A note to those interested in the process of writing: I hope this one looks as easy as the others, but if you look at the notes you can see it was a brutal slog. Not sure why some are easier than others, but so it goes.
A note to those interested in the process of writing: I hope this one looks as easy as the others, but if you look at the notes you can see it was a brutal slog. Not sure why some are easier than others, but so it goes.
Indeed! When it's historical non-fiction, when facts matter, when truth matters.
To this retired construction worker, who learned his trade in earthquake country, it's building a useable ediface of facts and ideas that can endure seismic challenges as well as the general assault of wind and rain.
We salute you, Heather Cox Richardson. We thank you for your almost daily letters. Your work has enormous value to all of us.
I'm sharing this. And, "тАЬThe wind is shifting,тАЭ the Washington PostтАЩs Jennifer Rubin tweeted today after listening to Haley and Scott backtrack. тАЬRemember: change happens slowly and then all at once.тАЭ But in which direction? Are we already past the tipping point in the wrong direction for the majority?
The question at this point is unanswered. What we do know, however, is that the outcome is what we do here and now. We must mobilize and get the voters to the polls on the election day. In the interim, we need to tailor our message so that it informs and warns. We need another Paul Revere who can spread the word to every village and hamlet. The message must be clear and concise with a definite call to action. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country. (I haven't typed that line in 67 years.)
I hear all of this тАЬjust voteтАЭ rhetoric but hasnтАЩt the election machine in many states/counties been given away to right wing Republicans? Precincts have been gerrymandered as we have seen. If that isnтАЩt the issue then It seems to me that either it will be way too inconvenient to vote (miles to drive, no water or food nearby, etc etc) or actually dangerous. Then if the votes do go through they will be disputed by the machine that has been put in place. The Republicans know what went wrong the last time and wonтАЩt let that happen again.
Paula, SCOTUS last week overturned Alabama's extremely gerrymandered voting districts, and their ruling threatens to undo other Republican-dominated states' interference with voting, including Kemp's Georgia, where I live. I suspect that even the evil empire of our current Supreme Court has seen that the majority in this country is fed up with their partisan antics and fears congressional intervention. With all of the attempts with election interference, voters have turned out in unprecedented numbers, and the result was the near-miraculous midterm election. With the overturning of the Alabama gerrymandered districts, it is probable that Georgia and other states' districts will be similarly examined. We simply cannot throw in the towel.
That said, I wish they'd just past a federal law barring the use of voting preference in determining precinct maps, maybe even specifying what grounds can be used for such maps, like geography, county lines, and population density.
I agree, Betsy. I'm not sure that "Just vote" is without context, which is what seems to have been implied. I see it in context of "what can I do to help protect democracy" by people who feel limited by their life circumstances to do all these things we keep talking about. And the voting is the crux of it all. Timothy Snyder is very good at providing that context.
Are you too worried, Paula? Time will tell. In the interim, though, some words of advice come to my mind from my mother who wrote a letter to me while I was serving with the U.S. Army on Okinawa in 1963. I was struggling with something, I don't remember what it was. She said: "Richard, faint heart never won Lady Fair." Thank you Mom, I never forgot those words of advice. True, the road ahead for us just got tougher, but the prize is worth the sacrifice - a sustained democracy that we can pass on to our children and grandchildren. It means working as we've never worked before, registering voters, getting them to the polls, and always keeping the faith in our system: one person, one vote, majority rule. The MAGA Republicans know that they are outnumbered and will resort to any method that they can to seize power. What comes to my mind are words from the poem, In Flanders Fields, written about World War I and those who died fighting: Canadian Col. John McCrae, who did not survive the war, wrote these words: "We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders fields." Too many have sacrificed too much for us to give up now. In fact, we have just begun to fight.
Paula, you are right that obstacles are being put in the way, but that is why concerned people must do what we can to remove those obstacles. Even very small actions add up when many of us do them. It's one thing to wring our hands about it, which accomplishes nothing. Turn worry into action, in whatever small way you can. Carry water, chop wood is such an ingenious approach: none of us alone can do much, but together, the small things we can do add up to a lot.
Whatever anti-free society gamers try to do will not go unnoticedтАФdeath from a million cell-phone videos. Being a form of death, contradiction lacks the life-force to keep mere clever bad faith from coming to bits. Incoherence can only live in bad fiction. But, have a composter's faith: ordinary rot breaks down to sustain new life. RIP.
You and me both, Richard. I wonder how that line, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country," became the "go to" phrase for testing your pen?
It was a line that we had in typing. My hand writing was so poor that I couldn't learn to type fast enough. Thank you, Mrs. Walker, for your excellent tutelage.
Let us all bow our heads and give a prayer of thanks for the contribution of Charles E. Weller, typing instructor, to the richness of the English language!
In high school typing class, we used "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy sleeping dog". Looking online, I see that 'sleeping' isn't included in the historical sentence and 'jumped' is 'jumps', ensuring that all letter of the alphabet would be included. The sentence has been used for at least 130 years!! https://knowyourphrase.com/the-quick-brown-fox
Which direction indeed? Just the last couple of days it became apparent to me that many of my personal friends (although we do not talk politics normally) believe the "but her e-mails" or "what about Joe Biden's garage" shite. Or "What a crock - everybody does it; prosecute them if you are going to prosecute him". It is true I live in a red state, and perhaps that has tainted my views. But I lose sleep, or ruin my daytime mood, thinking about the well-demonstrated stupidity of the American public writ large. Anyone who places their trust in the American public right now is naive. We have a minority element that is just nuts, and they will vote at upwards of 100% participation. We have a minority albeit larger percentage who are either too ignorant of the issues, or are so exasperated that what they want hasn't come (like student debt relief and more active climate mitigation) that they are going to sit it all out. Or as I describe above, there are those who think "everybody does it", and refuse to be a part of selecting politicians at all.
So get out the vote - for sure. My point however is this - we are fighting beliefs and world views that should be all but non-existent. They are literally nuts, in many ways evil. They fly in the face of facts. They are against the interests of any decent human being. They quite literally put the planet's eco-system and climate at risk of collapse. They question the concept of all humans being equal. IT SHOULD NOT BE CLOSE. Not close enough for us to have to wring our hands about an electoral outcome in 2024. This is Russian roulette, with 3 barrels loaded and 3 not. Why? I will be gracious and say that education and awareness are the key. Too many Americans are ignorant (willfully or not) of important issues, and are gullible to being manipulated by dis-information. And were I to be a little less generous, I would say that too many of us are falling prey to what the German people fell prey to after the first world war - to the words of some would-be hero who promises to get rid of the status quo and cure all their ills, if only you will rally around him/her. And now - this putrid movement is so strong that we are in the fight for our democratic existence. My big question is how can we improve the enlightenment of the American people, so that the crazy stays among the fringe instead of the mainstream? This is what Carl Sagan worried about prior to his untimely death.
