Both Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio told television hosts today that they expect an infrastructure deal on the $579 billion bill this week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said that he will delay the Senate’s upcoming recess until this bipartisan bill and another, larger bill that focuses on human infrastructure are passed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says she will not hold a vote on the smaller infrastructure bill until the larger bill, which is a priority for Democrats, passes the Senate.
Learning. Second only to love, has to be the most important thing to making the most of life. Thank you Dr. Richardson for this opportunity to keep on learning.
I'll add my thanks, too. Reading HCR, I've learned so much about the nation's history that I should have known. And, most importantly, it's how the past links directly to the present.
Meanwhile, the hearings of the select House committee investigating the insurrection are shaping up to be a watershed development. Big question: how will potential witnesses who are members of Congress try to avoid testifying so they don't perjure themselves? Another big question: how far will Nancy Pelosi go to compel them? Related: does anyone, including the professor, know of any similar situations in the past?
Susan McDougal, President Clinton's adviser went to prison for 22 months, 18 of which were for contempt of court. She refused to testify at a grand jury hearing. I have wondered all through this deal with trump why, when people refuse to testify after being subpoenaed, they are not prosecuted for contempt of court! Throw their butts in jail!!!
The White House was actively curtailing and straitjacketing the investigation and tips on Kavanaugh during his conformation hearing. It still makes me angry he could blubber so emotionally and still get confirmed. If it had been a woman her nomination would have been withdrawn instantly as unable to handle the job. Maybe we should all demand that "Justices" Kavanaugh and Thomas recuse themselves on anything to do with women's rights. That would make the court 4 to 3 with the liberal side of the court in the majority so Roe vs. Wade is not overturned. It is hard to listen to the anti-vaxxers crying "My body, my choice" and know they don't see the irony that they are also saying they support a women's right to choose.
Greg Olear's multi-part series on Kavanaugh has apparently exploded on the internet. You can read it in his Substack feed. He is evidently now making it more widely available.
Greg piece by Olear. Just lays it all out there. And people wonder why we are losing our trust in the Supreme Court? Nothing left supreme there, more like clowns.
Have you read the latest polls which indicate that the American people are now losing patience in the direction of the country? There are so many that are now no longer optimistic in the way in which the country is moving. I am a big Biden fan but maybe all this talk now has to move into some real action, including either revamping the Supreme Court in terms of numbers, tenure, whatever. We cannot afford to keep this court as is, especially with so many cases coming to them in the next year. And, ramping up the heat on investigating Kavanaugh absolutely needs to be done. No more mister nice guy.
I actually am not sure but I first saw it yesterday morning on Velshi and then again this morning on Morning Joe. So I do put some credence into it simply because they reported on it, but again, not sure the source.
I just read this piece. It took me all morning to get through it. It makes me feel like I need a shower after reading it. I feel filthy after realizing the bullshit, the lying, the conniving, the criminality that is happening. Brett Kavanaugh should be removed.
Apparently the ploy of the Federalist leaders to divert attention from his debts and focus on the women calling for his head on the block. Both of them.
The debts were the issue that could expose the collusion and corruption.
Sadly, you're right - it won't happen. He never should have NOT been confirmed. The Republicans (prominently SC Senator Graham) must be admonished for their rushed and less than transparent vetting of Kavanaugh. This is what drives me nuts about Democrats. This is the perfect way to attack Republicans. Crickets!
Brilliant! My body, my choice when it comes to NOT protecting you from a deadly virus. AND My body, my choice when it comes to putting “my Republican hand over your vagina to prevent your abortion!?!?” Who gets it both ways? These folks who are acting out of their flight-fight-freeze response as they are jacked up on Faux-News induced cortisol and have lost the ability to reason. Or the desire to reason. How can I help? Be peaceful and keep explaining the brain science of collective trauma. Many people are literally out of their rational minds due to the collective trauma of the last five years. We need to re-regulate, as a nation. And Biden is helping to make that happen with calm, reasoned, regulated responses. Surely it will be seen as attractive to some folks in glimpses of lucidity. Keeping the faith. We must.
Exactly. You are correct. Brilliant! My body, YOUR choice when it comes to NOT protecting ALL of us from a deadly virus. AND again, my body, YOUR choice when it comes to putting YOUR Republican hand over vaginas to prevent abortion!?!?” Who gets it both ways? These folks who are acting out of their flight-fight-freeze response as they are jacked up on Faux-News induced cortisol and have lost the ability to reason. Or the desire to reason. How can I help? Be peaceful and keep explaining the brain science of collective trauma. Many people are literally out of their rational minds due to the collective trauma of the last five years. We need to re-regulate, as a nation. And Biden is helping to make that happen with calm, reasoned, regulated responses. Surely it will be seen as attractive to some folks in glimpses of lucidity. Keeping the faith. We must. Check out PACEs Connection at PACEsConnection.com for the latest on trauma. Explorer and colonist genocide of Native Americans, kidnapping and enslavement of African Americans makes our nation one founded and funded based in trauma. It doesn’t stop; there is an inherited genetic impact as the result of generations of trauma; ongoing racism and toxic inequity.
I agree with you, Cathy, but I'm trying to figure out which Justice you think is the 4th "liberal". I count three liberals (Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan), with Roberts as the only conceivable swing vote in the extremely unlikely event of Kavanaugh and Thomas recusing themselves. Sorry, didn't want to ruin your morning.
Oops, I think your math is right... I was thinking of a 5-4 court rather than a 6-3. However, maybe we could have an impeachment of Kavanaugh instead. That takes Congress not the court.
Maybe we could put enough pressure on him with these articles and questions that he might resign? If the back story is bad enough, he might do it to save the last bit of his reputation, claim, "more time with the family".
Cathy, small detail: I love your Freudian typo re Kavanaugh: "his conformation hearing." The tRump W.H. evidently did curate the news and evidence feed, suppressing most/all of those 4500 FBI tips, to ensure he appeared to conform to their fantasy image of his qualifications and suitability.
That's funny. I hadn't caught that. My fingers like to type their owns these days! The White House actually restricted what the FBI could do, direct orders, and gave them no time to do it in. This was not the FBI's call to suppress all the tips and not follow through.
How about "My body, My choice" with an icon of a needle/syringe , i.e. shot, on one side and a uterus/fallopian tubes/ovaries on the other? I love the Don't Tread on Me version with the snake coiled to resemble a uterus w/ tubes instead of its usual position.
Here is Heather's second last paragraph, a weekend quote from Trump: “The radical left Democrat communist party rigged and stole the election,” he said.
So, now Democrats are communists. Apparently, being socialists wasn't effective enough or it was getting old, so now we who vote for democratic principles are communists.
When is this guy going to expire? It can't be soon enough for me.
Oh, and Flynn saying he just might take his new gift - a gun - to Washington. Another deranged person who has the nerve to call himself an American.
I will say one thing about the near-future: If Democrats don't take the time and effort to get voter IDs in states that now require them, and they fail to understand all the nuances of the new voting rules, the Republicans will run roughshod in the 2022 midterm elections and Democrats will be rendered powerless.
Sometimes I wish I was a hermit who had no exposure to all this crap.
I am disgusted at Flynn and at the fact that there are no repercussions for his clearly treasonous behavior. If General Milley was so aghast at what the former president was planning, then perhaps he needs to look at bringing Flynn back and court-marshalling him. Adding to my disgust is the fact that the true American patriot who gave up his career and exposed his family to threats, Alexander Vindman, has yet to be rewarded anywhere in the administration for his valor.
Being a hermit is a childhood fantasy of mine - I wanted to live inside a hollow tree in a fairy forest! The urge to disappear into Nature reappeared last year with all the craziness and the inability to fully escape dropped me into mild depression. But then a dear friend mentioned Heather’s letters and her voice, joined by all on this forum, precipitated a resurgence of hope and possibility and opportunities for action. Isn’t it said that the antidote to despair is action?
Anyway, Flynn’s latest macho posturing (and that of McCarthy, MTG, Mad Mitch etc. etc. ad nauseum - pffft on all of them) is in line with how autocratic regimes operate. Paul Krugman, economist and columnist for the New York Times, published an interesting op-ed on July 21, summarizing a paper called “The Mechanics of Cult Production.” You can read it here for free: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2021/07/21/paul-krugman-republicans/
Some excerpts:
“Despite vast differences in culture and material circumstances, elites in all such regimes engage in pretty much the same behavior, especially what the paper dubs “loyalty signaling” and “flattery inflation.”
“Signaling is a concept originally drawn from economics; it says that people sometimes engage in costly, seemingly pointless behavior as a way to prove that they have attributes others value.
“In the context of dictatorial regimes, signaling typically involves making absurd claims on behalf of the Leader and his agenda, often including “nauseating displays of loyalty.” If the claims are obvious nonsense and destructive in their effects, if making those claims humiliates the person who makes them, these are features, not bugs. I mean, how does the Leader know if you’re truly loyal unless you’re willing to demonstrate your loyalty by inflicting harm both on others and on your own reputation?
“And once this kind of signaling becomes the norm, those trying to prove their loyalty have to go to ever greater extremes to differentiate themselves from the pack. Hence “flattery inflation”: The Leader isn’t just brave and wise, he’s a perfect physical specimen, a brilliant health expert, a Nobel-level economic analyst, and more. The fact that he’s obviously none of these things only enhances the effectiveness of the flattery as a demonstration of loyalty.”
The much-bemoaned, appalling behaviors of the tRumplicans we’re witnessing fit right into this pattern. My suspicion is that more and more folks will be repulsed by all the signaling and loyalty inflation and begin to turn away from this madness. I certainly hope my well-to-do, college-educated Republican friends begin to wake up to the principles that we’re all in this together, that more for others doesn’t mean less for you, that the well-being of all deepens the quality of their own lives.
I have watched this news. How horrible if water gets too hot for them. Just awful!! We set a net on the beach here in Alaska and get our fish right from the ocean. I have it fileted, frozen, smoked, and canned. And I know how lucky I am.
The temperate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula was inspiration for my hermit fantasy. Majestic cedars and Douglas firs dripping with moss and a forest floor teeming with undergrowth. Also covered with moss and an amazing assortment of fungi. A magical place, and it's likely salmon spawn up the rivers over there. Here at Lake Sammamish we have Kokanee salmon, and several groups are working hard to protect their habitat, a very difficult proposition for a lake completely surrounded by development.
WA state is a beautiful state. I have climbed Mt Ranier. Even without Microsoft and Amazon, the people are progressive, care about the climate, and mostly democratic.
Western WA's urban/suburban centers are mainly blue but eastern WA is predominantly red. It hurt for a while to drive across the state and see all the pro-tRump signs but now I just think "yea, how's that workin' for ya?' and drive on with a smile.
Kathe, It is good that you don't live inside a hollow tree in a fairy forest! This is the first comment of yours to greet my eyes, and I am grateful for having read it.
You seem to have thought a good deal and suffered a bit watching the malignant narcissist capitalize on the longstanding chasm in our country. Thank you for calling on economist/thinker Paul Krugman to assist in understanding the patterns of authoritarianism, which we have been subjected to. Your own repulsion for this heinous manipulation echoes closely the thoughts expressed by other subscribers and, of course, people around the country. Thank you for sharing your sense of what has come over the country. It stirred me. I am concerned that we will face more disruption and political violence before reason takes hold. I hope to read more comments of yours about the temperature of the country and the American people,
Thanks, Fern. I’ve been ‘absorbing’ for over a year with only a couple of comments. Often don’t have anything different to add, certainly not with the sophisticated thought process or phrasing of many HCR followers.
