We live in an extraordinary time; one of the most exciting times in my personal history. So many consequential acts, decisions, and wild natural events have grabbed our collective attention with I grip I have never felt before. Today marks a turn in the fate of fairness in elections, and with that some major changes in American life. Not…
We live in an extraordinary time; one of the most exciting times in my personal history. So many consequential acts, decisions, and wild natural events have grabbed our collective attention with I grip I have never felt before. Today marks a turn in the fate of fairness in elections, and with that some major changes in American life. Not all of it will be easy, but my hope is that most of it pushes humanity forward in a balance with the planet we occupy.
I guess I am old but I wouldn’t exactly call it “exciting times” quite yet, anyway. I have called it “trying times” because a lot of us have had our securities and minds uprooted in the last 7 years. What Fake 45 and his ilk have done makes Nixon, Agnew, and Watergate seem like docile sheep. Watergate was a big turning point in our history and I don’t think any of us would have dreamed for a moment of what occurred on J6 as a comparison. But there, you have it!
I just finished watching the 1976 movie "All the President's Men" (saw it when it came out and lived through those times). Compared to Trump, Nixon was a "boy scout" - albeit a paranoid law breaking one!
But at least, even those in his own party recognized he was unfit to hold office and were a part of convincing him to resign. Although, I think former president Gerald Ford was a decent guy and I don't think he personally had nefarious intentions, but in hindsight it was a mistake to have pardoned Nixon.
It is beyond obvious today's GOP is far below the bar of sanity. They willingly advocate putting a criminal madman back in the WH. They (and the followers) were evil in 2016 and they are evil today. It really is batshit crazy and so dangerous. Meanwhile the MSM continues to feed the monster by giving trump 24/7 coverage. Just lock this guy up until his trial and let Jack Smith at him in court sooner vs. later!
"Trump’s troubles are growing serious enough that House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested on CNBC this morning that Trump might not be the best candidate for the Republican Party in 2024. But then, revealing Trump’s continuing support in the party, he promptly backtracked to say that Trump is the “strongest political opponent” against President Biden."
Most of the GOP sold their souls to Trump from 2016 to 2020 just to kiss 💋 ass and brown nose. And not get a negative Tweet from the Don.
But one has to wonder if Trump did not do us all a favor? By being the overbearing dictator he forced / or gave them a chance to show their true colors, which they had probably been hiding for years.
Racist, misogynistic and entitled mostly white folks with social attitudes right out the 1950s.
"It is beyond obvious today's GOP is far below the bar of sanity"
That, right there. Both those elected and those doing the electing. We are seeing the results of unfettered propaganda, lies masking as news or information, and the permission to hate granted by fpotus come home to roost.
I will only disagree with your comment that Gerald Ford was a decent guy who didn't have nefarious intentions. I asked Gerald Ford a question once...actually I asked the same question three times and never got an answer; Gerald Ford was a tool. He was neither decent nor nefarious; he was incapable of original thought. The pardon was a mistake, but wasn't actually his idea.
May I ask what the question was you put to him that he didn’t answer….and how was it that you were in the position to do so? [Inquiring minds want to know—sounds interesting!]
My husband was on the Beaverton School Board 1980 to 1988. The Republicans were starting their campaign of raising up people in politics by starting in local elected offices. So we were invited to some event where Ford was the speaker and Beaverton had a table pretty close to the front. He said a bunch of stuff but what caught my attention was what he probably considered a throw away line about wanting to get good people into local offices but not people who were "too intelligent".
So I raised my hand when it was opened up for questions, and asked him what he meant by too intelligent. He, of course, did not answer my question, rambling on repeating his core message. And since I was at a table right in front I asked him again to explain what he meant by too intelligent, and then a third time when he didn't answer my question again. By then my husband was nudging me so I gave up.
Whatever you want to call the times we live in, it certainly has knocked the ho hum out of many of us & moved us from sitting on the sidelines to political activism, to voting in every election.
Very "interesting"; though my sense is that not all the trends are bad. Alas the bad is big and bad and likely to insure a rough ride. The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves. May our species prove resilient and open to improvement.
It is an extraordinary time, but for the pandemic Trump might now be president. Like disease, the reality of climate change is coming home to roost in severe storms, rising oceans and extreme heat. We need unity and leadership through these times.
