The Port of Baltimore reopened yesterday, fewer than 100 days after a container ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, collapsing it into the channel.
Dr. Lee sent me 3 more free 1 Month Substack Subscriptions.
As of 6/16/24 I now have 2four (4) FREE 1 MONTH SUBSCRIPTIONS to Dr. LEE's SUBSTACK: See, my comment below the Heading: 'IMPORTANT' in the last Paragraph. 4 FREE Subs now.
Christopher Spoler Alert: Psychiatrist, Dr. Bandy Lee, is holding a Zoom Meeting tomorrow, Saturday, June 15, 2024, to go public with a Plan to engage the New York DA & NY Judge in the Orange Felon's Pre-sentencing hearing targeting the NY Dept. of Corrections issue of "mental health",
A qualified Panel of psychiatrists will offer the Court a professional "risk assessment" with an associated media campaign, editorials & follow-up.
*******************************************
Good to see the response to Dr. Lee's ZOOM Announcement tomorrow, Saturday.
On 6/11 Dr. Lee gave me 3 "FREE gift Subscriptions to 'The Newsletter'.
Per Dr Lee, "EACH friend will receive one [1] free month of a PAID Subscription to 'The Newsletter' which should give you access to Saturday's ZOOM Announcement.
IMPORTANT: I need an email address that you will use for Dr. Lee's Substack. SO TEXT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO ME at (510) 303-9004. I just got 2 left ... so First Requested First Gifted ... for one [1] Month.
I am expecting the names on the Panel tomorrow. Addendum: "Nationally known Forensic Psyschiatrists" were not disclosed during Saturday's ZOOM Announcement.
However, I think in making fun of him, the jab has to point out things that are beyond opinion. Like bring a felon to work day. Maybe, senate votes against reproductive rights...vote against women, day. Or votes against Ukraine aid...a vote against freedom. Or maybe better yet, a vote for WWIII. Or a vote for Russian becoming our national language, day. Or a show of Republicans at Trump's trial as a...sow doubt in our justice system before it focuses on me, day.
Making fun of Trump's foibles... is unkind...though I understand and am repulsed by him.
Solange, calling Trump a whiner is a correct action. He talks and acts like a toddler, so we can expect whining, blubbering about things that don't make sense, and bullying. Toddlers with bad parenting do these things and somehow do not grow out of them because they worked so well when they were a child.
At this point it's not about him. it's about his followers but more importantly it's about the people on the margins of Republicanism and of the Independents
...sow doubt in our justice system before it focuses on me, day. That is the name of the game. Destroy all trust in our institutions so a demagogue can fix everything.
How about neither of those? Making fun of Trump persuades no one in the MAGA camp to change his or her mind, and re-energizes many.
The gloom and doom democrats need to somehow shake off their despondency, join an organized effort by joining a Get Out The Vote organization. Working to get Biden and your favorite down ballot candidate elected is the best tonic. If every gloomy democrat volunteered, we would have a landslide election.
Looks like our biggest problem is public education about how government actually works, in reality, and how it affects individuals. If and when we can start talking about policies and programs, how they work how they affect us we can bring the whole matter into an actual dialogue. Because what so many are doing is falling into the mock and mocking trap, as you point out. So many people do not understand what Biden has actually done, is doing and will do that helps everybody. Also with our mocking we are feeding the media characterizations that avoid real discussion. One supposedly easy
topic could be how quickly the Port of Baltimore was reopened within 100 days with the cooperation of every level of government, and all the planning, management, cooperating ideas etc that go into that. And of course how it helps people in general such as "The truck you ordered is coming in faster now because the boats can reach the harbors." Also with our mocking we are feeding the media characterizations that avoid real discussion. One supposedly easy topic could be how quickly the Port of Baltimore was reopened within 100 days with the cooperation of every level of government, and all the planning, management, cooperating ideas etc that go into that. And of course how it helps people in general such as "The truck you ordered is coming in faster now because the boats can reach the harbors." The endless Republican obstructions for the sake of what is thought of as winning for one side only is so utterly ridiculous. And on...
I couldn’t agree with you more. With, as an example, the Port of Baltimore, the different kind of experience, technical skills, management skills, project planning and coordination, logistics, and the on-site hands-on leadership—and the day it opens and you hear a dozen yahoos on a dozen different topics try to cap an argument with, “when was the last time the government ever did anything right?”
Christopher, I love the idea of pointing out Trump's let's say, inadequacies on a regular basis. People need to be jarred out of complacency and the fear that November will be the breaking point of our democracy. We don't have to let that happen. Trump is failing under the weight of dementia. So many people know it, particularly h is handlers, but they are scared they won't have anyone else to tie themselves to if Trump is officially set aside by the Republican Party, as he ought to be. Instead of acknowledging the truth, they try to paint Biden as the one who is failing, simply not true, but lying works so well for Republicans these days, lying as easily as opening their mouths.
Mine too, a first for Friday laugh! Albeit on a ‘no laughing matter’.
Patheticism: Such is the whole charade , daily misinformation, mismoves, miscalculation, miscarriage of duties, the MAGA/GOP goalposts.
Aye!….More The Emperor Has No Clothes sequel after sequel the PR eludes to sycophants pushing to get in front first kissing the Emperor’s ring feigning adulation..the world watches in quiet disdain .
The vindication spectacle of buffoonery , - folly of fools, a bitter bully losing his grip . The expected feeling sorry for him -🗣️send donations all-part of the ploy , suckered over and over, perfect pons, desperate for stealing any adoration he can get with small little hands grabbing for approval.
Meanwhile back at HQ Biden deals with the still flowing chaos, family issues too many face, and runs the country with honorable character continuum.
The contrast is a BOLD DISPLAY…anyone still on the fence?
Good point Jeri, they can practice , work out the kinks 🤦♀️😉, just a shallow quip. I would hope a much more lenient sentence from no previous convictions. House arrest ?
It’s a fear we have invited by allowing the ‘thems’ to ‘get away with it. Gun control, botched impeachment, resignation by Nixon, please folks feel free to add to this list, I will save space. And everyone who sits on their ‘conviction’ their vote doesn’t count..let’s not forget them. Part of this was complacency..I am not guilty!
You have to vote to bitch in my world! And I’ve heard a lot of good ideas in a good rant. They can be constructive.
I have lost a child , she was 19, murdered. NO PARENT doesnt suffer..forever.
But for you all , we voting blue…we do so caring to best help EVERYONE. Not just Americans. NO PARENT wants to go through the death of their child. But there’s many who actually raise them essentially for cannon fodder , to maintain control.
What a frighteningly sad and atrocious way - or subject matter - upon which we can result to a bit of comic relief … and what makes it so frightening and sad is the stupidity, ignorance, evilness, hatred and lack of virtuous character exhibited by the American voting populace who support this 34-count FELON and those holding elected positions of trust who have enabled him!!!
My Congresswoman, Laurel Lee, of Tampa, received TFG's endorsement. Wow, being endorsed by a convicted felon and failed insurrectionist. This may be a first in this country. I wonder how she will tout this honor.
As we have known since the amoral orange creature occupied the WH, the magas have no shame! Parading the orange bozo through the halls of congress is another attempt to desicrate the home of democracy!
The Miracle in Baltimore! Only could be done under President Biden. I do agree that I hear many people mostly right wing saying immigration is the issue however abortion and women’s autonomy is the bigger issue. Thanks Heather!
i should have read comments before logging my own...i would have just piggybacked yours...i work with ports out here on the west coast on large projects and this really is incredible. You are so right...a miracle indeed!
Christopher Democracy vs. authoritarian government is the underlying stake in the 2024 presidential election. Women’s rights, justice, respect rather than revenge towards the Americans people—-there are many critical issues, but for me the overriding one is that the soul of America is at risk.
Keith, in the last 8 year or so I have wondered what IS truly the soul of America—is it any one thing? I thought I knew, or at least had an idea, but what has transpired in recent years has me questioning…I embrace the “vision” of America…that we haven’t managed to fulfill it yet, but we are trying….and yet recent years see it backsliding, to my consternation. I came across the Pell Center, part of the Salve Regina Univ, and their Nationhood Lab which posted this (I found it enlightening): https://nationhoodlab.org/a-balkanized-federation/. We humans have a lot to attend to, but fear we are falling well short of our responsibility.
I think US history and culture is a very mixed bag, but that's a blessing as well as a curse. I think a lot of wrongs were on their way to redress after the age of American "robber barons", even growing concern for environmental protection. Even Nixon supported it. Reagan dismissed our better angels as a joke, and proposed a new era of plutocracy. And somehow the aggregated public has been buying it for over four decades, with predictably negative results. Time to exit the highway to hell, once and for all.
Some nice turns of phrase here. Your fourth sentence has a nice allusion to Lincoln in the first clause and a clever twist on Lincoln in the second. "A new birth of freedom" becomes a "new era of plutocracy." Well done. And I loved your concluding line.
Not consciously, but Lincoln laid out the foundations of my political beliefs from the years I was I was in elementary school. I'm old enough to recall when Lincoln's birthday was a national holiday, and we (in public school) acknowledged it by a day of two of special attention to Lincoln. Washington's birthday mostly occasioned repeating mythology, but Lincoln provided some of the scarce material I remember from and resonated with from those days.
It's interesting to learn how much and how early Lincoln influenced you. Based on other clever and well-written stuff I've seen appear under your name, I thought your usage was intentional. We are of the same generation (like so many of us on this oasis of a substack). But my memory (or yours :-) ) may be off a little. I thought it was Washington's birthday (22 Feb) that was the national holiday and Lincoln's (9 Feb) was just an observance. At my parochial elementary school, Washington and Lincoln were honored just by the mythology. It was a good idea to put their birthdays together as Presidents' Day, but the individual distinctions were lost in so doing. Oh well, with apologies to Joni Mitchell, something's lost and something's gained, in living every day. Especially to our age. :-)
JL Please don’t give Nixon credit as an environmentalist. With a Democratic Congress and an overriding focus on foreign affairs strategy AND re-election, he acquiesced to Democratic environmental legislation and even claimed credit for Environmental Day.
According to his tapes, he said “I don’t give a s++t about the environment.”
Barbara, thank you for a very interesting comment and for the link you provided. It gives us another useful way to look at our history and our politics. I share your curiosity and concern about the nature of the "soul" of America. I do think there is such a thing, but it has been undergoing a transformation into a less attractive and engaging manifestation. What has driven that change is a loss of hope for a better future for ourselves and our descendants. For much of our history our citizens believed that if we worked hard, played by the rules, and raised our children properly we could guarantee such a future. Over the past half-century self-inflicted economic and political policies enhanced by technological developments have shown that outlook to be a mirage. We honestly thought that we had something of fundamental importance to offer the world. That outlook made it possible for our country to play a major part in the defeat of the Axis powers in WW2 and the leading role in the establishment of the postwar liberal world order. That's gone now, and we did it to ourselves. All we offer is entertainment. Many of us try to hold onto the vision of an America that lives up to the noble sentiments of our founding documents, one that might someday have something of importance to offer the world, but that gets harder to do as the world goes mad.
And another thing is the continued distraction of celebrity culture, as if those who can sing or throw a ball have so much more useful insight into our character or policies.
Maybe Taylor swift has a clue. I can't stand her insipid music, but sometimes the lyrics are spot on.
Jen, thanks for that useful addition to my rant. It made me think of something from my long-ago graduate studies. There's a 14th century Chinese historical novel (Shui Hu Zhuan, for those who might be interested) based on events of the 11th century Song Dynasty. The first chapter of Pearl Buck's translation, begins "Kao Chiu kicks a ball." Gao Qiu, one of Emperor Song Huizong's advisors, is one of the villains of the novel, but he was a real person. He apparently attracted the Emperor's attention due to his proficiency in ball kicking. :-)
Re Taylor Swift, I'm not into pop music at all, but as a cultural phenomenon she seems to have her head screwed on properly, taking full advantage of her abilities without pretending to be anything more.
This was excellent Barbara. Almost as though ancestry.com was able to analyze the genetic makeup of the body politic. Very illuminating. Thank you so much for sharing.
Fascinating link, thanks. I took a trip to Montreal this month and did a history walking tour where a local historian explained how rural Canadians clung to their culture and language resulting in this bastion of French speaking in an otherwise English speaking country. I'm not sure how this article explains the cultural differences I see in Minnesota from it's surrounding states of Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Seems somehow linked to the Scandinavian settlement in this area. It seems like the internet and widely available information should promote assimilation and homogeneity like US brands and Japanese manga leaking world wide, but instead it seems to be used to inflame feelings about our differences.
I do believe Barbara ( and thanks for the point) that was the plan, slow sedition. The Republican plot , the perfect pon came filling the part to replete history to foil The Great America . The ballot box is the final hour folks …was it the lesson needed to wake the complacent? To reorganize and forge ahead as our forefather intended .