Great question, Jay. I think the answer is to work hard to improve the lives of every day Americans so that they start to breath a little more quietly, live life a bit more fully. That is just what Biden's administration is doing, keeping a steady hand at the till while steering the ship in the right direction. Will it be enough to make the 2024 election secure for democracy? I can only hope and resolve to vote and to financially support good candidates.
I just read an article, "With 'Stealth Politics,' Billionaires Make Sure Their Money Talks," by Jaime Lowe, April 6, 2022. I know we are aware that money in politics is a big problem, but this article goes deeper and explains that local politics is targeted and why, but it doesn't mention local school boards. As for your "big question," other countries have publicly funded media. Notice public education is being targeted and has been for years. Please read the above article.
Public education is being defunded and that is one horror of where we are, maybe the worst. An educated society will call out authoritarians. The governor of Chicago signed a non-book banning bill, bless his heart.
Thank you Gloria for mentioning this article and Fern for the link. Well worth a read. If the number of comments posted is any reflection of the interest in the topic, few were interested in this incredibly important and well written analysis. Only 151 comments vs hundreds and sometimes thousands for far less important reporting.
So well said. It is very scary but I see it in Indiana currently. Comments on Facebook...comments from by son-in-law that works in a factory and his co-workers at break and lunch. They worship tfg. I had to convert my son-in-law. We can't ignore politics or we get in trouble. Most people around here just don't want to be bothered. They are too busy with sports, etc to take time out for what is in the best interest for their life. They just need to be aware their vote does count. And they need to vote not for lies but for truth.
This may be where we see a future.........youth voting, young adults voting.
They are living thru this era of assaults on democracy and you bet, it will have an effect on their world view and political activity. https://www.turnup.us/
Exactly, the Gen Z like representative Maxwell Frost are engaged and coming out to vote for their futures more and more! We need to assure their access to election 2024 as many are college students and support Democrats. The only glitch I see there is the unfortunate compromise of resuming college student debt payments which are enormous. A dear friend is in that boat with a balance of $50,000 to an instate university with a degree that turned out to be useless in obtaining work. She was forced to get a second two year degree in IT to make a living wage.
Jessica Craven, in her excellent Substack: Chop Wood, Carry Water, has numbers that refute the "youth doesn't vote" narrative. I've excerpted and linked below, but also want to second Kathy Clark with her link to https://www.turnup.us/ which is committed to bringing out the youth vote.
-----
The youth vote was decisive
"We need to stop wringing our hands about young people not being involved or turning out to vote. That stereotype needs to be put to rest for good. The current crop of young voters (Gen Z and Millennials) are, by historic comparison, highly engaged. And they delivered decisive numbers in key battleground states in 2022.
Charts can be confusing, so IтАЩll direct you on this one. Look just at the greenish columns for now. They compare turnout (as a percent of the electorate) in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, broken down between the House: National races (left side) and the Senate/Gov: Highly Contested races (right side). See the Gen Z/Millennials row near the top? That shows that from 2018 to 2022, these voters increased their share of the total vote by 3% for House races and 4% for the highly contested Senate/Gov races, while the oldest demographic decreased by the same amounts. ThatтАЩs a gigantic shift."
Youth voting, a somewhat mixed blessing, considering what an idiot I was during my 18-30's, and I'm sure I wasn't alone. I remember liking Goldwater because it was a pretty name, although I was likely stoned at the time.
Yes! In their defense, their view of American politics, if they have one, is Trump, and maybe some Obama. They do not remember some of the stuff we old ones do, and as a result they lack any context. I think they do not realize just the seriousness of our current political situation.
Gloria, it's all too easy to feel that things are unraveling quite simply because of how much of main stream media (MSM) is treating a lot of this. Their coverage is slanted toward the "sensational", the short sound and audio bytes that are "grabbers" to get viewers to tune in. Some of these issues are far too complicated to reduce them down to a few items to put into a short report. It's one of the things that has drawn me to writers on Substack and other sources, because there/here one can find more detailed analyses of what's going on. I sincerely hope & pray that things are shifting and that we can continue to hammer away at the truth. There are some encouraging signs, but one isn't always going to find them if one gives in to MSM's hyperbole. We CAN change the direction, but it will take a massive effort to get people -- Millennials, GenZers, youth AND others -- to get off their asses and VOTE! Our voices only matter collectively if we speak as one, and if we can manage a huge turn-out in '24 at the grass-root level. If we want to change the system, then we have to USE the system to change the system. It's our only alternative and it's NOT too late.
I still believe that if Democrats turn out in massive numbers unlike anything seen in recent elections, even with some of the blockades put in place by the GOP and in spite of them making it more difficult in some areas for people to vote, we CAN force change. With its automatic voter registration tied to applications for drivers' licenses and ID cards, Georgia, in the past 4 years, already has one of the highest rates of voter registration (91%) in the country. We have 7.1 million voters registered now. The system also keeps better track of people changing addresses and/or name discrepancies, which means less problems with verification at the polls. THIS is the kind of thing that can make a difference. With the recent SCOTUS decision about gerrymandering in Alabama, it may embolden Democrats to take more of these district maps to court to try and level the playing field a bit more. We CANNOT be complacent!
We are not past the tipping point in my opinion. It is merely a matter of time and our lack of imagination. TrumpтАЩs spiral is going to be steadily downhill. This talk of 75 000 000 voters is a fantasy. Trumpism peaked on January 6 2021. It has been all downhill from there. So many are behind bars. So many have seen that this was not contrived on their behalf. I would guess that he is heading towards a base of half of what he had. IтАЩd love to see his fundraising numbers - my guess is that they are sinking.
Polls, like rallies, are performative. They are not polling booths. People do not want to reveal theyтАЩve left the fold to their friends. So they bray their fervent support for Trump - itтАЩs a practical thing to do for the sake of not becoming a pariah. As well it is yet another stiff arm to the media, whom they truly, honestly despise.
They see the joke that the House has become. They understand that many members of the HFC are criminals and this makes them uneasy. I do think that McCarthy is I wild card. He may go for it and attempt to permanently marginalize them. Or he may still lack the panache and cleverness to trap this rogue group and dismiss them.
Getting from here to where we want to be in terms of prosecuting Trump is no easy task. It would be a crime, truly a deep state crime if Aileen Cannon stayed as the presiding judge and helped Trump ride out the clock. But even then, I do not believe he will win the election and pardon himself. Some single digit number of Americans want that.
The fun in the next few weeks is going to lie in watching Republican Presidential candidates tack away from Trump in discreetly calibrated steps. Chris Christie is going to be a wrecking ball as long as he lasts. He will excoriate hypocrisy and (in a real long shot) could gain a following. He is brilliant and witty and has nothing to lose. As a former prosecutor, he is light years ahead of the wannabes. His problems are twofold - his physical appearance will not draw people toward him, and he is an Easterner. But I believe there is a non-zero chance that he could acquire a Ronald-Reagan like status, catching lightning in a bottle.
