someday soon, the Mango Mussolini meets the same fate as his clean-pated predecessor, even though unlike IL Duce, it would take industrial strength cable to get the job done
And a crane. . .
A 4100 Manitowoc would be more than adequate.
"a legendary, heavy-lift lattice boom crawler crane"
Every day, in every way, I learn a little more.
Such is my ignorance, that when I wanted to write that comment I had to google "What do you call something that lifts something heavy up?" and the best google could come up with was "a crane, dummy!" - which I thought was rather dull.
You, however, have provided a beautiful solution.
Thank you very much!
At your service, LM!
By the way, it was a great crane to operate. A real step up in the old friction (clutch and brake) type machines I grew up on.
Gregg, I live about 5 miles from one of Manitowoc's refurbishing operations, so I knew exactly what you had in mind. 😊
They go through the whole Crane from the boom and house to the lower works and crawlers and rebuild it where necessary.
Yeah. Manitowoc Crane Care is the program.
🤣👏
It may take a pretty big spreader bar rigged up to the hook block to accommodate an all in one go type thing.
TMI.
My head is now reeling. . .
Mango Mussolini may want to crack open a history book and have JD read it to him about what happened at the end…
Trump DOES smile occasionally.
Whenever he's saying something nasty about someone.
Mueller's death was an absolute hoot-fest in the trumpy camp.
He smiles when he's put someone down or thinks he's said something 'terribly clever' -- but never ever out of joy and certainly never at another person's achievements. It's a smile/smirk of cruelty.
when he thinks he's said something terribly clever--🎯
Lauriemcf, my maternal grandmother was like that. She had a "resting bitch face," and wore her hair tightly pulled back and arranged in a bundled reed (not braided) wreath that encircled the back of her head.
The only time she smiled was when she was relating a story of the misfortune or humiliation of someone else. Of course, she was an evangelical.
Smile? 😈
There’s a photo of that public execution but out of caution it’s probably best not to post it. Or maybe not.
Well, as long as we are rhapsodizing about the demise of dictators from the recent past, rather than weaving elaborate plans involving the repurposing of heavy machinery to give The Loser President/Dictator (and his minions) a Mussolini-style send off, I have another vision.
Instead, when the time comes, send said Dictator into the partially completed bunker under the partially completed ballroom with a cyanide capsule and a pistol.
Then let him decide.
He'd shoot the guard - and Rubio would take the capsule for him. Graham WOULD have done it - but - too late. . .
That would be SO like him to not enter into the spirit of the thing, wouldn't it?
As many have said - no sense of fun!
“They don’t want to talk about the real issues, the bread and butter issues. They don’t want to talk about affordability. …. These guys, they dust off the same, tired, old talking points, every time they’re backed into a corner. Every time a new poll comes out saying that your economic agenda sucks, what they do is they change the subject. They try to divert attention. It is pathetic. … But fine. They…want to play that game, let’s play that game. Let’s talk about the Republican Party.?"
No: Democrats, talk about the Democrats! We've had enough about the president's egregious failures and foibles. By now Democratic leaders should have had an action plan for January 3, 2027. (Or two plans, depending on who wins.) They don’t seem to. Some people have jumped on the It's-heresy-for-Dems-to-critique-Dems bandwagon; See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil of the Party. This is a disservice to voters and to all Americans hoping for a more responsive government.
The Dems should have done massive, top to bottom soul- searching back in 2016 when that vulgar lying bigoted business failure won the presidency. (That victory is beyond comprehension.) It’s only now since the "Democratic Socialists" are succeeding over entrenched Democrats that the Party establishment has even begun to open their eyes to what voters might be looking for. Give us affordable healthcare! Affordable housing! Affordable and safe-to-eat food. Affordable childcare and education. An equitable tax system. A wage structure where the top echelon isn’t making hundreds of times what lower-level workers earn. An end to blatant corruption in government and within the oligarch class. A judicial system that truly safeguards citizens against governmental despotism and corruption. Fiscal responsibility. Protection of our environment. Positive international relations.
The idea of a shadow cabinet is often suggested. I’ve had a niggling unease with this idea. What is actually being proposed? Do we really need another layer of bureaucracy? Maybe those proposing it will give a fuller picture of how this would operate. We don’t have the structures and recognized authority for a formal shadow govenment as the UK does, and establishing this new institution might be nearly as cumbersome and difficult as amending our Constitution.