Thank you. Any discussion beyond restoring democracy that doesn't include the Climate Crisis is actually a waste of time. Because our time is running out. We should be preparing. But we are literally ignoring the tsunami of horrors headed our way.
We should be planning the retreats from the coast lines and areas around major rivers. We should be constructing alternate ways to feed billions of people as crops are failing. Our mono crop farming using enormous amounts of fertilizer is killing the waters surrounding Florida and in the Gulf.
The ocean is being over-fished - and its ecosystem is collapsing due to unexpectedly fast warming. Coral reefs and mangroves where ocean life begins are dying.
The human migration we are seeing is just a tiny preview of the millions and millions of desperate humans who will have no choice but to leave their homes. We are short of workers, so logically, we turn them away. That's a mystery that apparently can only be solved by Hunter Biden's laptop.
We are all talking about the sad story of 5 rich people who tragically died on a sight seeing tour of a sunken ship. But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives?
Perhaps all this disaster is just too much for our spoiled little minds to process. But I am just naive enough to think that just like in a good sci-fi movie, the right leaders could sound the alarm and rally most of us to start focusing on the real threats and devising some clever solutions.
But I guess it's more fun to look at pictures of Classified Documents in a bathroom with a chandelier. Of course, I want to see the orange toad locked up. But in the long run we are indeed ignoring the "universal threat".
Thank you for an eloquent statement of who and where we are. It could go on the front page of any newspaper (or editorial page) in America to the advantage of all of US. Might you send it out? At least to your own?
Bill, your assessment is accurate. There is no Planet B. This is what we've got, and we are ignoring those threats you so clearly articulate. (I am referring to the global "we" as I know many of us here are absolutely concerned with the health of the planet.)
Bill, you nailed it. Watching this unfold is worrying and dispiriting. I am losing hope, and see that caring for each other and our fellow creatures & ecosystems is still being thwarted by greed and ignorance. I’ve read that the Uber-rich are developing their hide-y holes in “safe” places….might help for awhile, but the global scope of this will not allow them to run and hide for long. I fear, too, that we can’t “techno” our way out of this…at least not soon enough to avoid massive pain and disruption. I despair at the hubris of humankind…
What they are building are luxury prison cells, all the comforts of home except for any sort of freedom worthy of the name. The space ships might provide an exit into hellish exile, or a nasty demise. Its one thing to be an intrepid explorer and another to see what spring is like on Jupiter or Mars. Like so many MAGAs in COVID, we snoozing while losing.
Yes, and will they be able to trust those they hire to make this possible & take care of their ongoing needs? I’ll bet they will not/do not plan to make it on their “own”.
Bill I think you are exactly correct in your assessment of the catastrophic crisis of which the scientists have been warning us for more than 40 years (think Rachel Carson), however, I suspect the most important activity we can embark upon is finding ways to separate people's personal interests in employment in or by polluting industries. This includes anyone and everyone involved in selling or promoting use of internal combustion engines in cars, trucks, aircraft, boats, RVs, or motorcycles as well as promoting travel in general. It also should involve persuading us all of the benefits of reducing our dependence on meat and dairy products in our diets and the value of buying produce locally whenever possible. This represents a HUGE portion of our country's population shifting not only their attitudes but their actual employment and sources of income. That's a huge lift and yet it all involves individual choice, the very essence of a free democracy.
yes, as I get older, I have less of a need for meat (which I hunted and shot) and rely on fish I can catch and freeze, can, and smoke. I am lucky. Homemade bread is a staple. The local farmers markets have a great supply of vegetables. But I am fortunate to be able to choose this lifestyle; others are not.
Good assessment! May I add encouraging adoption instead of procreation and building ships to cross oceans. My husband (green before Rachel Carson) spoke of engines run on recycled steam.
And meanwhile, an 18 year veteran meteorologist in Des Moines resigned because as he tried to explain weather patterns and how climate change was causing so many issues with the weather, he received death threats and hate filled emails and voicemails from people that watched his broadcasts...
"But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives? "
Excellent question and metaphor. The rivets are showing signs of failure in our submersible "bubble".
Very well-said, Bill. Meanwhile, instead of addressing climate change (or even acknowledging that it exists), Republicans are busy banning books and denigrating drag queens.
We need to focus, and I'm saying so as a pretty scattered person. I think the primary power of great democratic leaders, in office or "grass roots" movements, is focus. That was what one young Swedish girl was able to very disproportionately pull together.