Lots still to worry about. Lots of unknown unknowns. But I am generally optimistic.
By the way this strain of right-wing extremism is as old as America and as permanent. David CornтАЩs book тАЬAmerican PsychosisтАЭ is extremely disturbing.
I believe the current Right will smart from their bruises for a few years and then rise again and will have to be dealt with. They are a feature, not a bug.
Chris Christie is also a lying, bloviating sack of merde, who will blow sunshine up anyone's butt for a vote. But if his role is to dunk on tfg, I'm here for it.
IтАЩve seen that side too. But for the first time last night (on CNN) I felt like I was listening to a normal human being. For the first time in 8 years from that side of the aisle. It was refreshing, almost startling.
All politicians calculate, shade their message to fit a particular group. Most have gigantic egos. IтАЩve learned to live with that.
Not all are cruel. Not all are tied to an end times group. Not all seek reflexively to divide people and create fantastical dystopias. At heart some have decent instincts.
IтАЩd be comfortable with a Biden-Christie race. I donтАЩt think it would evoke that feeling of terror that was 2020.
Biden would win more easily as things stand now. All to the good.
Sadly it wonтАЩt happen.
Trump will go down and another real bastard, DeSantis, will be anointed. And the nightmare will go on. IтАЩm sick of it.
Eric, I give you that Christie is much more articulate. But he talks a good game. I still have the letter he wrote to teachers/public employees when he first ran for governor--"your pensions are sacred". Yeah, we all know how that turned out. Went after teachers like they were the lowest scum of the earth. Wasn't until Covid shutdown that people realized what teachers actually did. And we know he knew all about Bridgegate, even tho he was slick enough that nothing stuck to him. Hoping that Bridgegate does to his presidential aspirations what Chappaquiddick did to Ted Kennedy's. I wouldn't vote for him for street sweeper.
Lots to think about in your letter, Eric. I'm not much of one for prognostication, but as things are, I think what is happening largely reflects your sense of it. I have different ideas about the extreme right (who have always been with us in one way or another). I suspect that the visibility of so many things gone wrong will moderate a lot of folks, and the "next wave" will be very different. But yes, they are part of the way a system like ours works. We have a dysfunctional system, and it requires a certain segment of our society to bear the brunt of its dysfunction. You betcha people get tired of it. And in the process we learn something, I hope. One of the things I hope is that the rest of us get over looking down our noses at people we consider "less than", and learn to see them as human beings with the same human needs the rest of us have, not as flawed people.
Gloria, my sense, from Texas, is that the Red Wave is ebbing. The Reagan Revolution has surged as far as it's going to with the Trump disaster, and the reaction to it has begun.
As a dedicated centrist, I can only hope it won't be an over-reaction.
Robert-Here are a couple things one can do to promote voter participation: Write letters to voters (Vote Forward: https://votefwd.org) and Postcards to Voters (https://postcardstovoters.org/) I'm able to do these despite my mobility issues, which limit my ability to do door -to-door canvassing; I've also been a driver for canvassers.
I really believe that we are headed in the right direction. A recent poll shows 88% (!) of the population wants gun control.
Yes, the base of the angry cheeto will never concede an inch.
But it is my firm belief that if the trumpers (they are not Republicans any more) actually run cadet bone spurs, then the Dems could run a turnip and win. In a landslide.
Absolutely not, Gloria. We are moving in the right direction. We just need to keep on that journey, each doing the small things that add up. Hand-wringing has never accomplished anything worthwhile. Please stop it.
Greasy wheels lose traction. And that's what is happening. We are in a news lag right now. Give it a few days. What I am reading this morning is already way different than what I was reading a week ago. A great deal of so-called "news analysis" is actually conjecturing, trying to predict the future. Now there's a question that needs an answer: how did our media slide so far away from being sources of what HAS happened (which can be analyzed) to what MIGHT happen, which cannot be analyzed? I ignore the people who start with what might happen, instead of looking at what we can learn from what IS happening. The 18 are largely ignored now by Republicans in both Houses of Congress. Trump continues to play victim, but suddenly it is not going over very well. He still plays to his base, which does not actually have the significance we are led to believe they do.
Yes, they ("wheels") do, but the "grease" is basically attention. I have also noticed in what little network news I watch -- NBC evening news with Lester Holt because it's on when I'm preparing and eating dinner, along with local news out of Atlanta -- that now that T***p has been indicted it's as if it's not quite as big a story as before, in terms of amount of airtime devoted to it. This has just been in the past week or so. Yeah, they'll trot out the usual pro-T***p suspects for them to blather on a bit and clutch their pearls, and then maybe a former T***p supporter who's changed his/her mind, and maybe a Republican operative who's now not so keen on T***p. Then they'll move on to whatever. *Yawn* They don't seem to be giving the kooks quite as much airtime as before. I mean, when someone like Kari Lake makes veiled threats that anyone trying to convict T***p would have to go through "75 million of us" that is so far beyond the scope of credibility, it's almost laughable, and it certainly doesn't merit being aired. (I think if we were to right now go back and see how many of those "75 million" now regret their choice, the number would be drastically smaller.) Some MSM seem to be getting the message. At this point, ANYBODY who thinks for sure they can predict what will happen earns my suspicion more than respect. This country is in fairly uncharted waters right now, so speculation is merely that. I also think people are just flat out TIRED of Donald J T***p and just want him to go away. I love the article HCR refers to: "Aren't you all tired of this crap?" DJT is ahead right now in polls among Republicans, but that could change on a dime. Just wait . . .
I hear you, Annie. I'm mortally tired of the endless pseudo-news that's nothing more than what somebody might do sometime in the future. It's all (breathless headline) "Now that (somebody) has been indicted (or something), they could possibly do this, that, or the other, or even something we haven't thought of, and that's the news, folks!"
We have to remember that corporations own the MSM and reporters are there because they want to reflect the values of the owners. However, there are investigative reporters and journalists who are honest and understand integrity and usually history, politics, and ethics. Let's look for those guys (similar to the person who writes these letters).
Well said, Ralph Averill. Your analogy is extremely appropriate. For, like a building to stand for decades or centuries, our democracy requires deep pillars and laterals to permit it to stand under the most violent and longterm of those constant and extreme pressures both for its integrity and livability decades and centuries after the architect laid down his pencil and the builder turned over the keys to its entry and innards of it. Our founding fathers laid well those aspirations and principles upon which the facades of the present and future of America will be shown and egress continues for those seeking equality, peace, and opportunity in like measures. Yes. A good and true analogy.
We all know about "The Big Lie" ... well tfg & maga cult are rallying around THE BIGGER LIE with many variations of ceaseless propaganda-- that 45 is above the Law.
long & hard on this one so we can understand what is happening now. With TrumpтАЩs indictment dominating so much of the news, we miss so much of what is actually happening. You are appreciated!
IтАЩve decided to not watch the news today and focus instead on finishing a couple of books IтАЩve been reading. LetтАЩs not give the con man any more oxygen.