Just as the the Federalist Society and the Hetirage Foundation conceived’ Project 2025, liberal counterparts to these groups (the American Constitution Society, the Constitutional Accountability Center, etc.) .could cooperate with Democratic leaders. And we do have Congressional committees which already give ranking members a way to make the party’s priorities heard and challenge the majority’s proposals. This isn’t the place for a detailed outline of the rolel and rules of Congressional committees. Suffice it to say, Democrats don’t make use of the power they do have. In conjunction with progressive think thanks, Democrats could use their committee roles much more agressively and creatively than they’ve done. Why don’t they? Is it corrupt complicity with the bipartisan status quo? Is it laziness? Whetever it is, we need to shake the Democrats into action.
Deference hasn’t worked.
Donna:
I agree that the Democrats need to wake up to the realities of what it will take to build back a democracy that can withstand the authoritarian attacks. The Democratic Party structure has lost all credibility and is essentially no longer functioning in a meaningful way.
The shadow cabinet is meant to be, in my mind, the opposition's functional equivalent of the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society but not beholden to corporate donors, rather to the voters. It is there to develop policy that is coherent, cohesive, and responsive to the people's needs, whether in the majority or out. It is a forum for the best thinkers in the opposition to hammer out a compromise (a good thing) that works for the majority, with the recognition that change takes time and that positions have to evolve to respond to geopolitical and economic forces. It is there to play the long game, develop talent, and provide rapid responses to the other party's views. Its purpose is to communicate what the opposition stands for, and to be proactive rather than solely reactive.
You may hate what the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society have brought us to, and despise every word of Project 2025, but the persistence, focus, and messaging strategy behind the effort are things Democrats have lacked.
The shadow cabinet is meant to be the intellectual organizing structure for a new opposition party. I think of it as a modern version of the loose organization of our founders 250 years ago. They came together with a wide range of ideas on how government should be run, and went through years of false starts with the Articles of Confederation, but they compromised and kept at it. Ideally, the shadow cabinet should evolve into the formal leadership structure of a new party.
I don't see it as much different from what you are looking for.
Georgia:
“The shadow cabinet is meant to be the intellectual organizing structure for a new opposition party. I think of it as a modern version of the loose organization of our founders 250 years ago.” This is a superb statement of what a shadow cabinet could be, Georgia. Not what we see in the UK, but a way of organizing efforts to bring about change. Serving a purpose similar to that of the Committees of Correspondence in pre-Revolutionary America. And yes, a rapid-fire response effort with a long-game view. And no Big Money! :) And in the end, a new or at least very different Party. “… and yes I said yes…”
And as the Japanese say (I paraphase), It’s okay to fall down seven times if we get up eight.
Thank you so much for your prior comments—they provoked me to think more deeply about what a shadow cabinet in America needs to be and how it would function in the current political landscape.
I listened to the audio version of The Day After yesterday, and it convinced me that we need to birth a new, broader opposition party built on more than the bones and ashes of the current Democratic Party. We are fighting fascism (I think we need to name it, and not continue to euphimize it as MAGA or the Trump regime), and the only way to do that is with the muscular use of majority power to get big money out of politics, to root out corruption and return to a government with integrity, to reform SCOTUS, and to do, for the people, what they cannot do for themselves to provide equitable opportunity.
We have done it all before in our history when faced with existential threats. I am confident we can do it again, but it will take the best ideas from a wide range of new voices. Frances Perkins was a new voice under Roosevelt, and she contributed so much to the New Deal and to a bedrock of American prosperity, Social(ist) Security. Now it’s our turn to gather those new voices and give them a place to debate policy goals and how to achieve them while addressing the fiscal fiasco that will be Trump’s “legacy” to America.
Thank you too, Georgia. Yes, a broader opposition is a must-have; we have begun new parties before in our history. The parties are so entrenched today, to safeguard the perks of their leaders above all. It’s even difficult to get a third-party candidate on a ballot now. A ‘shadow cabinet’ might not quickly become a new party (even if that were the best case scenario). Right now the immediate need is for Democrats (progressives, hopefully) to win control of both the House and Senate in the midterms. (The president is almost achieving that for us!) Democratic candidates must be pushed to run as fearless progressives who will act to end to this war so that tax dollars can be redirected to programs addressing affordability. And they need to seize on this president’s corrupt practices and hang on like a pit bull. IMO, eradicating corruption has to be a central point in the platform of every candidate. Money corruptly stolen from the tax coffers is money unavailable for housing, healthcare, education.
First drops of a brainstorm: maybe what we need as a forerunner to a new party are resurrected Committees of Correspondence (Correspondents!), updated to meet current needs. State-level committees who would draft progressive talking points for candidates. Not the whole litany of ‘his’ offenses, not a rant but a salient statement having broad appeal, radical in its ability to connect with people’s needs. In return for signing on to campaign on these talking points, candidates would be given get-out-the-vote support and local exposure.
