More good news today for Bidenomics, as the gross domestic product report for the second quarter showed annualized growth of 2.4%, higher than projected, and inflation rose at a slower pace of 2.6%, down from last quarter and well below projections.
There is only one way to derail Bidenomics and that is with a lengthy Government shut-down. Impeaching Biden is just there to throw mud to protect Trump in a "they all do it" false equivalency. This is not a strategy to elect a government. It is a strategy to create chaos so that authoritarianism can rise as the "salvation"--decision making by fiat, without the need for debate and compromise, to get the basics running.
Georgia, Abbott, DeSatan and Arkansas are already “decision making by fiat, without the need for debate and compromise...” The list of what dump tried his best to shred is dizzying. The more I think I know about this whole piece of our recent history, the more gets uncovered. It is a wonderful thing to have Heather to explain and wade us through the morass of information and disinformation coming from all directions. I learn so much from everyone in this group and feel very lucky to read all your comments!
Elizabeth, it reminds me of grade school bullies-“why don’t you make me!” TFG showed his followers that established norms are only norms if everyone is invested in good governance.
Norms. Who thought much about them before 2016? Difficult to overstate their importance and now, sadly, perhaps too late, we're learning how fragile they are.
The founders assumed that men of good character would be the people elected to office. 1) Hoping, assuming that others will do what is right is a fragile foundation for a government. They did not write into law boundaries for the chief executive, the President, of the government. Trump has shown what happens to "norms and traditions." 2) "Assuming makes an ass of you and me."
I thoroughly agree! I also learn a lot from Professor Cox-Richardson and all the intelligent commentators. This is a scary time in our country. It helps to have sane, knowledgeable people I can turn to for the real story. Facts matter.
Elizabeth, I could not agree more! As I was reading yesterday’s comments and was contemplating a reply here or there, all I could really do was just pause in amazement at the intellectual and thoughtful level of the comments.
(What an example of a run on sentence!)
I realized that, unlike so many others, I had nothing to contribute that hadn’t already been out on the table.
Starting with the Professor this is an awesome, thought provoking forum!! Thank you all.
Officer House, Grammar Police "to correct and to serve" says that's not a run-on sentence. Regardless of what you think, you do offer a reasonable contribution to the conversation.
You do live in a happy place. You can make any place a happy place by how you go about your daily interactions. My goal every day is to try to "make" someone's day. You'd be surprised at what a surprise compliment to a stranger can do for not only the stranger but for you too!! So hate what's going on, absolutely!
But when you can offer a positive comment absolutely do that too!
So have a good day and I can just tell, "I love your outfit!"!!!
Yes indeed, and I remember any compliments from strangers that I have ever received. I do it all the time, and I thank everyone for coming to work today, bagging my groceries, letting me pass by first, letting me change lanes, etc.
Marj, it is not a “town” but an area in central PA actually located in a geographical valley. It is also the home of the PSU Nittany Lions 🦁 and perhaps a mind-set...
Christine, have no fear, we don’t worry about sentence structure here!
If we did, I would fail terribly with every post I write, every Substack I publish, even my talking to someone. I don’t judge someone by their English, or writing skills. I avoid judging people all together, but, there is the occasional ‘moron’ that just can’t be helped but be judged. Case in point, the ‘Orange Clown’, ‘Frumpy’, ‘Dictator Tweet’.
Your opinions always matter, no matter what others wrote. We welcome to read yours also.
The House Republicans want to shut down the government in order to makes corruption and bribery the way to run the country. That has always been Trump’s way. Now Trump is finally getting indicted for his misdeeds. It’s impossible to keep up with the charges. The members of the Crazy Caucus Cartel should be investigated also. How much Russian money are they receiving? Everything they do supports Putin’s goals.
I really do wonder what can be done about the Freedom Caucus. Do We thePeople really have to put up with this? It reminds me of having a houseful of unruly teenagers again. Not good.
One small “d” democratic way to derail the inappropriately named “Freedom Caucus” is to put an end to the gerrymander! Of course the problem with that is the current SCOTUS majority is in goose-step with them. As a consequence, I greatly fear for the future of our democracy!
As long as the mainstream republicans don't stand up to the Freedom Caucus and are afraid to speak out, then we will have this problem. This is a problem that they created and now they are in too deep. They are letting the most extremist wing of the party run the party now, and my only reasoning is that they are okay with the extremist wing of the party or don't believe they are as crazy as they pretend to be because they are still in denial.
I've heard commentators make the case for there being many more Gen-xers reaching voting age every month, and that they are much more politically active and more likely to vote progressively, while those who vote MAGA are dwindling in numbers. One can only hope.
From a recent Harvard Institute of Politics poll, this seems promising. Mind you statistically these 18-29 year olds are mainly down on Biden - this was done in the spring. "As evidence of generational replacement (a theory proposed by political scientists Paul R. Abramson and Ronald Inglehart), fewer than half (42%) of young Americans who grew up in conservative households call themselves Republicans today (36% independent, 21% Democrat); among those who grew up in liberal households, 60% are Democrats (31% independent, 9% Republican).
A plurality (44%) of young Americans identify as political moderates (30% identify as liberal, 24% conservative). Among those who grew up in what they consider a moderate household, 70% identify that way today; when it comes to political identification, 31% identify as a Democrat, 16% Republican with the remaining 53% independent or unaffiliated with a party.
We also found that a supermajority of liberal youth (86%) and a majority of their moderate (52%) and conservative (61%) peers report that most of their friends share their political ideology. Meanwhile, just 5% of liberals and 14% of conservatives socialize mostly with those of the opposite political ideology."
This is EXACTLY why we need to be on these ‘GEN-X’ crowd and get them registered now. Hey them motivated. Get them involved. We need them in future elections. We need to gain “Super-Majority” of the House of Representatives and Senate. Biden/Harris need to remain at the helm for one more term. Then let Harris take the reigns gif 8 years.
This is what we must do, if we plan on saving our country, our Democracy, our Constitution. I’m telling you, the Orange Clown, twice indicted, once convicted of Assault (Rape), and known Cult leader, has made it known that he intends to turn this into a Dictatorship. He has stated he will have all government agencies answering to him only, including all states. That’s a Dictator. That’s not Democracy.
If Frumpy is elected, our government will be abolished. Our elections system will be abolished. Our Constitution will be abolished, and our laws will be useless. We will be under his dictatorship, and speaking Chinese, or Russian as a first language.
I sure hope so. The thought of some of those people getting away with quite literally sedition makes me crazy. Gosar, MJT, others - off with their heads.
It’s my hope, prayer, dream, that all of them get stood up in front of their respective Chambers, handcuffed, and led out of there to be jailed for their participation in the planning, carrying out, assisting with, January 6th attempted Coup.
Just think, if that happens, McFarty will no longer be Speaker of the House. Blowbert, Margarine T. Cucumber will turn all shades of red! Josh Hardly American will be in his element. In special bracelets, handcuffs. “Oh look, I have in matching bracelets!”
I am completely fed up with this nonsense. None of this adds up to anything but chest thumping and gaslighting. If they don’t want to do the hard work of governing they should be shown the door.
Forget Russian money: look at Leo Leonard and Mugs “Buy the SUpreme COurt” what’s his name. The billionaire insurrectionists. They make me sick. Putin is a fly compared to them. He has his own troubles to contend with. I love your name, btw. Thanks for your comment. Crazy Caucus Cartel is priceless....have a great weekend.
It makes me shudder to think about how physically ugly rump's cabinet members were that simply reflected how ugly they were on the inside. I see the tide turning. What came out yesterday--a new Mar-a-Lago employee indicted along with transcripts of him attempting to delete security camera footage under the direction of "the boss" ala Nixon's Rose Mary Woods should stymie rump's defenders...or will it?
Reagan 's true target was clearly not "government" as such, which plainly Republicans by any mean aim to utterly dominate, but the great impediment to autocratic power that is "democracy".
Is this default story a remake of one that was written several years ago when trump wanted his wall? When some of the military had to get food at Food Share type places? Some people did not get paid but would do so after the default was "cured." A month with no pay is tough when you have a mortgage, groceries, and bills to pay. "I'm sorry I can't pay my rent this month. The government is bickering over some wall." "Too bad."
Certainly a sticky wicket this game playing, far above my head in what appears the complex game of chess like none other .
The truest depiction of classy leadership including diplomacy for solution after solution from our President and his staff. No pie throwing. No name calling. No cheap shots. In fact often shaking hands and focusing in on working together...no.where.near.matched.by ‘the other side’.
As someone who has been "curvy, full figured or plus size" my entire life (since age 7) and who has battled an eating disorder for most of that time, I have a request. If you are going to call names, (not sure how that helps our cause) please focus on his behaviors rather than his size.
Think of it this way. If he were in a wheelchair while committing all these bad acts, would you be ok calling him crippled or lame-brained? Thank you.
I’m sure that’s what they think. My money’s on President Biden. The last time the Republicans underestimated Joe Biden was when Puppet Speaker Kevin McCarthy insisted on negotiating the debt ceiling bill one on one. Joe was kind enough to let Kevin keep his pants. Took the rest.
I really hope so... But I see no way that the default can be averted without cooperation of at least a few Republicans. How do you think that Biden can work around this?
Mind you, if Joe manages to play Quivering McQarthy and the MAGAts and make them laughing stocks, that's all they deserve. Maybe even _more_ than they deserve...
I would be working on those whose districts are where Biden won and are swing districts. We have one in the 5th district here in Oregon. I hope she is feeling the pressure.
Biden is a extremely experienced negotiator. He’s had over 55 years experience with these morons on Capitol Hill. McFarty is a piece of cake. Biden will give him a little bit and make it look like a lot. It will pass the house before it sinks in they got screwed, again, by the professor!
Completely agree. Thought the same and that the Biden Impeachment Op is likely also to being used to help appease vengeful Trump and *buy* his silence, favor, and cooperation on some matters.
I Agree Georgia. Indictment is now the new impeachment. The majority of America will see right through a Biden impeachment as being political. An impeachment that results in the removal of a president is the new bar to reach. If Trump gets in office, that will be a constitutional change he will first work on to prevent it from happening to him.
Bad Congressman Bob Good allegedly “represents” tens of thousands of Federal employees. So when they are shut out of their jobs as Bad Bob Good celebrates, we have to triple down our financial support for nonpartisan voter registration and turnout. The 18 to 29s will be our “Democracy Leaders” and you can make it happen: please open www.turnup.us ?
These brilliant Harvard students are effective with amazing technology to get the job done--our job is to help them save Democracy for all of us!
Thank you so much; they are doing a great job at very low cost using their fabulous technology. I am now starting to look for good folks like you to “adopt” a Community College or a High School in one of only 50 critically important Congressional District (CD) for donations specifically directed to hire young activists to register classmates online! Woukd you be interested? Other folks reading this?
Ruth, as we obviously know, this election’s major issue will be whether abortion rights will be protected or destroyed by a nationwide ban. That changes an important issue from a policy choice to a personal protection of great consequences. Young women and men 18 to 29 care deeply from a personal perspective about this. Gun safety and climate climate are also very important to younger voters. 32Million GenZ came of age to vote in the last 6 yrs. So this brilliant group of Harvard students and I have been hard at work registering 18 to 29s by the tens of thousands on a nonpartisan message about these issues and their opportunity to make very meaningful choices in 24. See please www.turnup.us/ We have identified 50 very competitive congressional districts (CD) which will decide key races on the basis of abortion, gun safety and climate. We are looking for volunteers who adopt a CD and raise funds to pay for a sophisticated effort to register 18 to 29s etc in thst CD. If you and others are interested, please email me at iralechner@yahoo.com This is a very cost effective and exciting pinpointed effort only in truly competitive CDs! Many thanks
What you say is spot on. What we're dealing with, at least in part, IMO, is rank racism, on the one hand, and on the other hand ?? Well, on the other hand, it is still rank racism that trumps even democracy in their minds.
The MAGA faction gets all the headlines, but they are the tail wagging the dog. The blame for a lengthy government shutdown, if it happens, would be laid at the feet of the House Republicans and hurt many of them when run for re-election in 2024. So I think we'll see a repeat of the drama over raising the debt ceiling earlier this year, with the appropriations bills, without all of the toxic riders, passed at the last minute after the recess. One way to improve the odds of this outcome is to contact your Representative during the recess to express your views!
While so-called Bidenomics is designed to rebuild the middle class? WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Name a single Biden initiative design to help the middle class?
Tax Cuts? NO
Inflationary deficit spending? NO
Weakened Banking System? NO
500% Higher Interest Rates? NO
Core Inflation? NO
Why should we take economic analysis from someone who doesn't know a DAMN thing about economics? Especially from a MARXIST academic. This is propaganda, its not serious scholarship.
If you think Heather Cox Richardson is a Marxist, you have utterly no freaking idea what Marxism is.
And if you think she's ignorant of economics, you know one of her academic specialties is the whole late 19th century debates over the gold standard. Funny that someone who knows nothing about economics would be interested enough in that topic to read on it and write about it.
James, I believe general consensus from FOMC is we might be on the track to reaching the goal of 2% inflation and thus could consider lowering interest in a year or so without a recession. GDP looks good. unemployment is low. No new bank closures. DOW is fine. Still have an inverted yield curve though and M2 is troublesome. All in all the economy is stable. Biden has invested well for the middle class with some initiatives in the past 2 years. Roads and bridges, for example, are helping the construction sector. Consumer spending might be a bit too high right now and retail jobs are falling which is an indication that might change. If the GOP doesn't shut the government down the US might be okay until the election. What economic news would you care to share. I love a good econ discussion.
As long as the major funding for interventionist tactics across the globe is voted by both parties, the skills and successes abroad (see Brian Berletic's reports on the tactics) will be available here. It's easy. Create chaos, outspend the democratic process on one country after the other with leaders who owe allegiance to international (stateless) business and convince the public to use false labels like "defense" spending, and you've got a game as easy to push at home as abroad.
Thank you for the link Jerry; very interesting. Just skimmed it, but will dip back in for a more thorough read. My initial impression is that nothing is what it seems to be.
Brian Berletic maintains a significant flow of insights and analyses on not only the tragedy of Ukraine, but also background on influences plied across the world. That link introduces Brian's starting motivations. For the latest, his project bears the name The New Atlas and is available via Youtube and other platforms.
Jerry, I checked him out as well. Looks like he had a taste of how Okinawa likes Marines based on how some of the younger ones debased some young Japanese ladies at a minimum. They don't care for Marines it is true and wish they would just leave. Perhaps he took it personal. He has a point of view regarding soft influence by NED and perhaps NGOs in general. Fair enough. Other countries see these orgs, in general, as an arm of the State Dept and/or CIA. Perhaps some are and some mean well. Other countries are suspicious of even food aid and other humanitarian aid as well. Suspicion is high. I appreciate his perspective but after another 20-30 years he might be more valuable as a source.
Having traveled to Central America and Mexico mainly with Witness for Peace delegations, meeting there with journalists and community leaders, then following up with US embassy visits in country and with Congress back home, my point of view includes concern over influence of NED and related projects. 30 years of advocacy for basic human rights and self determination in these neighboring countries helps me appreciate Berletic's independent minded analysis informed also by his years living in Thailand.
Jerry, I am more concerned with private orgs but one never knows who is planted in and among the most well-meaning orgs. It is best to keep a sharp eye as you say.
The struggles involved are not impossible to sort out. Watching how oligarchs here in this country or in comfortable digs abroad are funding the most corrosive groups and legislative mischief imaginable, in Congress and state legislatures, can help illuminate the need to press for responsible policies.
"It sounds like he was a one-man wrecking ball, aimed at our national security."
Thank you for the pitch-perfect description of Trump. Anyone who thinks he wasn't doing Putin's bidding on many fronts is either naive or a fool. And selling classified material to other countries, notably Saudi Arabia. I doubt we'll ever know the full extent of what he did to harm us but suspect much will eventually come to light. Don't think for a second that agencies like the CIA aren't on the case.
Michael, I agree....this is so deep and wide. What did I see flicker past on my screen about him “selling pardons for $2m each”??? He is such a bottomless pit of....indescribable horror.
There may not be a law as this is the first time for a true mafia boss president. But fortunately DT will be subject to several other laws. Looking forward to Fanni Willis’s RICO case.
Fear not, Margaret, Georgia is looming. Federal pardons to no good on State cases. His ‘Pardon Power’ isn’t worth the paper it’s written in at the State level. Georgia, New York, hopefully Michigan and Arizona will follow Georgia and New York.
As we used to say back in the day “His ass is grass, and Georgia is cutting it really short!” Frumpy is screwed!
If I remember correctly, the $2 million price tag came from Rudy Guiliani , who was peddling them, not any accusation that he was able to make the sale.
Elizabeth, I believe that rumor came from one of the suits against Rudy. His former assistant is suing him for back pay and sexual harassment. That is the amount that she said Rudy was selling Trump pardons for. Don't think he had any takers tho. Rudy has this (GA) defamation suit to deal with and then Fani in GA and then J6 (Smith) so he will be a busy guy.
Lynn, I believe he should be. Remember those 60 law suits that the dumpster lost. With the bogus data? That was Eastman and Rudy in a clear RICO enterprise according to the general definition. However, I have not read the GA version. Fani means business.
Absolutely. You know he had to be. He was Frumpy’s main source of voice to everything. It wouldn’t surprise me if Guggliancy wasn’t the one that originally started that crap yo begin with, planting the seed in “The Boss’s” head.
That’s my constant rant. They are the evil brains that have used Trump to meet their goals. His ego and stupidity allow for their ideas to be realized. He came at just the right time to be played by...and Putin.
Michael, that sentence of HCR's leaped out at me, too. But it's not even enough. He is a one-man wrecking ball aimed at ALL levels and aspects of democracy and civil society.
Thanks for pointing out the good side of that Good quote. When I read it I was thinking it was more indicative of the agenda that seems to be more and more common in Rs - to get rid of the federal government altogether. I'd rather believe your version!
I said (actually yelled so loud I scared my dog) to myself when I read that quote, "Well, why don't you just go home and let someone else govern?" What they heck do those guys think they've been elected to do, anyway?
They are most certainly a miserable, ignorant bunch of creeps. After awhile you kind of run out of adjectives. Maybe we should make up some new ones . Every day I am thankful to HRC for her intelligent, thoughtful commentary that keeps all of this mess in some sort of perspective.
The actual fact is trump-dump isn’t smart enough to be a “one maggot “ wrecking ball” he is another puppet on a long and deeply connected mob of terrifying deep, dark money. That same deep cord of conspiracy became a major take over with puppet Reagan.
I disagree. Too pat an answer. Trump certainly IS the problem in this country because he is the come-to-life animation of what his supporters dream about. When the Red Hats are interviewed, their responses are garbled versions of "what he said." Yes, they are at fault, and bringing their character to life and feeding him, including monetarily, is hellish cartoonism. But the bad actor 45 knows full well what he is doing. He apparently understands where the soft spots in our governing process, and challenges every agency he can to respond. Bureaucracies don't function at their best under these pressures. And there is the Toqueville paradox simmering in the wings.
Speaking of simmering, , Climate Change is also waiting in the wings, sorry to jump shift, and my giving up bacon for breakfast will not make one iota of difference. Actions like that are just too late. We are a myopic society, as are most of the rest of the world.
Want alternative "renewable " energy to run your air conditioners? Then help our firefighters haul water to the solar installation battery fire that ignited yesterday and is expected to burn for several days. NO, water is not being applied to those batteries, it is to cool down the surrounding battery bank buildings so the place doesn't explode.
I appreciate your sentiments, but from what you say you're apparently not a student of climate science: the issue is so gravely important, we shouldn't make fact-like statements without evidence. Meat production is one of the topmost contributors to carbon and methane emissions in the world, and it's a consumer item (I haven't eaten any in 54 years and I'm perfectly well): it won't stop being produced as long as people buy it, take delectable photos of it, sell cookbooks full of recipes for it, cook and excrete it, consider it a badge of wealth and prestige rather than reckless illiteracy.
I do in fact read up on climate science. Whether you identify yourself by what you eat is a badge of honor is not my concern.
What I am trying to say is that there are more dire intimations of changing conditions than a piece of meat will offset, worldwide.
I appreciate your concern and your response, I am not denigrating anyone's choices, I am just remarking that my giving up bacon for the sake of the climate is just too low a priority to consider.
I have to go jump in a diesel tractor and rake the hay, there are horses to be fed in Florida.
I wasn't clear. Of course responses to climate change and efforts to mitigate or at least adapt to it must be systematic! This is not a matter of virtue but survival. The reference to "eating a piece of meat" is beside the point (and obviously denigrating, like "badge of honor"--best to denigrate shamelessly if you're going to do it!). I just mentioned my meatless diet to forestall the usual next move of nettled carnivores, who explain how important protein is to our health, which is also beside the point--I get plenty. I should have spelled this out: *every person on the planet has to stop eating meat*: we have to change what we do and how we live, because we do not live on the same planet anymore. It's not a moral position, it's a fact. Elon Musk and his friends have been planning an escape to Planet B for several years but most of us are stuck with Planet A. We have to stop using fossil fuels, clearing land for pasture, diverting scarce water to irrigate crops for animals that aren't even part of an ecosystem, making concrete and using it as a building material. In the next 7 years.
Mary, may I please correct you on something. Meat producers (cattle, dairy, hogs, poultry, sheep, etc) are all under the extremely close eye of the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). These folks now have to have Methane Gas Generators, and other approved methods of harnessing, and utilizing, the waste from these animals in ways to keep from destroying the climate.
Agriculture producers across this country take climate change extremely serious. Every agriculture organization in this country has their own promotional campaign for climate change and fully encourage their members to take part in them all.
So, please do me a favor. Before you say something negative about the people that are doing all they can to feed the world, please check all your facts, and not what done few in some meatless groups are saying.
Daniel thanks for putting these facts in the conversation, and helping to maintain it free from demonization. That is important, and I'm sorry to have given the impression that I thought cattle farmers were bad people! I know those facts: I have friends and colleagues who are meat producers, am aware of their personal conscientiousness. Some are in my faculty climate seminar, one's a professor of environmental studies. But according to the global organizations who collect data relative to this, the world-wide production of meat, the decimation of the Amazon rain forest for pasture land, the emissions involved in trucking and shipping meat all over the country and the globe: these huge systematic problems are not under the jurisdiction of the USDA. We live in a turbulent, already deranged, hyperdynamic system (as pig farmers in the floodlands of the South will tell you), hard to predict or prepare for as change is constant and the rate of increase (of warming) is itself increasing.
I said nothing negative--please reread my comment--about meat producers. I said *we have to stop eating meat*. Consumers, qua consumers, can do little about most major sources of carbon and methane. But we do have the power to stop consuming meat and leather. I lived through a big transition in the PNW when the EPA began trying to save the forests--it got ugly for a while. I'm living through such a transition in my own sector. But I've been astonished at the resilience and creativity in both areas. What we--and civilization--can't survive is temperatures our bodies haven't evolved to function in, or the worldwide, potentially nuclear conflicts erupting under the pressures of climate change and the vast increase in climate refugees--a billion conservatively anticipated by the end of the century.
Thank you for this information. Too many people, too much people-generated heat. Can we fix this? Can we grow small gardens? Learn to live with greens, fruit, and grains, in small houses? We might look at how the Great Depression prepared US for WWII. Look at how lean we were and how we were fewer (and kinder to each other).
Honestly, Ed, both you and MIke are right - TheRump is just the tip of either a gigantic iceberg or, more likely, a digusting boil on the behind of the US. He was not created out of whole cloth in 2015 by a few Thuggish maggots, and they in turn were not created ab initio in 2008, in response to Obama's election. The maggot movement has been simmering for years if not decades, but now it's exposed in all its horrific "glory", and maybe now we can begin to deal with it as the wide-reaching cancer that it is.
And with respect to putting out fires at power generating facilities, solar or otherwise, when even the forests of North America are on fire, it's not unexpected that there will be other, smaller, fires as well. We live and learn about how to construct these facilities, where to site them, how to operate them, how to protect them and how to improve them.
Very well written post. Thank you for your diversity of thought. I appreciate it.
"he (Trump) is the come-to-life animation of what his supporters dream about."
Not to disagree with you because, of course, you are right that Trump is a problem. However, like Hitler did not exist without an enthusiastic German population, Trump does not exist without American enthusiasm for his hate speech, his corruption, his lies, his evil.
Without Americans who flock to hate like mosquitoes to a bug light, those Americans are a problem. And, there are quite a large number of them.
As for climate change, yes, climate change where I am is not waiting in the wings, it is here. Along with all of the invasive plants and fungus we have transported around the world.
But, to actually resolve climate change, we need a reduction in the total human population by about 90%. Because, our current large human population can only be supported by fossil fuel, THE most efficient method of generating energy, period. Nothing else comes close, nothing else can support 8 Billion people.
As long as nobody wants to say what I just said, we are on the road to extinction.
We don't need a reduction of humans, though it'll happen as a result of adjusting to a planet that doesn't support as many (in this transitional stage e.g., few of my students plan to have kids--I guess they'll have to move to blue states). We need a reduction of waste and profligacy. Or as some put it, a reduction of Americans: "“A child born in the United States will create 13 times as much ecological damage over the course of his or her lifetime as a child born in Brazil,” reports the Sierra Club’s Dave Tilford, adding that the average American will drain as many resources as 35 natives of India and consume 53 times more goods and services than someone from China." https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/american-consumption-habits/#
Ed, yes, the Great Lakes region is much warmer than normal. That is my region. But, I guess it is better than Arizona, although, I am worried about my trees. I love trees and we now have a fungus or bug from Asia that is killing each one of the few hardwoods we have remaining up here.
Mike, yes, in the sense that 1/2 allowed him to thrive. I blame our insufficient education system. We do not teach basics to allow our citizens how to think then this bible thing makes it more complicated as we how found.
