Leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) met for their fiftieth summit in Italy from June 13 to June 15. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States formed the G7 in 1975 as a forum for democracies with advanced economies to talk about political and economic issues. The European Union is also part of the forum, and this June, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky also attended.
Well said and our commitment to democracy must continue to stand against the lies, hypocrisy’s and criminality of the GOP. God bless Biden, the United States of America and Heather Cox Richardson.
I fear the 'take away' from the G7 meeting is a RNC video edited to make Pres. Biden look incompetent. Yes, it has been exposed for what it is - right wing propaganda in the tradition of Soviet disinformation. But . . .
Just as we need to focus on Biden administration accomplishments, we need to spotlight that Trump is the stooge of an American right wing effort to turn our Constitution on its head to drain American law of justice, and to maintain the institutional protocols of a democratic republic while using them to establish a corporate clerical fascist state.
Can't claim originality on that. I think it speaks volumes about a leader that steps aside to talk to the people actually doing the work. I came to it via the military world, where "boots on the ground" people are doing the work while the "upper echelon" sits in air conditioned splendor planning the next stupid move that won't work.
Lin, Agree that we need to "spotlight that tRump is a stooge...", however, I disagree in how to accomplish this. We need more than talk to get the uninformed electorate's eyes and ears.
Yes, but we need to listen - however painful, to those holding opposite opinions. Rational conversations can't be had till after we get cauliflower ears from listening, then understanding where each is coming from, then pull your store of facts-in-evidence out of your back pocket, then 'asking' what about that, without malice. One person - person to person is the best we've got. Know your facts. And remember, no one likes a smart azz, smarty pants. Believe it or not, you can learn from those who lack 'standing'. I have most certainly and feel no shame. Another Substack writer I follow and read every utterance that she allows a free loader like myself is the incomparable Joyce Vance, a precious gift to law and liberty. A few days ago, she wrote what I consider one of her best letters, from her consciousness, as opposed to from her inner law library and vast experience. I highly recommend reading it - perhaps twice. If you will, see >> https://joycevance.substack.com/p/a-little-civil-discourse-93d
I agree that we have to listen Dan. However, that ship has sailed. The Magats have told us in Project 25 what they plan to do, if they gain power. We don't have anymore time to only listen, when their plan is to overthrow our democracy. So far, they have been quite successful. At this time, we also need action, and my suggestion that we have a million man march that is led by people like Jamie Raskin, Jim McGovern, Sheldon Whitehouse, Gavin Newsom, Dan Goldman and entertainers like Taylor Swift, Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Kimmel, Steven Colbert. This is the only way we can get the eyes and ears of the undecided and uninformed to vote BLUE NO MATTER WHO!
As I have noted before, I find your push for "a million man march" both counterproductive and suspect. Counterproductive because it is a diversion of resources. Suspect because your "million man" model is avowed racist and antisemitic influencer Louis Farrakhan.
In addition you provide no logistical details for your proposed march, no indication of how you would defend it from being co-opted, and no proof that it would better Get Out The Vote than the outreach efforts underway. You provide no evidence that 'Hey boys and girls, Let's have a parade!' is how to win this election.
Lin, I will address both of your accusations, however, be assured, I won't go to you about how to win friends and influence people. Farrakhan and Linda Sarsour do not have a patent on the idea of a million man march. Although, Iran would be a good place to find out how to use propaganda and spread it.
In order to have a million man march, we need new sources of revenue, not a depletion of existing ones. I am no expert on organizing marches, but I have attended them when I was younger. This is what I do know. Pro Palestinian protests are backed by surprisingly democratic organizations like the Rockefeller Fund and the Pritzkers. Although, they don't need help, Robert Reich and Bernie Sanders, both media figures have supplemented their efforts on the media. Voice for America is a disruptive force that accused Joe Biden of genocide. The Tides foundation, seeded by George Soros is a contributor to Solidaire and by extension Libra. Is it any wonder that Hamas is winning the propaganda war? We need a counter balancing stream of funds to combat the false media coverage that Russia and Iran are behind. I found one bundler for democratic causes. Kevin Conlon, has been a bundler for Biden as well as for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now advises nonprofits. That's a source we can tap into. Politico is hearing from people on the Left that don't want their dollars to go to Hamas. Jewish United fund in Chicago issues small grants to non profits. Biden is struggling to get support from young people now that the campuses have been taken over by Hamas funded entities like Iran. Young voters voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. What better way to get their eyes and ears than have people like Taylor Swift, Colbert, Jimmie Kimmel and Seinfeld counter the false propaganda young people receive on X, TICTOC, meta etc.The liability for Biden if it continues through Nov. is great.
To summarize, a protest needs clarity of purpose, getting people there, getting the message to those that need to hear it, i.e. young people, and the leaving people with a message of success, so that they don't think their efforts were in vain. Protests raise awareness of the issue at stake i.e. Biden's reelection, something we are in dire need of, pressure people in power to make changes desperately needed i.e getting rid of the MTG's and Gaetz's in congress. Giving a voice to those who may never be heard is what it's all about! Certainly, there are more people like Kevin Conlon in our democratic ranks who can accomplish this. Simon Rosenberg comes to mind as well as all the organizers he knows. Mark Elias is another individual that has been at this effort for decades. Time as I said is running out. We need to get to work!
Now to address the 2nd issue that my intentions are suspect. Let me assure you they are quite the opposite. I've addressed the Israeli /Palestinian conflict in all the newsletters I have subscribed to. I know Israel's history, since the Balfour Declaration, the 9 major wars they've been engaged in and won, the League of Nations Agreement that all allied powers at the time signed, the 1967 Intifada, the pull-out by Sharon of all his troops in 2005, the Accords, and the 10/7 attack. I support Israel in their goal to wipe out Hamas. I follow William Farrar, who has an excellent take on the conflict. His depth of knowledge and ability to draw from his vast store of knowledge on the Middle East is amazing. He comments on this newsletter, the Robert Reich newsletter and the Thom Hartmann letter. Jewish values in the Talmud and Torah underpin our values No one but you would suspect my allegiance to Israel.
Hope this long winded response to your uncalled for response to the million man march addresses some of your concerns.
I think it's more important to work on getting the vote out. And that at least Raskin and Whitehouse are more useful doing what they do than leading a march. People like Swift,Streisand, Kimmel, and Colbert are probably more useful for leading marches, although especially Swift and maybe also Streisand could probably do a lot to help get the vote out just by speaking about it to their acolytes.
Eadie. Agreed. They have a plan and they aren't hiding it. Meanwhile, the MAGAs who follow them have totally absorbed the message and are beyond reach. Yesterday, my husband showed me a picture of a young boy with his head back to us. His haircut was close and in it was a symbol supporting death star. Many believe that death star is the second coming. Those minds are closed and their ears shut. Also lots of anger and plenty of guns....nine mass shooting this weekend. And someone and I didn't catch actually addressed the problem and said we need to do something meaningful about guns.
Like with the MAGAs incessant blather about the "open" southern border, I am now using "convicted felon Donald Trump whenever I comment using his name. TFFG was good but CFDT is who he really is, down to his core.
Whenever someone comments about the Biden administration doing nothing, I first point out the 56000 infrastructure projects (and counting) completed since Build Back Better passed. And then contrast that to CFDT's idea of infrastructure week as a photo-op to show his fat a$$ climbing into the cab of a semi and cracking a joke.
CFDT likes to bad mouth cities like Baltimore and Milwaukee, but his administration did nothing to help "make them great again."
Exactly! We need people who attract people, in large numbers, to conduct events (marches, concerts) that get noticed and publicized. Those events will generate conversations about the magnitude of support for democracy that exists around this country. The best way to support Biden is to demonstrate that the majority of people in this country want our democracy to remain in place; for us, for our children and for all the other democracies around the world.
Love and respect Joyce....she is a powerhouse .... a brilliant, knowledgeable lawyer....a true American patriot....and I love it when she shares pictures of her chickens!!!!
Agree. When you get a loon who is convinced "they" are going to take all their electronic money and no one will be allowed to use cash and they'll shut down their businesses and their wives will have to put the children in state owned daycare and go work in a government shop....there's nothing. The Russian brain worm is past treatment.
You have to keep trying at all costs. Play cribbage with your parents and put on some great music, whatever it takes! Then convince them! One on one or two is best.
My 91 yo mother complains bitterly about the cost of health care and the insurance companies being in control of what doctors she can see. When I explain that the system she is complaining about is created by congressional conservatives passing laws that make health care a profit center for billionaires, she pauses and wonders what she can do. When I say stop voting for them, she just can’t bring her 1960’s Goldwater GOP voting entrenchment out from under the rock
Oh yes Jeri; I've never been considered any wallflower, nor a fool. I didn't mean to suggest putting flowers in their hair (lol ! damn funny visual that ! ), knowing fully as all have chimed in regarding the degrees of crazy 'out there.' I just do my best and hope most do so as well. Perhaps Joyce V. pep talk carried me away... opinions do vary. I still recommend that reading highly. She's able to articulate what I find myself doing, much better than I can. I do know the cards are the cards, and when to fold.
And today Joyce Vance let us know we'll start the 2025 book club. Review, however long it takes, all 920 pages of project 2025. Rebubs dont think most Americans would do such a thing. Guess they're wrong
They have changed a bit and don't do as well tracking people not in office or former office holders not running for office again, but have been extremely useful in states where (non-partisan where they need basically one on one pairing of volunteers with people from both major parties), have helped fill in the information for almost every office in the area you can vote for.
I don't try to get them to change their minds during the first meeting, just get them to start considering other sources they can look up themselves. On occasion, they would mention a candidate they would want to know more about so I would be prepared for later discussions with everything I could learn about who they mentioned, and their opponents for the same office.
I found votesmart most useful since it compared their speeches with their votes , their stated positions, ratings by major groups, and their funding sources.
I think the most common thing I found was people strongly supported politicians that had what we called ward healers (sometimes heeler's), who solved some personal issue for the individual or someone they knew, no matter how badly they abused or neglected or intimidated anyone else.
One of the best field organizers taught me not to try to convince people of your position - it can spur them to reinforce their opposition. But if in listening you hear one point of commonality then try to get them to expand on that and hopefully bring themselves around to other points of agreement. Eventually, consideration of or support for your camdidate
I have been suggesting that people who think Trump should be president again ought to ask themselves this question: If Donald Trump saw you get hit by a car, would he rush over to help? Would he even bother to call 911? Not asking for a response, just for the person to think about it.
Yes. But ... those whom Trump is fronting for are certainly far worse but definitely not unknown. From the moment Ronald Reagan jumped in bed with Ralph Reed ...
ProPublica has done formidable work in putting the spotlight on Charles Koch bagman Leonard Leo - how big money is funneled through LLCs to antidemocratic causes.
I asked that same question in another forum yesterday and haven't yet received an answer. But Repubs better be thinking about it, cause CFTD is in a lot worse shape than Biden is.
Forgive me, Eadie Sharron, but it's not going to help by writing his name in such a way that one conflates it with a secondary sex characteristic that is attractive to both genders, and celebrated in paintings and sculptures.
You're most welcome, Eadie. There's more. The buttocks evolved as part of a suite of adaptations, including the achilles tendon, body hairlessness, and several others that made it possible for our long ago ancestors--probably of both genders--to run for many miles to pursue prey animals.
I don't think anyone has tried to figure out how the derriere ultimately became a secondary sex characteristic, but I'm very curious about that and I hope to look into it in the near future.
I just responded to Lin, who had the same question. However, she framed it as an accusation. Here is my long winded response.
Lin, I will address both of your accusations, however, be assured, I won't go to you about how to win friends and influence people. Farrakhan and Linda Sarsour do not have a patent on the idea of a million man march. Although, Iran would be a good place to find out how to use propaganda and spread it.
In order to have a million man march, we need new sources of revenue, not a depletion of existing ones. I am no expert on organizing marches, but I have attended them when I was younger. This is what I do know. Pro Palestinian protests are backed by surprisingly democratic organizations like the Rockefeller Fund and the Pritzkers. Although, they don't need help, Robert Reich and Bernie Sanders, both media figures have supplemented their efforts on the media. Voice for America is a disruptive force that accused Joe Biden of genocide. The Tides foundation, seeded by George Soros is a contributor to Solidaire and by extension Libra. Is it any wonder that Hamas is winning the propaganda war? We need a counter balancing stream of funds to combat the false media coverage that Russia and Iran are behind. I found one bundler for democratic causes. Kevin Conlon, has been a bundler for Biden, as well as for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now advises nonprofits. That's a source we can tap into. Politico is hearing from people on the Left that don't want their dollars to go to Hamas. Jewish United fund in Chicago issues small grants to non profits. Biden is struggling to get support from young people now that the campuses have been taken over by Hamas funded entities like Iran. Young voters voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. What better way to get their eyes and ears than have people like Taylor Swift, Colbert, Jimmie Kimmel and Seinfeld counter the false propaganda young people receive on X, TICTOC, meta etc.The liability for Biden if it continues through Nov. is great.
To summarize, a protest needs clarity of purpose, getting people there, getting the message to those that need to hear it, i.e. young people, and then leaving people with a message of success, so that they don't think their efforts were in vain. Protests raise awareness of the issue at stake i.e. Biden's reelection, something we are in dire need of, pressure people in power to make changes desperately needed i.e getting rid of the MTG's and Gaetz's in congress. Giving a voice to those who may never be heard is what it's all about! Certainly, there are more people like Kevin Conlon in our democratic ranks who can accomplish this. Simon Rosenberg comes to mind as well as all the organizers he knows. Mark Elias is another individual that has been at this effort for decades. Time as I said is running out. We need to get to work!