I watched just long enough to see the тАЬ50,000тАЭ called by MTG turn to maybe 5,000 peaceful protestors and observers from BOTH sides abiding by the rule of law while Trump was indicted, booked and went back to Bedminster where he will likely blow up Truth Social tonight but I will not be watching. I have a life of sorts at 75 and will not waste my precious time on TFG.
Everything you write looks effortless because of your skill. But make no mistake, just skimming the content and the notes made me feel seasick. I'm so glad you had that family day.
You will never know how wonderful it is to read a column by one who knows basic rules of grammar, much less can decipher the legal niceties of the current news cycle.
About halfway through reading today's letter the question "How does she do that?'" struck me of a sudden. I'm not a writer, but still sensed the complex magic, skill and effort you employ.
I want to thank you, Heather for giving me some hope and encouragement with this letter. I was rather shocked to see that Kari Lake cretin mildly criticizing Donald TUMP. It was encouraging to see that you mention the good economy figures too. Maybe, just maybe TUMP's ship is sinking fast now... i sure do hope so as i have grown very weary of that screaming monster, Donald TUMP... Keep up the excellent work, Heather...
Correction: It was Nikki Haley, not Kari Lake that mildly criticized TUMP.... that was an incredibly DUMB mistake on my part, i am about half asleep at this time of night.. For some reason, i do at times get those 2 mixed up, they are 2 of a kind actually.
John, I did a double-take when I read your post! When Kari Lake criticizes her lord and master I will turn to the weather report for the photos of hell frozen over.
Alexander you stated this beautifully - Kari Lake is a baby Trumpite and keeps the flame burning that she did not lose the election. KRAZY! it is so obvious she wants to be Trump's running mate. But Trump likes winners not losers.
Only problem is she used her bawling to incite violence, but cha ( covered her a##) by adding, " This is not a threat, it is a public service announcement."
I'm lumping them all, including Trump into "Personality Disorders." That means they are seriously mentally disturbed, but still north of all out madness..(Although I am reconsidering the latter for Trump)
When I see what death star and Lake come up with, I can't believe they are not mentally unstable. I am also glad that Heather mentioned the loathsome James Watt, I am sure he has joined Pat in burning in hell. I may be misremembering this, but I think he also thought we were going to have a Second Coming soon and so the environment didn't matter.
That's how it is when you're creating a story...fact or fiction. Sometimes it flows almost no effort...other times it's a struggle. THANKS for taking the time and care that you do. I assume you did not see Chris Christie last night. He very factually and with great insider information took on Trump with every question he fielded...and as a former prosecutor with 130 political scalps on his belt, he speaks with a lot of authority. Anderson Cooper did an excellent job. If Christy gets a bump in the polls this week...more of the gloves will come off. I totally disagree with his views on President Biden....but he nailed Trump to the floor of the bathroom at his "palace".
Under Christie's thick layers of blubber there's just another supply sider who punishes the poorest and closes the Jersey shore so he and his family can have it all to themselves. Good job on Trump (A ruse?), predictable Reaganomics attack on Biden. Not to be trusted.
I think he very clearly sees Trump for what he is. His approach is a tactic that he believes will work for him. If not now, in the future. Would I ever vote for him ? No. But I'll take some R's near the top of their "food chain" finally really speaking out against Trump. I'd like to see all of their Presidential candidates doing that, instead of trying to keep Trumps base happy with a bunch of BS that most of the candidates don't really believe. They are cowards, trying to walk a tightrope to the nomination over a minefield.
No, none of them...but I'd love to see more of them be honest about J6 and about this event with the classified docs. Stop spinning for a minute...stop trying to blame others. It's ok to be a conservative. You don't have to lie and support total propaganda. I ran into Connie Morella yesterday who was a Congressperson & Ambassador. She has remained an R...but she has integrity. She lost her seat in a primary years ago because she wasn't conservative enough. The R's have never regained that seat in Congress.
Thank you so very much for the years now of LFAA - and I only wish you would/could take more time off because I can't imagine how much energy and sleep these Letters have cost you. Take care of yourself and Buddy! ЁЯТЦЁЯТЦЁЯТЦ
Your gifts and talents, your years of love for this country, your engagment in historical facts along with your opinions, are deeply appreciated.
Thank you for bringing us together. I deeply appreciate the various wonderful humans you have drawn to your letters and their comments and opinions and "reading offerings".
A time for rest, recovery and relaxation is necessary....everyday is a gift......you are a gift to each of us. Thank you for your tenacity..."the brutal slog".
Thanks again for verifying that writing history is no better than verifying the facts with valid documentation. Your gift to history is not just your clear exposition of the facts of the time but the actual keys, or footnotes to the developments.
Any attempts to document our time without this valid certification demonstrates the vast difference between opinion and fact base reporting.
A note to those interested in the process of writing: I hope this one looks as easy as the others, but if you look at the notes you can see it was a brutal slog. Not sure why some are easier than others, but so it goes.
"... it was a brutal slog."
Indeed! When it's historical non-fiction, when facts matter, when truth matters.
To this retired construction worker, who learned his trade in earthquake country, it's building a useable ediface of facts and ideas that can endure seismic challenges as well as the general assault of wind and rain.
We salute you, Heather Cox Richardson. We thank you for your almost daily letters. Your work has enormous value to all of us.
When facts matter, when truth matters
And Justice Matters says. Glenn Kirschner. I watch him on YouTube.
So do my husband and I!!!
I follow Glenn as well. His insights help us understand the legal implications of what politicians do-Justice does matter.
I'm sharing this. And, "тАЬThe wind is shifting,тАЭ the Washington PostтАЩs Jennifer Rubin tweeted today after listening to Haley and Scott backtrack. тАЬRemember: change happens slowly and then all at once.тАЭ But in which direction? Are we already past the tipping point in the wrong direction for the majority?
The question at this point is unanswered. What we do know, however, is that the outcome is what we do here and now. We must mobilize and get the voters to the polls on the election day. In the interim, we need to tailor our message so that it informs and warns. We need another Paul Revere who can spread the word to every village and hamlet. The message must be clear and concise with a definite call to action. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country. (I haven't typed that line in 67 years.)
Thank you for your inspiring words. Of course, you are right.
I hear all of this тАЬjust voteтАЭ rhetoric but hasnтАЩt the election machine in many states/counties been given away to right wing Republicans? Precincts have been gerrymandered as we have seen. If that isnтАЩt the issue then It seems to me that either it will be way too inconvenient to vote (miles to drive, no water or food nearby, etc etc) or actually dangerous. Then if the votes do go through they will be disputed by the machine that has been put in place. The Republicans know what went wrong the last time and wonтАЩt let that happen again.
Am I too worried?