Seth, I think we need to look closely at Leo Leonard, the Koch bros., Harlan Crow and others on the far right who have been brewing this toxic mess for decades. Dump was just a convenient “server” for them to poison our democracy. His appointees have destroyed the credibility of the SCOTUS. I think Russia may be involved, but seditionist billionaires are the heavy hitters in running the current fascist “show”.
People were warned about Trump and what he stood for. If Hillary would of won , we wouldn't of been in this mess. The democratic voters weren't united to begin with. Many voted for Bernie others voted for Trump. We suffered the consequences of this criminal for 4 years. He was able to enforce his hatred, greed and stack the Supreme Court with extremist justices, who don't believe in democracy.
I submit that Donald J Trump is even worse than that. He is a wrecking ball, aimed at the planet. The hundreds of thousands of people needlessly lost to Covid can't be resurrected. How many of the hundreds of millions across the globe suffering from Long Covid could have been healthy today?
But it's much, much worse than that. The years we lost in the fight to halt Climate Change cannot be retrieved. The Orange Menace has doomed entire ecosystems and the species that existed within them. We were headed over the cliff of a Climate Crisis and Donald J Trump hit the accelerator. He is arguably the most dangerous and evil human being to have ever existed.
He is worse than a wrecking ball! He is a "Ball of Death". He is an asteroid headed for the planet...
"Wrecking ball" - yes, and as more and more evidence of his stupidity is made public, it becomes clearer and clearer that he was being instructed, and by whom if not Putin (Helsinki, special smiles and thumbs up in Paris).
Not so much instructed (if there is one thing Trump resists, it's instruction) but played, "like a fiddle". Putin identified the perfect, weaponized "tool".
I am still eager to hear word of the missing FBI phone records from 1/6 and WH and what that department contamination that may have entailed and whether the CIA and others were equally compromised. These seemingly loose threads surely will prove important to the larger story of "The Mob Boss presidency". Each "new" revelation cements the feel of a third rate crime novel. He was said to aspire to the mob as a young NYC "elite". I would say that he got his wish. Looking forward to Smith getting ALL of his!
“the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.”
Thank You Professor Heather for leading us to the WP Law reporter Ruth Marcus. And yet the "law and order" phonies want to put him back in power. The climate catastrophe won't go away by focusing all the attention on T**** who is only in it for himself and cares not one whit for country, humanity, decency, security--only caring for raking in the money from dopes and suckers who are hitlerized by him.
I think that people are inclined to carelessly overlook the obvious:
In the classified documents case, all Trump has to do is state under oath that he declassified all those documents (as the President can do without any restriction or condition whatsoever), and that's the end of it.
Whether Trump had his employee violate a court order by erasing a video recording is another question.
A related issue is the question of whether too much information gets classified as a routine secretive bureaucratic reflex to cover the backsides of people with something to hide. I am reminded of RFK, Jr.'s promise to declassify the Kennedy assassination documents if elected. Trump made the same campaign promis, but he didn't keep it. I wonder why...
Once you leave the Presidency, your power to declassify is over. You can't do so after the fact, nor claim you did when you didn't.
The little guy gets thrown into prison for such abuses, and thus the big guy also needs to be thrown into prison.
As someone who is discriminated against by the US national security complex, only because I have a chronic mental illness (bipolar disorder) but haven't done anything wrong, I highly disagree with your comment. Reform is needed, yes for sure. But Trump has shared secrets that if I did the same I'd be spending a substantial fraction of the rest of my life behind bars.
Hold everyone accountable under the law, no matter how high up. Then also fight for change for everyone.
Allow me to clarify... Trump just has to testify that AS PRESIDENT he declassified all the documents that he took with him (by "just thinking about it," of course).
However, if Trump dares to go on the witness stand, cross-examination could bring up all sorts of different issues that make him squirm and wriggle and hem when he should be hawing.
Trump did NOT declassify the documents in question. Even Republicans are admitting that. He stole the documents and has been obstructing justice ever since. Trump is burnt toast.
HOW DOES DECLASSIFICATION WORK?
There's also a detailed process for declassification with rules laid out under executive order. Typically, if a president wants to declassify something, he checks with the agency in charge, which has broad say in whether the information becomes public, Gerstell said.
If documents are declassified, there’s usually a painstaking process of blacking out what information still stays secret. “It’s not a question of a concept being declassified, or boxes of documents. It’s a word by word determination,” he said.
The declassification order must be memorialized and any agencies that are affected have to be notified, Moss said. The individual documents then have to be re-marked to show they’re no longer considered classified.
“It’s not clear what Jedi-like lawyers said that you could declassify things with a thought, but the courts are unlikely to embrace that claim,” said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who was a Republican witness during the first impeachment proceedings against Trump in 2019.
The Justice Department has said there is no indication that Trump took any steps to declassify the documents seized from his Florida home.
Bill, the dumpster is on tape at Bedminster that he did not declassify the Iran document. So there is that. Of course, he did not declass anything that he took and he says now that he didn't have to because they are his according to the pres records act which is BS. What I find quite interesting is that he has managed to corrupt his lawyers to accept that as an argument and offer that in court. I guess they do not care about their reputation so much as long as they don't ever need another client. Could he be paying that much?
What I like the best. On that ridiculous CNN interview. Remember, Frumpy’s comment to the question of declassification of the documents was:
“I could simply declassify the documents by thinking it. Of course they were all declassified!”
Sure they were Frumpy. This is just another case of ‘open mouth. Insert foot, deeply into the throat!’ What a fool. Every time he opens his yap, or tweets on his ‘truth social’, he just gives Special Prosecutor Jack Smith a little more ammo fir yet another indictment!
Keep on keeping on, Frumpy! The years in prison are piling up. You’re at 490 and counting!
Look, everybody, John Schmeekle's alter ego has shown up, to try once again to deflect from the topics at hand.
Jennifer, why not try to write a comment not as a response to a different comment which you apparently find troubling but actually on the topic of the day's Letter, instead of trolling through the comments to make up something with which to try to irritate the thinking persons who read the Letter? If you can't add to the discourse, possibly you could just, in the famous words of the Pot Brothers, "Shut the [firetruck] Up"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkN4duV4ia0.
Yes, the president and only the sitting president has the power to initiate unilateral declassification for the benefit of American citizens, I emphasize INITIATE DECLASSIFICATION, but the information hasn't been declassified until specific actions are taken by all elements of government. Vulnerable agents and cooperating individuals have to be recalled or otherwise protected before information is no longer protected and can be completed and released to the public. There are other considerations as well. Everyone having knowledge of that information must be made aware so they can act accordingly. This procedure is not a trivial matter that can be activated without notifications rippling through the community to ensure all proper actions are taken. The president then usually makes a public announcement of the information they felt needed to be declassified for the benefit of Americans. Trump has made no such announcements. Unilateral action by an individual no matter how powerful must be communicated to those who do the work and they must initiate specific actions to protect those who might be harmed. You cannot declassify something merely because you are too tired to properly secure it, or you'd like to share it with your buddies, or you just want to do it. As to classifying information to protect governmental wrong doing or powerful individuals, employees are taught and know this is illegal and that is why there is an Inspector Generals Office and whistle blower protections within the government community. Those who step out beyond this pathway risk criminal prosecution and incarceration. But if that pathway fails, the next step is the legitimate press. The people who serve this country in silence are not your enemy. BTW, the National Archives are notified that the president has declassified specific holdings which are now part of the official public record of the United States and are to be made available to the public. This entire paper trail happened when President Biden declassified additional information regarding the Kennedy Assassination. Look for a press release from the government. This is how historians get access to the rest of the story. Conspiracy theorists are not contemporary historians nor are they journalists. Those two groups of professionals respect original sources and don't use the results of the "telephone game' to report the "truth". Information is routinely declassified after it no longer needs protection and is available in the National Archives. Yes, it's just a library.
Thank you for clearing so much of the fog that swirls around this issue. Trump, delusional, believes declassifying is as simple as tapping the document to his forehead and magically removing all its classifications. He is a moron, and a con artist, and utterly indifferent to process that ultimately safeguards each of us.
And yet, people profess to believe Trump can declassify by waving his magic wand. We had an imbecile for a president, same for voters and wannabe propagandists stoking the fires.
That Executive Order in no way constrains the president and was never meant to. You have to dig through the U.S.C. to get any clue as to constraints on the president. For example, when President Biden released classified information concerning the impending invasion of Ukraine, he did so as a public interest declassification. This was published by CNN: "Administration officials tell CNN the disclosures have been carefully coordinated among the National Security Council, the intelligence community and other national security agencies in an effort to disrupt Russian planning, blunt the effectiveness of any “false flag” operations and, ultimately, deter military action." Obama disclosed classified information when Osama Bin Laden was killed. Once again a press release occurred. As everyone will attest these kinds of statements are few and far between. Why? Because presidents don't normally declassify anything. They are more likely to initiate the action through one of their staff for example if they need to use some information in a speech. This is probably one of those norms that President Trump didn't think applied to him. But the important part of Trump's presidential behavior was it is used to provide the American public with information. NO. It would be very extraordinary for a president to take this action without his staff being aware and tidying up after them. However, Trump was known to blurt out either in person with Russian ambassadors or through a Tweet so that North Korea could be informed or perhaps watching a launch over dinner with friends. Did Trump call a press conference and say the Pentagon gave me an Iranian attack plan and I do(don't) plan to use it or some other ridiculous statement? No, he did not. So, John, it may be hard to find a law that says Trump did something wrong while in office, but the lack of public disclosure of the Mar-a-Lago papers illustrates definitively that he didn't do it using the public interest method of declassification nor did he have any motivating reason to do so. The others had specific reasons allowing information to be declassified to inform the public which doesn't cover any of Trump's behaviors. I hope you are being a pedant and not attempting to defend Trump's behavior. On the Bedminster tape, he explicitly described his abilities and desires. And now the government has identified the Bedminster document. Finally, the purpose of Executive Order 13526 is to instruct the Executive Branch to create processes for classification, declassification, and determining who may have access among other things giving broad instructions. The National Archives has an important role with papers of historical importance. But here is what I mean about how these things are written:
The Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, under the direction of the Archivist and in consultation with the National Security Advisor, shall issue such directives as are necessary to implement this order. These directives shall be binding on the agencies. Directives issued by the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office shall establish standards for: (1) classification, declassification, and marking principles; (2) safeguarding classified information, which shall pertain to the handling, storage, distribution, transmittal, and destruction of and accounting for classified information; (3) agency security education and training programs; (4) agency self-inspection programs; and (5) classification and declassification guides.
I imagine that you'll agree that violating norms is different from violating the law.
My sole intent in my original post was to address the legal issue. Time will tell if Trump and his defense attorneys raise this issue, perhaps in a motion to dismiss.
Not, of course, that TheRump cares a fig about the safety of the people whose lives he put at risk by declassifying documents by thinking about it, or whatever he claimed, or the wider national security implications of stealing government documents and sharing them AT A GOLF COURSE with some absolutely un-clearanced individuals. Anything for momentary glory, anything for a bit more filthy lucre, anything for a bit more of Putin's or Kim Jong Un's approval. Anything at all. Beneath contempt, and beneath the jail is where he belongs, along with all his enablers.
My inner conspiracy theorist whispers darkly that the real reason Trump took those documents was so he could blackmail the people who were blackmailing him...
John Schmeeckle forgets one thing. NONE of the presidential records in 45's possession were his to keep. NONE of them, classified or not. The Presidential Records Act makes that utterly clear. It doesn't matter if he declassified them (he didn't--he admits he didn't). They weren't his, and the fact that he tried to keep them despite repeated attempts by government officials to retrieve them means he's in violation of the records laws, as well as probably guilty of obstruction.
Okay, I know we're not supposed to respond to trolls, but I want to make this clear to everyone: this case it NOT about classified documents. It doesn't matter whether the documents were classified or not; they did not belong to Donald Trump. Most of the documents belong to the various agencies that produced them, and they want them back. Trump's RETENTION of documents, and his OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE in all his efforts to keep what didn't belong to him, are the crimes he will be charged with.
E Macdonald, you make it sound like Trump will be charged with additional crimes on top of "withholding and concealing classified and top-secret documents":
That issue Michael IS so very unsettling. And if even likely what can or IS being done to protect the basic strategic vulnerability. If it’s done already..each delay of game/each default/each baulk so repetitively exercised by the R’s (IS THIS NOT THIER MO?) is giving the enemy more time to move into position to checkmate?
And that puzzle piece fits too closely (again!) to ‘chatter not acknowledged’ precipitating every major disaster our history experienced or further yet warns us of.
The ONLY way out is to...
💙💙VOTE THEM ALL OUT💙💙
...and...and...those complicit never hold office again...
It has been reported that trump was making multi-million dollar deals with the mid eastern countries while president. He also just has made a multi-billion dollar deal with them in real estate. Jared has his 2 billion dollar investment company which was approved only by the Prince. No wonder that poor reporter's death was not pursued.
One problem with "national security" is how it's been used.
Soothsayers and journalists are now put in dungeons for giving us information we've paid for and own through our national budgets. The "collateral murder" video showing the triumphant slaughter in a Baghdad street of Reuters videographer and his driver and other innocents, is fraudulently called a breach in national security. Whistleblower journalists are jailed. Julian Assange's persecution and the associated smear campaign puts journalists and publishers at total risk, while vast military budgets for world domination go by the name, "defense." But no defense is allowed in court, while rigged process guarantees guilty verdicts. Trump's criminal abuses deserve strong deterrent actions, but rotten process robs some of the credibility needed against Trump's crimes.
You are absolutely correct. State Legislators go into Special Sessions when there remains work to be done. These So-called leaders are "raping" our country...they fail to do the job they were elected to do, get paid handsomely to do it and then blame everybody else especially those that did not cause the problem. They are a disgrace to their position and to our nation. They should be expelled ... but they won't even expel George Santos.
Only the House can discipline, censure, or expel a member.
You want to know why the Long Island voters haven’t recalled Santos, a member of the United States Congress? It is because they can not. Any attempt by a state to recall a member of Congress is prohibited by the Federal Constitution.
So in this case, it is up to the House and they won’t do it.
The Long Islanders are fuming, but all they can do is vote him out in 2024.
We need election reforms that require vetting of public claims by candidates who voluntarily ask to be placed on the ballot. Any public statement of qualifications or life experience must be validated. He's not the only one misrepresenting his background.
This is one of the results of the decline in local newspapers. There isn’t anyone doing that kind of research into local candidates anymore. It’s one of the reasons we still subscribe to our local paper, even though it’s really expensive - it’s $600 per year, compared to the $240 I pay for the NYT and $120 for the Washington Post.
I can't help but wonder why congressional "ethics rules" fail, in this case, to protect the people from government fraudsters? Perhaps SCOTUS has light to shed on that issue???
Because the people of America don't respect ethics rules. "They're silly things meant for someone else who is too weak and will fall prey to the exploiters. I'm too smart for that. I'll take the gimmes, the expensive dinners, the nice hotel room, and give them nothing for their efforts." Just like they don't respect civil law. How many Americans see the Stormy Daniels case as a waste of the court's time? How many Americans shrug at businesses who don't keep legal books? How many Americans admire someone who stretches the law to get a tax deduction knowing the IRS doesn't have enough resources to audit properly. And how many blame the IRS when they get caught?
Reading your last sentence I remember my math genius father who not only did his own taxes (paying ahead sometimes), but also did those of anyone in the neighborhood who asked him to do theirs. To put a bit of humor into this grim morning: my father was a lover of jokes and drank “high balls” on many Saturday nights before bridge games with friends. For Christmas those whose taxes he did gave him bottles of bourbon. One Christmas there were twelve bottles. Having finished decorating the tree, I put presents under it and lined up the twelve bottles on the wall behind it. My teetotaler mother was not pleased.
I wish some journalist would investigate the potential $$$$$$$ cost to taxpayers of Republican proposal to impeach Biden, the voters’ choice. Popular and electoral majority. And still threatening a shutdown not voting for 11 out of 12 pending legislation! Would be interesting to compare what $$$ is needed by the red states to repair damage done by storms etc with the amount of $$$ the MAGA legislators are wasting …
They wasted a $#&% ton of money on "Benghazi" and past theatrical government shutdowns, not to mention the lives of innocents affected by these stunts. How much did it cost for Trump to deploy thousands of troops to the border for a "national emergency" (a "caravan" of would be Immigrants) that seemed to disparate with the passing of an election. What else might that money have paid for?
They need him, Fran, to cling to the fragile “majority” they have in the House. They are shameful and a disgrace. The voters are the only ones now who can “expel” them. Even then, they might say “I won” when they lost. Look at pathetic Kari Lake....
In our Country Fran, only the constituents can recall, not expel, a duly elected legislator. I am surprised the Long Islanders haven't done so. Maybe they don't care if their legislators are lying criminals.
They are corrupt as hell. I recall lessons about corruption is the US Government, which implied that era had ended. I know too few details, but I would be surprised if the the depth and severity of corruption in the US has ever match what the nominally "Republican Party" has become. Even the treason of the Civil War was more regionally restricted.
Trump paved the way for the 20 person wrecking ball in the house. The problem with the statement “The American people see through this. They know who is fighting for them….” is that the idiots that voted people like Kevin McCarthy and MTG into these positions either DON’T know who is fighting for them (because they’re glued to Fox News) or don’t care, which may be even worse. Biden is being backed into a corner. He will either have to take extreme measures to circumvent a government shutdown, which won’t sit well with some of the voters and damage his position pre-election, or let the government shut down which is as bad as the default he just narrowly averted. I have no idea what to expect, but I don’t think there will be a happy outcome.
Support public school funding! An educated electorate is a fundamental requirement of a democracy and republican forms of government. It is a citizens duty to understand how their government is supposed to work so that they know the elected officials who are not fulfilling their responsibilities.
Only one of several reasons the right wants their kids out of public school. They might get contaminated by science and literature outside the Bible, not to mention some very good people who are not white or straight. I think an important reason the pandemic was so damaging is that kids need socialization, and human contact is a big part of it. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, no flaming liberal, made teaching civics again part of her post-court life.
I don't think so. They want to destroy the public school system. By encouraging parents to move their children out of public schools to private ones they destroy equality of opportunity. Sure they are going to give some financial support now, but wait until they've killed the public school system. You won't have any choice but to pay what they say or home school your children. If you can't home school for whatever reason, not their problem. Fix the funding for public schools, fix the buildings, change the culture to make them safe, and respect teachers so more will choose that as a career. Put an big sign on the front of public schools saying "Gateway to Equality of Opportunity". So every child knows why they are there. Don't abandon public schools. First they made it possible for all children to learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. We have breaks in the school season to make it easier for farm children to attend. The history of public schools is worth reading about. My mother left school in the eight grade. My father made it to the twelfth grade, but my step-father only made it to the third. I'm 66, not that old. Many of the geriatric set can point out similar stories. My own child left school at 16 for their own reasons and fulfilled a promise to get their GED and went on to try out college. But college isn't the path they want right now. Knowledge is power. Education is the path to equality of opportunity. If we don't want the wealthy to turn our children into peasants, we must have public schools.
Well said Paula. I would also like to see a change in how public schools are funded…not to be primarily based on the local tax base; in other words, level the playing field when it comes to funding schools so there is equity in instruction/programs/buildings (no kids attending in falling apart buildings). Also, past high school level fund different levels/types of advanced learning, be it Community Colleges, State College & Universities to also include trade schools (some trades are taught at CC’s), apprenticeships, etc.
Thank you so very much for your account. Everything you wrote is spot on and very important. Reports such as yours are what all of US need to try to get back what we have lost, particularly since school desegregation divided the racists and they got power under Nixon.
And don't tell teachers what they should and should not teach. I was a teacher for 30 years. The vast majority just want well educated students. If we knew how to brainwash, everyone would turn in homework, listen in class, etc. Teachers must teach kids our history. I've been a parent for 44 years. My late husband was born in Mexico. His getting his citizenship is a long, convoluted story highlighting our inept immigration system and a story for another day. The point is that my kids are mixed. Half Mexican American, half White. My daughter's husband is also half Mexican American, so all my descendants are mixed. (My son and his girlfriend don't want to have kids.). So, while some are trying to make sure little White kids never feel bad when they learn history*, what about my little Brown kids? What about little Black kids? Native and Asian kids? Etc. Way to show your racism, folks.
*Having taught for 30 years, I know there ways to teach true history that make today's kids feel uncomfortable. And to think of options to improve the overall well-being of all citizens.
When are we going to believe that all the children are our village's children? My extended family is mixed as well, bringing both Mexican and European cultures together with great joy. Our children know none of our shame. It's up to us to stop the bad behavior with our generation.
Agree with premiss promoted by John Dewey; yet, beware of the curriculum. Florida is ready to deliver false facts with the recent revisions to the history curriculum, removal or books from libraries and attack on children via fragile developmental and gender issuesl, all at the behest of lawmakers and the governor.
I have always left the curriculum and the methods used to those who have chosen to pursue education as a profession. I was unfortunately trusting that those who I choose to represent me on the board of education and the local elected officials who control the purse strings held my same values. That being said, the dropping of phonetics from the reading curriculum got by me without my notice. My horror at that is based on my education and my observations of my child while learning prior to school. First they learned to speak and then they learned to read. I realize that is not true of children with hearing difficulties, but I believe it is the predominant path. It also evolves from an understanding that native speakers have a better grasp on their language and that children who grow up in bilingual homes with strong support for both languages perform better in education. Also as I age and lose my language skills, I depend on my phonetics skill to find the words I have misplaced. I hope for many things, one the strong return of phonetics to the classroom, multilingual teaching from the earliest ages because it will allow us to learn the muscle control to form more vowels and consonants while also teaching how grammar colors a language, and the profound hope teachers begin to teach mathematics as the language it truly is rather than a mysterious thing that we must grasp the basics of but fail to see the beauty and function it provides.
LeMoine, the increased power of the Republican Party did not just happen. Plans were put into place years ago....money, power and control put into place...."brainwashing" techniques, subtle as well as blatant have been used and are being used to bring in vulnerable populations....multiple areas of communications used....opportunities for control and power made available to those who lust after these "life goals" (in my opinion ...to feed their insecurities), yet have no leadership abilities as far as building up our country as a free Democracy....etc. These areas of influence will continue to grow.....if we do not shine a light into this darkness!!!
Thank you Heather for being one of these "lights".
I think you’re absolutely correct. And at the risk of coming across as a paranoid conspiracy theory junkie, a trait I’ve seen in every MAGA type I’ve ever met, I have to say that it’s curious how finely maintained (on a knife’s edge almost) the balance in both the House and Senate has been maintained between the two parties recently. Sure must be easier to control outcomes under those circumstances. And what has changed over the past 40 or 50 years? The internet. Light speed encrypted communications between any two points on the planet. Even the “Dark Web”. And if there really is a “SMERSH – like cabal controlling things globally, it certainly must be far easier for them to operate undetected today than it was 50 years ago. After all, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the bastards aren’t out to get you, as has been said ;-)
So, once again, because of coincidence more than any personal merit on my part, I can speak about some of this based on vast experience. I was a planner for The Plan that Trump was waving around at Bedminster. All I can say is, if you are one of the hundreds of people who worked on that plan over the years, hold a TS/SCI clearance (that's what the plan is--with a name that you will never hear) you want this guy knee-capped forever and in jail (or, if you do not, YOU need to be in jail). Years, hundreds of people doing serious work for millions of hours. Trump's first SECDEF, James Mattis, must be BESIDE himself. All of the coverage can only scratch the surface of what an utter sh*t show this is. It's WORSE than what you might think. THAT bad.
Now, let me talk about ANOTHER thing in that bill the MAGAts in the House tried to get through yesterday. They tried to force the military to reinstate all of the servicemembers who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine. I don't know where to begin... wait, yes I do: I'd have discharged them in 8 seconds. I was in the military for 24 years. I estimate (it's hard to be sure, even with shot records) that I received AT LEAST 80 vaccines while in service. Eleven anthrax, alone. Was I happy about it? No. Anthrax made me feel like my arm was burning off, and it got worse each time. When I received the small pox vaccine in 2003 (while in the gulf), by body was so arthritic I could barely walk OR WRITE WITH A PEN. That bad. It was a strong, somewhat unusual BUT HEALTHY REACTION (I know because my boss was so concerned he called the aid station when I hit day 7 of this). I was getting this shot for a disease that's 100% contained but someone thought there might, maybe, sorta could be a chance of a chance that Saddam could have some. For that. So, I could then go off and fight in a war (I only got shot at by Scuds & Katushas a few times and once by friendly fire). But, guess what? I VOLUNTEERED to do it. So, no matter what level of stupidity and inanity (and believe me, there was more than I can quantify over the years), I CHOSE to do it (was I able to get an exemption for small pox 10 years later? Yes--based on my reaction. The fact it REALLY had no purpose by 2013 figured in my CHOICE as well). Choices though--97% of the time in the military, our choice is simple: do it or face discipline/leave the service. As George Harrison said, "That's the way it goes."
So, to hear those servicemembers WHINE about a shot they have to get (during an actual worldwide pandemic that killed 1.1 million people in America alone)? Fire them. ALL of them. It's a VOLUNTEER MILITARY. Oh, I forgot to mention--do you know how long they had to decide? EIGHTEEN MONTHS. It took 18 months for the military to discharge them, so they had PLENTY of time to contemplate their decision. And make no mistake, they DECIDED. As I said, I'd have discharged them immediately (and yes, over the years, I SAW people refuse shots, individually, and get discharged. I saw a major, in Korea in 2005 throw his entire career away because he decided his personal ethics forbade it. HE MADE A CHOICE).
So, now imagine telling the military, "Servicemembers can now disobey you AND be rewarded for it." That's exactly what the MAGAts tried to do yesterday--FORCE the military to reinstate servicemembers who ALREADY placed their personal whims (yes, they are whims) ahead of their OATH.
Thank you for checking in with the voice of actual experience, both in the drafting of The Plan and in your vaccination exploits in the military. I cannot fathom the stupidity and utter hubris of those folks.
Regardless of whether the allegations hold up, this is nothing but the truth - that he is an astoundingly stupid, common criminal who managed to "win" an election to become President. We must not let him "win" again.