Finding peace right now on the back deck watching hummingbirds battle over the feeders.
OMG, Dennis, you took the words right off my keyboard! That was exactly my reaction when I read that. I wondered how many Republican key words he could fit into one sentence?
Republicans are equating socialism with communism which they've done in the past with some success. I don't get giving a gun to a retired General. There really must be something mentally wrong with Flynn. I keep remembering a colleague who was a retired Air Force colonel saying the goal of the military isn't to make war; it is to keep the peace.
Most of the past president’s people who hear the terms socialist and communist have no real clue as to what they mean. They are inflected to be scary and awful. I don’t know of any Republican/Drumplican who doesn’t use some disparaging adjective before they label a Democratic.
This is still another of Dr. Richardson's Letters that is a tour de force on prominent and important issues of 2021. It is a tight, succinct, powerful statement that is unsurpassed-- indeed unequaled-- by opinion writers in the New York Times, Washington Post, or other of the most prominent newspapers or any other sources of information or observation (which I read regularly). Her command of the details, relevance, and context of what is happening is stunning.
I completely concur. She painted an increasingly chilling picture of what appears to be coming - a massive, ugly and open confrontation, one in which lives will be lost. We are presently waiting for the Archduke Franz Ferdinand moment.
It seems, though, not to be clear what the contours of the confrontation will be, indeed who will be on either side. It’s quite possible that there will be at least a figurative bloodbath on the Republican side before the Democrats are challenged.
The Republicans are fighting a desperate rearguard action in Congress to try to prove their own viability. But fighting over the terms of a gas tax percentage will impress the true believers not a whit. The Democrats have pinned them neatly with the two bills in sequence strategy and no altering of terms in one of them will help. They are clearly at the “lipstick on a pig” stage. They may well be punished for it.
This because there is a large, perhaps huge, group of Americans who will have grimly assented to Mike Flynn’s sentiment when he said, upon being presented with a rifle, “Maybe I’ll find someone in Washington DC with it”. It was chilling to watch that video. I listened for gasps of disapprobation or at least a sense that this was indeed a remarkably daring thing to say. There were none. The audience laughed along, as if this remark represented a normal sentiment, when in fact it was incitement to criminal behavior.
There is much more to come. Should the Democrats appear to be in the ascendancy if the two infrastructure bills are passed, the mood towards Republican legislators will surely not be one that half a loaf is better than none. It will be a loss - for the extremists. Yet its effects will be hugely popular, a signal Democratic pressure point.
The hearings of the committee to investigate January 6 should be immensely revealing. This is an event big enough to generate its own climate. One hopes that the committee members, especially Cheney and Kinzinger, have ample security.
Having written this far, I pause a moment. It seems wild-eyed in the extreme to anticipate such events. But the bedrock faith of the cult is so frightening. I had not heard of the GhostFaced Gangsters until this morning. What were their plans?
And the micro-indications fascinate and trouble me. The one that is currently popping to mind is that of the man who got sick with almost certain Covid symptoms and refused to get tested. Whereupon he got dangerously ill, but on no account would he go to a hospital. He was near death’s door and when asked why he was being so, frankly, stupid, he relied that he didn’t want to add to “Trump’s numbers”. If this anecdote represents the extreme end of Reublicanism in this time, then there is certainly reason to fear that we are nearing a terrible but decisive moment.
Boggles my mind, the reports of people dying of COVID who beg for the vaccine. Completely miss the point of vaccines - to avoid getting the disease rather than treating it. But also indicative of the cult thinking.
And I saw a report in The Guardian today that the number of COVID cases in the US might have been under-reported by 60%. I didn't read the story, just the headline, because my brain said, "Well, of course! What else do we expect from TFG?" Then I couldn't delve further.
Remember the fights over mandatory helmets for motorcycle riders? Seatbelts? Hang up and drive? Every one of them had those who believe in their god-given American rights to be total morons - "But Mah Fwee-dumbs!" It took years to get the laws on the books, with minumum fines. But they were also moving violations, and what happened was, you got one of those tickets, and the next thing you knew your insurance rate doubled for the next year. And now you never see a motorcyclist without a helmet, everybody buckles up before they start up, and even the really dumb SUV drivers use "hands free" cellphones. Turns out, when they have to pay to exercise their fwee-dumbs, the frwee-dumbs take a back seat to more money out of the checkbook.
And now we don't even have to fight for a law. The ACA requires you to have health insurance. So let the insurance companies everybody already hates anyway just tell people "You're not vaxxed? That will be a 25% premium increase, please." And you can bet the dumbest redneck in Alabama would be getting jabbed.
(I wrote about this at more length today at That's Another Fine Mess)
However, as regards the infrastructure, I'm still giving 5:1 that the Republicans pull the same stunt they pulled in 2010 on the ACA negotiations. You can't trust a modern Republican further than you can see him with your eyes closed.
And finally, I have no area of policy agreement with Adam Kinzinger, but I have total respect for him as a true patriot. Like Eric Swallwell said this week about Liz Cheney, "We can argue about policy after we're through saving the republic."
This nation was founded primarily by those who came here, or the descendents of those who came here, because they didn't like the English government telling them what they could and could not do. They were fleeing either Oliver Cromwell, or those who preceded and followed him in the Seventeenth century. And that is the way many still feel about government.
Yes, horrid. "The fatality rate for motorcyclists without helmets has been nearly twice that for helmeted motorcyclists." " Drivers 21 and over can decide not to wear a helmet if they have at least $20,000 in first-party medical benefits and have held a motorcycle endorsement for at least two years, or have passed an approved motorcycle safety course." So if they go without a helmet, they must carry a lot more insurance. Wonder how that works out for insurance companies.
As a young RN in the Charity Hospital Trauma ED, head injuries of cyclists was a common tragedy around 1974. We cared for them and they survived as quad/para-plegics. Or not.
Great post, TC. I love the idea of an insurance premium for unvaccinated people. Perhaps easier to get past Republican objections, a discount for having been vaccinated. All of us who wear seat belts or helmets or are vaccinated are paying higher premiums because of the idiocy of people who consider it their right to make irresponsible decisions that affect more than just themselves.
The helmet laws were pushed by the Brain Injury Association all across the US in the 1980s under Marilyn Spivak's leadership and that of neurology docs. Important grassroots success. The reversal of them is sad. Maybe we need to remind those freedom loving folks that riding without a helmet is the equivalent of them being Body Parts on Wheels.
BTW - as to the post below - the Governor NEVER got an infrastructure deal out of the legislature in 2019. By 2020 we were in the midst of the pandemic with everyone else and finally, the Federal dollars we got meant there was finally an infrastructure deal of sorts.
Alas, TC, in Michigan the freedumb party rolled back helmet laws so now you don't even see Nazi style helmets all that much. The freedumb party also decided to push the idea that our no fault auto insurance law was just way too expensive. So what did they do in the first months of the new governor's term - rushed a "reform" package through which has meant higher auto premiums for most drivers and less care for people catastrophically injured in auto accidents. Oh and by the way - there was a fund called the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association, run by the insurance companies and set up by the original no fault law which was about 40 years old when it was crashed. There were millions in the fund. Advocates urged that the fund, its directors, and its legal commitments be opened up to public scrutiny. Where did that go? Right down the drain with extended coverage for seriously injured folks. Now there is a real mess as what the gop did was to actually crash the really excellent rehabilitative services in the state which were there for everyone - not just auto injuries. The Governor wanted so badly to get an infrastructure deal that she signed the bill. There were smiles all around since many of the provisions would not hit until 2021 - just this month in fact. But the reality is finally coming home to all the folks who thought it was a good idea. Of course gop folks have the insurance industry in their pockets. The dems too, many who were too new to understand the problem when they took office, due to the draconian term limits in law, voted their support too. And there you have it. No helmets. More expensive insurance. And a gop that is doing everything it can to see that no governor will be able to address an emergency without the legislature giving approval first.
Term Limits, the second-dumbest idea in politics after the Balanced Budget amendment. The one part of "government" that doesn't have term limits are the lobbyists, who then provide "technical knowledge" to the elected representatives who have yet to learn where the bathrooms are in the building. And you have just demonstrated why this is the second-dumbest idea in politics.
Agreed! The lobbyists are happy in Michigan that is for certain. I read your entire article on your own post today but glad you also commented on this thread so I could chime in. I think you are on to something with the whole matter of insurance, if you once have the legislation in place requiring certain behaviors for your personal safety. I would like to see something happen with insurance and guns. Frankly I have always thought that people who have, use, carry guns (if they are not public safety officers or active military) should be required to carry liability insurance on all their firearms, and perhaps even accident insurance similar to automobile etc. It seems to me that requiring proof of insurance and yearly licensing, just like for a car or other vehicle, might slow down purchases. Especially if people understood they would have to pay up when/if their firearm caused death, injury, or mayhem. That includes the manufacturer as well. I feel like we are all living in a war zone no matter where we may be.
I am nit prepared to comment beyond this tonight: Rest in peace, Bob Moses. May your memory be a blessing and and example for us all.
As for the rest of it, I'm outraged, almost to the point of incoherence. Please sleep well, Heather and all. Cherish your loved ones and stay safe. I'm afraid of what's heading our way.
I made a forecast the evening of Jan 6th. I believe that Republican women will see past the bullshit and lies of the former guy and what he represents. While I don’t know if time will prove my hunch right, Liz Cheney ‘s moral courage gives me hope.
I hope another Rep from Nebraska steps will into the breach.
“Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all.“-RFK, 1966
“We need to keep the golden goose that is the US economy laying golden eggs”-Warren Buffet. I’m talking about his rep,Fortenberry. Nations that have recurrent coup attempts do not keep laying golden eggs.
I take back every nice thing I ever said about Sen. Joe Manchin. His (now very rich) daughter, Heather Bresch, was CEO of the drug company, Mylan:
"In 2016, Bresch and her colleagues blundered into a massive public relations crisis after raising the price of Mylan’s lifesaving EpiPen—needed by millions of Americans, including school children, to reverse fatal allergic reactions—by 400%. Bresch was hauled before Congress to testify, flying into Washington, D.C., by private jet. Blaming the price hike on a broken health care system, she declared in a disastrous CNBC interview, “No one’s more frustrated than me.”
That same year Bresch earned $13.8 million and Malik earned $8.7 million in total compensation, while Coury netted $98 million, becoming one of the country’s highest-paid pharmaceutical executives. The head-spinning sums led some of the company’s biggest institutional investors to revolt, campaigning unsuccessfully in 2017 to block their continued corporate leadership.
By January 2018, a whistleblower at the Morgantown plant had contacted the FDA, flagging “fraud or disregard for procedure” driven by management, according to an internal FDA memo obtained by Vanity Fair."
This was part of the reason Joe Manchin wouldn’t support one of Biden’s nominees. I can’t remember which one it was but it was because she had made all this news public and went after his daughter. It was personal, childish retaliation.
Try holding your finger on the link a couple of seconds until a pop-up box shows choices for how to proceed. Select “Open in new incognito tab”. Depending on how many times you have visited that publication/page in your current online session, you should be able to read the article.
Or if you have a library card, you can go to your library’s website and search the online database for access to most publications and find the article that way. They are usually one publication back, so for instance the NYT for today won’t be available until tomorrow.
