And on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
I will be comforting my husband, the Vietnam vet, and my sweet doggie when the fireworks go off many hours from now. For some, it is a welcoming sound and sight. The ones that light up the sky with beautiful colors that dance over our heads, the ones that make no noise, are lovely. But it is the dreaded sounds of bombs dropping that sends my husband into a tailspin, even 50+ years later. Lincoln would be astonished at our technologies and our want to save the climate but he would be disappointed in the way our politics have turned out. This is a time for us Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who will never vote for Trump, to stand arm and arm together. It will be our united front that will win against tyranny. The 4th is when we gained our Independence from Britain. We must reclaim it and fight like hell!
I salute your better half's service to my country. Agreed on a coalition of people who know what really counts. Dutifully rendered, Marlene; beautifully written. ✍️⚖️🤝🗽✌️
(Homage to Donald Trump’s ‘Proud Boys’ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they weren’t.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mysterious commander said, “the time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who I’m talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, “OrangeFatso.””
“Yep”… they screamed in unison, “Save our leader, OrangeFatso.”
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, “Maybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.” as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh no… not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's “Code of Conduct” that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles – just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross – who is thought to have sewn the first flag – was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
“He wasn’t born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,” cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the “Alliance.” The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of they’re mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
“CHARRRRRRGE!” he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly – an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, “recalculating... recalculating...” His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
“Yes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, I’ll inform the men.”
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
“I’ll tell the men right away.” The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
“All hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.”
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
“Come in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.”
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth – the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: “The Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.”
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
That's quite an essay...there was a time when I thought it might even play out that way, but they have definitely stepped up their game. Can you write one that just as eloquently describes OrangeFatso's incarceration?
Orange fatso ❤️ is a good one. perfect. Some msm reporter said Biden looked pale next to orange fatso’s tan. LOL. Let’s add OF to the other trending descriptions. CLOFCF
Crazy lazy orange fatso convicted felon.
Rolls off the tongue like something choking you that you are trying to spit out.
I get it. All writers seek attention. Why should I copy and paste a story from my book and not note where it comes from? What harm is there? Do you ever watch a writer being interviewed and repeatedly saying, “…And I state in my book bla bla bla.”
Yeah, sure, but this is a long chunk and too many people have been doing this sort of thing. It's opportunistic and very unfair to the original blogger.
I was 20 and didn't understand much of anything. When I turned 21 in VN, on that day I realized what a waste I was making of my life. Also saw that most of my fellow soldiers were from the lowest socio economic groups and were poorly educated. When I was wounded I realized how lucky I was and what I needed to do to create the life I wanted. The GI Bill was great. Paid for my schooling through my MBA. VA benefits are great too. Life has turned out to be fabulous.
I agree with what you say, Mike. You will not talk me out of saluting your service nor the service of Mr Bigley. Additionally, I harbour no ill-will toward those who evaded the draft. A very difficult time and what occurred for young men in Viêt Nam at that time is very saddening.
I have read and admired your thoughts displayed across my keyboard for long enough now that I feel that I know you, at least a bit. Yet tonight is the first time I have felt a palpable sense of your inner self, as you write with not just your usual insight, but with a tenderness infused by passion for those you love.
Fight like hell we must, and I'm right there alongside you.
To you and yours, particularly your husband who knows too well the reverberations of the rockets' red glare, I wish a wonderful Independence Day.
Marlene's post today was certainly lovely. One little quibble: the phrase "fight like hell" was enshrined by Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. "Fight like heck" doesn't have the same resonance.
Some older kids set off some very loud fireworks in the park (loud enough to be very loud indoors a couple of blocks away), and my dog said nope and turned around and led us safely back home. I can't imagine how your husband feels, and thank you for taking care of him!
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Daniel Solomon, thanks for the heads-up. KC looks terrific and as she says "she is a cheap date." Electing a Senator in N Dakota is much cheaper than large states, but her Senate vote will count just as much. Sent a small contribution and I'll follow her campaign.
Marlene, thank your husband for his continuing sacrifice for our country. Power hungry greed is eating away at the idea of unselfish service; honor and honesty are derided as weak. You are right; we must win by showing the same will as the soldiers at Normandy showed by getting our friends and neighbors to vote against those who want to put us back under the rule of a bullying “king” and his sniveling “courtiers”.
Then Pres. G.W. Bush was right when on 3-31-2001 at the White House Correspondents' Dinner he said: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." The wealthy oligarchs know this and have used mass media (Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Russ Limbaugh, Alex Jones, et al.) to fool mostly white Christians to vote against their own best economic interests. [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas," 2004.] That, combined with very old people who can't exit the political stage gracefully have put our democratic system at grave risk. We have no choice but to work like hell and hope for the best. It's the least that we can do to honor the sacrifice of those who have given so much to preserve the rights that we enjoy presently and to pass it on to posterity.
The relationship between competence and intent is the same as the relationship between longitude and latitude. You don't know squat unless you know both variables.
I do know Biden's competence. He's proven himself to be one of the most competent presidents in the modern era. And I know his intent. He intends to serve the greater good. The other guy's competence and intent are also well understood. He's proven himself to be the most incompetent president in American history. And I know his intent. He intends to serve himself at the expense of the greater good.
I'm also pretty sure I know why Biden is running. He thinks a decision on his part to drop out of the race will be the end of the American experiment in democracy, and the beginning of a new dark age that civilization is unlikely to survive. Maybe he's wrong, but if he asked me for my advice, I'd tell him he was right.
The other thing I do is imagine myself in a scenario in which I told him to drop out and he followed my advice. Then, on November 6, as I'm watching the election coverage and listening to all the analysts conclude that Trump won because Biden dropped out, I get a call from the president asking me what I have to say for myself, and the only thing I can think of saying is "Oops."
Q: What is the relationship between competence and intent?
A: If the candidate's intent is good, then more competence is better. And if the candidate's intent is bad, then more incompetence is better. The US survived POTUS 45 because it elected an evil idiot, and not an evil genius.
In conclusion, I'm not saying to ignore competence, but I am saying that real journalists are making the intent of the two candidates the story, and anyone who is making the competence of the two candidates the story is a JOURINO (journalist in name only).
Thank you James R. Carey. I feel the same. I think it is way too late for Biden to drop out. I am sure he thought long and hard about it before he put his hat in the ring in April. He knows he is old...just like I do. He has great people on his team! Let us trust them for another 4 years to keep up the good works that we are seeing. I vote to keep Joe as my president. I will vote for anyone on the ticket that is a Democrat but I am sure there will be something wrong with he/she that the damn Republicans can bring up. Few of us are squeaky clean. Joe has already been through the wash and they have worked overtime to find more dirt but they have continued to fail! Let us all support Joe! They (the Damn Republicans) can't take away our DEMOCRACY that we have fought so many years to acquire. So many lives will have died in vain! Right now the Republicans are praying to their god that Joe will quit! It will be their win if he does! Joe saved us in 2020 and he can do it again in 2024 but he can't do it alone!!!!!!!
I agree completely. Biden is the best President in my lifetime. He has wonderful, competent, people working for him. I'm sure he wishes he could rest, but he loves our country too much.
I saw this on a post from Joanne Friedman (pretty sure it was her) this am:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
And this can apply to any critic, as far as I'm concerned. Literary, Artistic, Music, etc. If you can't do it, it is not necessary to put down those who do.
I am 84 years old and fairly mentally cognizant. When to exit the stage? When one's cognitive abilities obviously begin to fade and by hanging on one puts the republic at risk, as happened with Ginsburg and Feinstein and now with Biden. Perception counts. We have now gone on the defensive instead of the offensive, attacking the person and policies of a loathsome individual, Donald J. Trump. The continued existence of our democratic republic is more important than any one individual's feelings. Facts are important, to be sure, but so are perceptions, and that's where we are now on the defensive.
Although I'm not a doctor, my belief is that Biden has the mental capacity to see us through the next year of struggle, and after that Harris can take over. But I believe more strongly that if Obama tells him the time to step down is now, then he must. Obama knows the job and Biden's present capabilities, and he also knows politics.
And that's all I'm saying, as I've made a self-pledge to stay off all social media for the day, my own Declaration of Independence. I don't know what tomorrow (or all tomorrows) will bring, but for today at least, I'm not thinking that far ahead, and will enjoy the day.
I will soon be 81! Some days I forget if I have brushed my teeth or have taken my vitamins.....but I think it is because we have so much in our brains that the ordinary daily activities are on automatic....except when we are distracted. I do believe that Joe was tired.....I get tired....I take naps....when I have time and I am not responsible for the USA and its people.....like me an you.... he knew he would be going up against an idiot that makes totally no sense and rambles from one thing to another to intimidate him! Joe could not call him out like he did in 2019. CNN fixed that! Joe should have just talked about the kitchen table......and telling the truth rather than lies.
What are our goals? My answer is, first, assure that the Democratic Party has a strong, moderately progressive and electable candidate who will appeal to uncommitted voters particularly in “swing” states. Second, the Democratic Party should concentrate on electing a candidate with progressive principles rather than loyalty to an individual with serious electoral challenges no mater his past service. The Party should not copy the Republicans in unthinking loyalty to a single person in spite of major weaknesses.
Obviously, a Party should normally continue to support its “nominee” even when the nominee stumbles during the campaign. Changing nominees close to the nominating convention and election would be extraordinary and very risky, opting for an “unknown” over a well-known, experienced candidate. Further, Joe Biden has a very long and accomplished career of public service. He has already defeated an earlier Trump candidacy.
However, there are several reasons which support the Democrats nominating, even at this late hour, another person for the next term:
1. Millions of voters watched last week’s Presidential Debate. No matter the explanation, nearly everyone, I think, was horrified by the President’s performance. “Highlights” of his many lapses can surely be a staple of Trump’s campaign ads from now until the election. What will matter is not whether this was somehow a unique departure for a still sharp and able elderly candidate but whether voters will feel convinced that the President is no longer able to fully carry out his duties for another four years.
2. Biden was significantly trailing Trump in almost every poll going into this debate, one that he requested, one that he set at a very early date and one that he insisted on following his rules. His polling is assuredly not now going to go up. Nor will his financial donations in my judgment.
3. Trump has been primarily running on the theory that “sleepy Joe” is terrible rather than “I have policies that will make Americans better off.” The Debate tends to support Trump in this respect.
4. People who are 81 never get younger or more vigorous. At the end of another term Biden would be 85. Most voters have parents, relatives or friends in their 80s and would not want them to take on one of the most demanding jobs on the planet. Many voters have painfully had to tell an aging parent that they are no longer capable of safely driving.
5. Most voters are aware that in spite of a very good and forcefully delivered State of the Union speech the President has recently had very, very little unscripted public exposure without reading from a teleprompter. He has had fewer press conferences than any president within memory. This suggest to me that his staff may have been aware of “a problem” for some time.
6. Polling is clear that many Biden voters are doing so more because they fear Trump than because the are enthusiastic about Biden. Many potential voters, particularly African-American males, Arabic and younger voters, have been unwilling to support Biden in spite of the fact that the only realistic alternative is Trump.
7. The Democratic Party has many younger, articulate and experienced potential candidates, both governors and members of the Senate, who could replace Biden should he decide to end his re-election campaign. Most of them would be electable if they ran against Trump. None of them would have to defend individual decisions that Biden made and is currently being attacked for. They could begin with a clean slate with few decisions to attack. A new Democratic candidate for President would both shake-up a ballot that many voters have complained about and generate interest and excitement in the currently disengaged. A new nominee would be quite likely to capture a number of current Robert Kennedy supporters.
The only foreseeable way to have a Democratic presidential nominee other than Biden is for President Biden to publicly abandon his campaign for re-election. He has recently stated that he will not do so. It currently seems unlikely that he will do so. However, after Watergate when senior Senate Republican party leaders went to President Nixon and told him he needed to resign he did so. Senior Democratic Party leaders today, I believe, would ask President Biden to abandon his re-election campaign if they were convinced by their constituents that Biden could not win the election. Unlike the Republicans, I believe Democratic Party leaders would withdraw their support from the President’s campaign if they felt only by doing so and letting an open Convention select the Party’s nominee, they would defeat Donald Trump.
Such eventuality would be extraordinary, but not unprecedented [Cf. Truman & L. Johnson].
It would involve significant risk and the outcome would be unknown but this year’s general election will be politically existential. We must, I submit, do whatever is required to nominate a Democratic candidate who will win election and lead our country into a better place. Democrats cannot allow sentiment to cloud their judgement as to political reality.
All of this is being eaten up by the MAGAs with glee. Democrats must go forward, not apologize any longer, and keep concentrating on Trump. There was a great essay by the editorial board of the Philadelphia Enquirer yesterday, mentioned by Lawrence regarding the fact that Trump should be the one to exit the race.
Richard, I respect your opinion. Question: Don't you believe Biden's record of achievement counts? What if he became non compos mentis in office? It seems to me Kamala Harris would take over, the apparent heir to the Presidency. I'm assuming you believe he's going to lose against a con man, fraudster and criminal. Simon Rosenberg's newsletter might change your mind.
Does Biden's record of achievement count for anything? In terms of whether that 5% of the electorate in play will look at that instead of Biden's failing health and apparent stroke? Did he have a stroke? This is my point: we're now talking about Biden's health and mental ability instead of Trump's threat to our democracy. We're on the defensive. I'd vote for Biden even if he were in a coma. Kamala was my first pick for POTUS anyhow. But, I'm not the one to be convinced. We need to recognize the issues that we're dealing with and the principal one is whether Biden's condition will alienate needed votes.
Mary, I just read an interesting essay by Marilynn Robinson from the NY Review of Books where she touches on those, since we now have an all volunteer army, whose children go to war, often based on faulty intelligence, and she hones in on the war in Iraq. The essay is her attempt to understand those who support death star.
Michele, since we now have an all-volunteer army, it’s ceased to be a melting pot of haves and have nots. We no longer require young people to serve a cause deemed greater than themselves—many never get a chance to be selfless. I’d like to see a requirement of two years of service at age 18 either in the armed services or a vetted governmental/nongovernmental program that aids the less fortunate (Habitat for Humanity, Peace Corps, public library spring to mind). The pay would be equal to that of the armed services.
We must reclaim our democracy...that's going to be the rallying cry I play in my head when the media tells me that the right is winning, or that 2025 is our future. We need to inspire and require that the Democrats, liberals, Independents, unaffiliated...they must join in a common cause to reject the fascism that is based in the greed of the super-wealthy wanting power and to protect their millions, using Trump as their puppet. Enough is enough! Bring on Dark Brandon; stand behind Biden; support the Dems who are finally taking action to deal with the threats to our very existence.
Hope everyone enjoys a safe and thoughtful Independence Day!
For your sake, and for your husband’s sake, I hope you don’t have the “before and after” rounds of illegal fireworks we have from July 2-6. My 🐈 is terrified of fireworks (and thunder) and I see how upset he is. I can only imagine how badly combat veterans are impacted.
Trauma may dim over time, but it often never leaves. Holding your husband in my heart.
Yes, unfortunately some vets were more traumatized than others due to proximity and circumstances, and by their resulting suffering and ongoing disabilities. Many vets will not discuss their experiences, except with other vets so there are emotional and communication barriers in families from the fall out. I hope today that veterans will feel appreciated for their sacrifices and lifted up by the celebration of our freedoms they earned for us, even more precious today, is their reward in victory over tyranny in whatever arena they served.