The tasks are daunting, and as any good lesson should be , we’re laid before us like gifts by a party intent to destroy the beauty forseen, fought for with their lives of my father and many of yours. I know , and 80 years later will still this by voting BLUE….
Some have always tried to redefine our soul, this seems to be the closest they have come in my lifetime. The threat is united like never before, from directions I never dreamed would even care. They are energized and evil. Don’t assume anything.
Barbara, THANK YOU for that link. I've lived my entire life in NH, within less than 5 miles of the house I grew up in, and the description of Yankeedom is spot-on. I've naively assumed the rest of the country had similar ideals to ours, but this analysis of regions clearly explains why that's not so. I''d also encourage readers to click on and read the follow-up pieces at the bottom.
Yes, Doug. Thanks you for recommending the additional articles, also worth reading. And thanks, Barbara, for passing this excellent reference on to us. It's so enlightening from a sociological/historical context as to who we are as citizens of the USA and when and whether we have ever been united.
Doug, yes, it’s excellent to read thru their entire site; way back when I discovered them I signed up for their newsletter, which comes only occasionally. One of these days I’m going to order the book American Nations which is mentioned on their site: https://colinwoodard.com/books/american-nations/
I read the book years ago and found it very representative of my experience growing up in the upper Midwest to New England. Now living in CA I find if I know what state someone’s ‘people’ came from I can predict quite a bit about them, and vice versa.
Nancy, being a 3rd generation Californian—my maternal grandmother was born in southern CA in 1898 (oh the stories she told!), I had no idea that different “American cultures” existed. Years ago a co-worker who had lived back east for a period of time told me in conversation that she could really tell the difference in behavior/belief/customs, etc from CA native born. I had no idea! You just made her point again all these decades later!
Fits well with what I'm finding out about one of my wife's earliest relatives, Captain Henry Fleete who had sailed on Robert Rich's ship Warwick (Rich was the 2nd Earl of Warwick) and seems might have brought the second group of slaves to Jamestown if it hadn't been sunk in Bermuda by a hurricane on 20 Oct 1619. (He later sailed aboard another of Lord Warwick's ships, the Tiger, migrating to Jamestown by 1621 before being captured by "...Yawaccomoo-o Indians on the Potomac River in 1623..."), see https://xpda.com/family/Fleete-Henry-ind00629.htm
"...Henry Fleete was born about 1600 in Chatham Court, Kent, to William Fleete, a barrister and his wife Deborah Scott Fleete. Living both in Kent and London he grew up amidst the excitement of colonization for William Fleete had become an adventurer in the Virginia Company of London during its reorganization under the Third Charter in 1612. Thus when in 1619 it was agreed to establish in Virginia a particular plantation of settlers from the county of Kent, young Henry Fleete made plans to join. The ships carrying this Kentish contingent arrived in Virginia in 1621 carrying among them both Henry Fleete and his second cousin Sir Francis Wyatt, the new governor.
Shortly after arrival Fleete met Henry Spellman, trader and interpreter, who had lived with the Indians for two years in his earliest days in Virginia. In 1623 Fleete went traveling with Spellman on a trading cruise up the Potomac when Spellman and twenty of his men were killed and Fleete was taken captive. Spending the next five years as a prisoner of the Patawomekes gave Fleete a knowledge of Indian languages and customs far exceeding that of almost any other colonist.
After gaining his freedom in 1627 he traveled back to England where he told his tales of Indian lands and possessions and attracted a merchant, William Cloberry, as a backer. For the next four years Fleete took Cloberry's ship, Paramour, on voyages as far north as New England exchanging corn for trade goods to use in trading with the Indians for furs. At the same time he patented his first land, 100 acres, on the Eastern Shore and established trading posts on land which later became Maryland. In 1631 after another trip to England and the acquisition of a new sponsoring merchant, he continued his trading voyages, now on the Warwick, while opening up the beaver trade on the upper Potomac.
The success of his trade with the Indians led him to close acceptance first by Governor Harvey of Virginia and then by Governor Calvert when Maryland was established in 1634. Fleete was in fact the one who recommended the site for St Mary's City and who took the lead in negotiations with the Indians for the land, a former Indian village, at that site. In return he received from the proprietor a patent for 4000 acres across the bay from St Mary's City..."
Family lore supported the idea that he was a good partner for Native Americans (after being held captive) along the idea that the Native Americans appreciated the English as protection from the Spanish they thought treated treated them much worse. Relations weren't all that smooth but grudgingly accepted most of the time back in those days. With the new to me information on Lord Warwick's ships Fleete sailed on (Warwick in particular), it seems it would be little different from another of his ships, the White Lion, which did get to Jamestown some months before the Warwick sank in a later hurricane than the one the White Lion could have been lost in.
Nothing negative showed up in family lore (rather to be expected), but I'm curious since I read somewhere other that they sold the 20 Angolans aboard the White Lion as "Indentured Servants" instead of as slaves for life. Perhaps unrealistic rationalization for some on how they were treated vs Native Americans.
The link you provided seems perfectly timed for me to find some more puzzle pieces.
Thanks for sharing this profile of America’s “diversity” based on geography and settlers. One thing that has held the nation together though is white supremacy. Everyone has been living with this in our “soul” for centuries.
Barbara Keating, I followed your link, but have only skimmed the article so far. It strikes me, too, as enlightening. I’ve lived in Minnesota my whole life and confess I’ve always thought that the states within the “Deep South” don’t qualify as being located within the community of civilized peoples. Fortunately, though, they are located pretty close to it and I live in hope that civilization will rub off on them eventually. Thanks for the article! I have a lot to learn from it.
Thank for that very interesting link. I have read American Nations (great read and goes further into the issues and outlooks that divide us) upon which this article is partly based. It all fits, and makes sense of the red state/blue state maps.
Barbara, you have touched off a benign, positive, explosion of thoughts in the minds of this enlightened community of HCR readers with the link you provided! Thanks for it!
Unfortunately, the Democracy vs Authoritarianism approach is risky. The word Democracy is not easily definable on a voter level and is easily appropriated by the opposing Party as theirs. You and I and many others know this is a battle for Democracy, but we need to pinpoint more concrete issues such as abortion.
Maybe you're right. Maybe democracy is not easily definable on a voter level. But if you're right, then I'm wrong, and so is Marian Anderson who said, "There is no particular thing that you can do alone. The 'I' in it is very small, after all. We are all here to have a kind of living of our own and to be recognized for what we are."
But the definition isn't complete without defining the alternative; authoritarianism. Donald Trump has said, in effect, "There is no particular thing that you can do without me. The 'I' in it is all. You are all here to give me power so I can get retribution on your perceived enemies. Just don't make me perceive you as my enemy, and how to do that is anybody's guess."
Barbara, but isn't the battle to defend and advance democracy a zero sum game? Or to put it more bluntly, if democracy fails, authoritarians win (and the rest of us lose.)
Anytime we engage in a conversation in the tone of a zero-sum game everyone loses. This is the kind of thinking Republicans are practicing in the Halls of Congress. Zero sum thinking can result in extremism and people gradually become what they are fighting against. Yes, this election is about Authoritarianism vs Democracy. But. I am not interested in wiping all Republicans out of Government. I am not interested in retribution for real nor perceived wrongs from the Republicans.
I am talking about a mindset here. I want Democracy to win the White House. I also want to still have an awful lot of political parties and ideas in our national discourse mix. I want to continue to have opposing views considered. I want the hatred of the other to stop. Can we co-exist peacefully in a zero-sum environment?
The Democrats will win the White House. Our challenge is to not lose our moral direction in the process.
One has property rights over human rights, the other has human rights at least as important as property rights.
I liked to look at it like the Vasa, a ship with masts way to high (or at least the center of balance) so much so that it capsized after sailing about the length of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Corrado Gini came up with the Gini Index on income , wealth, or consumption inequality, which I recall was once used to persuade people like Benito Mussolini that there limits to how much inequality could be tolerated by the people.
When the people at the bottom have enough for a decent quality of life and opportunity, they tolerate some pretty high levels of "inequality" as many of them dream of minimal limits on what they can achieve. When so many can't even achieve minimums of food and shelter, much less equal opportunities, the society becomes unstable.
Barbara Several days ago I commented with abut 10 specific concerns related to democracy vs. authoritarian. These are easy to contrast in simple , visceral terms. Indeed, I could imagine an qad in which some of Trump’s statements come popping out of a cuckoo clock. Love ther imagery CUCKOO CANDIDATE (FLATUENT FELON)
I appreciate your scholarship concerning the 10 specific concerns. The hard part of this is the average voter is on a 30 second sound bite mentality.
As to the imagery in all caps... I have made it a personal practice to not get involved in this kind of stuff. I don't name call or make up names. I refuse to let trump or any politician lead me to copy how they talk. We all know trump has negatively impacted our national discourse. There is a crudeness that is sad to me.
Barbara My suggestion is that the Biden campaign run a series of ads, reminiscent of the Lincoln Project, entitled CUCKOO COMMENTS. Since take various Trump comments individually, have a cuckoo clock present it, and then have a brief visceral riposte. Simple, substantive, and, over time, almost humorous. A 30 second sound bite with punch.
Well. I live in Kentucky. It's a ruby red State but there are blue pockets, so this leads me to imagine that there are blue pockets in the Deep South. I know from reading Robert Hubbell and Simon Rosenberg there are Democrats' groups in Florida who are very active. Bless their hearts. And they pulled a significant election victory recently. Can't recall exactly what it was though.
Keith, I'm so glad you used the word "soul." In all the mess that Trump has created, not once have I seen him rise to any level of showing real humanity. He's as soul-less as they come. And to me, showing compassion and recognizing our common humanity is what "soul" is all about. Making decisions based on what is good for all while acknowledging, honoring, and respecting differences is "soul." Reaching out a hand to help is "soul."
Nicely put, Pat. Death star is absolutely soulless. He has not one shred of human decency....nothing. No redeeming characteristics. I see him as a festering cancer on the body politic. Seeing all those Rs kissing his rear yesterday made me what to vomit. Standing ovations....please. About this time, we make a list of where to donate which, besides voting, is how we try to help. Yesterday there were lots of articles about Rs targeting the candidate for Oregon's 5th house district, now held by a R that the candidate has defeated twice. We will donate locally and also to national races where Ds have a chance. The Palmer Report (yes, I know, but his list is excellent) for those races where money will do the most good. I am sure others have lists as well.
I think we need to provide more specifics showing what an authoritarian govt. would actually mean for the average citizen. What I see as most likely aare an increase in pollution and environmental degradation, loss of not only abortion rights but probably contraception as well, higher barriers to voting, higher taxes and/or fees for the middle and working class, and very likely the end of Social Security and Medicare -- especially with Rick Scott (of 'sunset ' fame) now apparently running for R Leader in the Senate. People need to be hammered with the facts about what a Trump presidency would mean for them personally.
Agreed …so simple …even for the SCOTUS textualists ( which is a crock of “merde”) Separation of Church and State. Why does the GOP and SCOTUS not understand this?????
Immigration rules the fools in more places than people think. It’s just another way to practice racism with another name. Abortion doesn’t compute with many men, it’s just her problem, Unless it’s a power thing. Can the hit-and-run men be made to pay for 18-years. Anybody see that on the horizon?
"Racism with another name"! That's spot-on, Jeri. As I've said before (ad nauseum?), no one seems to be concerned with immigration from England, Germany, or Canada... they just want to keep "the other" out of the U.S.
Clear and uncomplicated is the level at which the cognitive underclass feels most comfortable. When confronted with complexity, there sets in a cognitive dissonance - a tension- and retreat is made to the clear and uncomplicated. Hard to break through.
Can we expect to see rolling back of child support law as well as others that primarily effect women? Hell yes, none of this is about fetal rights, protecting children, or morality, it's about dominance.
Women will be the ones underfoot, except maybe Ginni and Mrs. Alito. Yes I know plenty of female magats, but many are already under the feet of a man. Not all, so maybe that gender things is playing a part. Shhh, don’t tell the anti-trans nuts. Maybe too much snark?
Yes, the "Miracle in Baltimore" is an excellent example of Biden's demonstration of what people need government to do that they can't do by themselves. It is also a demonstration of Biden's ability to put capable people into important positions; in this case Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
This reminds me that it's important to ask voters whether they could trust Trump to come to their aid in an emergency. We know how badly he managed Covud and how little he cares.
Abortion will always be “on the table” until we codify Roe v. Wade. Have you seen how many times Biden has gone to Europe and back in the past couple of weeks? You think trump could have garnered the support of Europe and other nations like Biden? Not a chance in hell! The R’s that showed up to greet Trump like he’s king were really pathetic and miserable : Ms.Lindsay, Runaway Cruz, Fundie Britt, For-the love-of-Gawwd Romney, and last but never least, the Dishonorable Mitch-the-Witch McConnell, just to name a few. A sight for very sore eyes. The Dems are hard at work while the R’s are working to undermine democracy. You can vote for depression and constant chaos or you can vote for decency and the rule of law.