Now to address the 2nd issue that my intentions are suspect. Let me assure you they are quite the opposite. I've addressed the Israeli /Palestinian conflict in all the newsletters I have subscribed to. I know Israel's history, since the Balfour Declaration, the 9 major wars they've been engaged in and won, the League of Nations Agreement that all allied powers at the time signed, the 1967 Intifada, the pull-out by Sharon of all his troops in 2005, the Accords, and the 10/7 attack. I support Israel in their goal to wipe out Hamas. I follow William Farrar, who has an excellent take on the conflict. His depth of knowledge and ability to draw from his vast store of knowledge on the Middle East is amazing. He comments on this newsletter, the Robert Reich newsletter and the Thom Hartmann letter. Jewish values in the Talmud and Torah underpin our values No one but you would suspect my allegiance to Israel.
Hope this long winded response to your uncalled for response to the million man march addresses some of your concerns.
One wonders how much help from Russia the RNC is receiving? Even if its programmers and social media manipulators don't know they are even receiving it. The same question applies to Fox.
I suggest that the RNC is the "frog" and those contributing to the demise of our nation through various channels ie Russian agents as well as some misguided Americans and perhaps other players from other countries, are the "kettle".
We as US citizens must VOTE! There is no room for excuses!!!
It is up to us....it is our responsibility. Do we want freedom or to become slaves to a cruel self-centered dictator who will destroy everything dear to us?!
You must be kidding. You are still buying the Russiagate hoax? Russiagate was a intelligence agency psyop, no different than all the fake "anti-communist" propaganda from the 1950s, but this time directed at the left rather than conservatives as now the left is the dominant electoral group. Here is one for you: if Russia or Putin is so good at infiltrating and overthrowing governments why has NATO expanded east 1000 miles to Russia's borders since the 1990s? Russia hasn't been able to control these small countries right on its border yet somehow can control the US?
While I am no fan of the RNC, please present your evidence that Russia helps the RNC. One thing we know for sure is the present leadership of Ukraine is bought and paid for by the US military industrial complex, and Biden was the point man for the operation under Obama and Trump. You make up stuff about Russia trying to control elections, while completely ignoring the known massive operations by US government agencies, NGO's, etc. to control elections and politics in other countries including Russia. If money or blackmail doesn't work, force is frequently used as the CIA is well known for its long history of assasinations and coups.
I watched the video and it is obvious they used slow motion to may Biden appear feeble. Someone needs to post close-up pictures of Rupert Murdoch at his 5th wedding to show what a wrinkled old fart he is and attach the story of how the WSJ, NY Post, Fox News and other publications are waging a disinformation war against Biden.
Why haven't they started the Smartmatic trial yet to remind us of how despicable Murdoch and his cronies are?
from Washington Post...." The next step in the case will occur sometime this fall, when both Smartmatic and Fox will submit motions requesting that the judge decide the case in their favor ahead of a trial that is tentatively slated for 2025.
Great point, Lin. I wonder whether the piss-poor job of stratcomms of the U.S. comes from naïvété, haste, arrogance, some other factor or a combination of factors. A good example was transferring the cluster munitions to Ukraine.
🤔
Like many around the world, including the U.K. government, I was uneasy with sending these weapons. People who understood the intended use of the weapons explained why they were okay to use in this case; and they are appropriate.
🤝
The negative response was mainly ad hominem -- so I dropped those discussions as defeat conceded by those resorting to that type of response -- or that the U.S. had not signed the treaty, so the question was irrelevant. I shook my head in dismay.
☹️
Without the right messaging we gave our adversaries the propaganda hammer with which to whack us across the Global South: "Ah, those Americans and their 'rules-based order' are such hypocrites -- all in on the rules only when it suits them."
😠
All we had to do was dispatch Vice President Harris or SecState Blinken to the United Nations to proffer the same explanation given to me. That and tack on a $100 million reserve to the associated aid package to clean up the deadly duds later on.
One thing I like about President Biden in his international relations is that he has brought like-minded actors on board for long-term stability and long-term search for solution. While the media might misreport and the GOP demonise him, this is a step in the right way despite a few hiccups.
The newly ushered non-Nato member Kenya in the recently concluded G7 meeting,through President Ruto, said that "for the first time, we have convened to talk about peace in Ukraine and not a war in Ukraine." He added that "This meeting should not be a meeting of friends; it should be a meeting of a friend and a foe." Ruto wants to start a positive and inclusive dialogue where Russia is brought to the table. He advocates for an all-inclusive concessional talk where all parties agree on a number of issues.
Though Russia is a rogue and autocratic state that's not likely to bow down any soon, including them in the peace process is in the right step. Excluding them from the peace process means that Ukraine continues to suffer.
The heart is in the right place, the practicality is not. Putin like his star worshipper trump, is a pathological liar. Their kind is closer to Adolph Hitler than the media cares to infer. They will agree t anything, make any promise sign any paper. And blatantly do whatever the hell they want because even so small a sin as crying out their lies is "duress:"
Sure, I know Putin is as complicated as is former counterpart. And they always want me peace through war. I know fully fledged war to Russia might implicate all of us here and create a series of wars and wars. But small efforts of a few agreements can be just the starting point, not an end in itself.
Been there, done that, Edwin, and it didn’t work. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances from Russia, the US, and the UK to respect Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.
What about the US/NATO in all this? Shouldn't it have repected Ukraine's borders and its democracy instead of infiltrating via National Endowment for Democracy and toppling Ukraine's democratically elected government in 2014, then conducting a massive US/NATO military buildup right on Russia's border? What about the 2008 NATO decision to make Ukraine and Georgia part of NATO - A decision many American statesmen had said would be an absolute red line in terms of Russian military security?
True, we have to start somewhere, maybe an agreement to no further attacks for a stated period of time, but then the rest of the free world would have to be ready to defend Ukraine immediately the agre3ement was broken which unfortunately it would be.
I agree with that. When the agreement is broken, all countries should lock Russia out. From Africa to Europe, they must agree to non negotiable terms that should be uphold by all. Even those who violate such terms are considered as indirect perpetrators of war in Ukraine and sanctioned accordingly.
I respect your contributions but must agree with other comments.
Putin has his own murdered when they do not follow his directions.
He takes resources from Africa and uses the people as slaves to mine for him only...maybe paying some Africans to lead according to his directions.
He has proven to be untrustworthy.
Sadly, we too as a nation have our own regretful history regarding our presence in Africa. We must continue to reform. We can trust President Joe Biden and Blinken to represent our "better selves" in relationships and negotiations.
I think neither Putin nor Trump are complicated. What you see is what you get. How they got to where they are on the inside is complicated; I do not care. I want both of them to be gone for good.
I think you are right Fay and we must find a way Edwin to non-violently contain Russia until Putin can be replaced with a pro democracy leader....or at least a leader that respects the rule of law. I think the rule of law supercedes all, when all will not happen.
Putin wants to be considered a major player on the world stage by his aggressive and bullying actions. Including him and listening to his blather about how much of Ukraine he will settle for smacks of Chamberlain naïveté.
Edwin, you make a good point about President Biden's work on international relations that needs to be more widely understood. Last January 4, David Brooks published an excellent NYTimes op ed entitled "What Biden Needs to Tell Us":
Brooks called our attention to just what Heather wrote here, pointing out the benefits of international cooperation over international competition. I am still hoping to hear this directly from President Biden, as it is exactly what he is doing.
Putin uses our ways and means and the rule of law against us. Do not let him get his foot in the door. He’s an expert manipulator and will fyu but good if given the opportunity.
Some use prayer to affirm connection with a power that unifies us. It isn't always a bad thing, there are just different understandings & the concepts have been misused. Not all that pray, pray to a sky daddy, lol.
This is going to be a long reply, and it's in the wrong place because it's to Republican business leaders who support Donald Trump, but maybe someone here will find it useful.
In the 1920s, a necessarily egalitarian approach to organizational management was developed at Bell Laboratories by Walter Shewhart. In WWII, the approach was adopted by the US government and imposed on munitions suppliers in a program called Training Within Industry (TWI). Long story short, it played an essential role in defeating the authoritarian axis powers.
In 1950, while American industry was returning to the pre-war top-down business approach, the American government sent experts like Edwards Deming to teach Shewhart's egalitarian approach to Japanese business leaders.
Between 1970 and 1980, American industry lost 50% of its market share in virtually every major industrial product, including automobiles, electric motors, computer chips, cameras, machine tools, industrial robots, electronic equipment, medical equipment, kitchen appliances, and color TV sets. In 1980, American industry was crying “unlevel playing field” and looking for trade sanctions against Japan.
In 1980, NBC broadcast a white-paper documentary titled “If Japan Can … Why Can’t We?” with Edward Deming as its central figure. His message was that Japan was not cheating. Instead, Japanese industry had adopted the same egalitarian approach that American industry had abandoned after WWII.
Here's my message to Trump supporters in the business community. I'm sure you're a lot more sophisticated than me, but I'm not aware of a correlation between sophistication and maturity (my guess is it's negative). Here's how I view your maturity level. To me, your behavior is like a 5-year-old lying on the floor in a busy grocery store, arms and legs flailing in the air yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs because he wanted a chocolate bar and his mom said no, except you have enough power to get your way.
The other difference is that the damage your behavior will be causing to your own organizations won't come because there's a foreign nation with businesses that are running the way your business should be running. Instead, it will come from a dictator you put in power because you were conned into believing he'll be on your side. You have four months to wake up and smell the coffee.
Correct. And then Toyota took the advice of Americans like Deming and tried to pass it on to General Motors. In the process, they turned GM's worst performing plant in Freeport CA into its best performing plant, to which GM leadership responded by saying, in essence, "Thanks for your advice, but no thanks. We'll take it from here."
Tesla now owns/operates the NUMMI plant in Fremont, and seems to have as many or more unhappy non-union workers than they ever had back when GM and Toyota union workers were there.
Minor correction, Fremont instead of Freeport (I live in Freeport, Maine). Freeport, CA, which I have driven by, only has 58 residents. There are 15 Freeports in the US but I've only been to 3 of them as far as I can tell.
I don’t understand all of global politics and the intricacies of diplomatic efforts, but I DO trust President Biden and his “steady hand on the tiller”
And it's not just Biden's hand on the tiller. He has a remarkable cabinet and team of advisors.
He has so many qualities that have made his administration successful like listening skills, delegating decision making when appropriate, selecting a team with the skills to get the job done and not requiring constant praise from those around him and humility.
My dad's number one rule was to never put down someone else to try to make yourself look better. I can't remember anytime I didn't have smarter people than me working for me, so I always did the best I could to support them and get them to train everyone else.
At one time our management wanted everyone cross trained expecting them to be equally competent in all aspects (perhaps thinking more along the lines of thinning the ranks for more profit). My approach was more towards forming teams where the most capable learned to excel at some difficult parts, but then teaching all the others over time so we always had as many tasks covered by 2 or more people up to the whole 8 to 10 techs. Everybody could do anybody's job at least adequately to meet mission requirements.
Some didn't appreciate the constant training of everyone to the highest individuals levels they could, but the opinions did seem to change when our unit got 100% of those eligible promoted (vs the average 13% at all other sites).
Jim- My goal for my company was to hire people that could replace me. That worked especially well when I built the company from the ground up instead of inheriting a staff and building it from there.
As the company grew I gave hiring bonuses of $3000 - $5000 a person for recommending someone we hired and they stayed for at least 3 months. As I've mentioned before, during our first 5 years in business our turnover rate was zero. At around 60 employees we hit a point where I didn't know all of our consultants, so I had to rely on our consultants to recommend good people. They usually did.
I was fortunate to have an excellent mentor when I first became a manager. He had several business rules including 1) treat everyone with respect no matter their position, 2) the bottom 10% of the workers in your organization should be culled every year. The 2nd rule seems callous and he never actually fired more than a few people during the 5 years I worked with him. It was more of a note to hire well otherwise you'll end up with high maintenance employees.
I think that's what i meant by "smart" without going into details. Ego is more or less unavoidable, it's the honey that attracts everyone to higher status achievements, from shining in the kid's dance line to rock and roll superstars. Just a matter than of not looking craven, and being competent.
And an insipid bastard surrounds himself with other convicted felons who don’t mind the offensive odor that all who are anywhere near him get to breathe in deeply. Even the lawyer he hired to defend him, repeatedly referred to him as an “orange turd”, over and over again. 🤷♂️
So many voters are tuned out when it comes to what Biden is doing on the world stage. They have no clue that strong relationships with other democracies protect all of us. No doubt they don’t realize that Trump’s chaotic transactional approach is fraught with rampant corruption and danger.
It’s easy to see with a Biden defeat Putin pulling the puppet strings of his most prominent marionette, Trump, to decide our nation’s foreign policy.
Not hard if you pay attention. After two years in Vienna, my 23-year-old grandson has just crossed the Danube to work as a software developer - the hardest part is learning the language, although he was interviewed in English. "We make microscopes", he says. A little research tells me that one-third of the world's microscopes come from Brno, population 400,000 plus. They also have a few old castles, several interesting museums, two state theatres and an opera house. Who knew?
Average? American voter is myopic, purely concerned with anything wrong being the "fault of the president" like the pandemic generated global inflation which is only now being 'wrestled' to the ground, so to speak. He's to blame for the Fed's interest rate anti-inflation policies which also hit borrowers hard. And so on. I sometimes can't believe my ears when i hear "on the street" opinions about Biden. Sadly, he's an "anti-teflon" president, which they used to call Reagan - the trickle-down the wealth guy.
Well said, Frank. You are too kind with calling the American voter myopic, much more gracious than I am.
The sad thing is, when I have pointed out the true, complex, and interwoven causes of the global inflation (which for oil/gas companies and the grocery pipeline is best described as "greedflation") I get really well thought out responses like "nuh-uh" or "that's liberal garbage".
Pure stereotypical thinking, their biases kill your point at the gate. And that's what so much of the electorate bases their "understanding" of things.