The SCOTUS decision on Monday, July 1st was the day that the threat to our Constitution and democracy took a serious life-threatening hit. After all the sacrifice to free ourselves of an oppressive king and 2 and a half centuries of additional sacrifice to preserving our ambitious governmental system and we find ourselves on the verge of crowning the first king in American history - and a truly mad king at that! Like everyone who's reading this, I feel deeply heart-broken. But as I listen to the many frightened never-trumper patriots freaking out, it is the division among us that worries me the most in this moment. Much of the media is cashing in on the crisis with no concern for their role as the protectors of Democracy. President Biden had a very bad debate "performance." But on either side of that night, I see a compassionate, intelligent and wonderful man who has also a highly successful president. Many, including me, believe he is the greatest president in some 75 years, though certainly not perfect. At this time, my focus remains on reelecting Biden/Harris for another successful term. And do you realize that Mick Jagger will turn 81 in late July, on another world tour with the Rolling Stones. Please reconsider what too old is. Biden is sharp and has accomplishing so much more than almost any of us imagined he could. I urge everyone to watch the ProPublica interview from last year and any of his speeches since the debate, Then watch as much of any trump speech or debate you can stomach and tell me you're going to abandon the Biden/Harris ticket. Most importantly of course is to stop trump, maga, project 2025 and all the rest of their hellish agenda. And monitor the rotten media you ingest. Peace
Marlene, when did your husband serve in Vietnam? My father served 1963-64 and then again 1968-69 during the Tet offensive. Those were tough deployments. Communication was limited to letters. My parents also used small tapes so we could hear our dad’s voice. At the end of the tape, he would ask us to leave the room so he could talk to our mom privately on the other side of the tape. I have never been able to find those tapes.
Catherine, what a treasure those would be for you to find!
Years ago, we used our first video camera to attempt to tape the fireworks presentation of our village. The tape is grainy and not very overwhelming visually, but in the background you can hear the conversations and laughter of my family, many of whom are now gone.
I borrowed this from another poster on the audio link of HCR’s letter but fits well with what you stated so beautifully. "The Greatest Generation fought in World War II and saved the world from fascism. Its aging children now have an opportunity to do the same. Froma Harrop”
It’s ironic that today, July 4th, Britain is voting to reinstate a more liberal government than their Conservative Party bungled for the past decade. They lost American colonies due to Mad King George III .We might lose America to Mad King Trump if our GOP, Scotus6 and the media have their way. Pay attention to Britain! Ignore the WP , NYT, and other pundits who slam our liberal Democracy . It’s about POLICY, not a person. Do the GOP policies serve all the people? Did they ever ? That’s laughable. Vote and hope it counts like it did in 2020. Honestly, I really don’t care how old Biden is. I care about our world surviving the likes of these madmen.
"In the majority’s view, while all other citizens of the United States must do their jobs and live their lives within the confines of criminal prohibitions, the President cannot be made to do so . . . even more troubling, while Congress (the branch of our Government most accountable to the People) is the entity our Constitution tasks with deciding, as a general matter, what conduct is on or off limits, the Court has now arrogated that power unto itself when that question pertains to the President . . . If the structural consequences of today’s . . . [decision] mark a step in the wrong direction, then the practical consequences are a five-alarm fire that threatens to consume democratic self-governance and the normal operations of our Government." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson 01jul24; Dissent.
"If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other." President Ulysses Grant 1875.
This is a fascist propaganda tactic. Our reward for remaining docile and compliant is a life of servitude to their values, but no blood will be shed. However it will, because it is written into their plans. He calls the Fascist takeover that he and others have planned with Trump at their helm a Revolution. We must respond with our own Project 2025 and a counter revolution. Let us hope that this can be managed with no blood, but thanks to SCOTUS and the NRA we are looking at a heavily armed White Supremacist trained militia and potential militants. Again, I want to understand where the US military stands in all of this. Will they support the office or the court if/when Biden wins and Trump does not accept it. Does anyone have any information on this?
Roberts has to conflate us with a very small left that has a big bark, but not much bite. The “Left” he complains about are a larger group of centrist and liberal Democrats and independents who are very concerned about where our country is headed, and want to fight back using peaceful means. Roberts’s side is the side that wants to perform a hostile takeover, and he and his fellow believers would be the ones pulling out their weapons, and blaming our existence for doing so.
So true. I have a neighbor in the US who is staunch leftist. She told me the left has arms too, I told her not as many as the right. One reason for this is the Left has not made it their mission to send their people through the US military to get specialized training like the Right has. That has led to them stealing a lot of weapons from the military too. Contacts and insiders must be helping this. Read in Prof. Belew's book, the amount of millions of weapons stolen from one base in North Carolina I believe it was. The Left still eschews working with the government for the most part, whereas the Right made it their mission to infiltrate by toning down their rhetoric and saying the ends justifies the means. Roberts needs to be a name on everyone's tongue and not in a good way. My group is committed to learning about Project 2025, countering their plans with what Biden is offering, and disseminating this to as many people as we can. Most Americans apparently don't know about Project 2025.
Thank you for the link. I agree. Have been discussing all repercussions of each outcome that I can think of. Still terrified that Biden will win and SCOTUS will hand it to Trump on some specious reason that they have probably all planned out and will be hatching out further at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee. So, I see that Americans need to be prepared for both violence, and violation of the constitution by SCOTUS. Kevin Roberts talks about the right having a second Revolution, well we need a counterrevolution to their revolution.
Thank you for the link. I have been wondering if/how minds greater than mine are planning to respond to the violence I truly believe will follow this year's election. I especially appreciate Kayyem's comments about transparency. It would give me great strength to know that someone, somewhere, is making preparations. Thank you again, Bill.
RE: Bill Alstrom link, for us who tend to not watch youtube, here is this summary: “Looking ahead to the 2024 election, some fear upheaval should Donald Trump lose again. National security expert Juliette Kayyem argues, "The government isn't ready for the violence Trump might unleash." She joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss what President Biden must do to plan for the worst.
Originally aired on April 11, 2024”
Also noted, Juliette Kayyem has an April 7 piece in The Atlantic magazine
“The Government Isn’t Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash:
The Biden administration should be preparing for the worst.”
As I watched this link, I also came across this one, which spoke to me. One clarification I would ask of the prof. is whether the 50% increase, via polling, among Americans in possibly using violence to save the country also included those of us steeling ourselves to fight to save the republic against those who seek to destroy it. I bet it does. 🤔
At the present time, I'm sure the military is firmly on the side of protecting the nation, it's Constitution, and the laws which underpin them.
Back to Kevin Robert's and the Heritage Foundation. If you watched his pronouncement informing us of their ongoing civil war, or as he named it, the second American revolution, you may have noticed the banner behind him, advertising the Christian Nationalists.
Alito and Thomas are activist in promoting the takeover of democracy and the education system. It has been on their (the church) agenda since the first American Revolution. I'm sure they are involved in fulfilling Rushdooney's vision of taking over the Seven Moutains of governance. The GOP and Christian Nationalists Evangelicals identify it as the "deconstruction of the administrative state" and we identify it as the destruction of government of the people, by the people, for the people. I remind you that Steve Bannon announced it to a group of business leaders in April of 2017. Weeks after the inauguration, promising them full benefits if they could support the administration. They were so happy to oblige.
I'm not about attacking anyone's religion. The Christian Nationalists Evangelicals are not religiously driven. Their aim is power, influence, and control of the masses. It is a matter of historical fact that authoritarians and religious leaders always find themselves in agreement to oppress society. Religious leaders love to stand in the shadow of tyrants.
I think it was Henry VIII who ran the papist out of England and immediately created the Anglican Church. Same Christ, religious trappings, selling the same mythological entity to the people. The Crown on one side, the church on the other and both stripping the people of the fruits of their labor, hopes, and dignity.
A different time and place, yet here we are again.
"It is certain in any case, that ignorance allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy of justice. "
What about all us poor, dumb Christians ( you know, like Biden) who pray, work, and vote for Biden's victory? And whose liberalism is informed by our faith? While we're at it, let's not forget that Biden and Alito are of the same Church. As am I.
I am Catholic, and OD is a cancer on the church. My objections have nothing to do with the DaVinci Code, poorly written fiction based on a hoax, and rather more how to do with how they actually engage in power seeking and the manipulative treatment of their numeraries. They are a cult who got official approval and canonization of Josemaria Escriva because they bailed out the Vatican in the early 1980s. Josemaria Escriva was the Boss from Hell who treated his subordinates like crap. He wasn’t sexually abusive, he was more like an abusive executive who would constantly ridicule, put down, undercut and verbally abuse his subordinates. They engage in “love bombing” to get people to join.
Yes. I agree on the DaVinci Code. I was in grad school with a guy from Spain whom a classmate that was Catholic and used to give me rides told me was a member of Opus Dei. I got to hear his viewpoints on contraception, as it came up in class, and he felt it was wrong. I see that as one of the many things SCOTUS will get rid of. Though I checked how many children the members have and it seems to me they are using some form of birth control or they would have more kids. Hypocrites to the nth degree.
P.S., please pardon my rudeness for not answering your electronic with the information about Liz Cheney. 🫣 I get swamped with e-mails these days and am becoming forgetful. 😳 Aside from having a thousand excuses and a hundred explanations but not one good reason (🤭),please know, that, even at this late date, I appreciate your taking time out for me. 🤝⚖️🙏
I'm not so sure about the military. I'm certain dumoty and his minions will target taking that over first thing, and installing a trumpanzee. Those of lower rank will also be replaced.
And the line officers? They'll do as they're told. Remember the Seal team 4 scandal, as I recall.
Yeah, I read that essay, too, Linda. I do not subscribe, so, fortunately for the good counsel Vance, I can not comment. My reaxion was: hey, they can not kill all of us.
“ We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late,” said Rep. Huffman. “Through this Task Force, leaders across the ideological spectrum and experts in every policy area that’s under attack are uniting to protect democracy as we know it. Donald Trump and those behind Project 2025 are ready to turn America into a theocratic regime if they get the chance – and we are going to be ready to stop them.”
Members of the Task Force represent the diversity of the Democratic Caucus and are leaders on many of the issues currently under attack by Project 2025. Founding members joining Rep. Huffman are Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (CA-36), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (CA-28), Equality Caucus and Labor Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chair Diana DeGette (CO-01), Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and Ranking Member of Oversight Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07).
In Joyce Vance’s substack, there is a subscriber-only content where she interviewed Huffman.
“ Congressman Huffman: Please follow the work of our Task Force, and our individual members, on social media, and keep supporting trusted sources of information like Joyce Vance. The groups our Task Force is working with also deserve support, and many of them are putting out outstanding summaries and analyses on Project 2025 which you can find on their websites:
General Mark Hertling (Ret.) posed a most challenging "rhetorical" question: ¿what happens of the Commander-in-Chief gives an illegal order as an 'official' act?
That song brought tears this morning, and spurred a search for more details on exactly where MLK had worked in tobacco fields (the next town over from the tobacco fields I worked 16 years later). Simsbury CT like Granby and Suffield, where my brother and I worked in 1960-61, are in Hartford County. The way he was treated well in the Hartford area (where the Wide Awakes started a major boost to Lincoln's win in 1860), inspired him to become a preacher and become a non-violent Civil Rights leader), as I read the article at https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-was-inspired-by-time-in-connecticut/1885278/
"...In a letter to his mother three days after he wrote his father, King marveled over a trip he took to Hartford.
"I never thought that a person of my race could eat anywhere but we ate in one of the finest restaurants in Hartford," King wrote. "And we went to the largest shows there."
He wrote a week earlier of going to the same church in Simsbury as white people. His new calling as a religious leader was emerging, too.
"I have to speak on some text every Sunday to 107 boys. We really have good meetings," he wrote.
William Duschaneck, an 88-year-old Simsbury resident interviewed by the students, said he played baseball with King in town. King was a strong pitcher, though the future preacher of nonviolence never drilled a batter, he said.
"He was a good ballplayer. He beat us a couple times," Duschaneck said, laughing. "It was interesting to hear him talk. He had a nice voice. He talked about God and so forth."
King described the work on the tobacco farm as easy.
"I have a job in the kitchen so I get better food than any of the boys and more. I get as much as I want," he wrote to his mother.
In a speech in Hartford in 1959, King recalled how hot it was working on the tobacco field and how he looked forward to relaxing on weekends in Hartford.
Byer said King and other students often worked in temperatures that reached 100 degrees or higher. The students, who were earning money to pay for college, made about $4 per day, Byer said. They lived in a dormitory built at the edge of the tobacco field.
King was nicknamed "Tweed" by his friends because he often wore a tweed suit to church, said Alexis Kellam, whose late father, Ennis Proctor, worked with King that summer in Connecticut.
King's friends teased him that the hot sun in the tobacco fields caused him to preach, his sister, Christine Farris, said.
In her book "Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith," Ferris wrote that her brother underwent a "metamorphosis" as a result of his time in Connecticut..."
My only disagreement with his words were that he thought it was easy working in those fields, at least for me and my brother. It made us far stronger but it was never easy to us.
Wow. I was born in Hartford and currently live here too. My very first attempt at employment was in one of those Windsor tobacco fields. I was about 12 years old and too young to work. So I took my birth certificate and scratched out the year and typed in an earlier year. I lasted all of 3 hours in the tobacco field when I was called into the office and shown my forged birth certificate. But they did pay me for thhose 3 short hours.
I wonder which restaurant King ate at. There was a well known fish restaurant downtown, right, Honiss Oyster Bar. The place to go I’ll bet he ate there among other places.
WOWerful story, there, Jim. Thank you so very much for taking the time to write it down, making it a quiet legacy for those of us lucky enough to read it. I attended that old-line Yankee Congregational church in Simsbury. What an amazing group its members were fifteen years ago . . . and are. Thank you for blessing us.
20 years after MLK, (who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize), worked the fields in Simsbury, Hartford County delivered the Commencement Speech at Springfield College Massachusetts, just 20 miles north east of Simsbury. Dr. Glen A. Olds of the College at the time is one of the lasting inspirations for me because of what he did on July 14, 1964.
“…The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Springfield on July 14, 1964 under heavy police guard to deliver the 78th annual commencement at Springfield College. Scores of telephone threats against the civil rights leader had been received at the college and the FBI attempted to dissuade college President Glenn Olds to retract his invitation to Dr. King.
Olds and Springfield College offered the civil rights leader an honorary doctorate, the first school to do so. But it was not without incident. In an effort to get Springfield to rescind the invitation, the FBI called Olds. A scratchy audiotape - allegedly of King - filled with vulgarity was played over Glenn’s phone. A vague threat made that it was foolish for Springfield College “A YMCA-type school” to honor such a man.
Former Springfield College President Glenn Olds
“In my America, the accused gets to meet his accuser,” Glenn Olds told the man on the other end of the phone. “Are you ready to step out in the white light of day and say what you’ve just told me?” The next thing Glenn Olds heard on the other end of the line was a dial tone.
Years later, when tapes and documents were released of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s campaign against Dr. King, the FBI involvement was confirmed.
On the day of the commencement and King’s speech, Olds was summoned to meet a school benefactor. At the graduation, it was going to be announced that the man was going to leave a million dollars - the largest donation during Olds’ presidency - earmarked for Springfield College in his will.
“I could see his face was twisted in anger,” Glenn recalled. “He was livid. He tore up his will in my presence. He didn’t want Martin Luther King speaking at Springfield College.” But the civil rights leader did. And Glenn Olds always considered it Springfield College’s finest moment.
Free on $900 bail from a St. Augustine, Fla., jail for refusing to leave a segregated restaurant, Dr. King reaffirmed his commitment to non-violent protest in his Springfield speech before more than 3,200 listeners.
"Violence often wins temporary victories, but in the end it creates more problems than it solves," he told the crowd…”
In the 1920’s in a small town in southern Ohio, my grandfather put a stop to the KKK who wanted to speak at the local high school. According to my mother, he told them they could speak, but only if they showed their faces. That stopped them. My grandfather was a self made attorney and by all accounts a wise and generous soul. That story warms my heart.
Conversely, around 1966/68, when the street troubles were in full bloom, my father was heard to say, “It’s not the ones born here in Hartford that’s causing all the trouble. (He had his once Black friend Art, the bus driver, that he was proud to invite over the house for lunch but not dinner.) It’s the ones comin’ up from the south.” A walking contradiction.