"If the allegations hold up, “the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.”"
JustJanice—I still have a dislike for James Comey’s statement that the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton while not announcing that the FBI was investigating TFG’s campaign. He put his thumb on the scale and is still not apologizing.
Comey's action was reckless for sure. Yet, we can't paint ourselves as victims too much over the outcome of 2016 here, as it would have been nice if HRC actually campaigned in Wisconsin, and didn't take an overall view that she was the annointed one. I say this as someone who voted for her in November of 2016 of course, after voting for Sanders in the primary.
Nonetheless, as time goes on, the abiding lesson of 2016 to me is twofold:
1. That there are far more reprobates, racists, tacit conspiracists, and good people who can be scared into voting against their own interests, than I ever thought existed; and
2. That the rotting appendix of our body politic, the electoral college, must be surgically excised
I'm with you on Comey's despicable stunt and his inability to accept any role in Trump's win. I also agree about the need to do away with the Electoral College, which would require an amendment to the Constitution. Given how well the Republicans have done as the result of Electoral College wins, Hell will freeze over before that happens. However, states can require that their Electors vote for the winner of the popular vote, as some already have.
I don't think Hillary lost the election because she didn't personally campaign in Wisconsin. Would one or two campaign stops really have changed the minds of 23K voters (the diff between her and Trump)? How about the 188K who voted for alternate party candidates? Just the 31K votes that went to Putin's darling, Jill Stein, would have been enough to tip the scales in that state. Anyway, I found this paper to be enlightening. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/pol_fac_pub/116/
Thanks for that. I will take a gander at the Dayton piece, as it looks interesting.
I like the idea that some states have of requiring their electors to vote for the winner of the popular vote. That renders the obsolete nature of the Electoral College well,..practically obsolete. Not enough States are doing it unfortunately, and not enough of the truly toss up States, such as Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia.
I have rarely agreed with the argument that any third party candidate "cost" some candidate from either of the major political parties an election. I say this as someone who voted for Nader quite proudly, and as one who has long felt that we need to break the Party duopoly in this Country. If citizens want to vote for someone, they should be allowed to express their preference accordingly.
The very fact that third party candidates pop up now and again, demonstrates that the Republicans and Democrats collectively are not speaking, or fully speaking, to a significant sector of the population. While individuals must be responsible for the result of their votes, I'm not particularly fond of blaming voters for exercising their choices. Having said that, I think Stein, unlike Nader or even Perot, was more of a clanging cymbal than a real candidate advocating a cause. I voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, but voted without much hesitation for HRC in the general. My only slight hesitation was her annoying sense of self-annointment, and the fact of her war mongering tendencies. But against the worst candidate in GOP history in Trump??! Not even a question.
To close this barroom 20/20 hindsight speculation, I also think there was a certain "Bradley" effect, that may have led to her electoral loss. How many unknown and uncounted people out there still refused to vote to place a woman in the White House?!?
Mr. Streeter, I appreciate and resonate with your comments regarding Third party candidates being “spoilers”. I particularly agree with your statement “While individuals must be responsible for the result of their votes, I'm not particularly fond of blaming voters for exercising their choices.” Thank you.
I, too, was for Sanders in 2016. In fact, I was a volunteer on his national help desk. Needless to say, I was profoundly disappointed when the “good ol’ (Dem) boys club, the DNC, sent a torpedo through his primary campaign because they were so on board with Hillary. It wasn’t just my visceral dislike for Hillary that prompted me to vote for Jill Stein; in fact, I knew little about her and still don’t. Mine was a protest vote over the fact that, I felt, the two party system had long been corrupted by embedded establishment interests and the American People were once again being offered a choice between two very tainted candidates. I knew that Stein had no chance whatever to win the general. And I was naive enough to think that a moron like Trump didn’t either, so I was quite sure Hillary had a lock on it. I was wrong, of course. So were, I think, a large number of independents like me that may well have swung the election in favor of Trump.
But we will never break this vicious cycle of manipulation in a small number of “swing states” to ensure victory for just one of two bad candidates until enough voters actually express their desire for the establishment of a viable third party, or at a minimum, get to a national popular voting scheme through ranked choice voting or the elimination of the antiquated Electoral College. And of course, the establishment in both major parties will fight to the death to preserve the status quo. So what’s a body to do? Continue to vote for “the new boss, same as the old boss”? I don’t think so.
Daniel, as to your last point about a woman being elected, yeah, I think misogyny (and “undiagnosed” misogyny—“who me, why I would never think that…”) did play a part, however far it seems we’ve come (many countries have whupped on this ages ago). The National Popular Vote state’s compact is one way (as you mention) to get around the Electoral College, but more states need to sign on. Here is their site: https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/ As to more than two political parties, I think the way we are structured it is hard to pull it off at present. One option that intrigues me is ranked-choice voting, as is being done in some states/localities (how it would translate, ultimately, to national general elections I’m not sure) this TikTok vid is as simple an explanation as I’ve ever and…Lego’s! https://www.tiktok.com/@nycvotes/video/7249447480872553770
Daniel, I really like the idea of ranked choice voting in both open primaries and in the general election. I believe that, faced with having to appeal to a more centrist voting block, the candidates would skew toward the center instead of just trying to win in the “more extreme than my opponent “ race.
MisTBlu, the low-population states are probably not going to ratify a constitutional amendment that decreases their voting power. Proportional electoral college votes would probably pass and would look like this: state A has 60% for candidate A and 40% for candidate B. Instead of candidate A getting all the electoral votes, candidate B would get 40%. I think that it would show just how purple the country is.
I'm not certain I understand. The amendment I'm thinking of would do away with the Electoral College completely. It's a disgusting vestige of slave era politics and has no place in modern political life. Without the EC we would elect the president based on the popular vote.
Given their outsized representation in the US Senate, I have no sympathy for the citizens of low population states. For example, 21 states have 42 senators while California, whose population is equal to all of them, has two. It's not merely numbers, it's also representation. Those 21 states are mostly White and Republican, while California is multiracial and largely Democratic. This graph is pretty stark: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/10/26/learning/SenateRepresentationLN/SenateRepresentationLN-superJumbo.png
Unfortunately , any amendment needs to be ratified by 2/3 of the states and I don’t think the voters in low population states would vote to get rid of the electoral college. It doesn’t matter whether we sympathize with low population states—they just seem to like having outsized power.
That said, proportional electoral college votes could ameliorate part of the harm.
Yes I agree, Comey's action was reckless to the point where it cause division within the Democratic party and voters. We should of been united as one and voted for Hillary.
Don't fret too much. Hillary would have lost the election against Trump anyway. Clearly, as Trump has shown, government investigations do not deter supporters from voting for someone.
Hillary was the weakest possible candidate the Democratic Party could have chosen. Had Bernie Sanders been the nominee, he would have stomped on Trump like an elephant stomping on a mouse.
I hate the Republican Party, but, I really had trouble making my shaky hand vote for Hillary. Who in the WORLD would want BILL CLINTON back in the Whitehouse to chase teenage girls around while popping viagra?
Mike, but she DID win…the popular vote anyway, and if not for the Electoral College WOULD have been elected, let’s not forget that fact. I have been paying attention to HRC for quite some time, both the admirable and the cringe-worthy. Personally I think she’s painted negatively with a way too broad a brush (ha, and being a “broad” is part of it going back many years) & is schlepping baggage that is not all hers. A thoughtful FaceBook post, shared here on Barbra Streisand’s webpage pre-election 2016 takes a more nuanced view of her and, more broadly, to a woman seeking power: https://barbrastreisand.com/news/thorough-profound-moving-defense-hillary-clinton-ever-seen/ And I am sad to see you appear to blame her for Bill’s actions (oh, and she got thoroughly bashed by feminists when she didn’t divorce him; I have my opinions about that, but that is between them as a couple), but I do get your point.
FBI investigations are not generally publicized. James Comey was perhaps the first official to deal with Russian bots in a presidential campaign. He did what he thought was the least of two evils. DT’s support of Putin (and vice versa) might have won out regardless after Benghazi.
Mary, I understand your disgust with Comey. However, I am a bit more forgiving. It was an impossible decision for him to make. He wanted to be as honest and transparent as he could was his reasoning. You think he should have said nothing, and he would have been crucified for that as well. It was a shame for Hillary that he chose that path. On that we agree.
What I abhor is that he chose to not say anything about the investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign’s collusion with Moscow—it’s unequal treatment of the worst kind. He was t trying to be completely transparent—only transparent about the candidate that he thought would win.
I remember his saying that he was afraid that, if Hilary Clinton won, he would be accused of a coverup if he didn’t let the public know that she was under investigation.
'It sounds like he was a one-man wrecking ball, aimed at our national security.' (Letter)
How's that for a line about our former President? I see subscriber, Michael Bales, opened his comment with it, too. It's a line worth repeating!
Ruth Marcus, Associate Editor of the Washington Post, who HCR quoted in today's Letter had a few more things to say about him in her Opinion today, 'New indictment proves Trump never learned the first lesson of Watergate'.
'If the allegations in the latest indictment of Donald Trump hold up, the former president is a common criminal — and an uncommonly stupid one.'
'Everyone knows, as the Watergate scandal drove home: The coverup is always worse than the crime. Everyone, that is, but Trump.'
'According to the superseding indictment handed up late Thursday, even after Trump knew the FBI was onto his improper retention of classified information, and even after he knew they were seeking security camera footage from the Mar-a-Lago storage areas where the material was kept — in other words, when any reasonably adept criminal would have known to stop digging holes — Trump made matters infinitely worse.'
'The alleged conduct — yes, even after all these years of watching Trump flagrantly flout norms — is nothing short of jaw-dropping: Trump allegedly conspired with others to destroy evidence.
As set out in the indictment’s relentlessly damning timeline, Trump enlisted his personal aide, Waltine Nauta, and a Mar-a-Lago worker, Carlos De Oliveira, in a conspiracy to delete the subpoenaed footage.'
'Consider: According to the indictment, on June 22, 2022, the Justice Department emailed to a Trump lawyer a draft grand jury subpoena for security camera footage. The next day, the former president called De Oliveira — who has reportedly worked for Trump for almost two decades — “and they spoke for approximately 24 minutes.” Hard to imagine what that might have been about.'
'After that, the pace picked up. Nauta claiming a “family emergency,” changed plans to accompany Trump to Illinois and made a secret trip to Florida, where he met up with De Oliveira. On June 27, 2022, De Oliveira met with another Trump employee, and, after saying the conversation should “remain between the two of them,” asked how many days the server retained video footage — and advised him that “the boss” wanted the server deleted.' (WAPO) For a gifted link to Opinion is below.
Of all the egregious offenses Agent Orange has committed, I think the one where he sat in the white house, watching television, while the seat of government was being attacked, is by far the most damming and provable.
I do hope that a charge of dereliction of duty, specifically aimed at that 187 minutes, is high on the list of the upcoming Jan 6th indictments?
People keep saying Trump was in the White House. I remember footage of his entourage in a tent, bundled up against the cold, watching monitors and dancing around. Was that some other event?
Hey, Meredith. I remember the tent footage as a preamble to his speech at the Ellipse, right before the march to the Capitol. Once the march started, he was loaded into a car and taken back to the White House.
"As rioters stormed the Capitol, Trump was not watching from a nearby tent, as claimed, but rather, spent the afternoon in his private dining room at the Oval Office watching the riot on television, according to The Associated Press."
Yes, Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony is still worth a re-visit.She outlined how he refused to have the protestors disarmed because they were not a danger to him, he said, and how he tried to strong-arm his driver into taking him to the Capitol. I'm hoping she's somewhere safe.
Thanks for the link, Kathy, I had not known that. I, too, hope she is safe. And, if she still wants to, finds a position as a public servant serving her country, tho’ that may be hard now given her notoriety (read: bravery). I wish her well and to have a fulfilling career.
"Trump allegedly conspired with others to destroy evidence.” If the allegations hold up, “the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.” [Ruth Marcus] Oh, but tfg is 'innocent'. And he is still out there on the 'campaign' trail, with just too many people who don't have eyes or ears (or a brain for that matter) to see through this liar's schemes.
And then trying to impeach Biden - I'm shaking my head in disbelief.
Can someone please read out the Constitution of this country to all these traitors and uneducated airheads?
Yes to claim conspiring to destroy evidence is practically an admission of guilt- awareness of damning evidence and committing another crime trying to destroy it.
I quit a job in a commercial research lab when my supervisor suggested that some results should be discarded because “they didn’t fit the model.” The truth doesn’t disappear when you try to distort it.
Those dumb clucks should get their own lawyers and throw themselves on the mercy of the court. If they had come forward months ago with this info, they would have been heros with book contracts. Now their kids will grow up with jailbirds for fathers.
I have a friend who moved across country to take a perfect job for them (combining their doctoral degree in research psychology and their status as a yoga master). All went swimmingly until a research assessment they did did not reflect what the organization wanted, and was directed to "change the results". That job did not last long.
Great comment, those are my thoughts EXACTLY. Marli. All of this crap with the Fascist Rethugs, reeks of a very horrible nightmare. The ignorance of these MAGATs is astounding.
If their ignorance did not serve a purpose, there would not be multi-millions pouring into Republican coffers. That's the only missing piece here, IMO.
The dark money agenda perhaps???? Really wish we could get money out of politics & have a sane, shortened, election season—seems to go on 24/7/365. Oh, and have some ethics in gov’t that apply to all branches.
Thanks Dr. Richardson fir spelling this out in layman’s terms . Easy to understand.
First, someone correct me if I am wrong, but, wasn’t today the anniversary of America finding out about Nixon being involved in the Breslin of Watergate , and we learned that many minutes of the White House tapes had been erased?
Second, Frumpy’s looking at about 450 years in prison on the original 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act. Now, with these extra charges it’s a possible additional 30 years. This isn’t counting the other charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case already in the works. We still have indictments coming for his part of causing January 6th attempted coup. We still have indictments coming from Georgia. I’m also expecting indictments from Arizona and possibly New Jersey. He’s going to be in court for the rest of his life!
One last thing before I call it a night. President Biden had put this country back on an economic path that is beginning to look upward. The stock market has had better days this week, the last two days, since the latest economic report came out, than it has had since 1977, they reported. A solar company is going to open a fifth factory, with an investment of over $280 million, I think they reported. This will be even more jobs. Things are beginning to look up.
The House of Representatives are doing nothing. All they are focused on is finding dirt on President Biden. They are focused on nothing else. No bills are being passed. No budget is behind passed, let alone disbudding anything. The Trumpublicans that have taken charge of the House of Representatives are going to try to destroy Bidenomics, the economy, everything. That’s their big plan. Sit on their asses and do nothing but hunt dirt on our President that isn’t there.
If we don’t vote BLUE 💙💙💙💙 in 2024, and give the House of Representatives, and the Senate a “Super Majority”, and keep it that way in 2026, and 2028, we are making the biggest mistake of our lives. We also need to put Biden/Harris back in the White House in 2024.
I can assure you. If the Republicans take the White House, and keep majority in the House, plus gain it in the Senate next year, we will be voting our last time. There will not be another election in this country. The Trumpublicans will compete destroying our democracy, our Constitution, and our free way of life.
Daniel, if the last paragraph of comes true, i will be leaving the United States. Even though it's about a year and a half away, i have already started my preparation to leave here. Getting a passport, and making lists of what i am going to take with me and what i will leave behind. I kind of think Democrats will win in November 2024, if we can inform voters of what is going on and take notice of what the Fascists are doing and the crimes they are committing. There are quite a few people that don't even know what is going on because they don't follow politics at all, and some of them simply do not care. And the complacent MSM isn't helping any either. I am totally fed up with the antics of the criminals that call themselves Republicans. It seems many of them failed to grow up by the way they act out. They aren't adults. Decent adults don't misbehave like they do. They are truly sick individuals.
I live a short drive from the Canadian border, and I have family in Canada. I think of it often, but I am a retiree, and my Social Security is not abundant {whose is?}. I have small savings, and no property to speak of. If the country goes bad, so does my major annual income — unless I write something wonderful that people want to give me money to read … {I am a retired journalist writing and editing books in “retirement.”}
But if I have no other serious income, how do I survive outside the US? If the R’s are elected, how long can I survive IN the US?
Pat, isn't your social security an earned benefit, i. e., you paid into it over the years of your employment? Wouldn't the US government pay you no matter where you lived?
In years past, Jude, that is exactly what I’d have expected. At this time in history, I’m not sure those who’ve been trying to undo FDR’s and LBJ’s social programs will leave those earned benefits alone.
Pat, you and I are in the same boat. I’m 71, disabled since I was 45. Not able to work outside the home, and I was a career law enforcement officer and firefighter. My pension when the doctors made me quit work was a whopping $226.00 a month! That’s because the wonderful Retirement Board of the state of Florida knew more about my medical history than my doctors did. They decided I didn’t deserve the medical retirement because I could go to school and get trained for other work. Therefore, I was denied my medical retirement. They penalized me 77%, making my check just over $226 a month. Then they told me I needed to keep the state medical plan, but I would have to pay for it. It was over $450 at the time for me and my family, in 1995.
Being denied my medical retirement, I was unable to get social security disability or medical benefits until 2000, when the doctors made me quit everything. I wad screwed. No income other than my retirement income. My social security didn’t start until 2002, and I had 4 children in school from elementary to high school.
I too am looking strongly at Canada, but there’s other places in this world I’m also looking at. Portugal is one. Switzerland is another. Healthcare in those countries is top notch, I’ve been reading, and the gist of living is about 1/10th of here. It’s being said that a person can live high on $700-$1000 a month income. Northwest Canada is about the same, but the medical care isn’t up to snuff like the other areas of Canada.
We have got to fight like gate and figs here to get these next elections right. That’s all there is to it. Either that, or start packing, selling out everything, and get your passport and visa ready.
Me, I have nothing left to sell. Everything is gone I owned, and I have no money. My children took everything when their mother passed, and I haven’t heard from them since they moved everything out and left be with nothing.m, except a lot of bills their mother put on me before she passed away last year.
I can’t say I like that, Daniel, but I totally 100% empathize — I wish empathy could pay a few bills, I’d send you more.
It’s not that any of us want more than we’ve already earned and paid for, either!!! Someone who hires people, pays them a pittance, and pockets enormous profits off the labor of others is exploiting and taking advantage. Someone who works for the people in dangerous jobs, provides for the people’s safety and security has earned being treated with care and respect for the rest of their lives!
How do WE who believe in that get hung with the moniker as “takers,” when we ARE the doers and makers?
There’s a disconnect in the rhetoric, and the Left seems to be inept at framing their argument to sound less like envy or whining, and more like IRATE REFUSAL TO BE USED THIS WAY.
We gotta get the message across that we are not after anything but what the people who keep this society functioning deserve — decent social policy, a decent and functioning economy, and a government that works OF, BY, and FOR all of us.
Daniel…wow…hang in there dude. I hope you are able to resolve and heal schisms w/in your family if possible, usually a two-sided coin, but worth the effort. I hope you have (imagine so) researched & reached out to programs/org that might be able to assist in some way (did that w/ my mom & keeping a list for me should the need arise, getting close at 73, but not quite there….yet).
I sincerely hope this country, despite its many flaws, doesn’t run off the rails and keeps striving to be “a more perfect union” for ALL of us.
John, I’ve been talking with my neighbor a lot, since she’s helping me out here. She’s 49, and wasn’t interested in politics at all. I sat her down and showed he exactly what Frumpy had done in his 4 disastrous years in office, and what he intended to do if he was re-elected. I showed her what DeStupid has been doing in Florida, and where he vows to make every state in this country like Florida.
Then I showed her what has been going on in this country under Biden, and how he has had to also rebuild the government from the ground up since Frumpy had all of the agencies destroy records of everything and there was no ‘peaceful transition’ between he and Frumpy. I explained to her that if Biden/Harris didn’t remain in office, and Frumpy, or any other Republican was elected, it would be the last free election this country ever had. We would be under a dictatorship.
She’s now registered to vote, supporting Biden/Harris, and talking things up at her workplace.
That's some great work, Daniel. I have a neighbor to the west side of me and i explained what was going on with TUMP and his quest for Dictator. She didn't even know all of this was going on and was appalled at the criminal deeds of the MAGAT Rethugs. I don't know if i got through to her, but she sure was disgusted by the MAGAT's. She is a widow, and she is 76 years old. All this just goes to show how many people don't know what is going on in our political systems. We are going to have to inform as many as we can to keep that low life scum bag TUMP from winning and becoming Dictator. Our lives and lifestyle depends on the Dems winning next year.. Again, thanks so much for your efforts.. It gives me hope and optimism.
You’re absolutely correct, John. And, we, the people, are the only ones that will be able to stop this dirtbag from getting elected. Him, or any of the rest of the Trumpublicans on the ticket. This next several elections must be Democratic 100%!
I agree, it is imperative that we win the next several elections. I think our side can win if we Dems all come together. I got an email today from the ''New York Times'' that said Biden has made gains recently, but it was still going to be a close race with that dirtbag TUMP. I am wondering, how can that be?? TUMP was indicted today on charges stemming from the JAN 6 insurrection and riots. I disagree with the NYT on that. I feel after all is said and done, that Biden will win next year. America is totally lost if there are that many ignorant and utterly stupid voters that put his sorry rear end back in the White House. Especially after all the havoc he has created and all of the crimes he has committed. That corrupt scumbag HAS to be defeated. We can't let that horrible crook get anywhere near the White House again!!
John, you and I are thinking just alike, my friend. We have got to keep preaching what these people are afraid to face up to and see is happening right before our eyes. I don’t want to see this country’s democracy fail, Constitution be replaced or turn up. Our fire-fathers didn’t intend on this at all. They never imagined this would even be possible.
I don’t “like” what you are laying out here, but if we do not realize you are dead accurate, our democracy is just plain dead. There is literally NO Republican possibility for the presidency who will not lead us into the dystopia you predict … [Their entire party is embracing the idea of Unitary Presidency ... that says it all. Trump told us flat out … they think the constitution gives the president the right to “do whatever he wants.”]
This is not hair-on-fire political carrying on. This is the real threat.
You are absolutely correct, Pat. I don’t like what I spelled out either. But, I figured it was time we quit ‘pussyfooting’ around the plain facts that are right in front of our faces and lay it out there. It’s time for ‘serious shock treatments’ to get started.
We better start listening to this fool, because he’s talking dictatorship. He’s talking:
“If I get elected I will put all government agencies under the control of the president. I will have all states answering to me, the president.”
This is a dictator! This is Putin, Hitler, Stalin, and all the rest of the communist leaders thus wield has had.
We, THE PEOPLE, better wake the hell up and smell what’s burning! It’s our freedom if we don’t get out and vote BLUE 💙! It’s our, and our children’s futures going down the toilet. This country will no longer be the “United States of America”. It will be the “Trump Kingdom”. And that’s not funny one damn bit!
I’m sorry I agree with you, I’m sorry I have no choice but to agree with you. You lay it out clear.
For my dotage, all I really hoped for was to see my SS check that I paid for monthly for more than fifty years … I bought that annuity, and I just want to collect the little bit of it that comes my way. And to keep writing, I hope, if the old brain keeps working.
But these people speak out of both sides of their mouths — Hollering to Biden that he’s a liar when he says they will dismantle FDR’s little people-centered policies, and LBJ’s structural human centered policies … and then putting forth proposals to do all that and worse.
It’s like they think people aren’t paying attention … !!!
Pat, we older folks living on nothing but social security have to keep fighting. We have to keep talking to people, keep writing to people. We have to keep our sanity so we can hopefully steer there younger generation in the right direction. It’s going to take the younger generation getting out to vote for Biden/Harris, and full democratic ticket all the way down through their local government.
If we don’t, we are strongly facing a Dictatorship. I truly believe this. I have heard what Frumpy has said, and he cannot get elected again.
Yes, we are headed for that, if he [or I believe any Republican, as the party is lining up behind the unitary presidency] ever gets in again.
To be fair to the system {Ha! Like it’s fair to us}, Social Security was intended to be a supplement to pensions and other retirement savings. Corporations have since taken wild advantage of SS, 401-Ks, and IRAs to ditch the whole idea of funding pensions. Those supposed retirement funds rarely make much of a difference, and the people whose incomes don’t even allow them to build up a 401-K or IRA don’t even have that little bit of extra.
So, SS is it for a lot of us.
I had that other stuff in line, too, for a while, but dissolving a marriage late in life can throw such things into disarray. Also, two SS checks for a married couple go a lot further than one SS check for a single person.
My worry is that the R’s will eat into all of that even further, if they’re given a chance. And once they break things, the D’s are pretty slow to fix them. The R’s created our homeless problem back in the Reagan years with things like emptying out psychiatric wards with no alternative place to house those people, dumping Legal Aid so people receiving evictions notices had no way to know their rights under law, and starving the General Fund of resources by massivly slashing tax levies on the higher echelons of income. And then we hear nothing but how there’s nothing in the pot to help communities deal with poverty {all those “takers”}, even though there are billions for arms and military aid.
And who knows why so many veterans are out on the streets? You tell me.
But the Dems have done next to nothing to solve any of that, and the homeless have ballooned!
I don’t want to see my SS go the way of the Middle Class.
There is no Republican candidate who will protect the people who toil daily to keep our society functioning. None. Nada.
Even to hold the status quo, we have to Vote Blue.
Although I have posted this, as have a few others, to LFAA recently I am going to post a link anyway. To your point, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 speaks to just what you’ve written. They’ve now put it in writing how they want to change our gov’t—don’t get wrong, improvements can be made, but this? No, just no. https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/project-2025
Pat, you’re so correct. Living on social security sucks canal water! I’ve been on it since 2002, when I finally started receiving my SS checks. After I was forced to retire medically at 45, in 1995, I softball two years in a hospital bed, at home, under daily home nursing care. I couldn’t walk, move out of bed, nothing but lay there. The state of Florida refused my medical retirement even after reviewing all the recurs my doctors forwarded to them. I was informed by them I could get trained to work doing something ensemble, even if it was from home. They penalized me 78% and my retirement check was $226 a month. It only increases 3% a year, now, but back in ‘95 it only increased 1.5%. I didn’t start collecting social security checks until 2002. Right now, after losing my wife of almost 40 years last year, I only get $1,400 a month. That’s what I’m living in besides my small law enforcement retirement from Florida.