They are more likely to complain about sending money to foreign countries when we can't afford to fund all the domestic programs they like. They don't understand that everything they value is contingent on a relatively peaceful world order supporting trade and economic growth.
NATO is the reason we have not seen WWIII, it may not be but it seems a no-brainer not to fund one of the sources of your prosperity. The most frightening thing about the insipid bastard aka “the orange turd” is his desire to destroy NATO. Years from now when the dust from all of this has settled, historians will look back at this and ask why wasn’t he put in “prison earlier”? My only suggested answer is that our system of government was evolved by lawyers who like to argue with each other over very very fine points of “law”.
Wow! It’s such an easy choice really. Who will lead the world and how? With what energy? Climate has to be addressed, and it’s not just the warming temperatures and freakish storms. It is also the changing chemistry and currents of the oceans, the disruption of the food supplies, the loss of biodiversity, the spill over of infectious disease. How can Republicans really think the Orangeman has any qualifications to take leadership on these critical existential issues? Even as Putin’s flunky, how could Putin lead these issues? How could any sane person believe this new Axis of Evil of Authoritarians could do better than President Biden , the Democratic Party, and the G7? How could so many Americans fall for TFG fraud in everything he touches? Is our education, media, electoral and Supreme Court really in this bad of shape? Sadly, the evidence is, YES it is. The need to vote and educate the issues has never been greater.
Listen to Decoding Fox News on Substack. It’s a week of Fox in 45 minutes.
We read Heather Cox Richardson. But MAGA only hears the exact opposite all day, every day. Listen. It’s good to know what we are up against. And it’s somehow refreshing to UNDERSTAND the lies people who hate Biden are hearing. Suddenly it all makes sense.
Republicans don't care about any of these issues Ted. They only care about eliminating regulations and cutting taxes and gaining more and more wealth. I am sure they have a plan to survive when the Earth's chemistry changes so much we, the masses, cannot survive. So that is why we have to win big....the presidency, the house, and the Senate.
And their success rides with their base, whom they have courted with their "anti everyone who isn't a white heteronormative, cisgendered, Christian" and promised their "return" to the "pinnacle" of the US population.
Yup, I know they do not care cuz about these issues. Maybe we need to say they are pro pandemic, pro extinction of every species, pro disease, pro corruption, pro global war of colonization, pro christian fascist, pro authoritarianism, etc ?
We are all invested in our own sense of self, and I think that some degree of narcissism is inevitable, but too much narcissism can render us highly vulnerable to manipulation. Cult leaders call forward our narcissism to isolate and indoctrinate a following, sometimes to the point of thoroughly delusional thinking. MAGA is just one such example. The cult alone has possession of the final and infallible answers to the conundrums of life. All problem result from the presence of those outside the cult. Some extremist cults resort to suicide, and some to genocide. Harm to anything or anyone is seen as justified if it serves the agenda of the cult. The 9/11 attackers who flew occupied planes into occupied buildings were delusional malignant narcissists. MAGA is also delusionally narcissistic, and heading in the wrong direction. Racism, sexism, homophobia, any human rights abuses and conquest is all in that basket. Any assertion of ultimate supremacy. As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
Thank you Heather for precise reporting in the G7 summit and once again shedding light on what is going on behind the scenes by way of disinformation and power grabbing…when will (we)they ever learn … vote with your humanity as intellect for what is right and moral and don’t let hyperbole by a moron persuade you to see autocrats as a a means to any good end
Agreed on the current stance on American international policy, but "rules based" hasn't exactly been what you see in the rear-view mirror on USA. The Iraq invasion on false charges with fallout including ISIS , Afghanistan, sounded good to the ears, but which plainly failed. Before that is is a litany of American "anti-democratic" policies supporting illiberal regimes in an effort to staunch socialist/nationalist upheavals eg Vietnam
The only purpose of hindsight here is to perhaps learn from our mistakes. We can’t go back and fix screwups; we can only be diligent about the future. I get really annoyed by the frequent reference to the past as if that alone is reason to not trust in the future of our decisions as a country. Admitting to the reality of past mistakes is critical to preventing the same mistakes going forward, but we must move beyond. Fault and blame are plenty but it does not change a damn thing.
How do we reach the people who believe and repeat the Russian, Iranian, Chinese talking points as if they are credible statements of fact? It's not just Fox news watchers or MAGA folks. It's insidious propaganda, and it seems to be working. I believe the Atlantic had a recent article about this. Toxic stuff, to add to our worries about our democracy.
Correct, and it’s a waste of time to try. At a time when there is no time to waste. We have to get the decent human beings among us (among whom there are exactly zero Republicans) to vote. Work on that. Do not waste you time with hopeless fools.
Check out the Surgeon Generals report on kids and social media. Our kids are spending 4.8 hours a day on their phones instead of playing, studying, socializing. It’s more addictive than cigarettes. We do not yet grasp the consequences of this. Ours is a complex world. This and other problems will not “magically go away”. The first step towards fixing problems is acknowledging them. Thank you Biden/Harris!
Interesting information, Ted. I know there is another factor at play in this "phone addiction" situation. As Marj mentions in the comment immediately preceding mine, there is also a lack of supervision and control with "viewing" and there is little to no "content control". The "bonus factor" is that the pathway to the brain via the eyes goes directly, short transit, to the brain. One of the "gurus" of law enforcement training is Lt. Col. Dave Grossman; in addition to being the vanguard of the concept of law enforcement "warrior training", he also has done research on violent video games. His book, "Killology" explains the direct neural pathways that information that comes through the eyes has, especially around violent scenes. He is (or at least was, 25 years ago) vehemently opposed to violent video games.
I would say this; I agree that the phone addiction is a thing, and that it is as bad as cigarette addiction. The content that streams to us via the various sources is not regulated in any way. and we are paying the price for it.
I saw that interview last night on PBS and discussed with a friend after.
When we were growing up many of us were not allowed to watch tv unattended and certainly not during the day. The tv back then was the babysitter like the screens are today.
The content was much different too. The Brady Bunch vs what is out there today.
The difference is today parents can literally track their kids because their phones are gps and parents can monitor their history feeds, unlike in the 70's.
Why is this? It feels like the genie is out of the bottle and we are doomed. Maybe I am just old and scared.
agreed, more physical play should be in, with obesity a growing challenge across the generations the past 25 years or so, though i don't have stats. Much of that time is socializing via chat etc and game playing, often with others. Can't say how much vicarious violence works to their detriment, but lots of hand eye co ordination, problem solving etc. On the violence, as kids we saws TONs of war movies, played that or Cowboys and Indians etc on the streets or in the lots on the Sat undernoon after the movie. That was the 50s for me, btw
Voting for eMpTy Greene? Go interview someone who votes for her. Take notes. Go work on fixing that. Surely the 'problem' will be obvious. No? The solution lies with our system of education. And, over the past 60 years we've doctor'd it up with superfluous crap. And just what do I see as "superfluous"? U-name-it. Go get a textbook printed in 1890.. don't change it. Just teach from those up thru the 9th grade level. Youngsters will be able to: Add and subtract; be able to read, and to write (in cursive!!); spell (use a dictionary); speak (without using the words 'like' & U-kno); and, even 'behave in a civil manner'; exercise discretion while understanding indescretion (use a Thesaurus); and finally.. maybe.. stand tall (get rid of that backpack). Oh yes.., and forgo using the 'f' word to embellish conversations. Take this to your local 'teachers college' along with some of those 1890 text books.
Jeri, i think "at the top" of the social "information" system, they all know it's like selling commercial products eg cigarettes just scaled up. Both major parties have their "bases". Sociology 101
Laurie, Wearing a Biden T-shirt on every grocery run is a start.
It’s impossible to reach people who only watch Fox. They refuse to hear or believe Biden’s accompaniments. But everyone eats food… so I wear my DEMS MAKE LIFE BETTER shirt on every grocery run. 👕🛒
Facts don’t matter to MAGA. But they will notice enthusiasm if it becomes impossible to ignore.
Agreed, and it is time to start including Generation Alpha in that cohort. My Great Niece just got her permission to join social media on Facebook, and all of her friend requests need to be approved by her folks. I'm delighted that I was approved, and she and I have had some great exchanges over our littermate cats, her participation in sports, and her HS graduation day being exactly 50 years after mine.
Some additional information about Operation Overload:
The report from Finnish outfit Check First described the pro-Russian misinformation campaign to weaken democratic societies. The article contains numerous links to back up its statements.
This makes the need for internet literacy obvious.
Check First gave this massive program the name Operation Overload.
In effect, pro-Russian actors flood newsrooms with emails, social media mentions, videos, screenshots and graffitis, with requests that they “please check” on dubious claims to create divisions undermining four countries, primarily: Ukraine, France, Italy and Germany. This takes up precious newsroom resources, and serves to amplify the information by any reporting about it.
Check First relied upon support from Reset.Tech and 20+ fact-checking entities, which shared content they had received.
Operation Overload is remarkable:
1) Scale
2) Elaborate tactics employed
a) "Content amalgamation" creates a false sense of a wide online presence, using
artificial dissemination on Telegram and X, for example
b) Coordinated email campaigns, pointing fact-checkers and journalists to the
fakes and controlled websites
3) The quality of the fake content produced
4) Efforts are timed to coincide with major events, such as the Paris Olympics
It has been quite successful in its first few months:
1) More than 800 organizations have been targeted by nearly 2400 tweets.
2) 200+ targeted emails were sent to newsrooms across Europe and beyond.
3) In its first few months, 250+ articles of fact-checks or debunks mentioned the fake assets - that is a lot of time and money wasted on tracking down deliberate lies and false leads
The goal of Check First is to identify, analyze and disrupt Operation Overload:
1) Identify the emails used to target fact-checkers, researchers and newsrooms
2) Analyze the impact of the campaign on the fact-checking community
3) Out the techniques used to create a false sense of Internet omnipresence
You may well be seeing internet content that is just as sophisticated as this pro-Russian content and websites, and just as false.
Use snopes.com, Media Bias Fact Check, the News Literacy Project’s free online Checkology course to identify the red flags of disinformation and misinformation, and other resources for making you a more savvy internet user. (HINT: If you are seeking authoritative, credible information, social media is riskiest!)
Such information must be repeated with ample documentation showing no direct financial interest, demonstrating, repeatedly, the long term objectives of such efforts: Goebels was right: a lie if repeated frequently has the appearance of validity. We must counter the process with the benefit to all of democratic process and rule of law. James Hawley
Roger Stone did. Check out Seymour Hersch book The Price of Power — about Nixon’s total disinformation campaign of which Watergate was just one example . Stone and Dick Cheney cut their political teeth in Nixon’s reelection. Just like Roy Cohn cut his teeth with Senator Joe McCarthy’s Committee on UnAmerican Activities hearings, which Reagan had a nefarious part in as head of the actors union.
Glad Hersch told the whole tale. So much revealed, so much hidden. Bet my life that Cheney and Stone plotted re the 2000 election, at some point. 2000 was truly stolen. Sort of ignored Reagan pre-gov, but he decided way back that Dems had "left him.." I thought that Nancy and her rich family were major factors. Thank you for mentioning his time as head of actors union.
Reagan benefited from the collective bargaining clout of the actors' union, but was quick to cut the air traffic controllers' union off at the knees when it suited him politically. He was also quick to pivot to take advantage of the right-wing evangelicals who were just beginning to become actively polititcal at that time. Self-serving, transactional. Nothing about what Reagan did says "statesman."
I later thought that he was a better actor than I gave him credit for. Had good PR (Michael Deaver) and script writers (Peggy Noonan). Just a greedy bastard after all said and done
And mean-spirited, too. Remember how he gave his opening campaign speech near where the civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi, and talked about "states' rights", the classic racist appeal to segregationists? That wasn't even a dog whistle, in my view. Disgusting. And not a good actor - all he had to do was that grandfather schtick over and over, but the cruelty and slavish attention to the wealthy was right below the surface. The Republicans are three for four using ignorant actors as their most recent presidents (Reagan, Bush II, Trump), two of whom could not manage to get re-elected despite the incumbent's massive advantage.
It is at least heartening to know that some folks are on top of this far more so than was the case in 2016 or 2020. The tech/social media companies could shut this down if they wanted to - but likes and resentment generate ad revenue, so I wouldn't look to them for help. Every progressive needs to be an activist - let your friends hear from you. I send out a newsletter, of sorts, several times a week about stuff like this, and I am quick to email journalists and call out their messaging failures (assuming they actually want their readers to be informed). Letters to the Editor are also easy with no pushback, and someone with potential influence has to read it. Attend the town halls with a prepared question, write post cards, all the grassroots stuff works - turnout is key.
As Heather noted, Anne Applebaum's observation that "[d]isrupting democracies by feeding radicalism makes the democratic world lose its sense of community and solidarity" resonated with me. My union activism, based on building community and solidarity," echoes on a small scale what we need to accomplish on a national and international scale. As the saying goes, we need to think globally and act locally, with community and solidarity our underlying principles.
Anne Applebaum, in the May The Atlantic, published a frightening article on how authoritarian states such as Russia, China, and Iran are focused on attacking the ‘democratic’ world with misinformation, bots, and a subversive propaganda campaign against which there is no concerted riposte.
A powerful juggernaut in this assault (in which the harsh destructiveness of authoritarianism is totally ignored,) is the ability to take the words of ex-president Trump to highlight their insidious campaigns. It is Trump, a leading candidate in America’s 2024 presidential race, who provides the most compelling grist to this staccato propaganda mill.
Trump is the loudest voice pronouncing that America is in decline and that, under President Biden, this decline has sharply accelerated. Though this false fact is totally scuppered by the realities of what is occurring in today’s United States, this ‘treasonous’ bloviating is ammunition for our enemies.