I was severely criticized in an abnormal psychology class when I suggested it would at best take a generation to get some people to accept that "others" were worthy of building bridges to instead of erecting barriers.
Yes, but you see, the population makeup is not static. New generations arrive. New thoughts some good, some bad, are passed around. Much of what has happened in previous generations is forgotten. The old generations die.
Astute observation. A colleague of mine once pointed out that Moses marched the faithful through the desert for forty years because it would take two generations to change a culture.
I see the glass as half-full. My father had many of the same contradictions, as do I. No matter how cosmetic your father's friendship may have been, he was still a good man, on balance, to pursue it.
“…In 1964, Springfield College shared a moment in history often overlooked by historians with honorary degree recipient and commencement speaker Martin Luther King Jr.Despite significant pressure from prominent shareholders and benefactors of the College, college President Glenn A. Olds, a minister and conscientious objector during World War II, refused to waver from his decision to make Martin Luther King Commencement speaker for the 1964 Graduation ceremonies. When King was arrested the day before, Olds contacted law enforcement officials, telling them that if they continued to hold King, school officials would fly down to tape the commencement address, leaving St. Augustine to deal with the attendant publicity. Whether or not his intervention played a role, King was released on a nine hundred dollar bond Saturday afternoon. Met at the airport by Springfield College Economics Professor Robert Randolph, later the first black president of the Massachusetts State College System at Westfield State, King toured the campus, gave a press conference, and shared a brief luncheon with faculty and administration. On the day of commencement, Black Muslim protestors who felt King was too conciliatory and bomb-sniffing dogs greeted the graduating class. Springfield College alumnus Joe Brown (class of 2014) transcribed the speech and made the corrections…”
Thank you for the Grant quote. I only began to appreciate him as other than a general seeing a History Channel documentary. The quotation enhances what I gained from that.
Thank you Heather for your powerful reminder of who we are and how others have sacrificed to get to this day. The torch has now been past to us. And Lincoln's words in 1862 are as true today as they were then. "Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We … will be remembered in spite of ourselves. … The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation."
If only the Mitch McConnells, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomases thought about how history will remember them! But A) they believe they will be remembered as heroes and B) they don’t really give a happy hoot as long as their side wins. Let’s face it; this is the shadow side of America (in the Jungian sense), that has also always been a part of our story. Maybe it’s simply the story of mankind-this tension between our natures. Either way, we are, indeed, called to confront it again. I hope we are up to the task.
To quote Liz Cheney, the Seditious Six are running the risk that the “dishonor will remain” with them and the other politicians who are enabling the hostile takeover of our nation. No one voted the billionaires, the “Christian” Nationalists, the Heritage Foundation or the Federalist Society into office to destroy our country, but it’s actually happening and broadcast and print media outlets are doing nothing to call out this travesty.
I just cancelled my subscription to The NY Times. Their uneven coverage of Joe Biden and Donald Trump was beyond what I could take.
I will miss Paul Krugman and Maggie Haberman and a few others, I can't believe they never mentioned that Joe Biden actually won the debate by 1) answering the questions asked (most of the time) and by getting stronger as the debate went on. And convicted felon Donald Trump never answered a single question asked of him and lied incessantly. I rate Biden's performance and delivery "D" and Trump's performance and delivery an "F".
And Jake Tapper's and Dana Bash's performance a "D" and CNN's overall performance of fact checking etc. a "D-".
Fortunately, polling shows that not many minds were changed by the debate, but the media didn't get the memo.
HCR realizes the real news are the SCOTUS decisions on Presidential immunity and the repeal of the Chevron decision.
Thank you, Gary. Heather has called it from the get-go, as is self evident such unbiased truths can not be found in ‘the tabloids’ -theirs along with the monopolized stream was failing factual content by gears of greed.
What is allowed is one side gets away with it while the other side is blamed. It is so ridiculous the comics grabbed it immediately and their audience grew too. The saddest of 🎭. The audience is all of us and what transpires on 11/5 will tell the rest of the story.
History has already documented the wool pulled over many an eye and the tragedy that followed.
I was appalled at Bash and Tapper failing to call out Trump’s Gish gallop of lies and misinformation. I still read the Times, but am disappointed at the coverage online. I should note the Sunday print paper does cover things not included on the Internet version. Since I don’t read as many news sources online, I will have to cut back on subscriptions for materials I do not read much anymore.
I am also cancelling the Washington Post today. It's my Independence Day from the national print media.
Obviously $$$$ is more important to them than balanced journalism.
They are already trying to bribe me into taking continuing my subscription like Spectrum did when I tried to cancel cable. Spectrum just wants the numbers and gave me really crappy streaming channels for a year and are paying me $10 a month not to cancel.
Too many broadcast and print media outlets are owned by those who fund the federalist society and the heritage foundation, thanks to the anti-regulation laws passed over the decades since Ronnie occupied the WH.
Unfortunately, it’s true, and the FCC fairness doctrine only applied to broadcast rather than streaming and cable media. Cable viewership was increasing during the 1980s, and streaming media did not become available until the 2000s. Permitting cross ownership of broadcast and print media outlets was a recipe for increased monopolies. We need to return to enforcing our antimonopoly laws.
Some apt thoughts, Sandra. Contrasting ideals reflect more than party affiliations. Human equality / inequality aspirations have champions across the board.
Thank you for this. I missed it since I haven’t been watching the news. There is also an interview with Christiann Amanpour on YouTube right now. I don’t have the link but it’s very recent and should be easy to find
Thank you, Heather. Every evening I/we who read your letters find encouragement in your words, profound knowledge of our complex history and your honest perspective. Thank you!
This Kevin Robert’s interview on Steve Bannon’s podcast (minus bannon who is in federal prison) gives a chilling reminder to Heather’s piece today. https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1808507354310209711. He calls for no less than a new revolution. And promises it will be “Bloodless if the Left allows it to be”. Hear that? He’s promising violence against Americans who reject Project 2025 and it’s Christian-in-name-only, fascist, patriarchal wet dream ideas. Of course $Cotus Chief Justice Roberts will call me “fear-mongering” for suggesting this is really dangerous shit-talk from a conservative.
"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
America democracy – as best as we could keep it – lasted just shy 248 years.
It died the day the Clarence court criminalized the White House – that is, when it immunized presidential corruption as much as Clarence and his cohort had long immunized themselves and their billionaire sugar daddies.
Heather’s “How the South Won the Civil War” showed how an enslaving faux-aristocracy tried all those years to kill U.S. government protecting the people’s health, safety, transportation, finance, and environment. The enslaving class held itself above the law – held law as meaningless as the Constitution to which they perjured themselves.
Now it’s over. Criminality immunized. Democracy legally dead.
We are in serious trouble. We get to vote one more time, and it has to be for the Dem against Trump. Biden if he continues to run.
After that, if successful, we have four more years to guard against a fascist takeover. And action must be taken! Including AOC bringing impeachment proceedings against these 6 "conservative" justices who want to make the president King.
As far as I can tell, the judicial system has been infiltrated by the Federalist Society which wants to establish the theory of the Unitary Executive, as well as the the usual originalism bullshit.
I've no idea what we do if Trump wins! Let's hope that doesn't occur, but we have to plan for it!
And, Matt, this also applies to local, state and federal elections….right now POTUS being most crucial, but there has been decades long movement to influence/control all levels of governance (and let’s not forget “civic” orgs such as ALEC & lobbyists too). If “they” were in the majority I might have to accept that, but they are not & are pushing for minority rule.
It is relatively easy to be complacent regarding local elections here in Minnesota. Yes many localities are simply controlled by MAGA voters. If the Dems lose, with the recent Supreme Court ruling that the president is King, then we are in a world of hurt regarding protecting democracy in the US. It will immediately cease to exist at the federal level, but yes there will be hold outs in blue states.
Matt, I am fortunate to live in a mostly blue rural area of a predominantly blue state (CA) and am doubly fortunate that family (including extended family) and friends are mostly center-to-center-left politically, so no awkward holiday gatherings! Still, when it comes time to vote, I carefully research candidates (even my little town of 1200 people & large, but low population, county)& then make my choices.
American democracy will die only to the extent we let it die. I'm not ready to do that Phil. And I hope you're not either. We need you Phil. Love and blessings.
I feel downcast, too, Phil. But as Stan points out, implicitly, as long as we breathe life into our republic, the tough old bird will live on. Sue and Stan, from Justice Brown Jackson's dissent.
"As we enter this uncharted territory, the People, in their wisdom, will need to remain ever attentive, consistently fulfilling their established role in our constitutional democracy, and thus collectively serving as the ultimate safeguard against any chaos spawned by this Court’s decision. For, like our democracy, our Constitution is 'the creature of their will, and lives only by their will.'”
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
I think that Lincoln nailed it there, as King George found out, and that it cuts both ways. A "vast rightwing conspiracy" has been systematically building a cult, by which I mean a self-reinforcing delusional ideology. It's not like we have never seen how that could happen before, and it's not that we had no warnings, from Orwell to Arendt. We the people should never have let the bar fall this low. The court of public opinion is at least as powerful as courts of law.
Bush v Gore was the first clue . Then Citizens United and the rest. As Heather says, she can only predict the past, not the future. Things that look so obvious in hindsight aren’t always so in the moment, unfortunately.
To me the first clue was Reagan smearing "Government" (of by and for the people?) and extolling leadership by the wealthy in it's place. Reagan was one of the most popular president, and yet his program was so discordant with "our better angels".
Reagan tried to destroy all that was good about America, all the while putting on a show of leadership. He “looked the part” but was Dorian Gray on the inside.
As my dad has said, he was a better actor than president. Reagan was also showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease during his second campaign and in his second term of office. Both Lesley Stahl and Helen Caldecott noticed it.
He was a way better actor than I gave him credit for. He read Peggy Noonan’s scripts like a pro. Probably egged on by Nancy. I think she was a bigger influence than people knew. My husband had diagnosable Alz for 15 years, but there was one incident 13 years before that was so out of character, I wondered. As to Reagan, I was so appalled by the Iran/Contra mess, I felt he should have been held accountable. Or some of his handlers should have.
And the dodgy hostage deal. A survey taken of more than 3 million people taken a year after Reagan died named him the "greatest American" who ever lived. Even now, i encounter liberal individuals and writers who cite Reagan as "the last decent Republican president. Rubbish. Reagan's disdain for publicly controlled and serving and his canonization of the wealthiest laid the foundation of Trump and imperial $COTUS. Compared to Lincoln or even Ike, Reagan had the televised appeal of a game show host. It's another topic, but we are fools to allow commercial media to shape our society to the extent that we do. Our passivity in that respect is inimical to "government of the people, by the people, for the people". We can't just select from someone else's menu and be confident we will get what we want or need, especially in an environment of unmediated plutocracy.
Reagan had a lot to do with shaping much of what is happening now, he sowed a lot of the seeds. And OMG those Block Grants! I believe they led to the homelessness we see now.
Soup kitchens et al first showed up in Canada in the late 80s. Around this time mental institutions were being cleared based on "human rights" considerations, resulting in a scattered, underfunded situation with some mentally ill ending up as homeless. Things haven't changed much in the meantime.
"Small government" was always BS. BIG government help for bankrupt bankers, but "austerity" for those on the edge. SWAT teams to serve eviction notices, but kid gloves for rich monsters like Jeffery Epstiein. It was always about one side subjugating the other; more privilege for the privileged And they're willing to pay (off) to get it.
Yes, he infamously said, "the Government IS the problem"... having the self-interested industries "self-regulate" sounds a bit like the current Roberts led SC doesn't it.
In retrospect, the biggest mistake Ford made was to pardon Richard Nixon. Putting Nixon on trial might have dissuaded any Republican efforts to place themselves above the law.
I believed that was a dangerous mistake at the time, but did not realize how bad it might get. Many people have praised Ford for smoothing over a great controversy, but it was at the cost of declaring the president above the reach of rule of law. Note that Ford felt obliged the use the power of pardon though. According to $COTUS, he need not have done so. The King can do no wrong.
Heather commented today (7/03/2024) that over the past week, SCOTUS and the Republicans have pulled off a legal coup, so we have 5 months to save democracy.
As Timothy Snyder advises in regard to tyranny: Do not obey in advance. We have identified the problem; the next step is to implement the solution. We The People have no time to lose.
So channel distress into productive action: donations to Biden/Harris and/or work through progressive organizations to register voters, educate them on the ballot, and Get Out The Vote! Reply if you want links.
Thanks for that CNN link. Heather is unequivocal about the media's over emphasis on Biden's performance, and inadequate emphasis on the real danger facing America. Even an age compromised president can function well with a strong leadership team behind him, compared to what Trump will bring. On the side, Amanpour is definitely worth taking in, generally.
2. Support other grassroots efforts to register voters, help voters get required ID, educate voters on their address's ballot, and Get Out The Vote, such as:
5. Donate to progressive state legislature candidates in critically flippable/keepable states (AZ, KS, MI, MN, NV, NH, NC, PA, WI), as through The States Project's HCR inspired Giving Circle:
Thank you Ellie for sharing that "5 months to save democracy" CNN interview link. Heather is such a clear thinker and great analyst. I do think in this instance she is missing a couple of perspectives though. Of course Trump was by far the more dangerous candidate on that stage; academically speaking. The problem is, if Biden is a weak candidate as a campaigner and communicator and is likely to hand the election to Trump, then he becomes complicit in bringing about that terrible outcome.
Secondly, optics matter, not all voters are as clear in their thinking as HCR, and nearly all of them are younger than President Biden. I can't help but wish for a candidate with JFK-like charisma and energy to galvanize the electorate. Turn-out is not going to be in our favor without that, in my opinion.
Republicans aborted democracy because they needed legally to enshrine, immunize their own corruption and criminality. So what's the competition now of that status quo of ringing doorbells, sending postcards, putting out lawn signs, joining phone banks, donating money?
Dem status quo now is charming, antique, but totally manhandled by this race of Republicans who play by entirely different rules -- the rules of now-officially legal corruption and criminality. Remember, Tee: on that Clarence court those Republicans lie about the most serious things. They perjure themselves about the most important things.
They in their corruption and criminality are not playing by democracy's old rules.
The current Dem status quo doesn't even attempt to answer the lies and from-on-high embrace of corruption and criminality.
There is an alternative -- and it is not "All we have left is our vote." It is personal. It is Dems who speak personally of fellow Dems, of fellow citizens, as if we're living in an invasion of the body snatchers, and we most urgently need to restore the human, the individual, the personal, as in both people around us (personally, by name) and characters in our humanities (by name reference to them).
Dems could have this human truth on their side -- if they roused themselves to the skills needed aptly to connect the personal to our larger public issues.
If Dems just keep to the Simon Rosenberg status quo, they're just going to be standing like Biden, mouth agape, frozen, discombobulated by the firehose of lies and criminality which the Clarence court has declared our highest, our only legality from July 1, 2024 on.
I agree with you, but it’s not a “no.” All we have left is the vote in our next election. There is no real argument against that fact. But as long as people keep invoking genocide Joe and sleepy Joe (young people, gen z, among others) their vote will be thrown to the other side. It has to be a realistic vote, of course, one that sees fascism as a real possibility.
Again, Tee? "All we have left is the vote in our next election"?
Dems need drastically to change. Republicans have found success in lying, embrace of criminality, campaigns of hysteric hatreds, corruption.
Yes, Americans can vote. But for what? Right now Dems offer campaigns not in any human truth, but in wonk slogans for money-raising, wonk cliche in printed instructions for phone bank volunteers, wonk buzz words in lawn signs and merchandizing, wonk platitudes in doorbell ringing conversations, wonk post card PowerPoints.
Dems are dead. Republicans are alive in passionate corruption, criminality legalized, cynicism, and the worst corralled hatreds in American history.