Yeah, George, what a legacy they leave….I imagine their portraits w/ egg on the face of each of them….down through perpetuity….how proud their decedents will be (snark)!
Yeah, Doug, thought about that as I wrote the comment. I’ve oft wondered how we would see “us” (humankind) if there were an accurate history written thru the ages. [writing this made me think of a long ago read sci-fi book Stranger In A Strange Land….as I recall they had what were known as “witnesses” to, without spin, bear witness to actions/happenings…haven’t thought of that in years….didn’t the term “grok” come from that too??!]
That scene of the standing ovation for Trump reminded me of an archived video, I think it was Mao wherein hundreds of Chinese members of the communist party are mindlessly clapping for their leader.... That’s what happened yesterday. And in the news... it’s all propaganda...they want us to think Biden can’t win. They want us to think Uncle Joe is on his last legs and gumming his food to death. Especially NYT, WaPo and I hate to say NPR....something is terribly wrong.
I believe that NYT, MSNBC, to name a few, helped hand the election to Trump against Hilary, by showing him all the time, and by the repeated comment that " nobody trusts her." Now they (press and Tv) show Trump all the time and mostly refer to Biden when mentioning his age. This is why I stick to HCR, who by the way gave a talk in my original home town in Maine to a standing ovation the other night. I received many calls about how great she was; one friend said she cried from the relief of feeling hope.
I see some reasons to hope, but certainly also for alarm. I think the future can be depended upon to surprise us, though the surprise will be how. Jessie Jackson said something to the effect that you don't drown until you stop swimming, and there are stranger things in heaven and earth than our dreamt of in our philosophies.
Many of our most stalwart media companies have quietly changed hands, changed staff and shifted their focus. I no longer count on them to shoot straight.
Even. NPR, I agree. We are in an information war. Hopefully, we’ll find out what is behind this negative to Biden bias before it’s too late. Even my local paper carries editorials etc. that show this insane normalization of Trump and denigration of Biden.
It’s classic authoritarian plays, a chess game of algorithms preying on calculated moves using our own weaknesses
. I actually see it as the MIRRORS ( as in smoke and mirrors…get it?) pointing out exactly WHERE -we, WE! Went Wrong! Again, this country is just a babe yet, our mistakes don’t have to be stumbling blocks, folks! Make them building blocks. Correct. Codify. Complete. Concentrate.
Circle the Conestogas sisters, brothers too…it’s a fight brought to us by fools . Let us thank them for reminding us what’s important.
Yes, Patricia: ".... this country is just a babe yet, our mistakes don’t have to be stumbling blocks, folks! Make them building blocks." Thank you! We are barely in our adolescence as a country. As we all know, that is a tough time to navigate. As you have stated so well, we all need to "Correct. Codify. Complete. Concentrate" and don't forget to breathe deeply...
"It’s classic authoritarian plays, a chess game of algorithms preying on calculated moves using our own weaknesses."
And two can play that game. A concept in Aikido (which my daughter studied) is using finessing the force of an opponent's attack to bring them down. The sold-out "GOP" is highly dangerous, but they go further and further out on a limb with it, which. with enough of a push, may facilitate their downfall. There is a lot of stuff that can be put forward to highlight bigly.
Seem to me Trump is looking more and more like a one trick phony, and maybe more people are starting to get tired of hearing him whine.
It has appeared this way for sometime, seeing it from Simon Rosenburg’s calculating and stating the elections winning Dem after Dem. I hope you’re both right, but I’ll not lessen my encouragement for other people to do a better job. If they’re a regular voter I applaud. Our general population needs a consistent approach to local and state happenings, get more interested I can’t believe people are happy with the like/action/tactics of belittling, name calling etc. This is 9 y.o.behavior! They CHEER!
I’m talking to the choir here, I realize. Such things as respect, civil discourse, actually knowing the ropes, the constitution , and talking improvements vs incessant investigations producing yet again No Evidence.
You’re right JL , people are tired of hearing it.
One Trick Pony…🤞… I’m not assuming anything anymore. I DID see this coming, but I wasn’t even close.🤦♀️
I don't know quite how to make it happen, but we need a lot more public engagement before government of the people, by the people, for the people is truly effective. Our education and our other information sources need to be held to a keener focus upon what are circumstances actually are, and what needs to happen to address them them beneficially and justly. If we really are the ultimate deciders, we have a natural duty to integrate adult choices for the whole of our society with what happens to be pleasing to us as individuals. Liberty and justice for ALL. Or so it seems to me.
CNN in this morning’s 5Things mentions trump turning 78 today and one sentence later talks about BIDENS gaffes. Nothing about trump’s shark attacks in Las Vegas no less. The world has gone mad.
The biggest factor consistent with ‘them’ is lies and misinformation or manipulating facts ‘ alternative reality’ I am sure this MO is the leopard and his spots affidavit…they tell us what is wanted to be believed..over and over and over ain’t gonna change…so,
The ballot box , BLUE ON BLUE, no, wont stop it, but hopefully sends the clear message, no mo bs! House. Senate. WH. Pack yer bags. Just a matter of time, toots. Then hold the new to decent blue progress…there’s a lot to change folks! Our world watches , hopeful too. Four. More. Years.
Regina, what’s wrong is that corporate accountants for Media control the levers of decision wrt any journalistic motivation. Profits are only generated by ad dollar spenders who place primary value on “clicks and likes” IOW, the public’s attention
Creating dissension generates increased attention from us. Reporting news is boring, but getting the Jets and the Sharks to rumble brings us all into the streets
Journalism has become free to the public, much as has music in a “streaming” economy where artists are not paid for their contributions to society
There’s simply no money in it for the creators, so former journalists go where the money is, “clicks and likes”
Dave, Les Moonves may have said it most clearly, when he said of #45 that he may not be good for America, but he was very good for CBS. This was before he got the boot for his execrable behavior.
“ This afternoon, Biden posted: “Kamala and I stand with the majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to make deeply personal health care decisions. And our commitment to you is that we will not back down from ensuring women in every state get the care they need.”
This quote should probably be placed on billboards, TV political Ads, banners from airplanes nationwide over and over and over….
Not really miraculous. Just another example of what we can accomplish when everyone works together with determination and expertise. If Trump were in charge, unless it put money in his pocket, he'd still just be blathering on about it. Every time someone says how good things were under Trump, I want to ask them to give me some specifics.
Betsy, The answers I mostly receive are tax cuts and low inflation. Because polling seems to indicate that the economy and high prices are a major concern for many voters, I would suggest Democrats, far more methodically, underscore how major corporations (which, in my view, should be called out by name) are using the cover of inflation to drive up prices.
While some might empathize with a reluctance, due to corporate donors’ undue influence on our politics, to call out corporate profits as the biggest driver of high pricing, I believe the benefits of pinning corporate gouging for the increased prices people are paying would outweigh the pitfalls. Further, I would note, that while the GOP’s election strategy largely is about blaming the Biden Administration for high prices, the Republican Party doesn’t actually have a plan to reduce them.
Barbara, whoever coined the term “greedflation” was right-on!!!! During Covid, but after Biden/Harris won, I was pumping gas & an older gent and I were lamenting the cost of gas—I live in a rural area and the cost was then close to $6 a gallon—and he blamed Biden. I gently countered with the fact that Biden did not set the price of gas, the companies do & if anyone was at fault it was them, not him, for gouging prices—and told him about the astronomical profits they were making.
I did the same at a Costco where members usually get from $.15 to $.25 savings per gallon from other local gas stations. A guy kitty corner from me was shouting, “We can thank Joe Biden for these prices. Is everybody happy?” I piped up, “President Biden doesn’t have any control over the price of gas. The gas companies set the price.” Of course, he told me I was wrong. (What could a woman know?) “Actually,” I said, “I am correct.” He was thoroughly disgusted, and surprised, I think, that anyone in red East Tennessee would disagree with him. I felt empowered by using my voice, and also that we’d kept Trump out of the White House. Vote 🔵 up and down the ballot. GOTV! 💙🧢
Trump's tax cuts for the mega rich added $7-trillion to the national debt. Servicing that extra debt only ups inflation, further gouging the rest of us.
Marcia, yes, I was at a Costco filling up when this happened. I now mostly get my gas from my local Rancheria casino gas station where, if you pay cash, you get a 25 cent discount per gallon on the price….but being in rural area it still, today, tops $5 gallon—it’s even cheaper than Costco and is local to me…in my town (my Costco is three towns away).
I think it is weird that society is so reluctant to blame corporations that are often proved to be breaking the rules but go nuts if the poor do. I recall so years ago hearing on NPR of a doctor that was stealing millions from Medicare and saw no mention anywhere else, when one person manged to purchase a latte from a Starbucks affiliate, it was national news. Maybe that's me not paying attention, but the perverse double standard seems self-evident. I understand that in the Great Depression, the greed of the fatcats was more of an issue.
Barbara, I would note, while the President broadly has spoken about price gouging and deceptive pricing, he is not nearly as effective as, say, Bob Casey (PA) and Sherrod Brown (OH), who are running very successful Senatorial campaigns by aggressively calling out the companies that are being unfair to consumers: 1) Exxon-Mobil that is colluding around the world keeping oil prices up, 2) Tyson Foods, Albertsons, & Kroger, some of the major food chains, also keeping their prices up, 3) Pepsi Co, a major food supplier and processor, like the others, keeping its prices up despite enjoying record mark-ups in profits. I could go on, but my point, despite the President taking fairly aggressive anti-trust action, is that he needs to be more aggressive in naming names of companies that are keeping their prices up although their profits, their stock prices, and their CEO pay all are at record levels, while they’re not treating their consumers well.
As far as supermarket prices go, I can't understand that argument. We've
got Stop & Shop and Shaw's on the Cape. They both put out weekly ads,
paper copies in the store, digital copies on line. The last two times
that I bought eggs, they were $2.99/dozen. I bought six packages of
Thomas' English muffins since they're my favorite, and Shaw's had a buy
one/get two free special. Eggplant and Zucchini were both 99 cents/lb, so
we had ratatouille last night. There are always sales on all of the things that we eat except for milk, but we buy the store brand and the price has remained the same for a long time. So the next time you hear people complain about the
supermarket, please tell them to read the ads and buy that week's bargains.
I obsessively research prices and save a ton of money doing so. Even if it's more trouble, I hate to reward gouging. I finding dramatic discounts getting harder harder to come by though. Even so, the rise in prices across the board over the last few years seems unprecedented to me. More that more than ever it seems that pricing is unmoored from the cost of production. "Company store" pricing. I have not researched this, but it seems to me that the rate of inflation has been more dramatic for the cheapest of commodities, such as crackers, bread, and cheap to produce crops like peanuts and potatoes. Notably normerly cheap crops that the poor depended on. I my youth, people still used expressions like "not worth a hill of beans" or "I bought it for peanuts" to indicate very low price. My wife saw peanuts recently for thirteen dollars a pound. I think that's exceptional, but nowhere are they especially cheap,
Betsy, You are absolutely right. I have a friend here on Cape Ann (do you and I live on the same Cape?), who advises people with fixed budgets how to shop and eat well. As for my comment, I mainly was speaking to how some of our candidates are effectively addressing people’s concerns over high prices, despite they’re having dropped considerably from the days of 9% inflation.
I'll disagree about grocery stores, typically they only make 1 to 3% profit. I'd say more like vendors are price gouging. Pepsi definitely is vender regulated prices could be all over the place. $2 to $6 for a 2lt. Grocery store managers are hearing these complaints constantly like it's them but it's not.
I recently stopped at a rural gas station and all of the pumps had neatly placed sticker on them of Biden winking and pointing to the price per gallon with the words "I did that".
That's the other half of tyranny. I seems that many people will fight, even die, to defend a tiny share of personal status, or just the illusion status, in a hierarchical system in which they benefit little, or are even oppressed. Without that compulsive following, we'd have been done with tyrants long ago. It sucked to be a serf. It still does.
Ned, While I get your point, admittedly, I am no fan of RFK, Jr. However, if he gets on ballots, particularly in battleground states, and damages Trump without harming Biden, I could live with that.
You bring up a good point: I will not be voting for Mr Kennedy but for President Biden. What drives these comments about R.F.K., Jr is the current concern over his possible impact upon President Biden in the general election. I believe that Mr Kennedy will hurt Trump more than President Biden.
Au contraire. More deregulation and massive tax cuts for the super-rich, unleashing a tide that floats all yachts. Meanwhile, were broke. so austerity.
J L, Indeed, as you state, we’re not in the same boat. Hence why it is vital to inquire when corporate commercial interests must be subordinate to the public interest.