Regarding the tripartite elements of our functioning democracy—the judiciary, the executive, and the legislature—Trumpites are doing their damndest to trash all three.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I am particularly concerned with how the United States maintains its traditional and new formed alliances against authoritarian enemies. I hear from my European friends of their fright that, were Trump back in the White House, America would no longer be the lynch pin in NATO and Trump would bromance with Putin against the sovereignty of the Ukraine.
DEMOCRACY IS ALWAYS VULNERABLE TO AUTHORITARIAN ENEMIES. AS PRESIDENT EISENHOWER EXPRESSED IT, WE MUST BE STRONG AT HOME SO THAT WE CAN BE EFFECTIVE GLOBALLY.
In my view, President Biden is fighting for the soul of America while Trumpists are in a destructive torpor.
Keith, I always look forward to your assessments of the Letter, the information, and the general status of the world. I'd add to your wonderful sentence "It is Trump, a leading candidate in America’s 2024c presidential race, who provides the most compelling grist to this staccato propaganda mill." I would add: "at fortissimo volume, with accents and lack of intonation" to that wonderful phrase. Discordant, loud, and offensive to the "ears" as we watch the disintegration of our functioning judicial and legislative branches.
As an intuitive and a climate activist, I´ve sensed the current chaos coming for a long time. I am delighted that space was created for Zelensky to attend. And I have enjoyed watching the relationship between Zelensky and BIden develop into something special. What I am concerned about is there are large numbers of people who are emotionally in panic mode. I understand and empathize, but we need to put a stop to that! It is not helping! And, of course, the news outlets are thriving on sensationalism. Goes right back to the first big news group, led by Wm. Randolph Hearst who came up with When WWII broke out, many were in panic, but they took the reins and began taking action. Things did not look good in the beginning. Dame Freya Stark became a good friend.. and she had the most extraordinary stories to tell about WWII. Traveling through the Middle East dressed as a man. Carrying a short wave radio. As she many of the local dialects she was able to get into the harems and broadcast from there. I confess, I have been a little too focused on DJT. Which, of course, does nothing to change things. I am reminded of the first big news publisher, Wm. Randolph Hearst. His slogan was ´If it bleeds, it leads..´ The bloodier, the more sensational news became the headlines. And he profited greatly for that attitude. I have to say that I have always enjoyed British pub humor. There was a point when the RAF, Royal Air Force and Brit theatre decided, during the blitz to create a very special message for the Luftwaffe planes..They created a large number of representations of Charlie Chaplin as The Great Dictator, ie Hitler, and placed them in fields where the Luftwaffe pianes flew over. And when Xmas came, during the WWI, the Brits in the trenches began singing Silent Night. The Germans stopped shooting and joined in. Granted, the war did not stop completely.. but I think of those moments, those actions and I absolutely know that the zeitgeist shifted. The first step toward life affirming change. I do believe that currently we have come to a similar place energeticallly and emotionally. Now, what we need is to stay focused on that. Thank you, Heather for the imporant role you are playing in this moment! Your vision and your spirit are very valuable.
Another great, and informative column, Dr. Richardson. I am going to comment on one tiny facet, Gaza, and the idiots who blame Biden for it. Israel does NOT belong to the United States. Israel is an independent sovereign nation, it is not colony of any other country on Earth. Israel doesn't even have the same system of government as us. They have a parliamentary system we have a bicameral system with three (supposdedly) independent branches. We do not have the right to impose our will on Israel, Palestinians, Hamas or any other Country in the Middle East.
We can threaten, cajole, plead, with Netanyahu and Hamas to lay down their arms; to allow humanitarian aid to reach the citizens of Gaza (untouched by either Hamas or Israel) to enter Gaza along with medical personnel to treat the injured and starving Palestinians.
Israel, and Israel alone has the power and right to reel in Netanyahu and throw his ass in jail.
But we can also see in our own Country how difficult it is to do so within legal limitations intended to protect the innocent, but abused by the criminals.
Threatening to withhold your vote or voting for one of the third party crackpots is handing the election to trump - if that's what you want have the courage and honesty to vote for that convicted criminal. Just remember he, and fascism, were YOUR choice all along.
Very well said, as usual Fay. If the election was held today, Netanyahu would lose. He has to go, however, when he is compared to tRump, there is no moral equivalence. Netanyahu has been accused of bribery for political purposes, tRump has 34 guilty pleas and convicted. Netanyahu, as far as I can see has one. Netanyahu and his family have been patriots, fought in a major Israeli war. His brother died and he was wounded. Hubris was Netanyahu's fatal flaw. He ignored the warnings of the military analysts for a year, thinking he could quell just another run of the mill rebellion by Hamas, funded by Iran.. Instead, Israel received 30,,000 troops massing on their border on 10/7/23. He has blood on his hands, and hopefully serves a punishment equal to his crimes. tRump on the other hand is part of a world wide conspiracy to over throw the democratic norms and restore it with a dictatorship. Traitor is his middle name!
Thank you, Eadie, you obviously know more about Netanyahu than I. I just get info from a few news and magazine clips and have no idea on their accuracy. Mostly I disagree with Netanyahu's attittude that it was alright to allow Israeli's to steal land from Palestinians because other Muslims had attacked Israel. To my way of thinking that didn't differ a great deal from Hamas and Hezbollah.
There's a lot I can point to that differs with your comment, "Netanyahu's attittude that it was alright to steal land", Suffice it to say, Israel never took land from the Palestinians. That's a trope that does not comport with the history of the conflict.
“FOR HOW LONG?”is the question….the G7 asked it regarding the US support for traditionally accepted values that support NATO…and they asked it 6 months before a presidential election…
AND the honest answer is 6 months for sure….and that could be it…with autocracy, theocracy and bedlam on the horizon….a profound ‘wake up’ question!
Jerry, I'm guessing that the comments are running a bit thin today; at 6066 PDT. I'm only have a cup of coffee in, and chronologically, yours is the second comment. Hope to see you later.
Just to show you how things change, 4 of the G7 were former enemies of the US. The UK twice, Germany twice, Japan and Italy once each, as recently as 80 years ago. They are now our strongest allies. Together they killed more Americans than anyone...and we in turn probably killed more of their people...with the possible exception of the Russians in the case of Germany. So what exists now, may be very different 30-40-50 years from now...and that difference, that tipping point is happening in the next 5 months...and is based mostly on the results of elections in 6 to 8 states. That's how focused we need to be. That's what this Letter from an American is telling me.
I realize my comment does not relate to today’s Letter, but it’s something that I’ve been considering lately. That is, moving forward, it’s important for all of us to note that all these accusations against Trump actually have nothing to do with the man himself, but with the charges against him. Who Trump is is totally irrelevant to his criminal charges. The same could be said of Hunter Biden as well. There is zero relationship between him being the son of the current president and the crimes he committed. In that sense, there is no difference between the two.
However, one could still argue that the extent of the charges are in no way similar. Hunter Biden was charged with owning a gun while being a drug addict and lying about it on an application form. He also faces some tax charges that, while not unserious, appear to be all too common. Trump, on the other hand, has been charged with the illegal attempt to overturn the results of an election he lost. And for refusing to hand over documents that belonged to the US government. As well as concealing them and obstructing the investigation. The charges in Georgia involve a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. An election that was legally determined multiple times to be free and fair.
None of this is in any way comparable to the crimes Hunter Biden committed. Any more than arguing that the charges for a bank robbery are no different than a charge of jaywalking. IOW, pointing to the severity of the crimes committed by these two individuals is perfectly reasonable under the current circumstances.
Yet yesterday, I read on Axios that family members worried that Biden was preoccupied with and distracted by Hunter's problems. As if empathy disqualified him for the presidency. Anyone who reads the president's remarks would be hard-pressed to argue that he's distracted. It's possible to hold both personal grief and the complexities of world politics in mind at the same time. That's what makes great leaders, IMO.
My condolences. I didn't mean to diminish the weight of grief, it's a heavy burden, but I suspect in Biden's case it's all bundled up with his sense of purpose. And, of course, he has Jill with whom to share it all. It was she who sat in the courtroom during Hunter's trial.
Thanks and certainly, I agree. I'm only pointing out 2 things here. That should the opportunity arise, we ought to make a point of focusing on these criminal charges, particularly in Trump's case. Because Trump & his allies are trying to make all of this solely about him. But the reality is it's not about him, it's about the criminal actions he's been charged with doing. Secondly, if one is so inclined, I think it's fair to argue that the severity of the charges regarding Mr. Biden & Trump are vastly different. Yes, they're both bad things. But they are not in any way comparable in terms of severity, in terms of who was affected by their actions for example, in terms of the laws broken, in terms of the harms done to others, in terms of the intention to cause harm. In terms of the very unique circumstances regarding Trump's crimes versus what Mr. Biden did. A crime that I would suspect is prosecuted on a very routine basis. In a nutshell, all we're talking about here are two counter-arguments. To those who are determined to make all of this about things that are simply not related to the real issues we've been witnesses to in real-time. IOW, this constant refrain we keep hearing that what we are seeing is not what we're seeing.
Well said and our commitment to democracy must continue to stand against the lies, hypocrisy’s and criminality of the GOP. God bless Biden, the United States of America and Heather Cox Richardson.
I fear the 'take away' from the G7 meeting is a RNC video edited to make Pres. Biden look incompetent. Yes, it has been exposed for what it is - right wing propaganda in the tradition of Soviet disinformation. But . . .
Just as we need to focus on Biden administration accomplishments, we need to spotlight that Trump is the stooge of an American right wing effort to turn our Constitution on its head to drain American law of justice, and to maintain the institutional protocols of a democratic republic while using them to establish a corporate clerical fascist state.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/06/14/biden-wanders-away-from-other-g7-leaders-and-controversy-ensues-the-video-explained/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/14/cheapfake-biden-videos-enrapture-right-wing-media-deeply-mislead/
That social media companies cannot be held to account for allowing these fake videos to flourish is close to criminal.
And Fox, which lies and there fosters division with misinformation.
I guess three quarters of a billion is chump change to them
4.8 hours a day. What chance do our kids stand in a competitive world?
The entities that create them should be sued for slander.
Imagine that; Biden ditches photo op to engage with parachutists who just paid homage to the G7.
Morning, Lynell! Yeah, shocking isn't it, that Biden would ditch a photo op to talk to the "boots on the ground" folks. What's in it for him? <snark>
Morning, Ally! "Boots on the ground" folks...I like it!
Can't claim originality on that. I think it speaks volumes about a leader that steps aside to talk to the people actually doing the work. I came to it via the military world, where "boots on the ground" people are doing the work while the "upper echelon" sits in air conditioned splendor planning the next stupid move that won't work.
Agreed. What should've happened is for the remaining six to have followed Biden to the workers instead of making him go over to them!
Lin, Agree that we need to "spotlight that tRump is a stooge...", however, I disagree in how to accomplish this. We need more than talk to get the uninformed electorate's eyes and ears.
Yes, but we need to listen - however painful, to those holding opposite opinions. Rational conversations can't be had till after we get cauliflower ears from listening, then understanding where each is coming from, then pull your store of facts-in-evidence out of your back pocket, then 'asking' what about that, without malice. One person - person to person is the best we've got. Know your facts. And remember, no one likes a smart azz, smarty pants. Believe it or not, you can learn from those who lack 'standing'. I have most certainly and feel no shame. Another Substack writer I follow and read every utterance that she allows a free loader like myself is the incomparable Joyce Vance, a precious gift to law and liberty. A few days ago, she wrote what I consider one of her best letters, from her consciousness, as opposed to from her inner law library and vast experience. I highly recommend reading it - perhaps twice. If you will, see >> https://joycevance.substack.com/p/a-little-civil-discourse-93d
I agree that we have to listen Dan. However, that ship has sailed. The Magats have told us in Project 25 what they plan to do, if they gain power. We don't have anymore time to only listen, when their plan is to overthrow our democracy. So far, they have been quite successful. At this time, we also need action, and my suggestion that we have a million man march that is led by people like Jamie Raskin, Jim McGovern, Sheldon Whitehouse, Gavin Newsom, Dan Goldman and entertainers like Taylor Swift, Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Kimmel, Steven Colbert. This is the only way we can get the eyes and ears of the undecided and uninformed to vote BLUE NO MATTER WHO!
Joyce Vance is one of my favorite commentators on MSNBC and her newsletter and her podcast-Sisters-in-law I think are informative as well.
Every morning I start by reading Heather and Joyce.
As I have noted before, I find your push for "a million man march" both counterproductive and suspect. Counterproductive because it is a diversion of resources. Suspect because your "million man" model is avowed racist and antisemitic influencer Louis Farrakhan.
In addition you provide no logistical details for your proposed march, no indication of how you would defend it from being co-opted, and no proof that it would better Get Out The Vote than the outreach efforts underway. You provide no evidence that 'Hey boys and girls, Let's have a parade!' is how to win this election.
Lin, I will address both of your accusations, however, be assured, I won't go to you about how to win friends and influence people. Farrakhan and Linda Sarsour do not have a patent on the idea of a million man march. Although, Iran would be a good place to find out how to use propaganda and spread it.
In order to have a million man march, we need new sources of revenue, not a depletion of existing ones. I am no expert on organizing marches, but I have attended them when I was younger. This is what I do know. Pro Palestinian protests are backed by surprisingly democratic organizations like the Rockefeller Fund and the Pritzkers. Although, they don't need help, Robert Reich and Bernie Sanders, both media figures have supplemented their efforts on the media. Voice for America is a disruptive force that accused Joe Biden of genocide. The Tides foundation, seeded by George Soros is a contributor to Solidaire and by extension Libra. Is it any wonder that Hamas is winning the propaganda war? We need a counter balancing stream of funds to combat the false media coverage that Russia and Iran are behind. I found one bundler for democratic causes. Kevin Conlon, has been a bundler for Biden as well as for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now advises nonprofits. That's a source we can tap into. Politico is hearing from people on the Left that don't want their dollars to go to Hamas. Jewish United fund in Chicago issues small grants to non profits. Biden is struggling to get support from young people now that the campuses have been taken over by Hamas funded entities like Iran. Young voters voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. What better way to get their eyes and ears than have people like Taylor Swift, Colbert, Jimmie Kimmel and Seinfeld counter the false propaganda young people receive on X, TICTOC, meta etc.The liability for Biden if it continues through Nov. is great.