Not to nit-pick, but boy do I understand. My common ones are "fir" for "for" and "snd" for "and". I am ashamed that I had to learn of Dr. Bob Moses via google (although I had heard of the "algebra project".
I have a Canadian friend. She never uses For when she messages, Fir is not a typo for her it’s part of her language skills. It took me a long time to learn that. I have vision problems so I make a lot of weird typos using my touch keyboard on the iPad.
Must admit I so happy I can watch the Jan 6 committee hearings without having to turn it off while Jim Jordan blusters inanities. And, do we now have the first follower, Republican Adam Kinzinger following the lead of Liz Cheney to accept a position on the committee for the right reasons. Are we possibly going to start seeing a movement of Rs away from the extreme right? Please see this short video of the first follower. https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement
Please enjoy this 3 minute video on leadership and starting a movement. One isn't a leader until others are following.
Cheney and Kinzinger both know they have no future in the contemporary Republican Party. Which is why they're the only two actual brave people in the US Congress. They know their beliefs have killed their futures and they do it anyway. Unlike the rest of the careerist scum. On both sides of the aisle.
I'm not so sure. I believe there is a bigger schism in the Republican Party than you realize. I base that on several things I've heard from Republican elected officials and their staff. Some feel the Republican Party is dead if the extremists maintain their hold on the party. Even the anger at the anti-vaxxers is helping bring a few Rs to their senses. The Jan 6 committee will also help as they bring out the R elected officials behind it.
I have to believe this also, Cathy. 🙏🏻 “What you believe you conceive!” “Words matter!” “Thoughts become things.” These are quotes I try to call to mind when I go down the dark and dreary road of negativity.
I read earlier this morning that Sen. Kinzinger believes there are, at most, a single handful of members of Congress who believe the election was stolen from TFG. The rest, in his opinion, are acting solely to protect their own seats in Congress.
If there was any justice, Adam Kinzinger would indeed be a Senator, but alas, he's only a Representative, and that likely only through the 2022 elections.
The future for local transportation is not with public transit--at least not for decades, because the US has been built around the car, and the density in most of the country is too low to make public transit practical. (Population density needs to be ~4000/sq mile.) As far as global warming goes, I wrote about policies to reduce global warming emissions around a decade ago, and three experts on transportation, two in the US and one in Europe told me that reducing emissions via public transit was far too expensive to be worth doing.
As for driverless automotive technology, first, if they ever make truly autonomous technology work, it's going to be incredibly expensive because of the huge computing power it would take. People wouldn't be able to afford their own cars.
Second, it's another way for companies to collect information on people, and to sell stuff to people--a captive audience. If companies own all the cars--likely IMO for all but the very wealthy--you're going to be advertised to whenever you're a passenger.
Third, a lot of skill goes into driving--interpersonal skills, and driving skills, and navigating skills (which are of course already being lessened by GPS technology), and many of us enjoy the skill. Autonomous driving will be one more major deskilling of people.
So, you could commute while driving and listening to the radio, or singing, or simply driving mindfully--all of which I enjoy--or you could commute while listening to advertisements.
I hate the damn GPS technology - particularly Waze. It used to be here in the City of Lost Angles that if you were a good road warrior you could find all the "back country routes" to anywhere you needed to go, the ones that were empty at certain times of the day, etc., and get around really easy and quickly while the Homo Saps sat in their cars in the parking lots, er, I mean the main routes. Now the Homo Saps fill up all the back country routes as they follow their damn GPS.
Modern technology has done absolutely nothing to make life better or easier.
With GPS navigation it feels like I’m driving with blinders on, whereas maps provide context, scale and orientation. They enable me to appreciate my surroundings.
I love maps, they are the first thing I seek out when I enter a new state or town. Sad for the trees though.
I am not a big fan of maps for the same reason I am not a fan of texting while driving. I have often been thankful for GPS while driving in an unfamiliar city -- Dallas, for instance. I (often) shudder to imagine how at 60 mph, surrounded by big trucks, I would use a big fold-out map to quickly choose which of the four exit choices... or even whether it is on the right or left. Maps and buggy whips belong in memories only. (Of course, I mostly drive a small RV which is not all that nimble so I, admittedly, may be an exception.)
Ron, I would NEVER use a map while driving unless I’m fortunate to have a navigator on board. I use it before a trip. GPS can be helpful in unfamiliar neighborhoods IF there is a cell signal. To each their own.
To be clear, I'd never use a map while driving, only in planning ahead or sitting in the passenger/navigator seat. I use GPS when it makes sense. I simply enjoy maps. I abhore texting while driving as well and see it almost everytime I'm on the road.
I am visiting family in Los Gatos. Their weekend problem is the crush of cars on 17 heading from San Jose (et al) to Santa Cruz, then back home. They live in a neighborhood just east of 17 and the press of cars being "rerouted" through these narrow residential streets that are in a hurry to get to the coast is just horrible.
Working as a freelance court stenographer, I covered the District, Maryland and Virginia areas. Had my ADC maps broken down by county to get to places I'd never been before. I tried using GPS once and was directed to drive into the C&O Canal. Fortunately, I stopped short of the edge; grabbed my map, then righted myself in short order😊
A good atlas will never fail one. Do you remember the “Trip Tiks” that AAA would prepare for a member’s destination? That was early GPS before smart phones.
I loved Trip Tiks!!!! After grad school out east, I relied on AAA's personalized set of map flip-books to get me back home to TX. My Dad met me a day into the trip and he so enjoyed viewing the maps. Really good memories of that trip with my Dad.
Agreed. Many don’t know street names or which way Avenues and Streets go. They vary with location. And I’m frequently directed to turn at such and such business that’s long gone. Traveling is full of surprises.
I deleted Waze after they "improved" it to track you all the time, not just when you were using the app .... before then, however, it did re-route me a couple of times to avoid terrible traffic jams.
My car is 10 years old so no GPS. And I won’t buy a new auto until they no longer manufacture parts for lt. I can get any where I need to go using a good old road map!
Alas, is uplifting as that particular TED presentation is, the First Follower concept applies to movements both, beneficial and detrimental. I know I'm being intentionally curmudgeony, and I'm sorry. R's have hitched their wagon to a runaway pony. In my heart of hearts unless and until Trump (with his most effective and extreme enablers) is behind bars, I don't anticipate any movement of R's away from the extreme right. As far as most R's are concerned, Democrats have absolutely nothing to offer them. We don't have any fire brands speaking for us. We are not forceful or extreme in our messaging, we don't have the dynamic appeal to win them over.
There was a First Follower who embraced the current extreme right movement and pulled millions along in a very short period of time. To those who are part of the extreme right movement there is nothing, not even death by corona virus, compelling enough to change their minds.
And my fear is that when t-Rump is put in jail, his followers will ignite with ferocity, and some new charismatic con will pick up the extreme right flag, challenging all their disparate militias to bear arms and take back 'merica.
I had the great honor of hearing Bob Moses speak at Wagner College when my daughter was going there. I knew nothing about him, and left in awe of him! His ability to recall legal cases to support his statements for the students was amazing! I bought a book from him and thanked him for his work and being there that evening. So glad my daughter’s professor allowed me to join in. Rest in Power, indeed! I hope he inspired the students to do great things.
Such common sense inspiration from Bob Moses always. For a time, I was a resource teacher for students with learning disabilities, always with the goal of teaching them process strategies for academic success. One of my favorite classroom lines with them was “now the goal here is that you will not be in my classroom within a reasonable amount of time”. The students would say, “but who your kids going to be?” We would laugh and I’d tell them I’d have to go find some or find a new job.
It doesn’t get much worse. Trump, Gosar, McCarthy, the Ohio wrestling coach, liar and pedophile protector, Moscow Mitch McConnell and the GOP… Eisenhower is turning over in his grave, his party’s decline and fall has arrived.
My dad adored Eisenhower and would be turning over in his grave as well. Well, if he hadn't been cremated, but you get the point. He believed in the Republican platform from the late '50s which defended the environment, unions, etc. He was an avid outdoorsman and would absolutely hate what the party has become.
So once again on the issue of infrastructure we see a political divide where one side wants to do something good for the country, everyone everywhere, and the other side is trying to advantage their own voters and political interests. I understand who is where and why, but it continues to be disappointing. This is why I will be marching this week with the Poor People’s Campaign from Georgetown to Austin. We need to organize, educate, and mobilize an overwhelming number of non-voters around the issues they care about to achieve overwhelming progressive electoral victories. It is the voice and power of We the People that can and will make a difference on so many issues. It is the path to achieving the changes we need.
Thank you. Living in the Texas Hill Country not far from Austin I am well acquainted with the weather. A long residency in Central Florida before my move to Texas has well prepared me on how to deal with the heat.
'There are a lot of moving pieces in this infrastructure bill that have more to do with politics than with infrastructure.' A few words from this line in today's Letter could be used to describe the letter itself, '...a lot of moving pieces' and those words apply to our country as well. The Letter may have been easier to absorb if the points raised were numbered. This was not a criticism of the Letter because it was a true reflection of America today; 'a lot of moving pieces' and all over the place. Heather didn't bring up the spike of Covid and barely mentioned our vaccine problem. Almost 20% of the population said it won't take the vaccine -- is Fauci filled with worry as never before? The enormous increase in gun violence wasn't raised, either, and, yet, the Letter seemed jam-packed, didn't it?
First, as to the 2 infrastructure plans, what makes Pelosi think that the 'willing' Republicans would go along with the larger infrastructure plan going ahead of the bi-partisan plan?
The Democratic Party and Republican Party are not in a tug of war; they are at WAR. We now have the privilege of watching the parties fight it out over mass transit v. roadways in rural America. They are to find a way to compromise. An Olympic political contest!
The Republican Party has become even more extreme and, yet, we cannot quite say it is in extremis. I did catch a glimpse of the former president and hear a few of his lines during the rally in Arizona. Almost everyone we know and quite a few mental health experts, including his niece, have called him deranged. I never doubted it, but subscribers, looking at him yesterday and thinking about his supporters, both the politicians and the civilians (I cannot call them 'citizens', my weakness), it is CRAZY QUILT. Imagine what that very thin, tiny group of the 'willing' Republicans say to themselves when they hear him. This is real. A significant portion of the American people and his enablers have turned America into THE TRUMP SHOW.
It the midst of this '..., just after hitting the six-month mark, Americans' optimism about the direction of the country has plummeted nearly 20 points, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.'
'A majority -- 55% -- of the public say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, a marked change from the roughly one-third (36%) that said the same in an ABC News/Ipsos poll published May 2.' The link for this poll is below:
Biden and The Democratic Party need to pass the infrastructure plans because the country needs them and Biden & Co., are not looking good to most Americans. The Republican Party needs to get the bi-partisan infrastructure plan passed for the same reason, plus they have not done a thing for anyone but Trump. What's going to happen, 'There are a lot of moving pieces...' (Letter)
What are we going to do? We must continue work with the grassroots organizations. In addition to voting rights legislation, Climate Change, child care and abortions rights, this is the time for our voices to be heard.
We are all languishing (more on this later). And the anger at the non-vaxxers is increasing. I really like the idea earlier about increasing insurance costs for non-vaxxers. and I mean ALL insurance, medical, life, auto. IMHO of course
If your idea is implemented will the vaxxers have their insurance reduced or get a piece of increases to non-vaxxers? No! As usual the profiteers advance. Will the non-vaxxers get vaccinated and or not pay the insurance? Is there an anti-insurance movement afoot? Please tell us what will happen if your idea becomes the law of the land, Charlie.