I'm inclined to credit Pete Buttigieg and the wisdom of the people who chose him to be Secretary of Transportation (and yes, every single worker, thanks to them!). Am I delusional or is it possible to look at someone and listen to them and 'know' sincerity when it's present? He seems so trustworthy and capable.
No, but thanks for the pointer. I have a good feeling about him and his leadership impacting our country in the future. He's a "Be the change you want to see in the world" person.
@Lauren Dunlap...If Trump was President, imagine the corruption, poor materials and grift!!! Contracts going to his buddies or his campaign donors and no end of delay and confusion.
It is truly mystifying why an exceptional multi-jurisdictional clearance of a bridge collapse disaster with Nationwide Implications is not enthusiastically celebrated by ALL of our leaders as a fine American achievement. Are we already at the point at which it is anti-American to succeed? How, exactly, does that represent wise use of our heritage, our taxes, our personnel, our institutional knowledge, and our laws? Not only is that an injustice to some really dedicated workers and managers, it is also a violent disregard for the sacrifices of millions of Americans whose contributions, including life and limb, brought us to this point. If this sort of civic blasphemy continues to mar our struggles to achieve progress, I would surely like to hear from its perpetrators how such a perspective can be justified. It is, indeed, a hall of mirrors. We must show up in great numbers in November to shatter those mirrors. And then toast Francis Scott Key and the bridge that honors him, even though it will be a long time before it can bear traffic again. I congratulate the men and women in Baltimore who showed us how patriots actually operate.
The GQP in general and Cheetolini in particular (and their propaganda channels like Fox noise, OAN, Newsmax, etc) are desperate to paint the country as a “hell hole” any time a Democrat is in charge, but then reverse to it being “the best country in the history of the world” when one of their scumwads (i.e. shrub, Cheetolini, etc) is in charge.
The who;e GOP Idea is to make America Grate, not succeed. Success is the last thing they want, when it's been hard enough to keep their flock enraged all the time as it is. And success with a Democratic in the White House?
Some 87,000 IVF babies were born in the U.S. in 2021. And the MAGA House can’t muster the votes to protect the procedure? So much for Republicans being the self-proclaimed "party of life."
IVF gives us more babies, so why are MAGAS so against it when babies seem to be what they want by banning abortion and contraception?? Oh wait, their goal is to punish women and those IVF babies are wanted, loved & cared for…
Sharon, I recently saw a picture meme of a red cap w/ the 45 designation (meaning yay Trump) only to comment, to paraphrase, “why would you print your IQ on your hat??”….I don’t think SubStack allows posting of pics, so can’t share….but is too funny.
The reopening of the Port of Baltimore and the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key bridge is nothing short of magnificent. A shout out to all involved.
A particular note of thanks and remembrance should be provided to the half dozen, hard working immigrant laborers who perished with the bridge's collapse earlier this year. The same asinine, seditionist Senators who have voted to torpedo any Biden nominees sight unseen due to the righteous conviction of Despicable Don, have all long been racist decriers of the rights and dignities of those who migrate to our Country for work and survival, indirectly desecrating the dignity of the six men from Mexico and Central America who died while working on the bridge in the dawn's early light.
I say the re-built bridge should bear those six names somewhere upon the new girders and beams, providing a permanent reminder that the effort of bridge building to a better America is an endeavor as ceaseless and oft faceless, as it is always noble.
I live less than a mile from the Holman United Methodist Church on Adams Blvd. in Los Angeles, the church long presided over by the Rev. James Lawson. He was one of the last of the pioneering leaders of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He shed the mortal coil mere days ago, and we are all the lesser for his passing.
He once said, "No human being in the sight of God is illegal. The fight for the civil rights of workers who come here from all over the world is the same as the Freedom Riders of 1961 and the continuing struggle for civil and human rights for all"
I love the idea of honoring the working men who died in the bridge collapse…we in the USA are so shortsighted and ignorant when it comes to the contributions of migrant workers, regardless of their status.
We must all acknowledge the essential role of religious leaders in the fight for freedom and democracy. But the point I want to make is that I think we are damaging our own cause by letting the so-called evangelical movement get away with the "Christian" label. To me, that's the equivalent of using the Lord's name in vain.
They say they support Christian values, but they don't express those values in words. Instead, they express what they mean in their actions, and what they mean is "do as I say and not as I do." The difference between real Christian values and what they are doing is the same as the difference between up and down.
Whether a person identifies as Christian or not, and I don't, we all have the opportunity to identify the real Christian values by quoting the good news of the Gospel. In Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 10, they are confirmed by Jesus. The first principle is that a person's conscience is personal, which is in lieu of being imposed on that person by another person. The second principle is that, when my actions conflict my neighbor's, I should not assume that I'm right, or that they're right. Instead, we are to resolve the conflict in service of our relationship.
If my attitude toward someone who disagrees with my is "I'm right, you're wrong, and this conversation is over," I might as well be a Republican. At least then I'm not pretending to be in favor of freedom and democracy.
I don't know Rev. James Lawson's perspective, so I'll respect Daniel's judgment as to whether he would agree with my perspective. Meanwhile, I'm assuming that he would.
A reputed Christian value is to turn the other cheek. In that case, vote for Trump and all the rest of the Republican fascists. Stop with the both sides bullshit. They are planning a concentration camp just for you.
You're right. That's what they're doing. They're planning a concentration camp, and not just for me. But that's what I'm fighting against. Specifically, since I was a child, I've resisted people who, like Trump, say, "I'm right, you're wrong, and this conversation is over."
That's what you're doing to me. So, keep doing it because every time you do, you'll be giving me another reason to believe I'm right. Alternatively, in lieu of giving me an order, give me a reason.
Have you ever wondered why Trump gets away with so much? Here's why. There are two sides. On one side are the people who practice wisdom, which requires practice because it needs to be developed. On the other side is Trump who. In lieu of practicing wisdom, practices "unconstrained ignorance," which can be developed if practiced. If he wins, it'll be because too many people are on his side, and he's better at it than all of us.
You give equal time to the devil. How Christian of you. You equate yourself to Trump because you both think you’re right and that is a sin. God help you.
Ad hominem: An argument directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.
Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. This avoids genuine debate by creating a diversion to some irrelevant but often highly charged issue.
For the record, I identify as a scientist, not a Christian, but they're both based on the same principle of mutual respect.
I directed my comments to your argument, not to your person. No scientist can respect lies, whether it be superstition or white Christian nationalism. Be careful to whom you give the benefit of the doubt.
Love the idea of honoring the lost but it will be quite some time before the bridge is rebuilt. Businesses are suffering. Congress must provide funding.
Janet, I saw my Congressional rep on The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle this evening and he mentioned the push-back against it. Here is a link to his website, which lists other members involved (Huffman is a rep for far northern CA):
Critical thinking skills enable individuals to evaluate information critically, recognize misinformation, question biased narratives, and make informed decisions, thereby countering the divisive rhetoric and undermining efforts to erode democratic norms propagated by the MAGA movement and Donald Trump.
When a groundskeeper at our company was asked where he was going to go after we closed down most of the company, he said he was going to Santa Anita to work in the horse barns since the back ends of the horses there made more sense than our executives.
Not long ago (2019), Jim, George Takei wrote a graphic novel memoir, "They Called Us Enemy," about his experiences beginning as a four-year-old being taken under gunpoint to Santa Anita, and with his family being confined to the horse stables there.
A few months later he and his family were shipped (also under gunpoint) to one of the internment camps the U.S. built to confine Japanese-Americans during WWII.
A good book. A good man.
The next year, 1943, my father was housed at Santa Anita prior to being sent, also under arms, to New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan.
At that converted race track, also 1943, he met a 16-year-old girl serving as a USO volunteer, whom he married on the very last day of 1943, after the war my mother.
I do remember one of my heroes, George Takei's story of the internment camps. I didn't know of ant sent to New Guinea. Was that a choice after the war?
The parents of my sister-in-law's best friend for the last 50 years were held in a camp but I don't remember which one.
PSA... Sorry to veer from HCR's subject matter, but... June 14 is Flag Day. In honor of Samuel & Martha-Ann Alito, I'm flying two flags upside down in their front yard... the Confederate battle flag (the Stars & Bars)... the the Nazi swastika flag.
Rep. Schiff’s comment, “bring your felon to work day,” made me laugh. A laugh is much appreciated these days.
George Conway emphasizes the best way to address Trump is not a gloom and doom approach but make fun of him and continue doing so.
SUNDAY NIGHT 6/16 UPDATE:
Dr. Lee sent me 3 more free 1 Month Substack Subscriptions.
As of 6/16/24 I now have 2four (4) FREE 1 MONTH SUBSCRIPTIONS to Dr. LEE's SUBSTACK: See, my comment below the Heading: 'IMPORTANT' in the last Paragraph. 4 FREE Subs now.
Christopher Spoler Alert: Psychiatrist, Dr. Bandy Lee, is holding a Zoom Meeting tomorrow, Saturday, June 15, 2024, to go public with a Plan to engage the New York DA & NY Judge in the Orange Felon's Pre-sentencing hearing targeting the NY Dept. of Corrections issue of "mental health",
A qualified Panel of psychiatrists will offer the Court a professional "risk assessment" with an associated media campaign, editorials & follow-up.
*******************************************
Good to see the response to Dr. Lee's ZOOM Announcement tomorrow, Saturday.
On 6/11 Dr. Lee gave me 3 "FREE gift Subscriptions to 'The Newsletter'.
Per Dr Lee, "EACH friend will receive one [1] free month of a PAID Subscription to 'The Newsletter' which should give you access to Saturday's ZOOM Announcement.
IMPORTANT: I need an email address that you will use for Dr. Lee's Substack. SO TEXT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO ME at (510) 303-9004. I just got 2 left ... so First Requested First Gifted ... for one [1] Month.
:--)
Great!
I am expecting the names on the Panel tomorrow. Addendum: "Nationally known Forensic Psyschiatrists" were not disclosed during Saturday's ZOOM Announcement.
However, I think in making fun of him, the jab has to point out things that are beyond opinion. Like bring a felon to work day. Maybe, senate votes against reproductive rights...vote against women, day. Or votes against Ukraine aid...a vote against freedom. Or maybe better yet, a vote for WWIII. Or a vote for Russian becoming our national language, day. Or a show of Republicans at Trump's trial as a...sow doubt in our justice system before it focuses on me, day.
Making fun of Trump's foibles... is unkind...though I understand and am repulsed by him.
But he responds to mocking faster than anything else. He cannot abide it at all.
keep calling him a whiner.
Make a poster with these words. Put it where everyone can see it. You don’t even need to use his name. Everyone will know who you’re talking about!
You lost
Suck it up,
Get over it,
Grow a pair,
Quit whining,
And Grow the f* up!
Love it George but my favorite is still
"Trump/Putin Together Again 2024"
Solange, calling Trump a whiner is a correct action. He talks and acts like a toddler, so we can expect whining, blubbering about things that don't make sense, and bullying. Toddlers with bad parenting do these things and somehow do not grow out of them because they worked so well when they were a child.
At this point it's not about him. it's about his followers but more importantly it's about the people on the margins of Republicanism and of the Independents
Excellent, Susan!
...sow doubt in our justice system before it focuses on me, day. That is the name of the game. Destroy all trust in our institutions so a demagogue can fix everything.
He is the clown with the flamethrower
🤡
How about neither of those? Making fun of Trump persuades no one in the MAGA camp to change his or her mind, and re-energizes many.
The gloom and doom democrats need to somehow shake off their despondency, join an organized effort by joining a Get Out The Vote organization. Working to get Biden and your favorite down ballot candidate elected is the best tonic. If every gloomy democrat volunteered, we would have a landslide election.
it is not the MAGA camp that we need to influence. it's the fringe Republicans and the independents.
I didn’t mention influencing MAGA. I said jokes about MAGA seems to energize them to vote. We don’t want to motivate them.
Looks like our biggest problem is public education about how government actually works, in reality, and how it affects individuals. If and when we can start talking about policies and programs, how they work how they affect us we can bring the whole matter into an actual dialogue. Because what so many are doing is falling into the mock and mocking trap, as you point out. So many people do not understand what Biden has actually done, is doing and will do that helps everybody. Also with our mocking we are feeding the media characterizations that avoid real discussion. One supposedly easy
topic could be how quickly the Port of Baltimore was reopened within 100 days with the cooperation of every level of government, and all the planning, management, cooperating ideas etc that go into that. And of course how it helps people in general such as "The truck you ordered is coming in faster now because the boats can reach the harbors." Also with our mocking we are feeding the media characterizations that avoid real discussion. One supposedly easy topic could be how quickly the Port of Baltimore was reopened within 100 days with the cooperation of every level of government, and all the planning, management, cooperating ideas etc that go into that. And of course how it helps people in general such as "The truck you ordered is coming in faster now because the boats can reach the harbors." The endless Republican obstructions for the sake of what is thought of as winning for one side only is so utterly ridiculous. And on...