Paula, SCOTUS last week overturned Alabama's extremely gerrymandered voting districts, and their ruling threatens to undo other Republican-dominated states' interference with voting, including Kemp's Georgia, where I live. I suspect that even the evil empire of our current Supreme Court has seen that the majority in this country is fed up with their partisan antics and fears congressional intervention. With all of the attempts with election interference, voters have turned out in unprecedented numbers, and the result was the near-miraculous midterm election. With the overturning of the Alabama gerrymandered districts, it is probable that Georgia and other states' districts will be similarly examined. We simply cannot throw in the towel.
That is good news, and there's excellent Slate article just out detailing how robust the decision actually is.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/john-roberts-brett-kavanaugh-save-voting-rights-act.html
That said, I wish they'd just past a federal law barring the use of voting preference in determining precinct maps, maybe even specifying what grounds can be used for such maps, like geography, county lines, and population density.
Paula, read On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. Don't assume the worst & give up before pushing back.
On Tyranny is an essential read. So is SnyderтАЩs Substack. Now not just Ukraine but current politics.
I agree, Betsy. I'm not sure that "Just vote" is without context, which is what seems to have been implied. I see it in context of "what can I do to help protect democracy" by people who feel limited by their life circumstances to do all these things we keep talking about. And the voting is the crux of it all. Timothy Snyder is very good at providing that context.
Are you too worried, Paula? Time will tell. In the interim, though, some words of advice come to my mind from my mother who wrote a letter to me while I was serving with the U.S. Army on Okinawa in 1963. I was struggling with something, I don't remember what it was. She said: "Richard, faint heart never won Lady Fair." Thank you Mom, I never forgot those words of advice. True, the road ahead for us just got tougher, but the prize is worth the sacrifice - a sustained democracy that we can pass on to our children and grandchildren. It means working as we've never worked before, registering voters, getting them to the polls, and always keeping the faith in our system: one person, one vote, majority rule. The MAGA Republicans know that they are outnumbered and will resort to any method that they can to seize power. What comes to my mind are words from the poem, In Flanders Fields, written about World War I and those who died fighting: Canadian Col. John McCrae, who did not survive the war, wrote these words: "We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders fields." Too many have sacrificed too much for us to give up now. In fact, we have just begun to fight.
This poem is exquisite! Thank you so much; brings tears to my eyes. ЁЯе▓
Paula, you are right that obstacles are being put in the way, but that is why concerned people must do what we can to remove those obstacles. Even very small actions add up when many of us do them. It's one thing to wring our hands about it, which accomplishes nothing. Turn worry into action, in whatever small way you can. Carry water, chop wood is such an ingenious approach: none of us alone can do much, but together, the small things we can do add up to a lot.
Whatever anti-free society gamers try to do will not go unnoticedтАФdeath from a million cell-phone videos. Being a form of death, contradiction lacks the life-force to keep mere clever bad faith from coming to bits. Incoherence can only live in bad fiction. But, have a composter's faith: ordinary rot breaks down to sustain new life. RIP.
You and me both, Richard. I wonder how that line, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country," became the "go to" phrase for testing your pen?
It was a line that we had in typing. My hand writing was so poor that I couldn't learn to type fast enough. Thank you, Mrs. Walker, for your excellent tutelage.
Alright, now I have to go to the Font of (Mis)Information to learn the source.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filler_text
Let us all bow our heads and give a prayer of thanks for the contribution of Charles E. Weller, typing instructor, to the richness of the English language!
My Dad used to type that when I was a kid. I used to wonder what it meant.
Only 60 years for me!
In high school typing class, we used "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy sleeping dog". Looking online, I see that 'sleeping' isn't included in the historical sentence and 'jumped' is 'jumps', ensuring that all letter of the alphabet would be included. The sentence has been used for at least 130 years!! https://knowyourphrase.com/the-quick-brown-fox
Which direction indeed? Just the last couple of days it became apparent to me that many of my personal friends (although we do not talk politics normally) believe the "but her e-mails" or "what about Joe Biden's garage" shite. Or "What a crock - everybody does it; prosecute them if you are going to prosecute him". It is true I live in a red state, and perhaps that has tainted my views. But I lose sleep, or ruin my daytime mood, thinking about the well-demonstrated stupidity of the American public writ large. Anyone who places their trust in the American public right now is naive. We have a minority element that is just nuts, and they will vote at upwards of 100% participation. We have a minority albeit larger percentage who are either too ignorant of the issues, or are so exasperated that what they want hasn't come (like student debt relief and more active climate mitigation) that they are going to sit it all out. Or as I describe above, there are those who think "everybody does it", and refuse to be a part of selecting politicians at all.
So get out the vote - for sure. My point however is this - we are fighting beliefs and world views that should be all but non-existent. They are literally nuts, in many ways evil. They fly in the face of facts. They are against the interests of any decent human being. They quite literally put the planet's eco-system and climate at risk of collapse. They question the concept of all humans being equal. IT SHOULD NOT BE CLOSE. Not close enough for us to have to wring our hands about an electoral outcome in 2024. This is Russian roulette, with 3 barrels loaded and 3 not. Why? I will be gracious and say that education and awareness are the key. Too many Americans are ignorant (willfully or not) of important issues, and are gullible to being manipulated by dis-information. And were I to be a little less generous, I would say that too many of us are falling prey to what the German people fell prey to after the first world war - to the words of some would-be hero who promises to get rid of the status quo and cure all their ills, if only you will rally around him/her. And now - this putrid movement is so strong that we are in the fight for our democratic existence. My big question is how can we improve the enlightenment of the American people, so that the crazy stays among the fringe instead of the mainstream? This is what Carl Sagan worried about prior to his untimely death.
Great question, Jay. I think the answer is to work hard to improve the lives of every day Americans so that they start to breath a little more quietly, live life a bit more fully. That is just what Biden's administration is doing, keeping a steady hand at the till while steering the ship in the right direction. Will it be enough to make the 2024 election secure for democracy? I can only hope and resolve to vote and to financially support good candidates.
I just read an article, "With 'Stealth Politics,' Billionaires Make Sure Their Money Talks," by Jaime Lowe, April 6, 2022. I know we are aware that money in politics is a big problem, but this article goes deeper and explains that local politics is targeted and why, but it doesn't mention local school boards. As for your "big question," other countries have publicly funded media. Notice public education is being targeted and has been for years. Please read the above article.
The following are link's to the article Gloria recommended to us and a video.
With 'Stealth Politics,' Billionaires Make Sure Their Money ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/magazine/billionaire-politics.html
How billionaires benefit from "stealth politics" - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwXBGBLPTw
Public education is being defunded and that is one horror of where we are, maybe the worst. An educated society will call out authoritarians. The governor of Chicago signed a non-book banning bill, bless his heart.
Thank you Gloria for mentioning this article and Fern for the link. Well worth a read. If the number of comments posted is any reflection of the interest in the topic, few were interested in this incredibly important and well written analysis. Only 151 comments vs hundreds and sometimes thousands for far less important reporting.