To summarize, a protest needs clarity of purpose, getting people there, getting the message to those that need to hear it, i.e. young people, and the leaving people with a message of success, so that they don't think their efforts were in vain. Protests raise awareness of the issue at stake i.e. Biden's reelection, something we are in dire need of, pressure people in power to make changes desperately needed i.e getting rid of the MTG's and Gaetz's in congress. Giving a voice to those who may never be heard is what it's all about! Certainly, there are more people like Kevin Conlon in our democratic ranks who can accomplish this. Simon Rosenberg comes to mind as well as all the organizers he knows. Mark Elias is another individual that has been at this effort for decades. Time as I said is running out. We need to get to work!
Now to address the 2nd issue that my intentions are suspect. Let me assure you they are quite the opposite. I've addressed the Israeli /Palestinian conflict in all the newsletters I have subscribed to. I know Israel's history, since the Balfour Declaration, the 9 major wars they've been engaged in and won, the League of Nations Agreement that all allied powers at the time signed, the 1967 Intifada, the pull-out by Sharon of all his troops in 2005, the Accords, and the 10/7 attack. I support Israel in their goal to wipe out Hamas. I follow William Farrar, who has an excellent take on the conflict. His depth of knowledge and ability to draw from his vast store of knowledge on the Middle East is amazing. He comments on this newsletter, the Robert Reich newsletter and the Thom Hartmann letter. Jewish values in the Talmud and Torah underpin our values No one but you would suspect my allegiance to Israel.
Hope this long winded response to your uncalled for response to the million man march addresses some of your concerns.
@ Eadie. The DNC "Social Ambassador program and FT 6 have "social storming" to broadcast our messages via social media. Most Gen Z get all their info that way. https://social.fieldteam6.org/toolkit/815435f9-454f-446d-a1ce-5fd7a4188713
E.G. Taylor Swift has 550.2 million followers on social media. Swifties can comment, linking Voterizer.org. https://voterizer.org/
I think it's more important to work on getting the vote out. And that at least Raskin and Whitehouse are more useful doing what they do than leading a march. People like Swift,Streisand, Kimmel, and Colbert are probably more useful for leading marches, although especially Swift and maybe also Streisand could probably do a lot to help get the vote out just by speaking about it to their acolytes.
Eadie. Agreed. They have a plan and they aren't hiding it. Meanwhile, the MAGAs who follow them have totally absorbed the message and are beyond reach. Yesterday, my husband showed me a picture of a young boy with his head back to us. His haircut was close and in it was a symbol supporting death star. Many believe that death star is the second coming. Those minds are closed and their ears shut. Also lots of anger and plenty of guns....nine mass shooting this weekend. And someone and I didn't catch actually addressed the problem and said we need to do something meaningful about guns.
Like with the MAGAs incessant blather about the "open" southern border, I am now using "convicted felon Donald Trump whenever I comment using his name. TFFG was good but CFDT is who he really is, down to his core.
Whenever someone comments about the Biden administration doing nothing, I first point out the 56000 infrastructure projects (and counting) completed since Build Back Better passed. And then contrast that to CFDT's idea of infrastructure week as a photo-op to show his fat a$$ climbing into the cab of a semi and cracking a joke.
CFDT likes to bad mouth cities like Baltimore and Milwaukee, but his administration did nothing to help "make them great again."
Exactly! We need people who attract people, in large numbers, to conduct events (marches, concerts) that get noticed and publicized. Those events will generate conversations about the magnitude of support for democracy that exists around this country. The best way to support Biden is to demonstrate that the majority of people in this country want our democracy to remain in place; for us, for our children and for all the other democracies around the world.
Love the Democracy is not a spectator sport button!
We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.
- Thomas Jefferson
The world is made meaningful by each individual's active engagement with it.
- Hannah Arendt
“Government is by those who show up.”
Thank you lin. I'd never read that gem by Jefferson before. I like it... a lot.
#me also !
Joyce Vance is great, her "night off" is pix from the chicken coup she keeps!
Frank ,
Love and respect Joyce....she is a powerhouse .... a brilliant, knowledgeable lawyer....a true American patriot....and I love it when she shares pictures of her chickens!!!!
Good point, but are you including the cult in your “opposite opinions.” You will surely get cauliflower ears, and no real conversation. Been there
I have a couple of family members in the MAGA cult. There is no talking to them.
They have no ears. Unless you share a pew...and spew the same crap
Agree. When you get a loon who is convinced "they" are going to take all their electronic money and no one will be allowed to use cash and they'll shut down their businesses and their wives will have to put the children in state owned daycare and go work in a government shop....there's nothing. The Russian brain worm is past treatment.
I actually got one of those the other day! Wow!
No, there's no way to get thru that kind of insanity.
I just walked away since I was wearing an Oregon State Parks uniform.
You have to keep trying at all costs. Play cribbage with your parents and put on some great music, whatever it takes! Then convince them! One on one or two is best.
My 91 yo mother complains bitterly about the cost of health care and the insurance companies being in control of what doctors she can see. When I explain that the system she is complaining about is created by congressional conservatives passing laws that make health care a profit center for billionaires, she pauses and wonders what she can do. When I say stop voting for them, she just can’t bring her 1960’s Goldwater GOP voting entrenchment out from under the rock
Oh yes Jeri; I've never been considered any wallflower, nor a fool. I didn't mean to suggest putting flowers in their hair (lol ! damn funny visual that ! ), knowing fully as all have chimed in regarding the degrees of crazy 'out there.' I just do my best and hope most do so as well. Perhaps Joyce V. pep talk carried me away... opinions do vary. I still recommend that reading highly. She's able to articulate what I find myself doing, much better than I can. I do know the cards are the cards, and when to fold.
Yes you do. You are right, the letter is one to spread around. And I agree with any attempt to hook a slippery fish. Go get ‘em…
And today Joyce Vance let us know we'll start the 2025 book club. Review, however long it takes, all 920 pages of project 2025. Rebubs dont think most Americans would do such a thing. Guess they're wrong
The Anthropologist inspired card I used as an ice breaker had an image of the Statue of Liberty followed by
Who You Voted For
is not as important as
What You Stand For
Offices for your address? - See runforoffice.org
Representative's views, speeches? - See votesmart.org
Compare elected officials? - See govtrack.us
They have changed a bit and don't do as well tracking people not in office or former office holders not running for office again, but have been extremely useful in states where (non-partisan where they need basically one on one pairing of volunteers with people from both major parties), have helped fill in the information for almost every office in the area you can vote for.
I don't try to get them to change their minds during the first meeting, just get them to start considering other sources they can look up themselves. On occasion, they would mention a candidate they would want to know more about so I would be prepared for later discussions with everything I could learn about who they mentioned, and their opponents for the same office.
I found votesmart most useful since it compared their speeches with their votes , their stated positions, ratings by major groups, and their funding sources.
I think the most common thing I found was people strongly supported politicians that had what we called ward healers (sometimes heeler's), who solved some personal issue for the individual or someone they knew, no matter how badly they abused or neglected or intimidated anyone else.
One of the best field organizers taught me not to try to convince people of your position - it can spur them to reinforce their opposition. But if in listening you hear one point of commonality then try to get them to expand on that and hopefully bring themselves around to other points of agreement. Eventually, consideration of or support for your camdidate
Yep, triggers oppositional-defiant response in a nanosecond
Yes !
Great information share Jim... thank you !
I have been suggesting that people who think Trump should be president again ought to ask themselves this question: If Donald Trump saw you get hit by a car, would he rush over to help? Would he even bother to call 911? Not asking for a response, just for the person to think about it.
I fear he's much more dangerous than a mere stooge, namely a frontrunner for someone far worse and as yet unknown.
Yes. But ... those whom Trump is fronting for are certainly far worse but definitely not unknown. From the moment Ronald Reagan jumped in bed with Ralph Reed ...
ProPublica has done formidable work in putting the spotlight on Charles Koch bagman Leonard Leo - how big money is funneled through LLCs to antidemocratic causes.
Yes, but Leonard Leo isn't going to run for office. Who's going to step forward when the convicted felon trump dies?
I asked that same question in another forum yesterday and haven't yet received an answer. But Repubs better be thinking about it, cause CFTD is in a lot worse shape than Biden is.
I’d bet that they have that all worked out…
Forgive me, Eadie Sharron, but it's not going to help by writing his name in such a way that one conflates it with a secondary sex characteristic that is attractive to both genders, and celebrated in paintings and sculptures.
David, didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
You're most welcome, Eadie. There's more. The buttocks evolved as part of a suite of adaptations, including the achilles tendon, body hairlessness, and several others that made it possible for our long ago ancestors--probably of both genders--to run for many miles to pursue prey animals.
I don't think anyone has tried to figure out how the derriere ultimately became a secondary sex characteristic, but I'm very curious about that and I hope to look into it in the near future.
Eadie, the question is HOW?
The question is HOW?
I just responded to Lin, who had the same question. However, she framed it as an accusation. Here is my long winded response.
Lin, I will address both of your accusations, however, be assured, I won't go to you about how to win friends and influence people. Farrakhan and Linda Sarsour do not have a patent on the idea of a million man march. Although, Iran would be a good place to find out how to use propaganda and spread it.
In order to have a million man march, we need new sources of revenue, not a depletion of existing ones. I am no expert on organizing marches, but I have attended them when I was younger. This is what I do know. Pro Palestinian protests are backed by surprisingly democratic organizations like the Rockefeller Fund and the Pritzkers. Although, they don't need help, Robert Reich and Bernie Sanders, both media figures have supplemented their efforts on the media. Voice for America is a disruptive force that accused Joe Biden of genocide. The Tides foundation, seeded by George Soros is a contributor to Solidaire and by extension Libra. Is it any wonder that Hamas is winning the propaganda war? We need a counter balancing stream of funds to combat the false media coverage that Russia and Iran are behind. I found one bundler for democratic causes. Kevin Conlon, has been a bundler for Biden, as well as for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now advises nonprofits. That's a source we can tap into. Politico is hearing from people on the Left that don't want their dollars to go to Hamas. Jewish United fund in Chicago issues small grants to non profits. Biden is struggling to get support from young people now that the campuses have been taken over by Hamas funded entities like Iran. Young voters voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. What better way to get their eyes and ears than have people like Taylor Swift, Colbert, Jimmie Kimmel and Seinfeld counter the false propaganda young people receive on X, TICTOC, meta etc.The liability for Biden if it continues through Nov. is great.
To summarize, a protest needs clarity of purpose, getting people there, getting the message to those that need to hear it, i.e. young people, and then leaving people with a message of success, so that they don't think their efforts were in vain. Protests raise awareness of the issue at stake i.e. Biden's reelection, something we are in dire need of, pressure people in power to make changes desperately needed i.e getting rid of the MTG's and Gaetz's in congress. Giving a voice to those who may never be heard is what it's all about! Certainly, there are more people like Kevin Conlon in our democratic ranks who can accomplish this. Simon Rosenberg comes to mind as well as all the organizers he knows. Mark Elias is another individual that has been at this effort for decades. Time as I said is running out. We need to get to work!
Now to address the 2nd issue that my intentions are suspect. Let me assure you they are quite the opposite. I've addressed the Israeli /Palestinian conflict in all the newsletters I have subscribed to. I know Israel's history, since the Balfour Declaration, the 9 major wars they've been engaged in and won, the League of Nations Agreement that all allied powers at the time signed, the 1967 Intifada, the pull-out by Sharon of all his troops in 2005, the Accords, and the 10/7 attack. I support Israel in their goal to wipe out Hamas. I follow William Farrar, who has an excellent take on the conflict. His depth of knowledge and ability to draw from his vast store of knowledge on the Middle East is amazing. He comments on this newsletter, the Robert Reich newsletter and the Thom Hartmann letter. Jewish values in the Talmud and Torah underpin our values No one but you would suspect my allegiance to Israel.
Hope this long winded response to your uncalled for response to the million man march addresses some of your concerns.
One wonders how much help from Russia the RNC is receiving? Even if its programmers and social media manipulators don't know they are even receiving it. The same question applies to Fox.
SWBV,
I suggest that the RNC is the "frog" and those contributing to the demise of our nation through various channels ie Russian agents as well as some misguided Americans and perhaps other players from other countries, are the "kettle".
We as US citizens must VOTE! There is no room for excuses!!!
It is up to us....it is our responsibility. Do we want freedom or to become slaves to a cruel self-centered dictator who will destroy everything dear to us?!
You must be kidding. You are still buying the Russiagate hoax? Russiagate was a intelligence agency psyop, no different than all the fake "anti-communist" propaganda from the 1950s, but this time directed at the left rather than conservatives as now the left is the dominant electoral group. Here is one for you: if Russia or Putin is so good at infiltrating and overthrowing governments why has NATO expanded east 1000 miles to Russia's borders since the 1990s? Russia hasn't been able to control these small countries right on its border yet somehow can control the US?
While I am no fan of the RNC, please present your evidence that Russia helps the RNC. One thing we know for sure is the present leadership of Ukraine is bought and paid for by the US military industrial complex, and Biden was the point man for the operation under Obama and Trump. You make up stuff about Russia trying to control elections, while completely ignoring the known massive operations by US government agencies, NGO's, etc. to control elections and politics in other countries including Russia. If money or blackmail doesn't work, force is frequently used as the CIA is well known for its long history of assasinations and coups.
