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.
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 If it had been a woman her nomination would have been withdrawn instantly as unable to handle the job.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."
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.