Dems need to answer the massive lying with individual human truths. Where did Dems learn that the answer to lying is only more wonk?
Yes, I know. The schools are dehumanized. So expect nonsense. Pabulum. Slogans. Stats. Numbers. All the idiocy that froze Biden in his "debate."
Human truth, Tee. Not just voting and all the other. Cite really apt humanities and start learning how to make them apt. (Eff all the schools that abandoned the human long ago, for the careerist, for the wonk, for the group identity self-congratulatory).
Cite other Dems at various levels around the country. Cite them as human beings facing extinction due to lying, corruption, and highest-court-authorized criminality.
This is not the time to philosophize. This is the time to vote. I don’t know why you’re missing my point. I agree with much of what you go on about, as I said, but the bottom line is that we need to vote for Biden. Otherwise we’re lost. In the words of Bruno Mars: “Don’t believe me? Just watch.“ I’m suppressing this stream because you just don’t get it.
Apart from everything else involving election rigging etc, you have nailed it about the SC. Lie after lie about the "rule of law" "no one is above the law" by Federalist candidates who have been revealing their true stripes.
* Reelect Biden if he continues to run, or his Democratic replacement if that ends up being the case
* The Biden administration should take actions *now* to protect democracy.
** Proposing legislation regarding election integrity, including that the presidential election should be determined only by democratic elections held within each state.
** Making it treason to come up with false electors!
** Proposing legislation to reinstate the Voting Rights Act, brainstorming required here
* Coming up with a plan for what to do if Trump wins!
I agree that the particular historical iteration of US democracy that we have grown up with just died with that Clarence Court judgement. The timing of it coming between the televised CNN Trump v Biden debate and Independence Day imbuing it with a mythic cruelty for Enlightenment rule of law democrats perpetrated by the anti democratic MAGA and the Heritage Foundation. However, the American Experiment will ever remain a work in progress. It’s entire foundation is rooted in the idea that societies are created and recreated. Man made not divinely pre ordained. That democracy and rule of law are continual processes not final solutions. The fight for freedom from abuse, oppression and injustice is one of perpetual reoccurrence. It is now important to begin analysing why this happened. What part of the social enactment of the Constitution is sitting on rotting footings. Then replace them.
“America was founded on the radical idea that all men are created equal.‘ …that in our ‘equality’ we honor each man (eventually each woman and each person of any and all ethnicity) that the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness are for ALL of us….it WAS a “work in progress at our Founding and God knows it IS TODAY …..we have a lot to ‘fix’.
Long ago, the late, great Gore Vidal wrote a book of essays with the delectable title, "Homage to Daniel Shays"
Therein, he discussed the contrast between the first inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson in 1801, and the second in 1805.
In the first, the well discussed principles of yeoman farmers, small government, etc., were proclaimed. In the second, as a result of a certain Corsican warmonger's financial reach exceeding his martial grasp, ambition's destiny was discussed more than republican principles.
I would wager that the self-evident truths the Sage of Monticello so perfectly distilled from the magical mix of his potent intellect and the long simmering discoveries of the Enlightenment, would most likely never have seen the light of day if the Country upon which he affixed such lofty sentiments was a continent wide behemoth, as opposed to a cluster of colonies clinging to the Atlantic shore.
Indeed, how does one reconcile the dreams of Pericles with those of Caesar?!
It was within this paradox that the perpetuation of the "peculiar institution" of slavery proceeded apace, while simultaneously the Republic moved westward. Lewis and Clark would have never made it to the "Great Water" of the Pacific were it not for the incomparable courage and devotion of a young Shoshone woman we know as Sacajawea. Yet it was a mere three score later that Phil Sheridan was reputed to speak an epithet already well practiced, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian".
As Americans our story has always been a narrative of our best principles stubbornly outliving our worst moments, even as the latter seem to multiply.
I certainly hope we keep the streak going, even as those unalienable rights seem to be on the auction block for the highest, or perhaps the Leo-ist bidder.
Wonderful. And encouraging. Thank you! I just posted a link to your July 2 piece in my post, Independence: Freedom from Oppression. We have a lot of work to do in the coming months in order to pull our country back together. I'd like to get a petition going to Senators to do away with the fillibuster, so we/they can get things passed. We need Biden to put at least four more Justices on the bench (since FDR wanted 15, the least we should have now is 13!) But we have to ask for these things, write for them, and demand them in order to get them done. It's so much more than voting, but of course getting the vote out is essential, too. I hope everyone has a good celebration of freedom tomorrow. Then let's get back to work!
We need 13, one for each of the 12 circuits and the DC circuit. The majority of the court, excluding justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Brown-Jackson has earned my contempt and are doing their utmost to put the interests of the few above those of the common good.
Thank you for this reminder, Dr. Heather! And HAPPY 4th OF JULY, EVERYONE!
Let us never forget that by declaring that it was *self-evident* that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, they shocked the entire world.
That shock hasn't abated. For the last 248 years there has never been a day that some group of people hasn't resisted that great idea. We who believe in those principles need to accept as reality that our own Revolution didn't end with the war against King George. In one fashion or another it's continued to this day. We must never stop.
I'm not sure about that. Historians look back, assess the present in the light of history, but cannot, like all of us, predict the future. What we can all do, however, is dedicate ourselves to keeping our democracy.
I've just finished reading In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, about the courage of the Mirabal sisters, their husbands, and their compañeros who faced incarceration and death during the years of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Fiction can make us feel the reality of history. I have never lived under a dictator, never had soldiers walking the streets of my city with guns, never had to watch what I said or wrote, never had to face prison. But reading about these remarkable women and the others who shared their cause has made the perils of Project 2025 and the possible reign of King Donald I suddenly more vivid and terrifying.
Rafael Trujillo’s murders of the Mirabal sisters proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back that doomed his regime. They were murdered by Trujillo’s henchmen who were waiting for them after they came back from visiting their husbands, who were among Trujillo’s political prisoners. The only sister left was their sister Dedé. Appropriately enough, the sisters’ family home is now a museum to commemorate their lives. They are regarded as national heroines in the Dominican Republic.
While not to the elevated level of refinement of Dr Cox Richardson -- at least and most definitely in my case -- everyone is a historian now; everyone a states(wo)man now.
¿Why?
Because everyone must be. Our republic demands at least that much from each of us.
If there is a civil war, it will be smaller but very bloody as three per cent of the American people own fifty per cent of the guns.
That means ten million people own, on average, more than ten guns apiece. You can bet your bippee that those 3%ers own most or all of the assault rifles and support Trump as well as the craven, corrupt quislings on the Supreme Court.
Keep in mind that the governmnent owns the tanks, missiles, figher jets, and troops. The problem is that the Christofascists might get control of the government. Right now, it's up for grabs. And the President is now a King, thanks to the geniuses at John Roberts, Inc. Did anyone really think it would come to this?
The court was the key. The process became blatant with Gingrich, Limbaugh, and Beck. Then Bush v. Gore. Then the Tea Party and MAGA. Vast numbers of people involved. Obvious now.
How very kind, Ned (my Dad was Sir, Bruce is just fine). One of my favorite PhD subjects was 'Ethics'. I attempted to get "to the edge of knowledge" in that subject, but, of course soon found out, that like Love, it is infinite. I must suppose that the MAGA folks, because of their deep, deep lostness must lean toward a Kantian ethic of duty as prescribed by higher authority. Forgetting that there is no higher authority on Earth than the 'Law'. But then many of them do say that God (in His triunity) speaks clearly to them about Trrrrump's coming. I vonderrr iff zees dilushons feeturrrr an Austrian viz a Schnauzbart?
"Christians" of the Double Cross would ave persecuted Jesus.
In any case, human values certainly matter to we humans, and given the compass of human fates, for humanity as well as for individuals, we might want to get our priorities straight.
I believe the values toward which we aspire define us, sort of. For me my aspiration is to be an honorable gentleman. That value is like a Platonist ideal, and I fall far short.
Yet that values looms there like an asymptote toward which I stride, haltingly; I often go further away from that asymptote. Over time, however, my progress is unmistakable.
Like any asymptote the curvilinear line charting my progress will never cross that asymptote. But like Camus's Sisyphus, the perseverance of trying to do so, knowing I will not get there, earns my dignity such as it is..
[A]n asymptote is "a line that a curve approaches as it heads towards infinity." (https://byjus.com/maths/asymptotes/). In this case, the asymptote is a horizontal line and the crazy curve goes upward toward it.
Dear James. We are not in Central Europe of the 1700's, so I take your declaration as it is probably meant in today's context of Spinozism. I am not sure though that I should be labeled as such. I believe all earths inhabitants (modi) are sentient in their Ecosystems and do not exist to express the "single substance" of God's id (or essence). God, in my opinion, clearly tells us we have choice and our choices will affect us. However the communication and connectivity between earths species is just coming to man's awareness and respect, so maybe Spinoza was right and the real Ecosystem for all of us to respect, or not survive is Gaia. The expression of all substance?
James and Bruce, y'all are above my pay-grade and I.Q. Accordingly, thank you. By the way, the tuition check is in the mail. You show how the social media should operate at their best.
Dear Bruce. No doubt, the same. Spinoza's metaphysics is all-inclusive and timeless. Wherever you find truth, it is incorporated in it by definition. All things are sentient according to their nature, meaning everything follows the laws of nature. For Spinoza, God is the irreducible nature of nature, 'substance' (thought and extension) without which there is nothing, which is an absurdity. He did conclude that 'God' does not make choices per se. All events arise from necessity. May necessity lead us out of this insane civil war! (I loved your reference to Kant. Just think what we would have been spared the last 300 years had he acknowledged that Spinoza obviated his tedious oeuvre).
When I think of all the crap I learned in elementary school (it got better later) it's a wonder I can think at all*. we did have to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution, and those I took with me. I probably can't do either letter-perfect, but kept a pretty good inventory of what is there.
Words to take seriously.
*Seriously, a lot of what was taught turned out to be evidence-poor nonsense.
As you may be aware, The popular consumer slide film Kodachome was color balanced to punch up photos in an unrealistic way. Professional photographers favored Ecktachome. I assume the name came from German "echt", meaning genuine.
Thankyou Heather. Words to,live by, for sure. I would suggest that we take in Joyce Vance's post of tonight. A clear depiction of the stakes we must apply those words to.
I will be comforting my husband, the Vietnam vet, and my sweet doggie when the fireworks go off many hours from now. For some, it is a welcoming sound and sight. The ones that light up the sky with beautiful colors that dance over our heads, the ones that make no noise, are lovely. But it is the dreaded sounds of bombs dropping that sends my husband into a tailspin, even 50+ years later. Lincoln would be astonished at our technologies and our want to save the climate but he would be disappointed in the way our politics have turned out. This is a time for us Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who will never vote for Trump, to stand arm and arm together. It will be our united front that will win against tyranny. The 4th is when we gained our Independence from Britain. We must reclaim it and fight like hell!
I salute your better half's service to my country. Agreed on a coalition of people who know what really counts. Dutifully rendered, Marlene; beautifully written. ✍️⚖️🤝🗽✌️
Thank you so much, Ned, truly appreciated.
You are welcome, Ma'am. Appreciation goes both ways.
(From 'Donald's Vanity Tantrums')
Fred Jackson and the Second American Revolution
(Homage to Donald Trump’s ‘Proud Boys’ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they weren’t.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mysterious commander said, “the time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who I’m talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, “OrangeFatso.””
“Yep”… they screamed in unison, “Save our leader, OrangeFatso.”
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, “Maybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.” as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
"Left...right...left...right...left...right...left...right."
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh no… not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's “Code of Conduct” that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles – just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross – who is thought to have sewn the first flag – was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
“He wasn’t born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,” cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the “Alliance.” The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of they’re mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
“CHARRRRRRGE!” he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly – an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, “recalculating... recalculating...” His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
“Yes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, I’ll inform the men.”
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
“I’ll tell the men right away.” The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
“All hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.”
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
“Come in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.”
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth – the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: “The Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.”
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
That's quite an essay...there was a time when I thought it might even play out that way, but they have definitely stepped up their game. Can you write one that just as eloquently describes OrangeFatso's incarceration?
Have a happy Independence Day!
More likely called a satire but thank you.
Orange fatso ❤️ is a good one. perfect. Some msm reporter said Biden looked pale next to orange fatso’s tan. LOL. Let’s add OF to the other trending descriptions. CLOFCF
Crazy lazy orange fatso convicted felon.
Rolls off the tongue like something choking you that you are trying to spit out.
Okay, Bill. Now I have to go down the rabbit hole and learn more about you and your work. Good thing it’s a holiday.
Oh… Just bring a search light as you descend.
Aye aye, Sir.
Well done!
😂
Dial it back a notch. You're promoting your own blog shamelessly.
I get it. All writers seek attention. Why should I copy and paste a story from my book and not note where it comes from? What harm is there? Do you ever watch a writer being interviewed and repeatedly saying, “…And I state in my book bla bla bla.”
Yeah, sure, but this is a long chunk and too many people have been doing this sort of thing. It's opportunistic and very unfair to the original blogger.
Agree with Mary. It is opportunistic at the least. Comment section is for comments, not satirical diatribes.
I would not read this essay otherwise. So promote away! 😉
¡Bravò, Bill! 🙏
¡Bravò! ✌️
I believe the adage that "A politician is someone who will lay down your life for his country". I spent a year in VN too. Infantry near Da Nang.
Lay down your life and your wife according to Trump.
Thank you for putting your life on the line in honor of USA democracy.
Mike, I salute your service to my country during a ghastly, repudiated war. 🤝 Not sure I would have had your courage, Sir. ✌️
Ned, maybe the courageous ones went to Canada.
I was 20 and didn't understand much of anything. When I turned 21 in VN, on that day I realized what a waste I was making of my life. Also saw that most of my fellow soldiers were from the lowest socio economic groups and were poorly educated. When I was wounded I realized how lucky I was and what I needed to do to create the life I wanted. The GI Bill was great. Paid for my schooling through my MBA. VA benefits are great too. Life has turned out to be fabulous.
I agree with what you say, Mike. You will not talk me out of saluting your service nor the service of Mr Bigley. Additionally, I harbour no ill-will toward those who evaded the draft. A very difficult time and what occurred for young men in Viêt Nam at that time is very saddening.
Marlene,
I have read and admired your thoughts displayed across my keyboard for long enough now that I feel that I know you, at least a bit. Yet tonight is the first time I have felt a palpable sense of your inner self, as you write with not just your usual insight, but with a tenderness infused by passion for those you love.
Fight like hell we must, and I'm right there alongside you.
To you and yours, particularly your husband who knows too well the reverberations of the rockets' red glare, I wish a wonderful Independence Day.
DANNY
So lovely of you, Danny. Thanks!😌
I’m by your side too Marlene and, a Vietnam veteran too, I stand with your husband!!!
Bless you, Raymond (Scott)! Glad you made it back. 🥰
Marlene's post today was certainly lovely. One little quibble: the phrase "fight like hell" was enshrined by Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. "Fight like heck" doesn't have the same resonance.
Some older kids set off some very loud fireworks in the park (loud enough to be very loud indoors a couple of blocks away), and my dog said nope and turned around and led us safely back home. I can't imagine how your husband feels, and thank you for taking care of him!
You are a strong and comforting soul, Marlene. It shows.
🥰
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Katrina Christiansen, too. https://www.katrinaforussenate.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk7ojHyN7sc
Daniel Solomon, thanks for the heads-up. KC looks terrific and as she says "she is a cheap date." Electing a Senator in N Dakota is much cheaper than large states, but her Senate vote will count just as much. Sent a small contribution and I'll follow her campaign.
Marlene, thank your husband for his continuing sacrifice for our country. Power hungry greed is eating away at the idea of unselfish service; honor and honesty are derided as weak. You are right; we must win by showing the same will as the soldiers at Normandy showed by getting our friends and neighbors to vote against those who want to put us back under the rule of a bullying “king” and his sniveling “courtiers”.