I watched the video and it is obvious they used slow motion to may Biden appear feeble. Someone needs to post close-up pictures of Rupert Murdoch at his 5th wedding to show what a wrinkled old fart he is and attach the story of how the WSJ, NY Post, Fox News and other publications are waging a disinformation war against Biden.
Why haven't they started the Smartmatic trial yet to remind us of how despicable Murdoch and his cronies are?
Don't forget to put the NYTimes in your list of disinformation media.
And WAPO since Murdoch's guy took over.
Seriously. Sheesh. WaPo and the NYTimes support serious investigative journalism. Including on the Murdoch pig mess at WaPo.
from Washington Post...." The next step in the case will occur sometime this fall, when both Smartmatic and Fox will submit motions requesting that the judge decide the case in their favor ahead of a trial that is tentatively slated for 2025.
How deflating is that.
Great point, Lin. I wonder whether the piss-poor job of stratcomms of the U.S. comes from naïvété, haste, arrogance, some other factor or a combination of factors. A good example was transferring the cluster munitions to Ukraine.
🤔
Like many around the world, including the U.K. government, I was uneasy with sending these weapons. People who understood the intended use of the weapons explained why they were okay to use in this case; and they are appropriate.
🤝
The negative response was mainly ad hominem -- so I dropped those discussions as defeat conceded by those resorting to that type of response -- or that the U.S. had not signed the treaty, so the question was irrelevant. I shook my head in dismay.
☹️
Without the right messaging we gave our adversaries the propaganda hammer with which to whack us across the Global South: "Ah, those Americans and their 'rules-based order' are such hypocrites -- all in on the rules only when it suits them."
😠
All we had to do was dispatch Vice President Harris or SecState Blinken to the United Nations to proffer the same explanation given to me. That and tack on a $100 million reserve to the associated aid package to clean up the deadly duds later on.
✌️
¿¿See?? ¡¡¡Easy-peasey!!!
Is this a fake video? It appears Biden freezes. And I've seen 2 others.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/video-of-joe-biden-appearing-to-freeze-at-juneteenth-event-raises-questions/ar-BB1nZXoB
One thing I like about President Biden in his international relations is that he has brought like-minded actors on board for long-term stability and long-term search for solution. While the media might misreport and the GOP demonise him, this is a step in the right way despite a few hiccups.
The newly ushered non-Nato member Kenya in the recently concluded G7 meeting,through President Ruto, said that "for the first time, we have convened to talk about peace in Ukraine and not a war in Ukraine." He added that "This meeting should not be a meeting of friends; it should be a meeting of a friend and a foe." Ruto wants to start a positive and inclusive dialogue where Russia is brought to the table. He advocates for an all-inclusive concessional talk where all parties agree on a number of issues.
Though Russia is a rogue and autocratic state that's not likely to bow down any soon, including them in the peace process is in the right step. Excluding them from the peace process means that Ukraine continues to suffer.
The heart is in the right place, the practicality is not. Putin like his star worshipper trump, is a pathological liar. Their kind is closer to Adolph Hitler than the media cares to infer. They will agree t anything, make any promise sign any paper. And blatantly do whatever the hell they want because even so small a sin as crying out their lies is "duress:"
Sure, I know Putin is as complicated as is former counterpart. And they always want me peace through war. I know fully fledged war to Russia might implicate all of us here and create a series of wars and wars. But small efforts of a few agreements can be just the starting point, not an end in itself.
Been there, done that, Edwin, and it didn’t work. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances from Russia, the US, and the UK to respect Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.
What about the US/NATO in all this? Shouldn't it have repected Ukraine's borders and its democracy instead of infiltrating via National Endowment for Democracy and toppling Ukraine's democratically elected government in 2014, then conducting a massive US/NATO military buildup right on Russia's border? What about the 2008 NATO decision to make Ukraine and Georgia part of NATO - A decision many American statesmen had said would be an absolute red line in terms of Russian military security?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcykw87cbGI
True, we have to start somewhere, maybe an agreement to no further attacks for a stated period of time, but then the rest of the free world would have to be ready to defend Ukraine immediately the agre3ement was broken which unfortunately it would be.
I agree with that. When the agreement is broken, all countries should lock Russia out. From Africa to Europe, they must agree to non negotiable terms that should be uphold by all. Even those who violate such terms are considered as indirect perpetrators of war in Ukraine and sanctioned accordingly.
Edwin,
I respect your contributions but must agree with other comments.
Putin has his own murdered when they do not follow his directions.
He takes resources from Africa and uses the people as slaves to mine for him only...maybe paying some Africans to lead according to his directions.
He has proven to be untrustworthy.
Sadly, we too as a nation have our own regretful history regarding our presence in Africa. We must continue to reform. We can trust President Joe Biden and Blinken to represent our "better selves" in relationships and negotiations.
There is no negotiating with Putin. If you listen to his propaganda that is quite obvious, as well as (most importantly) his actions.
I think neither Putin nor Trump are complicated. What you see is what you get. How they got to where they are on the inside is complicated; I do not care. I want both of them to be gone for good.
I think you are right Fay and we must find a way Edwin to non-violently contain Russia until Putin can be replaced with a pro democracy leader....or at least a leader that respects the rule of law. I think the rule of law supercedes all, when all will not happen.
Putin wants to be considered a major player on the world stage by his aggressive and bullying actions. Including him and listening to his blather about how much of Ukraine he will settle for smacks of Chamberlain naïveté.
Jeri putin makes me think of “the small man syndrome “. What they lack in size they become dangerous bullies!
Yep, have to make up for what they lack somehow. Usually involves taking away from others.
Spot on Jeri 👍👍💥
Not too sure about that idea I’m afraid, Edwin.
It might not work but can be tried
It certainly has not been tried up to now. Mutual aggressiveness hasn't brought happiness to anyone.
Wise words, Edwin. "It should be a meeting of a friend and a foe".
Russia has not wavered in its terms for peace, those terms being absorption of Crimea and the Donbas oblasts.
Ukraine will suffer, regardless.
Edwin, you make a good point about President Biden's work on international relations that needs to be more widely understood. Last January 4, David Brooks published an excellent NYTimes op ed entitled "What Biden Needs to Tell Us":
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/opinion/populism-trump-liberalism.html
Brooks called our attention to just what Heather wrote here, pointing out the benefits of international cooperation over international competition. I am still hoping to hear this directly from President Biden, as it is exactly what he is doing.
Exactly, that's his major approach. He doesn't compete, he doesn't do it all by himself. he wants more actors to solve one problem.
Putin uses our ways and means and the rule of law against us. Do not let him get his foot in the door. He’s an expert manipulator and will fyu but good if given the opportunity.
Agreed, Christopher, Wearing a Biden T-shirt says I stand with Biden. I stand up for Democracy.
Wearing it on every grocery run says, don’t worry Dems, we got this.
👕🛒 BeantownStrong.org
DemsMakeLifeBetter.org
👕🛒Visibility to victory
I pray to God every morning as He is not of chaos, but of peace.
Not to rain on your parade, but prayer hasn't made much of a contribution towards solving the world's problems.
Some use prayer to affirm connection with a power that unifies us. It isn't always a bad thing, there are just different understandings & the concepts have been misused. Not all that pray, pray to a sky daddy, lol.
so the world of chaos? where did that come from?
Read Matthew 24:7
Sounds like chaos to me Hiro.
And if we are giving each other recommendations of what to read -
Read any science book.
And drop that spurious compilation of Bronze Age superstitions and myths.
It doesn't help, it just confuses people.
What a dreadful belief system!
Hey Hiro, would like to hear more from you on this topic, as a Unitarian.
I simply follow Phillipian 4:6-7, and Psalms for prayer, e.g. Ps 68:1-10, 19. Read Ps 119 6 verses per day, 4 for the last two days, covering 30 days.
This is going to be a long reply, and it's in the wrong place because it's to Republican business leaders who support Donald Trump, but maybe someone here will find it useful.
In the 1920s, a necessarily egalitarian approach to organizational management was developed at Bell Laboratories by Walter Shewhart. In WWII, the approach was adopted by the US government and imposed on munitions suppliers in a program called Training Within Industry (TWI). Long story short, it played an essential role in defeating the authoritarian axis powers.
In 1950, while American industry was returning to the pre-war top-down business approach, the American government sent experts like Edwards Deming to teach Shewhart's egalitarian approach to Japanese business leaders.
Between 1970 and 1980, American industry lost 50% of its market share in virtually every major industrial product, including automobiles, electric motors, computer chips, cameras, machine tools, industrial robots, electronic equipment, medical equipment, kitchen appliances, and color TV sets. In 1980, American industry was crying “unlevel playing field” and looking for trade sanctions against Japan.
In 1980, NBC broadcast a white-paper documentary titled “If Japan Can … Why Can’t We?” with Edward Deming as its central figure. His message was that Japan was not cheating. Instead, Japanese industry had adopted the same egalitarian approach that American industry had abandoned after WWII.
Here's my message to Trump supporters in the business community. I'm sure you're a lot more sophisticated than me, but I'm not aware of a correlation between sophistication and maturity (my guess is it's negative). Here's how I view your maturity level. To me, your behavior is like a 5-year-old lying on the floor in a busy grocery store, arms and legs flailing in the air yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs because he wanted a chocolate bar and his mom said no, except you have enough power to get your way.
The other difference is that the damage your behavior will be causing to your own organizations won't come because there's a foreign nation with businesses that are running the way your business should be running. Instead, it will come from a dictator you put in power because you were conned into believing he'll be on your side. You have four months to wake up and smell the coffee.
References: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1779415710.
Seems we taught others the best of what we did, then quit doing it ourselves in way too much of our industries and businesses.
Correct. And then Toyota took the advice of Americans like Deming and tried to pass it on to General Motors. In the process, they turned GM's worst performing plant in Freeport CA into its best performing plant, to which GM leadership responded by saying, in essence, "Thanks for your advice, but no thanks. We'll take it from here."
Reference: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015.
Tesla now owns/operates the NUMMI plant in Fremont, and seems to have as many or more unhappy non-union workers than they ever had back when GM and Toyota union workers were there.
Minor correction, Fremont instead of Freeport (I live in Freeport, Maine). Freeport, CA, which I have driven by, only has 58 residents. There are 15 Freeports in the US but I've only been to 3 of them as far as I can tell.
Correction: Freemont CA, not Freeport. Oops!
Oh what the heck. God bless you too Mr. Groesbeck. I hope next year people will have to be reminded of who the former guy was.
I agree with you Christopher!Biden is a great President!!💙💙!!
Christopher. AMEN
In troubled times like this, I'm grateful to have Biden's experienced and steady hand on the tiller.
I don’t understand all of global politics and the intricacies of diplomatic efforts, but I DO trust President Biden and his “steady hand on the tiller”
Peter, I also am glad that Biden is steering our ship of state. I’m also glad that he’s assembled such an accomplished crew!
And it's not just Biden's hand on the tiller. He has a remarkable cabinet and team of advisors.
He has so many qualities that have made his administration successful like listening skills, delegating decision making when appropriate, selecting a team with the skills to get the job done and not requiring constant praise from those around him and humility.
A smart president surrounds himself with a smart team. Period.
A smart LEADER surrounds him- or herself with a knowledgeable team. If he or she can put their egos aside (many can’t) everyone looks good.
My dad's number one rule was to never put down someone else to try to make yourself look better. I can't remember anytime I didn't have smarter people than me working for me, so I always did the best I could to support them and get them to train everyone else.
At one time our management wanted everyone cross trained expecting them to be equally competent in all aspects (perhaps thinking more along the lines of thinning the ranks for more profit). My approach was more towards forming teams where the most capable learned to excel at some difficult parts, but then teaching all the others over time so we always had as many tasks covered by 2 or more people up to the whole 8 to 10 techs. Everybody could do anybody's job at least adequately to meet mission requirements.
Some didn't appreciate the constant training of everyone to the highest individuals levels they could, but the opinions did seem to change when our unit got 100% of those eligible promoted (vs the average 13% at all other sites).
Jim- My goal for my company was to hire people that could replace me. That worked especially well when I built the company from the ground up instead of inheriting a staff and building it from there.
As the company grew I gave hiring bonuses of $3000 - $5000 a person for recommending someone we hired and they stayed for at least 3 months. As I've mentioned before, during our first 5 years in business our turnover rate was zero. At around 60 employees we hit a point where I didn't know all of our consultants, so I had to rely on our consultants to recommend good people. They usually did.
I was fortunate to have an excellent mentor when I first became a manager. He had several business rules including 1) treat everyone with respect no matter their position, 2) the bottom 10% of the workers in your organization should be culled every year. The 2nd rule seems callous and he never actually fired more than a few people during the 5 years I worked with him. It was more of a note to hire well otherwise you'll end up with high maintenance employees.
Wow!
I think that's what i meant by "smart" without going into details. Ego is more or less unavoidable, it's the honey that attracts everyone to higher status achievements, from shining in the kid's dance line to rock and roll superstars. Just a matter than of not looking craven, and being competent.
And an insipid bastard surrounds himself with other convicted felons who don’t mind the offensive odor that all who are anywhere near him get to breathe in deeply. Even the lawyer he hired to defend him, repeatedly referred to him as an “orange turd”, over and over again. 🤷♂️
Yes.. the absence of bloviation, of self-aggrandizement. Such a relief.
And Biden s compassion.
So many voters are tuned out when it comes to what Biden is doing on the world stage. They have no clue that strong relationships with other democracies protect all of us. No doubt they don’t realize that Trump’s chaotic transactional approach is fraught with rampant corruption and danger.
It’s easy to see with a Biden defeat Putin pulling the puppet strings of his most prominent marionette, Trump, to decide our nation’s foreign policy.
It has been said that war is the way most Americans learn geography.
Ha!
Sounds like you may know the difference between Slovakia and Slovenia, TC.
And perhaps the difference between the Pusan Perimeter and the Fulda Gap!!!