So well said. It is very scary but I see it in Indiana currently. Comments on Facebook...comments from by son-in-law that works in a factory and his co-workers at break and lunch. They worship tfg. I had to convert my son-in-law. We can't ignore politics or we get in trouble. Most people around here just don't want to be bothered. They are too busy with sports, etc to take time out for what is in the best interest for their life. They just need to be aware their vote does count. And they need to vote not for lies but for truth.
The youth vote is traditionally quite low. I don't know how they consume news but this active minority is working to destroy their future.
This may be where we see a future.........youth voting, young adults voting.
They are living thru this era of assaults on democracy and you bet, it will have an effect on their world view and political activity. https://www.turnup.us/
Exactly, the Gen Z like representative Maxwell Frost are engaged and coming out to vote for their futures more and more! We need to assure their access to election 2024 as many are college students and support Democrats. The only glitch I see there is the unfortunate compromise of resuming college student debt payments which are enormous. A dear friend is in that boat with a balance of $50,000 to an instate university with a degree that turned out to be useless in obtaining work. She was forced to get a second two year degree in IT to make a living wage.
Jessica Craven, in her excellent Substack: Chop Wood, Carry Water, has numbers that refute the "youth doesn't vote" narrative. I've excerpted and linked below, but also want to second Kathy Clark with her link to https://www.turnup.us/ which is committed to bringing out the youth vote.
-----
The youth vote was decisive
"We need to stop wringing our hands about young people not being involved or turning out to vote. That stereotype needs to be put to rest for good. The current crop of young voters (Gen Z and Millennials) are, by historic comparison, highly engaged. And they delivered decisive numbers in key battleground states in 2022.
Charts can be confusing, so IтАЩll direct you on this one. Look just at the greenish columns for now. They compare turnout (as a percent of the electorate) in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, broken down between the House: National races (left side) and the Senate/Gov: Highly Contested races (right side). See the Gen Z/Millennials row near the top? That shows that from 2018 to 2022, these voters increased their share of the total vote by 3% for House races and 4% for the highly contested Senate/Gov races, while the oldest demographic decreased by the same amounts. ThatтАЩs a gigantic shift."
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/extra-extra-521?utm_source=substack&publication_id=362618&post_id=121597359&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true
Youth voting, a somewhat mixed blessing, considering what an idiot I was during my 18-30's, and I'm sure I wasn't alone. I remember liking Goldwater because it was a pretty name, although I was likely stoned at the time.
Yes! In their defense, their view of American politics, if they have one, is Trump, and maybe some Obama. They do not remember some of the stuff we old ones do, and as a result they lack any context. I think they do not realize just the seriousness of our current political situation.
Don't look backward Gloria. We're not going that way.
I saw a sign that said just that last week (minus the Gloria, of course.)
Gloria, it's all too easy to feel that things are unraveling quite simply because of how much of main stream media (MSM) is treating a lot of this. Their coverage is slanted toward the "sensational", the short sound and audio bytes that are "grabbers" to get viewers to tune in. Some of these issues are far too complicated to reduce them down to a few items to put into a short report. It's one of the things that has drawn me to writers on Substack and other sources, because there/here one can find more detailed analyses of what's going on. I sincerely hope & pray that things are shifting and that we can continue to hammer away at the truth. There are some encouraging signs, but one isn't always going to find them if one gives in to MSM's hyperbole. We CAN change the direction, but it will take a massive effort to get people -- Millennials, GenZers, youth AND others -- to get off their asses and VOTE! Our voices only matter collectively if we speak as one, and if we can manage a huge turn-out in '24 at the grass-root level. If we want to change the system, then we have to USE the system to change the system. It's our only alternative and it's NOT too late.
Bruce. Please see my comments about voting. What do you think? You are from Georgia so have first hand experience.
I still believe that if Democrats turn out in massive numbers unlike anything seen in recent elections, even with some of the blockades put in place by the GOP and in spite of them making it more difficult in some areas for people to vote, we CAN force change. With its automatic voter registration tied to applications for drivers' licenses and ID cards, Georgia, in the past 4 years, already has one of the highest rates of voter registration (91%) in the country. We have 7.1 million voters registered now. The system also keeps better track of people changing addresses and/or name discrepancies, which means less problems with verification at the polls. THIS is the kind of thing that can make a difference. With the recent SCOTUS decision about gerrymandering in Alabama, it may embolden Democrats to take more of these district maps to court to try and level the playing field a bit more. We CANNOT be complacent!
https://georgiarecorder.com/2023/06/07/georgia-voters-sign-up-in-record-numbers-following-change-to-automatic-registration-in-2016/
Are we talking about some of the activities of the 60s and a mass movement or protest against those who would destroy democracy? I am in.
We are not past the tipping point in my opinion. It is merely a matter of time and our lack of imagination. TrumpтАЩs spiral is going to be steadily downhill. This talk of 75 000 000 voters is a fantasy. Trumpism peaked on January 6 2021. It has been all downhill from there. So many are behind bars. So many have seen that this was not contrived on their behalf. I would guess that he is heading towards a base of half of what he had. IтАЩd love to see his fundraising numbers - my guess is that they are sinking.
Polls, like rallies, are performative. They are not polling booths. People do not want to reveal theyтАЩve left the fold to their friends. So they bray their fervent support for Trump - itтАЩs a practical thing to do for the sake of not becoming a pariah. As well it is yet another stiff arm to the media, whom they truly, honestly despise.
They see the joke that the House has become. They understand that many members of the HFC are criminals and this makes them uneasy. I do think that McCarthy is I wild card. He may go for it and attempt to permanently marginalize them. Or he may still lack the panache and cleverness to trap this rogue group and dismiss them.
Getting from here to where we want to be in terms of prosecuting Trump is no easy task. It would be a crime, truly a deep state crime if Aileen Cannon stayed as the presiding judge and helped Trump ride out the clock. But even then, I do not believe he will win the election and pardon himself. Some single digit number of Americans want that.
The fun in the next few weeks is going to lie in watching Republican Presidential candidates tack away from Trump in discreetly calibrated steps. Chris Christie is going to be a wrecking ball as long as he lasts. He will excoriate hypocrisy and (in a real long shot) could gain a following. He is brilliant and witty and has nothing to lose. As a former prosecutor, he is light years ahead of the wannabes. His problems are twofold - his physical appearance will not draw people toward him, and he is an Easterner. But I believe there is a non-zero chance that he could acquire a Ronald-Reagan like status, catching lightning in a bottle.
Lots still to worry about. Lots of unknown unknowns. But I am generally optimistic.
By the way this strain of right-wing extremism is as old as America and as permanent. David CornтАЩs book тАЬAmerican PsychosisтАЭ is extremely disturbing.
I believe the current Right will smart from their bruises for a few years and then rise again and will have to be dealt with. They are a feature, not a bug.
Chris Christie is also a lying, bloviating sack of merde, who will blow sunshine up anyone's butt for a vote. But if his role is to dunk on tfg, I'm here for it.