Fern, smokers have had to pay higher premiums for smoking. I wonder how many quit as a result of that penalty. I'll look into it. (I know one of my smoking co-worker's head exploded 15 years ago when her and her husband's health insurance premium jumped $400.00 per month each. They didn't quit smoking...can you imagine?)
We are on the same track, Daria. The anti-vaxxers are fixed in _______. It is exactly what have in mind about living in the TRUMP SHOW against our will!
81+ million of us voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We must continue to fight against the domestic terrorists in Congress and our nation. And also, I look forward, Dr. R. To your column on Dr. oses. May je indeed rest in power.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Just wanted to squeeze in this article about climate. It starts thusly: "In 2015, 20 residents of Yahaba, a small town in northeastern Japan, went to their town hall to take part in a unique experiment."
Morning Lynell. The community “longtermism” community planning article is so significant. I love that you referenced it. Bottom up, not top down. Model can even be used in a classroom with kids.
Morning, Christine!! Granted, they are putting their best foot forward, but I have become increasingly a fan of Japan while watching the NHK Japan show on Sunday mornings. My heart goes out to them as they host these summer Olympics. Fingers crossed that the incidence of COVID infections is minimal.
An exercise I used for developing planning skills in my classrooms. Went like this. I’d ask the kids to put their hand in front of their face and look at it. I’d tell them “this is your plan for today’s step in completing (for e.g.) your project due next week.” What are you going to do. Most could give a vague promise of a step for that day. Then I’d tell them “this time put up your hand and look at it. Now drop your hand a bit and gaze at the far wall of the classroom. THAT’s your completed project .” I’m going to show you how to plan backwards so you don’t just hope you’ll finish, you will know the steps to make sure of that”. Quite frankly, the student planning was much more important to me than the project itself.
Long range planning is difficult. People from the poverty culture literally plan surviving to the next day and deliberately do not look forward down the road a week, month or longer. This is part of what’s happening at a frenzied chaotic pace now. For example, people are asked to see results of Covid in the fall and act accordingly. As crazy as it is, that is very difficult for many people. Prob better for someone to show a dang timeline on one of the media programs and work backwards to getting them to see the relevance of their personal plan to arrange their own vaccination.
This concept of planning backwards is something I learned from Dr. Ruby Payne, advocate of community partnerships in working with and building framework for understanding poverty.
I’m reminded of it today, Lynell, because Bob Moses was the same in his great work with civil rights. This is the vision. Understand your audience in helping them to see it and more importantly, understanding in THEIR way how best to get their.
Planning backwards. A simple, but powerful resource. I’ve simplified it, but it bears thinking about. Bottom up, not top down as we as a nation are conditioned to think.
Thanks, Christine. I'm not sure if I've correctly followed everything you say here. What works for me is acknowledging "the far wall" but focusing on my hand in a step-by-step process until the project is complete. I agree that understanding your audience and "their way," will produce better results. Looking forward to HCR's Letter about Bob Moses.
Yes Lynell. My comment a bit disjointed. To clarify, most people sit down a plan moving forward. For example, step one today, and tomorrow I do this, with each step leading to end goal. As I referred to Dr. Payne, her research notes that people from a poverty culture are in survival mode. A goal is presented long range with little understanding to them of what steps to take going forward. By “planning backwards”, it meets their reality of expanding their usual timeline by knowing the relevance of what step you are taking today in relation to end goal. It’s how they culturally tell stories also. “oh that evil stepmother got what’s due and Cinderella ended up with the prince!” and they work back from the end to the beginning. The “usual” start of that story for the middle class is “once upon a time”. Some need to hear “once upon an end”…… to activate planning steps.
Lynell, I haven't time this morning to read your links but the WaPo article is in my subscription feed for reading later. I saw, however, an Oklahoma license plate the other day that identified its region of OK as native land and it lifted my heart.
Thank you, Lynell. I also appreciated reading about longtermism as modeled by the Japanese Being a Good Ancestor, and its connection to Native American 7th generation decision making. The distressful irony for Native Americans is that European colonization and US policy forced these non-capitalist societies into poverty,* which is a direct impediment to 7th generation decision making.
*Listen to HCR's video chat of 7/22/2021.
And thank you, Christine, for linking this to Dr. Payne's book on understanding poverty. And how you taught your students to plan backwards!
Morning, Lynell! I know very little about how Tribal Law works; I do know that I investigated a homicide that the suspect fled to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and that the process for extradition was a long and painful one. I can only imagine how difficult some of these processes are going to be when it comes to dealing with new adjudications for jurisdictional changes. I would hope to see some sort of process done before releasing some folks back into their communities to insure that there isn't a continuation of criminal behaviors.
Thank you for this lynelle. In the heart of retirement SW florida, maybe donning futuristic robes at my own county commission meetings will raise some republican consciences?! Where all the grandparents SAY they care about their grandkids, yet DO continue to pave over paradise, revising long term growth plans at the drop of a hat (drop of $$ more likely).
Morning, Lynn. An uphill battle for you for sure. I suspect the problem has much to do with "Why should I deny myself for the sake of the environment when my enemies aren't doing the same? Better me and mine get it now!"
Good morning Dr Richardson and all. I was so relieved to hear that Speaker Pelosi appointed Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) to the Jan 6 hearings. I wonder if she can find four more of his ilk that will not toe the McCarthy line. Since there were other republicans who voted for impeachment I would guess that she is or has been considering them as well. The likes of McCarthy, Gym Jordan and Banks should be concerned as their turn to testify is in the not too distant future.
I wonder since the FBI had the tips on Kavanaugh and turned them over to the trump WH which then immediately buried them, what legal recourse DOJ or the FBI has now. Sadly I believe we will have to live with that miscarriage for the rest of our lives.
Actually, I am more hopeful. I think the "Cryin Kav" is a goner. Always, always follow the $$$. Seeing him depart the Court would do a lot to restore our faith in that branch of government.
Learning. Second only to love, has to be the most important thing to making the most of life. Thank you Dr. Richardson for this opportunity to keep on learning.
I'll add my thanks, too. Reading HCR, I've learned so much about the nation's history that I should have known. And, most importantly, it's how the past links directly to the present.
Meanwhile, the hearings of the select House committee investigating the insurrection are shaping up to be a watershed development. Big question: how will potential witnesses who are members of Congress try to avoid testifying so they don't perjure themselves? Another big question: how far will Nancy Pelosi go to compel them? Related: does anyone, including the professor, know of any similar situations in the past?
Susan McDougal, President Clinton's adviser went to prison for 22 months, 18 of which were for contempt of court. She refused to testify at a grand jury hearing. I have wondered all through this deal with trump why, when people refuse to testify after being subpoenaed, they are not prosecuted for contempt of court! Throw their butts in jail!!!
Amen!
Beautifully put. A ton of learning coming from you Heather. Thanks all.
Thank you, Ted.
Equalmente’ Daria
Yes, I just commented that I learn something every time I read Dr. Richardson.
Thank you, Ted, for saying this. Beautifully expressed and it is what I and so many others feel. ❤️
The White House was actively curtailing and straitjacketing the investigation and tips on Kavanaugh during his conformation hearing. It still makes me angry he could blubber so emotionally and still get confirmed. If it had been a woman her nomination would have been withdrawn instantly as unable to handle the job. Maybe we should all demand that "Justices" Kavanaugh and Thomas recuse themselves on anything to do with women's rights. That would make the court 4 to 3 with the liberal side of the court in the majority so Roe vs. Wade is not overturned. It is hard to listen to the anti-vaxxers crying "My body, my choice" and know they don't see the irony that they are also saying they support a women's right to choose.
Greg Olear's multi-part series on Kavanaugh has apparently exploded on the internet. You can read it in his Substack feed. He is evidently now making it more widely available.
What a well of incestuous, cross-pollinated, one-hand-washing-the-other, good-old-boyism this cesspool of influence is.
Well said!!!
I wish we could put this on the FRONT PAGE of the NYTimes!!!🤔
Oh, my goodness, Sandra; well said!
Exactly
YES! Thank you, Linda. EXCELLENT.
Here's the URL for Part I: https://gregolear.substack.com/p/who-owns-kavanaugh-1-the-justice
Thanks for the link.
Greg piece by Olear. Just lays it all out there. And people wonder why we are losing our trust in the Supreme Court? Nothing left supreme there, more like clowns.
Have you read the latest polls which indicate that the American people are now losing patience in the direction of the country? There are so many that are now no longer optimistic in the way in which the country is moving. I am a big Biden fan but maybe all this talk now has to move into some real action, including either revamping the Supreme Court in terms of numbers, tenure, whatever. We cannot afford to keep this court as is, especially with so many cases coming to them in the next year. And, ramping up the heat on investigating Kavanaugh absolutely needs to be done. No more mister nice guy.
Great comment! Time to move on beyond words and sentiment. We need real action!
Annette, is that the poll of 950 people from the other day? Not positive it was that one, but the GOP were pushing one with little credence.
I actually am not sure but I first saw it yesterday morning on Velshi and then again this morning on Morning Joe. So I do put some credence into it simply because they reported on it, but again, not sure the source.
Ofcourse, I can't seem to put my finger on the one I saw. I know there are several polls floating around.
Yes, this.
I certainly have lost my respect for SCOTUS. What a bunch of puppets.
Well financed puppets of the Ferderalist Society.
Purchased by Koch enterprises...
I just read this piece. It took me all morning to get through it. It makes me feel like I need a shower after reading it. I feel filthy after realizing the bullshit, the lying, the conniving, the criminality that is happening. Brett Kavanaugh should be removed.
Me too.
Been reading it, Linda.
What a WEASEL he is!!!!
Sometimes the social media frenzy can work to an advantage slicing the truth in there.
Thx for the info, Linda
So very true! Any woman who acted as Kavanaugh did would never have been confirmed,
Also, I recall hearing that Kavanaugh had significant debts that disappeared after he was sworn in ... any truth to that?
There are a ton of articles about that, cig. Here's just one of them. Scroll about a third of the way down to get to the "significant debts" part. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/kavanaughs-confirmation-all-the-unanswered-questions.html#:~:text=Not%20only%20was%20Kavanaugh%20able%20to%20quickly%20pay,all%20with%20a%20single%20breadwinner%20in%20the%20household.
Thanks!
Apparently the ploy of the Federalist leaders to divert attention from his debts and focus on the women calling for his head on the block. Both of them.
The debts were the issue that could expose the collusion and corruption.
Dig into Greg Olears's piece. Significant debt, funny financials. Purchased justice.
Everyone!! This is a must read - please seek it out!
I'm still waiting on the backstory for Kennedy's sudden "retirement" from the court. That's gonna be something, I suspect.
Kavanaugh was so belligerent and offensive he deserves to be reinvestigated. But it won’t happen.
Sadly, you're right - it won't happen. He never should have NOT been confirmed. The Republicans (prominently SC Senator Graham) must be admonished for their rushed and less than transparent vetting of Kavanaugh. This is what drives me nuts about Democrats. This is the perfect way to attack Republicans. Crickets!