Then Pres. G.W. Bush was right when on 3-31-2001 at the White House Correspondents' Dinner he said: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." The wealthy oligarchs know this and have used mass media (Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Russ Limbaugh, Alex Jones, et al.) to fool mostly white Christians to vote against their own best economic interests. [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas," 2004.] That, combined with very old people who can't exit the political stage gracefully have put our democratic system at grave risk. We have no choice but to work like hell and hope for the best. It's the least that we can do to honor the sacrifice of those who have given so much to preserve the rights that we enjoy presently and to pass it on to posterity.
The relationship between competence and intent is the same as the relationship between longitude and latitude. You don't know squat unless you know both variables.
I do know Biden's competence. He's proven himself to be one of the most competent presidents in the modern era. And I know his intent. He intends to serve the greater good. The other guy's competence and intent are also well understood. He's proven himself to be the most incompetent president in American history. And I know his intent. He intends to serve himself at the expense of the greater good.
I'm also pretty sure I know why Biden is running. He thinks a decision on his part to drop out of the race will be the end of the American experiment in democracy, and the beginning of a new dark age that civilization is unlikely to survive. Maybe he's wrong, but if he asked me for my advice, I'd tell him he was right.
The other thing I do is imagine myself in a scenario in which I told him to drop out and he followed my advice. Then, on November 6, as I'm watching the election coverage and listening to all the analysts conclude that Trump won because Biden dropped out, I get a call from the president asking me what I have to say for myself, and the only thing I can think of saying is "Oops."
Q: What is the relationship between competence and intent?
A: If the candidate's intent is good, then more competence is better. And if the candidate's intent is bad, then more incompetence is better. The US survived POTUS 45 because it elected an evil idiot, and not an evil genius.
In conclusion, I'm not saying to ignore competence, but I am saying that real journalists are making the intent of the two candidates the story, and anyone who is making the competence of the two candidates the story is a JOURINO (journalist in name only).
Thank you James R. Carey. I feel the same. I think it is way too late for Biden to drop out. I am sure he thought long and hard about it before he put his hat in the ring in April. He knows he is old...just like I do. He has great people on his team! Let us trust them for another 4 years to keep up the good works that we are seeing. I vote to keep Joe as my president. I will vote for anyone on the ticket that is a Democrat but I am sure there will be something wrong with he/she that the damn Republicans can bring up. Few of us are squeaky clean. Joe has already been through the wash and they have worked overtime to find more dirt but they have continued to fail! Let us all support Joe! They (the Damn Republicans) can't take away our DEMOCRACY that we have fought so many years to acquire. So many lives will have died in vain! Right now the Republicans are praying to their god that Joe will quit! It will be their win if he does! Joe saved us in 2020 and he can do it again in 2024 but he can't do it alone!!!!!!!
I agree completely. Biden is the best President in my lifetime. He has wonderful, competent, people working for him. I'm sure he wishes he could rest, but he loves our country too much.
There is no question that Biden has done an outstanding job to date. The question is: can he defeat Trump in November. That's the issue.
I saw this on a post from Joanne Friedman (pretty sure it was her) this am:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
And this can apply to any critic, as far as I'm concerned. Literary, Artistic, Music, etc. If you can't do it, it is not necessary to put down those who do.
Little bush was never right! Hmmm, ‘very old’! At what age would you have everyone be buried!?
I am 84 years old and fairly mentally cognizant. When to exit the stage? When one's cognitive abilities obviously begin to fade and by hanging on one puts the republic at risk, as happened with Ginsburg and Feinstein and now with Biden. Perception counts. We have now gone on the defensive instead of the offensive, attacking the person and policies of a loathsome individual, Donald J. Trump. The continued existence of our democratic republic is more important than any one individual's feelings. Facts are important, to be sure, but so are perceptions, and that's where we are now on the defensive.
Although I'm not a doctor, my belief is that Biden has the mental capacity to see us through the next year of struggle, and after that Harris can take over. But I believe more strongly that if Obama tells him the time to step down is now, then he must. Obama knows the job and Biden's present capabilities, and he also knows politics.
And that's all I'm saying, as I've made a self-pledge to stay off all social media for the day, my own Declaration of Independence. I don't know what tomorrow (or all tomorrows) will bring, but for today at least, I'm not thinking that far ahead, and will enjoy the day.
Happy Fourth, everybody!
I will soon be 81! Some days I forget if I have brushed my teeth or have taken my vitamins.....but I think it is because we have so much in our brains that the ordinary daily activities are on automatic....except when we are distracted. I do believe that Joe was tired.....I get tired....I take naps....when I have time and I am not responsible for the USA and its people.....like me an you.... he knew he would be going up against an idiot that makes totally no sense and rambles from one thing to another to intimidate him! Joe could not call him out like he did in 2019. CNN fixed that! Joe should have just talked about the kitchen table......and telling the truth rather than lies.
WHAT SHOULD BIDEN DO?
What are our goals? My answer is, first, assure that the Democratic Party has a strong, moderately progressive and electable candidate who will appeal to uncommitted voters particularly in “swing” states. Second, the Democratic Party should concentrate on electing a candidate with progressive principles rather than loyalty to an individual with serious electoral challenges no mater his past service. The Party should not copy the Republicans in unthinking loyalty to a single person in spite of major weaknesses.
Obviously, a Party should normally continue to support its “nominee” even when the nominee stumbles during the campaign. Changing nominees close to the nominating convention and election would be extraordinary and very risky, opting for an “unknown” over a well-known, experienced candidate. Further, Joe Biden has a very long and accomplished career of public service. He has already defeated an earlier Trump candidacy.
However, there are several reasons which support the Democrats nominating, even at this late hour, another person for the next term:
1. Millions of voters watched last week’s Presidential Debate. No matter the explanation, nearly everyone, I think, was horrified by the President’s performance. “Highlights” of his many lapses can surely be a staple of Trump’s campaign ads from now until the election. What will matter is not whether this was somehow a unique departure for a still sharp and able elderly candidate but whether voters will feel convinced that the President is no longer able to fully carry out his duties for another four years.
2. Biden was significantly trailing Trump in almost every poll going into this debate, one that he requested, one that he set at a very early date and one that he insisted on following his rules. His polling is assuredly not now going to go up. Nor will his financial donations in my judgment.
3. Trump has been primarily running on the theory that “sleepy Joe” is terrible rather than “I have policies that will make Americans better off.” The Debate tends to support Trump in this respect.
4. People who are 81 never get younger or more vigorous. At the end of another term Biden would be 85. Most voters have parents, relatives or friends in their 80s and would not want them to take on one of the most demanding jobs on the planet. Many voters have painfully had to tell an aging parent that they are no longer capable of safely driving.
5. Most voters are aware that in spite of a very good and forcefully delivered State of the Union speech the President has recently had very, very little unscripted public exposure without reading from a teleprompter. He has had fewer press conferences than any president within memory. This suggest to me that his staff may have been aware of “a problem” for some time.
6. Polling is clear that many Biden voters are doing so more because they fear Trump than because the are enthusiastic about Biden. Many potential voters, particularly African-American males, Arabic and younger voters, have been unwilling to support Biden in spite of the fact that the only realistic alternative is Trump.
7. The Democratic Party has many younger, articulate and experienced potential candidates, both governors and members of the Senate, who could replace Biden should he decide to end his re-election campaign. Most of them would be electable if they ran against Trump. None of them would have to defend individual decisions that Biden made and is currently being attacked for. They could begin with a clean slate with few decisions to attack. A new Democratic candidate for President would both shake-up a ballot that many voters have complained about and generate interest and excitement in the currently disengaged. A new nominee would be quite likely to capture a number of current Robert Kennedy supporters.
The only foreseeable way to have a Democratic presidential nominee other than Biden is for President Biden to publicly abandon his campaign for re-election. He has recently stated that he will not do so. It currently seems unlikely that he will do so. However, after Watergate when senior Senate Republican party leaders went to President Nixon and told him he needed to resign he did so. Senior Democratic Party leaders today, I believe, would ask President Biden to abandon his re-election campaign if they were convinced by their constituents that Biden could not win the election. Unlike the Republicans, I believe Democratic Party leaders would withdraw their support from the President’s campaign if they felt only by doing so and letting an open Convention select the Party’s nominee, they would defeat Donald Trump.
Such eventuality would be extraordinary, but not unprecedented [Cf. Truman & L. Johnson].
It would involve significant risk and the outcome would be unknown but this year’s general election will be politically existential. We must, I submit, do whatever is required to nominate a Democratic candidate who will win election and lead our country into a better place. Democrats cannot allow sentiment to cloud their judgement as to political reality.
All of this is being eaten up by the MAGAs with glee. Democrats must go forward, not apologize any longer, and keep concentrating on Trump. There was a great essay by the editorial board of the Philadelphia Enquirer yesterday, mentioned by Lawrence regarding the fact that Trump should be the one to exit the race.
Maybe not as many watched as you think but they have surely been told by the media narrative now how the media sees the election.
Richard, I respect your opinion. Question: Don't you believe Biden's record of achievement counts? What if he became non compos mentis in office? It seems to me Kamala Harris would take over, the apparent heir to the Presidency. I'm assuming you believe he's going to lose against a con man, fraudster and criminal. Simon Rosenberg's newsletter might change your mind.
Does Biden's record of achievement count for anything? In terms of whether that 5% of the electorate in play will look at that instead of Biden's failing health and apparent stroke? Did he have a stroke? This is my point: we're now talking about Biden's health and mental ability instead of Trump's threat to our democracy. We're on the defensive. I'd vote for Biden even if he were in a coma. Kamala was my first pick for POTUS anyhow. But, I'm not the one to be convinced. We need to recognize the issues that we're dealing with and the principal one is whether Biden's condition will alienate needed votes.
Mary, I just read an interesting essay by Marilynn Robinson from the NY Review of Books where she touches on those, since we now have an all volunteer army, whose children go to war, often based on faulty intelligence, and she hones in on the war in Iraq. The essay is her attempt to understand those who support death star.
Michele, since we now have an all-volunteer army, it’s ceased to be a melting pot of haves and have nots. We no longer require young people to serve a cause deemed greater than themselves—many never get a chance to be selfless. I’d like to see a requirement of two years of service at age 18 either in the armed services or a vetted governmental/nongovernmental program that aids the less fortunate (Habitat for Humanity, Peace Corps, public library spring to mind). The pay would be equal to that of the armed services.
I agree. We were three years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone which changed my view of this country and the world completely.
Compared to that, Biden's age-related difficulties under Trump's firehose of lies is barely a whiff of smoke.
We must reclaim our democracy...that's going to be the rallying cry I play in my head when the media tells me that the right is winning, or that 2025 is our future. We need to inspire and require that the Democrats, liberals, Independents, unaffiliated...they must join in a common cause to reject the fascism that is based in the greed of the super-wealthy wanting power and to protect their millions, using Trump as their puppet. Enough is enough! Bring on Dark Brandon; stand behind Biden; support the Dems who are finally taking action to deal with the threats to our very existence.
Hope everyone enjoys a safe and thoughtful Independence Day!
My best to you, your husband and dog on the Fourth, we must ensure this isn’t our last Independence Day as a truly free nation.
For your sake, and for your husband’s sake, I hope you don’t have the “before and after” rounds of illegal fireworks we have from July 2-6. My 🐈 is terrified of fireworks (and thunder) and I see how upset he is. I can only imagine how badly combat veterans are impacted.
Trauma may dim over time, but it often never leaves. Holding your husband in my heart.
Don't generalize. I am a combat vet and the fireworks entertain me. Everyone chooses their demons.
If I could edit my post I would.
**insert obligatory some, not all**
Yes, unfortunately some vets were more traumatized than others due to proximity and circumstances, and by their resulting suffering and ongoing disabilities. Many vets will not discuss their experiences, except with other vets so there are emotional and communication barriers in families from the fall out. I hope today that veterans will feel appreciated for their sacrifices and lifted up by the celebration of our freedoms they earned for us, even more precious today, is their reward in victory over tyranny in whatever arena they served.
A lovely 4th July message, Marlene. Warm spot in the chill.
Well said Marlene!!
The SCOTUS decision on Monday, July 1st was the day that the threat to our Constitution and democracy took a serious life-threatening hit. After all the sacrifice to free ourselves of an oppressive king and 2 and a half centuries of additional sacrifice to preserving our ambitious governmental system and we find ourselves on the verge of crowning the first king in American history - and a truly mad king at that! Like everyone who's reading this, I feel deeply heart-broken. But as I listen to the many frightened never-trumper patriots freaking out, it is the division among us that worries me the most in this moment. Much of the media is cashing in on the crisis with no concern for their role as the protectors of Democracy. President Biden had a very bad debate "performance." But on either side of that night, I see a compassionate, intelligent and wonderful man who has also a highly successful president. Many, including me, believe he is the greatest president in some 75 years, though certainly not perfect. At this time, my focus remains on reelecting Biden/Harris for another successful term. And do you realize that Mick Jagger will turn 81 in late July, on another world tour with the Rolling Stones. Please reconsider what too old is. Biden is sharp and has accomplishing so much more than almost any of us imagined he could. I urge everyone to watch the ProPublica interview from last year and any of his speeches since the debate, Then watch as much of any trump speech or debate you can stomach and tell me you're going to abandon the Biden/Harris ticket. Most importantly of course is to stop trump, maga, project 2025 and all the rest of their hellish agenda. And monitor the rotten media you ingest. Peace
Marlene, when did your husband serve in Vietnam? My father served 1963-64 and then again 1968-69 during the Tet offensive. Those were tough deployments. Communication was limited to letters. My parents also used small tapes so we could hear our dad’s voice. At the end of the tape, he would ask us to leave the room so he could talk to our mom privately on the other side of the tape. I have never been able to find those tapes.
Catherine, what a treasure those would be for you to find!
Years ago, we used our first video camera to attempt to tape the fireworks presentation of our village. The tape is grainy and not very overwhelming visually, but in the background you can hear the conversations and laughter of my family, many of whom are now gone.
Precious.
Photos and letter: remarkable evidence of history and lives. And now videos.
I borrowed this from another poster on the audio link of HCR’s letter but fits well with what you stated so beautifully. "The Greatest Generation fought in World War II and saved the world from fascism. Its aging children now have an opportunity to do the same. Froma Harrop”
All who appreciate freedom and a Democracy will join together once they understand that Trump and his allies are intent on taking it away.
It’s ironic that today, July 4th, Britain is voting to reinstate a more liberal government than their Conservative Party bungled for the past decade. They lost American colonies due to Mad King George III .We might lose America to Mad King Trump if our GOP, Scotus6 and the media have their way. Pay attention to Britain! Ignore the WP , NYT, and other pundits who slam our liberal Democracy . It’s about POLICY, not a person. Do the GOP policies serve all the people? Did they ever ? That’s laughable. Vote and hope it counts like it did in 2020. Honestly, I really don’t care how old Biden is. I care about our world surviving the likes of these madmen.
"In the majority’s view, while all other citizens of the United States must do their jobs and live their lives within the confines of criminal prohibitions, the President cannot be made to do so . . . even more troubling, while Congress (the branch of our Government most accountable to the People) is the entity our Constitution tasks with deciding, as a general matter, what conduct is on or off limits, the Court has now arrogated that power unto itself when that question pertains to the President . . . If the structural consequences of today’s . . . [decision] mark a step in the wrong direction, then the practical consequences are a five-alarm fire that threatens to consume democratic self-governance and the normal operations of our Government." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson 01jul24; Dissent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBiH5fsKJB8 ('Abraham, Martin, and John' . . . and Bobby, too)
"If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other." President Ulysses Grant 1875.