I was homeless for over 2 months earlier this year because our youngest daughter, who we were living with, and I was giving her my social security and retirement checks monthly, except $50, to pay the rent, electric, water, and groceries. She wasn’t paying those bills, for 4 months I learned after she left in February. The landlady informed me that she thought I was dead. My daughter wouldn’t allow them to see me. They were told I was in the hospital, extremely ill, on life support.
I learned the rent hadn’t been paid in 4 months, water and electric hadn’t been paid in full for three months. The landlady was extremely upset and apologetic but she told me I had to vacate the house. She gave me until the February 1st, which was a week away. I had no idea what to do. I had no one I could call, nothing. I was homebound, disabled, on oxygen and breathing machines. I was screwed.
A few days later I said “screw this. If I die, I’ll just die.” I left the house and went to the bridge on Hwy 19 here in Albany at the Flint River. It had a wooded area there too. I die it in the woods, hung out under the bridge during the day, and bathed in the river. I lived that way for two months. My youngest son found me the last of March. Chewed my ass for not contacting him. He put me in a motel for three days, got my breathing equipment, and contacted the landlady and found out from her that she hadn’t gotten rid of my medical equipment and hospital bed, or what few clothes I had left in the house, but everything else was gone. So he hit a U-Haul truck and hit that stuff loaded. Then he and his wife found this little apartment in Albany and hit it for me. I’m able to afford this little place. Bit it takes my social security to do it. Bit, I’m living alone now, with nothing, or nobody. So, what the hell.
All I have left is my fight to make sure I do everything I can to get every Republican voted out if office from the local to federal level. If these idiots aren’t bites out, and we don’t get Biden and Harris a ‘Super Majority’ in Congress (House and Senate) in ‘24, we will deeply regret it. It’s quite obvious that the House is getting nothing done this 2 years because we didn’t get the job done to keep majority in 2022. This bunch of Trumpublicans in the House only have their mindset on trying to find something on Biden they can impeach him for. It’s a huge waste of time, and our money. We are paying these fools to screw around in Washington.
Trump depended on the loyalty of his fellow criminals to keep his secrets. Loyalty to him. He forgot (never knew?) the old maxim: there is no honor among thieves, as the secrets are slowly dripping out. The enormity of Trump’s disloyalty to our country and our Constitution couldn’t be plainer. And the GOP extremists want to burn it all to the ground to prevent accountability and in toddler fashion push their agenda? More traitors. Every. One. Of. Them. Yes, they must be voted out but also must be held accountable-every one. Is there a Constitutional end run that decent folks in Congress can pursue to circumvent the traitors? They cannot be allowed to derail the successes achieved by Bidenomics.
I enjoy reading your posts; very excellent Letters from An Outstanding American! I'm sorry for adding to the title. I sometimes have to say certain things! You have covered the things from today that have been on my mind and brought some others to my attention. My attention is stretched these days.
I don't think so. The House is essentially paralyzed; mired down in the hatred of MAGAs for this Country. We need the House members to approve budgets.
The minute they took the House all hope of functionality disappeared. Our only hope is to take both houses in the general by a wide enough margin to make a difference.
If we can't have a functioning House the next best thing is a very public meltdown. Let them show the voters who they are.
As for the indictment news, more comes to light every day. By the time this goes to trial Jack Smith will be able to present a smoking arsenal.
One of the chief talking points of the Republicans against Biden has been the economy. Now that the economic news is stunningly good the MAGA Republicans want to drag the economy down with a shutdown. It's sad to say but the American voter is too often not discerning when it comes to who to blame for a bad economy. The Republicans are determined to wreck Biden. The voters might not care about how Biden "failed" but only that he did.
I am going to agree, and disagree with you, Barbara. I agree with the fact that the voters are going to look for someone to blame if the government shuts down and the economy goes to hell, again.
But, with Bidenomics doing do well, the Stock Exchange has had two days of extremely great movement, going up more the last two days than it has been since 1977, they reported. Everything is looking up, companies are returning to this country, building factories, home offices, hiring people faster than was expected. Even a big Solar company is going to build a fifth factory here in the U. S. and invest over $280 million in getting all this done.
The American people, the sensible American people I should say, are going to realize what’s going on in Washington DC. They are going to know that the MAGA Trumpublicans have caused havoc in the House of Representatives. The Senate can’t get anything done because the House is locked up trying to ruin President Biden. They are focused on that instead of their jobs,
Plus, President Biden is a smart politician. I’ll almost bet he will do everything he can to avoid a disaster, and you can bet your last penny that he will let the American people know exactly what’s happening.
It is up to us to back up Biden with data and facts and to spread them far and wide. Someone complains about inflation/mention that it has fallen by 6.1% in a year
Someone says high prices/mention price gouging in a capitalist society
Absolutely. We need to fight their negativity with the positive things that’s happened. And there’s more positive been done in Biden’s first two years in office as president than any other administration. That’s facts they can’t counter! And, what he and Vice President Harris have done has been for the Middle Class people of this country. Not the elite rich folks like Frumpy catered to his entire 4 years.
Barbara, While your perspective, in my view, is mostly accurate, especially considering a host of regrettable misperceptions regarding Biden’s overall performance, I would only add that every one of us must determine how we can drive home the point that Republicans intentionally are orchestrating a shutdown, expecting that blame for injury to tens of millions of people will rest with the Biden Administration. As for me, while contacting the White House and Senate and House leadership with thoughts for exposing Republican machinations, I also will be relentless in commenting on media coverage, while, at the same time, seeking direction from every grassroots organization that shows up daily in my Inbox. Additionally, as has so often been the case, I will fine-tune my actions based on Substack newsletters and subscribers’ comments.
Me as well. Simon Rosenberg calls us information warriors. One thing I do is post over, over, and over Simon's data on Biden's economy. I always post them when one of the MAGA columnists on the Washington Post page write anything. You wouldn't believe the number of times someone has thanked me. My feeling has always been to stay out of the culture junk and use information.
Here is a sample from Rosenberg:
The economy added 12.6 million jobs under Biden, putting the total 3.2 million higher than before the pandemic. The economy added less than zero jobs under Trump.
The unemployment rate is 3.5%. It was over 6.3% under Trump.
Weekly earnings rose briskly, by a whopping 11.3%.
People apprehended for entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico has increased by 342%.
Domestic crude oil production has increased 5.7%, and crude oil imports are up almost 6.7%.
The economy grew at 2.1% last year.
The population without health insurance dropped by 1.6 percentage points.
The number of people receiving federal food assistance has increased by about 1.2%.
Murders declined in 2022, but right wing domestic terrorism is still a problem.
The S&P 500-stock index is up nearly 7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up almost 8%.
And
Inflation over the past 12 months it is now down to 3.0% annualized.
• Wages are now clearly outpacing inflation, and Americans are getting ahead. We are, finally, getting to the other side of the shocks of COVID and the Russian invasion Ukraine
• Job growth and GDP growth remain strong, a recession is not on the horizon. Our recovery has been better than any other advanced economy in the world
• The unemployment rate is near a 50 year low, the deficit is way down, the stock market is on a good run
• In recent months both the poverty and uninsured rates hit record lows, worker satisfaction is at all-time high, and new business starts are at historically elevated levels
• The President’s far-sighted investments in our future prosperity are already generating remarkable results, and America has once again become a global leader in countering climate change
America is having a good summer. Our economy is strong, inflation is down, Putin is stumbling in Russia, the flow to the border has plummeted, murder rates have come way down. Not having a good summer - Republican narratives about the Biden Presidency.
• 33.8m jobs - 16 years of Clinton, Obama
• 13.2m jobs - 29 months of Biden
• 1.9m jobs - 16 years of Bush, Bush and Trump
Biden's 13.2m jobs is almost 7 times as many jobs as were created in the 16 years of the last 3 Republican Presidencies, combined. It is also millions more than were created in the entirety of any of their three individual Presidencies. Since 1989 and the end of the Cold War, the US has seen 49 million new jobs created.
The reason it was so important for the Republicans to try to derail our current economic progress is because the Biden economic track record has been very strong:
• Best COVID recovery in the G7
• GDP growth over 3%, 3 times the rate under Trump. No recession on the horizon.
• 7 times as many Biden jobs in 29 months as last 3 GOP Presidents combined over 16 years
• Inflation down to 1.2% annually last month, is much lower here than Europe
• Lowest unemployment rate in peacetime economy since WWII
• Lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever
• Very elevated wage gains and new business starts, worker satisfaction at an all time high, real earnings up in 2022, real wages back in positive territory
• 1.6 job openings per unemployed person - an amazing stat
• The deficit has come way down under Biden, and a reminder that it went up every year under Trump and has come down every year under Biden
• Gas prices down by more than a dollar a gallon since last summer
• Historic investments in our future prosperity (infrastructure, CHIPs, climate, health care)
• Sharp decline in illegal immigration (70%)
Look at the jobs created per month over these Presidencies - Rs at just 10k per month over 16 years. Biden is running at 50 times that so far. Yes, 50x! The jobs created just this past month - 209 - is almost YEARS of job growth under these last 3 GOP Presidents.
Barbara M., you keep on keeping on gal! Post it every chance you get! It’s information like this everyone needs to be aware of and reminded of every chance we get to put it in front of them.
May I make a small suggestion, and please do not take this as criticism. It’s not.
I absolutely love how you have laid all this out for all to read. But remember this. I learned about 20 years ago that the human brain only absorbed about 2 minutes of listening, or reading. So, my suggestion is this:
In your conversations with people (chats, etc) you might break this all into small segments of conversation. Get one point, like the economy, post that little bit. Then turn the chat to the infrastructure, post that little bit, then on to jobs created, then post that little bit.
This way, you are controlling the chat, getting their mind to working different segments of the points you are covering, and you yet their negative input but you fire back with your small segment of positive that’s actually been accomplished, plus you have the proof to back it all up.
Hugh, Your rewrite is entirely correct. The question, in the event of a shutdown, is how to mitigate the anticipated misperceptions. While, as part of this thread, I have enumerated my planned actions, I imagine you and others might have thoughts I had not considered.
Attending a public meeting after the Tea Party shut things down, I recall that an angry woman got up in the middle of the comments about something very local and blasted President Obama for shutting down the national parks. The ignorance is profound, and so is their contempt for the duly elected POTUS.(Maybe you've heard someone refer to Biden as the third term of Obama, as I have.) I think they have fallen for the belief that we'd be better off without a federal government.
I agree. Memorize Simon Rosenberg's data. If you are not on his Substack Hopium do so today. The data is kitchen table stuff and very relatable. See below from Simon. Use it in comments with people.
Inflation over the past 12 months it is now down to 3.0% annualized.
• Wages are now clearly outpacing inflation, and Americans are getting ahead. We are, finally, getting to the other side of the shocks of COVID and the Russian invasion Ukraine
• Job growth and GDP growth remain strong, a recession is not on the horizon. Our recovery has been better than any other advanced economy in the world
• The unemployment rate is near a 50 year low, the deficit is way down, the stock market is on a good run
• In recent months both the poverty and uninsured rates hit record lows, worker satisfaction is at all-time high, and new business starts are at historically elevated levels
• The President’s far-sighted investments in our future prosperity are already generating remarkable results, and America has once again become a global leader in countering climate change
America is having a good summer. Our economy is strong, inflation is down, Putin is stumbling in Russia, the flow to the border has plummeted, murder rates have come way down. Not having a good summer - Republican narratives about the Biden Presidency.
• 33.8m jobs - 16 years of Clinton, Obama
• 13.2m jobs - 29 months of Biden
• 1.9m jobs - 16 years of Bush, Bush and Trump
Biden's 13.2m jobs is almost 7 times as many jobs as were created in the 16 years of the last 3 Republican Presidencies, combined. It is also millions more than were created in the entirety of any of their three individual Presidencies. Since 1989 and the end of the Cold War, the US has seen 49 million new jobs created.
The reason it was so important for the Republicans to try to derail our current economic progress is because the Biden economic track record has been very strong:
• Best COVID recovery in the G7
• GDP growth over 3%, 3 times the rate under Trump. No recession on the horizon.
• 7 times as many Biden jobs in 29 months as last 3 GOP Presidents combined over 16 years
• Inflation down to 1.2% annually last month, is much lower here than Europe
• Lowest unemployment rate in peacetime economy since WWII
• Lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever
• Very elevated wage gains and new business starts, worker satisfaction at an all time high, real earnings up in 2022, real wages back in positive territory
• 1.6 job openings per unemployed person - an amazing stat
• The deficit has come way down under Biden, and a reminder that it went up every year under Trump and has come down every year under Biden
• Gas prices down by more than a dollar a gallon since last summer
• Historic investments in our future prosperity (infrastructure, CHIPs, climate, health care)
• Sharp decline in illegal immigration (70%)
Look at the jobs created per month over these Presidencies - Rs at just 10k per month over 16 years. Biden is running at 50 times that so far. Yes, 50x! The jobs created just this past month - 209 - is almost YEARS of job growth under these last 3 GOP Presidents.
I don’t understand why many members of the Republican House Caucus are still walking around free. They approved of and participated in the failed coup attempt. Why are we taxpayers still giving them salaries so they continue to not do their jobs?
Annabel, I thought it was worth the time to take a look at how Trump's chief competitor and former VP were doing now that he may be, finally, facing justice.
___How bad are things for DeSantis? According to Real Clear Politics’ average of recent G.O.P. primary polls, he is still in second place, with the support of 19.3 per cent of respondents, but he’s trailing Donald Trump by more than thirty points. The latest individual survey, from Harvard CAPS-Harris, put the Trump-DeSantis margin at forty points—Trump is polling at fifty-two per cent, and DeSantis at twelve per cent.(J.Cassidy, NewYorker)
___After being barraged by negative media stories, watching its man’s poll ratings plummet downward like a kid on a zip line, and running into an early cash crunch, Ron DeSantis’s Presidential campaign is planning a “reboot,” NBC News reported last week. On Sunday, the Times followed up NBC’s scoop with a dishy story about overspending and infighting inside the campaign, which is a sprawling operation—although a bit less sprawling than it was a couple of weeks ago, before a looming money shortage prompted it to lay off roughly ten people.(J.Cassidy, NewYoker)
___News of the reboot emerged as the Florida governor found himself at the center of yet more damaging stories. Last week, Florida’s Board of Education approved new guidelines for the state’s public-school course in African American history, which said, in part: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” When reporters asked DeSantis about the new guidelines on Friday, he said that he hadn’t had anything to do with writing them but continued to defend them, remarking that they would probably show some of the enslaved “eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.”(J.Cassidy,NewYorker)
___Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that if he’s elected president, he’d be open to considering Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a position in his administration with either the Food and Drug Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (J.Frankel, NBCNews)
___DeSantis said he and Kennedy were aligned on medical issues, including their criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was the government’s top infectious disease expert and became an outspoken advocate of Covid-19 prevention measures.(J.Frankel, NBCNews)
___Karl Rove roasts DeSantis for floating RFK Jr. to lead health agencies: ‘This guy’s a nut’(D.Mastrangelo,TheHill)
___"When I am President (Mike Pence) I will only consider Pro-Life Americans to lead FDA, CDC, or HHS," Pence said, referring to the Department of Health and Human Services. "To be clear, pro-abortion Democrats like RFK, Jr. would not even make the list. (J.Frankel, NBCNews)
I think RFK Jr. is a nut with a large vocabulary. I think Pence's values come straight out of the 50's - the 1650's. I think Gov. DeSantis still thinks he's the smartest person in the presidential race (even after all the dumb things he's done). I'm amazed Donald J Trump isn't a better criminal, with all the practice he's had. Thanks, Fern, I think you're awesome!
You brought out a big laugh. What a gift in the early morning. Thank you, Steve. I didn't notice RFK's vocabulary. His face looked so tortured, I turned away. Do you agree that he's painfully transparent? Now, Pence, he really does believe what he says about abortion. DeSantis, he was an affirmative action pick by Harvard because the school was looking for a student of the lowest character, so that the rest of the students could feel that much more superior.
DeSantis, he was an affirmative action pick by Harvard because the school was looking for a student of the lowest character, so that the rest of the students could feel that much more superior. That sentence should scroll across the screen every time his face appears on tv.
It’s becoming more apparent by the day that Biden and the Democrats are grownups in the room, and the Republicans are the petulant children throwing one tantrum after another.
The evidence also mounts that TFG was well aware that his retention of government documents was illegal. People who believe in their innocence don’t hide or attempt to destroy evidence. That’s what guilty people do.
Mitch McConnell seems to be deteriorating; physically and mentally. I’m hoping someone can convince him, and Diane Feinstein, that it’s time to step away.
Ralph, I wish I could put my fingers on the article about Feinstein and retiring. The author posits she might actually wish to, but hangs in because of her place on one or more important committees & there is no guarantee that Newsom’s replacement pick, should she retire, nor Dem’s pick for committee position replacements would not be challenged by Republicans (think McConnell and the shenanigans he pulled with two SCOTUS picks). This explains some of it (tho’ isn’t the exact article I was thinking of): https://rollcall.com/2023/04/17/replacing-feinstein-can-be-complicated-senate-history-shows/
I'm not a doctor, but it looked to me like he had a TIA while standing at the podium. When my mother-in-law suffered from one, that is how she looked and reacted.
My devout hope is that Feinstein resigns, the Governor can appoint one of the CA Representatives currently running for senate, and we can keep at least one of them in the House.
Ally, see the article I posted in response to Ralph’s comment….it might be more complicated than appears on the face of it. At some point it seems that the power-players stop looking at reps as people and more as chess pieces, personal needs be damned.
I know the future of America is important and today’s letter is filled with economic and political news, but I’m almost speechless, yet not surprised by news of the “discovery”: tfg’s and his accomplice’s latest crimes. Our Justice Department deserves recognition for staying with this case. TFG is so sure of himself and because he has escaped prosecution or punishment like a mob boss, he must be surprised or not, that his crimes and punishments are catching up with him. And he even has a Mar-a-lago employee who is honest. “In the Washington Post, legal columnist Ruth Marcus wrote, “The alleged conduct—yes, even after all these years of watching Trump flagrantly flout norms—is nothing short of jaw-dropping: Trump allegedly conspired with others to destroy evidence.” If the allegations hold up, “the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.” We will stay tuned and follow this case as it moves forward, but for now, I’m more than thrilled for our country. Because Justice and Truth may prevail. Now, if the repubs could possibly transform and do the job they promised to do for the American people, wouldn’t that be a bonus!
Thank you yet again for zeroing in on, analyzing and elucidating, the most pertinent news of the day and focusing our attention on what is most essential. All the noise that is put out in various news sources too often masks what is most important. Reading you makes me better informed, clearer and smarter. You give us the full picture like no one else. I am grateful.
I'm with you, Avery, and it's good to be among people who support reason and the Constitution. I also read Robert Reich, because he ads to my understanding of the economy and what the right is doing to undermine what Biden is doing.
Pictured Rose Mary's "demo" instantly! But we need a Goldwater or two to convince tRump to get out of the presidential race now. Trump won't because he knows a run is his only possible protection from jail.
That was a quite convenient deletion. Maybe it is age or my suspicious nature, but this was too easy. I was born and raised in DC. I know how that place works especially with Nixon.
There is only one way to derail Bidenomics and that is with a lengthy Government shut-down. Impeaching Biden is just there to throw mud to protect Trump in a "they all do it" false equivalency. This is not a strategy to elect a government. It is a strategy to create chaos so that authoritarianism can rise as the "salvation"--decision making by fiat, without the need for debate and compromise, to get the basics running.
Georgia, Abbott, DeSatan and Arkansas are already “decision making by fiat, without the need for debate and compromise...” The list of what dump tried his best to shred is dizzying. The more I think I know about this whole piece of our recent history, the more gets uncovered. It is a wonderful thing to have Heather to explain and wade us through the morass of information and disinformation coming from all directions. I learn so much from everyone in this group and feel very lucky to read all your comments!
Elizabeth, it reminds me of grade school bullies-“why don’t you make me!” TFG showed his followers that established norms are only norms if everyone is invested in good governance.
Norms. Who thought much about them before 2016? Difficult to overstate their importance and now, sadly, perhaps too late, we're learning how fragile they are.
The founders assumed that men of good character would be the people elected to office. 1) Hoping, assuming that others will do what is right is a fragile foundation for a government. They did not write into law boundaries for the chief executive, the President, of the government. Trump has shown what happens to "norms and traditions." 2) "Assuming makes an ass of you and me."
I thoroughly agree! I also learn a lot from Professor Cox-Richardson and all the intelligent commentators. This is a scary time in our country. It helps to have sane, knowledgeable people I can turn to for the real story. Facts matter.
Exactly!!
Facts that are interpreted correctly are what matters.
Yes, that is what matters.
Elizabeth, I could not agree more! As I was reading yesterday’s comments and was contemplating a reply here or there, all I could really do was just pause in amazement at the intellectual and thoughtful level of the comments.
(What an example of a run on sentence!)
I realized that, unlike so many others, I had nothing to contribute that hadn’t already been out on the table.
Starting with the Professor this is an awesome, thought provoking forum!! Thank you all.
Officer House, Grammar Police "to correct and to serve" says that's not a run-on sentence. Regardless of what you think, you do offer a reasonable contribution to the conversation.
Ditto, Christine. I am amazed at Heather and the many knowledgable posters here with a plethora of life experiences as well.
There really is a town named Happy Valley?! I wish I lived in a happy valley!
Hi Marj.
You do live in a happy place. You can make any place a happy place by how you go about your daily interactions. My goal every day is to try to "make" someone's day. You'd be surprised at what a surprise compliment to a stranger can do for not only the stranger but for you too!! So hate what's going on, absolutely!
But when you can offer a positive comment absolutely do that too!
So have a good day and I can just tell, "I love your outfit!"!!!
Yes indeed, and I remember any compliments from strangers that I have ever received. I do it all the time, and I thank everyone for coming to work today, bagging my groceries, letting me pass by first, letting me change lanes, etc.
Marj, it is not a “town” but an area in central PA actually located in a geographical valley. It is also the home of the PSU Nittany Lions 🦁 and perhaps a mind-set...
One here in Oregon as well; east of Portland.
Christine,
Just because a sentence is long doesn't mean it is a run-on sentence. Yours is long-ish but not run-on.
Exactly. It was a good sentence with content and thoughtfulness.
Christine, have no fear, we don’t worry about sentence structure here!
If we did, I would fail terribly with every post I write, every Substack I publish, even my talking to someone. I don’t judge someone by their English, or writing skills. I avoid judging people all together, but, there is the occasional ‘moron’ that just can’t be helped but be judged. Case in point, the ‘Orange Clown’, ‘Frumpy’, ‘Dictator Tweet’.
Your opinions always matter, no matter what others wrote. We welcome to read yours also.
😊
The House Republicans want to shut down the government in order to makes corruption and bribery the way to run the country. That has always been Trump’s way. Now Trump is finally getting indicted for his misdeeds. It’s impossible to keep up with the charges. The members of the Crazy Caucus Cartel should be investigated also. How much Russian money are they receiving? Everything they do supports Putin’s goals.
I really do wonder what can be done about the Freedom Caucus. Do We thePeople really have to put up with this? It reminds me of having a houseful of unruly teenagers again. Not good.
One small “d” democratic way to derail the inappropriately named “Freedom Caucus” is to put an end to the gerrymander! Of course the problem with that is the current SCOTUS majority is in goose-step with them. As a consequence, I greatly fear for the future of our democracy!
As long as the mainstream republicans don't stand up to the Freedom Caucus and are afraid to speak out, then we will have this problem. This is a problem that they created and now they are in too deep. They are letting the most extremist wing of the party run the party now, and my only reasoning is that they are okay with the extremist wing of the party or don't believe they are as crazy as they pretend to be because they are still in denial.
Sadly as long as there is an electorate willing to vote them in.... call it voter alienation or just pure prejudice, US government remains in a bind.
I've heard commentators make the case for there being many more Gen-xers reaching voting age every month, and that they are much more politically active and more likely to vote progressively, while those who vote MAGA are dwindling in numbers. One can only hope.
From a recent Harvard Institute of Politics poll, this seems promising. Mind you statistically these 18-29 year olds are mainly down on Biden - this was done in the spring. "As evidence of generational replacement (a theory proposed by political scientists Paul R. Abramson and Ronald Inglehart), fewer than half (42%) of young Americans who grew up in conservative households call themselves Republicans today (36% independent, 21% Democrat); among those who grew up in liberal households, 60% are Democrats (31% independent, 9% Republican).
A plurality (44%) of young Americans identify as political moderates (30% identify as liberal, 24% conservative). Among those who grew up in what they consider a moderate household, 70% identify that way today; when it comes to political identification, 31% identify as a Democrat, 16% Republican with the remaining 53% independent or unaffiliated with a party.
We also found that a supermajority of liberal youth (86%) and a majority of their moderate (52%) and conservative (61%) peers report that most of their friends share their political ideology. Meanwhile, just 5% of liberals and 14% of conservatives socialize mostly with those of the opposite political ideology."
This is EXACTLY why we need to be on these ‘GEN-X’ crowd and get them registered now. Hey them motivated. Get them involved. We need them in future elections. We need to gain “Super-Majority” of the House of Representatives and Senate. Biden/Harris need to remain at the helm for one more term. Then let Harris take the reigns gif 8 years.
This is what we must do, if we plan on saving our country, our Democracy, our Constitution. I’m telling you, the Orange Clown, twice indicted, once convicted of Assault (Rape), and known Cult leader, has made it known that he intends to turn this into a Dictatorship. He has stated he will have all government agencies answering to him only, including all states. That’s a Dictator. That’s not Democracy.