Brilliant! My body, my choice when it comes to NOT protecting you from a deadly virus. AND My body, my choice when it comes to putting “my Republican hand over your vagina to prevent your abortion!?!?” Who gets it both ways? These folks who are acting out of their flight-fight-freeze response as they are jacked up on Faux-News induced cortisol and have lost the ability to reason. Or the desire to reason. How can I help? Be peaceful and keep explaining the brain science of collective trauma. Many people are literally out of their rational minds due to the collective trauma of the last five years. We need to re-regulate, as a nation. And Biden is helping to make that happen with calm, reasoned, regulated responses. Surely it will be seen as attractive to some folks in glimpses of lucidity. Keeping the faith. We must.
Shouldn't it read "Your body, My choice" regarding Republican legislation to take away women's rights to determine their own reproductive choices?
Exactly. You are correct. Brilliant! My body, YOUR choice when it comes to NOT protecting ALL of us from a deadly virus. AND again, my body, YOUR choice when it comes to putting YOUR Republican hand over vaginas to prevent abortion!?!?” Who gets it both ways? These folks who are acting out of their flight-fight-freeze response as they are jacked up on Faux-News induced cortisol and have lost the ability to reason. Or the desire to reason. How can I help? Be peaceful and keep explaining the brain science of collective trauma. Many people are literally out of their rational minds due to the collective trauma of the last five years. We need to re-regulate, as a nation. And Biden is helping to make that happen with calm, reasoned, regulated responses. Surely it will be seen as attractive to some folks in glimpses of lucidity. Keeping the faith. We must. Check out PACEs Connection at PACEsConnection.com for the latest on trauma. Explorer and colonist genocide of Native Americans, kidnapping and enslavement of African Americans makes our nation one founded and funded based in trauma. It doesn’t stop; there is an inherited genetic impact as the result of generations of trauma; ongoing racism and toxic inequity.
https://www.pacesconnection.com/blog/think-you-know-something-about-historical-trauma-paces-connection-s-historical-trauma-in-america-series-promised-to-be-an-eye-opener
To be fair, Jesus said, "Though shall not be vaccinated" and, further, " Though shall not have a dilatation and curettage."
I can't find what he said about coat hangers, though.
So apparently, that's okay. (ugh)
😔
I agree with you, Cathy, but I'm trying to figure out which Justice you think is the 4th "liberal". I count three liberals (Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan), with Roberts as the only conceivable swing vote in the extremely unlikely event of Kavanaugh and Thomas recusing themselves. Sorry, didn't want to ruin your morning.
Oops, I think your math is right... I was thinking of a 5-4 court rather than a 6-3. However, maybe we could have an impeachment of Kavanaugh instead. That takes Congress not the court.
Now you're talkin'!
Maybe we could put enough pressure on him with these articles and questions that he might resign? If the back story is bad enough, he might do it to save the last bit of his reputation, claim, "more time with the family".
The man who cried his way onto the Court will never resign for "family". He's as narcissistic as tRump!
Yeah. All is has to do is cry “fake news by the liberal media” and start crying about his reputation and how much he likes beer.
And he is in debt financially to someone....he can't resign.
Cathy, small detail: I love your Freudian typo re Kavanaugh: "his conformation hearing." The tRump W.H. evidently did curate the news and evidence feed, suppressing most/all of those 4500 FBI tips, to ensure he appeared to conform to their fantasy image of his qualifications and suitability.
That's funny. I hadn't caught that. My fingers like to type their owns these days! The White House actually restricted what the FBI could do, direct orders, and gave them no time to do it in. This was not the FBI's call to suppress all the tips and not follow through.
My understanding is that the FBI turned over all its 4,500 tips to the White House, which then suppressed them.
DISBAR KAVANAUGH.
Every time I see his face, I see a self-righteous, entitled, immature, pudgy, spoiled frat boy. I dealt with enough of those in the late 60s.
What an incisive post, Cathy. You must figure out a bumper sticker for that one.
How about "My body, My choice" with an icon of a needle/syringe , i.e. shot, on one side and a uterus/fallopian tubes/ovaries on the other? I love the Don't Tread on Me version with the snake coiled to resemble a uterus w/ tubes instead of its usual position.
Beth, do you have a source for thst bumper sticker or flag. I would love to counter my neighbor's snake.
https://www.cafepress.com/+donttreadyellowflag_yard_sign,1098149238
Thanks, Beth!
Great idea@
They … don’t … support. You lost the “don’t”. :)
It works either way for me.
Here is Heather's second last paragraph, a weekend quote from Trump: “The radical left Democrat communist party rigged and stole the election,” he said.
So, now Democrats are communists. Apparently, being socialists wasn't effective enough or it was getting old, so now we who vote for democratic principles are communists.
When is this guy going to expire? It can't be soon enough for me.
Oh, and Flynn saying he just might take his new gift - a gun - to Washington. Another deranged person who has the nerve to call himself an American.
I will say one thing about the near-future: If Democrats don't take the time and effort to get voter IDs in states that now require them, and they fail to understand all the nuances of the new voting rules, the Republicans will run roughshod in the 2022 midterm elections and Democrats will be rendered powerless.
Sometimes I wish I was a hermit who had no exposure to all this crap.
I am disgusted at Flynn and at the fact that there are no repercussions for his clearly treasonous behavior. If General Milley was so aghast at what the former president was planning, then perhaps he needs to look at bringing Flynn back and court-marshalling him. Adding to my disgust is the fact that the true American patriot who gave up his career and exposed his family to threats, Alexander Vindman, has yet to be rewarded anywhere in the administration for his valor.
Being a hermit is a childhood fantasy of mine - I wanted to live inside a hollow tree in a fairy forest! The urge to disappear into Nature reappeared last year with all the craziness and the inability to fully escape dropped me into mild depression. But then a dear friend mentioned Heather’s letters and her voice, joined by all on this forum, precipitated a resurgence of hope and possibility and opportunities for action. Isn’t it said that the antidote to despair is action?
Anyway, Flynn’s latest macho posturing (and that of McCarthy, MTG, Mad Mitch etc. etc. ad nauseum - pffft on all of them) is in line with how autocratic regimes operate. Paul Krugman, economist and columnist for the New York Times, published an interesting op-ed on July 21, summarizing a paper called “The Mechanics of Cult Production.” You can read it here for free: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2021/07/21/paul-krugman-republicans/
Some excerpts:
“Despite vast differences in culture and material circumstances, elites in all such regimes engage in pretty much the same behavior, especially what the paper dubs “loyalty signaling” and “flattery inflation.”
“Signaling is a concept originally drawn from economics; it says that people sometimes engage in costly, seemingly pointless behavior as a way to prove that they have attributes others value.
“In the context of dictatorial regimes, signaling typically involves making absurd claims on behalf of the Leader and his agenda, often including “nauseating displays of loyalty.” If the claims are obvious nonsense and destructive in their effects, if making those claims humiliates the person who makes them, these are features, not bugs. I mean, how does the Leader know if you’re truly loyal unless you’re willing to demonstrate your loyalty by inflicting harm both on others and on your own reputation?
“And once this kind of signaling becomes the norm, those trying to prove their loyalty have to go to ever greater extremes to differentiate themselves from the pack. Hence “flattery inflation”: The Leader isn’t just brave and wise, he’s a perfect physical specimen, a brilliant health expert, a Nobel-level economic analyst, and more. The fact that he’s obviously none of these things only enhances the effectiveness of the flattery as a demonstration of loyalty.”
The much-bemoaned, appalling behaviors of the tRumplicans we’re witnessing fit right into this pattern. My suspicion is that more and more folks will be repulsed by all the signaling and loyalty inflation and begin to turn away from this madness. I certainly hope my well-to-do, college-educated Republican friends begin to wake up to the principles that we’re all in this together, that more for others doesn’t mean less for you, that the well-being of all deepens the quality of their own lives.
Power on!
If I could be a hermit, Washington state would be one of my haunts. Somewhere where there still might be wild salmon, if they still exist.
we are working hard to keep the salmon running!
I have watched this news. How horrible if water gets too hot for them. Just awful!! We set a net on the beach here in Alaska and get our fish right from the ocean. I have it fileted, frozen, smoked, and canned. And I know how lucky I am.
The temperate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula was inspiration for my hermit fantasy. Majestic cedars and Douglas firs dripping with moss and a forest floor teeming with undergrowth. Also covered with moss and an amazing assortment of fungi. A magical place, and it's likely salmon spawn up the rivers over there. Here at Lake Sammamish we have Kokanee salmon, and several groups are working hard to protect their habitat, a very difficult proposition for a lake completely surrounded by development.
Even without salmon, WA state for me!
WA state is a beautiful state. I have climbed Mt Ranier. Even without Microsoft and Amazon, the people are progressive, care about the climate, and mostly democratic.
Western WA's urban/suburban centers are mainly blue but eastern WA is predominantly red. It hurt for a while to drive across the state and see all the pro-tRump signs but now I just think "yea, how's that workin' for ya?' and drive on with a smile.
More like wild fires. We are witnessing something new and terrible
Alaska.
Almost as majestic as WA >wink<
Kathe, It is good that you don't live inside a hollow tree in a fairy forest! This is the first comment of yours to greet my eyes, and I am grateful for having read it.
You seem to have thought a good deal and suffered a bit watching the malignant narcissist capitalize on the longstanding chasm in our country. Thank you for calling on economist/thinker Paul Krugman to assist in understanding the patterns of authoritarianism, which we have been subjected to. Your own repulsion for this heinous manipulation echoes closely the thoughts expressed by other subscribers and, of course, people around the country. Thank you for sharing your sense of what has come over the country. It stirred me. I am concerned that we will face more disruption and political violence before reason takes hold. I hope to read more comments of yours about the temperature of the country and the American people,
Thanks, Fern. I’ve been ‘absorbing’ for over a year with only a couple of comments. Often don’t have anything different to add, certainly not with the sophisticated thought process or phrasing of many HCR followers.
Finding peace right now on the back deck watching hummingbirds battle over the feeders.
And Wifi is hard to come by inside a hollow tree!
That's one of the pleasures of being a hermit.
OMG, Dennis, you took the words right off my keyboard! That was exactly my reaction when I read that. I wondered how many Republican key words he could fit into one sentence?
Sort of reminds you of the "test" of memory with the 5 words that he repeated over & over to "prove" what??????????
It would seem they dumbed down the MoCA so he could pass
Likely the story of his entire life - school onwards!! I cant imagine a younger version doing any reading or studying - why bother!
Can you imagine the tantrums this boy threw if required to read or study?
If Trump was a kid playing in a public playground, he would have had the shit beat out of him on a daily basis.
Republicans are equating socialism with communism which they've done in the past with some success. I don't get giving a gun to a retired General. There really must be something mentally wrong with Flynn. I keep remembering a colleague who was a retired Air Force colonel saying the goal of the military isn't to make war; it is to keep the peace.
I'm working on the hermit thing also.
Most of the past president’s people who hear the terms socialist and communist have no real clue as to what they mean. They are inflected to be scary and awful. I don’t know of any Republican/Drumplican who doesn’t use some disparaging adjective before they label a Democratic.
This is still another of Dr. Richardson's Letters that is a tour de force on prominent and important issues of 2021. It is a tight, succinct, powerful statement that is unsurpassed-- indeed unequaled-- by opinion writers in the New York Times, Washington Post, or other of the most prominent newspapers or any other sources of information or observation (which I read regularly). Her command of the details, relevance, and context of what is happening is stunning.