IтАЩve seen that side too. But for the first time last night (on CNN) I felt like I was listening to a normal human being. For the first time in 8 years from that side of the aisle. It was refreshing, almost startling.
All politicians calculate, shade their message to fit a particular group. Most have gigantic egos. IтАЩve learned to live with that.
Not all are cruel. Not all are tied to an end times group. Not all seek reflexively to divide people and create fantastical dystopias. At heart some have decent instincts.
IтАЩd be comfortable with a Biden-Christie race. I donтАЩt think it would evoke that feeling of terror that was 2020.
Biden would win more easily as things stand now. All to the good.
Sadly it wonтАЩt happen.
Trump will go down and another real bastard, DeSantis, will be anointed. And the nightmare will go on. IтАЩm sick of it.
Eric, I give you that Christie is much more articulate. But he talks a good game. I still have the letter he wrote to teachers/public employees when he first ran for governor--"your pensions are sacred". Yeah, we all know how that turned out. Went after teachers like they were the lowest scum of the earth. Wasn't until Covid shutdown that people realized what teachers actually did. And we know he knew all about Bridgegate, even tho he was slick enough that nothing stuck to him. Hoping that Bridgegate does to his presidential aspirations what Chappaquiddick did to Ted Kennedy's. I wouldn't vote for him for street sweeper.
Good to know.
Lots to think about in your letter, Eric. I'm not much of one for prognostication, but as things are, I think what is happening largely reflects your sense of it. I have different ideas about the extreme right (who have always been with us in one way or another). I suspect that the visibility of so many things gone wrong will moderate a lot of folks, and the "next wave" will be very different. But yes, they are part of the way a system like ours works. We have a dysfunctional system, and it requires a certain segment of our society to bear the brunt of its dysfunction. You betcha people get tired of it. And in the process we learn something, I hope. One of the things I hope is that the rest of us get over looking down our noses at people we consider "less than", and learn to see them as human beings with the same human needs the rest of us have, not as flawed people.
Gloria, my sense, from Texas, is that the Red Wave is ebbing. The Reagan Revolution has surged as far as it's going to with the Trump disaster, and the reaction to it has begun.
As a dedicated centrist, I can only hope it won't be an over-reaction.
Good point.
Robertson and Watt have met their maker. Fire and brimstone. Hot enough for you, boys?
I am hopeful. But hope is only an emotion. I vote. I donate. What else can I do?
Share the wonderful job the Biden administration is doing with anyone you can.
Robert-Here are a couple things one can do to promote voter participation: Write letters to voters (Vote Forward: https://votefwd.org) and Postcards to Voters (https://postcardstovoters.org/) I'm able to do these despite my mobility issues, which limit my ability to do door -to-door canvassing; I've also been a driver for canvassers.
Somehow this gives me hope when I almost lost it. Thank you again, Professor Richardson.
I really believe that we are headed in the right direction. A recent poll shows 88% (!) of the population wants gun control.
Yes, the base of the angry cheeto will never concede an inch.
But it is my firm belief that if the trumpers (they are not Republicans any more) actually run cadet bone spurs, then the Dems could run a turnip and win. In a landslide.
Absolutely not, Gloria. We are moving in the right direction. We just need to keep on that journey, each doing the small things that add up. Hand-wringing has never accomplished anything worthwhile. Please stop it.
Great question.
"Squeaky wheels get the most grease."
Greasy wheels lose traction. And that's what is happening. We are in a news lag right now. Give it a few days. What I am reading this morning is already way different than what I was reading a week ago. A great deal of so-called "news analysis" is actually conjecturing, trying to predict the future. Now there's a question that needs an answer: how did our media slide so far away from being sources of what HAS happened (which can be analyzed) to what MIGHT happen, which cannot be analyzed? I ignore the people who start with what might happen, instead of looking at what we can learn from what IS happening. The 18 are largely ignored now by Republicans in both Houses of Congress. Trump continues to play victim, but suddenly it is not going over very well. He still plays to his base, which does not actually have the significance we are led to believe they do.
Yes, they ("wheels") do, but the "grease" is basically attention. I have also noticed in what little network news I watch -- NBC evening news with Lester Holt because it's on when I'm preparing and eating dinner, along with local news out of Atlanta -- that now that T***p has been indicted it's as if it's not quite as big a story as before, in terms of amount of airtime devoted to it. This has just been in the past week or so. Yeah, they'll trot out the usual pro-T***p suspects for them to blather on a bit and clutch their pearls, and then maybe a former T***p supporter who's changed his/her mind, and maybe a Republican operative who's now not so keen on T***p. Then they'll move on to whatever. *Yawn* They don't seem to be giving the kooks quite as much airtime as before. I mean, when someone like Kari Lake makes veiled threats that anyone trying to convict T***p would have to go through "75 million of us" that is so far beyond the scope of credibility, it's almost laughable, and it certainly doesn't merit being aired. (I think if we were to right now go back and see how many of those "75 million" now regret their choice, the number would be drastically smaller.) Some MSM seem to be getting the message. At this point, ANYBODY who thinks for sure they can predict what will happen earns my suspicion more than respect. This country is in fairly uncharted waters right now, so speculation is merely that. I also think people are just flat out TIRED of Donald J T***p and just want him to go away. I love the article HCR refers to: "Aren't you all tired of this crap?" DJT is ahead right now in polls among Republicans, but that could change on a dime. Just wait . . .
I hear you, Annie. I'm mortally tired of the endless pseudo-news that's nothing more than what somebody might do sometime in the future. It's all (breathless headline) "Now that (somebody) has been indicted (or something), they could possibly do this, that, or the other, or even something we haven't thought of, and that's the news, folks!"
We have to remember that corporations own the MSM and reporters are there because they want to reflect the values of the owners. However, there are investigative reporters and journalists who are honest and understand integrity and usually history, politics, and ethics. Let's look for those guys (similar to the person who writes these letters).
Well said! An excellent analogy!
Well said, Ralph Averill. Your analogy is extremely appropriate. For, like a building to stand for decades or centuries, our democracy requires deep pillars and laterals to permit it to stand under the most violent and longterm of those constant and extreme pressures both for its integrity and livability decades and centuries after the architect laid down his pencil and the builder turned over the keys to its entry and innards of it. Our founding fathers laid well those aspirations and principles upon which the facades of the present and future of America will be shown and egress continues for those seeking equality, peace, and opportunity in like measures. Yes. A good and true analogy.
Yes!!!!
We all know about "The Big Lie" ... well tfg & maga cult are rallying around THE BIGGER LIE with many variations of ceaseless propaganda-- that 45 is above the Law.
Mr.Averill, put so well. Thank you. Jay
Ralph, your post is what excellence looks like.
Thank you for that very nice compliment.
Thank you for slogging through! Your hard work is appreciated.
Thank you for working so
long & hard on this one so we can understand what is happening now. With TrumpтАЩs indictment dominating so much of the news, we miss so much of what is actually happening. You are appreciated!