If Frumpy is elected, our government will be abolished. Our elections system will be abolished. Our Constitution will be abolished, and our laws will be useless. We will be under his dictatorship, and speaking Chinese, or Russian as a first language.
And THAT, everyone can take to the bank!
A house full of teenagers running around with AK-47s.
Hopefully, some of them are on the list for January 6th for aiding and abetting.
I sure hope so. The thought of some of those people getting away with quite literally sedition makes me crazy. Gosar, MJT, others - off with their heads.
It’s my hope, prayer, dream, that all of them get stood up in front of their respective Chambers, handcuffed, and led out of there to be jailed for their participation in the planning, carrying out, assisting with, January 6th attempted Coup.
Just think, if that happens, McFarty will no longer be Speaker of the House. Blowbert, Margarine T. Cucumber will turn all shades of red! Josh Hardly American will be in his element. In special bracelets, handcuffs. “Oh look, I have in matching bracelets!”
He would have to put both fists up before he starts to run.
AGREE, could read: Krazy Kaucus Kartel KKK
I am completely fed up with this nonsense. None of this adds up to anything but chest thumping and gaslighting. If they don’t want to do the hard work of governing they should be shown the door.
Forget Russian money: look at Leo Leonard and Mugs “Buy the SUpreme COurt” what’s his name. The billionaire insurrectionists. They make me sick. Putin is a fly compared to them. He has his own troubles to contend with. I love your name, btw. Thanks for your comment. Crazy Caucus Cartel is priceless....have a great weekend.
Yes! Is DT still dreaming of Trump Tower Moscow?
It makes me shudder to think about how physically ugly rump's cabinet members were that simply reflected how ugly they were on the inside. I see the tide turning. What came out yesterday--a new Mar-a-Lago employee indicted along with transcripts of him attempting to delete security camera footage under the direction of "the boss" ala Nixon's Rose Mary Woods should stymie rump's defenders...or will it?
Nope! sadly.
Yes I agree. It's been a wonderful learning experience for me as well.
Reagan 's true target was clearly not "government" as such, which plainly Republicans by any mean aim to utterly dominate, but the great impediment to autocratic power that is "democracy".
Well said!
Right you are, Georgia. Causing America to go into default is the trump card (pardon the pun) the Republicans _will_ play to destroy Biden’s success.
Is this default story a remake of one that was written several years ago when trump wanted his wall? When some of the military had to get food at Food Share type places? Some people did not get paid but would do so after the default was "cured." A month with no pay is tough when you have a mortgage, groceries, and bills to pay. "I'm sorry I can't pay my rent this month. The government is bickering over some wall." "Too bad."
Certainly a sticky wicket this game playing, far above my head in what appears the complex game of chess like none other .
The truest depiction of classy leadership including diplomacy for solution after solution from our President and his staff. No pie throwing. No name calling. No cheap shots. In fact often shaking hands and focusing in on working together...no.where.near.matched.by ‘the other side’.
Is America noting this?
Let it BE noted then.
💙💙AT THE BALLOT BOX💙💙
The name calling really gets me. The last time I experienced name calling was in grammar school.
Karen. I do like ‘Tubby Trump.’ Or, perhaps, ‘Big Butt Donald.’ His bodiless photos of his orangy face I find misleading.
Keith,
Not to offend your, likely, substantially well developed sensibilities, but, for those of us from East Texas, we would say:
Fat Ass Trump with a hoot at the end.
As someone who has been "curvy, full figured or plus size" my entire life (since age 7) and who has battled an eating disorder for most of that time, I have a request. If you are going to call names, (not sure how that helps our cause) please focus on his behaviors rather than his size.
Think of it this way. If he were in a wheelchair while committing all these bad acts, would you be ok calling him crippled or lame-brained? Thank you.
Accurate level the mentality of the perps Karen, it’s bullies modus Aux pere …end I 😉
excuse my french🫶
Kids are very good at this and some of them love it.
GO OUT !!, DEMS ! .....
&. get That. VOTE !
IN the BOX !
Your LIFE !, ....WILL !
Depend!, On. IT !
I loved Simon’s message yesterday …we’re doing great just keep on sending encouragement and Biden’s successes everywhere you can!
🙌☮️Yahoo!!!
We'll see how this plays out. To me, it seems the MAGA Republicans have Biden by the balls...
I’m sure that’s what they think. My money’s on President Biden. The last time the Republicans underestimated Joe Biden was when Puppet Speaker Kevin McCarthy insisted on negotiating the debt ceiling bill one on one. Joe was kind enough to let Kevin keep his pants. Took the rest.
I really hope so... But I see no way that the default can be averted without cooperation of at least a few Republicans. How do you think that Biden can work around this?
Mind you, if Joe manages to play Quivering McQarthy and the MAGAts and make them laughing stocks, that's all they deserve. Maybe even _more_ than they deserve...
I would be working on those whose districts are where Biden won and are swing districts. We have one in the 5th district here in Oregon. I hope she is feeling the pressure.
Biden is a extremely experienced negotiator. He’s had over 55 years experience with these morons on Capitol Hill. McFarty is a piece of cake. Biden will give him a little bit and make it look like a lot. It will pass the house before it sinks in they got screwed, again, by the professor!
Dutch, The MAGAS may think that, but their audacity is in plain site. Biden’s been at this a long time
Bingo! Nailed it.
Completely agree. Thought the same and that the Biden Impeachment Op is likely also to being used to help appease vengeful Trump and *buy* his silence, favor, and cooperation on some matters.
I Agree Georgia. Indictment is now the new impeachment. The majority of America will see right through a Biden impeachment as being political. An impeachment that results in the removal of a president is the new bar to reach. If Trump gets in office, that will be a constitutional change he will first work on to prevent it from happening to him.
Bad Congressman Bob Good allegedly “represents” tens of thousands of Federal employees. So when they are shut out of their jobs as Bad Bob Good celebrates, we have to triple down our financial support for nonpartisan voter registration and turnout. The 18 to 29s will be our “Democracy Leaders” and you can make it happen: please open www.turnup.us ?
These brilliant Harvard students are effective with amazing technology to get the job done--our job is to help them save Democracy for all of us!
Thanks to your beating the TurnUp drum, we’re now monthly donors.
Thank you so much; they are doing a great job at very low cost using their fabulous technology. I am now starting to look for good folks like you to “adopt” a Community College or a High School in one of only 50 critically important Congressional District (CD) for donations specifically directed to hire young activists to register classmates online! Woukd you be interested? Other folks reading this?
Ira, can you provide more information?
Ruth, as we obviously know, this election’s major issue will be whether abortion rights will be protected or destroyed by a nationwide ban. That changes an important issue from a policy choice to a personal protection of great consequences. Young women and men 18 to 29 care deeply from a personal perspective about this. Gun safety and climate climate are also very important to younger voters. 32Million GenZ came of age to vote in the last 6 yrs. So this brilliant group of Harvard students and I have been hard at work registering 18 to 29s by the tens of thousands on a nonpartisan message about these issues and their opportunity to make very meaningful choices in 24. See please www.turnup.us/ We have identified 50 very competitive congressional districts (CD) which will decide key races on the basis of abortion, gun safety and climate. We are looking for volunteers who adopt a CD and raise funds to pay for a sophisticated effort to register 18 to 29s etc in thst CD. If you and others are interested, please email me at iralechner@yahoo.com This is a very cost effective and exciting pinpointed effort only in truly competitive CDs! Many thanks
I am sorry to say, you are probably correct. I just hope it will not come to that
What you say is spot on. What we're dealing with, at least in part, IMO, is rank racism, on the one hand, and on the other hand ?? Well, on the other hand, it is still rank racism that trumps even democracy in their minds.
You nailed it. House Republicans are continuing the work of the Trump administration (as directed by Putin?): blow up the federal government.
The MAGA faction gets all the headlines, but they are the tail wagging the dog. The blame for a lengthy government shutdown, if it happens, would be laid at the feet of the House Republicans and hurt many of them when run for re-election in 2024. So I think we'll see a repeat of the drama over raising the debt ceiling earlier this year, with the appropriations bills, without all of the toxic riders, passed at the last minute after the recess. One way to improve the odds of this outcome is to contact your Representative during the recess to express your views!
Senior citizens can't afford another government shutdown.
You're absolutely right.
While so-called Bidenomics is designed to rebuild the middle class? WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Name a single Biden initiative design to help the middle class?
Tax Cuts? NO
Inflationary deficit spending? NO
Weakened Banking System? NO
500% Higher Interest Rates? NO
Core Inflation? NO
Why should we take economic analysis from someone who doesn't know a DAMN thing about economics? Especially from a MARXIST academic. This is propaganda, its not serious scholarship.
If you think Heather Cox Richardson is a Marxist, you have utterly no freaking idea what Marxism is.
And if you think she's ignorant of economics, you know one of her academic specialties is the whole late 19th century debates over the gold standard. Funny that someone who knows nothing about economics would be interested enough in that topic to read on it and write about it.
YOU are the faux intellectual, not Heather.
DON ! ..HE, ...is A TROLLER !
( HE!, .....is Going to NEED
a BIGGER. BOAT !)
SO RIGHT!, About PROF
HCR !
Bigger boat--hahaha!
James, I believe general consensus from FOMC is we might be on the track to reaching the goal of 2% inflation and thus could consider lowering interest in a year or so without a recession. GDP looks good. unemployment is low. No new bank closures. DOW is fine. Still have an inverted yield curve though and M2 is troublesome. All in all the economy is stable. Biden has invested well for the middle class with some initiatives in the past 2 years. Roads and bridges, for example, are helping the construction sector. Consumer spending might be a bit too high right now and retail jobs are falling which is an indication that might change. If the GOP doesn't shut the government down the US might be okay until the election. What economic news would you care to share. I love a good econ discussion.
Precisely
As long as the major funding for interventionist tactics across the globe is voted by both parties, the skills and successes abroad (see Brian Berletic's reports on the tactics) will be available here. It's easy. Create chaos, outspend the democratic process on one country after the other with leaders who owe allegiance to international (stateless) business and convince the public to use false labels like "defense" spending, and you've got a game as easy to push at home as abroad.
Chaos appears to work at home as well as abroad, for distracting from basic needs.
Pitting people against each other over abortion riddles like when life begins, grabbing headlines and distracting from escalating climate destabilization, allows fossil fuel profits to buy and own Congress. Political and military analyst Brian Berletic's analysis is discussed at https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-11-29/Ex-Marine-exposes-U-S-govt-s-secret-political-interference-in-Asia-15z8CfeCUEw/index.html
Thank you for the link Jerry; very interesting. Just skimmed it, but will dip back in for a more thorough read. My initial impression is that nothing is what it seems to be.
Glad you checked in on it, Barbara.
Brian Berletic maintains a significant flow of insights and analyses on not only the tragedy of Ukraine, but also background on influences plied across the world. That link introduces Brian's starting motivations. For the latest, his project bears the name The New Atlas and is available via Youtube and other platforms.
Jerry, I checked him out as well. Looks like he had a taste of how Okinawa likes Marines based on how some of the younger ones debased some young Japanese ladies at a minimum. They don't care for Marines it is true and wish they would just leave. Perhaps he took it personal. He has a point of view regarding soft influence by NED and perhaps NGOs in general. Fair enough. Other countries see these orgs, in general, as an arm of the State Dept and/or CIA. Perhaps some are and some mean well. Other countries are suspicious of even food aid and other humanitarian aid as well. Suspicion is high. I appreciate his perspective but after another 20-30 years he might be more valuable as a source.
Greetings and thanks for the feedback on Brian Berletic's point of view.
You and our fellow fans of Heather's may find useful a recent discussion of influence by NED and NGOs in Hong Kong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPzOqkrwhI0
Having traveled to Central America and Mexico mainly with Witness for Peace delegations, meeting there with journalists and community leaders, then following up with US embassy visits in country and with Congress back home, my point of view includes concern over influence of NED and related projects. 30 years of advocacy for basic human rights and self determination in these neighboring countries helps me appreciate Berletic's independent minded analysis informed also by his years living in Thailand.
Jerry, I am more concerned with private orgs but one never knows who is planted in and among the most well-meaning orgs. It is best to keep a sharp eye as you say.
The struggles involved are not impossible to sort out. Watching how oligarchs here in this country or in comfortable digs abroad are funding the most corrosive groups and legislative mischief imaginable, in Congress and state legislatures, can help illuminate the need to press for responsible policies.
I like that description of international business as "stateless."
"It sounds like he was a one-man wrecking ball, aimed at our national security."
Thank you for the pitch-perfect description of Trump. Anyone who thinks he wasn't doing Putin's bidding on many fronts is either naive or a fool. And selling classified material to other countries, notably Saudi Arabia. I doubt we'll ever know the full extent of what he did to harm us but suspect much will eventually come to light. Don't think for a second that agencies like the CIA aren't on the case.
Michael, I agree....this is so deep and wide. What did I see flicker past on my screen about him “selling pardons for $2m each”??? He is such a bottomless pit of....indescribable horror.
Infinite hearts on that one, Elisabeth!
Being new to this level of obstruction, please tell me there is a law being broken by both seller and buyer of "pardons".
There may not be a law as this is the first time for a true mafia boss president. But fortunately DT will be subject to several other laws. Looking forward to Fanni Willis’s RICO case.
Keep wondering how loing that case may take.
Fear not, Margaret, Georgia is looming. Federal pardons to no good on State cases. His ‘Pardon Power’ isn’t worth the paper it’s written in at the State level. Georgia, New York, hopefully Michigan and Arizona will follow Georgia and New York.
As we used to say back in the day “His ass is grass, and Georgia is cutting it really short!” Frumpy is screwed!
Margaret, I would argue for obstruction of justice....bribery is also against the law, for both the briber and bribee, so to say....
If I remember correctly, the $2 million price tag came from Rudy Guiliani , who was peddling them, not any accusation that he was able to make the sale.
Thank you, prog. Why am I not surprised?? OMG.
Elizabeth, I believe that rumor came from one of the suits against Rudy. His former assistant is suing him for back pay and sexual harassment. That is the amount that she said Rudy was selling Trump pardons for. Don't think he had any takers tho. Rudy has this (GA) defamation suit to deal with and then Fani in GA and then J6 (Smith) so he will be a busy guy.
I wonder if Rudy will be indicted with TheRump in the RICO action?
Lynn, I believe he should be. Remember those 60 law suits that the dumpster lost. With the bogus data? That was Eastman and Rudy in a clear RICO enterprise according to the general definition. However, I have not read the GA version. Fani means business.
Absolutely. You know he had to be. He was Frumpy’s main source of voice to everything. It wouldn’t surprise me if Guggliancy wasn’t the one that originally started that crap yo begin with, planting the seed in “The Boss’s” head.
I think Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Stephen Miller are involved up to their eyeballs !!
That’s my constant rant. They are the evil brains that have used Trump to meet their goals. His ego and stupidity allow for their ideas to be realized. He came at just the right time to be played by...and Putin.
Absolutely!
Michael, that sentence of HCR's leaped out at me, too. But it's not even enough. He is a one-man wrecking ball aimed at ALL levels and aspects of democracy and civil society.
the other one that leapt out to me was the quote from Bob Good (R VA): “We should not fear a gov shutdown….Most of what we do up here is bad anyway.”
They can not help but to tell on themselves.
Thanks for pointing out the good side of that Good quote. When I read it I was thinking it was more indicative of the agenda that seems to be more and more common in Rs - to get rid of the federal government altogether. I'd rather believe your version!
Yes, wow! I keep thinking, “Did someone elected to our government SAY something like that? Could those who elected him actually want him there now?”
Gobsmacked.
I said (actually yelled so loud I scared my dog) to myself when I read that quote, "Well, why don't you just go home and let someone else govern?" What they heck do those guys think they've been elected to do, anyway?
Wrecking balls, is apparently what they think they've been hired to be - to dismantle our nation as quickly and as devastatingly as possible.
Aaaaaaargh! Yes. How did a person who would even SAY a thing like that get “elected” to represent voters … Egad. E-e-e-e-gad!
Especially when you consider the number of Good's constituents who are federal employees! He just doesn't care.
They are most certainly a miserable, ignorant bunch of creeps. After awhile you kind of run out of adjectives. Maybe we should make up some new ones . Every day I am thankful to HRC for her intelligent, thoughtful commentary that keeps all of this mess in some sort of perspective.
Very true. She certainly lights the way with compelling information and questions. I'm rather envious of all her history students!!!
Alexander’s and Michael,
The actual fact is trump-dump isn’t smart enough to be a “one maggot “ wrecking ball” he is another puppet on a long and deeply connected mob of terrifying deep, dark money. That same deep cord of conspiracy became a major take over with puppet Reagan.
If tramp were the only one to worry about???????
Yes! Thank you for nailing the true extent of his damage, which clearly isn't yet over.
Putin’s puppet. Classic useful idiot. Sadly the American voters were duped by con man Don and his enablers at Fox Pravda
Well said Seth.
A bad seed that lands on bad soil does not grow.
But, a bad (think invasive) seed that falls on welcoming soil? Grows like the weed it is.
Trump is not the problem with America. Americans are the problem with America.
I disagree. Too pat an answer. Trump certainly IS the problem in this country because he is the come-to-life animation of what his supporters dream about. When the Red Hats are interviewed, their responses are garbled versions of "what he said." Yes, they are at fault, and bringing their character to life and feeding him, including monetarily, is hellish cartoonism. But the bad actor 45 knows full well what he is doing. He apparently understands where the soft spots in our governing process, and challenges every agency he can to respond. Bureaucracies don't function at their best under these pressures. And there is the Toqueville paradox simmering in the wings.
Speaking of simmering, , Climate Change is also waiting in the wings, sorry to jump shift, and my giving up bacon for breakfast will not make one iota of difference. Actions like that are just too late. We are a myopic society, as are most of the rest of the world.
Want alternative "renewable " energy to run your air conditioners? Then help our firefighters haul water to the solar installation battery fire that ignited yesterday and is expected to burn for several days. NO, water is not being applied to those batteries, it is to cool down the surrounding battery bank buildings so the place doesn't explode.
Thank you for reading this.
I appreciate your sentiments, but from what you say you're apparently not a student of climate science: the issue is so gravely important, we shouldn't make fact-like statements without evidence. Meat production is one of the topmost contributors to carbon and methane emissions in the world, and it's a consumer item (I haven't eaten any in 54 years and I'm perfectly well): it won't stop being produced as long as people buy it, take delectable photos of it, sell cookbooks full of recipes for it, cook and excrete it, consider it a badge of wealth and prestige rather than reckless illiteracy.
I do in fact read up on climate science. Whether you identify yourself by what you eat is a badge of honor is not my concern.
What I am trying to say is that there are more dire intimations of changing conditions than a piece of meat will offset, worldwide.
I appreciate your concern and your response, I am not denigrating anyone's choices, I am just remarking that my giving up bacon for the sake of the climate is just too low a priority to consider.
I have to go jump in a diesel tractor and rake the hay, there are horses to be fed in Florida.
I wasn't clear. Of course responses to climate change and efforts to mitigate or at least adapt to it must be systematic! This is not a matter of virtue but survival. The reference to "eating a piece of meat" is beside the point (and obviously denigrating, like "badge of honor"--best to denigrate shamelessly if you're going to do it!). I just mentioned my meatless diet to forestall the usual next move of nettled carnivores, who explain how important protein is to our health, which is also beside the point--I get plenty. I should have spelled this out: *every person on the planet has to stop eating meat*: we have to change what we do and how we live, because we do not live on the same planet anymore. It's not a moral position, it's a fact. Elon Musk and his friends have been planning an escape to Planet B for several years but most of us are stuck with Planet A. We have to stop using fossil fuels, clearing land for pasture, diverting scarce water to irrigate crops for animals that aren't even part of an ecosystem, making concrete and using it as a building material. In the next 7 years.
Can you give up your car for a horse? Have you thought of it? Have you imagined raking hay with rakes and people instead of using a diesel tractor?
Mary, may I please correct you on something. Meat producers (cattle, dairy, hogs, poultry, sheep, etc) are all under the extremely close eye of the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). These folks now have to have Methane Gas Generators, and other approved methods of harnessing, and utilizing, the waste from these animals in ways to keep from destroying the climate.
Agriculture producers across this country take climate change extremely serious. Every agriculture organization in this country has their own promotional campaign for climate change and fully encourage their members to take part in them all.
So, please do me a favor. Before you say something negative about the people that are doing all they can to feed the world, please check all your facts, and not what done few in some meatless groups are saying.
Daniel thanks for putting these facts in the conversation, and helping to maintain it free from demonization. That is important, and I'm sorry to have given the impression that I thought cattle farmers were bad people! I know those facts: I have friends and colleagues who are meat producers, am aware of their personal conscientiousness. Some are in my faculty climate seminar, one's a professor of environmental studies. But according to the global organizations who collect data relative to this, the world-wide production of meat, the decimation of the Amazon rain forest for pasture land, the emissions involved in trucking and shipping meat all over the country and the globe: these huge systematic problems are not under the jurisdiction of the USDA. We live in a turbulent, already deranged, hyperdynamic system (as pig farmers in the floodlands of the South will tell you), hard to predict or prepare for as change is constant and the rate of increase (of warming) is itself increasing.
I said nothing negative--please reread my comment--about meat producers. I said *we have to stop eating meat*. Consumers, qua consumers, can do little about most major sources of carbon and methane. But we do have the power to stop consuming meat and leather. I lived through a big transition in the PNW when the EPA began trying to save the forests--it got ugly for a while. I'm living through such a transition in my own sector. But I've been astonished at the resilience and creativity in both areas. What we--and civilization--can't survive is temperatures our bodies haven't evolved to function in, or the worldwide, potentially nuclear conflicts erupting under the pressures of climate change and the vast increase in climate refugees--a billion conservatively anticipated by the end of the century.
Thank you for this information. Too many people, too much people-generated heat. Can we fix this? Can we grow small gardens? Learn to live with greens, fruit, and grains, in small houses? We might look at how the Great Depression prepared US for WWII. Look at how lean we were and how we were fewer (and kinder to each other).
Honestly, Ed, both you and MIke are right - TheRump is just the tip of either a gigantic iceberg or, more likely, a digusting boil on the behind of the US. He was not created out of whole cloth in 2015 by a few Thuggish maggots, and they in turn were not created ab initio in 2008, in response to Obama's election. The maggot movement has been simmering for years if not decades, but now it's exposed in all its horrific "glory", and maybe now we can begin to deal with it as the wide-reaching cancer that it is.
And with respect to putting out fires at power generating facilities, solar or otherwise, when even the forests of North America are on fire, it's not unexpected that there will be other, smaller, fires as well. We live and learn about how to construct these facilities, where to site them, how to operate them, how to protect them and how to improve them.
Thank you so much!
Ed,
Very well written post. Thank you for your diversity of thought. I appreciate it.
"he (Trump) is the come-to-life animation of what his supporters dream about."
Not to disagree with you because, of course, you are right that Trump is a problem. However, like Hitler did not exist without an enthusiastic German population, Trump does not exist without American enthusiasm for his hate speech, his corruption, his lies, his evil.
Without Americans who flock to hate like mosquitoes to a bug light, those Americans are a problem. And, there are quite a large number of them.
As for climate change, yes, climate change where I am is not waiting in the wings, it is here. Along with all of the invasive plants and fungus we have transported around the world.
But, to actually resolve climate change, we need a reduction in the total human population by about 90%. Because, our current large human population can only be supported by fossil fuel, THE most efficient method of generating energy, period. Nothing else comes close, nothing else can support 8 Billion people.
As long as nobody wants to say what I just said, we are on the road to extinction.
The only population cure I can imagine is the set of viruses being released by the permafrost melting.
Here's hoping.
:-)
We don't need a reduction of humans, though it'll happen as a result of adjusting to a planet that doesn't support as many (in this transitional stage e.g., few of my students plan to have kids--I guess they'll have to move to blue states). We need a reduction of waste and profligacy. Or as some put it, a reduction of Americans: "“A child born in the United States will create 13 times as much ecological damage over the course of his or her lifetime as a child born in Brazil,” reports the Sierra Club’s Dave Tilford, adding that the average American will drain as many resources as 35 natives of India and consume 53 times more goods and services than someone from China." https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/american-consumption-habits/#
A friend fished eastern Lake Ontario a couple days ago, he reports that the near-surface water temp is 77 degrees
Ed, yes, the Great Lakes region is much warmer than normal. That is my region. But, I guess it is better than Arizona, although, I am worried about my trees. I love trees and we now have a fungus or bug from Asia that is killing each one of the few hardwoods we have remaining up here.
Precisely!
Agree and would add, GOP obstructionists agenda based on fidelity to party politics. Seem to gaslight, blind-eye or rubber stamp along party lines
Mike, yes, in the sense that 1/2 allowed him to thrive. I blame our insufficient education system. We do not teach basics to allow our citizens how to think then this bible thing makes it more complicated as we how found.
“...insufficient education system”...doesn’t most of what we see as wrong boil down to that?
Seth, I think we need to look closely at Leo Leonard, the Koch bros., Harlan Crow and others on the far right who have been brewing this toxic mess for decades. Dump was just a convenient “server” for them to poison our democracy. His appointees have destroyed the credibility of the SCOTUS. I think Russia may be involved, but seditionist billionaires are the heavy hitters in running the current fascist “show”.
People were warned about Trump and what he stood for. If Hillary would of won , we wouldn't of been in this mess. The democratic voters weren't united to begin with. Many voted for Bernie others voted for Trump. We suffered the consequences of this criminal for 4 years. He was able to enforce his hatred, greed and stack the Supreme Court with extremist justices, who don't believe in democracy.
And apparently so many of them still are, along with far-right-wing moms and lackeys at the local level.
That one got me as well. Aptly put.
I submit that Donald J Trump is even worse than that. He is a wrecking ball, aimed at the planet. The hundreds of thousands of people needlessly lost to Covid can't be resurrected. How many of the hundreds of millions across the globe suffering from Long Covid could have been healthy today?