And on...
I couldn’t agree with you more. With, as an example, the Port of Baltimore, the different kind of experience, technical skills, management skills, project planning and coordination, logistics, and the on-site hands-on leadership—and the day it opens and you hear a dozen yahoos on a dozen different topics try to cap an argument with, “when was the last time the government ever did anything right?”
As above, by Adam Schiff's "bring your felon to work day!"
Tyrannosaurus Rump
Christopher, I love the idea of pointing out Trump's let's say, inadequacies on a regular basis. People need to be jarred out of complacency and the fear that November will be the breaking point of our democracy. We don't have to let that happen. Trump is failing under the weight of dementia. So many people know it, particularly h is handlers, but they are scared they won't have anyone else to tie themselves to if Trump is officially set aside by the Republican Party, as he ought to be. Instead of acknowledging the truth, they try to paint Biden as the one who is failing, simply not true, but lying works so well for Republicans these days, lying as easily as opening their mouths.
Mine too, a first for Friday laugh! Albeit on a ‘no laughing matter’.
Patheticism: Such is the whole charade , daily misinformation, mismoves, miscalculation, miscarriage of duties, the MAGA/GOP goalposts.
Aye!….More The Emperor Has No Clothes sequel after sequel the PR eludes to sycophants pushing to get in front first kissing the Emperor’s ring feigning adulation..the world watches in quiet disdain .
The vindication spectacle of buffoonery , - folly of fools, a bitter bully losing his grip . The expected feeling sorry for him -🗣️send donations all-part of the ploy , suckered over and over, perfect pons, desperate for stealing any adoration he can get with small little hands grabbing for approval.
Meanwhile back at HQ Biden deals with the still flowing chaos, family issues too many face, and runs the country with honorable character continuum.
The contrast is a BOLD DISPLAY…anyone still on the fence?
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
I hope Hunter Biden has security. It is critical for Joe’s stress level.
Good point Jeri, they can practice , work out the kinks 🤦♀️😉, just a shallow quip. I would hope a much more lenient sentence from no previous convictions. House arrest ?
My fear is that some magat idiot will kill him.
Kyle, who?
It’s a fear we have invited by allowing the ‘thems’ to ‘get away with it. Gun control, botched impeachment, resignation by Nixon, please folks feel free to add to this list, I will save space. And everyone who sits on their ‘conviction’ their vote doesn’t count..let’s not forget them. Part of this was complacency..I am not guilty!
You have to vote to bitch in my world! And I’ve heard a lot of good ideas in a good rant. They can be constructive.
I have lost a child , she was 19, murdered. NO PARENT doesnt suffer..forever.
But for you all , we voting blue…we do so caring to best help EVERYONE. Not just Americans. NO PARENT wants to go through the death of their child. But there’s many who actually raise them essentially for cannon fodder , to maintain control.
Sad.
I’m so sorry. I have had fear for my child’s life and one grandchild’s life. It is shattering. We are not giving up…
Loved that one!
It was a LOL for me too.
What a frighteningly sad and atrocious way - or subject matter - upon which we can result to a bit of comic relief … and what makes it so frightening and sad is the stupidity, ignorance, evilness, hatred and lack of virtuous character exhibited by the American voting populace who support this 34-count FELON and those holding elected positions of trust who have enabled him!!!
My Congresswoman, Laurel Lee, of Tampa, received TFG's endorsement. Wow, being endorsed by a convicted felon and failed insurrectionist. This may be a first in this country. I wonder how she will tout this honor.
As we have known since the amoral orange creature occupied the WH, the magas have no shame! Parading the orange bozo through the halls of congress is another attempt to desicrate the home of democracy!
The Miracle in Baltimore! Only could be done under President Biden. I do agree that I hear many people mostly right wing saying immigration is the issue however abortion and women’s autonomy is the bigger issue. Thanks Heather!
i should have read comments before logging my own...i would have just piggybacked yours...i work with ports out here on the west coast on large projects and this really is incredible. You are so right...a miracle indeed!
No need to throw paper towels into the crowd...
He'd look funny if they threw them back at him.
I would, but with a crowbar attached
I take it you can throw straight.
No, but he's a barn-sized target
Oh Jeri, let me help you with that crowbar!
Many crowbars neeeded...
I wish they HAD thrown them back.
🤣👍
That is what the orange menace would have done and then complained that they weren't absorbent enough to drain the port so it could be cleared.
Christopher Democracy vs. authoritarian government is the underlying stake in the 2024 presidential election. Women’s rights, justice, respect rather than revenge towards the Americans people—-there are many critical issues, but for me the overriding one is that the soul of America is at risk.
Keith, in the last 8 year or so I have wondered what IS truly the soul of America—is it any one thing? I thought I knew, or at least had an idea, but what has transpired in recent years has me questioning…I embrace the “vision” of America…that we haven’t managed to fulfill it yet, but we are trying….and yet recent years see it backsliding, to my consternation. I came across the Pell Center, part of the Salve Regina Univ, and their Nationhood Lab which posted this (I found it enlightening): https://nationhoodlab.org/a-balkanized-federation/. We humans have a lot to attend to, but fear we are falling well short of our responsibility.
I think US history and culture is a very mixed bag, but that's a blessing as well as a curse. I think a lot of wrongs were on their way to redress after the age of American "robber barons", even growing concern for environmental protection. Even Nixon supported it. Reagan dismissed our better angels as a joke, and proposed a new era of plutocracy. And somehow the aggregated public has been buying it for over four decades, with predictably negative results. Time to exit the highway to hell, once and for all.
Some nice turns of phrase here. Your fourth sentence has a nice allusion to Lincoln in the first clause and a clever twist on Lincoln in the second. "A new birth of freedom" becomes a "new era of plutocracy." Well done. And I loved your concluding line.
Not consciously, but Lincoln laid out the foundations of my political beliefs from the years I was I was in elementary school. I'm old enough to recall when Lincoln's birthday was a national holiday, and we (in public school) acknowledged it by a day of two of special attention to Lincoln. Washington's birthday mostly occasioned repeating mythology, but Lincoln provided some of the scarce material I remember from and resonated with from those days.
It's interesting to learn how much and how early Lincoln influenced you. Based on other clever and well-written stuff I've seen appear under your name, I thought your usage was intentional. We are of the same generation (like so many of us on this oasis of a substack). But my memory (or yours :-) ) may be off a little. I thought it was Washington's birthday (22 Feb) that was the national holiday and Lincoln's (9 Feb) was just an observance. At my parochial elementary school, Washington and Lincoln were honored just by the mythology. It was a good idea to put their birthdays together as Presidents' Day, but the individual distinctions were lost in so doing. Oh well, with apologies to Joni Mitchell, something's lost and something's gained, in living every day. Especially to our age. :-)
JL Please don’t give Nixon credit as an environmentalist. With a Democratic Congress and an overriding focus on foreign affairs strategy AND re-election, he acquiesced to Democratic environmental legislation and even claimed credit for Environmental Day.
According to his tapes, he said “I don’t give a s++t about the environment.”
Barbara, thank you for a very interesting comment and for the link you provided. It gives us another useful way to look at our history and our politics. I share your curiosity and concern about the nature of the "soul" of America. I do think there is such a thing, but it has been undergoing a transformation into a less attractive and engaging manifestation. What has driven that change is a loss of hope for a better future for ourselves and our descendants. For much of our history our citizens believed that if we worked hard, played by the rules, and raised our children properly we could guarantee such a future. Over the past half-century self-inflicted economic and political policies enhanced by technological developments have shown that outlook to be a mirage. We honestly thought that we had something of fundamental importance to offer the world. That outlook made it possible for our country to play a major part in the defeat of the Axis powers in WW2 and the leading role in the establishment of the postwar liberal world order. That's gone now, and we did it to ourselves. All we offer is entertainment. Many of us try to hold onto the vision of an America that lives up to the noble sentiments of our founding documents, one that might someday have something of importance to offer the world, but that gets harder to do as the world goes mad.
And another thing is the continued distraction of celebrity culture, as if those who can sing or throw a ball have so much more useful insight into our character or policies.
Maybe Taylor swift has a clue. I can't stand her insipid music, but sometimes the lyrics are spot on.
Jen, thanks for that useful addition to my rant. It made me think of something from my long-ago graduate studies. There's a 14th century Chinese historical novel (Shui Hu Zhuan, for those who might be interested) based on events of the 11th century Song Dynasty. The first chapter of Pearl Buck's translation, begins "Kao Chiu kicks a ball." Gao Qiu, one of Emperor Song Huizong's advisors, is one of the villains of the novel, but he was a real person. He apparently attracted the Emperor's attention due to his proficiency in ball kicking. :-)
Re Taylor Swift, I'm not into pop music at all, but as a cultural phenomenon she seems to have her head screwed on properly, taking full advantage of her abilities without pretending to be anything more.
This was excellent Barbara. Almost as though ancestry.com was able to analyze the genetic makeup of the body politic. Very illuminating. Thank you so much for sharing.
Good analogy.
Fascinating link, thanks. I took a trip to Montreal this month and did a history walking tour where a local historian explained how rural Canadians clung to their culture and language resulting in this bastion of French speaking in an otherwise English speaking country. I'm not sure how this article explains the cultural differences I see in Minnesota from it's surrounding states of Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Seems somehow linked to the Scandinavian settlement in this area. It seems like the internet and widely available information should promote assimilation and homogeneity like US brands and Japanese manga leaking world wide, but instead it seems to be used to inflame feelings about our differences.
I do believe Barbara ( and thanks for the point) that was the plan, slow sedition. The Republican plot , the perfect pon came filling the part to replete history to foil The Great America . The ballot box is the final hour folks …was it the lesson needed to wake the complacent? To reorganize and forge ahead as our forefather intended .
The tasks are daunting, and as any good lesson should be , we’re laid before us like gifts by a party intent to destroy the beauty forseen, fought for with their lives of my father and many of yours. I know , and 80 years later will still this by voting BLUE….
💙💙VOTE OUT ALL THOSE COMPLICIT💙💙
Some have always tried to redefine our soul, this seems to be the closest they have come in my lifetime. The threat is united like never before, from directions I never dreamed would even care. They are energized and evil. Don’t assume anything.
Barbara, THANK YOU for that link. I've lived my entire life in NH, within less than 5 miles of the house I grew up in, and the description of Yankeedom is spot-on. I've naively assumed the rest of the country had similar ideals to ours, but this analysis of regions clearly explains why that's not so. I''d also encourage readers to click on and read the follow-up pieces at the bottom.
As a lifetime resident of northern Minnesota, I confess to the same naïveté and the same sense of gratitude for the link.
Yes, Doug. Thanks you for recommending the additional articles, also worth reading. And thanks, Barbara, for passing this excellent reference on to us. It's so enlightening from a sociological/historical context as to who we are as citizens of the USA and when and whether we have ever been united.
Doug, yes, it’s excellent to read thru their entire site; way back when I discovered them I signed up for their newsletter, which comes only occasionally. One of these days I’m going to order the book American Nations which is mentioned on their site: https://colinwoodard.com/books/american-nations/
I read the book years ago and found it very representative of my experience growing up in the upper Midwest to New England. Now living in CA I find if I know what state someone’s ‘people’ came from I can predict quite a bit about them, and vice versa.
Interesting how that happens.
Nice to see it here.
Nancy, being a 3rd generation Californian—my maternal grandmother was born in southern CA in 1898 (oh the stories she told!), I had no idea that different “American cultures” existed. Years ago a co-worker who had lived back east for a period of time told me in conversation that she could really tell the difference in behavior/belief/customs, etc from CA native born. I had no idea! You just made her point again all these decades later!
I just found this book on Audible and it was included in my membership! I will be listening over the weekend. Thank you for this recommendation.
Thank you for sharing Nationhood Lab. Most enlightening and provides a good understanding of the history of our differences.
Seems our melting pot never got warmed up. I still have hope, as a lonely pea in the pot.
Fits well with what I'm finding out about one of my wife's earliest relatives, Captain Henry Fleete who had sailed on Robert Rich's ship Warwick (Rich was the 2nd Earl of Warwick) and seems might have brought the second group of slaves to Jamestown if it hadn't been sunk in Bermuda by a hurricane on 20 Oct 1619. (He later sailed aboard another of Lord Warwick's ships, the Tiger, migrating to Jamestown by 1621 before being captured by "...Yawaccomoo-o Indians on the Potomac River in 1623..."), see https://xpda.com/family/Fleete-Henry-ind00629.htm
"...Henry Fleete was born about 1600 in Chatham Court, Kent, to William Fleete, a barrister and his wife Deborah Scott Fleete. Living both in Kent and London he grew up amidst the excitement of colonization for William Fleete had become an adventurer in the Virginia Company of London during its reorganization under the Third Charter in 1612. Thus when in 1619 it was agreed to establish in Virginia a particular plantation of settlers from the county of Kent, young Henry Fleete made plans to join. The ships carrying this Kentish contingent arrived in Virginia in 1621 carrying among them both Henry Fleete and his second cousin Sir Francis Wyatt, the new governor.