Does it not seem that focus in essential to wisdom? To justice? Combined with an open mind, to creativity and resilience? Science, which is in my blood, can reveal and clarify what is real and illusion, what what is likely to work and likely to fail, but it cannot, in the end decide for us what most matters. It can sort it out, but not speak for us.
That's where human experiential sentience and empathy come in. We collectively must focus on what, in the end, makes life worth living, and whether this human awareness of our vast and amazing universe will prove sustainable at all. As a species, compared to dinosaurs, we have just arrived on the scene, and capacity for deliberate agency is a wondrous blessing and a curse. Where is humility and wisdom in all this?
I like Churchill's comment that he was an optimist. Of what use is it to be anything else. But that was paired with a fighting spirit that we all need.
For the first time in about 9 years, I feel hopeful that the citizens of America will get a fair choice in representation in 2024, so that good government will heal our divide over time. I know that there is so much more we have to grind for, but it is actually working. This is no time to rest on our laurels; in fact we should all push harder to bear out the liars, and to show that living with equity doesn’t disenfranchise anybody; or that paying taxes is patriotic; or that we can live with new energy resources. IT ALL STARTS WITH FAIR ELECTIONS!
We are persnickety about performance enhancing drugs used by athletes but ignore gross funding bias, self-evident and screaming conflicts of interest, and dishonest "dirty tricks". It turns out that they won't even let you kneecap your opponent in the Olympics; but politics dramatically shapes our future, and the Olympics, despite showcasing remarkable human accomplishments, does not.
True that….tho to be honest, some athletes (and handlers/coaches/etc) DO try to put their thumb on the scale and is why, when it comes out, folks are appalled at the lack of “sportsmanship”. Now if we could just take that “sportsmanship” model and apply it to politics (oh, and everyday life too!).
We live in an extraordinary time; one of the most exciting times in my personal history. So many consequential acts, decisions, and wild natural events have grabbed our collective attention with I grip I have never felt before. Today marks a turn in the fate of fairness in elections, and with that some major changes in American life. Not all of it will be easy, but my hope is that most of it pushes humanity forward in a balance with the planet we occupy.
I guess I am old but I wouldn’t exactly call it “exciting times” quite yet, anyway. I have called it “trying times” because a lot of us have had our securities and minds uprooted in the last 7 years. What Fake 45 and his ilk have done makes Nixon, Agnew, and Watergate seem like docile sheep. Watergate was a big turning point in our history and I don’t think any of us would have dreamed for a moment of what occurred on J6 as a comparison. But there, you have it!
I just finished watching the 1976 movie "All the President's Men" (saw it when it came out and lived through those times). Compared to Trump, Nixon was a "boy scout" - albeit a paranoid law breaking one!
But at least, even those in his own party recognized he was unfit to hold office and were a part of convincing him to resign. Although, I think former president Gerald Ford was a decent guy and I don't think he personally had nefarious intentions, but in hindsight it was a mistake to have pardoned Nixon.
It is beyond obvious today's GOP is far below the bar of sanity. They willingly advocate putting a criminal madman back in the WH. They (and the followers) were evil in 2016 and they are evil today. It really is batshit crazy and so dangerous. Meanwhile the MSM continues to feed the monster by giving trump 24/7 coverage. Just lock this guy up until his trial and let Jack Smith at him in court sooner vs. later!
"Trump’s troubles are growing serious enough that House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested on CNBC this morning that Trump might not be the best candidate for the Republican Party in 2024. But then, revealing Trump’s continuing support in the party, he promptly backtracked to say that Trump is the “strongest political opponent” against President Biden."
Never good to diminish Nixon’s evil, or W, or yes, Reagan
McCarthy needs a good surgeon - to install a spine. Amazing he can stand upright.
Every time McCarthy says something semi-intelligent he walks it back to again reveal his self-serving cowardice.
Some intelligence, just not enough spine and moral compass.
Spot on. Dangerous combination. Reminds me of a disturbing number of my fellow lawyers.
🤣 Thinking of a bunch of DT defenders.
He needs his soul returned. He sold it in his quest for the Speaker job.
I don't think they are going to give it back.
Nope!
Most of the GOP sold their souls to Trump from 2016 to 2020 just to kiss 💋 ass and brown nose. And not get a negative Tweet from the Don.