Not hard if you pay attention. After two years in Vienna, my 23-year-old grandson has just crossed the Danube to work as a software developer - the hardest part is learning the language, although he was interviewed in English. "We make microscopes", he says. A little research tells me that one-third of the world's microscopes come from Brno, population 400,000 plus. They also have a few old castles, several interesting museums, two state theatres and an opera house. Who knew?
indeed, I do.
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver https://g.co/kgs/qCkhmxZ
Of Nambia and the Isles of Langerhans?
Was that Twain
I think Churchill. It's snarky enough.
Average? American voter is myopic, purely concerned with anything wrong being the "fault of the president" like the pandemic generated global inflation which is only now being 'wrestled' to the ground, so to speak. He's to blame for the Fed's interest rate anti-inflation policies which also hit borrowers hard. And so on. I sometimes can't believe my ears when i hear "on the street" opinions about Biden. Sadly, he's an "anti-teflon" president, which they used to call Reagan - the trickle-down the wealth guy.
Well said, Frank. You are too kind with calling the American voter myopic, much more gracious than I am.
The sad thing is, when I have pointed out the true, complex, and interwoven causes of the global inflation (which for oil/gas companies and the grocery pipeline is best described as "greedflation") I get really well thought out responses like "nuh-uh" or "that's liberal garbage".
Pure stereotypical thinking, their biases kill your point at the gate. And that's what so much of the electorate bases their "understanding" of things.
You're absolutely right, Frank. Biden gets blamed for the price of gasoline... for the cost of food... for high interest rates, etc., etc.
American voter in addition to being myopic is uninformed and over concerned with optics.
And newspaper headlines are sometimes biased.
They are more likely to complain about sending money to foreign countries when we can't afford to fund all the domestic programs they like. They don't understand that everything they value is contingent on a relatively peaceful world order supporting trade and economic growth.
And that it doesn't have to be either or.
And that foreign aid is less than 1% US budget and 77% is spent in US.
And worse Michael, Putin’s efforts to disrupt, destroy NATO right under everyone’s nose with the help of DJT. It’s frightening.
Great news on NATO defense spending commitments though. Seems like persuasion is more effective than dumb threats.
Record Number of NATO Allies Hit Military Spending Targets https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/us/politics/nato-military-spending-targets.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
NATO is the reason we have not seen WWIII, it may not be but it seems a no-brainer not to fund one of the sources of your prosperity. The most frightening thing about the insipid bastard aka “the orange turd” is his desire to destroy NATO. Years from now when the dust from all of this has settled, historians will look back at this and ask why wasn’t he put in “prison earlier”? My only suggested answer is that our system of government was evolved by lawyers who like to argue with each other over very very fine points of “law”.
Glad to know this. Thank you.
The war in Ukraine helps reinforce the benefits of investing in Defense as well.
Trump will take credit.
Michael, quoted one of your comments on this newsletter. Well said!
Wow! It’s such an easy choice really. Who will lead the world and how? With what energy? Climate has to be addressed, and it’s not just the warming temperatures and freakish storms. It is also the changing chemistry and currents of the oceans, the disruption of the food supplies, the loss of biodiversity, the spill over of infectious disease. How can Republicans really think the Orangeman has any qualifications to take leadership on these critical existential issues? Even as Putin’s flunky, how could Putin lead these issues? How could any sane person believe this new Axis of Evil of Authoritarians could do better than President Biden , the Democratic Party, and the G7? How could so many Americans fall for TFG fraud in everything he touches? Is our education, media, electoral and Supreme Court really in this bad of shape? Sadly, the evidence is, YES it is. The need to vote and educate the issues has never been greater.
How can anyone believe it?
Listen to Decoding Fox News on Substack. It’s a week of Fox in 45 minutes.
We read Heather Cox Richardson. But MAGA only hears the exact opposite all day, every day. Listen. It’s good to know what we are up against. And it’s somehow refreshing to UNDERSTAND the lies people who hate Biden are hearing. Suddenly it all makes sense.
Https://open.substack.com/pub/decodingfoxnews?r=4j5a4&utm_medium=ios
Goebbels 24/7
ok, i signed up for the free version. :) "occasional posts"....
Frank, that’s all you need. Just a couple glimpses behind the Fox curtain and you’ll understand how people can still be Trump fans.
Republicans don't care about any of these issues Ted. They only care about eliminating regulations and cutting taxes and gaining more and more wealth. I am sure they have a plan to survive when the Earth's chemistry changes so much we, the masses, cannot survive. So that is why we have to win big....the presidency, the house, and the Senate.
And their success rides with their base, whom they have courted with their "anti everyone who isn't a white heteronormative, cisgendered, Christian" and promised their "return" to the "pinnacle" of the US population.
Perhaps a folk song?…enjoy 😎
https://youtu.be/F5hlil50vi4?si=4Y0koYdThoXqdQ34
Yup, I know they do not care cuz about these issues. Maybe we need to say they are pro pandemic, pro extinction of every species, pro disease, pro corruption, pro global war of colonization, pro christian fascist, pro authoritarianism, etc ?
We are all invested in our own sense of self, and I think that some degree of narcissism is inevitable, but too much narcissism can render us highly vulnerable to manipulation. Cult leaders call forward our narcissism to isolate and indoctrinate a following, sometimes to the point of thoroughly delusional thinking. MAGA is just one such example. The cult alone has possession of the final and infallible answers to the conundrums of life. All problem result from the presence of those outside the cult. Some extremist cults resort to suicide, and some to genocide. Harm to anything or anyone is seen as justified if it serves the agenda of the cult. The 9/11 attackers who flew occupied planes into occupied buildings were delusional malignant narcissists. MAGA is also delusionally narcissistic, and heading in the wrong direction. Racism, sexism, homophobia, any human rights abuses and conquest is all in that basket. Any assertion of ultimate supremacy. As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
Trump is Putin's WMD.
Exactly, thanks for that reminder. Except he does exist
They don’t think that these are existential issues….see, no prob
Gobsmacking to know some voters have not 'made up their minds'. What minds?
“Let us do all your thinking for you, we are Fair and balanced here at Fox”
Thank you Heather for precise reporting in the G7 summit and once again shedding light on what is going on behind the scenes by way of disinformation and power grabbing…when will (we)they ever learn … vote with your humanity as intellect for what is right and moral and don’t let hyperbole by a moron persuade you to see autocrats as a a means to any good end
Agreed on the current stance on American international policy, but "rules based" hasn't exactly been what you see in the rear-view mirror on USA. The Iraq invasion on false charges with fallout including ISIS , Afghanistan, sounded good to the ears, but which plainly failed. Before that is is a litany of American "anti-democratic" policies supporting illiberal regimes in an effort to staunch socialist/nationalist upheavals eg Vietnam
The only purpose of hindsight here is to perhaps learn from our mistakes. We can’t go back and fix screwups; we can only be diligent about the future. I get really annoyed by the frequent reference to the past as if that alone is reason to not trust in the future of our decisions as a country. Admitting to the reality of past mistakes is critical to preventing the same mistakes going forward, but we must move beyond. Fault and blame are plenty but it does not change a damn thing.
How do we reach the people who believe and repeat the Russian, Iranian, Chinese talking points as if they are credible statements of fact? It's not just Fox news watchers or MAGA folks. It's insidious propaganda, and it seems to be working. I believe the Atlantic had a recent article about this. Toxic stuff, to add to our worries about our democracy.
Inoculate the misinformation with truths, because once radicalized it’s nearly impossible to bring them back.
Correct, and it’s a waste of time to try. At a time when there is no time to waste. We have to get the decent human beings among us (among whom there are exactly zero Republicans) to vote. Work on that. Do not waste you time with hopeless fools.
Teach kids to think, not to parrot. The downside is that then they'll turn around and question us, but that's really that's OK.
Check out the Surgeon Generals report on kids and social media. Our kids are spending 4.8 hours a day on their phones instead of playing, studying, socializing. It’s more addictive than cigarettes. We do not yet grasp the consequences of this. Ours is a complex world. This and other problems will not “magically go away”. The first step towards fixing problems is acknowledging them. Thank you Biden/Harris!
Interesting information, Ted. I know there is another factor at play in this "phone addiction" situation. As Marj mentions in the comment immediately preceding mine, there is also a lack of supervision and control with "viewing" and there is little to no "content control". The "bonus factor" is that the pathway to the brain via the eyes goes directly, short transit, to the brain. One of the "gurus" of law enforcement training is Lt. Col. Dave Grossman; in addition to being the vanguard of the concept of law enforcement "warrior training", he also has done research on violent video games. His book, "Killology" explains the direct neural pathways that information that comes through the eyes has, especially around violent scenes. He is (or at least was, 25 years ago) vehemently opposed to violent video games.
I would say this; I agree that the phone addiction is a thing, and that it is as bad as cigarette addiction. The content that streams to us via the various sources is not regulated in any way. and we are paying the price for it.
I saw that interview last night on PBS and discussed with a friend after.
When we were growing up many of us were not allowed to watch tv unattended and certainly not during the day. The tv back then was the babysitter like the screens are today.
The content was much different too. The Brady Bunch vs what is out there today.
The difference is today parents can literally track their kids because their phones are gps and parents can monitor their history feeds, unlike in the 70's.
Why is this? It feels like the genie is out of the bottle and we are doomed. Maybe I am just old and scared.
agreed, more physical play should be in, with obesity a growing challenge across the generations the past 25 years or so, though i don't have stats. Much of that time is socializing via chat etc and game playing, often with others. Can't say how much vicarious violence works to their detriment, but lots of hand eye co ordination, problem solving etc. On the violence, as kids we saws TONs of war movies, played that or Cowboys and Indians etc on the streets or in the lots on the Sat undernoon after the movie. That was the 50s for me, btw
Voting for eMpTy Greene? Go interview someone who votes for her. Take notes. Go work on fixing that. Surely the 'problem' will be obvious. No? The solution lies with our system of education. And, over the past 60 years we've doctor'd it up with superfluous crap. And just what do I see as "superfluous"? U-name-it. Go get a textbook printed in 1890.. don't change it. Just teach from those up thru the 9th grade level. Youngsters will be able to: Add and subtract; be able to read, and to write (in cursive!!); spell (use a dictionary); speak (without using the words 'like' & U-kno); and, even 'behave in a civil manner'; exercise discretion while understanding indescretion (use a Thesaurus); and finally.. maybe.. stand tall (get rid of that backpack). Oh yes.., and forgo using the 'f' word to embellish conversations. Take this to your local 'teachers college' along with some of those 1890 text books.
The indoctrinators know that well, so did Ike
Jeri, i think "at the top" of the social "information" system, they all know it's like selling commercial products eg cigarettes just scaled up. Both major parties have their "bases". Sociology 101
Are you “both sidsing.”
sociology 101. That said, i do know which side i prefer, but that just makes me part of the whole thing.
Laurie, Wearing a Biden T-shirt on every grocery run is a start.
It’s impossible to reach people who only watch Fox. They refuse to hear or believe Biden’s accompaniments. But everyone eats food… so I wear my DEMS MAKE LIFE BETTER shirt on every grocery run. 👕🛒
Facts don’t matter to MAGA. But they will notice enthusiasm if it becomes impossible to ignore.
BeantownStrong.org
DemsMakeLifeBetter.org
I’m not financially connected to either site. But both got a huge bump in sales after Robert Hubbell mentioned this effort.
Visibility to Victory
What about Gen Z, who get most if not all of their news from social media? It seems like they are most at risk of believing all the disinformation.
Agreed, and it is time to start including Generation Alpha in that cohort. My Great Niece just got her permission to join social media on Facebook, and all of her friend requests need to be approved by her folks. I'm delighted that I was approved, and she and I have had some great exchanges over our littermate cats, her participation in sports, and her HS graduation day being exactly 50 years after mine.
Read my post Laurie. I think it's near the end. I sound like a broken record.
Some additional information about Operation Overload:
The report from Finnish outfit Check First described the pro-Russian misinformation campaign to weaken democratic societies. The article contains numerous links to back up its statements.
This makes the need for internet literacy obvious.
Check First gave this massive program the name Operation Overload.
In effect, pro-Russian actors flood newsrooms with emails, social media mentions, videos, screenshots and graffitis, with requests that they “please check” on dubious claims to create divisions undermining four countries, primarily: Ukraine, France, Italy and Germany. This takes up precious newsroom resources, and serves to amplify the information by any reporting about it.
Check First relied upon support from Reset.Tech and 20+ fact-checking entities, which shared content they had received.
Operation Overload is remarkable:
1) Scale
2) Elaborate tactics employed
a) "Content amalgamation" creates a false sense of a wide online presence, using
artificial dissemination on Telegram and X, for example
b) Coordinated email campaigns, pointing fact-checkers and journalists to the
fakes and controlled websites
3) The quality of the fake content produced
4) Efforts are timed to coincide with major events, such as the Paris Olympics
It has been quite successful in its first few months:
1) More than 800 organizations have been targeted by nearly 2400 tweets.
2) 200+ targeted emails were sent to newsrooms across Europe and beyond.
3) In its first few months, 250+ articles of fact-checks or debunks mentioned the fake assets - that is a lot of time and money wasted on tracking down deliberate lies and false leads
The goal of Check First is to identify, analyze and disrupt Operation Overload:
1) Identify the emails used to target fact-checkers, researchers and newsrooms
2) Analyze the impact of the campaign on the fact-checking community
3) Out the techniques used to create a false sense of Internet omnipresence
You may well be seeing internet content that is just as sophisticated as this pro-Russian content and websites, and just as false.
Use snopes.com, Media Bias Fact Check, the News Literacy Project’s free online Checkology course to identify the red flags of disinformation and misinformation, and other resources for making you a more savvy internet user. (HINT: If you are seeking authoritative, credible information, social media is riskiest!)