Shortly after arrival Fleete met Henry Spellman, trader and interpreter, who had lived with the Indians for two years in his earliest days in Virginia. In 1623 Fleete went traveling with Spellman on a trading cruise up the Potomac when Spellman and twenty of his men were killed and Fleete was taken captive. Spending the next five years as a prisoner of the Patawomekes gave Fleete a knowledge of Indian languages and customs far exceeding that of almost any other colonist.
After gaining his freedom in 1627 he traveled back to England where he told his tales of Indian lands and possessions and attracted a merchant, William Cloberry, as a backer. For the next four years Fleete took Cloberry's ship, Paramour, on voyages as far north as New England exchanging corn for trade goods to use in trading with the Indians for furs. At the same time he patented his first land, 100 acres, on the Eastern Shore and established trading posts on land which later became Maryland. In 1631 after another trip to England and the acquisition of a new sponsoring merchant, he continued his trading voyages, now on the Warwick, while opening up the beaver trade on the upper Potomac.
The success of his trade with the Indians led him to close acceptance first by Governor Harvey of Virginia and then by Governor Calvert when Maryland was established in 1634. Fleete was in fact the one who recommended the site for St Mary's City and who took the lead in negotiations with the Indians for the land, a former Indian village, at that site. In return he received from the proprietor a patent for 4000 acres across the bay from St Mary's City..."
Family lore supported the idea that he was a good partner for Native Americans (after being held captive) along the idea that the Native Americans appreciated the English as protection from the Spanish they thought treated treated them much worse. Relations weren't all that smooth but grudgingly accepted most of the time back in those days. With the new to me information on Lord Warwick's ships Fleete sailed on (Warwick in particular), it seems it would be little different from another of his ships, the White Lion, which did get to Jamestown some months before the Warwick sank in a later hurricane than the one the White Lion could have been lost in.
Nothing negative showed up in family lore (rather to be expected), but I'm curious since I read somewhere other that they sold the 20 Angolans aboard the White Lion as "Indentured Servants" instead of as slaves for life. Perhaps unrealistic rationalization for some on how they were treated vs Native Americans.
The link you provided seems perfectly timed for me to find some more puzzle pieces.
My home town of Warwick, RI is named after the owner of Capt. Fleete's ship.
Wow, what a history…..and that it carried down to you is amazing!
Thanks for sharing this profile of America’s “diversity” based on geography and settlers. One thing that has held the nation together though is white supremacy. Everyone has been living with this in our “soul” for centuries.
I agree, Gina. Another great source for real history about white supremacy is Heather Cox Richardson's How the South won the Civil War.
Barbara Keating, I followed your link, but have only skimmed the article so far. It strikes me, too, as enlightening. I’ve lived in Minnesota my whole life and confess I’ve always thought that the states within the “Deep South” don’t qualify as being located within the community of civilized peoples. Fortunately, though, they are located pretty close to it and I live in hope that civilization will rub off on them eventually. Thanks for the article! I have a lot to learn from it.
WOWOWOW! Explains a LOT! Thank You, Barbara
Barbara Jon Meacham’s book THE SOUL OF AMERICa 2010 describes America’s soul well.
Thank for that very interesting link. I have read American Nations (great read and goes further into the issues and outlooks that divide us) upon which this article is partly based. It all fits, and makes sense of the red state/blue state maps.
Barbara, you have touched off a benign, positive, explosion of thoughts in the minds of this enlightened community of HCR readers with the link you provided! Thanks for it!
Unfortunately, the Democracy vs Authoritarianism approach is risky. The word Democracy is not easily definable on a voter level and is easily appropriated by the opposing Party as theirs. You and I and many others know this is a battle for Democracy, but we need to pinpoint more concrete issues such as abortion.
Maybe you're right. Maybe democracy is not easily definable on a voter level. But if you're right, then I'm wrong, and so is Marian Anderson who said, "There is no particular thing that you can do alone. The 'I' in it is very small, after all. We are all here to have a kind of living of our own and to be recognized for what we are."
But the definition isn't complete without defining the alternative; authoritarianism. Donald Trump has said, in effect, "There is no particular thing that you can do without me. The 'I' in it is all. You are all here to give me power so I can get retribution on your perceived enemies. Just don't make me perceive you as my enemy, and how to do that is anybody's guess."
"But if you're right, then I'm wrong," I don't play zero sum games. There are no rights or wrongs here; only folks tossing ideas around.
Take care.
Barbara, but isn't the battle to defend and advance democracy a zero sum game? Or to put it more bluntly, if democracy fails, authoritarians win (and the rest of us lose.)
Anytime we engage in a conversation in the tone of a zero-sum game everyone loses. This is the kind of thinking Republicans are practicing in the Halls of Congress. Zero sum thinking can result in extremism and people gradually become what they are fighting against. Yes, this election is about Authoritarianism vs Democracy. But. I am not interested in wiping all Republicans out of Government. I am not interested in retribution for real nor perceived wrongs from the Republicans.
I am talking about a mindset here. I want Democracy to win the White House. I also want to still have an awful lot of political parties and ideas in our national discourse mix. I want to continue to have opposing views considered. I want the hatred of the other to stop. Can we co-exist peacefully in a zero-sum environment?
The Democrats will win the White House. Our challenge is to not lose our moral direction in the process.
One has property rights over human rights, the other has human rights at least as important as property rights.
I liked to look at it like the Vasa, a ship with masts way to high (or at least the center of balance) so much so that it capsized after sailing about the length of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Corrado Gini came up with the Gini Index on income , wealth, or consumption inequality, which I recall was once used to persuade people like Benito Mussolini that there limits to how much inequality could be tolerated by the people.
When the people at the bottom have enough for a decent quality of life and opportunity, they tolerate some pretty high levels of "inequality" as many of them dream of minimal limits on what they can achieve. When so many can't even achieve minimums of food and shelter, much less equal opportunities, the society becomes unstable.
For some examples see https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gini-index.asp (we don't come out so good anymore).
Barbara Several days ago I commented with abut 10 specific concerns related to democracy vs. authoritarian. These are easy to contrast in simple , visceral terms. Indeed, I could imagine an qad in which some of Trump’s statements come popping out of a cuckoo clock. Love ther imagery CUCKOO CANDIDATE (FLATUENT FELON)
I appreciate your scholarship concerning the 10 specific concerns. The hard part of this is the average voter is on a 30 second sound bite mentality.
As to the imagery in all caps... I have made it a personal practice to not get involved in this kind of stuff. I don't name call or make up names. I refuse to let trump or any politician lead me to copy how they talk. We all know trump has negatively impacted our national discourse. There is a crudeness that is sad to me.
Barbara My suggestion is that the Biden campaign run a series of ads, reminiscent of the Lincoln Project, entitled CUCKOO COMMENTS. Since take various Trump comments individually, have a cuckoo clock present it, and then have a brief visceral riposte. Simple, substantive, and, over time, almost humorous. A 30 second sound bite with punch.
You know who would do this is The Lincoln Project. I imagine you are familiar with them. It's my impression they are open to suggestions.
Thanks for your cautionary note.
Are you teasing?
Definitely teasing, but maybe half-serious about thinking the Deep South is uncivilized. 🙂
Well. I live in Kentucky. It's a ruby red State but there are blue pockets, so this leads me to imagine that there are blue pockets in the Deep South. I know from reading Robert Hubbell and Simon Rosenberg there are Democrats' groups in Florida who are very active. Bless their hearts. And they pulled a significant election victory recently. Can't recall exactly what it was though.
Keith, I'm so glad you used the word "soul." In all the mess that Trump has created, not once have I seen him rise to any level of showing real humanity. He's as soul-less as they come. And to me, showing compassion and recognizing our common humanity is what "soul" is all about. Making decisions based on what is good for all while acknowledging, honoring, and respecting differences is "soul." Reaching out a hand to help is "soul."
Nicely put, Pat. Death star is absolutely soulless. He has not one shred of human decency....nothing. No redeeming characteristics. I see him as a festering cancer on the body politic. Seeing all those Rs kissing his rear yesterday made me what to vomit. Standing ovations....please. About this time, we make a list of where to donate which, besides voting, is how we try to help. Yesterday there were lots of articles about Rs targeting the candidate for Oregon's 5th house district, now held by a R that the candidate has defeated twice. We will donate locally and also to national races where Ds have a chance. The Palmer Report (yes, I know, but his list is excellent) for those races where money will do the most good. I am sure others have lists as well.
I think we need to provide more specifics showing what an authoritarian govt. would actually mean for the average citizen. What I see as most likely aare an increase in pollution and environmental degradation, loss of not only abortion rights but probably contraception as well, higher barriers to voting, higher taxes and/or fees for the middle and working class, and very likely the end of Social Security and Medicare -- especially with Rick Scott (of 'sunset ' fame) now apparently running for R Leader in the Senate. People need to be hammered with the facts about what a Trump presidency would mean for them personally.
Agreed …so simple …even for the SCOTUS textualists ( which is a crock of “merde”) Separation of Church and State. Why does the GOP and SCOTUS not understand this?????
Inclusion of church and state is the ticket to ride for Republican fascists. They know this perfectly.
Immigration rules the fools in more places than people think. It’s just another way to practice racism with another name. Abortion doesn’t compute with many men, it’s just her problem, Unless it’s a power thing. Can the hit-and-run men be made to pay for 18-years. Anybody see that on the horizon?
"Racism with another name"! That's spot-on, Jeri. As I've said before (ad nauseum?), no one seems to be concerned with immigration from England, Germany, or Canada... they just want to keep "the other" out of the U.S.
That’s looks clear and uncomplicated to me. The hate is so obvious despite the obfuscations
Clear and uncomplicated is the level at which the cognitive underclass feels most comfortable. When confronted with complexity, there sets in a cognitive dissonance - a tension- and retreat is made to the clear and uncomplicated. Hard to break through.
True, but some things are just basic humanity. For which the complications are just obfuscations.
Not while we live in a patriarchy with Christian Nationalists running the show!
Most assuredly, scapegoats are always needed
Can we expect to see rolling back of child support law as well as others that primarily effect women? Hell yes, none of this is about fetal rights, protecting children, or morality, it's about dominance.
Women will be the ones underfoot, except maybe Ginni and Mrs. Alito. Yes I know plenty of female magats, but many are already under the feet of a man. Not all, so maybe that gender things is playing a part. Shhh, don’t tell the anti-trans nuts. Maybe too much snark?
The whole-of-government reminds me of a term I read about President L.B. Johnson: creative federalism. https://encyclopedia.federalism.org/index.php?title=Creative_Federalism
Your link, too, is really useful and interesting. Thanks!
Yes, the "Miracle in Baltimore" is an excellent example of Biden's demonstration of what people need government to do that they can't do by themselves. It is also a demonstration of Biden's ability to put capable people into important positions; in this case Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
This reminds me that it's important to ask voters whether they could trust Trump to come to their aid in an emergency. We know how badly he managed Covud and how little he cares.
I’ll second that 🙌 thanks Christopher🫶
I get busted in that manner almost every day. 😉🤭🤫
Abortion will always be “on the table” until we codify Roe v. Wade. Have you seen how many times Biden has gone to Europe and back in the past couple of weeks? You think trump could have garnered the support of Europe and other nations like Biden? Not a chance in hell! The R’s that showed up to greet Trump like he’s king were really pathetic and miserable : Ms.Lindsay, Runaway Cruz, Fundie Britt, For-the love-of-Gawwd Romney, and last but never least, the Dishonorable Mitch-the-Witch McConnell, just to name a few. A sight for very sore eyes. The Dems are hard at work while the R’s are working to undermine democracy. You can vote for depression and constant chaos or you can vote for decency and the rule of law.
Today was a masterclass in cowardice and sycophancy put on by the feckless GQP scumwads in Washington.
Yeah, George, what a legacy they leave….I imagine their portraits w/ egg on the face of each of them….down through perpetuity….how proud their decedents will be (snark)!
True, but only if the good guys get to write that history, Barbara Keating.
Yeah, Doug, thought about that as I wrote the comment. I’ve oft wondered how we would see “us” (humankind) if there were an accurate history written thru the ages. [writing this made me think of a long ago read sci-fi book Stranger In A Strange Land….as I recall they had what were known as “witnesses” to, without spin, bear witness to actions/happenings…haven’t thought of that in years….didn’t the term “grok” come from that too??!]
👏
Preforming daily.
Roll those sleeves up a little higher folks, we can ‘double down’ too!