IтАЩve decided to not watch the news today and focus instead on finishing a couple of books IтАЩve been reading. LetтАЩs not give the con man any more oxygen.
I watched just long enough to see the тАЬ50,000тАЭ called by MTG turn to maybe 5,000 peaceful protestors and observers from BOTH sides abiding by the rule of law while Trump was indicted, booked and went back to Bedminster where he will likely blow up Truth Social tonight but I will not be watching. I have a life of sorts at 75 and will not waste my precious time on TFG.
I am going to the beach and having a 6 mile walk alongside the water. And then that practical thing, mowing the lawn.
Everything you write looks effortless because of your skill. But make no mistake, just skimming the content and the notes made me feel seasick. I'm so glad you had that family day.
As sports columnist Red Smith once said, "Writing is easy. Just sit in front of a typewriter, open up a vein, and bleed it out drop by drop."
HCR, that you made it appear easy when it was extraordinarily hard shows another dimension of the gift you bring us as a writer and teacher.
IтАЩm so tired as I happen to wake to read this. I canтАЩt imagine actually writing it at this hour. You are incredible Heather and so appreciated !!
You will never know how wonderful it is to read a column by one who knows basic rules of grammar, much less can decipher the legal niceties of the current news cycle.
About halfway through reading today's letter the question "How does she do that?'" struck me of a sudden. I'm not a writer, but still sensed the complex magic, skill and effort you employ.
I want to thank you, Heather for giving me some hope and encouragement with this letter. I was rather shocked to see that Kari Lake cretin mildly criticizing Donald TUMP. It was encouraging to see that you mention the good economy figures too. Maybe, just maybe TUMP's ship is sinking fast now... i sure do hope so as i have grown very weary of that screaming monster, Donald TUMP... Keep up the excellent work, Heather...
Correction: It was Nikki Haley, not Kari Lake that mildly criticized TUMP.... that was an incredibly DUMB mistake on my part, i am about half asleep at this time of night.. For some reason, i do at times get those 2 mixed up, they are 2 of a kind actually.
John, I did a double-take when I read your post! When Kari Lake criticizes her lord and master I will turn to the weather report for the photos of hell frozen over.
Alexander you stated this beautifully - Kari Lake is a baby Trumpite and keeps the flame burning that she did not lose the election. KRAZY! it is so obvious she wants to be Trump's running mate. But Trump likes winners not losers.
KariтАЩs statement involved the second amendment, so no slowdown on her part.
LolтАж.yeah, two peas in a pod they are! ThoтАЩ I really donтАЩt get Kari LakeтАЩs schtickтАжatтАжall.
DonтАЩt overthink her, sheтАЩs a simpleton.
Microphone + lies = KL
You overestimate her level of intelligence.
Kari Lake reminds me of that preschool child in every class that waits for a child to cry and then chimes in, often not knowing why theyтАЩre crying.
Yes!! Lol......perfect image.
Only problem is she used her bawling to incite violence, but cha ( covered her a##) by adding, " This is not a threat, it is a public service announcement."
I'm lumping them all, including Trump into "Personality Disorders." That means they are seriously mentally disturbed, but still north of all out madness..(Although I am reconsidering the latter for Trump)
When I see what death star and Lake come up with, I can't believe they are not mentally unstable. I am also glad that Heather mentioned the loathsome James Watt, I am sure he has joined Pat in burning in hell. I may be misremembering this, but I think he also thought we were going to have a Second Coming soon and so the environment didn't matter.
ЁЯШБstuff happens
That's how it is when you're creating a story...fact or fiction. Sometimes it flows almost no effort...other times it's a struggle. THANKS for taking the time and care that you do. I assume you did not see Chris Christie last night. He very factually and with great insider information took on Trump with every question he fielded...and as a former prosecutor with 130 political scalps on his belt, he speaks with a lot of authority. Anderson Cooper did an excellent job. If Christy gets a bump in the polls this week...more of the gloves will come off. I totally disagree with his views on President Biden....but he nailed Trump to the floor of the bathroom at his "palace".
Ah, but it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Christie is not above manipulating, "fibbing," and profiteering.
Under Christie's thick layers of blubber there's just another supply sider who punishes the poorest and closes the Jersey shore so he and his family can have it all to themselves. Good job on Trump (A ruse?), predictable Reaganomics attack on Biden. Not to be trusted.
I think he very clearly sees Trump for what he is. His approach is a tactic that he believes will work for him. If not now, in the future. Would I ever vote for him ? No. But I'll take some R's near the top of their "food chain" finally really speaking out against Trump. I'd like to see all of their Presidential candidates doing that, instead of trying to keep Trumps base happy with a bunch of BS that most of the candidates don't really believe. They are cowards, trying to walk a tightrope to the nomination over a minefield.
Would I ever vote for ANY of them? No no no no no no no . . .
No, none of them...but I'd love to see more of them be honest about J6 and about this event with the classified docs. Stop spinning for a minute...stop trying to blame others. It's ok to be a conservative. You don't have to lie and support total propaganda. I ran into Connie Morella yesterday who was a Congressperson & Ambassador. She has remained an R...but she has integrity. She lost her seat in a primary years ago because she wasn't conservative enough. The R's have never regained that seat in Congress.
Integrity is the key word here. I don't believe I'm spinning here, but I bet John McCain is spinning in his grave over what's passing for "integrity."
Loved his take on " his boxes"..... he shipped them to NJ for his vacation. Christi says, What? Are the boxes like members of his family?
тАЬA brutal slog.тАЭ
How could it be otherwise?
Thank you Heather.
I gather it takes a lot extra work to get things right.
Always.
When you care about actual facts, as Heather does, it certainly DOES take a lot of extra work to get things right!
I'm in awe of her.
Plus her "day job". For some, writing a less well researched "column" is a full time job. And then there's the books.
Bravo Heather!
Thank you so very much for the years now of LFAA - and I only wish you would/could take more time off because I can't imagine how much energy and sleep these Letters have cost you. Take care of yourself and Buddy! ЁЯТЦЁЯТЦЁЯТЦ
Thank you for your persistence! You have helped me understand and appreciate history in ways I never had before!
Your gifts and talents, your years of love for this country, your engagment in historical facts along with your opinions, are deeply appreciated.
Thank you for bringing us together. I deeply appreciate the various wonderful humans you have drawn to your letters and their comments and opinions and "reading offerings".
A time for rest, recovery and relaxation is necessary....everyday is a gift......you are a gift to each of us. Thank you for your tenacity..."the brutal slog".
Oooo, yah, I noticed. Don't you wish you could get paid by the cite sometimes?
Thanks again for verifying that writing history is no better than verifying the facts with valid documentation. Your gift to history is not just your clear exposition of the facts of the time but the actual keys, or footnotes to the developments.
Any attempts to document our time without this valid certification demonstrates the vast difference between opinion and fact base reporting.