I completely concur. She painted an increasingly chilling picture of what appears to be coming - a massive, ugly and open confrontation, one in which lives will be lost. We are presently waiting for the Archduke Franz Ferdinand moment.
It seems, though, not to be clear what the contours of the confrontation will be, indeed who will be on either side. It’s quite possible that there will be at least a figurative bloodbath on the Republican side before the Democrats are challenged.
The Republicans are fighting a desperate rearguard action in Congress to try to prove their own viability. But fighting over the terms of a gas tax percentage will impress the true believers not a whit. The Democrats have pinned them neatly with the two bills in sequence strategy and no altering of terms in one of them will help. They are clearly at the “lipstick on a pig” stage. They may well be punished for it.
This because there is a large, perhaps huge, group of Americans who will have grimly assented to Mike Flynn’s sentiment when he said, upon being presented with a rifle, “Maybe I’ll find someone in Washington DC with it”. It was chilling to watch that video. I listened for gasps of disapprobation or at least a sense that this was indeed a remarkably daring thing to say. There were none. The audience laughed along, as if this remark represented a normal sentiment, when in fact it was incitement to criminal behavior.
There is much more to come. Should the Democrats appear to be in the ascendancy if the two infrastructure bills are passed, the mood towards Republican legislators will surely not be one that half a loaf is better than none. It will be a loss - for the extremists. Yet its effects will be hugely popular, a signal Democratic pressure point.
The hearings of the committee to investigate January 6 should be immensely revealing. This is an event big enough to generate its own climate. One hopes that the committee members, especially Cheney and Kinzinger, have ample security.
Having written this far, I pause a moment. It seems wild-eyed in the extreme to anticipate such events. But the bedrock faith of the cult is so frightening. I had not heard of the GhostFaced Gangsters until this morning. What were their plans?
And the micro-indications fascinate and trouble me. The one that is currently popping to mind is that of the man who got sick with almost certain Covid symptoms and refused to get tested. Whereupon he got dangerously ill, but on no account would he go to a hospital. He was near death’s door and when asked why he was being so, frankly, stupid, he relied that he didn’t want to add to “Trump’s numbers”. If this anecdote represents the extreme end of Reublicanism in this time, then there is certainly reason to fear that we are nearing a terrible but decisive moment.
I keep hoping the Darwin Effect will kick in really, really soon...
I like that seemingly innocuous comment. :)
Boggles my mind, the reports of people dying of COVID who beg for the vaccine. Completely miss the point of vaccines - to avoid getting the disease rather than treating it. But also indicative of the cult thinking.
And I saw a report in The Guardian today that the number of COVID cases in the US might have been under-reported by 60%. I didn't read the story, just the headline, because my brain said, "Well, of course! What else do we expect from TFG?" Then I couldn't delve further.
Remember the fights over mandatory helmets for motorcycle riders? Seatbelts? Hang up and drive? Every one of them had those who believe in their god-given American rights to be total morons - "But Mah Fwee-dumbs!" It took years to get the laws on the books, with minumum fines. But they were also moving violations, and what happened was, you got one of those tickets, and the next thing you knew your insurance rate doubled for the next year. And now you never see a motorcyclist without a helmet, everybody buckles up before they start up, and even the really dumb SUV drivers use "hands free" cellphones. Turns out, when they have to pay to exercise their fwee-dumbs, the frwee-dumbs take a back seat to more money out of the checkbook.
And now we don't even have to fight for a law. The ACA requires you to have health insurance. So let the insurance companies everybody already hates anyway just tell people "You're not vaxxed? That will be a 25% premium increase, please." And you can bet the dumbest redneck in Alabama would be getting jabbed.
(I wrote about this at more length today at That's Another Fine Mess)
However, as regards the infrastructure, I'm still giving 5:1 that the Republicans pull the same stunt they pulled in 2010 on the ACA negotiations. You can't trust a modern Republican further than you can see him with your eyes closed.
And finally, I have no area of policy agreement with Adam Kinzinger, but I have total respect for him as a true patriot. Like Eric Swallwell said this week about Liz Cheney, "We can argue about policy after we're through saving the republic."
TC, alas, although the seatbelt law has not been challenged in MO, the legislature CANCELLED the helmet law. Yep: in 2020 the dumbarses of Missouri decided it was everyone's freedom to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. The result? Motorcycle deaths and head injuries are up significantly. https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-06-23/missouri-motorcyclists-see-40-spike-in-deaths-after-2020-helmet-law-repeal
One stat I saw is an 800% increase in injuries because of not wearing a helmet.
So with luck, MO will win the Darwin Award this year for stupidity.
Body Parts on Wheels.
You can "ride free" and be paralyzed for live in Ohio, too.
You can’t fix stupid, can you?
Make that "life."
😣
This nation was founded primarily by those who came here, or the descendents of those who came here, because they didn't like the English government telling them what they could and could not do. They were fleeing either Oliver Cromwell, or those who preceded and followed him in the Seventeenth century. And that is the way many still feel about government.
Michigan has also repealed the mandatory helmet law for motorcycle riders 😢😡
Yes, horrid. "The fatality rate for motorcyclists without helmets has been nearly twice that for helmeted motorcyclists." " Drivers 21 and over can decide not to wear a helmet if they have at least $20,000 in first-party medical benefits and have held a motorcycle endorsement for at least two years, or have passed an approved motorcycle safety course." So if they go without a helmet, they must carry a lot more insurance. Wonder how that works out for insurance companies.
https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-96435_50413-277037--,00.html
As a young RN in the Charity Hospital Trauma ED, head injuries of cyclists was a common tragedy around 1974. We cared for them and they survived as quad/para-plegics. Or not.
All those young male risk-takers and their hapless riders...
Linda reports, sadly, very accurately. Missouri is a clear example of a mess.
“But Mah Fwee-dumbs!"
Honestly TC. Hahahahahahaha.
Great post, TC. I love the idea of an insurance premium for unvaccinated people. Perhaps easier to get past Republican objections, a discount for having been vaccinated. All of us who wear seat belts or helmets or are vaccinated are paying higher premiums because of the idiocy of people who consider it their right to make irresponsible decisions that affect more than just themselves.
Come to Florida where Fwee-dumb from helmets is the norm. We do have nice helicopters though to transport said Fwee- dumb riders to Miami Trauma.
Same in MO, the Delta variant capital of the US!
Same in NH, the Live Free or Die state.
Which means, We The People are picking up the tab for the negligent and irresponsible Republicans in higher taxes.
The helmet laws were pushed by the Brain Injury Association all across the US in the 1980s under Marilyn Spivak's leadership and that of neurology docs. Important grassroots success. The reversal of them is sad. Maybe we need to remind those freedom loving folks that riding without a helmet is the equivalent of them being Body Parts on Wheels.
Everyone should work a day in ICU, caring for a helmet-less motorcycle ridrr.
Or the ED, where they first arrive...
Thank you TC! Fwee-dumbs! ❤️👍🏻
The name for the party of stupidity, 50 senate republicans voting in lockstep no matter what, wearing no masks and getting no jabs.
BTW - as to the post below - the Governor NEVER got an infrastructure deal out of the legislature in 2019. By 2020 we were in the midst of the pandemic with everyone else and finally, the Federal dollars we got meant there was finally an infrastructure deal of sorts.
Alas, TC, in Michigan the freedumb party rolled back helmet laws so now you don't even see Nazi style helmets all that much. The freedumb party also decided to push the idea that our no fault auto insurance law was just way too expensive. So what did they do in the first months of the new governor's term - rushed a "reform" package through which has meant higher auto premiums for most drivers and less care for people catastrophically injured in auto accidents. Oh and by the way - there was a fund called the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association, run by the insurance companies and set up by the original no fault law which was about 40 years old when it was crashed. There were millions in the fund. Advocates urged that the fund, its directors, and its legal commitments be opened up to public scrutiny. Where did that go? Right down the drain with extended coverage for seriously injured folks. Now there is a real mess as what the gop did was to actually crash the really excellent rehabilitative services in the state which were there for everyone - not just auto injuries. The Governor wanted so badly to get an infrastructure deal that she signed the bill. There were smiles all around since many of the provisions would not hit until 2021 - just this month in fact. But the reality is finally coming home to all the folks who thought it was a good idea. Of course gop folks have the insurance industry in their pockets. The dems too, many who were too new to understand the problem when they took office, due to the draconian term limits in law, voted their support too. And there you have it. No helmets. More expensive insurance. And a gop that is doing everything it can to see that no governor will be able to address an emergency without the legislature giving approval first.
Term Limits, the second-dumbest idea in politics after the Balanced Budget amendment. The one part of "government" that doesn't have term limits are the lobbyists, who then provide "technical knowledge" to the elected representatives who have yet to learn where the bathrooms are in the building. And you have just demonstrated why this is the second-dumbest idea in politics.
Agreed! The lobbyists are happy in Michigan that is for certain. I read your entire article on your own post today but glad you also commented on this thread so I could chime in. I think you are on to something with the whole matter of insurance, if you once have the legislation in place requiring certain behaviors for your personal safety. I would like to see something happen with insurance and guns. Frankly I have always thought that people who have, use, carry guns (if they are not public safety officers or active military) should be required to carry liability insurance on all their firearms, and perhaps even accident insurance similar to automobile etc. It seems to me that requiring proof of insurance and yearly licensing, just like for a car or other vehicle, might slow down purchases. Especially if people understood they would have to pay up when/if their firearm caused death, injury, or mayhem. That includes the manufacturer as well. I feel like we are all living in a war zone no matter where we may be.
One of the best ideas around, and one that will be fought to the death by the GOP and the gun industry.
Perhaps their voters will be taking advantage of the no-helmet law...
Hope springs infernal. :-)
Damn. Institutional memories goes out of favor and a once great rehab services program looks like the other buried successes.
TC you got it right. Up vote for "Mah Fwee-dumbs"
So many great points you make. Thank You!
Of course here in Floriduh, there is no helmet law anymore. Sigh.
I am nit prepared to comment beyond this tonight: Rest in peace, Bob Moses. May your memory be a blessing and and example for us all.
As for the rest of it, I'm outraged, almost to the point of incoherence. Please sleep well, Heather and all. Cherish your loved ones and stay safe. I'm afraid of what's heading our way.
I made a forecast the evening of Jan 6th. I believe that Republican women will see past the bullshit and lies of the former guy and what he represents. While I don’t know if time will prove my hunch right, Liz Cheney ‘s moral courage gives me hope.
I hope another Rep from Nebraska steps will into the breach.
“Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all.“-RFK, 1966
Minor point: Cheney represents Wyoming, not Nebraska.
I believe he is talking about the senior senator from Nebraska, Sen Deb Fischer.
ted keyesjust now
“We need to keep the golden goose that is the US economy laying golden eggs”-Warren Buffet. I’m talking about his rep,Fortenberry. Nations that have recurrent coup attempts do not keep laying golden eggs.
This article in Vanity Fair kept me awake the other night. It just is endless! https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/joe-manchin-is-ghosting-the-west-virginia-union-workers.
“It sounds like they’ve reached a corporate decision. There is very little I can do.”-Joe Manchin
Well then, what good are you for?
Exactimundo!
I take back every nice thing I ever said about Sen. Joe Manchin. His (now very rich) daughter, Heather Bresch, was CEO of the drug company, Mylan:
"In 2016, Bresch and her colleagues blundered into a massive public relations crisis after raising the price of Mylan’s lifesaving EpiPen—needed by millions of Americans, including school children, to reverse fatal allergic reactions—by 400%. Bresch was hauled before Congress to testify, flying into Washington, D.C., by private jet. Blaming the price hike on a broken health care system, she declared in a disastrous CNBC interview, “No one’s more frustrated than me.”