“Now it’s our turn to gather those new voices and give them a place to debate policy goals and how to achieve them while addressing the fiscal fiasco that will be Trump’s “legacy” to America.” Excelsior, Georgia!
You’ve written a superb, concise yet comprehensive description of the concept of the “shadow cabinet .” Now to send it out to progressives and forward thinking Democratic leaders and demand that they start thinking this way. Thank you
for sure the times they are a changin'.
Donna:
"Give us affordable healthcare! Affordable housing! Affordable and safe-to-eat food. Affordable childcare and education. An equitable tax system. A wage structure where the top echelon isn’t making hundreds of times what lower-level workers earn. An end to blatant corruption in government and within the oligarch class. A judicial system that truly safeguards citizens against governmental despotism and corruption. Fiscal responsibility. Protection of our environment. Positive international relations."
You read that - and, actually, it doesn't REALLY sound that much to ask for, does it? I mean, not in a country as wealthy as the US? It's not as if you're asking for diamonds on every dinner plate? Or a private tutor for every kid? Or an on duty doctor 24/7 in a shed at the bottom of the garden?
But you put those ideas to your every day US man in the street - and it would seem like a fantasy, a hopeless dream - despite the fact that quite a few countries in Europe have it - or are at least trying to attain it. They know the goal is there, and are heading towards it.
Contrary to popular legend, it seems that Americans aren't ambitious ENOUGH!
The majority watch too much television. Absent from reality, they're then amazed to find democracy has slipped away.
It seems to me that what HCR has called "the liberal consensus", a dominant political viewpoint even when I was growing up, and even Ike endorsed it, is now being called "communist". A president who repeatedly ignores and violates democratically crafted laws is called "patriotic".
Trump has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Trump has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
Trump has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
It's not a good sign.
Agreed
Six House Democrats voted for the NDAA and none of them were Democratic socialists.
Trojan horses
If what you're asking for is fiscal responsibility, an "equitable tax system," and a lot of free and affordable things for a lot of people, then I'm guessing you are in favor of much higher taxes on the wealthy and high-income taxpayers, and a vibrant economy to generate a lot of revenue. I don't think all those things are compatible.
Robert: Works pretty well in the Scandinavian countries. Happy places too.
I only spent a few weeks in Sweden and a couple of days in Denmark, but yes, I think I picked up a generally more cheerful vibe from interactions I observed. And private enterprise was very much alive and well. Even the windmills were OK.
Thank you, Georgia.
Robert:
1. I mentioned affordable things, not free things, Robert.
2. Yes, I am in favor of higher taxes on the very wealthy. Wealth is either taxed, i.e. returned to a common ante to be used for the common good, or it’s retained. What is all that retained wealth used for? Some no doubt is used philanthropically. Some is invested in manufacturing or service industries. But so much is used to buy multiple homes and the desired accoutrements for each one, then multiple vehicles, multiple everything. When did human beings start believing that possessions and wealth well beyond what any individual needs or can use, were part of the necessaries of life? As for how wealth is invested, what kind of businesses are we building? What kind of growth are we promoting? We must start considering the effects of growth on the planet. Surely the fires and floods and global warming of recent years and the droughts have brought this home to us.
3. A vibrant economy generates revenue, but is the amount of revenue generated the best measure of a vibrant economy? Look at the world we’ve had for the last thirty or so years. Many consider these years (most of them) a time of great economic vibrancy. The age of globalization and multinational corporations. The digital age. Now the age of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies. But how many of the eight billion people on the planet today share in the vibrancy? I don’t know, but things seem out of balance.
4. “I don't think all those things are compatible.” Then think again, think harder, think differently, Robert. I’m not sure that the change we’re seeking can be reduced to one overarching goal. If we were to try, we might say that it is this: wealth created by those who contribute labor in tandem with those who contribute capital, should be shared much more equitably. But this view may depend on the relative value we give to human effort versus money.
"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits." - Abraham Lincoln
Well, we've had good economies before when taxes on the wealthy were a lot higher, so I think we can again. And also, if we could have better health care and the things that help people, it would be less expensive for business and for us—so everybody might be willing to pay more to have everybody covered and helped.
Seen Trump's tax bills?
What was it? $750 one year?
That made him "smart" he said. . .
I wish people could see that him being "smart" is the same as him and the other fat cats cheating the rest of us.
If you are not a billionaire or a pauper, the IRS says that makes you in default.
Such a shame - we have "a lot of revenue" - and we keep spending it on wars, instead of The People. The money fuelling the lunacy in Iran mostly comes from the taxes of those with lower incomes than Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Robert, the numbers say you're mistaken, and the numbers don't lie.
Happiest countries in the world:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
Highest taxed countries:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/highest-taxed-countries
Note: I used the World Population Review's data because it's clear and graphic. But numerous analysts come up with the same results.