But one has to wonder if Trump did not do us all a favor? By being the overbearing dictator he forced / or gave them a chance to show their true colors, which they had probably been hiding for years.
Racist, misogynistic and entitled mostly white folks with social attitudes right out the 1950s.
He’s an embarrASSment for us Californians.
Wonder what will be rumbling ‘round his mind in his later years as he reflects back on his life….in the end was it really worth it?
Don't know if anyone here watched "Game of Thrones", but there are several memes floating about of McCarthy with the "My name is Reek" theme. :D
Oh, nice analogy!
I saw that but didn’t know what it meant. Thanks!
"It is beyond obvious today's GOP is far below the bar of sanity"
That, right there. Both those elected and those doing the electing. We are seeing the results of unfettered propaganda, lies masking as news or information, and the permission to hate granted by fpotus come home to roost.
I will only disagree with your comment that Gerald Ford was a decent guy who didn't have nefarious intentions. I asked Gerald Ford a question once...actually I asked the same question three times and never got an answer; Gerald Ford was a tool. He was neither decent nor nefarious; he was incapable of original thought. The pardon was a mistake, but wasn't actually his idea.
May I ask what the question was you put to him that he didn’t answer….and how was it that you were in the position to do so? [Inquiring minds want to know—sounds interesting!]
My husband was on the Beaverton School Board 1980 to 1988. The Republicans were starting their campaign of raising up people in politics by starting in local elected offices. So we were invited to some event where Ford was the speaker and Beaverton had a table pretty close to the front. He said a bunch of stuff but what caught my attention was what he probably considered a throw away line about wanting to get good people into local offices but not people who were "too intelligent".
So I raised my hand when it was opened up for questions, and asked him what he meant by too intelligent. He, of course, did not answer my question, rambling on repeating his core message. And since I was at a table right in front I asked him again to explain what he meant by too intelligent, and then a third time when he didn't answer my question again. By then my husband was nudging me so I gave up.
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Thanks for explaining….the image in my mind is of you holding his feet to the fire! Well done!
Beginning in 2015 I have spent way too much time on Trump and Republicans.
Whatever you want to call the times we live in, it certainly has knocked the ho hum out of many of us & moved us from sitting on the sidelines to political activism, to voting in every election.
Yeah, Carol, a big wake up call that our democracy can’t be taken for granted & that it is meant to be participatory!
The proper term is "interesting times," uttered as a curse.
Very "interesting"; though my sense is that not all the trends are bad. Alas the bad is big and bad and likely to insure a rough ride. The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves. May our species prove resilient and open to improvement.
Good call 🙏🌎
It is an extraordinary time, but for the pandemic Trump might now be president. Like disease, the reality of climate change is coming home to roost in severe storms, rising oceans and extreme heat. We need unity and leadership through these times.
And NEVER FORGET that so far the GOP refuses to admit the reality of climate change, a universal threat
Thank you. Any discussion beyond restoring democracy that doesn't include the Climate Crisis is actually a waste of time. Because our time is running out. We should be preparing. But we are literally ignoring the tsunami of horrors headed our way.
We should be planning the retreats from the coast lines and areas around major rivers. We should be constructing alternate ways to feed billions of people as crops are failing. Our mono crop farming using enormous amounts of fertilizer is killing the waters surrounding Florida and in the Gulf.
The ocean is being over-fished - and its ecosystem is collapsing due to unexpectedly fast warming. Coral reefs and mangroves where ocean life begins are dying.
The human migration we are seeing is just a tiny preview of the millions and millions of desperate humans who will have no choice but to leave their homes. We are short of workers, so logically, we turn them away. That's a mystery that apparently can only be solved by Hunter Biden's laptop.
We are all talking about the sad story of 5 rich people who tragically died on a sight seeing tour of a sunken ship. But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives?
Perhaps all this disaster is just too much for our spoiled little minds to process. But I am just naive enough to think that just like in a good sci-fi movie, the right leaders could sound the alarm and rally most of us to start focusing on the real threats and devising some clever solutions.
But I guess it's more fun to look at pictures of Classified Documents in a bathroom with a chandelier. Of course, I want to see the orange toad locked up. But in the long run we are indeed ignoring the "universal threat".
Thank you for an eloquent statement of who and where we are. It could go on the front page of any newspaper (or editorial page) in America to the advantage of all of US. Might you send it out? At least to your own?