That same year Bresch earned $13.8 million and Malik earned $8.7 million in total compensation, while Coury netted $98 million, becoming one of the country’s highest-paid pharmaceutical executives. The head-spinning sums led some of the company’s biggest institutional investors to revolt, campaigning unsuccessfully in 2017 to block their continued corporate leadership.
By January 2018, a whistleblower at the Morgantown plant had contacted the FDA, flagging “fraud or disregard for procedure” driven by management, according to an internal FDA memo obtained by Vanity Fair."
This was part of the reason Joe Manchin wouldn’t support one of Biden’s nominees. I can’t remember which one it was but it was because she had made all this news public and went after his daughter. It was personal, childish retaliation.
It was the one who was withdrawn.
It is horrid.
So Manchin is indeed taking care of his own. It all makes sense now. Thanks, Janet. Wow.
Didn't he recently have lunch with Republican fundraisers?
MaryPat has the scoop, Kathy.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/07/16/manchin-reportedly-headlining-texas-fundraiser-hosted-mostly-by-gop-donors/
😡
This makes me so angry. Why is it not being shouted from the rooftops?
I'm thinking they haven't a clue and don't want to know!
Janet, what a devastating read.
Just disgusting.
Try holding your finger on the link a couple of seconds until a pop-up box shows choices for how to proceed. Select “Open in new incognito tab”. Depending on how many times you have visited that publication/page in your current online session, you should be able to read the article.
Or if you have a library card, you can go to your library’s website and search the online database for access to most publications and find the article that way. They are usually one publication back, so for instance the NYT for today won’t be available until tomorrow.
Not, not nit.
Nit-picking aside, we understood your meaning 🤣💜
Not to nit-pick, but boy do I understand. My common ones are "fir" for "for" and "snd" for "and". I am ashamed that I had to learn of Dr. Bob Moses via google (although I had heard of the "algebra project".
I have a Canadian friend. She never uses For when she messages, Fir is not a typo for her it’s part of her language skills. It took me a long time to learn that. I have vision problems so I make a lot of weird typos using my touch keyboard on the iPad.
Thank you, Sharon, for this explanation.
Ha! If for of...
Pardon my ignorance. I see a tree whenever I see the word "fir."
So does my phone. It is usually my first clue that my "finger drag" issues are manifesting.
Must admit I so happy I can watch the Jan 6 committee hearings without having to turn it off while Jim Jordan blusters inanities. And, do we now have the first follower, Republican Adam Kinzinger following the lead of Liz Cheney to accept a position on the committee for the right reasons. Are we possibly going to start seeing a movement of Rs away from the extreme right? Please see this short video of the first follower. https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement
Please enjoy this 3 minute video on leadership and starting a movement. One isn't a leader until others are following.
Cheney and Kinzinger both know they have no future in the contemporary Republican Party. Which is why they're the only two actual brave people in the US Congress. They know their beliefs have killed their futures and they do it anyway. Unlike the rest of the careerist scum. On both sides of the aisle.
I'm not so sure. I believe there is a bigger schism in the Republican Party than you realize. I base that on several things I've heard from Republican elected officials and their staff. Some feel the Republican Party is dead if the extremists maintain their hold on the party. Even the anger at the anti-vaxxers is helping bring a few Rs to their senses. The Jan 6 committee will also help as they bring out the R elected officials behind it.
I'd prefer you to be right than me.
I'm with you...I'd rather be wrong this time than right, since I see far to many "reasonable" supporters of the big lie.
I agree TC: not very optimistic, but grateful for the optimism of others.
I have to believe this also, Cathy. 🙏🏻 “What you believe you conceive!” “Words matter!” “Thoughts become things.” These are quotes I try to call to mind when I go down the dark and dreary road of negativity.
I read earlier this morning that Sen. Kinzinger believes there are, at most, a single handful of members of Congress who believe the election was stolen from TFG. The rest, in his opinion, are acting solely to protect their own seats in Congress.
If there was any justice, Adam Kinzinger would indeed be a Senator, but alas, he's only a Representative, and that likely only through the 2022 elections.
Murkowski??
Morning Cathy. Yes. Kinzinger is a first follower. Start the dance, Nancy Pelosi.
The future for local transportation is not with public transit--at least not for decades, because the US has been built around the car, and the density in most of the country is too low to make public transit practical. (Population density needs to be ~4000/sq mile.) As far as global warming goes, I wrote about policies to reduce global warming emissions around a decade ago, and three experts on transportation, two in the US and one in Europe told me that reducing emissions via public transit was far too expensive to be worth doing.
As for driverless automotive technology, first, if they ever make truly autonomous technology work, it's going to be incredibly expensive because of the huge computing power it would take. People wouldn't be able to afford their own cars.
Second, it's another way for companies to collect information on people, and to sell stuff to people--a captive audience. If companies own all the cars--likely IMO for all but the very wealthy--you're going to be advertised to whenever you're a passenger.
Third, a lot of skill goes into driving--interpersonal skills, and driving skills, and navigating skills (which are of course already being lessened by GPS technology), and many of us enjoy the skill. Autonomous driving will be one more major deskilling of people.
So, you could commute while driving and listening to the radio, or singing, or simply driving mindfully--all of which I enjoy--or you could commute while listening to advertisements.
I hate the damn GPS technology - particularly Waze. It used to be here in the City of Lost Angles that if you were a good road warrior you could find all the "back country routes" to anywhere you needed to go, the ones that were empty at certain times of the day, etc., and get around really easy and quickly while the Homo Saps sat in their cars in the parking lots, er, I mean the main routes. Now the Homo Saps fill up all the back country routes as they follow their damn GPS.
Modern technology has done absolutely nothing to make life better or easier.
With GPS navigation it feels like I’m driving with blinders on, whereas maps provide context, scale and orientation. They enable me to appreciate my surroundings.
I love maps, they are the first thing I seek out when I enter a new state or town. Sad for the trees though.
I'm with you, Diane. In my family I'm called "Map Mama" and my last birthday gift was a new Rand McNally atlas!
I am not a big fan of maps for the same reason I am not a fan of texting while driving. I have often been thankful for GPS while driving in an unfamiliar city -- Dallas, for instance. I (often) shudder to imagine how at 60 mph, surrounded by big trucks, I would use a big fold-out map to quickly choose which of the four exit choices... or even whether it is on the right or left. Maps and buggy whips belong in memories only. (Of course, I mostly drive a small RV which is not all that nimble so I, admittedly, may be an exception.)
That's not how those of us who use maps use maps. We plan ahead or pull over to verify the route.
Ron, I would NEVER use a map while driving unless I’m fortunate to have a navigator on board. I use it before a trip. GPS can be helpful in unfamiliar neighborhoods IF there is a cell signal. To each their own.
To be clear, I'd never use a map while driving, only in planning ahead or sitting in the passenger/navigator seat. I use GPS when it makes sense. I simply enjoy maps. I abhore texting while driving as well and see it almost everytime I'm on the road.
I am visiting family in Los Gatos. Their weekend problem is the crush of cars on 17 heading from San Jose (et al) to Santa Cruz, then back home. They live in a neighborhood just east of 17 and the press of cars being "rerouted" through these narrow residential streets that are in a hurry to get to the coast is just horrible.
I have nightmares that involve driving on Highway 17...
I understand why!
People cannot read a map anymore OR give proper directions to a destination. Unless it’s, “oh, just google it”.
Working as a freelance court stenographer, I covered the District, Maryland and Virginia areas. Had my ADC maps broken down by county to get to places I'd never been before. I tried using GPS once and was directed to drive into the C&O Canal. Fortunately, I stopped short of the edge; grabbed my map, then righted myself in short order😊
A good atlas will never fail one. Do you remember the “Trip Tiks” that AAA would prepare for a member’s destination? That was early GPS before smart phones.
I loved Trip Tiks!!!! After grad school out east, I relied on AAA's personalized set of map flip-books to get me back home to TX. My Dad met me a day into the trip and he so enjoyed viewing the maps. Really good memories of that trip with my Dad.
Agreed. Many don’t know street names or which way Avenues and Streets go. They vary with location. And I’m frequently directed to turn at such and such business that’s long gone. Traveling is full of surprises.
I deleted Waze after they "improved" it to track you all the time, not just when you were using the app .... before then, however, it did re-route me a couple of times to avoid terrible traffic jams.
Like I said...
My car is 10 years old so no GPS. And I won’t buy a new auto until they no longer manufacture parts for lt. I can get any where I need to go using a good old road map!
Mass Transit is so easy and so cheap in Europe.
Note: Google, the biggest advertising company in the world, has a major program to bring us autonomous vehicles. Now why would they want to do that?
Great use of common sense David! Deskilling people of common sense, with advertisements/propaganda, has come first though.
Ugh
Alas, is uplifting as that particular TED presentation is, the First Follower concept applies to movements both, beneficial and detrimental. I know I'm being intentionally curmudgeony, and I'm sorry. R's have hitched their wagon to a runaway pony. In my heart of hearts unless and until Trump (with his most effective and extreme enablers) is behind bars, I don't anticipate any movement of R's away from the extreme right. As far as most R's are concerned, Democrats have absolutely nothing to offer them. We don't have any fire brands speaking for us. We are not forceful or extreme in our messaging, we don't have the dynamic appeal to win them over.
There was a First Follower who embraced the current extreme right movement and pulled millions along in a very short period of time. To those who are part of the extreme right movement there is nothing, not even death by corona virus, compelling enough to change their minds.
And my fear is that when t-Rump is put in jail, his followers will ignite with ferocity, and some new charismatic con will pick up the extreme right flag, challenging all their disparate militias to bear arms and take back 'merica.
Sadly, I have to agree with you.
😔
I had the great honor of hearing Bob Moses speak at Wagner College when my daughter was going there. I knew nothing about him, and left in awe of him! His ability to recall legal cases to support his statements for the students was amazing! I bought a book from him and thanked him for his work and being there that evening. So glad my daughter’s professor allowed me to join in. Rest in Power, indeed! I hope he inspired the students to do great things.
"The job of a community organizer is to work themself out of a job." Bob Moses, 1965
Such common sense inspiration from Bob Moses always. For a time, I was a resource teacher for students with learning disabilities, always with the goal of teaching them process strategies for academic success. One of my favorite classroom lines with them was “now the goal here is that you will not be in my classroom within a reasonable amount of time”. The students would say, “but who your kids going to be?” We would laugh and I’d tell them I’d have to go find some or find a new job.
Yeah, that's what we said about women's and gender studies programs too. Not there yet, are we . . .
It doesn’t get much worse. Trump, Gosar, McCarthy, the Ohio wrestling coach, liar and pedophile protector, Moscow Mitch McConnell and the GOP… Eisenhower is turning over in his grave, his party’s decline and fall has arrived.
Thomas and Kavanaugh too
My dad adored Eisenhower and would be turning over in his grave as well. Well, if he hadn't been cremated, but you get the point. He believed in the Republican platform from the late '50s which defended the environment, unions, etc. He was an avid outdoorsman and would absolutely hate what the party has become.