Robert, I'm returning to point out another interesting trend. The numbers tell us that education quality trends parallel with tax rates and happiness.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country
A corollary analysis demonstrates that the less religious a population is, the better educated and happier they are.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/religion-by-country
Probably has something to do with knowing what's really important*, being willing to pay for it†, and being satisfied when you get it.
*It ain't race, religion, sexuality, or boundless riches
†And not expecting someone else to pay for the benefits received
Hmmm, I wonder when we sank to 31st place.
Jim, the World Population Review's records don't go that far back. Other analysts having been doing the research for quite some time, but I don't have time to investigate.
My own guess is that the people of the U.S. have never been very happy. I think white Americans were pretty optimistic in the 1950s, but their optimism would have been offset by Black Americans who were held at a distinct disadvantage.
As I look backwards through U.S. history, I can't see an era during which the majority of Americans were truly happy. I suspect it's because the U.S. has been under the constant shadow of ignorance, religion, racism, fear of "other" sexuality, and unmet financial expectations.
No doubt we fell several notches after JFK's assassination, and never recovered after that, through the present day.
AMEN, BROTHER‼️‼️‼️
If I never heard that whiney voice or his name again, it would be like we reached the Emerald City.
🎶You're outta the woods, You're outta the dark, You're outta the night! Step into the sun, step into the light!🎶🎶 (That's for Bryan Sean McKown, frequent commentor and singer)
Lions and tigers and bears oh my
So…Kash Patel is going to ‘Communist Russia’ on a social visit? Yet, MAGA and others are claiming Democrats are dangerous Communists? 🤔
Probably to figure out a way to Rig the Midterms with Putin!
Probably Kash is being sent to Russia by Trump. Is he taking a message Trump doesn’t dare speak on the phone?
Well, I'm surprised he's sending it with ol' "Flappy Gums" Patel. . .
Going to try to get those DeutscheBank loan receipts and cut a deal for the missing pee-pee tapes. Trump is getting scared.
At some point, every Trump flunky has to schlep the demented boss's piss bucket around when Il Incontinento needs a tinkle.
Could Trump's handlers possibly have kept the fact from Trump that Ukraine is the sole superpower now and they are kicking Putin's ass?
While Putin continues to commit daily war crimes by attacking civilian targets, Ukraine has focused on military targets. The Ukrainians have disabled Putin's Shadow fleet of tankers and military ships in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. They have destroyed four Blackberry Warehouses which will bankrupt thousands of small businesses. They have destroyed oner 100 sub-stations in Crimea in the past 4 weeks. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are dead and most of those killed in 2026 have been killed with drones. Every road and railroad bridge has either been destroyed or severally disabled into Crimea.
And now compare that to what our "mighty military" has accomplished in Iran. Yeah we have killed school girls like Putin and over 400 US military personnel are dead, but as far as military targets go, we suck.
How incredible that he is visiting Russia less than three weeks before Election Day!
russia is not communist anymore. putin is another fascist.
Russia wasn't REALLY communist before either. It was a fascistic form of communism, not really something Marx would have acknowledged.
True.
True Communism was what Jesus preached.
Those gol derned Bolshevicks.
Russia is no longer communist, nor does it claim to be. China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba still claim to be "communist", but that probably has Karl Marx turning over in his grave. Russia is now a proto-typical fascist country. Patel is probably going there to take lessons.
Yes. Now the "patriots" are the Russians, and the "communists" are the Americans.
Weird, no?
Thinking Kash is trying to save his job and be a delivery boy when visiting the Kremlin for his “sensitive trip to Russia scheduled for October 14–15, 2026.”
I don't think of modern Russia as communist. More Putinist.
Makes my head spin!
Thank you Professor Richardson.
Coming tomorrow is an article that has been challenging for me to write because it is personal in several ways. It's the first of a two-part "Architecture of..." series and is called "The Architecture of Division."
Here's an excerpt:
...Before exploring further, let us reflect on an older wedge, where the manipulation is safely in the past and no one has to defend a side.
In 2003, the country was marched into two wars. Many Americans dissented. I was one of them. We gathered, marched, wrote, and questioned. And the answer we received was not an argument. The answer was simple: to question the President in wartime was to dishonor the troops.
You remember how it worked. Long before the right made “cancel culture” its rallying cry, it canceled the Dixie Chicks for one sentence their singer spoke from a stage in London. [2] In an important act of patriotism, American restaurants renamed their potatoes. [3] When we asked whether the war was necessary, we were told we fight them there so we do not have to fight them here.