But it's much, much worse than that. The years we lost in the fight to halt Climate Change cannot be retrieved. The Orange Menace has doomed entire ecosystems and the species that existed within them. We were headed over the cliff of a Climate Crisis and Donald J Trump hit the accelerator. He is arguably the most dangerous and evil human being to have ever existed.
He is worse than a wrecking ball! He is a "Ball of Death". He is an asteroid headed for the planet...
And he needs to go to jail. Sooner rather than later.
He should have already been locked up. If this was you, or I, we wouldn’t see the light of day until we were escorted to the courthouse for trial!
"Wrecking ball" - yes, and as more and more evidence of his stupidity is made public, it becomes clearer and clearer that he was being instructed, and by whom if not Putin (Helsinki, special smiles and thumbs up in Paris).
Not so much instructed (if there is one thing Trump resists, it's instruction) but played, "like a fiddle". Putin identified the perfect, weaponized "tool".
JL, as usual, you have quite a way with words!...."weaponized "tool"......
...."like a fiddle" while Rome burns.....how apt!
True.
I am still eager to hear word of the missing FBI phone records from 1/6 and WH and what that department contamination that may have entailed and whether the CIA and others were equally compromised. These seemingly loose threads surely will prove important to the larger story of "The Mob Boss presidency". Each "new" revelation cements the feel of a third rate crime novel. He was said to aspire to the mob as a young NYC "elite". I would say that he got his wish. Looking forward to Smith getting ALL of his!
“the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.”
Thank You Professor Heather for leading us to the WP Law reporter Ruth Marcus. And yet the "law and order" phonies want to put him back in power. The climate catastrophe won't go away by focusing all the attention on T**** who is only in it for himself and cares not one whit for country, humanity, decency, security--only caring for raking in the money from dopes and suckers who are hitlerized by him.
Yes, K; well said... I want to read the crime novel.
AFTER it's all over.
So let's get on with it, already.
I think that people are inclined to carelessly overlook the obvious:
In the classified documents case, all Trump has to do is state under oath that he declassified all those documents (as the President can do without any restriction or condition whatsoever), and that's the end of it.
Whether Trump had his employee violate a court order by erasing a video recording is another question.
A related issue is the question of whether too much information gets classified as a routine secretive bureaucratic reflex to cover the backsides of people with something to hide. I am reminded of RFK, Jr.'s promise to declassify the Kennedy assassination documents if elected. Trump made the same campaign promis, but he didn't keep it. I wonder why...
As the song goes,
"Cover-ups and blacked-out lines
Ev'rything is classified..."
https://youtu.be/vWbFFUlCnlc
Once you leave the Presidency, your power to declassify is over. You can't do so after the fact, nor claim you did when you didn't.
The little guy gets thrown into prison for such abuses, and thus the big guy also needs to be thrown into prison.
As someone who is discriminated against by the US national security complex, only because I have a chronic mental illness (bipolar disorder) but haven't done anything wrong, I highly disagree with your comment. Reform is needed, yes for sure. But Trump has shared secrets that if I did the same I'd be spending a substantial fraction of the rest of my life behind bars.
Hold everyone accountable under the law, no matter how high up. Then also fight for change for everyone.
The big guy has earn a term in "the big house".
Like that, JL….the big guy in the big house befitting his big ego! Bigly.
And his small, perhaps undetectable soul; and that's a Big Deal.
Matt Fulkerson,
Allow me to clarify... Trump just has to testify that AS PRESIDENT he declassified all the documents that he took with him (by "just thinking about it," of course).
However, if Trump dares to go on the witness stand, cross-examination could bring up all sorts of different issues that make him squirm and wriggle and hem when he should be hawing.
Trump did NOT declassify the documents in question. Even Republicans are admitting that. He stole the documents and has been obstructing justice ever since. Trump is burnt toast.
HOW DOES DECLASSIFICATION WORK?
There's also a detailed process for declassification with rules laid out under executive order. Typically, if a president wants to declassify something, he checks with the agency in charge, which has broad say in whether the information becomes public, Gerstell said.
If documents are declassified, there’s usually a painstaking process of blacking out what information still stays secret. “It’s not a question of a concept being declassified, or boxes of documents. It’s a word by word determination,” he said.
The declassification order must be memorialized and any agencies that are affected have to be notified, Moss said. The individual documents then have to be re-marked to show they’re no longer considered classified.
“It’s not clear what Jedi-like lawyers said that you could declassify things with a thought, but the courts are unlikely to embrace that claim,” said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who was a Republican witness during the first impeachment proceedings against Trump in 2019.
The Justice Department has said there is no indication that Trump took any steps to declassify the documents seized from his Florida home.
Bill, the dumpster is on tape at Bedminster that he did not declassify the Iran document. So there is that. Of course, he did not declass anything that he took and he says now that he didn't have to because they are his according to the pres records act which is BS. What I find quite interesting is that he has managed to corrupt his lawyers to accept that as an argument and offer that in court. I guess they do not care about their reputation so much as long as they don't ever need another client. Could he be paying that much?
Bill, just imagining what a “Jedi-like lawyer” would be gave me a head-spinning chuckle.
The relevant authority is Executive Order 13526, issued by President Obama. See https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information
John,
Naw, Trump would have to prove that as President he declassified the documents......not just say it.
Proof would be required, not lies and BS. Save that for the Fox News, Pravda and Russian TV you are watching.
What I like the best. On that ridiculous CNN interview. Remember, Frumpy’s comment to the question of declassification of the documents was:
“I could simply declassify the documents by thinking it. Of course they were all declassified!”
Sure they were Frumpy. This is just another case of ‘open mouth. Insert foot, deeply into the throat!’ What a fool. Every time he opens his yap, or tweets on his ‘truth social’, he just gives Special Prosecutor Jack Smith a little more ammo fir yet another indictment!
Keep on keeping on, Frumpy! The years in prison are piling up. You’re at 490 and counting!
Mike S,
In a court of law, unrebutted testimony under oath counts as proof.
Does this include Biden and bribes?
Look, everybody, John Schmeekle's alter ego has shown up, to try once again to deflect from the topics at hand.
Jennifer, why not try to write a comment not as a response to a different comment which you apparently find troubling but actually on the topic of the day's Letter, instead of trolling through the comments to make up something with which to try to irritate the thinking persons who read the Letter? If you can't add to the discourse, possibly you could just, in the famous words of the Pot Brothers, "Shut the [firetruck] Up"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkN4duV4ia0.
Reported to Substack Inc per Substack's 2023 "Publisher"s Agreement"
Bryan, you reported me to Substack? Please tell me why. Thanks.
I am a thinking person who lives outside the USA
Americans don't know the 'art' of thinking mostly because your education system does not produce thinking people. You have no Philosophy or Geography!
Yes, the president and only the sitting president has the power to initiate unilateral declassification for the benefit of American citizens, I emphasize INITIATE DECLASSIFICATION, but the information hasn't been declassified until specific actions are taken by all elements of government. Vulnerable agents and cooperating individuals have to be recalled or otherwise protected before information is no longer protected and can be completed and released to the public. There are other considerations as well. Everyone having knowledge of that information must be made aware so they can act accordingly. This procedure is not a trivial matter that can be activated without notifications rippling through the community to ensure all proper actions are taken. The president then usually makes a public announcement of the information they felt needed to be declassified for the benefit of Americans. Trump has made no such announcements. Unilateral action by an individual no matter how powerful must be communicated to those who do the work and they must initiate specific actions to protect those who might be harmed. You cannot declassify something merely because you are too tired to properly secure it, or you'd like to share it with your buddies, or you just want to do it. As to classifying information to protect governmental wrong doing or powerful individuals, employees are taught and know this is illegal and that is why there is an Inspector Generals Office and whistle blower protections within the government community. Those who step out beyond this pathway risk criminal prosecution and incarceration. But if that pathway fails, the next step is the legitimate press. The people who serve this country in silence are not your enemy. BTW, the National Archives are notified that the president has declassified specific holdings which are now part of the official public record of the United States and are to be made available to the public. This entire paper trail happened when President Biden declassified additional information regarding the Kennedy Assassination. Look for a press release from the government. This is how historians get access to the rest of the story. Conspiracy theorists are not contemporary historians nor are they journalists. Those two groups of professionals respect original sources and don't use the results of the "telephone game' to report the "truth". Information is routinely declassified after it no longer needs protection and is available in the National Archives. Yes, it's just a library.
Thank you for clearing so much of the fog that swirls around this issue. Trump, delusional, believes declassifying is as simple as tapping the document to his forehead and magically removing all its classifications. He is a moron, and a con artist, and utterly indifferent to process that ultimately safeguards each of us.
And yet, people profess to believe Trump can declassify by waving his magic wand. We had an imbecile for a president, same for voters and wannabe propagandists stoking the fires.
That just triggered an image of Johnny Carson as Carnak the Magnificent....
Snort!!!!! Hahahahaha
The relevant authority is Executive Order 13526, issued by President Obama. See https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information
That Executive Order in no way constrains the president and was never meant to. You have to dig through the U.S.C. to get any clue as to constraints on the president. For example, when President Biden released classified information concerning the impending invasion of Ukraine, he did so as a public interest declassification. This was published by CNN: "Administration officials tell CNN the disclosures have been carefully coordinated among the National Security Council, the intelligence community and other national security agencies in an effort to disrupt Russian planning, blunt the effectiveness of any “false flag” operations and, ultimately, deter military action." Obama disclosed classified information when Osama Bin Laden was killed. Once again a press release occurred. As everyone will attest these kinds of statements are few and far between. Why? Because presidents don't normally declassify anything. They are more likely to initiate the action through one of their staff for example if they need to use some information in a speech. This is probably one of those norms that President Trump didn't think applied to him. But the important part of Trump's presidential behavior was it is used to provide the American public with information. NO. It would be very extraordinary for a president to take this action without his staff being aware and tidying up after them. However, Trump was known to blurt out either in person with Russian ambassadors or through a Tweet so that North Korea could be informed or perhaps watching a launch over dinner with friends. Did Trump call a press conference and say the Pentagon gave me an Iranian attack plan and I do(don't) plan to use it or some other ridiculous statement? No, he did not. So, John, it may be hard to find a law that says Trump did something wrong while in office, but the lack of public disclosure of the Mar-a-Lago papers illustrates definitively that he didn't do it using the public interest method of declassification nor did he have any motivating reason to do so. The others had specific reasons allowing information to be declassified to inform the public which doesn't cover any of Trump's behaviors. I hope you are being a pedant and not attempting to defend Trump's behavior. On the Bedminster tape, he explicitly described his abilities and desires. And now the government has identified the Bedminster document. Finally, the purpose of Executive Order 13526 is to instruct the Executive Branch to create processes for classification, declassification, and determining who may have access among other things giving broad instructions. The National Archives has an important role with papers of historical importance. But here is what I mean about how these things are written:
The Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, under the direction of the Archivist and in consultation with the National Security Advisor, shall issue such directives as are necessary to implement this order. These directives shall be binding on the agencies. Directives issued by the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office shall establish standards for: (1) classification, declassification, and marking principles; (2) safeguarding classified information, which shall pertain to the handling, storage, distribution, transmittal, and destruction of and accounting for classified information; (3) agency security education and training programs; (4) agency self-inspection programs; and (5) classification and declassification guides.
Paula,
I imagine that you'll agree that violating norms is different from violating the law.
My sole intent in my original post was to address the legal issue. Time will tell if Trump and his defense attorneys raise this issue, perhaps in a motion to dismiss.
Not, of course, that TheRump cares a fig about the safety of the people whose lives he put at risk by declassifying documents by thinking about it, or whatever he claimed, or the wider national security implications of stealing government documents and sharing them AT A GOLF COURSE with some absolutely un-clearanced individuals. Anything for momentary glory, anything for a bit more filthy lucre, anything for a bit more of Putin's or Kim Jong Un's approval. Anything at all. Beneath contempt, and beneath the jail is where he belongs, along with all his enablers.
My inner conspiracy theorist whispers darkly that the real reason Trump took those documents was so he could blackmail the people who were blackmailing him...
Paula,
I think you're mistaken, but you're welcome to prove me wrong. The relevant authority is Executive Order 13526, issued by President Obama. See https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information
The department heads, but not the President, have to follow a detailed procedure.
John Schmeeckle forgets one thing. NONE of the presidential records in 45's possession were his to keep. NONE of them, classified or not. The Presidential Records Act makes that utterly clear. It doesn't matter if he declassified them (he didn't--he admits he didn't). They weren't his, and the fact that he tried to keep them despite repeated attempts by government officials to retrieve them means he's in violation of the records laws, as well as probably guilty of obstruction.
Don Plummer,
If I'm not mistaken, Trump wasn't charged under the Presidential Records Act.
See this summary:
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/21/1188986731/trump-trial-documents-classified-florida-judge
The relevant authority for declassifying documents is Executive Order 13526, issued by President Obama. See https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information
Okay, I know we're not supposed to respond to trolls, but I want to make this clear to everyone: this case it NOT about classified documents. It doesn't matter whether the documents were classified or not; they did not belong to Donald Trump. Most of the documents belong to the various agencies that produced them, and they want them back. Trump's RETENTION of documents, and his OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE in all his efforts to keep what didn't belong to him, are the crimes he will be charged with.
E Macdonald, you make it sound like Trump will be charged with additional crimes on top of "withholding and concealing classified and top-secret documents":
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/21/1188986731/trump-trial-documents-classified-florida-judge
That issue Michael IS so very unsettling. And if even likely what can or IS being done to protect the basic strategic vulnerability. If it’s done already..each delay of game/each default/each baulk so repetitively exercised by the R’s (IS THIS NOT THIER MO?) is giving the enemy more time to move into position to checkmate?
And that puzzle piece fits too closely (again!) to ‘chatter not acknowledged’ precipitating every major disaster our history experienced or further yet warns us of.
The ONLY way out is to...
💙💙VOTE THEM ALL OUT💙💙
...and...and...those complicit never hold office again...
It has been reported that trump was making multi-million dollar deals with the mid eastern countries while president. He also just has made a multi-billion dollar deal with them in real estate. Jared has his 2 billion dollar investment company which was approved only by the Prince. No wonder that poor reporter's death was not pursued.
One problem with "national security" is how it's been used.
Soothsayers and journalists are now put in dungeons for giving us information we've paid for and own through our national budgets. The "collateral murder" video showing the triumphant slaughter in a Baghdad street of Reuters videographer and his driver and other innocents, is fraudulently called a breach in national security. Whistleblower journalists are jailed. Julian Assange's persecution and the associated smear campaign puts journalists and publishers at total risk, while vast military budgets for world domination go by the name, "defense." But no defense is allowed in court, while rigged process guarantees guilty verdicts. Trump's criminal abuses deserve strong deterrent actions, but rotten process robs some of the credibility needed against Trump's crimes.
You are absolutely correct. State Legislators go into Special Sessions when there remains work to be done. These So-called leaders are "raping" our country...they fail to do the job they were elected to do, get paid handsomely to do it and then blame everybody else especially those that did not cause the problem. They are a disgrace to their position and to our nation. They should be expelled ... but they won't even expel George Santos.
Only the House can discipline, censure, or expel a member.
You want to know why the Long Island voters haven’t recalled Santos, a member of the United States Congress? It is because they can not. Any attempt by a state to recall a member of Congress is prohibited by the Federal Constitution.
So in this case, it is up to the House and they won’t do it.
The Long Islanders are fuming, but all they can do is vote him out in 2024.
We need election reforms that require vetting of public claims by candidates who voluntarily ask to be placed on the ballot. Any public statement of qualifications or life experience must be validated. He's not the only one misrepresenting his background.
This is one of the results of the decline in local newspapers. There isn’t anyone doing that kind of research into local candidates anymore. It’s one of the reasons we still subscribe to our local paper, even though it’s really expensive - it’s $600 per year, compared to the $240 I pay for the NYT and $120 for the Washington Post.
I can't help but wonder why congressional "ethics rules" fail, in this case, to protect the people from government fraudsters? Perhaps SCOTUS has light to shed on that issue???
Because the people of America don't respect ethics rules. "They're silly things meant for someone else who is too weak and will fall prey to the exploiters. I'm too smart for that. I'll take the gimmes, the expensive dinners, the nice hotel room, and give them nothing for their efforts." Just like they don't respect civil law. How many Americans see the Stormy Daniels case as a waste of the court's time? How many Americans shrug at businesses who don't keep legal books? How many Americans admire someone who stretches the law to get a tax deduction knowing the IRS doesn't have enough resources to audit properly. And how many blame the IRS when they get caught?
Reading your last sentence I remember my math genius father who not only did his own taxes (paying ahead sometimes), but also did those of anyone in the neighborhood who asked him to do theirs. To put a bit of humor into this grim morning: my father was a lover of jokes and drank “high balls” on many Saturday nights before bridge games with friends. For Christmas those whose taxes he did gave him bottles of bourbon. One Christmas there were twelve bottles. Having finished decorating the tree, I put presents under it and lined up the twelve bottles on the wall behind it. My teetotaler mother was not pleased.
Excellent personal story. Thank you.
Lol
How is this possible “Any attempt by a state to recall a member of Congress is prohibited by the Federal Constitution.”? A one way street only??
Yep. I have looked it up twice.
I wish some journalist would investigate the potential $$$$$$$ cost to taxpayers of Republican proposal to impeach Biden, the voters’ choice. Popular and electoral majority. And still threatening a shutdown not voting for 11 out of 12 pending legislation! Would be interesting to compare what $$$ is needed by the red states to repair damage done by storms etc with the amount of $$$ the MAGA legislators are wasting …
Dancing while Rome Burns
They wasted a $#&% ton of money on "Benghazi" and past theatrical government shutdowns, not to mention the lives of innocents affected by these stunts. How much did it cost for Trump to deploy thousands of troops to the border for a "national emergency" (a "caravan" of would be Immigrants) that seemed to disparate with the passing of an election. What else might that money have paid for?
The Rethugs don’t think that money investing Benghazi was wasted. It hurt Hilary Clinton with voters, which was the whole point.
THEY don't think the money has been wasted just as all their stunts operate from political motive but in fact, we know, the money has been wasted.
Exactly, but they should not keep getting away with it. It's misappropriation. It's malfeasance.
They need him, Fran, to cling to the fragile “majority” they have in the House. They are shameful and a disgrace. The voters are the only ones now who can “expel” them. Even then, they might say “I won” when they lost. Look at pathetic Kari Lake....
Require all candidates for public office to pass the same test as aspiring citizens and disclose 6 years of tax returns.
" Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing " is inimical to "Liberty and Justice for All.
We must enforce to the American voters, that there is a threat our democracy and freedom.
Agreed, and why.
I think you are wrong. Winning in the USA is everything.
For the "Mr. Hyde" side of our nature.
Silly!
Elisabeth, Kari Lake is just following her leader......yes, it is pathetic.....
In our Country Fran, only the constituents can recall, not expel, a duly elected legislator. I am surprised the Long Islanders haven't done so. Maybe they don't care if their legislators are lying criminals.
Congress can impeach or censure a member.
They are corrupt as hell. I recall lessons about corruption is the US Government, which implied that era had ended. I know too few details, but I would be surprised if the the depth and severity of corruption in the US has ever match what the nominally "Republican Party" has become. Even the treason of the Civil War was more regionally restricted.
Trump paved the way for the 20 person wrecking ball in the house. The problem with the statement “The American people see through this. They know who is fighting for them….” is that the idiots that voted people like Kevin McCarthy and MTG into these positions either DON’T know who is fighting for them (because they’re glued to Fox News) or don’t care, which may be even worse. Biden is being backed into a corner. He will either have to take extreme measures to circumvent a government shutdown, which won’t sit well with some of the voters and damage his position pre-election, or let the government shut down which is as bad as the default he just narrowly averted. I have no idea what to expect, but I don’t think there will be a happy outcome.
Support public school funding! An educated electorate is a fundamental requirement of a democracy and republican forms of government. It is a citizens duty to understand how their government is supposed to work so that they know the elected officials who are not fulfilling their responsibilities.
Only one of several reasons the right wants their kids out of public school. They might get contaminated by science and literature outside the Bible, not to mention some very good people who are not white or straight. I think an important reason the pandemic was so damaging is that kids need socialization, and human contact is a big part of it. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, no flaming liberal, made teaching civics again part of her post-court life.
I don't think so. They want to destroy the public school system. By encouraging parents to move their children out of public schools to private ones they destroy equality of opportunity. Sure they are going to give some financial support now, but wait until they've killed the public school system. You won't have any choice but to pay what they say or home school your children. If you can't home school for whatever reason, not their problem. Fix the funding for public schools, fix the buildings, change the culture to make them safe, and respect teachers so more will choose that as a career. Put an big sign on the front of public schools saying "Gateway to Equality of Opportunity". So every child knows why they are there. Don't abandon public schools. First they made it possible for all children to learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. We have breaks in the school season to make it easier for farm children to attend. The history of public schools is worth reading about. My mother left school in the eight grade. My father made it to the twelfth grade, but my step-father only made it to the third. I'm 66, not that old. Many of the geriatric set can point out similar stories. My own child left school at 16 for their own reasons and fulfilled a promise to get their GED and went on to try out college. But college isn't the path they want right now. Knowledge is power. Education is the path to equality of opportunity. If we don't want the wealthy to turn our children into peasants, we must have public schools.
To add to that, when women get educations, they have many more choices, and tend to have fewer children. That's good for the environment.
Well said Paula. I would also like to see a change in how public schools are funded…not to be primarily based on the local tax base; in other words, level the playing field when it comes to funding schools so there is equity in instruction/programs/buildings (no kids attending in falling apart buildings). Also, past high school level fund different levels/types of advanced learning, be it Community Colleges, State College & Universities to also include trade schools (some trades are taught at CC’s), apprenticeships, etc.
Thank you so very much for your account. Everything you wrote is spot on and very important. Reports such as yours are what all of US need to try to get back what we have lost, particularly since school desegregation divided the racists and they got power under Nixon.
I don't think we disagree.
And don't tell teachers what they should and should not teach. I was a teacher for 30 years. The vast majority just want well educated students. If we knew how to brainwash, everyone would turn in homework, listen in class, etc. Teachers must teach kids our history. I've been a parent for 44 years. My late husband was born in Mexico. His getting his citizenship is a long, convoluted story highlighting our inept immigration system and a story for another day. The point is that my kids are mixed. Half Mexican American, half White. My daughter's husband is also half Mexican American, so all my descendants are mixed. (My son and his girlfriend don't want to have kids.). So, while some are trying to make sure little White kids never feel bad when they learn history*, what about my little Brown kids? What about little Black kids? Native and Asian kids? Etc. Way to show your racism, folks.
*Having taught for 30 years, I know there ways to teach true history that make today's kids feel uncomfortable. And to think of options to improve the overall well-being of all citizens.
When are we going to believe that all the children are our village's children? My extended family is mixed as well, bringing both Mexican and European cultures together with great joy. Our children know none of our shame. It's up to us to stop the bad behavior with our generation.
Sorry, I had to laugh at your brainwashing priorities... I thank you for your service to us all. I know you didn't get rich.
Agree with premiss promoted by John Dewey; yet, beware of the curriculum. Florida is ready to deliver false facts with the recent revisions to the history curriculum, removal or books from libraries and attack on children via fragile developmental and gender issuesl, all at the behest of lawmakers and the governor.
I have always left the curriculum and the methods used to those who have chosen to pursue education as a profession. I was unfortunately trusting that those who I choose to represent me on the board of education and the local elected officials who control the purse strings held my same values. That being said, the dropping of phonetics from the reading curriculum got by me without my notice. My horror at that is based on my education and my observations of my child while learning prior to school. First they learned to speak and then they learned to read. I realize that is not true of children with hearing difficulties, but I believe it is the predominant path. It also evolves from an understanding that native speakers have a better grasp on their language and that children who grow up in bilingual homes with strong support for both languages perform better in education. Also as I age and lose my language skills, I depend on my phonetics skill to find the words I have misplaced. I hope for many things, one the strong return of phonetics to the classroom, multilingual teaching from the earliest ages because it will allow us to learn the muscle control to form more vowels and consonants while also teaching how grammar colors a language, and the profound hope teachers begin to teach mathematics as the language it truly is rather than a mysterious thing that we must grasp the basics of but fail to see the beauty and function it provides.
LeMoine, the increased power of the Republican Party did not just happen. Plans were put into place years ago....money, power and control put into place...."brainwashing" techniques, subtle as well as blatant have been used and are being used to bring in vulnerable populations....multiple areas of communications used....opportunities for control and power made available to those who lust after these "life goals" (in my opinion ...to feed their insecurities), yet have no leadership abilities as far as building up our country as a free Democracy....etc. These areas of influence will continue to grow.....if we do not shine a light into this darkness!!!
Thank you Heather for being one of these "lights".
Emily,
I think you’re absolutely correct. And at the risk of coming across as a paranoid conspiracy theory junkie, a trait I’ve seen in every MAGA type I’ve ever met, I have to say that it’s curious how finely maintained (on a knife’s edge almost) the balance in both the House and Senate has been maintained between the two parties recently. Sure must be easier to control outcomes under those circumstances. And what has changed over the past 40 or 50 years? The internet. Light speed encrypted communications between any two points on the planet. Even the “Dark Web”. And if there really is a “SMERSH – like cabal controlling things globally, it certainly must be far easier for them to operate undetected today than it was 50 years ago. After all, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the bastards aren’t out to get you, as has been said ;-)
Oh, and add in burgeoning AI and the slick “deep fake” vids…what could possibly go wrong???? Sigh…
So, once again, because of coincidence more than any personal merit on my part, I can speak about some of this based on vast experience. I was a planner for The Plan that Trump was waving around at Bedminster. All I can say is, if you are one of the hundreds of people who worked on that plan over the years, hold a TS/SCI clearance (that's what the plan is--with a name that you will never hear) you want this guy knee-capped forever and in jail (or, if you do not, YOU need to be in jail). Years, hundreds of people doing serious work for millions of hours. Trump's first SECDEF, James Mattis, must be BESIDE himself. All of the coverage can only scratch the surface of what an utter sh*t show this is. It's WORSE than what you might think. THAT bad.