Such information must be repeated with ample documentation showing no direct financial interest, demonstrating, repeatedly, the long term objectives of such efforts: Goebels was right: a lie if repeated frequently has the appearance of validity. We must counter the process with the benefit to all of democratic process and rule of law. James Hawley
Goebbels was dead on, can't say he invented the big lie, but he certainly amped it with radio and film and print (ie posters)
Did Steve Bannon teach Putin’s crew to “flood the zone with Schitt.” Or did Putin teach Steve?
Roger Stone did. Check out Seymour Hersch book The Price of Power — about Nixon’s total disinformation campaign of which Watergate was just one example . Stone and Dick Cheney cut their political teeth in Nixon’s reelection. Just like Roy Cohn cut his teeth with Senator Joe McCarthy’s Committee on UnAmerican Activities hearings, which Reagan had a nefarious part in as head of the actors union.
Glad Hersch told the whole tale. So much revealed, so much hidden. Bet my life that Cheney and Stone plotted re the 2000 election, at some point. 2000 was truly stolen. Sort of ignored Reagan pre-gov, but he decided way back that Dems had "left him.." I thought that Nancy and her rich family were major factors. Thank you for mentioning his time as head of actors union.
Reagan benefited from the collective bargaining clout of the actors' union, but was quick to cut the air traffic controllers' union off at the knees when it suited him politically. He was also quick to pivot to take advantage of the right-wing evangelicals who were just beginning to become actively polititcal at that time. Self-serving, transactional. Nothing about what Reagan did says "statesman."
I later thought that he was a better actor than I gave him credit for. Had good PR (Michael Deaver) and script writers (Peggy Noonan). Just a greedy bastard after all said and done
And mean-spirited, too. Remember how he gave his opening campaign speech near where the civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi, and talked about "states' rights", the classic racist appeal to segregationists? That wasn't even a dog whistle, in my view. Disgusting. And not a good actor - all he had to do was that grandfather schtick over and over, but the cruelty and slavish attention to the wealthy was right below the surface. The Republicans are three for four using ignorant actors as their most recent presidents (Reagan, Bush II, Trump), two of whom could not manage to get re-elected despite the incumbent's massive advantage.
Cyberwar,
It is at least heartening to know that some folks are on top of this far more so than was the case in 2016 or 2020. The tech/social media companies could shut this down if they wanted to - but likes and resentment generate ad revenue, so I wouldn't look to them for help. Every progressive needs to be an activist - let your friends hear from you. I send out a newsletter, of sorts, several times a week about stuff like this, and I am quick to email journalists and call out their messaging failures (assuming they actually want their readers to be informed). Letters to the Editor are also easy with no pushback, and someone with potential influence has to read it. Attend the town halls with a prepared question, write post cards, all the grassroots stuff works - turnout is key.
As Heather noted, Anne Applebaum's observation that "[d]isrupting democracies by feeding radicalism makes the democratic world lose its sense of community and solidarity" resonated with me. My union activism, based on building community and solidarity," echoes on a small scale what we need to accomplish on a national and international scale. As the saying goes, we need to think globally and act locally, with community and solidarity our underlying principles.
Solidarity and defending things that should never be for sale are antidotes to despotism/
Anne Applebaum, in the May The Atlantic, published a frightening article on how authoritarian states such as Russia, China, and Iran are focused on attacking the ‘democratic’ world with misinformation, bots, and a subversive propaganda campaign against which there is no concerted riposte.
A powerful juggernaut in this assault (in which the harsh destructiveness of authoritarianism is totally ignored,) is the ability to take the words of ex-president Trump to highlight their insidious campaigns. It is Trump, a leading candidate in America’s 2024 presidential race, who provides the most compelling grist to this staccato propaganda mill.
Trump is the loudest voice pronouncing that America is in decline and that, under President Biden, this decline has sharply accelerated. Though this false fact is totally scuppered by the realities of what is occurring in today’s United States, this ‘treasonous’ bloviating is ammunition for our enemies.
Regarding the tripartite elements of our functioning democracy—the judiciary, the executive, and the legislature—Trumpites are doing their damndest to trash all three.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I am particularly concerned with how the United States maintains its traditional and new formed alliances against authoritarian enemies. I hear from my European friends of their fright that, were Trump back in the White House, America would no longer be the lynch pin in NATO and Trump would bromance with Putin against the sovereignty of the Ukraine.
DEMOCRACY IS ALWAYS VULNERABLE TO AUTHORITARIAN ENEMIES. AS PRESIDENT EISENHOWER EXPRESSED IT, WE MUST BE STRONG AT HOME SO THAT WE CAN BE EFFECTIVE GLOBALLY.
In my view, President Biden is fighting for the soul of America while Trumpists are in a destructive torpor.
Keith, I always look forward to your assessments of the Letter, the information, and the general status of the world. I'd add to your wonderful sentence "It is Trump, a leading candidate in America’s 2024c presidential race, who provides the most compelling grist to this staccato propaganda mill." I would add: "at fortissimo volume, with accents and lack of intonation" to that wonderful phrase. Discordant, loud, and offensive to the "ears" as we watch the disintegration of our functioning judicial and legislative branches.
I love how you put my lyrics into your rousing tuba solos. 76 trombones all all that stuff!
<takes a bow from the back row>
Heather, your last 2 sentences signal a warning:
Disrupting democracies by feeding radicalism makes the democratic world lose its sense of community and solidarity.
When it does that, Applebaum notes, it loses its ability to stand up to autocrats.
We must not lose sight of these truths.
Great takeaway Peggy.
As an intuitive and a climate activist, I´ve sensed the current chaos coming for a long time. I am delighted that space was created for Zelensky to attend. And I have enjoyed watching the relationship between Zelensky and BIden develop into something special. What I am concerned about is there are large numbers of people who are emotionally in panic mode. I understand and empathize, but we need to put a stop to that! It is not helping! And, of course, the news outlets are thriving on sensationalism. Goes right back to the first big news group, led by Wm. Randolph Hearst who came up with When WWII broke out, many were in panic, but they took the reins and began taking action. Things did not look good in the beginning. Dame Freya Stark became a good friend.. and she had the most extraordinary stories to tell about WWII. Traveling through the Middle East dressed as a man. Carrying a short wave radio. As she many of the local dialects she was able to get into the harems and broadcast from there. I confess, I have been a little too focused on DJT. Which, of course, does nothing to change things. I am reminded of the first big news publisher, Wm. Randolph Hearst. His slogan was ´If it bleeds, it leads..´ The bloodier, the more sensational news became the headlines. And he profited greatly for that attitude. I have to say that I have always enjoyed British pub humor. There was a point when the RAF, Royal Air Force and Brit theatre decided, during the blitz to create a very special message for the Luftwaffe planes..They created a large number of representations of Charlie Chaplin as The Great Dictator, ie Hitler, and placed them in fields where the Luftwaffe pianes flew over. And when Xmas came, during the WWI, the Brits in the trenches began singing Silent Night. The Germans stopped shooting and joined in. Granted, the war did not stop completely.. but I think of those moments, those actions and I absolutely know that the zeitgeist shifted. The first step toward life affirming change. I do believe that currently we have come to a similar place energeticallly and emotionally. Now, what we need is to stay focused on that. Thank you, Heather for the imporant role you are playing in this moment! Your vision and your spirit are very valuable.
Incalculable value Sam.
It is
oh, my! Thank you, Dan
Wonderful comment, Sam.
Thank you..
Love this
thank you!
Another great, and informative column, Dr. Richardson. I am going to comment on one tiny facet, Gaza, and the idiots who blame Biden for it. Israel does NOT belong to the United States. Israel is an independent sovereign nation, it is not colony of any other country on Earth. Israel doesn't even have the same system of government as us. They have a parliamentary system we have a bicameral system with three (supposdedly) independent branches. We do not have the right to impose our will on Israel, Palestinians, Hamas or any other Country in the Middle East.
We can threaten, cajole, plead, with Netanyahu and Hamas to lay down their arms; to allow humanitarian aid to reach the citizens of Gaza (untouched by either Hamas or Israel) to enter Gaza along with medical personnel to treat the injured and starving Palestinians.
Israel, and Israel alone has the power and right to reel in Netanyahu and throw his ass in jail.
But we can also see in our own Country how difficult it is to do so within legal limitations intended to protect the innocent, but abused by the criminals.
Threatening to withhold your vote or voting for one of the third party crackpots is handing the election to trump - if that's what you want have the courage and honesty to vote for that convicted criminal. Just remember he, and fascism, were YOUR choice all along.
Very well said, as usual Fay. If the election was held today, Netanyahu would lose. He has to go, however, when he is compared to tRump, there is no moral equivalence. Netanyahu has been accused of bribery for political purposes, tRump has 34 guilty pleas and convicted. Netanyahu, as far as I can see has one. Netanyahu and his family have been patriots, fought in a major Israeli war. His brother died and he was wounded. Hubris was Netanyahu's fatal flaw. He ignored the warnings of the military analysts for a year, thinking he could quell just another run of the mill rebellion by Hamas, funded by Iran.. Instead, Israel received 30,,000 troops massing on their border on 10/7/23. He has blood on his hands, and hopefully serves a punishment equal to his crimes. tRump on the other hand is part of a world wide conspiracy to over throw the democratic norms and restore it with a dictatorship. Traitor is his middle name!
Thank you, Eadie, you obviously know more about Netanyahu than I. I just get info from a few news and magazine clips and have no idea on their accuracy. Mostly I disagree with Netanyahu's attittude that it was alright to allow Israeli's to steal land from Palestinians because other Muslims had attacked Israel. To my way of thinking that didn't differ a great deal from Hamas and Hezbollah.
There's a lot I can point to that differs with your comment, "Netanyahu's attittude that it was alright to steal land", Suffice it to say, Israel never took land from the Palestinians. That's a trope that does not comport with the history of the conflict.
So why the settlers in the West Bank?
“FOR HOW LONG?”is the question….the G7 asked it regarding the US support for traditionally accepted values that support NATO…and they asked it 6 months before a presidential election…
AND the honest answer is 6 months for sure….and that could be it…with autocracy, theocracy and bedlam on the horizon….a profound ‘wake up’ question!
I came here for the comments, and I'm too early. It's a historical occurrence. I'll be back...
Jerry, I'm guessing that the comments are running a bit thin today; at 6066 PDT. I'm only have a cup of coffee in, and chronologically, yours is the second comment. Hope to see you later.
Just to show you how things change, 4 of the G7 were former enemies of the US. The UK twice, Germany twice, Japan and Italy once each, as recently as 80 years ago. They are now our strongest allies. Together they killed more Americans than anyone...and we in turn probably killed more of their people...with the possible exception of the Russians in the case of Germany. So what exists now, may be very different 30-40-50 years from now...and that difference, that tipping point is happening in the next 5 months...and is based mostly on the results of elections in 6 to 8 states. That's how focused we need to be. That's what this Letter from an American is telling me.
Nicely summarized, Mike.
Thank you...and actually the Confederacy may have killed more Americans than anyone...I need to check on those numbers.
I realize my comment does not relate to today’s Letter, but it’s something that I’ve been considering lately. That is, moving forward, it’s important for all of us to note that all these accusations against Trump actually have nothing to do with the man himself, but with the charges against him. Who Trump is is totally irrelevant to his criminal charges. The same could be said of Hunter Biden as well. There is zero relationship between him being the son of the current president and the crimes he committed. In that sense, there is no difference between the two.
However, one could still argue that the extent of the charges are in no way similar. Hunter Biden was charged with owning a gun while being a drug addict and lying about it on an application form. He also faces some tax charges that, while not unserious, appear to be all too common. Trump, on the other hand, has been charged with the illegal attempt to overturn the results of an election he lost. And for refusing to hand over documents that belonged to the US government. As well as concealing them and obstructing the investigation. The charges in Georgia involve a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. An election that was legally determined multiple times to be free and fair.
None of this is in any way comparable to the crimes Hunter Biden committed. Any more than arguing that the charges for a bank robbery are no different than a charge of jaywalking. IOW, pointing to the severity of the crimes committed by these two individuals is perfectly reasonable under the current circumstances.
Thank you.
Yet yesterday, I read on Axios that family members worried that Biden was preoccupied with and distracted by Hunter's problems. As if empathy disqualified him for the presidency. Anyone who reads the president's remarks would be hard-pressed to argue that he's distracted. It's possible to hold both personal grief and the complexities of world politics in mind at the same time. That's what makes great leaders, IMO.
As I am learning now it is extremely difficult to deal with personal grief and tend to daily responsibilities.
I am very proud of Joe Biden for doing both today and under the spot light.
My condolences. I didn't mean to diminish the weight of grief, it's a heavy burden, but I suspect in Biden's case it's all bundled up with his sense of purpose. And, of course, he has Jill with whom to share it all. It was she who sat in the courtroom during Hunter's trial.
Thanks and certainly, I agree. I'm only pointing out 2 things here. That should the opportunity arise, we ought to make a point of focusing on these criminal charges, particularly in Trump's case. Because Trump & his allies are trying to make all of this solely about him. But the reality is it's not about him, it's about the criminal actions he's been charged with doing. Secondly, if one is so inclined, I think it's fair to argue that the severity of the charges regarding Mr. Biden & Trump are vastly different. Yes, they're both bad things. But they are not in any way comparable in terms of severity, in terms of who was affected by their actions for example, in terms of the laws broken, in terms of the harms done to others, in terms of the intention to cause harm. In terms of the very unique circumstances regarding Trump's crimes versus what Mr. Biden did. A crime that I would suspect is prosecuted on a very routine basis. In a nutshell, all we're talking about here are two counter-arguments. To those who are determined to make all of this about things that are simply not related to the real issues we've been witnesses to in real-time. IOW, this constant refrain we keep hearing that what we are seeing is not what we're seeing.
And owning the gun for all of 11 days!