When we pointed out that neither country had attacked us, that question was treated as betrayal. The tactic was not to debate the dissent. The tactic was to make dissent shameful. The citizen who asked questions was recast as a traitor giving the enemy aid and comfort.
They used our concern for the troops as the dividing wedge.
“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” — George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20, 2001 ...
Had a similar thought re: attacks on The Dixie Chicks when they exercised their 1st amendment right. Give a listen to “I’m Not Ready To Make Nice” especially the lines “shut-up and sing or your life will be over” and one person teaching their kid to hate. DJT has given hate a headline and encouragement to violence every time he opens his mouth.
So very true. He has created a role for bullies and provides a license to normalize egregious behavior. And whenever he tries to piece together a coherent sentence of bluster he hides his deep cowardice. The Dixie Chicks and their courage to jeopardize the success by speaking truth to power continues to inspire.
Let’s hear it for “ The Chicks”
And I ain’t whistling Dixie
So very true. He has created a role for bullies and provides a license to normalize egregious behavior. And whenever he tries to piece together a coherent sentence of bluster he hides his deep cowardice. The Dixie Chicks and their courage to jeopardize the success by speaking truth to power continues to inspire.
I think I heard him bad mouth the Beatles with some really off the wall comments. Maybe that was a fake report.
I don't know about that, but in a bit of history from 40 years ago, one of Reagan's cabinet secretaries excluded the Beach Boys from a July 4 celebration, and the secretary soon had to resign. Almost everyone knew that group was a deep part of Americana.
I was at the 1981 celebration. It’s one of my fondest memories of my young adulthood. *sigh*
I checked, and it was fake. Trump seems to like pop music a lot. From what he has said about other issues, it sounded real.
For the record (no pun intended) “The Architecture of Division” has no mention of Yoko (who is a wonderful person) or the Beatles. 🎼🤓
O was never much of w fan of the Dixie Chicks until “that one sentence “ spoken by them about that idiot in the Oval Office
Abhorrent child abuse, that rump is US president!
And thank you for your service to our democracy
Representative McGovern's speech was excellent. It is good to see Democrats speaking out--and his words on the House floor provide a fabulous blueprint for others to follow. And then there is your explication, Heather, that takes his words further, points out what was lacking in his description of fascism, and puts his words in context with scholarly works on fascism. Spread the word, enlist others to spread it, too. And thanks to you both.
McGovern gets 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻for his speech, for sure. And, as Prof. Richardson points out, he omitted the horrific corruption that’s behind so much of the “affordability” issue. Dems must take a lesson from Peter Magyar, who won Hungary in large part by showing his countrymen and women how the devastating corruption of the government was leaving them with crumbling buildings and roads, failing schools, and terrible healthcare.
“Affordability” is fine to talk about, but without details showing where tax $ are going to corruption and grift, it’s just another buzzword.
Dems, attack the corruption! Show the people where their money is going! Show them how we’re manipulated into attacking each other so that we won’t get in the way of their theft.
What is it you think Democrats are doing on the campaign trail, in the House, the Senate, at state levels? Every single one of them is making corruption, incompetence, fuckupery the true campaign issues of 2026, as they should. Pete Buttigieg mentions it every chance he gets, everywhere he goes. The same with Talarico, Vindman, Brown, Osoff, Newsom, Pritzker...the list is long and gets longer each day. And a reminder: "it's the economy, stupid" used to work pretty damn well as a motive to get people to the polls.
What is it with this far-left circular firing squad mentality of going after everybody you don't consider 99 and 44/100% pure? What does it get you at the end of the day?
I agree. That whole 'Dems in disarray’ is so ‘90s — and sooooo boring.
ICTT: And you aren't contributing to the circular firing squad with this post?
I didn't see anything in Marcia's post that is objectionable--she's pointing out something that Magyar was doing--being specific about what the corruption in Hungary actually cost the average voter. That important link to affordability is not yet out there in the media here.
"What is it you think Democrats are doing on the campaign trail, in the House, the Senate, at state levels? ...
What is it with this far-left circular firing squad mentality of going after everybody you don't consider 99 and 44/100% pure? What does it get you at the end of the day? "
At the end of the day a lot of people are tired of decades of lip service
"At the end of the day a lot of people are tired of decades of lip service."
To this day, a lot of people refuse to see the progress made by Democratic efforts - against Republican opposition since FDR's New Deal and ever after.
Even as Republicans are destroying all Democratic progress in essential and emergency government services, civil rights, economic justice, environmental protections, equitable taxation, and government regulation of banking and manufacturing industries. Those weren't 'lip service' they were hard won Democratic improvements. The loss of which are devastating.