Vote. Like. Democracy. Matters. 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
That scene of the standing ovation for Trump reminded me of an archived video, I think it was Mao wherein hundreds of Chinese members of the communist party are mindlessly clapping for their leader.... That’s what happened yesterday. And in the news... it’s all propaganda...they want us to think Biden can’t win. They want us to think Uncle Joe is on his last legs and gumming his food to death. Especially NYT, WaPo and I hate to say NPR....something is terribly wrong.
I believe that NYT, MSNBC, to name a few, helped hand the election to Trump against Hilary, by showing him all the time, and by the repeated comment that " nobody trusts her." Now they (press and Tv) show Trump all the time and mostly refer to Biden when mentioning his age. This is why I stick to HCR, who by the way gave a talk in my original home town in Maine to a standing ovation the other night. I received many calls about how great she was; one friend said she cried from the relief of feeling hope.
“The relief of feeling hope.” Not feeling hope, but the relief of it. I so get it.
I see some reasons to hope, but certainly also for alarm. I think the future can be depended upon to surprise us, though the surprise will be how. Jessie Jackson said something to the effect that you don't drown until you stop swimming, and there are stranger things in heaven and earth than our dreamt of in our philosophies.
Many of our most stalwart media companies have quietly changed hands, changed staff and shifted their focus. I no longer count on them to shoot straight.
Due at least in part to this guy:
"The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits. " - Milton Friedman
Of course the money-men across the nation embraced it as divine writ.
Even. NPR, I agree. We are in an information war. Hopefully, we’ll find out what is behind this negative to Biden bias before it’s too late. Even my local paper carries editorials etc. that show this insane normalization of Trump and denigration of Biden.
It’s classic authoritarian plays, a chess game of algorithms preying on calculated moves using our own weaknesses
. I actually see it as the MIRRORS ( as in smoke and mirrors…get it?) pointing out exactly WHERE -we, WE! Went Wrong! Again, this country is just a babe yet, our mistakes don’t have to be stumbling blocks, folks! Make them building blocks. Correct. Codify. Complete. Concentrate.
Circle the Conestogas sisters, brothers too…it’s a fight brought to us by fools . Let us thank them for reminding us what’s important.
Vote Blue, Stop the Coup, it’s up to 🫵…💙💙🇺🇸
Yes, Patricia: ".... this country is just a babe yet, our mistakes don’t have to be stumbling blocks, folks! Make them building blocks." Thank you! We are barely in our adolescence as a country. As we all know, that is a tough time to navigate. As you have stated so well, we all need to "Correct. Codify. Complete. Concentrate" and don't forget to breathe deeply...
Thank you, Carol🫶
We. Can.Do.This.💙
Walk it to the Ballot Box…come on if ever a title for a new song 😮 !!!
"It’s classic authoritarian plays, a chess game of algorithms preying on calculated moves using our own weaknesses."
And two can play that game. A concept in Aikido (which my daughter studied) is using finessing the force of an opponent's attack to bring them down. The sold-out "GOP" is highly dangerous, but they go further and further out on a limb with it, which. with enough of a push, may facilitate their downfall. There is a lot of stuff that can be put forward to highlight bigly.
Seem to me Trump is looking more and more like a one trick phony, and maybe more people are starting to get tired of hearing him whine.
It has appeared this way for sometime, seeing it from Simon Rosenburg’s calculating and stating the elections winning Dem after Dem. I hope you’re both right, but I’ll not lessen my encouragement for other people to do a better job. If they’re a regular voter I applaud. Our general population needs a consistent approach to local and state happenings, get more interested I can’t believe people are happy with the like/action/tactics of belittling, name calling etc. This is 9 y.o.behavior! They CHEER!
I’m talking to the choir here, I realize. Such things as respect, civil discourse, actually knowing the ropes, the constitution , and talking improvements vs incessant investigations producing yet again No Evidence.
You’re right JL , people are tired of hearing it.
One Trick Pony…🤞… I’m not assuming anything anymore. I DID see this coming, but I wasn’t even close.🤦♀️
I don't know quite how to make it happen, but we need a lot more public engagement before government of the people, by the people, for the people is truly effective. Our education and our other information sources need to be held to a keener focus upon what are circumstances actually are, and what needs to happen to address them them beneficially and justly. If we really are the ultimate deciders, we have a natural duty to integrate adult choices for the whole of our society with what happens to be pleasing to us as individuals. Liberty and justice for ALL. Or so it seems to me.
CNN in this morning’s 5Things mentions trump turning 78 today and one sentence later talks about BIDENS gaffes. Nothing about trump’s shark attacks in Las Vegas no less. The world has gone mad.
The biggest factor consistent with ‘them’ is lies and misinformation or manipulating facts ‘ alternative reality’ I am sure this MO is the leopard and his spots affidavit…they tell us what is wanted to be believed..over and over and over ain’t gonna change…so,
The ballot box , BLUE ON BLUE, no, wont stop it, but hopefully sends the clear message, no mo bs! House. Senate. WH. Pack yer bags. Just a matter of time, toots. Then hold the new to decent blue progress…there’s a lot to change folks! Our world watches , hopeful too. Four. More. Years.
You better clap or you’ll be hauled to the Gulag. The small Republican mind likes this easy sifting.
Regina, what’s wrong is that corporate accountants for Media control the levers of decision wrt any journalistic motivation. Profits are only generated by ad dollar spenders who place primary value on “clicks and likes” IOW, the public’s attention
Creating dissension generates increased attention from us. Reporting news is boring, but getting the Jets and the Sharks to rumble brings us all into the streets
Journalism has become free to the public, much as has music in a “streaming” economy where artists are not paid for their contributions to society
There’s simply no money in it for the creators, so former journalists go where the money is, “clicks and likes”
Just as lawyers, not doctors, now control women’s health care. It’s always about the money.
Dave, Les Moonves may have said it most clearly, when he said of #45 that he may not be good for America, but he was very good for CBS. This was before he got the boot for his execrable behavior.
Identifying the Cretans is helpful
Agree.
Ha!
"Ms. Lindsey" is a good one. I suspect he has been quite taken with the kindness of strangers, but I won't inquire further
How many of those same European countries refuse admittance to convicted felons? And who’s a convicted felon? Here’s a hint. Not OHJB.
**who showed. Not “that”…
Your last sentence is great for a bumper sticker or billboard!
Roe, Roe, Roe your vote!
Nicely said, good and faithful savante!
No, I won't even try to top that.
Can I use my embryos as a tax write off in the state of Alabama?
I should think so. Alabama doesn’t need as much income from state taxes because it’s routinely sent big fat checks by the federal government.
Maybe, clever! 👍Class action ? pie in the face? and to ‘them’, ‘you started this -we’ll finish it PERIOD!
“ This afternoon, Biden posted: “Kamala and I stand with the majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to make deeply personal health care decisions. And our commitment to you is that we will not back down from ensuring women in every state get the care they need.”
This quote should probably be placed on billboards, TV political Ads, banners from airplanes nationwide over and over and over….
The speed at which this Port reopened is nothing short of miraculous. I shudder to think what would have happened under tRumpf. Imagine the chaos....
Not really miraculous. Just another example of what we can accomplish when everyone works together with determination and expertise. If Trump were in charge, unless it put money in his pocket, he'd still just be blathering on about it. Every time someone says how good things were under Trump, I want to ask them to give me some specifics.
Betsy, The answers I mostly receive are tax cuts and low inflation. Because polling seems to indicate that the economy and high prices are a major concern for many voters, I would suggest Democrats, far more methodically, underscore how major corporations (which, in my view, should be called out by name) are using the cover of inflation to drive up prices.
While some might empathize with a reluctance, due to corporate donors’ undue influence on our politics, to call out corporate profits as the biggest driver of high pricing, I believe the benefits of pinning corporate gouging for the increased prices people are paying would outweigh the pitfalls. Further, I would note, that while the GOP’s election strategy largely is about blaming the Biden Administration for high prices, the Republican Party doesn’t actually have a plan to reduce them.
Barbara, whoever coined the term “greedflation” was right-on!!!! During Covid, but after Biden/Harris won, I was pumping gas & an older gent and I were lamenting the cost of gas—I live in a rural area and the cost was then close to $6 a gallon—and he blamed Biden. I gently countered with the fact that Biden did not set the price of gas, the companies do & if anyone was at fault it was them, not him, for gouging prices—and told him about the astronomical profits they were making.
I did the same at a Costco where members usually get from $.15 to $.25 savings per gallon from other local gas stations. A guy kitty corner from me was shouting, “We can thank Joe Biden for these prices. Is everybody happy?” I piped up, “President Biden doesn’t have any control over the price of gas. The gas companies set the price.” Of course, he told me I was wrong. (What could a woman know?) “Actually,” I said, “I am correct.” He was thoroughly disgusted, and surprised, I think, that anyone in red East Tennessee would disagree with him. I felt empowered by using my voice, and also that we’d kept Trump out of the White House. Vote 🔵 up and down the ballot. GOTV! 💙🧢
Something you can add to your ammo pouch, Marcia.
Trump's tax cuts for the mega rich added $7-trillion to the national debt. Servicing that extra debt only ups inflation, further gouging the rest of us.
Marcia, yes, I was at a Costco filling up when this happened. I now mostly get my gas from my local Rancheria casino gas station where, if you pay cash, you get a 25 cent discount per gallon on the price….but being in rural area it still, today, tops $5 gallon—it’s even cheaper than Costco and is local to me…in my town (my Costco is three towns away).
ETN resident here! You go girl!
Bravo! Well played. More!
Love it! 👏
I think it is weird that society is so reluctant to blame corporations that are often proved to be breaking the rules but go nuts if the poor do. I recall so years ago hearing on NPR of a doctor that was stealing millions from Medicare and saw no mention anywhere else, when one person manged to purchase a latte from a Starbucks affiliate, it was national news. Maybe that's me not paying attention, but the perverse double standard seems self-evident. I understand that in the Great Depression, the greed of the fatcats was more of an issue.
Barbara, I would note, while the President broadly has spoken about price gouging and deceptive pricing, he is not nearly as effective as, say, Bob Casey (PA) and Sherrod Brown (OH), who are running very successful Senatorial campaigns by aggressively calling out the companies that are being unfair to consumers: 1) Exxon-Mobil that is colluding around the world keeping oil prices up, 2) Tyson Foods, Albertsons, & Kroger, some of the major food chains, also keeping their prices up, 3) Pepsi Co, a major food supplier and processor, like the others, keeping its prices up despite enjoying record mark-ups in profits. I could go on, but my point, despite the President taking fairly aggressive anti-trust action, is that he needs to be more aggressive in naming names of companies that are keeping their prices up although their profits, their stock prices, and their CEO pay all are at record levels, while they’re not treating their consumers well.
As far as supermarket prices go, I can't understand that argument. We've
got Stop & Shop and Shaw's on the Cape. They both put out weekly ads,
paper copies in the store, digital copies on line. The last two times
that I bought eggs, they were $2.99/dozen. I bought six packages of
Thomas' English muffins since they're my favorite, and Shaw's had a buy
one/get two free special. Eggplant and Zucchini were both 99 cents/lb, so
we had ratatouille last night. There are always sales on all of the things that we eat except for milk, but we buy the store brand and the price has remained the same for a long time. So the next time you hear people complain about the
supermarket, please tell them to read the ads and buy that week's bargains.
I obsessively research prices and save a ton of money doing so. Even if it's more trouble, I hate to reward gouging. I finding dramatic discounts getting harder harder to come by though. Even so, the rise in prices across the board over the last few years seems unprecedented to me. More that more than ever it seems that pricing is unmoored from the cost of production. "Company store" pricing. I have not researched this, but it seems to me that the rate of inflation has been more dramatic for the cheapest of commodities, such as crackers, bread, and cheap to produce crops like peanuts and potatoes. Notably normerly cheap crops that the poor depended on. I my youth, people still used expressions like "not worth a hill of beans" or "I bought it for peanuts" to indicate very low price. My wife saw peanuts recently for thirteen dollars a pound. I think that's exceptional, but nowhere are they especially cheap,
Betsy, You are absolutely right. I have a friend here on Cape Ann (do you and I live on the same Cape?), who advises people with fixed budgets how to shop and eat well. As for my comment, I mainly was speaking to how some of our candidates are effectively addressing people’s concerns over high prices, despite they’re having dropped considerably from the days of 9% inflation.
I'll disagree about grocery stores, typically they only make 1 to 3% profit. I'd say more like vendors are price gouging. Pepsi definitely is vender regulated prices could be all over the place. $2 to $6 for a 2lt. Grocery store managers are hearing these complaints constantly like it's them but it's not.
Sharon, Note I didn’t mention grocery stores, but major food chains and suppliers.
I recently stopped at a rural gas station and all of the pumps had neatly placed sticker on them of Biden winking and pointing to the price per gallon with the words "I did that".