In addition, the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 leader has made threats to those of us who want to preserve our democracy by calling us "The Left" and telling us that if we allow them to take over with their fascist agenda then there need be no blood. See Law Prof. Joyce Vance's discussion of this today. https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/bloodless-if-the-left-allows-it-to?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
This is a fascist propaganda tactic. Our reward for remaining docile and compliant is a life of servitude to their values, but no blood will be shed. However it will, because it is written into their plans. He calls the Fascist takeover that he and others have planned with Trump at their helm a Revolution. We must respond with our own Project 2025 and a counter revolution. Let us hope that this can be managed with no blood, but thanks to SCOTUS and the NRA we are looking at a heavily armed White Supremacist trained militia and potential militants. Again, I want to understand where the US military stands in all of this. Will they support the office or the court if/when Biden wins and Trump does not accept it. Does anyone have any information on this?
Roberts has to conflate us with a very small left that has a big bark, but not much bite. The “Left” he complains about are a larger group of centrist and liberal Democrats and independents who are very concerned about where our country is headed, and want to fight back using peaceful means. Roberts’s side is the side that wants to perform a hostile takeover, and he and his fellow believers would be the ones pulling out their weapons, and blaming our existence for doing so.
He used his power to authorize hostile takeover by his crowd.
So true. I have a neighbor in the US who is staunch leftist. She told me the left has arms too, I told her not as many as the right. One reason for this is the Left has not made it their mission to send their people through the US military to get specialized training like the Right has. That has led to them stealing a lot of weapons from the military too. Contacts and insiders must be helping this. Read in Prof. Belew's book, the amount of millions of weapons stolen from one base in North Carolina I believe it was. The Left still eschews working with the government for the most part, whereas the Right made it their mission to infiltrate by toning down their rhetoric and saying the ends justifies the means. Roberts needs to be a name on everyone's tongue and not in a good way. My group is committed to learning about Project 2025, countering their plans with what Biden is offering, and disseminating this to as many people as we can. Most Americans apparently don't know about Project 2025.
I heard somewhere that only 12 % know about Project 2025,
WE MUST INFORM AMERICANS ABOUT PROJECT 2025.
https://youtu.be/QnjdKuQAuq8?si=e7IZ5l0Fx0uox_Vl
OBJECT to project 2025. I won’t give it the honor of capitalizing the first letter. Screw them!
I think we will prevail on November 5th but we best be prepared for the blow back. From a national security expert:
https://youtu.be/MM6JbcSsWAE?si=Tt6B5bSxxl6DlzMz
Thank you for the link. I agree. Have been discussing all repercussions of each outcome that I can think of. Still terrified that Biden will win and SCOTUS will hand it to Trump on some specious reason that they have probably all planned out and will be hatching out further at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee. So, I see that Americans need to be prepared for both violence, and violation of the constitution by SCOTUS. Kevin Roberts talks about the right having a second Revolution, well we need a counterrevolution to their revolution.
Thank you for the link. I have been wondering if/how minds greater than mine are planning to respond to the violence I truly believe will follow this year's election. I especially appreciate Kayyem's comments about transparency. It would give me great strength to know that someone, somewhere, is making preparations. Thank you again, Bill.
RE: Bill Alstrom link, for us who tend to not watch youtube, here is this summary: “Looking ahead to the 2024 election, some fear upheaval should Donald Trump lose again. National security expert Juliette Kayyem argues, "The government isn't ready for the violence Trump might unleash." She joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss what President Biden must do to plan for the worst.
Originally aired on April 11, 2024”
Also noted, Juliette Kayyem has an April 7 piece in The Atlantic magazine
“The Government Isn’t Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash:
The Biden administration should be preparing for the worst.”
Here . https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/biden-trump-january-6-preparedness/677995/
Yes, I join and echo Kerry and Linda in thanking you, Bill. 🤝
😰
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yilgr2SJ3xQ
😱
As I watched this link, I also came across this one, which spoke to me. One clarification I would ask of the prof. is whether the 50% increase, via polling, among Americans in possibly using violence to save the country also included those of us steeling ourselves to fight to save the republic against those who seek to destroy it. I bet it does. 🤔
At the present time, I'm sure the military is firmly on the side of protecting the nation, it's Constitution, and the laws which underpin them.
Back to Kevin Robert's and the Heritage Foundation. If you watched his pronouncement informing us of their ongoing civil war, or as he named it, the second American revolution, you may have noticed the banner behind him, advertising the Christian Nationalists.
Alito and Thomas are activist in promoting the takeover of democracy and the education system. It has been on their (the church) agenda since the first American Revolution. I'm sure they are involved in fulfilling Rushdooney's vision of taking over the Seven Moutains of governance. The GOP and Christian Nationalists Evangelicals identify it as the "deconstruction of the administrative state" and we identify it as the destruction of government of the people, by the people, for the people. I remind you that Steve Bannon announced it to a group of business leaders in April of 2017. Weeks after the inauguration, promising them full benefits if they could support the administration. They were so happy to oblige.
I'm not about attacking anyone's religion. The Christian Nationalists Evangelicals are not religiously driven. Their aim is power, influence, and control of the masses. It is a matter of historical fact that authoritarians and religious leaders always find themselves in agreement to oppress society. Religious leaders love to stand in the shadow of tyrants.
I think it was Henry VIII who ran the papist out of England and immediately created the Anglican Church. Same Christ, religious trappings, selling the same mythological entity to the people. The Crown on one side, the church on the other and both stripping the people of the fruits of their labor, hopes, and dignity.
A different time and place, yet here we are again.
"It is certain in any case, that ignorance allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy of justice. "
James Baldwin
What about all us poor, dumb Christians ( you know, like Biden) who pray, work, and vote for Biden's victory? And whose liberalism is informed by our faith? While we're at it, let's not forget that Biden and Alito are of the same Church. As am I.
Are you a member of Opus Dei? I do not believe Biden is. That is the branch of the Catholic church that the Federalist Society is connected to.
I am Catholic, and OD is a cancer on the church. My objections have nothing to do with the DaVinci Code, poorly written fiction based on a hoax, and rather more how to do with how they actually engage in power seeking and the manipulative treatment of their numeraries. They are a cult who got official approval and canonization of Josemaria Escriva because they bailed out the Vatican in the early 1980s. Josemaria Escriva was the Boss from Hell who treated his subordinates like crap. He wasn’t sexually abusive, he was more like an abusive executive who would constantly ridicule, put down, undercut and verbally abuse his subordinates. They engage in “love bombing” to get people to join.
Yes. I agree on the DaVinci Code. I was in grad school with a guy from Spain whom a classmate that was Catholic and used to give me rides told me was a member of Opus Dei. I got to hear his viewpoints on contraception, as it came up in class, and he felt it was wrong. I see that as one of the many things SCOTUS will get rid of. Though I checked how many children the members have and it seems to me they are using some form of birth control or they would have more kids. Hypocrites to the nth degree.
Where does the military stand if SCOTUS commits treason? There is no mechanism to handle them handing the election to Trump if he does not win it.
Baldwin’s quote is one of my favorites
Very well thought and said, thank you.
¡Hear, here!
P.S., please pardon my rudeness for not answering your electronic with the information about Liz Cheney. 🫣 I get swamped with e-mails these days and am becoming forgetful. 😳 Aside from having a thousand excuses and a hundred explanations but not one good reason (🤭),please know, that, even at this late date, I appreciate your taking time out for me. 🤝⚖️🙏
I'm not so sure about the military. I'm certain dumoty and his minions will target taking that over first thing, and installing a trumpanzee. Those of lower rank will also be replaced.
And the line officers? They'll do as they're told. Remember the Seal team 4 scandal, as I recall.
Well said.
Yeah, I read that essay, too, Linda. I do not subscribe, so, fortunately for the good counsel Vance, I can not comment. My reaxion was: hey, they can not kill all of us.
Today's column is free. https://joycevance.substack.com/p/five-questions-with-congressman-jared
There is a group in Congress formed to counter the Project 2025 agenda.
https://huffman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressional-leaders-form-task-force-to-counter-project-2025-and-defend-democracy
“ We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late,” said Rep. Huffman. “Through this Task Force, leaders across the ideological spectrum and experts in every policy area that’s under attack are uniting to protect democracy as we know it. Donald Trump and those behind Project 2025 are ready to turn America into a theocratic regime if they get the chance – and we are going to be ready to stop them.”
Members of the Task Force represent the diversity of the Democratic Caucus and are leaders on many of the issues currently under attack by Project 2025. Founding members joining Rep. Huffman are Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (CA-36), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (CA-28), Equality Caucus and Labor Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chair Diana DeGette (CO-01), Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and Ranking Member of Oversight Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07).
In Joyce Vance’s substack, there is a subscriber-only content where she interviewed Huffman.
“ Congressman Huffman: Please follow the work of our Task Force, and our individual members, on social media, and keep supporting trusted sources of information like Joyce Vance. The groups our Task Force is working with also deserve support, and many of them are putting out outstanding summaries and analyses on Project 2025 which you can find on their websites:
Center for American Progress
Accountable.US
Media Matters
More frightening is what will happen if Trump wins again. Will the military refuse to follow an unlawful order?
Ah.. but will t be unlawful.
General Mark Hertling (Ret.) posed a most challenging "rhetorical" question: ¿what happens of the Commander-in-Chief gives an illegal order as an 'official' act?
Grant was prescient.
Yes! The stupidity defies understanding.
No, he was President, Linda. 😉
Bad, Neddy, very bad. 🤭
🤣🤣🤣
That song brought tears this morning, and spurred a search for more details on exactly where MLK had worked in tobacco fields (the next town over from the tobacco fields I worked 16 years later). Simsbury CT like Granby and Suffield, where my brother and I worked in 1960-61, are in Hartford County. The way he was treated well in the Hartford area (where the Wide Awakes started a major boost to Lincoln's win in 1860), inspired him to become a preacher and become a non-violent Civil Rights leader), as I read the article at https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-was-inspired-by-time-in-connecticut/1885278/
"...In a letter to his mother three days after he wrote his father, King marveled over a trip he took to Hartford.
"I never thought that a person of my race could eat anywhere but we ate in one of the finest restaurants in Hartford," King wrote. "And we went to the largest shows there."
He wrote a week earlier of going to the same church in Simsbury as white people. His new calling as a religious leader was emerging, too.
"I have to speak on some text every Sunday to 107 boys. We really have good meetings," he wrote.
William Duschaneck, an 88-year-old Simsbury resident interviewed by the students, said he played baseball with King in town. King was a strong pitcher, though the future preacher of nonviolence never drilled a batter, he said.
"He was a good ballplayer. He beat us a couple times," Duschaneck said, laughing. "It was interesting to hear him talk. He had a nice voice. He talked about God and so forth."
King described the work on the tobacco farm as easy.
"I have a job in the kitchen so I get better food than any of the boys and more. I get as much as I want," he wrote to his mother.
In a speech in Hartford in 1959, King recalled how hot it was working on the tobacco field and how he looked forward to relaxing on weekends in Hartford.
Byer said King and other students often worked in temperatures that reached 100 degrees or higher. The students, who were earning money to pay for college, made about $4 per day, Byer said. They lived in a dormitory built at the edge of the tobacco field.
King was nicknamed "Tweed" by his friends because he often wore a tweed suit to church, said Alexis Kellam, whose late father, Ennis Proctor, worked with King that summer in Connecticut.
King's friends teased him that the hot sun in the tobacco fields caused him to preach, his sister, Christine Farris, said.
In her book "Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith," Ferris wrote that her brother underwent a "metamorphosis" as a result of his time in Connecticut..."
My only disagreement with his words were that he thought it was easy working in those fields, at least for me and my brother. It made us far stronger but it was never easy to us.
Wow. I was born in Hartford and currently live here too. My very first attempt at employment was in one of those Windsor tobacco fields. I was about 12 years old and too young to work. So I took my birth certificate and scratched out the year and typed in an earlier year. I lasted all of 3 hours in the tobacco field when I was called into the office and shown my forged birth certificate. But they did pay me for thhose 3 short hours.
I wonder which restaurant King ate at. There was a well known fish restaurant downtown, right, Honiss Oyster Bar. The place to go I’ll bet he ate there among other places.
Another article only mentioned the Bushnell (assuming the show he mentioned), and a brown-bag lunch when he spoke at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church. See https://www.hartfordhistory.net/blog/2019/01/21/mlk-and-hartford/
WOWerful story, there, Jim. Thank you so very much for taking the time to write it down, making it a quiet legacy for those of us lucky enough to read it. I attended that old-line Yankee Congregational church in Simsbury. What an amazing group its members were fifteen years ago . . . and are. Thank you for blessing us.
20 years after MLK, (who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize), worked the fields in Simsbury, Hartford County delivered the Commencement Speech at Springfield College Massachusetts, just 20 miles north east of Simsbury. Dr. Glen A. Olds of the College at the time is one of the lasting inspirations for me because of what he did on July 14, 1964.
See https://www.masslive.com/history/2015/01/martin_luther_king_jr_defies_threats_and_prejudice_to_deliver_springfield_college_commencement_speec.html
“…The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Springfield on July 14, 1964 under heavy police guard to deliver the 78th annual commencement at Springfield College. Scores of telephone threats against the civil rights leader had been received at the college and the FBI attempted to dissuade college President Glenn Olds to retract his invitation to Dr. King.
Olds and Springfield College offered the civil rights leader an honorary doctorate, the first school to do so. But it was not without incident. In an effort to get Springfield to rescind the invitation, the FBI called Olds. A scratchy audiotape - allegedly of King - filled with vulgarity was played over Glenn’s phone. A vague threat made that it was foolish for Springfield College “A YMCA-type school” to honor such a man.
Former Springfield College President Glenn Olds
“In my America, the accused gets to meet his accuser,” Glenn Olds told the man on the other end of the phone. “Are you ready to step out in the white light of day and say what you’ve just told me?” The next thing Glenn Olds heard on the other end of the line was a dial tone.
Years later, when tapes and documents were released of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s campaign against Dr. King, the FBI involvement was confirmed.
On the day of the commencement and King’s speech, Olds was summoned to meet a school benefactor. At the graduation, it was going to be announced that the man was going to leave a million dollars - the largest donation during Olds’ presidency - earmarked for Springfield College in his will.
“I could see his face was twisted in anger,” Glenn recalled. “He was livid. He tore up his will in my presence. He didn’t want Martin Luther King speaking at Springfield College.” But the civil rights leader did. And Glenn Olds always considered it Springfield College’s finest moment.
Free on $900 bail from a St. Augustine, Fla., jail for refusing to leave a segregated restaurant, Dr. King reaffirmed his commitment to non-violent protest in his Springfield speech before more than 3,200 listeners.
"Violence often wins temporary victories, but in the end it creates more problems than it solves," he told the crowd…”
In the 1920’s in a small town in southern Ohio, my grandfather put a stop to the KKK who wanted to speak at the local high school. According to my mother, he told them they could speak, but only if they showed their faces. That stopped them. My grandfather was a self made attorney and by all accounts a wise and generous soul. That story warms my heart.
Conversely, around 1966/68, when the street troubles were in full bloom, my father was heard to say, “It’s not the ones born here in Hartford that’s causing all the trouble. (He had his once Black friend Art, the bus driver, that he was proud to invite over the house for lunch but not dinner.) It’s the ones comin’ up from the south.” A walking contradiction.
I was severely criticized in an abnormal psychology class when I suggested it would at best take a generation to get some people to accept that "others" were worthy of building bridges to instead of erecting barriers.
Yes, but you see, the population makeup is not static. New generations arrive. New thoughts some good, some bad, are passed around. Much of what has happened in previous generations is forgotten. The old generations die.
Astute observation. A colleague of mine once pointed out that Moses marched the faithful through the desert for forty years because it would take two generations to change a culture.
I remember folks saying that the upcoming generations will be sure to be "colour-blind".