What if the devil (or angel) is in the details, and also how the whole puzzle fits? What if the answers are simple yet complicated? Take for example the founders of our system who "brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" yet many held slaves, displaced native habitation, and subjugated women. What if the "perfect" society is at some point illusionary, but an ever more-perfect society is not? Trump and his ilk promise a new Golden Age that never was, but historically we as a species muddle, and fail, and have done some reprehensible things, and yet as a whole have progressed. As far as I can see the ages of kings, war lords, pharaohs, and superstition were comparatively nasty, and both repression and social liberation has been an ongoing theme. The one thing I'm pretty sure is true is that we get a better, more fruitful purchase on reality with finding, acknowledging, and admitting what is evidently true than if otherwise.
Historically some Republicans and Democrats have bequeathed us some great gifts, and also some behaved shamefully. In the present I would say that the nominal Republican party is pretty thoroughly corrupted, and some variation of the Democratic Party is our best hope, but it's legitimate to wonder how we got here, and if any behaviors on our part, certainly myself included, contributed to a significant unraveling governance of, by and for the whole of the people? And with such treachery afoot as we see in the daily news, don't we need to take a hard look and triage our habitual strategies? And what does that look like? There is bound to be serious controversy. There must be solidarity.
Totally
"Dems must take a lesson from Peter Magyar, who won Hungary in large part by ..."
American voters opposed to Trump and Republican Trumpism must take a lesson from Hungarians who opposed Orban and Orbanism. Hungarians across the political spectrum, including the far left, united for Peter Magyar, a former Orban official and the current leader of a center right party. Even if they had to hold their nose, they understood that voting as a strategic joint exercise in taking power was the only way to the reform they wanted.
Or as we say,
Vote Blue No Matter Who
Orban is not analogous
I just got back from Budapest. A beautiful and interesting city. However, after talking to a few Hungarians, I do not believe there will be much of an improvement in Hungary. The medical system is in shambles, taxes on things like food are very high (27% on food) and people do not seem to be very happy. I'm afraid Magyar will soon team up with Trump and Orban.
Surely it will take time for the country (theirs and ours) to recover from a fascist corrupt regime that destroyed important infrastructure and institutions. In the US, I would guess it will take many years, if not decades, to rebuild our institutions. This is not any overnight fix.
I find it useful to remember that Nazism was, among all the rest that it was, a program of permission and peer pressure. In my father's hometown of Kuppenheim, near Baden Baden Germany, the synagogue was destroyed but the ancient Jewish graveyard remained because the mayor stalled for years on an issue of cost. In my Dad's birth town of Freiburg im Breisgau, an Allied carpet bombing late in the war had relatively low casualties, because the Catholic mayor built bomb shelters against orders from Berlin. In the oldest Christian city in Germany, Fulda, the synagogue was destroyed, but without orders. Innuendo and impatience only. On and on it goes. Much was double sided in similar ways. Doctors escaped euthanasia orders by claiming personal weakness. They were laughed at and mocked, but were not punished. None of this brought the regime down, but not all of it is black and white, either. My grandmother, a doctor, was doctor for six satellite lumber camps of the Natzeiler-Struthof concentration camp, among all her other civilian medical duties. She rescued three prisoners and kept them in her home. Two were escapees. The cost for discovery would have been death. I'm not apologizing for these people. I'm just saying that Nazism had a thread of choice, and it's very wise to remember that when we speak of it as it comes again. The new Nazis likely are operating in that circle of choice as well. Not all will choose well. They sure didn't the first time. Some chose better than others. It would be useful to keep reaching out to keep the notion of choice alive among them.
Wise words, and even wiser recommendations. The truth is that when these people finally fall, it will likely be by the hand of those they screwed, lied to, misled, finagled, fleeced and robbed. Somebody will "choose" not to be an asshole, not to be a stooge, not to repeat lies they know are lies, will disobey an order, refuse to go along with the bullshit.
We are getting very close to that moment now. Some might argue it's already happening.
It's so important to know about history such as this, and even more important to try to learn from it or even somehow progress in a way that it doesn't happen again. Trump and the regime doesn't care to learn, they don't want us to know about it, instead bumbling and emulating, in a most foolhardy fashion following Nazism to the horrid end.
Thank you for telling your family's personal account of living through Nazi Germany. There are fewer people that have that connection to the horrors of World War II every year at a time when it's so needed and so important for younger generations to have some kind of reference and understanding of it.
Harold:
Thank you!
Yes. Fascism is a choice.
Some readers may want to explore how the Germans experienced the subtle and not-so-subtle corrosion of the judiciary 90 years ago. I recommend Ernst Fraenkel,The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship.
\Vince S
Faith Petric was a Rosie The Riveter during WW2. She worked in the Civil Rights Movement, and was targeted by Joe McCarthy. She wrote and performs this song.