SMH….hard when the sheeple are complicit in the lie.
That's the other half of tyranny. I seems that many people will fight, even die, to defend a tiny share of personal status, or just the illusion status, in a hierarchical system in which they benefit little, or are even oppressed. Without that compulsive following, we'd have been done with tyrants long ago. It sucked to be a serf. It still does.
Your idea about corporate profits could aid R.F.K., Jr so he can woo away the next-generation 'Reagan Democrats' away from Trump.
Ned, While I get your point, admittedly, I am no fan of RFK, Jr. However, if he gets on ballots, particularly in battleground states, and damages Trump without harming Biden, I could live with that.
You bring up a good point: I will not be voting for Mr Kennedy but for President Biden. What drives these comments about R.F.K., Jr is the current concern over his possible impact upon President Biden in the general election. I believe that Mr Kennedy will hurt Trump more than President Biden.
Ned, Frankly, that calculation is above my pay grade.
Au contraire. More deregulation and massive tax cuts for the super-rich, unleashing a tide that floats all yachts. Meanwhile, were broke. so austerity.
J L, Indeed, as you state, we’re not in the same boat. Hence why it is vital to inquire when corporate commercial interests must be subordinate to the public interest.
I ask and never get even one answer!!!!
I ask and never get an answer!
I'm inclined to credit Pete Buttigieg and the wisdom of the people who chose him to be Secretary of Transportation (and yes, every single worker, thanks to them!). Am I delusional or is it possible to look at someone and listen to them and 'know' sincerity when it's present? He seems so trustworthy and capable.
Pete Buttigieg IS trustworthy and capable! (My kids are old school friends with his husband).
Have you seen recent interviews with Pete Buttigieg? He is fantastic, never reluctant to take on his critics.
No, but thanks for the pointer. I have a good feeling about him and his leadership impacting our country in the future. He's a "Be the change you want to see in the world" person.
He should be a President someday! Brilliant man, vet, Rhodes Scholar. Love is love!
He would have made sure he was gonna make $$ on it..... And had a ribbon cutting ceremony! He’s such an asshat.
@Lauren Dunlap...If Trump was President, imagine the corruption, poor materials and grift!!! Contracts going to his buddies or his campaign donors and no end of delay and confusion.
and the graft.
Remember the truckloads of money poured down the drain and into shadowy crony pockets in Iraq? And that was just with GWB.
It is truly mystifying why an exceptional multi-jurisdictional clearance of a bridge collapse disaster with Nationwide Implications is not enthusiastically celebrated by ALL of our leaders as a fine American achievement. Are we already at the point at which it is anti-American to succeed? How, exactly, does that represent wise use of our heritage, our taxes, our personnel, our institutional knowledge, and our laws? Not only is that an injustice to some really dedicated workers and managers, it is also a violent disregard for the sacrifices of millions of Americans whose contributions, including life and limb, brought us to this point. If this sort of civic blasphemy continues to mar our struggles to achieve progress, I would surely like to hear from its perpetrators how such a perspective can be justified. It is, indeed, a hall of mirrors. We must show up in great numbers in November to shatter those mirrors. And then toast Francis Scott Key and the bridge that honors him, even though it will be a long time before it can bear traffic again. I congratulate the men and women in Baltimore who showed us how patriots actually operate.
"...anti-American to succeed?" That right there, Al. Thanks for saying what the Rs want us to believe.
I join you in congratulating the men and women in Baltimore who showed us that success is truly what Americans do.
The GQP in general and Cheetolini in particular (and their propaganda channels like Fox noise, OAN, Newsmax, etc) are desperate to paint the country as a “hell hole” any time a Democrat is in charge, but then reverse to it being “the best country in the history of the world” when one of their scumwads (i.e. shrub, Cheetolini, etc) is in charge.
The who;e GOP Idea is to make America Grate, not succeed. Success is the last thing they want, when it's been hard enough to keep their flock enraged all the time as it is. And success with a Democratic in the White House?
It's unthinkable.
Morning, Lynell! Nice turn of phrase in your first sentence.
Morning, Ally! I must've "borrowed" that phrase from someone; was it you?
Nope. At least I don’t think so.
Some 87,000 IVF babies were born in the U.S. in 2021. And the MAGA House can’t muster the votes to protect the procedure? So much for Republicans being the self-proclaimed "party of life."
Or freedom.
Or law ‘n order….
IVF gives us more babies, so why are MAGAS so against it when babies seem to be what they want by banning abortion and contraception?? Oh wait, their goal is to punish women and those IVF babies are wanted, loved & cared for…
Bravo Secretary Pete!
Thanks again, Dr Heather.
Your letter was informative as ever and once again I must conclude that this November it is crucial to VOTE BLUE!
Yes!! VOTE 💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙
Was there an actual single positive number IQ loose in that room they had lunch in?
45??
Or 34 maybe? “Bring Your Felon To Work Day”.
wish we had laughing emojis to share here! well done!
😂😂😂
single digit only! :-)
IQ45 seemed appropriate though
Sharon, I recently saw a picture meme of a red cap w/ the 45 designation (meaning yay Trump) only to comment, to paraphrase, “why would you print your IQ on your hat??”….I don’t think SubStack allows posting of pics, so can’t share….but is too funny.
Evening to All!
Excellent missive by Heather tonight.
The reopening of the Port of Baltimore and the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key bridge is nothing short of magnificent. A shout out to all involved.
A particular note of thanks and remembrance should be provided to the half dozen, hard working immigrant laborers who perished with the bridge's collapse earlier this year. The same asinine, seditionist Senators who have voted to torpedo any Biden nominees sight unseen due to the righteous conviction of Despicable Don, have all long been racist decriers of the rights and dignities of those who migrate to our Country for work and survival, indirectly desecrating the dignity of the six men from Mexico and Central America who died while working on the bridge in the dawn's early light.
I say the re-built bridge should bear those six names somewhere upon the new girders and beams, providing a permanent reminder that the effort of bridge building to a better America is an endeavor as ceaseless and oft faceless, as it is always noble.
I live less than a mile from the Holman United Methodist Church on Adams Blvd. in Los Angeles, the church long presided over by the Rev. James Lawson. He was one of the last of the pioneering leaders of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He shed the mortal coil mere days ago, and we are all the lesser for his passing.
He once said, "No human being in the sight of God is illegal. The fight for the civil rights of workers who come here from all over the world is the same as the Freedom Riders of 1961 and the continuing struggle for civil and human rights for all"
Oh say could he see
I love the idea of honoring the working men who died in the bridge collapse…we in the USA are so shortsighted and ignorant when it comes to the contributions of migrant workers, regardless of their status.
True that. Thank you for your insight, Barbara
We must all acknowledge the essential role of religious leaders in the fight for freedom and democracy. But the point I want to make is that I think we are damaging our own cause by letting the so-called evangelical movement get away with the "Christian" label. To me, that's the equivalent of using the Lord's name in vain.
They say they support Christian values, but they don't express those values in words. Instead, they express what they mean in their actions, and what they mean is "do as I say and not as I do." The difference between real Christian values and what they are doing is the same as the difference between up and down.
Whether a person identifies as Christian or not, and I don't, we all have the opportunity to identify the real Christian values by quoting the good news of the Gospel. In Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 10, they are confirmed by Jesus. The first principle is that a person's conscience is personal, which is in lieu of being imposed on that person by another person. The second principle is that, when my actions conflict my neighbor's, I should not assume that I'm right, or that they're right. Instead, we are to resolve the conflict in service of our relationship.
If my attitude toward someone who disagrees with my is "I'm right, you're wrong, and this conversation is over," I might as well be a Republican. At least then I'm not pretending to be in favor of freedom and democracy.
I don't know Rev. James Lawson's perspective, so I'll respect Daniel's judgment as to whether he would agree with my perspective. Meanwhile, I'm assuming that he would.
A reputed Christian value is to turn the other cheek. In that case, vote for Trump and all the rest of the Republican fascists. Stop with the both sides bullshit. They are planning a concentration camp just for you.
You're right. That's what they're doing. They're planning a concentration camp, and not just for me. But that's what I'm fighting against. Specifically, since I was a child, I've resisted people who, like Trump, say, "I'm right, you're wrong, and this conversation is over."
That's what you're doing to me. So, keep doing it because every time you do, you'll be giving me another reason to believe I'm right. Alternatively, in lieu of giving me an order, give me a reason.
Have you ever wondered why Trump gets away with so much? Here's why. There are two sides. On one side are the people who practice wisdom, which requires practice because it needs to be developed. On the other side is Trump who. In lieu of practicing wisdom, practices "unconstrained ignorance," which can be developed if practiced. If he wins, it'll be because too many people are on his side, and he's better at it than all of us.
You give equal time to the devil. How Christian of you. You equate yourself to Trump because you both think you’re right and that is a sin. God help you.
Ad hominem: An argument directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.
Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. This avoids genuine debate by creating a diversion to some irrelevant but often highly charged issue.
For the record, I identify as a scientist, not a Christian, but they're both based on the same principle of mutual respect.
I directed my comments to your argument, not to your person. No scientist can respect lies, whether it be superstition or white Christian nationalism. Be careful to whom you give the benefit of the doubt.
Love the idea of honoring the lost but it will be quite some time before the bridge is rebuilt. Businesses are suffering. Congress must provide funding.
The GOP House and Senate members are practicing for Project 2025! We need to Vote Blue!
Janet, I saw my Congressional rep on The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle this evening and he mentioned the push-back against it. Here is a link to his website, which lists other members involved (Huffman is a rep for far northern CA):
https://huffman.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/a-group-of-house-democrats-steps-up-to-try-to-stop-project-2025-and-a-trump-white-house Also may I recommend this group working to fight this; I have signed up for their newsletter and hope to do as much as I can to thwart this effort: https://www.stopthecoup2025.org/
Who, aside from Representative Huffman (D-CA), is on this team? I may have been too cursory in my reading and missed the names.
Took me a bit to track it down (know I’d read it, but just couldn’t dig it up without, well, digging!)—this might give you the info: https://huffman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressional-leaders-form-task-force-to-counter-project-2025-and-defend-democracy
Thank you for your follow-through, Barbara. That sounds like a lot of effort. Quite the all-star team.
Can't get it to open for now, maybe later
One of the founding members is my US Rep. Ted Lieu! Fantastic!
Thanks Barbara. Signed up. Great “ nutshell” of the Project 2025 plan.
Critical thinking skills enable individuals to evaluate information critically, recognize misinformation, question biased narratives, and make informed decisions, thereby countering the divisive rhetoric and undermining efforts to erode democratic norms propagated by the MAGA movement and Donald Trump.
It's a clown show of suck-up Republicans showing full, fulsome support for jury-convicted criminality.
What? Clarence couldn't be there, too? He's on another billionaire's private jet for more of his sybaritic lifestyle?
And Taliban Alito? What part of MAGA-land is he now lobbying for more state control of American women?
Will we get compilation tapes for public enjoyment of all this toadying, hypocrisy, orange-butt kissing?
You mean Clearance Thomas, don’t you? Always for sale, always full price.
The indictment contest; Biden is losing badly -- 418 votes to ZERO.
Biden is also losing the competitions for vulgarities, fawning over dictators, and bad-mouthing-America, our noblest institutions.
Well, after all, President Biden and Vice President Harris are up against a stable genius.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Is that stable as in for horses?
When a groundskeeper at our company was asked where he was going to go after we closed down most of the company, he said he was going to Santa Anita to work in the horse barns since the back ends of the horses there made more sense than our executives.
Santa Anita.
Not long ago (2019), Jim, George Takei wrote a graphic novel memoir, "They Called Us Enemy," about his experiences beginning as a four-year-old being taken under gunpoint to Santa Anita, and with his family being confined to the horse stables there.
A few months later he and his family were shipped (also under gunpoint) to one of the internment camps the U.S. built to confine Japanese-Americans during WWII.
A good book. A good man.
The next year, 1943, my father was housed at Santa Anita prior to being sent, also under arms, to New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan.
At that converted race track, also 1943, he met a 16-year-old girl serving as a USO volunteer, whom he married on the very last day of 1943, after the war my mother.
I do remember one of my heroes, George Takei's story of the internment camps. I didn't know of ant sent to New Guinea. Was that a choice after the war?
The parents of my sister-in-law's best friend for the last 50 years were held in a camp but I don't remember which one.
PSA... Sorry to veer from HCR's subject matter, but... June 14 is Flag Day. In honor of Samuel & Martha-Ann Alito, I'm flying two flags upside down in their front yard... the Confederate battle flag (the Stars & Bars)... the the Nazi swastika flag.
I bet the professor will give a nod to Flag Day tonight, Greg. But your comment this morning is welcome!
Lol, they both look the same upside down. Hm.
Wait a minute. The Nazi flag can’t fly upside down!
You took the words right out of my mouth!