I see the glass as half-full. My father had many of the same contradictions, as do I. No matter how cosmetic your father's friendship may have been, he was still a good man, on balance, to pursue it.
A new bit of info on DR. Glen A. Olds that I hadn’t heard before (helping getting him released from jail), is at
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15370coll2/id/7849
“…In 1964, Springfield College shared a moment in history often overlooked by historians with honorary degree recipient and commencement speaker Martin Luther King Jr.Despite significant pressure from prominent shareholders and benefactors of the College, college President Glenn A. Olds, a minister and conscientious objector during World War II, refused to waver from his decision to make Martin Luther King Commencement speaker for the 1964 Graduation ceremonies. When King was arrested the day before, Olds contacted law enforcement officials, telling them that if they continued to hold King, school officials would fly down to tape the commencement address, leaving St. Augustine to deal with the attendant publicity. Whether or not his intervention played a role, King was released on a nine hundred dollar bond Saturday afternoon. Met at the airport by Springfield College Economics Professor Robert Randolph, later the first black president of the Massachusetts State College System at Westfield State, King toured the campus, gave a press conference, and shared a brief luncheon with faculty and administration. On the day of commencement, Black Muslim protestors who felt King was too conciliatory and bomb-sniffing dogs greeted the graduating class. Springfield College alumnus Joe Brown (class of 2014) transcribed the speech and made the corrections…”
Thank you for the Grant quote. I only began to appreciate him as other than a general seeing a History Channel documentary. The quotation enhances what I gained from that.
Thank you, Ma'am, for a gracious response. 🙏🗽✌️
EDIT: President / General Grant is one of the few heroes whom I have come to cherish in my adult years.
Thank you Heather for your powerful reminder of who we are and how others have sacrificed to get to this day. The torch has now been past to us. And Lincoln's words in 1862 are as true today as they were then. "Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We … will be remembered in spite of ourselves. … The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation."
If only the Mitch McConnells, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomases thought about how history will remember them! But A) they believe they will be remembered as heroes and B) they don’t really give a happy hoot as long as their side wins. Let’s face it; this is the shadow side of America (in the Jungian sense), that has also always been a part of our story. Maybe it’s simply the story of mankind-this tension between our natures. Either way, we are, indeed, called to confront it again. I hope we are up to the task.
Good get on the 'shadow' side being projected onto an exhausted populace, Sandra.
To quote Liz Cheney, the Seditious Six are running the risk that the “dishonor will remain” with them and the other politicians who are enabling the hostile takeover of our nation. No one voted the billionaires, the “Christian” Nationalists, the Heritage Foundation or the Federalist Society into office to destroy our country, but it’s actually happening and broadcast and print media outlets are doing nothing to call out this travesty.
I just cancelled my subscription to The NY Times. Their uneven coverage of Joe Biden and Donald Trump was beyond what I could take.
I will miss Paul Krugman and Maggie Haberman and a few others, I can't believe they never mentioned that Joe Biden actually won the debate by 1) answering the questions asked (most of the time) and by getting stronger as the debate went on. And convicted felon Donald Trump never answered a single question asked of him and lied incessantly. I rate Biden's performance and delivery "D" and Trump's performance and delivery an "F".
And Jake Tapper's and Dana Bash's performance a "D" and CNN's overall performance of fact checking etc. a "D-".
Fortunately, polling shows that not many minds were changed by the debate, but the media didn't get the memo.
HCR realizes the real news are the SCOTUS decisions on Presidential immunity and the repeal of the Chevron decision.
Thank you, Gary. Heather has called it from the get-go, as is self evident such unbiased truths can not be found in ‘the tabloids’ -theirs along with the monopolized stream was failing factual content by gears of greed.
What is allowed is one side gets away with it while the other side is blamed. It is so ridiculous the comics grabbed it immediately and their audience grew too. The saddest of 🎭. The audience is all of us and what transpires on 11/5 will tell the rest of the story.
History has already documented the wool pulled over many an eye and the tragedy that followed.
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
I was appalled at Bash and Tapper failing to call out Trump’s Gish gallop of lies and misinformation. I still read the Times, but am disappointed at the coverage online. I should note the Sunday print paper does cover things not included on the Internet version. Since I don’t read as many news sources online, I will have to cut back on subscriptions for materials I do not read much anymore.
I am also cancelling the Washington Post today. It's my Independence Day from the national print media.
Obviously $$$$ is more important to them than balanced journalism.
They are already trying to bribe me into taking continuing my subscription like Spectrum did when I tried to cancel cable. Spectrum just wants the numbers and gave me really crappy streaming channels for a year and are paying me $10 a month not to cancel.
Kind of like what Trump does at his rallies.
Too many broadcast and print media outlets are owned by those who fund the federalist society and the heritage foundation, thanks to the anti-regulation laws passed over the decades since Ronnie occupied the WH.
Unfortunately, it’s true, and the FCC fairness doctrine only applied to broadcast rather than streaming and cable media. Cable viewership was increasing during the 1980s, and streaming media did not become available until the 2000s. Permitting cross ownership of broadcast and print media outlets was a recipe for increased monopolies. We need to return to enforcing our antimonopoly laws.
👏
The 3 mentioned and their ilk, do not want a democracy! In their world all people are not created equal! In their world absolute power is the goal!
How history will remember us? We have a responsibility to defend our Constitution. Are we?
We do, and we must save our Constitution and ourselves, as no one else will do so.
Some apt thoughts, Sandra. Contrasting ideals reflect more than party affiliations. Human equality / inequality aspirations have champions across the board.
Dr. Richardson is beside herself with grief and indignation over the SCOTUS immunity ruling released on Monday. Here is an interview from PBS.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/historian-discusses-supreme-courts-immunity-decision-and-shift-in-presidential-powers
Thank you for this. I missed it since I haven’t been watching the news. There is also an interview with Christiann Amanpour on YouTube right now. I don’t have the link but it’s very recent and should be easy to find
Great quote! Reverberates for today.
Thank you, Heather. Every evening I/we who read your letters find encouragement in your words, profound knowledge of our complex history and your honest perspective. Thank you!
This Kevin Robert’s interview on Steve Bannon’s podcast (minus bannon who is in federal prison) gives a chilling reminder to Heather’s piece today. https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1808507354310209711. He calls for no less than a new revolution. And promises it will be “Bloodless if the Left allows it to be”. Hear that? He’s promising violence against Americans who reject Project 2025 and it’s Christian-in-name-only, fascist, patriarchal wet dream ideas. Of course $Cotus Chief Justice Roberts will call me “fear-mongering” for suggesting this is really dangerous shit-talk from a conservative.
Indeed. We the People.
"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
How to get these notions to be part of the Constitution? Maybe as notes for the Supreme Joke, so as to spell things out.
July 4, 1776 – July 1, 2024
America democracy – as best as we could keep it – lasted just shy 248 years.
It died the day the Clarence court criminalized the White House – that is, when it immunized presidential corruption as much as Clarence and his cohort had long immunized themselves and their billionaire sugar daddies.
Heather’s “How the South Won the Civil War” showed how an enslaving faux-aristocracy tried all those years to kill U.S. government protecting the people’s health, safety, transportation, finance, and environment. The enslaving class held itself above the law – held law as meaningless as the Constitution to which they perjured themselves.
Now it’s over. Criminality immunized. Democracy legally dead.
Only when those elected lose their moral compass. So we must vote for those who have demonstrated compassion and willingness to act lawfully.
While we can.
Sadly, yes.
We are in serious trouble. We get to vote one more time, and it has to be for the Dem against Trump. Biden if he continues to run.
After that, if successful, we have four more years to guard against a fascist takeover. And action must be taken! Including AOC bringing impeachment proceedings against these 6 "conservative" justices who want to make the president King.
As far as I can tell, the judicial system has been infiltrated by the Federalist Society which wants to establish the theory of the Unitary Executive, as well as the the usual originalism bullshit.
I've no idea what we do if Trump wins! Let's hope that doesn't occur, but we have to plan for it!
And, Matt, this also applies to local, state and federal elections….right now POTUS being most crucial, but there has been decades long movement to influence/control all levels of governance (and let’s not forget “civic” orgs such as ALEC & lobbyists too). If “they” were in the majority I might have to accept that, but they are not & are pushing for minority rule.
The states aren’t becoming laboratories of democracy, but laboratories of authoritarianism and dirty pool.
It depends on the state; and the public's tolerance for perfidy.
It is relatively easy to be complacent regarding local elections here in Minnesota. Yes many localities are simply controlled by MAGA voters. If the Dems lose, with the recent Supreme Court ruling that the president is King, then we are in a world of hurt regarding protecting democracy in the US. It will immediately cease to exist at the federal level, but yes there will be hold outs in blue states.
Matt, I am fortunate to live in a mostly blue rural area of a predominantly blue state (CA) and am doubly fortunate that family (including extended family) and friends are mostly center-to-center-left politically, so no awkward holiday gatherings! Still, when it comes time to vote, I carefully research candidates (even my little town of 1200 people & large, but low population, county)& then make my choices.
Your governor's clear and visual support for Biden yesterday was significant.
Don't you think, even if Biden wins resoundingly, the supremes will flip the win over to tfg? Frighteningly so, I do.
I keep wondering what would happen to me if I denied a subpoena like gym jordan and others did and do.
We are definitely mid-crisis.
American democracy will die only to the extent we let it die. I'm not ready to do that Phil. And I hope you're not either. We need you Phil. Love and blessings.
It is not so simple. The Supreme Court has put in place everything needed to *make* US democracy die. If only Trump is elected.
I feel downcast, too, Phil. But as Stan points out, implicitly, as long as we breathe life into our republic, the tough old bird will live on. Sue and Stan, from Justice Brown Jackson's dissent.
"As we enter this uncharted territory, the People, in their wisdom, will need to remain ever attentive, consistently fulfilling their established role in our constitutional democracy, and thus collectively serving as the ultimate safeguard against any chaos spawned by this Court’s decision. For, like our democracy, our Constitution is 'the creature of their will, and lives only by their will.'”
This^
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
Great comment, J.L.
I think that Lincoln nailed it there, as King George found out, and that it cuts both ways. A "vast rightwing conspiracy" has been systematically building a cult, by which I mean a self-reinforcing delusional ideology. It's not like we have never seen how that could happen before, and it's not that we had no warnings, from Orwell to Arendt. We the people should never have let the bar fall this low. The court of public opinion is at least as powerful as courts of law.
Bush v Gore was the first clue . Then Citizens United and the rest. As Heather says, she can only predict the past, not the future. Things that look so obvious in hindsight aren’t always so in the moment, unfortunately.
To me the first clue was Reagan smearing "Government" (of by and for the people?) and extolling leadership by the wealthy in it's place. Reagan was one of the most popular president, and yet his program was so discordant with "our better angels".
Reagan tried to destroy all that was good about America, all the while putting on a show of leadership. He “looked the part” but was Dorian Gray on the inside.
As my dad has said, he was a better actor than president. Reagan was also showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease during his second campaign and in his second term of office. Both Lesley Stahl and Helen Caldecott noticed it.
He was a way better actor than I gave him credit for. He read Peggy Noonan’s scripts like a pro. Probably egged on by Nancy. I think she was a bigger influence than people knew. My husband had diagnosable Alz for 15 years, but there was one incident 13 years before that was so out of character, I wondered. As to Reagan, I was so appalled by the Iran/Contra mess, I felt he should have been held accountable. Or some of his handlers should have.
And the dodgy hostage deal. A survey taken of more than 3 million people taken a year after Reagan died named him the "greatest American" who ever lived. Even now, i encounter liberal individuals and writers who cite Reagan as "the last decent Republican president. Rubbish. Reagan's disdain for publicly controlled and serving and his canonization of the wealthiest laid the foundation of Trump and imperial $COTUS. Compared to Lincoln or even Ike, Reagan had the televised appeal of a game show host. It's another topic, but we are fools to allow commercial media to shape our society to the extent that we do. Our passivity in that respect is inimical to "government of the people, by the people, for the people". We can't just select from someone else's menu and be confident we will get what we want or need, especially in an environment of unmediated plutocracy.
I agree.
Reagan had a lot to do with shaping much of what is happening now, he sowed a lot of the seeds. And OMG those Block Grants! I believe they led to the homelessness we see now.
It was also the Reagan Admin. cutting funding for half-way houses for people being main-streamed by the Carter Admin. That is what I have heard.
EDIT: looks like it was a combination of factors related to funding cuts for the cities and poor.
https://shelterforce.org/2004/05/01/reagans-legacy-homelessness-in-america/
The ultimate outcome was to put a lot of them in jail. We lead the whole damn world in incarcerations. Is that any cheaper? It's certainly not humane.
Soup kitchens et al first showed up in Canada in the late 80s. Around this time mental institutions were being cleared based on "human rights" considerations, resulting in a scattered, underfunded situation with some mentally ill ending up as homeless. Things haven't changed much in the meantime.
In the US, it started with Reagan’s term as Governor of California in the late 1960s.
I imagine it resulted from reduction of financial support for lower income groups? Anything to change that under Dems?
there are more mentally ill, homeless. That has changed
Indeed, he and all repubs are on board for cutting whatever and whenever they can for others and only tax cuts for themselves
"Small government" was always BS. BIG government help for bankrupt bankers, but "austerity" for those on the edge. SWAT teams to serve eviction notices, but kid gloves for rich monsters like Jeffery Epstiein. It was always about one side subjugating the other; more privilege for the privileged And they're willing to pay (off) to get it.
Grover Norquist likes small government as long as it gets it's priorities straight. Them first, the dregs for the rest of us.
Yes, he infamously said, "the Government IS the problem"... having the self-interested industries "self-regulate" sounds a bit like the current Roberts led SC doesn't it.
That worked so well in the (Gilded) age of monopolies and "robber barons".
a wealth aristocracy was out and out. Hardly the first time, if you check your history. Gibbon's Rise and Fall is helpful
In retrospect, the biggest mistake Ford made was to pardon Richard Nixon. Putting Nixon on trial might have dissuaded any Republican efforts to place themselves above the law.
I believed that was a dangerous mistake at the time, but did not realize how bad it might get. Many people have praised Ford for smoothing over a great controversy, but it was at the cost of declaring the president above the reach of rule of law. Note that Ford felt obliged the use the power of pardon though. According to $COTUS, he need not have done so. The King can do no wrong.
That was when my heart sank and my anxiety rose.
Heather commented today (7/03/2024) that over the past week, SCOTUS and the Republicans have pulled off a legal coup, so we have 5 months to save democracy.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/03/tv/video/amanpour-heather-cox-richardson
As Timothy Snyder advises in regard to tyranny: Do not obey in advance. We have identified the problem; the next step is to implement the solution. We The People have no time to lose.
So channel distress into productive action: donations to Biden/Harris and/or work through progressive organizations to register voters, educate them on the ballot, and Get Out The Vote! Reply if you want links.
🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸
Well said! This isn’t a battle of anything other than Democracy versus Authoritarianism.
Lincoln said that was an "eternal struggle". How much of humanity's avoidable suffering arises from that? And it could kill us all. For what?
The same as always I suppose. Money and power
Thanks for that CNN link. Heather is unequivocal about the media's over emphasis on Biden's performance, and inadequate emphasis on the real danger facing America. Even an age compromised president can function well with a strong leadership team behind him, compared to what Trump will bring. On the side, Amanpour is definitely worth taking in, generally.
Thank you for the link, Ellie.