So once again on the issue of infrastructure we see a political divide where one side wants to do something good for the country, everyone everywhere, and the other side is trying to advantage their own voters and political interests. I understand who is where and why, but it continues to be disappointing. This is why I will be marching this week with the Poor People’s Campaign from Georgetown to Austin. We need to organize, educate, and mobilize an overwhelming number of non-voters around the issues they care about to achieve overwhelming progressive electoral victories. It is the voice and power of We the People that can and will make a difference on so many issues. It is the path to achieving the changes we need.
Stay safe and hydrated on your march. It’s a hot and miserable time of year in Texas.
Thank you. Living in the Texas Hill Country not far from Austin I am well acquainted with the weather. A long residency in Central Florida before my move to Texas has well prepared me on how to deal with the heat.
Good for you! Take and share pics, please! And as Sharon says, HYDRATE!
Thank you Bruce for literally walking your talk.
Michael Flynn deserves only to be called back into the military and immediately tried for treason.
FERN MCBRIDE (NYC)just now
'There are a lot of moving pieces in this infrastructure bill that have more to do with politics than with infrastructure.' A few words from this line in today's Letter could be used to describe the letter itself, '...a lot of moving pieces' and those words apply to our country as well. The Letter may have been easier to absorb if the points raised were numbered. This was not a criticism of the Letter because it was a true reflection of America today; 'a lot of moving pieces' and all over the place. Heather didn't bring up the spike of Covid and barely mentioned our vaccine problem. Almost 20% of the population said it won't take the vaccine -- is Fauci filled with worry as never before? The enormous increase in gun violence wasn't raised, either, and, yet, the Letter seemed jam-packed, didn't it?
First, as to the 2 infrastructure plans, what makes Pelosi think that the 'willing' Republicans would go along with the larger infrastructure plan going ahead of the bi-partisan plan?
The Democratic Party and Republican Party are not in a tug of war; they are at WAR. We now have the privilege of watching the parties fight it out over mass transit v. roadways in rural America. They are to find a way to compromise. An Olympic political contest!
The Republican Party has become even more extreme and, yet, we cannot quite say it is in extremis. I did catch a glimpse of the former president and hear a few of his lines during the rally in Arizona. Almost everyone we know and quite a few mental health experts, including his niece, have called him deranged. I never doubted it, but subscribers, looking at him yesterday and thinking about his supporters, both the politicians and the civilians (I cannot call them 'citizens', my weakness), it is CRAZY QUILT. Imagine what that very thin, tiny group of the 'willing' Republicans say to themselves when they hear him. This is real. A significant portion of the American people and his enablers have turned America into THE TRUMP SHOW.
It the midst of this '..., just after hitting the six-month mark, Americans' optimism about the direction of the country has plummeted nearly 20 points, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.'
'A majority -- 55% -- of the public say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, a marked change from the roughly one-third (36%) that said the same in an ABC News/Ipsos poll published May 2.' The link for this poll is below:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/americans-optimism-countrys-direction-year-drops-20-points/story?id=79036435
Biden and The Democratic Party need to pass the infrastructure plans because the country needs them and Biden & Co., are not looking good to most Americans. The Republican Party needs to get the bi-partisan infrastructure plan passed for the same reason, plus they have not done a thing for anyone but Trump. What's going to happen, 'There are a lot of moving pieces...' (Letter)
What are we going to do? We must continue work with the grassroots organizations. In addition to voting rights legislation, Climate Change, child care and abortions rights, this is the time for our voices to be heard.
https://indivisible.org/
https://fairfight.com/
https://www.lwv.org/
https://www.thetaskforceactionfund.org/
...and any of the grassroots organizations that you are working with.
We are all languishing (more on this later). And the anger at the non-vaxxers is increasing. I really like the idea earlier about increasing insurance costs for non-vaxxers. and I mean ALL insurance, medical, life, auto. IMHO of course
If your idea is implemented will the vaxxers have their insurance reduced or get a piece of increases to non-vaxxers? No! As usual the profiteers advance. Will the non-vaxxers get vaccinated and or not pay the insurance? Is there an anti-insurance movement afoot? Please tell us what will happen if your idea becomes the law of the land, Charlie.
Don't know yet. Just an idea so far. I'll have to talk to some friends in the insurance industry for a reality check.
Fern, smokers have had to pay higher premiums for smoking. I wonder how many quit as a result of that penalty. I'll look into it. (I know one of my smoking co-worker's head exploded 15 years ago when her and her husband's health insurance premium jumped $400.00 per month each. They didn't quit smoking...can you imagine?)
We are on the same track, Daria. The anti-vaxxers are fixed in _______. It is exactly what have in mind about living in the TRUMP SHOW against our will!
Thank You Fern. More money to Fair Fight.
There's that pal of mine. MaryPat is one of the people; she rallies her heart out for Democracy, Liberty and Justice for all!
Upon your inspiration Fern!
81+ million of us voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We must continue to fight against the domestic terrorists in Congress and our nation. And also, I look forward, Dr. R. To your column on Dr. oses. May je indeed rest in power.
Great letter tonight. Looking forward to the letter on Dr. Moses.
He was a genuine American hero in so many ways. Indeed, may he rest in power.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Just wanted to squeeze in this article about climate. It starts thusly: "In 2015, 20 residents of Yahaba, a small town in northeastern Japan, went to their town hall to take part in a unique experiment."
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22552963/how-to-be-a-good-ancestor-longtermism-climate-change
And then, just when you think the SCOTUS got one right -- for tribal lands, no less -- backlash is popping out everywhere in Oklahoma:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/complete-dysfunctional-chaos-oklahoma-reels-after-supreme-court-ruling-on-indian-tribes/2021/07/23/99ba0b80-ea75-11eb-8950-d73b3e93ff7f_story.html
Morning Lynell. The community “longtermism” community planning article is so significant. I love that you referenced it. Bottom up, not top down. Model can even be used in a classroom with kids.
Morning, Christine!! Granted, they are putting their best foot forward, but I have become increasingly a fan of Japan while watching the NHK Japan show on Sunday mornings. My heart goes out to them as they host these summer Olympics. Fingers crossed that the incidence of COVID infections is minimal.
An exercise I used for developing planning skills in my classrooms. Went like this. I’d ask the kids to put their hand in front of their face and look at it. I’d tell them “this is your plan for today’s step in completing (for e.g.) your project due next week.” What are you going to do. Most could give a vague promise of a step for that day. Then I’d tell them “this time put up your hand and look at it. Now drop your hand a bit and gaze at the far wall of the classroom. THAT’s your completed project .” I’m going to show you how to plan backwards so you don’t just hope you’ll finish, you will know the steps to make sure of that”. Quite frankly, the student planning was much more important to me than the project itself.
Long range planning is difficult. People from the poverty culture literally plan surviving to the next day and deliberately do not look forward down the road a week, month or longer. This is part of what’s happening at a frenzied chaotic pace now. For example, people are asked to see results of Covid in the fall and act accordingly. As crazy as it is, that is very difficult for many people. Prob better for someone to show a dang timeline on one of the media programs and work backwards to getting them to see the relevance of their personal plan to arrange their own vaccination.
This concept of planning backwards is something I learned from Dr. Ruby Payne, advocate of community partnerships in working with and building framework for understanding poverty.
I’m reminded of it today, Lynell, because Bob Moses was the same in his great work with civil rights. This is the vision. Understand your audience in helping them to see it and more importantly, understanding in THEIR way how best to get their.
Planning backwards. A simple, but powerful resource. I’ve simplified it, but it bears thinking about. Bottom up, not top down as we as a nation are conditioned to think.
A Framework for Understanding Poverty - A Cognitive Approach (Sixth Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948244187/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_GJ0KS486BYYKYYDP84PK
Thanks, Christine. I'm not sure if I've correctly followed everything you say here. What works for me is acknowledging "the far wall" but focusing on my hand in a step-by-step process until the project is complete. I agree that understanding your audience and "their way," will produce better results. Looking forward to HCR's Letter about Bob Moses.
Yes Lynell. My comment a bit disjointed. To clarify, most people sit down a plan moving forward. For example, step one today, and tomorrow I do this, with each step leading to end goal. As I referred to Dr. Payne, her research notes that people from a poverty culture are in survival mode. A goal is presented long range with little understanding to them of what steps to take going forward. By “planning backwards”, it meets their reality of expanding their usual timeline by knowing the relevance of what step you are taking today in relation to end goal. It’s how they culturally tell stories also. “oh that evil stepmother got what’s due and Cinderella ended up with the prince!” and they work back from the end to the beginning. The “usual” start of that story for the middle class is “once upon a time”. Some need to hear “once upon an end”…… to activate planning steps.
Excellent to see Dr. Payne's "Culture of Poverty" findings in action!
Lynell, I haven't time this morning to read your links but the WaPo article is in my subscription feed for reading later. I saw, however, an Oklahoma license plate the other day that identified its region of OK as native land and it lifted my heart.
Thanks, Linda. Article will be waiting for you, I'm sure!!
Thank you, Lynell. I also appreciated reading about longtermism as modeled by the Japanese Being a Good Ancestor, and its connection to Native American 7th generation decision making. The distressful irony for Native Americans is that European colonization and US policy forced these non-capitalist societies into poverty,* which is a direct impediment to 7th generation decision making.
*Listen to HCR's video chat of 7/22/2021.
And thank you, Christine, for linking this to Dr. Payne's book on understanding poverty. And how you taught your students to plan backwards!
Hey, Ellie! I took notes of HCR's 7/22 chat. I found it another why-am-I-not-surprised eye-opener.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if our Congress asked the question “ Do we owe it to future generations to take their interests into account? “
and turn this into, "How do we take the interests of future generations into account?" (Take out the option to say "no!")
Morning, Lynell! I know very little about how Tribal Law works; I do know that I investigated a homicide that the suspect fled to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and that the process for extradition was a long and painful one. I can only imagine how difficult some of these processes are going to be when it comes to dealing with new adjudications for jurisdictional changes. I would hope to see some sort of process done before releasing some folks back into their communities to insure that there isn't a continuation of criminal behaviors.
Thank you for this lynelle. In the heart of retirement SW florida, maybe donning futuristic robes at my own county commission meetings will raise some republican consciences?! Where all the grandparents SAY they care about their grandkids, yet DO continue to pave over paradise, revising long term growth plans at the drop of a hat (drop of $$ more likely).
Morning, Lynn. An uphill battle for you for sure. I suspect the problem has much to do with "Why should I deny myself for the sake of the environment when my enemies aren't doing the same? Better me and mine get it now!"
Good morning Dr Richardson and all. I was so relieved to hear that Speaker Pelosi appointed Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) to the Jan 6 hearings. I wonder if she can find four more of his ilk that will not toe the McCarthy line. Since there were other republicans who voted for impeachment I would guess that she is or has been considering them as well. The likes of McCarthy, Gym Jordan and Banks should be concerned as their turn to testify is in the not too distant future.
I wonder since the FBI had the tips on Kavanaugh and turned them over to the trump WH which then immediately buried them, what legal recourse DOJ or the FBI has now. Sadly I believe we will have to live with that miscarriage for the rest of our lives.
Actually, I am more hopeful. I think the "Cryin Kav" is a goner. Always, always follow the $$$. Seeing him depart the Court would do a lot to restore our faith in that branch of government.
Amen Charlie!
Brett Al Capone Kavanaugh is goin' down. Hope The Federalist Society and Leonard Leo go down with him.
I devoutly hope not.