Ain't Done Nothing If You Ain't Been Called A Red (Live / 1984)
.https://youtu.be/63Tk9QxvZHo?si=T-emgXmvDzDsPf9O.
Awesome. And remember after women were told to go to work to support the war effort, they were told to go back home to open up jobs for the men coming back home. The propaganda needs to stop.
And the (mostly) white women who went to work in “Men’s Jobs” returned home and displaced Black women who had taken jobs lower down the food chain (nannying, cooking, housework), leaving Black women jobless and without means to support their families. But that is rarely found in history books.
Please supply citations for your claim that White women in WW2 government jobs afterwards replaced Black women from their traditional jobs low paying jobs. I've only found that there was generally a return to the pre-war (discriminatory) status quo. Although FDR's directive desegregating WW2 government work for women contributed to the growing Civil Rights Movement
During WW2 Black women worked as Rosies, Wendys (welders) and Government Girls (office workers - including in cryptology and intelligence.) As did other minority women.
"Black and minority women were also part of these corps of fabled “Rosies.” An estimated 600,000 African-American women fled oppressive and often demeaning jobs as domestics and sharecroppers. They chose instead to help build airplanes, tanks and ships, fueling America’s “arsenal of democracy.” National Association of Black Military Women
.https://www.nabmw.org/the-rosies.
"You won’t find WWII era ads or recruitment posters encouraging black women to enter the factories, government offices, or ship yards, but approximately 600,000 African-American women did just that.
Despite their achievements, these black Rosie the Riveters still do not receive the same attention as their white counterparts. This maybe partially due to the fact that 44% of black women were already working in menial jobs outside the home before WWII, or that black women were the last one hired (after white males who had deferments, white women, and black men). So many black women did not get their jobs until the later part of the war."
.https://rosietheriveter.net/honoring-our-countrys-black-rosies/.
"During World War II, African American women served in vital, though frequently segregated and underdocumented, roles within military intelligence, cryptanalysis, and tactical postal tracking operations. They worked to decrypt enemy communications, trace strategic troop movements, and manage critical information networks despite facing systemic discrimination. Cryptography and Codebreaking Arlington Hall Station: A unit of African American women was stationed at Arlington Hall Station in Virginia, serving alongside thousands of other female cryptologists to process intercepted messages. Signal Intelligence: These personnel applied math, pattern recognition, and linguistic skills to decode tactical messages, track enemy supply lines, and monitor communications for Axis ties. Classified Contributions: Much of their specific individual data and precise operational rosters remained classified, omitted from mainstream historical records, or attributed broadly. Postal Intelligence and Logistic: The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: Commanded by Major Charity Adams, this was the only all-Black female battalion of the Women's Army Corps to be deployed overseas (serving in Birmingham and Rouen, France). Information Security & Flow: While framed as postal sorting, the battalion processed millions of pieces of mail and tracked troop locations, securing an essential communication lifeline for frontline intelligence and morale in the European Theater. Notable Undercover and International Figures: Josephine Baker: Operating as an official agent for French intelligence and the Resistance, the iconic entertainer used her celebrity status to move freely across borders. She gathered vital observations on German military installations and smuggled secrets written in invisible ink on her sheet music.
"During World War II, a segregated unit of African American women worked as cryptologic and intelligence personnel at Arlington Hall Station in Virginia. Key figures from this classified effort include Annie Briggs, Elsie Scott, and Genevieve Collins. Roles and Contributions:Monitored commercial and international traffic logs to track foreign trade and spot entities collaborating with Axis powers. Handled production, decoding, and clerical support within the segregated B-3-b unit.Provided critical intelligence data despite facing strict racial segregation and systemic discrimination on the home front. Post-War Service: Annie Briggs served as an assistant to Colonel William Coffee starting in 1944 and is noted as an early Black woman leader in the unit.Elsie Scott and others continued government intelligence work into the post-war era with the Army Security Agency and the National Security Agency, with some rising to section heads."
.https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/the-black-women-code-breakers-of-arlington-hall-station/.
I appreciate the work you did to find these citations. I was commenting on something I learned in grad school 30 years ago, so I’m unable to accurately cite that information. Thank you for filling in the blanks.
Tip of the iceberg. And of course it's not in textbooks until it is. And now the Republican regime has been banning know facts. Heard on CSpan some GOP white supremacist grilling the head of the Smithsonian American History Museum on whether it was appropriate to have Latina Power caps in the gift shop. As though that were a bad thing. Where they cannot ban, bowdlerize, and distort exhibitions, the Republican regime is proposing signs outside museums " This museum wants you to hate your country." It is like warning labels I've seen on NIH papers saying something like 'The administration has to keep this publication available, but we want you to know we think it is dangerously wrong.'