Now, let me talk about ANOTHER thing in that bill the MAGAts in the House tried to get through yesterday. They tried to force the military to reinstate all of the servicemembers who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine. I don't know where to begin... wait, yes I do: I'd have discharged them in 8 seconds. I was in the military for 24 years. I estimate (it's hard to be sure, even with shot records) that I received AT LEAST 80 vaccines while in service. Eleven anthrax, alone. Was I happy about it? No. Anthrax made me feel like my arm was burning off, and it got worse each time. When I received the small pox vaccine in 2003 (while in the gulf), by body was so arthritic I could barely walk OR WRITE WITH A PEN. That bad. It was a strong, somewhat unusual BUT HEALTHY REACTION (I know because my boss was so concerned he called the aid station when I hit day 7 of this). I was getting this shot for a disease that's 100% contained but someone thought there might, maybe, sorta could be a chance of a chance that Saddam could have some. For that. So, I could then go off and fight in a war (I only got shot at by Scuds & Katushas a few times and once by friendly fire). But, guess what? I VOLUNTEERED to do it. So, no matter what level of stupidity and inanity (and believe me, there was more than I can quantify over the years), I CHOSE to do it (was I able to get an exemption for small pox 10 years later? Yes--based on my reaction. The fact it REALLY had no purpose by 2013 figured in my CHOICE as well). Choices though--97% of the time in the military, our choice is simple: do it or face discipline/leave the service. As George Harrison said, "That's the way it goes."
So, to hear those servicemembers WHINE about a shot they have to get (during an actual worldwide pandemic that killed 1.1 million people in America alone)? Fire them. ALL of them. It's a VOLUNTEER MILITARY. Oh, I forgot to mention--do you know how long they had to decide? EIGHTEEN MONTHS. It took 18 months for the military to discharge them, so they had PLENTY of time to contemplate their decision. And make no mistake, they DECIDED. As I said, I'd have discharged them immediately (and yes, over the years, I SAW people refuse shots, individually, and get discharged. I saw a major, in Korea in 2005 throw his entire career away because he decided his personal ethics forbade it. HE MADE A CHOICE).
So, now imagine telling the military, "Servicemembers can now disobey you AND be rewarded for it." That's exactly what the MAGAts tried to do yesterday--FORCE the military to reinstate servicemembers who ALREADY placed their personal whims (yes, they are whims) ahead of their OATH.
So yeah, I'm a little fired up.
You are right, right, right. Doing what they want would decimate the military.
Thank you for checking in with the voice of actual experience, both in the drafting of The Plan and in your vaccination exploits in the military. I cannot fathom the stupidity and utter hubris of those folks.
I agree, thank you for sharing and serving our country.
Thank you! You are so right.
Righteous rant, Robert….bravo!!! I didn’t realize ‘til I read your comment that this is what they attempted to do….good grief!
Regardless of whether the allegations hold up, this is nothing but the truth - that he is an astoundingly stupid, common criminal who managed to "win" an election to become President. We must not let him "win" again.
"If the allegations hold up, “the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.”"
JustJanice—I still have a dislike for James Comey’s statement that the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton while not announcing that the FBI was investigating TFG’s campaign. He put his thumb on the scale and is still not apologizing.
Comey's action was reckless for sure. Yet, we can't paint ourselves as victims too much over the outcome of 2016 here, as it would have been nice if HRC actually campaigned in Wisconsin, and didn't take an overall view that she was the annointed one. I say this as someone who voted for her in November of 2016 of course, after voting for Sanders in the primary.
Nonetheless, as time goes on, the abiding lesson of 2016 to me is twofold:
1. That there are far more reprobates, racists, tacit conspiracists, and good people who can be scared into voting against their own interests, than I ever thought existed; and
2. That the rotting appendix of our body politic, the electoral college, must be surgically excised
I'm with you on Comey's despicable stunt and his inability to accept any role in Trump's win. I also agree about the need to do away with the Electoral College, which would require an amendment to the Constitution. Given how well the Republicans have done as the result of Electoral College wins, Hell will freeze over before that happens. However, states can require that their Electors vote for the winner of the popular vote, as some already have.
I don't think Hillary lost the election because she didn't personally campaign in Wisconsin. Would one or two campaign stops really have changed the minds of 23K voters (the diff between her and Trump)? How about the 188K who voted for alternate party candidates? Just the 31K votes that went to Putin's darling, Jill Stein, would have been enough to tip the scales in that state. Anyway, I found this paper to be enlightening. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/pol_fac_pub/116/
Hi MisTBlu!
Thanks for that. I will take a gander at the Dayton piece, as it looks interesting.
I like the idea that some states have of requiring their electors to vote for the winner of the popular vote. That renders the obsolete nature of the Electoral College well,..practically obsolete. Not enough States are doing it unfortunately, and not enough of the truly toss up States, such as Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia.
I have rarely agreed with the argument that any third party candidate "cost" some candidate from either of the major political parties an election. I say this as someone who voted for Nader quite proudly, and as one who has long felt that we need to break the Party duopoly in this Country. If citizens want to vote for someone, they should be allowed to express their preference accordingly.
The very fact that third party candidates pop up now and again, demonstrates that the Republicans and Democrats collectively are not speaking, or fully speaking, to a significant sector of the population. While individuals must be responsible for the result of their votes, I'm not particularly fond of blaming voters for exercising their choices. Having said that, I think Stein, unlike Nader or even Perot, was more of a clanging cymbal than a real candidate advocating a cause. I voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, but voted without much hesitation for HRC in the general. My only slight hesitation was her annoying sense of self-annointment, and the fact of her war mongering tendencies. But against the worst candidate in GOP history in Trump??! Not even a question.
To close this barroom 20/20 hindsight speculation, I also think there was a certain "Bradley" effect, that may have led to her electoral loss. How many unknown and uncounted people out there still refused to vote to place a woman in the White House?!?
Mr. Streeter, I appreciate and resonate with your comments regarding Third party candidates being “spoilers”. I particularly agree with your statement “While individuals must be responsible for the result of their votes, I'm not particularly fond of blaming voters for exercising their choices.” Thank you.
I, too, was for Sanders in 2016. In fact, I was a volunteer on his national help desk. Needless to say, I was profoundly disappointed when the “good ol’ (Dem) boys club, the DNC, sent a torpedo through his primary campaign because they were so on board with Hillary. It wasn’t just my visceral dislike for Hillary that prompted me to vote for Jill Stein; in fact, I knew little about her and still don’t. Mine was a protest vote over the fact that, I felt, the two party system had long been corrupted by embedded establishment interests and the American People were once again being offered a choice between two very tainted candidates. I knew that Stein had no chance whatever to win the general. And I was naive enough to think that a moron like Trump didn’t either, so I was quite sure Hillary had a lock on it. I was wrong, of course. So were, I think, a large number of independents like me that may well have swung the election in favor of Trump.
But we will never break this vicious cycle of manipulation in a small number of “swing states” to ensure victory for just one of two bad candidates until enough voters actually express their desire for the establishment of a viable third party, or at a minimum, get to a national popular voting scheme through ranked choice voting or the elimination of the antiquated Electoral College. And of course, the establishment in both major parties will fight to the death to preserve the status quo. So what’s a body to do? Continue to vote for “the new boss, same as the old boss”? I don’t think so.
Daniel, as to your last point about a woman being elected, yeah, I think misogyny (and “undiagnosed” misogyny—“who me, why I would never think that…”) did play a part, however far it seems we’ve come (many countries have whupped on this ages ago). The National Popular Vote state’s compact is one way (as you mention) to get around the Electoral College, but more states need to sign on. Here is their site: https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/ As to more than two political parties, I think the way we are structured it is hard to pull it off at present. One option that intrigues me is ranked-choice voting, as is being done in some states/localities (how it would translate, ultimately, to national general elections I’m not sure) this TikTok vid is as simple an explanation as I’ve ever and…Lego’s! https://www.tiktok.com/@nycvotes/video/7249447480872553770
Daniel, I really like the idea of ranked choice voting in both open primaries and in the general election. I believe that, faced with having to appeal to a more centrist voting block, the candidates would skew toward the center instead of just trying to win in the “more extreme than my opponent “ race.
Morning, Everybody!
I like ranked choice voting too. It could be an intriguing way to limit the corrosive power of money in elections, in our post Citizens United world
MisTBlu, the low-population states are probably not going to ratify a constitutional amendment that decreases their voting power. Proportional electoral college votes would probably pass and would look like this: state A has 60% for candidate A and 40% for candidate B. Instead of candidate A getting all the electoral votes, candidate B would get 40%. I think that it would show just how purple the country is.
I'm not certain I understand. The amendment I'm thinking of would do away with the Electoral College completely. It's a disgusting vestige of slave era politics and has no place in modern political life. Without the EC we would elect the president based on the popular vote.
Given their outsized representation in the US Senate, I have no sympathy for the citizens of low population states. For example, 21 states have 42 senators while California, whose population is equal to all of them, has two. It's not merely numbers, it's also representation. Those 21 states are mostly White and Republican, while California is multiracial and largely Democratic. This graph is pretty stark: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/10/26/learning/SenateRepresentationLN/SenateRepresentationLN-superJumbo.png
Unfortunately , any amendment needs to be ratified by 2/3 of the states and I don’t think the voters in low population states would vote to get rid of the electoral college. It doesn’t matter whether we sympathize with low population states—they just seem to like having outsized power.
That said, proportional electoral college votes could ameliorate part of the harm.
Yes I agree, Comey's action was reckless to the point where it cause division within the Democratic party and voters. We should of been united as one and voted for Hillary.
Mary,
Don't fret too much. Hillary would have lost the election against Trump anyway. Clearly, as Trump has shown, government investigations do not deter supporters from voting for someone.
Hillary was the weakest possible candidate the Democratic Party could have chosen. Had Bernie Sanders been the nominee, he would have stomped on Trump like an elephant stomping on a mouse.
I hate the Republican Party, but, I really had trouble making my shaky hand vote for Hillary. Who in the WORLD would want BILL CLINTON back in the Whitehouse to chase teenage girls around while popping viagra?
Not me
Mike, but she DID win…the popular vote anyway, and if not for the Electoral College WOULD have been elected, let’s not forget that fact. I have been paying attention to HRC for quite some time, both the admirable and the cringe-worthy. Personally I think she’s painted negatively with a way too broad a brush (ha, and being a “broad” is part of it going back many years) & is schlepping baggage that is not all hers. A thoughtful FaceBook post, shared here on Barbra Streisand’s webpage pre-election 2016 takes a more nuanced view of her and, more broadly, to a woman seeking power: https://barbrastreisand.com/news/thorough-profound-moving-defense-hillary-clinton-ever-seen/ And I am sad to see you appear to blame her for Bill’s actions (oh, and she got thoroughly bashed by feminists when she didn’t divorce him; I have my opinions about that, but that is between them as a couple), but I do get your point.
Agree 100%.
FBI investigations are not generally publicized. James Comey was perhaps the first official to deal with Russian bots in a presidential campaign. He did what he thought was the least of two evils. DT’s support of Putin (and vice versa) might have won out regardless after Benghazi.
Mary, I understand your disgust with Comey. However, I am a bit more forgiving. It was an impossible decision for him to make. He wanted to be as honest and transparent as he could was his reasoning. You think he should have said nothing, and he would have been crucified for that as well. It was a shame for Hillary that he chose that path. On that we agree.
What I abhor is that he chose to not say anything about the investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign’s collusion with Moscow—it’s unequal treatment of the worst kind. He was t trying to be completely transparent—only transparent about the candidate that he thought would win.
I understand your opinion but I do not ascribe to him that motivation so we disagree.
I remember his saying that he was afraid that, if Hilary Clinton won, he would be accused of a coverup if he didn’t let the public know that she was under investigation.
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/13/james-comey-book-hillary-clinton-email-investigation
Yes, that is what he said.
The "Electoral College" is a proven dangerous "bug" in our system.
JustJanice, I completely agree but there are those who are using "mr. t" to fulfill their own agenda.....which is frightening!
'It sounds like he was a one-man wrecking ball, aimed at our national security.' (Letter)
How's that for a line about our former President? I see subscriber, Michael Bales, opened his comment with it, too. It's a line worth repeating!
Ruth Marcus, Associate Editor of the Washington Post, who HCR quoted in today's Letter had a few more things to say about him in her Opinion today, 'New indictment proves Trump never learned the first lesson of Watergate'.
'If the allegations in the latest indictment of Donald Trump hold up, the former president is a common criminal — and an uncommonly stupid one.'
'Everyone knows, as the Watergate scandal drove home: The coverup is always worse than the crime. Everyone, that is, but Trump.'
'According to the superseding indictment handed up late Thursday, even after Trump knew the FBI was onto his improper retention of classified information, and even after he knew they were seeking security camera footage from the Mar-a-Lago storage areas where the material was kept — in other words, when any reasonably adept criminal would have known to stop digging holes — Trump made matters infinitely worse.'
'The alleged conduct — yes, even after all these years of watching Trump flagrantly flout norms — is nothing short of jaw-dropping: Trump allegedly conspired with others to destroy evidence.
As set out in the indictment’s relentlessly damning timeline, Trump enlisted his personal aide, Waltine Nauta, and a Mar-a-Lago worker, Carlos De Oliveira, in a conspiracy to delete the subpoenaed footage.'
'Consider: According to the indictment, on June 22, 2022, the Justice Department emailed to a Trump lawyer a draft grand jury subpoena for security camera footage. The next day, the former president called De Oliveira — who has reportedly worked for Trump for almost two decades — “and they spoke for approximately 24 minutes.” Hard to imagine what that might have been about.'
'After that, the pace picked up. Nauta claiming a “family emergency,” changed plans to accompany Trump to Illinois and made a secret trip to Florida, where he met up with De Oliveira. On June 27, 2022, De Oliveira met with another Trump employee, and, after saying the conversation should “remain between the two of them,” asked how many days the server retained video footage — and advised him that “the boss” wanted the server deleted.' (WAPO) For a gifted link to Opinion is below.
https://wapo.st/3rIZ3CN
What about the 187 minutes?
Of all the egregious offenses Agent Orange has committed, I think the one where he sat in the white house, watching television, while the seat of government was being attacked, is by far the most damming and provable.
I do hope that a charge of dereliction of duty, specifically aimed at that 187 minutes, is high on the list of the upcoming Jan 6th indictments?
People keep saying Trump was in the White House. I remember footage of his entourage in a tent, bundled up against the cold, watching monitors and dancing around. Was that some other event?
Hey, Meredith. I remember the tent footage as a preamble to his speech at the Ellipse, right before the march to the Capitol. Once the march started, he was loaded into a car and taken back to the White House.
"As rioters stormed the Capitol, Trump was not watching from a nearby tent, as claimed, but rather, spent the afternoon in his private dining room at the Oval Office watching the riot on television, according to The Associated Press."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/11/fact-check-video-shows-trump-family-tent-before-jan-6-rally/6616490002/
Yes, Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony is still worth a re-visit.She outlined how he refused to have the protestors disarmed because they were not a danger to him, he said, and how he tried to strong-arm his driver into taking him to the Capitol. I'm hoping she's somewhere safe.
Yes, also hoping Cassidy is safe .If you didn’t know, she has a book coming out in Sept?
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Enough/Cassidy-Hutchinson/9781668028285
Thanks for the link, Kathy, I had not known that. I, too, hope she is safe. And, if she still wants to, finds a position as a public servant serving her country, tho’ that may be hard now given her notoriety (read: bravery). I wish her well and to have a fulfilling career.
Missed that. Thank you.
Ah, thanks for later events. I quit watching after a while! Thanks for bribing me up to speed!
Meredith, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the apparent (?) auto-correct..
“Thanks for bribing me…”….um, what did you get???? Hahahaha…thanks for that!!!
"Trump allegedly conspired with others to destroy evidence.” If the allegations hold up, “the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.” [Ruth Marcus] Oh, but tfg is 'innocent'. And he is still out there on the 'campaign' trail, with just too many people who don't have eyes or ears (or a brain for that matter) to see through this liar's schemes.
And then trying to impeach Biden - I'm shaking my head in disbelief.
Can someone please read out the Constitution of this country to all these traitors and uneducated airheads?
Yes to claim conspiring to destroy evidence is practically an admission of guilt- awareness of damning evidence and committing another crime trying to destroy it.
I quit a job in a commercial research lab when my supervisor suggested that some results should be discarded because “they didn’t fit the model.” The truth doesn’t disappear when you try to distort it.
Those dumb clucks should get their own lawyers and throw themselves on the mercy of the court. If they had come forward months ago with this info, they would have been heros with book contracts. Now their kids will grow up with jailbirds for fathers.
I have a friend who moved across country to take a perfect job for them (combining their doctoral degree in research psychology and their status as a yoga master). All went swimmingly until a research assessment they did did not reflect what the organization wanted, and was directed to "change the results". That job did not last long.
Yes, always good to find out that honesty in research is not a primary value to an organization early! A lot easier to quit loudly!
Great comment, those are my thoughts EXACTLY. Marli. All of this crap with the Fascist Rethugs, reeks of a very horrible nightmare. The ignorance of these MAGATs is astounding.
If their ignorance did not serve a purpose, there would not be multi-millions pouring into Republican coffers. That's the only missing piece here, IMO.
The dark money agenda perhaps???? Really wish we could get money out of politics & have a sane, shortened, election season—seems to go on 24/7/365. Oh, and have some ethics in gov’t that apply to all branches.
A modest proposal (not).
You definitely nailed it!!!
Thanks Dr. Richardson fir spelling this out in layman’s terms . Easy to understand.
First, someone correct me if I am wrong, but, wasn’t today the anniversary of America finding out about Nixon being involved in the Breslin of Watergate , and we learned that many minutes of the White House tapes had been erased?
Second, Frumpy’s looking at about 450 years in prison on the original 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act. Now, with these extra charges it’s a possible additional 30 years. This isn’t counting the other charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case already in the works. We still have indictments coming for his part of causing January 6th attempted coup. We still have indictments coming from Georgia. I’m also expecting indictments from Arizona and possibly New Jersey. He’s going to be in court for the rest of his life!
One last thing before I call it a night. President Biden had put this country back on an economic path that is beginning to look upward. The stock market has had better days this week, the last two days, since the latest economic report came out, than it has had since 1977, they reported. A solar company is going to open a fifth factory, with an investment of over $280 million, I think they reported. This will be even more jobs. Things are beginning to look up.
The House of Representatives are doing nothing. All they are focused on is finding dirt on President Biden. They are focused on nothing else. No bills are being passed. No budget is behind passed, let alone disbudding anything. The Trumpublicans that have taken charge of the House of Representatives are going to try to destroy Bidenomics, the economy, everything. That’s their big plan. Sit on their asses and do nothing but hunt dirt on our President that isn’t there.
If we don’t vote BLUE 💙💙💙💙 in 2024, and give the House of Representatives, and the Senate a “Super Majority”, and keep it that way in 2026, and 2028, we are making the biggest mistake of our lives. We also need to put Biden/Harris back in the White House in 2024.
I can assure you. If the Republicans take the White House, and keep majority in the House, plus gain it in the Senate next year, we will be voting our last time. There will not be another election in this country. The Trumpublicans will compete destroying our democracy, our Constitution, and our free way of life.
We will then be under a Dictatorship.
Daniel, if the last paragraph of comes true, i will be leaving the United States. Even though it's about a year and a half away, i have already started my preparation to leave here. Getting a passport, and making lists of what i am going to take with me and what i will leave behind. I kind of think Democrats will win in November 2024, if we can inform voters of what is going on and take notice of what the Fascists are doing and the crimes they are committing. There are quite a few people that don't even know what is going on because they don't follow politics at all, and some of them simply do not care. And the complacent MSM isn't helping any either. I am totally fed up with the antics of the criminals that call themselves Republicans. It seems many of them failed to grow up by the way they act out. They aren't adults. Decent adults don't misbehave like they do. They are truly sick individuals.
I live a short drive from the Canadian border, and I have family in Canada. I think of it often, but I am a retiree, and my Social Security is not abundant {whose is?}. I have small savings, and no property to speak of. If the country goes bad, so does my major annual income — unless I write something wonderful that people want to give me money to read … {I am a retired journalist writing and editing books in “retirement.”}
But if I have no other serious income, how do I survive outside the US? If the R’s are elected, how long can I survive IN the US?
It is a problem for a lot of people like me.
VOTE BLUE.
Pat, isn't your social security an earned benefit, i. e., you paid into it over the years of your employment? Wouldn't the US government pay you no matter where you lived?
In years past, Jude, that is exactly what I’d have expected. At this time in history, I’m not sure those who’ve been trying to undo FDR’s and LBJ’s social programs will leave those earned benefits alone.
Pat, you and I are in the same boat. I’m 71, disabled since I was 45. Not able to work outside the home, and I was a career law enforcement officer and firefighter. My pension when the doctors made me quit work was a whopping $226.00 a month! That’s because the wonderful Retirement Board of the state of Florida knew more about my medical history than my doctors did. They decided I didn’t deserve the medical retirement because I could go to school and get trained for other work. Therefore, I was denied my medical retirement. They penalized me 77%, making my check just over $226 a month. Then they told me I needed to keep the state medical plan, but I would have to pay for it. It was over $450 at the time for me and my family, in 1995.
Being denied my medical retirement, I was unable to get social security disability or medical benefits until 2000, when the doctors made me quit everything. I wad screwed. No income other than my retirement income. My social security didn’t start until 2002, and I had 4 children in school from elementary to high school.
I too am looking strongly at Canada, but there’s other places in this world I’m also looking at. Portugal is one. Switzerland is another. Healthcare in those countries is top notch, I’ve been reading, and the gist of living is about 1/10th of here. It’s being said that a person can live high on $700-$1000 a month income. Northwest Canada is about the same, but the medical care isn’t up to snuff like the other areas of Canada.
We have got to fight like gate and figs here to get these next elections right. That’s all there is to it. Either that, or start packing, selling out everything, and get your passport and visa ready.
Me, I have nothing left to sell. Everything is gone I owned, and I have no money. My children took everything when their mother passed, and I haven’t heard from them since they moved everything out and left be with nothing.m, except a lot of bills their mother put on me before she passed away last year.
I can’t say I like that, Daniel, but I totally 100% empathize — I wish empathy could pay a few bills, I’d send you more.
It’s not that any of us want more than we’ve already earned and paid for, either!!! Someone who hires people, pays them a pittance, and pockets enormous profits off the labor of others is exploiting and taking advantage. Someone who works for the people in dangerous jobs, provides for the people’s safety and security has earned being treated with care and respect for the rest of their lives!
How do WE who believe in that get hung with the moniker as “takers,” when we ARE the doers and makers?
There’s a disconnect in the rhetoric, and the Left seems to be inept at framing their argument to sound less like envy or whining, and more like IRATE REFUSAL TO BE USED THIS WAY.
We gotta get the message across that we are not after anything but what the people who keep this society functioning deserve — decent social policy, a decent and functioning economy, and a government that works OF, BY, and FOR all of us.
Vote … f-ing BLUE!
Daniel…wow…hang in there dude. I hope you are able to resolve and heal schisms w/in your family if possible, usually a two-sided coin, but worth the effort. I hope you have (imagine so) researched & reached out to programs/org that might be able to assist in some way (did that w/ my mom & keeping a list for me should the need arise, getting close at 73, but not quite there….yet).
I sincerely hope this country, despite its many flaws, doesn’t run off the rails and keeps striving to be “a more perfect union” for ALL of us.
John, I’ve been talking with my neighbor a lot, since she’s helping me out here. She’s 49, and wasn’t interested in politics at all. I sat her down and showed he exactly what Frumpy had done in his 4 disastrous years in office, and what he intended to do if he was re-elected. I showed her what DeStupid has been doing in Florida, and where he vows to make every state in this country like Florida.
Then I showed her what has been going on in this country under Biden, and how he has had to also rebuild the government from the ground up since Frumpy had all of the agencies destroy records of everything and there was no ‘peaceful transition’ between he and Frumpy. I explained to her that if Biden/Harris didn’t remain in office, and Frumpy, or any other Republican was elected, it would be the last free election this country ever had. We would be under a dictatorship.
She’s now registered to vote, supporting Biden/Harris, and talking things up at her workplace.
That's some great work, Daniel. I have a neighbor to the west side of me and i explained what was going on with TUMP and his quest for Dictator. She didn't even know all of this was going on and was appalled at the criminal deeds of the MAGAT Rethugs. I don't know if i got through to her, but she sure was disgusted by the MAGAT's. She is a widow, and she is 76 years old. All this just goes to show how many people don't know what is going on in our political systems. We are going to have to inform as many as we can to keep that low life scum bag TUMP from winning and becoming Dictator. Our lives and lifestyle depends on the Dems winning next year.. Again, thanks so much for your efforts.. It gives me hope and optimism.
You’re absolutely correct, John. And, we, the people, are the only ones that will be able to stop this dirtbag from getting elected. Him, or any of the rest of the Trumpublicans on the ticket. This next several elections must be Democratic 100%!
I agree, it is imperative that we win the next several elections. I think our side can win if we Dems all come together. I got an email today from the ''New York Times'' that said Biden has made gains recently, but it was still going to be a close race with that dirtbag TUMP. I am wondering, how can that be?? TUMP was indicted today on charges stemming from the JAN 6 insurrection and riots. I disagree with the NYT on that. I feel after all is said and done, that Biden will win next year. America is totally lost if there are that many ignorant and utterly stupid voters that put his sorry rear end back in the White House. Especially after all the havoc he has created and all of the crimes he has committed. That corrupt scumbag HAS to be defeated. We can't let that horrible crook get anywhere near the White House again!!
John, you and I are thinking just alike, my friend. We have got to keep preaching what these people are afraid to face up to and see is happening right before our eyes. I don’t want to see this country’s democracy fail, Constitution be replaced or turn up. Our fire-fathers didn’t intend on this at all. They never imagined this would even be possible.