Links, please
1. Write postcards to encourage people to register to vote and to vote (take your pick):
https://postcardstovoters.org
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
https://postcards.markersfordemocracy.org/
2. Support other grassroots efforts to register voters, help voters get required ID, educate voters on their address's ballot, and Get Out The Vote, such as:
https://www.lwv.org/
https://www.voteriders.org/
https://bluevoterguide.org/
https://indivisible.org/
3. See Jessica Craven's "Chop Wood, Carry Water" for easy-to-follow actions (Monday-Friday and weekend edition of good news:)
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/chop-wood-carry-water-71-194
4. Donate to Biden/Harris campaign:
https://joebiden.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
5. Donate to progressive state legislature candidates in critically flippable/keepable states (AZ, KS, MI, MN, NV, NH, NC, PA, WI), as through The States Project's HCR inspired Giving Circle:
https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/1XQhnyD/-
6. Donate to Marc Elias' law firm which routinely challenges the right wing Christo-fascist laws as they spring up.
https://www.elias.law/team/marc-elias
As Robert Hubbell says, "We have no time to be complacent, but every reason to be hopeful!"
As Jessica Craven says, "Hope is an action verb!"
As Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together!"
Thank you Ellie for sharing that "5 months to save democracy" CNN interview link. Heather is such a clear thinker and great analyst. I do think in this instance she is missing a couple of perspectives though. Of course Trump was by far the more dangerous candidate on that stage; academically speaking. The problem is, if Biden is a weak candidate as a campaigner and communicator and is likely to hand the election to Trump, then he becomes complicit in bringing about that terrible outcome.
Secondly, optics matter, not all voters are as clear in their thinking as HCR, and nearly all of them are younger than President Biden. I can't help but wish for a candidate with JFK-like charisma and energy to galvanize the electorate. Turn-out is not going to be in our favor without that, in my opinion.
If wishes were......
I know. But I'm talking about relatively speaking. Someone halfway between JFK and JoeB on the energy scale.
Phil is not being downcast. He is being realistic. All we have left is our vote. Democracy is dead if Trump gets in. Period.
And if TFG gets in, there may never be another election. The center will not hold and democracy in the US will be a memory.
Vote in November like it’s your last opportunity, because it very well may be.
Actually, no, Tee.
Republicans aborted democracy because they needed legally to enshrine, immunize their own corruption and criminality. So what's the competition now of that status quo of ringing doorbells, sending postcards, putting out lawn signs, joining phone banks, donating money?
Dem status quo now is charming, antique, but totally manhandled by this race of Republicans who play by entirely different rules -- the rules of now-officially legal corruption and criminality. Remember, Tee: on that Clarence court those Republicans lie about the most serious things. They perjure themselves about the most important things.
They in their corruption and criminality are not playing by democracy's old rules.
The current Dem status quo doesn't even attempt to answer the lies and from-on-high embrace of corruption and criminality.
There is an alternative -- and it is not "All we have left is our vote." It is personal. It is Dems who speak personally of fellow Dems, of fellow citizens, as if we're living in an invasion of the body snatchers, and we most urgently need to restore the human, the individual, the personal, as in both people around us (personally, by name) and characters in our humanities (by name reference to them).
Dems could have this human truth on their side -- if they roused themselves to the skills needed aptly to connect the personal to our larger public issues.
If Dems just keep to the Simon Rosenberg status quo, they're just going to be standing like Biden, mouth agape, frozen, discombobulated by the firehose of lies and criminality which the Clarence court has declared our highest, our only legality from July 1, 2024 on.
I agree with you, but it’s not a “no.” All we have left is the vote in our next election. There is no real argument against that fact. But as long as people keep invoking genocide Joe and sleepy Joe (young people, gen z, among others) their vote will be thrown to the other side. It has to be a realistic vote, of course, one that sees fascism as a real possibility.
I am voting for Biden as he is our last, best hope.
Again, Tee? "All we have left is the vote in our next election"?
Dems need drastically to change. Republicans have found success in lying, embrace of criminality, campaigns of hysteric hatreds, corruption.
Yes, Americans can vote. But for what? Right now Dems offer campaigns not in any human truth, but in wonk slogans for money-raising, wonk cliche in printed instructions for phone bank volunteers, wonk buzz words in lawn signs and merchandizing, wonk platitudes in doorbell ringing conversations, wonk post card PowerPoints.
Dems are dead. Republicans are alive in passionate corruption, criminality legalized, cynicism, and the worst corralled hatreds in American history.
Dems need to answer the massive lying with individual human truths. Where did Dems learn that the answer to lying is only more wonk?
Yes, I know. The schools are dehumanized. So expect nonsense. Pabulum. Slogans. Stats. Numbers. All the idiocy that froze Biden in his "debate."
Human truth, Tee. Not just voting and all the other. Cite really apt humanities and start learning how to make them apt. (Eff all the schools that abandoned the human long ago, for the careerist, for the wonk, for the group identity self-congratulatory).
Cite other Dems at various levels around the country. Cite them as human beings facing extinction due to lying, corruption, and highest-court-authorized criminality.
This is not the time to philosophize. This is the time to vote. I don’t know why you’re missing my point. I agree with much of what you go on about, as I said, but the bottom line is that we need to vote for Biden. Otherwise we’re lost. In the words of Bruno Mars: “Don’t believe me? Just watch.“ I’m suppressing this stream because you just don’t get it.
Apart from everything else involving election rigging etc, you have nailed it about the SC. Lie after lie about the "rule of law" "no one is above the law" by Federalist candidates who have been revealing their true stripes.
My small hopes:
* Reelect Biden if he continues to run, or his Democratic replacement if that ends up being the case
* The Biden administration should take actions *now* to protect democracy.
** Proposing legislation regarding election integrity, including that the presidential election should be determined only by democratic elections held within each state.
** Making it treason to come up with false electors!
** Proposing legislation to reinstate the Voting Rights Act, brainstorming required here
* Coming up with a plan for what to do if Trump wins!
I agree that the particular historical iteration of US democracy that we have grown up with just died with that Clarence Court judgement. The timing of it coming between the televised CNN Trump v Biden debate and Independence Day imbuing it with a mythic cruelty for Enlightenment rule of law democrats perpetrated by the anti democratic MAGA and the Heritage Foundation. However, the American Experiment will ever remain a work in progress. It’s entire foundation is rooted in the idea that societies are created and recreated. Man made not divinely pre ordained. That democracy and rule of law are continual processes not final solutions. The fight for freedom from abuse, oppression and injustice is one of perpetual reoccurrence. It is now important to begin analysing why this happened. What part of the social enactment of the Constitution is sitting on rotting footings. Then replace them.
Still a pulse
It’s not the Clarence court, it’s the Robert’s court. He approved of and let the criminalization happen. He’s not mister nice guy.
AGREED...THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I SEE IT AS WELL.
“America was founded on the radical idea that all men are created equal.‘ …that in our ‘equality’ we honor each man (eventually each woman and each person of any and all ethnicity) that the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness are for ALL of us….it WAS a “work in progress at our Founding and God knows it IS TODAY …..we have a lot to ‘fix’.
“The Confederate rebellion failed.” Militarily, yes; doctrinally, not so much. The Supreme Court has been its great ally.
The rebellion was kept alive by political expediency. Power-mad 'Republicans" reanimated it to divide and conquer.
Good Evening to All!
Long ago, the late, great Gore Vidal wrote a book of essays with the delectable title, "Homage to Daniel Shays"
Therein, he discussed the contrast between the first inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson in 1801, and the second in 1805.
In the first, the well discussed principles of yeoman farmers, small government, etc., were proclaimed. In the second, as a result of a certain Corsican warmonger's financial reach exceeding his martial grasp, ambition's destiny was discussed more than republican principles.
I would wager that the self-evident truths the Sage of Monticello so perfectly distilled from the magical mix of his potent intellect and the long simmering discoveries of the Enlightenment, would most likely never have seen the light of day if the Country upon which he affixed such lofty sentiments was a continent wide behemoth, as opposed to a cluster of colonies clinging to the Atlantic shore.
Indeed, how does one reconcile the dreams of Pericles with those of Caesar?!
It was within this paradox that the perpetuation of the "peculiar institution" of slavery proceeded apace, while simultaneously the Republic moved westward. Lewis and Clark would have never made it to the "Great Water" of the Pacific were it not for the incomparable courage and devotion of a young Shoshone woman we know as Sacajawea. Yet it was a mere three score later that Phil Sheridan was reputed to speak an epithet already well practiced, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian".
As Americans our story has always been a narrative of our best principles stubbornly outliving our worst moments, even as the latter seem to multiply.
I certainly hope we keep the streak going, even as those unalienable rights seem to be on the auction block for the highest, or perhaps the Leo-ist bidder.
Happy Fourth all around!
As Tom Paine once said, "These are the times that try men's souls."
Here we are. Again. Still.
Amen.
Seems in addition to non-white men and all women the forefathers forgot quite a bit to clarify in that declaration.
For a first try it was pretty good, but you're right. We're still learning and there's plentty of room for improvement.
Wonderful. And encouraging. Thank you! I just posted a link to your July 2 piece in my post, Independence: Freedom from Oppression. We have a lot of work to do in the coming months in order to pull our country back together. I'd like to get a petition going to Senators to do away with the fillibuster, so we/they can get things passed. We need Biden to put at least four more Justices on the bench (since FDR wanted 15, the least we should have now is 13!) But we have to ask for these things, write for them, and demand them in order to get them done. It's so much more than voting, but of course getting the vote out is essential, too. I hope everyone has a good celebration of freedom tomorrow. Then let's get back to work!
We need 13, one for each of the 12 circuits and the DC circuit. The majority of the court, excluding justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Brown-Jackson has earned my contempt and are doing their utmost to put the interests of the few above those of the common good.
Thank you for this reminder, Dr. Heather! And HAPPY 4th OF JULY, EVERYONE!
Let us never forget that by declaring that it was *self-evident* that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, they shocked the entire world.
That shock hasn't abated. For the last 248 years there has never been a day that some group of people hasn't resisted that great idea. We who believe in those principles need to accept as reality that our own Revolution didn't end with the war against King George. In one fashion or another it's continued to this day. We must never stop.
It must be an 'amazing' time for a historian
I'm not sure about that. Historians look back, assess the present in the light of history, but cannot, like all of us, predict the future. What we can all do, however, is dedicate ourselves to keeping our democracy.
I've just finished reading In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, about the courage of the Mirabal sisters, their husbands, and their compañeros who faced incarceration and death during the years of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Fiction can make us feel the reality of history. I have never lived under a dictator, never had soldiers walking the streets of my city with guns, never had to watch what I said or wrote, never had to face prison. But reading about these remarkable women and the others who shared their cause has made the perils of Project 2025 and the possible reign of King Donald I suddenly more vivid and terrifying.
Rafael Trujillo’s murders of the Mirabal sisters proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back that doomed his regime. They were murdered by Trujillo’s henchmen who were waiting for them after they came back from visiting their husbands, who were among Trujillo’s political prisoners. The only sister left was their sister Dedé. Appropriately enough, the sisters’ family home is now a museum to commemorate their lives. They are regarded as national heroines in the Dominican Republic.
We all may be about to find out.
While not to the elevated level of refinement of Dr Cox Richardson -- at least and most definitely in my case -- everyone is a historian now; everyone a states(wo)man now.
¿Why?
Because everyone must be. Our republic demands at least that much from each of us.
If there is a civil war, it will be smaller but very bloody as three per cent of the American people own fifty per cent of the guns.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/09/22/study-guns-owners-violence/90858752/
That means ten million people own, on average, more than ten guns apiece. You can bet your bippee that those 3%ers own most or all of the assault rifles and support Trump as well as the craven, corrupt quislings on the Supreme Court.
Keep in mind that the governmnent owns the tanks, missiles, figher jets, and troops. The problem is that the Christofascists might get control of the government. Right now, it's up for grabs. And the President is now a King, thanks to the geniuses at John Roberts, Inc. Did anyone really think it would come to this?
Did anyone really think it would come to this?
HELL no.
I was very afraid it might, but I never thought it would happen so abruptly.
Pilgrim, ah, but that’s the thing with “tipping points”!
The court was the key. The process became blatant with Gingrich, Limbaugh, and Beck. Then Bush v. Gore. Then the Tea Party and MAGA. Vast numbers of people involved. Obvious now.
I am gratified that my quip has encouraged such intelligent and heartfelt comment thanks!
In my case, thanks NOT ACEPPTED but my thanks given to you, Sir.
How very kind, Ned (my Dad was Sir, Bruce is just fine). One of my favorite PhD subjects was 'Ethics'. I attempted to get "to the edge of knowledge" in that subject, but, of course soon found out, that like Love, it is infinite. I must suppose that the MAGA folks, because of their deep, deep lostness must lean toward a Kantian ethic of duty as prescribed by higher authority. Forgetting that there is no higher authority on Earth than the 'Law'. But then many of them do say that God (in His triunity) speaks clearly to them about Trrrrump's coming. I vonderrr iff zees dilushons feeturrrr an Austrian viz a Schnauzbart?
"Christians" of the Double Cross would ave persecuted Jesus.
In any case, human values certainly matter to we humans, and given the compass of human fates, for humanity as well as for individuals, we might want to get our priorities straight.
I believe the values toward which we aspire define us, sort of. For me my aspiration is to be an honorable gentleman. That value is like a Platonist ideal, and I fall far short.
Yet that values looms there like an asymptote toward which I stride, haltingly; I often go further away from that asymptote. Over time, however, my progress is unmistakable.
Like any asymptote the curvilinear line charting my progress will never cross that asymptote. But like Camus's Sisyphus, the perseverance of trying to do so, knowing I will not get there, earns my dignity such as it is..
[A]n asymptote is "a line that a curve approaches as it heads towards infinity." (https://byjus.com/maths/asymptotes/). In this case, the asymptote is a horizontal line and the crazy curve goes upward toward it.
I try to be a good human. Steward of the earth, supporter of others, and responsible in word and conduct. Leave things better than I found them.
I talk while you do; good for you, Ally. 🤝
If they'd only admitted him to the art school! His paintings were harmless enough.
Thank you again, Bruce. I delare you a Spinozist. I hope you don't mind. Bravo!
Dear James. We are not in Central Europe of the 1700's, so I take your declaration as it is probably meant in today's context of Spinozism. I am not sure though that I should be labeled as such. I believe all earths inhabitants (modi) are sentient in their Ecosystems and do not exist to express the "single substance" of God's id (or essence). God, in my opinion, clearly tells us we have choice and our choices will affect us. However the communication and connectivity between earths species is just coming to man's awareness and respect, so maybe Spinoza was right and the real Ecosystem for all of us to respect, or not survive is Gaia. The expression of all substance?
James and Bruce, y'all are above my pay-grade and I.Q. Accordingly, thank you. By the way, the tuition check is in the mail. You show how the social media should operate at their best.
Dear Bruce. No doubt, the same. Spinoza's metaphysics is all-inclusive and timeless. Wherever you find truth, it is incorporated in it by definition. All things are sentient according to their nature, meaning everything follows the laws of nature. For Spinoza, God is the irreducible nature of nature, 'substance' (thought and extension) without which there is nothing, which is an absurdity. He did conclude that 'God' does not make choices per se. All events arise from necessity. May necessity lead us out of this insane civil war! (I loved your reference to Kant. Just think what we would have been spared the last 300 years had he acknowledged that Spinoza obviated his tedious oeuvre).
Certainly an "interesting" time, in the Chinese sense.
It's certainly an "interesting time".
When I think of all the crap I learned in elementary school (it got better later) it's a wonder I can think at all*. we did have to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution, and those I took with me. I probably can't do either letter-perfect, but kept a pretty good inventory of what is there.
Words to take seriously.
*Seriously, a lot of what was taught turned out to be evidence-poor nonsense.
Ahhh, Kodachrome. Thank you, Paul Simon.
As you may be aware, The popular consumer slide film Kodachome was color balanced to punch up photos in an unrealistic way. Professional photographers favored Ecktachome. I assume the name came from German "echt", meaning genuine.
Thankyou Heather. Words to,live by, for sure. I would suggest that we take in Joyce Vance's post of tonight. A clear depiction of the stakes we must apply those words to.