These are difficult and dangerous times. Thank you for shedding and sharing light. It lifts us up.
Rebecca Solnit had an amazing essay about violence against women - and society wanting to continually put 'women in their place' - which really resonated following the arrest of the Tate brothers and the bros-ha-ha about The Odessy. https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/listening-to-cassandra-misogyny-classical-and-modern/?ref=meditations-in-an-emergency-newsletter
Great song.
KUDOs to Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) for his statement on the House floor! For one thing, every word was entered in the Congressional Record: It's documented history now. I 'm sure every complicit GOPer was outraged, but his address put it out in the open..
The cards are on the table. If anyone disagrees with what he said, the response should be fundamental - PROVE HIM WRONG (their silence is very loud, in fact it's practically deafening. )
p.s. Thank you Dr. Heather for this post. Once again, you've been timely and accurate.
I look forward to a day when Trump’s name, corruption, and sheer stupidity are no longer mentioned. VOTE like your future depends on it. VOTE like your children and grandchildren deserve better. Just VOTE.
And what about the Epstein files?
Nothing Stinky has done has succeeded in distracting the public from them. Considering the lengths he and his gang have gone to shift our attention, he must really be worried about what's in there ever seeing the light of day!
He has completely succeeded.
He may not have distracted the "communists".. but MAGA has moved way past them.
MAGA does not care about the Epstein files.
The only reason that the Democrats are willing to discuss them is to try to get Trump out of the picture.
I mean.. what exactly did Biden do about the Epstein files?
The part no one ever wants to admit is that Epstein didn't come up with those plans on his own. I don't even think Maxwell did.
I think they were always under orders from another Government.
And I expect that government is the one we just signed our defense industry err Department of War over to. And is the reason that the senate will pass the NDAA which now includes not only all the money Trump wanted for his war but has the SAVE act rolled in for good measure.
If this country survives (and I'm not sure it should at this point) I guarantee that the next President is going to ignore them too.
Please, Oh Please, keep publishing / posting this missive over and over, until it is read by as many Americans as possible.
Ken, already shared. Heather has many readers among my friends.
If this doesn't work, they'll have to come up with something else. Maybe their next rant will be that we don't floss.
The absurdity of this attack is unbounded. It is as though Trump — who probably came up with the idea/approach — was mentored by a red-baiting bigot…you know, like Roy Cohn……
When the red-baiting, closeted gay bigot lay dying of AIDS, Trump wouldn't go anywhere near him, never visited him, never called him, pretended he didn't exist, forgot all about their supposed deep "friendship."
That sounds like someone else once in Trump's close circle of "friends" who's been in the news recently. E..something or other, Stein...can't quite remember now. Hmmm.
trump is gay, too, so that’s what they shared. The whole raping women thing is for public consumption — a beard to hide behind. Women and girls are just currency for their deals. Also with epstein, putin, and the tates. Have you seen how trump touches and strokes the naked skin of male athletes? Eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww. Super creepy.
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2043328696170480088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2043337561049903292%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indy100.com%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump%2Ftrump-ufc-miami-fighter-beautiful
Um...no. They shared being cruel, bigoted jerks, not boys.
I have wondered the same about the Tate Brothers -- a deep and horrifically cruel cover for their own sexuality.
If you are looking for consistency or self awarenss in turnip or maga, fuggedaboutit.
"In his 1951 'The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements,' Hoffer noted that demagogues needed a disaffected population whose members felt they had lost the power they previously held, that they had been displaced either religiously, economically, culturally, or politically."
Sometimes forgotten now, but the very first lie in interwar Germany the Nazis picked up on and turned into a cause célebrè was the myth that Germany was about to win the war in 1918 when "liberals" "traitors" "communists" "Jews" "pacifists" and "cowardly generals" in the Army cut a secret deal with the British behind the Army's back to snatch the glory of victory away from the German people through a dishonorable Armistice. It has since become known as the 'stab-in-the-back myth' (or Dolchstoßlegende if you're into long German nouns) and German historians trace that as the very first of many lies people were only too willing to believe to rationalize their own defeat in war.
Trump has set America up for its next myth, one that Kegsbreath and idiots like Scalise and JD are already busy manufacturing -- that Democrats are communists hell-bent on "defeating" America just as victory arrives. The fuckupery mixed with lies is supposed to be the next smoke-and-mirrors game to conceal the fact that we have screwed ourselves in Iran big time by pursuing a pointless, needless war simply to satisfy Il Douchebag's desire to undo what the black guy did.
Woe to those who don't fight back against the first stupid, outrageous myth. More are sure to follow if they don't.