Daniel C, truer words were never written!.....and, YES, VOTE BLUE!!!!
🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊
And we better get our neighbors to understand this too! This is getting damn serious now.
I don’t “like” what you are laying out here, but if we do not realize you are dead accurate, our democracy is just plain dead. There is literally NO Republican possibility for the presidency who will not lead us into the dystopia you predict … [Their entire party is embracing the idea of Unitary Presidency ... that says it all. Trump told us flat out … they think the constitution gives the president the right to “do whatever he wants.”]
This is not hair-on-fire political carrying on. This is the real threat.
Vote Blue.
You are absolutely correct, Pat. I don’t like what I spelled out either. But, I figured it was time we quit ‘pussyfooting’ around the plain facts that are right in front of our faces and lay it out there. It’s time for ‘serious shock treatments’ to get started.
We better start listening to this fool, because he’s talking dictatorship. He’s talking:
“If I get elected I will put all government agencies under the control of the president. I will have all states answering to me, the president.”
This is a dictator! This is Putin, Hitler, Stalin, and all the rest of the communist leaders thus wield has had.
We, THE PEOPLE, better wake the hell up and smell what’s burning! It’s our freedom if we don’t get out and vote BLUE 💙! It’s our, and our children’s futures going down the toilet. This country will no longer be the “United States of America”. It will be the “Trump Kingdom”. And that’s not funny one damn bit!
I’m sorry I agree with you, I’m sorry I have no choice but to agree with you. You lay it out clear.
For my dotage, all I really hoped for was to see my SS check that I paid for monthly for more than fifty years … I bought that annuity, and I just want to collect the little bit of it that comes my way. And to keep writing, I hope, if the old brain keeps working.
But these people speak out of both sides of their mouths — Hollering to Biden that he’s a liar when he says they will dismantle FDR’s little people-centered policies, and LBJ’s structural human centered policies … and then putting forth proposals to do all that and worse.
It’s like they think people aren’t paying attention … !!!
Pat, we older folks living on nothing but social security have to keep fighting. We have to keep talking to people, keep writing to people. We have to keep our sanity so we can hopefully steer there younger generation in the right direction. It’s going to take the younger generation getting out to vote for Biden/Harris, and full democratic ticket all the way down through their local government.
If we don’t, we are strongly facing a Dictatorship. I truly believe this. I have heard what Frumpy has said, and he cannot get elected again.
Yes, we are headed for that, if he [or I believe any Republican, as the party is lining up behind the unitary presidency] ever gets in again.
To be fair to the system {Ha! Like it’s fair to us}, Social Security was intended to be a supplement to pensions and other retirement savings. Corporations have since taken wild advantage of SS, 401-Ks, and IRAs to ditch the whole idea of funding pensions. Those supposed retirement funds rarely make much of a difference, and the people whose incomes don’t even allow them to build up a 401-K or IRA don’t even have that little bit of extra.
So, SS is it for a lot of us.
I had that other stuff in line, too, for a while, but dissolving a marriage late in life can throw such things into disarray. Also, two SS checks for a married couple go a lot further than one SS check for a single person.
My worry is that the R’s will eat into all of that even further, if they’re given a chance. And once they break things, the D’s are pretty slow to fix them. The R’s created our homeless problem back in the Reagan years with things like emptying out psychiatric wards with no alternative place to house those people, dumping Legal Aid so people receiving evictions notices had no way to know their rights under law, and starving the General Fund of resources by massivly slashing tax levies on the higher echelons of income. And then we hear nothing but how there’s nothing in the pot to help communities deal with poverty {all those “takers”}, even though there are billions for arms and military aid.
And who knows why so many veterans are out on the streets? You tell me.
But the Dems have done next to nothing to solve any of that, and the homeless have ballooned!
I don’t want to see my SS go the way of the Middle Class.
There is no Republican candidate who will protect the people who toil daily to keep our society functioning. None. Nada.
Even to hold the status quo, we have to Vote Blue.
Although I have posted this, as have a few others, to LFAA recently I am going to post a link anyway. To your point, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 speaks to just what you’ve written. They’ve now put it in writing how they want to change our gov’t—don’t get wrong, improvements can be made, but this? No, just no. https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/project-2025
😞😞😞😖
And they are the ones who have been vetting and approving the Republican-proposed judges … oy, vey iz mir.
Thanks for sharing this, Barbara. Who the hell are these people? Geeze! What’s wrong with this world listening to people like this?
This crap is exactly why we have 74 million ‘sheep’ running around in this country ready to start a Civil War over the lines of Frumpy!
Pat, you’re so correct. Living on social security sucks canal water! I’ve been on it since 2002, when I finally started receiving my SS checks. After I was forced to retire medically at 45, in 1995, I softball two years in a hospital bed, at home, under daily home nursing care. I couldn’t walk, move out of bed, nothing but lay there. The state of Florida refused my medical retirement even after reviewing all the recurs my doctors forwarded to them. I was informed by them I could get trained to work doing something ensemble, even if it was from home. They penalized me 78% and my retirement check was $226 a month. It only increases 3% a year, now, but back in ‘95 it only increased 1.5%. I didn’t start collecting social security checks until 2002. Right now, after losing my wife of almost 40 years last year, I only get $1,400 a month. That’s what I’m living in besides my small law enforcement retirement from Florida.
I was homeless for over 2 months earlier this year because our youngest daughter, who we were living with, and I was giving her my social security and retirement checks monthly, except $50, to pay the rent, electric, water, and groceries. She wasn’t paying those bills, for 4 months I learned after she left in February. The landlady informed me that she thought I was dead. My daughter wouldn’t allow them to see me. They were told I was in the hospital, extremely ill, on life support.
I learned the rent hadn’t been paid in 4 months, water and electric hadn’t been paid in full for three months. The landlady was extremely upset and apologetic but she told me I had to vacate the house. She gave me until the February 1st, which was a week away. I had no idea what to do. I had no one I could call, nothing. I was homebound, disabled, on oxygen and breathing machines. I was screwed.
A few days later I said “screw this. If I die, I’ll just die.” I left the house and went to the bridge on Hwy 19 here in Albany at the Flint River. It had a wooded area there too. I die it in the woods, hung out under the bridge during the day, and bathed in the river. I lived that way for two months. My youngest son found me the last of March. Chewed my ass for not contacting him. He put me in a motel for three days, got my breathing equipment, and contacted the landlady and found out from her that she hadn’t gotten rid of my medical equipment and hospital bed, or what few clothes I had left in the house, but everything else was gone. So he hit a U-Haul truck and hit that stuff loaded. Then he and his wife found this little apartment in Albany and hit it for me. I’m able to afford this little place. Bit it takes my social security to do it. Bit, I’m living alone now, with nothing, or nobody. So, what the hell.
All I have left is my fight to make sure I do everything I can to get every Republican voted out if office from the local to federal level. If these idiots aren’t bites out, and we don’t get Biden and Harris a ‘Super Majority’ in Congress (House and Senate) in ‘24, we will deeply regret it. It’s quite obvious that the House is getting nothing done this 2 years because we didn’t get the job done to keep majority in 2022. This bunch of Trumpublicans in the House only have their mindset on trying to find something on Biden they can impeach him for. It’s a huge waste of time, and our money. We are paying these fools to screw around in Washington.
Trump depended on the loyalty of his fellow criminals to keep his secrets. Loyalty to him. He forgot (never knew?) the old maxim: there is no honor among thieves, as the secrets are slowly dripping out. The enormity of Trump’s disloyalty to our country and our Constitution couldn’t be plainer. And the GOP extremists want to burn it all to the ground to prevent accountability and in toddler fashion push their agenda? More traitors. Every. One. Of. Them. Yes, they must be voted out but also must be held accountable-every one. Is there a Constitutional end run that decent folks in Congress can pursue to circumvent the traitors? They cannot be allowed to derail the successes achieved by Bidenomics.
I enjoy reading your posts; very excellent Letters from An Outstanding American! I'm sorry for adding to the title. I sometimes have to say certain things! You have covered the things from today that have been on my mind and brought some others to my attention. My attention is stretched these days.
Mine, too. But thanks to this Newsletter, Substack, Letter...I feel I have some understanding and that is the only reason I can fall asleep.
A good day. Republicans in disarray, and an increasing likelihood of justice being done vis a vis DJT.
I don't think so. The House is essentially paralyzed; mired down in the hatred of MAGAs for this Country. We need the House members to approve budgets.
The minute they took the House all hope of functionality disappeared. Our only hope is to take both houses in the general by a wide enough margin to make a difference.
If we can't have a functioning House the next best thing is a very public meltdown. Let them show the voters who they are.
As for the indictment news, more comes to light every day. By the time this goes to trial Jack Smith will be able to present a smoking arsenal.
One of the chief talking points of the Republicans against Biden has been the economy. Now that the economic news is stunningly good the MAGA Republicans want to drag the economy down with a shutdown. It's sad to say but the American voter is too often not discerning when it comes to who to blame for a bad economy. The Republicans are determined to wreck Biden. The voters might not care about how Biden "failed" but only that he did.
I am going to agree, and disagree with you, Barbara. I agree with the fact that the voters are going to look for someone to blame if the government shuts down and the economy goes to hell, again.
But, with Bidenomics doing do well, the Stock Exchange has had two days of extremely great movement, going up more the last two days than it has been since 1977, they reported. Everything is looking up, companies are returning to this country, building factories, home offices, hiring people faster than was expected. Even a big Solar company is going to build a fifth factory here in the U. S. and invest over $280 million in getting all this done.
The American people, the sensible American people I should say, are going to realize what’s going on in Washington DC. They are going to know that the MAGA Trumpublicans have caused havoc in the House of Representatives. The Senate can’t get anything done because the House is locked up trying to ruin President Biden. They are focused on that instead of their jobs,
Plus, President Biden is a smart politician. I’ll almost bet he will do everything he can to avoid a disaster, and you can bet your last penny that he will let the American people know exactly what’s happening.
"...the sensible American people I should say..." ✅
It is up to us to back up Biden with data and facts and to spread them far and wide. Someone complains about inflation/mention that it has fallen by 6.1% in a year
Someone says high prices/mention price gouging in a capitalist society
and on and on
Absolutely. We need to fight their negativity with the positive things that’s happened. And there’s more positive been done in Biden’s first two years in office as president than any other administration. That’s facts they can’t counter! And, what he and Vice President Harris have done has been for the Middle Class people of this country. Not the elite rich folks like Frumpy catered to his entire 4 years.
Barbara, While your perspective, in my view, is mostly accurate, especially considering a host of regrettable misperceptions regarding Biden’s overall performance, I would only add that every one of us must determine how we can drive home the point that Republicans intentionally are orchestrating a shutdown, expecting that blame for injury to tens of millions of people will rest with the Biden Administration. As for me, while contacting the White House and Senate and House leadership with thoughts for exposing Republican machinations, I also will be relentless in commenting on media coverage, while, at the same time, seeking direction from every grassroots organization that shows up daily in my Inbox. Additionally, as has so often been the case, I will fine-tune my actions based on Substack newsletters and subscribers’ comments.
Me as well. Simon Rosenberg calls us information warriors. One thing I do is post over, over, and over Simon's data on Biden's economy. I always post them when one of the MAGA columnists on the Washington Post page write anything. You wouldn't believe the number of times someone has thanked me. My feeling has always been to stay out of the culture junk and use information.
Here is a sample from Rosenberg:
The economy added 12.6 million jobs under Biden, putting the total 3.2 million higher than before the pandemic. The economy added less than zero jobs under Trump.
The unemployment rate is 3.5%. It was over 6.3% under Trump.
Weekly earnings rose briskly, by a whopping 11.3%.
People apprehended for entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico has increased by 342%.
Domestic crude oil production has increased 5.7%, and crude oil imports are up almost 6.7%.
The economy grew at 2.1% last year.
The population without health insurance dropped by 1.6 percentage points.
The number of people receiving federal food assistance has increased by about 1.2%.
Murders declined in 2022, but right wing domestic terrorism is still a problem.
The S&P 500-stock index is up nearly 7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up almost 8%.
And
Inflation over the past 12 months it is now down to 3.0% annualized.
• Wages are now clearly outpacing inflation, and Americans are getting ahead. We are, finally, getting to the other side of the shocks of COVID and the Russian invasion Ukraine
• Job growth and GDP growth remain strong, a recession is not on the horizon. Our recovery has been better than any other advanced economy in the world
• The unemployment rate is near a 50 year low, the deficit is way down, the stock market is on a good run
• In recent months both the poverty and uninsured rates hit record lows, worker satisfaction is at all-time high, and new business starts are at historically elevated levels
• The President’s far-sighted investments in our future prosperity are already generating remarkable results, and America has once again become a global leader in countering climate change
America is having a good summer. Our economy is strong, inflation is down, Putin is stumbling in Russia, the flow to the border has plummeted, murder rates have come way down. Not having a good summer - Republican narratives about the Biden Presidency.
• 33.8m jobs - 16 years of Clinton, Obama
• 13.2m jobs - 29 months of Biden
• 1.9m jobs - 16 years of Bush, Bush and Trump
Biden's 13.2m jobs is almost 7 times as many jobs as were created in the 16 years of the last 3 Republican Presidencies, combined. It is also millions more than were created in the entirety of any of their three individual Presidencies. Since 1989 and the end of the Cold War, the US has seen 49 million new jobs created.
The reason it was so important for the Republicans to try to derail our current economic progress is because the Biden economic track record has been very strong:
• Best COVID recovery in the G7
• GDP growth over 3%, 3 times the rate under Trump. No recession on the horizon.
• 7 times as many Biden jobs in 29 months as last 3 GOP Presidents combined over 16 years
• Inflation down to 1.2% annually last month, is much lower here than Europe
• Lowest unemployment rate in peacetime economy since WWII
• Lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever
• Very elevated wage gains and new business starts, worker satisfaction at an all time high, real earnings up in 2022, real wages back in positive territory
• 1.6 job openings per unemployed person - an amazing stat
• The deficit has come way down under Biden, and a reminder that it went up every year under Trump and has come down every year under Biden
• Gas prices down by more than a dollar a gallon since last summer
• Historic investments in our future prosperity (infrastructure, CHIPs, climate, health care)
• Sharp decline in illegal immigration (70%)
Look at the jobs created per month over these Presidencies - Rs at just 10k per month over 16 years. Biden is running at 50 times that so far. Yes, 50x! The jobs created just this past month - 209 - is almost YEARS of job growth under these last 3 GOP Presidents.
Barbara M., you keep on keeping on gal! Post it every chance you get! It’s information like this everyone needs to be aware of and reminded of every chance we get to put it in front of them.
May I make a small suggestion, and please do not take this as criticism. It’s not.
I absolutely love how you have laid all this out for all to read. But remember this. I learned about 20 years ago that the human brain only absorbed about 2 minutes of listening, or reading. So, my suggestion is this:
In your conversations with people (chats, etc) you might break this all into small segments of conversation. Get one point, like the economy, post that little bit. Then turn the chat to the infrastructure, post that little bit, then on to jobs created, then post that little bit.
This way, you are controlling the chat, getting their mind to working different segments of the points you are covering, and you yet their negative input but you fire back with your small segment of positive that’s actually been accomplished, plus you have the proof to back it all up.
Works wonders in the conversion process.
💙Great comment, Barbara Jo !
"The voters might not care about how Biden "failed" but only that he did".
No - The voters might not care about how Biden "failed" but only that he is perceived to have done so. Screw reality!
Hugh, Your rewrite is entirely correct. The question, in the event of a shutdown, is how to mitigate the anticipated misperceptions. While, as part of this thread, I have enumerated my planned actions, I imagine you and others might have thoughts I had not considered.
Attending a public meeting after the Tea Party shut things down, I recall that an angry woman got up in the middle of the comments about something very local and blasted President Obama for shutting down the national parks. The ignorance is profound, and so is their contempt for the duly elected POTUS.(Maybe you've heard someone refer to Biden as the third term of Obama, as I have.) I think they have fallen for the belief that we'd be better off without a federal government.
I agree. Memorize Simon Rosenberg's data. If you are not on his Substack Hopium do so today. The data is kitchen table stuff and very relatable. See below from Simon. Use it in comments with people.
Inflation over the past 12 months it is now down to 3.0% annualized.
• Wages are now clearly outpacing inflation, and Americans are getting ahead. We are, finally, getting to the other side of the shocks of COVID and the Russian invasion Ukraine
• Job growth and GDP growth remain strong, a recession is not on the horizon. Our recovery has been better than any other advanced economy in the world
• The unemployment rate is near a 50 year low, the deficit is way down, the stock market is on a good run
• In recent months both the poverty and uninsured rates hit record lows, worker satisfaction is at all-time high, and new business starts are at historically elevated levels
• The President’s far-sighted investments in our future prosperity are already generating remarkable results, and America has once again become a global leader in countering climate change
America is having a good summer. Our economy is strong, inflation is down, Putin is stumbling in Russia, the flow to the border has plummeted, murder rates have come way down. Not having a good summer - Republican narratives about the Biden Presidency.
• 33.8m jobs - 16 years of Clinton, Obama
• 13.2m jobs - 29 months of Biden
• 1.9m jobs - 16 years of Bush, Bush and Trump
Biden's 13.2m jobs is almost 7 times as many jobs as were created in the 16 years of the last 3 Republican Presidencies, combined. It is also millions more than were created in the entirety of any of their three individual Presidencies. Since 1989 and the end of the Cold War, the US has seen 49 million new jobs created.
The reason it was so important for the Republicans to try to derail our current economic progress is because the Biden economic track record has been very strong:
• Best COVID recovery in the G7
• GDP growth over 3%, 3 times the rate under Trump. No recession on the horizon.
• 7 times as many Biden jobs in 29 months as last 3 GOP Presidents combined over 16 years
• Inflation down to 1.2% annually last month, is much lower here than Europe
• Lowest unemployment rate in peacetime economy since WWII
• Lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever
• Very elevated wage gains and new business starts, worker satisfaction at an all time high, real earnings up in 2022, real wages back in positive territory
• 1.6 job openings per unemployed person - an amazing stat
• The deficit has come way down under Biden, and a reminder that it went up every year under Trump and has come down every year under Biden
• Gas prices down by more than a dollar a gallon since last summer
• Historic investments in our future prosperity (infrastructure, CHIPs, climate, health care)
• Sharp decline in illegal immigration (70%)
Look at the jobs created per month over these Presidencies - Rs at just 10k per month over 16 years. Biden is running at 50 times that so far. Yes, 50x! The jobs created just this past month - 209 - is almost YEARS of job growth under these last 3 GOP Presidents.
I don’t understand why many members of the Republican House Caucus are still walking around free. They approved of and participated in the failed coup attempt. Why are we taxpayers still giving them salaries so they continue to not do their jobs?
Meredith, this is a question I’ve been asking for a couple years now. And I’m a retired cop!
Annabel, I thought it was worth the time to take a look at how Trump's chief competitor and former VP were doing now that he may be, finally, facing justice.
___How bad are things for DeSantis? According to Real Clear Politics’ average of recent G.O.P. primary polls, he is still in second place, with the support of 19.3 per cent of respondents, but he’s trailing Donald Trump by more than thirty points. The latest individual survey, from Harvard CAPS-Harris, put the Trump-DeSantis margin at forty points—Trump is polling at fifty-two per cent, and DeSantis at twelve per cent.(J.Cassidy, NewYorker)
___After being barraged by negative media stories, watching its man’s poll ratings plummet downward like a kid on a zip line, and running into an early cash crunch, Ron DeSantis’s Presidential campaign is planning a “reboot,” NBC News reported last week. On Sunday, the Times followed up NBC’s scoop with a dishy story about overspending and infighting inside the campaign, which is a sprawling operation—although a bit less sprawling than it was a couple of weeks ago, before a looming money shortage prompted it to lay off roughly ten people.(J.Cassidy, NewYoker)
___News of the reboot emerged as the Florida governor found himself at the center of yet more damaging stories. Last week, Florida’s Board of Education approved new guidelines for the state’s public-school course in African American history, which said, in part: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” When reporters asked DeSantis about the new guidelines on Friday, he said that he hadn’t had anything to do with writing them but continued to defend them, remarking that they would probably show some of the enslaved “eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.”(J.Cassidy,NewYorker)
___Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that if he’s elected president, he’d be open to considering Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a position in his administration with either the Food and Drug Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (J.Frankel, NBCNews)
___DeSantis said he and Kennedy were aligned on medical issues, including their criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was the government’s top infectious disease expert and became an outspoken advocate of Covid-19 prevention measures.(J.Frankel, NBCNews)
___Karl Rove roasts DeSantis for floating RFK Jr. to lead health agencies: ‘This guy’s a nut’(D.Mastrangelo,TheHill)
___"When I am President (Mike Pence) I will only consider Pro-Life Americans to lead FDA, CDC, or HHS," Pence said, referring to the Department of Health and Human Services. "To be clear, pro-abortion Democrats like RFK, Jr. would not even make the list. (J.Frankel, NBCNews)
What do you think, folks?
I think RFK Jr. is a nut with a large vocabulary. I think Pence's values come straight out of the 50's - the 1650's. I think Gov. DeSantis still thinks he's the smartest person in the presidential race (even after all the dumb things he's done). I'm amazed Donald J Trump isn't a better criminal, with all the practice he's had. Thanks, Fern, I think you're awesome!
You brought out a big laugh. What a gift in the early morning. Thank you, Steve. I didn't notice RFK's vocabulary. His face looked so tortured, I turned away. Do you agree that he's painfully transparent? Now, Pence, he really does believe what he says about abortion. DeSantis, he was an affirmative action pick by Harvard because the school was looking for a student of the lowest character, so that the rest of the students could feel that much more superior.
affirmative action pick 👏🤣
DeSantis, he was an affirmative action pick by Harvard because the school was looking for a student of the lowest character, so that the rest of the students could feel that much more superior. That sentence should scroll across the screen every time his face appears on tv.
Thank you, Mike. I like that thought as well; it suits all parties.
Love, love that sentence, Fern! Maybe what Wharton did with Trump also??
Pence is a religious fanatic. Scary stuff.
It’s becoming more apparent by the day that Biden and the Democrats are grownups in the room, and the Republicans are the petulant children throwing one tantrum after another.
The evidence also mounts that TFG was well aware that his retention of government documents was illegal. People who believe in their innocence don’t hide or attempt to destroy evidence. That’s what guilty people do.
Mitch McConnell seems to be deteriorating; physically and mentally. I’m hoping someone can convince him, and Diane Feinstein, that it’s time to step away.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/27/mitch-mcconnell-freeze-press-conference-fall-age
Find a cool place to stay today. It’s going to be a scorcher.
Good advice, Ralph. Let's hope the President is taking care of himself, too.
Unfortunately, the law was changed in KY to prevent Dem governor Brashears from naming an interim Senator who is not R.
That state law violates the constitution of the US. I don't think he's obligated to follow that which is a constitutional violation.
It sure as sh*t violates something!!!
Ralph, I wish I could put my fingers on the article about Feinstein and retiring. The author posits she might actually wish to, but hangs in because of her place on one or more important committees & there is no guarantee that Newsom’s replacement pick, should she retire, nor Dem’s pick for committee position replacements would not be challenged by Republicans (think McConnell and the shenanigans he pulled with two SCOTUS picks). This explains some of it (tho’ isn’t the exact article I was thinking of): https://rollcall.com/2023/04/17/replacing-feinstein-can-be-complicated-senate-history-shows/
I'm not a doctor, but it looked to me like he had a TIA while standing at the podium. When my mother-in-law suffered from one, that is how she looked and reacted.
I said the exact same thing. My dad did exactly that, and two weeks later he passed away!
My devout hope is that Feinstein resigns, the Governor can appoint one of the CA Representatives currently running for senate, and we can keep at least one of them in the House.
Ally, see the article I posted in response to Ralph’s comment….it might be more complicated than appears on the face of it. At some point it seems that the power-players stop looking at reps as people and more as chess pieces, personal needs be damned.
I know the future of America is important and today’s letter is filled with economic and political news, but I’m almost speechless, yet not surprised by news of the “discovery”: tfg’s and his accomplice’s latest crimes. Our Justice Department deserves recognition for staying with this case. TFG is so sure of himself and because he has escaped prosecution or punishment like a mob boss, he must be surprised or not, that his crimes and punishments are catching up with him. And he even has a Mar-a-lago employee who is honest. “In the Washington Post, legal columnist Ruth Marcus wrote, “The alleged conduct—yes, even after all these years of watching Trump flagrantly flout norms—is nothing short of jaw-dropping: Trump allegedly conspired with others to destroy evidence.” If the allegations hold up, “the former president is a common criminal—and an uncommonly stupid one.” We will stay tuned and follow this case as it moves forward, but for now, I’m more than thrilled for our country. Because Justice and Truth may prevail. Now, if the repubs could possibly transform and do the job they promised to do for the American people, wouldn’t that be a bonus!
Thank you yet again for zeroing in on, analyzing and elucidating, the most pertinent news of the day and focusing our attention on what is most essential. All the noise that is put out in various news sources too often masks what is most important. Reading you makes me better informed, clearer and smarter. You give us the full picture like no one else. I am grateful.
I'm with you, Avery, and it's good to be among people who support reason and the Constitution. I also read Robert Reich, because he ads to my understanding of the economy and what the right is doing to undermine what Biden is doing.
"Trump plotted to delete video from security cameras"
We elders will be reminded of the "Rose Mary Stretch"
Google it.
Pictured Rose Mary's "demo" instantly! But we need a Goldwater or two to convince tRump to get out of the presidential race now. Trump won't because he knows a run is his only possible protection from jail.
It should be illegal already for him to even run!!!
That photo is classic. “Accidentally” deleted tape? Agree with you on Don’s get out of jail plan
Don't have to Google it. I remember it!
That was a quite convenient deletion. Maybe it is age or my suspicious nature, but this was too easy. I was born and raised in DC. I know how that place works especially with Nixon.
“Accidental” deletion?
But of COURSE! unlike all those expletives...