Bill, your assessment is accurate. There is no Planet B. This is what we've got, and we are ignoring those threats you so clearly articulate. (I am referring to the global "we" as I know many of us here are absolutely concerned with the health of the planet.)
Bill, you nailed it. Watching this unfold is worrying and dispiriting. I am losing hope, and see that caring for each other and our fellow creatures & ecosystems is still being thwarted by greed and ignorance. I’ve read that the Uber-rich are developing their hide-y holes in “safe” places….might help for awhile, but the global scope of this will not allow them to run and hide for long. I fear, too, that we can’t “techno” our way out of this…at least not soon enough to avoid massive pain and disruption. I despair at the hubris of humankind…
Yep,
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/12/superyacht-industry-booms-during-covid-pandemic
What they are building are luxury prison cells, all the comforts of home except for any sort of freedom worthy of the name. The space ships might provide an exit into hellish exile, or a nasty demise. Its one thing to be an intrepid explorer and another to see what spring is like on Jupiter or Mars. Like so many MAGAs in COVID, we snoozing while losing.
Yes, and will they be able to trust those they hire to make this possible & take care of their ongoing needs? I’ll bet they will not/do not plan to make it on their “own”.
Bill I think you are exactly correct in your assessment of the catastrophic crisis of which the scientists have been warning us for more than 40 years (think Rachel Carson), however, I suspect the most important activity we can embark upon is finding ways to separate people's personal interests in employment in or by polluting industries. This includes anyone and everyone involved in selling or promoting use of internal combustion engines in cars, trucks, aircraft, boats, RVs, or motorcycles as well as promoting travel in general. It also should involve persuading us all of the benefits of reducing our dependence on meat and dairy products in our diets and the value of buying produce locally whenever possible. This represents a HUGE portion of our country's population shifting not only their attitudes but their actual employment and sources of income. That's a huge lift and yet it all involves individual choice, the very essence of a free democracy.
yes, as I get older, I have less of a need for meat (which I hunted and shot) and rely on fish I can catch and freeze, can, and smoke. I am lucky. Homemade bread is a staple. The local farmers markets have a great supply of vegetables. But I am fortunate to be able to choose this lifestyle; others are not.
Good assessment! May I add encouraging adoption instead of procreation and building ships to cross oceans. My husband (green before Rachel Carson) spoke of engines run on recycled steam.
And meanwhile, an 18 year veteran meteorologist in Des Moines resigned because as he tried to explain weather patterns and how climate change was causing so many issues with the weather, he received death threats and hate filled emails and voicemails from people that watched his broadcasts...
Thank you for reporting this. Climate change denial is likely from fear. Question: how to get Americans involved instead of fearful.
And some folks just don’t believe in science (ever evolving w/ new data/observations)…I’ve talked with a few…they are non-curious IMHO.
I smell Canada burning.
And Calif & the mountain west, Italy, Australia, Africa, the Amazon and the Arctic….it’s pretty much the whole world now.
We're in big trouble. Don't do it if you don't have to drive to it. Vote. Reduce, reuse, downgrade. Save the earth while there's earth left to save.
Yes. And President Biden is coming to Chicago where we have 180 dirty air.
"But how much attention was given to the 500 who died off the coast of Greece? 500 desperate humans who were fleeing for their lives. Where is the discussion of why they were risking their lives? "
Excellent question and metaphor. The rivets are showing signs of failure in our submersible "bubble".
Very well-said, Bill. Meanwhile, instead of addressing climate change (or even acknowledging that it exists), Republicans are busy banning books and denigrating drag queens.
Canadian fires and a"disasters" around the world is the "smoking gun" and data strongly suggests we are seeing a trend, see graphic: https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/300/video-climate-spiral-1880-2022/ . We need to run to put out fires and we need a plan to stop the arson.
We need to focus, and I'm saying so as a pretty scattered person. I think the primary power of great democratic leaders, in office or "grass roots" movements, is focus. That was what one young Swedish girl was able to very disproportionately pull together.
Does it not seem that focus in essential to wisdom? To justice? Combined with an open mind, to creativity and resilience? Science, which is in my blood, can reveal and clarify what is real and illusion, what what is likely to work and likely to fail, but it cannot, in the end decide for us what most matters. It can sort it out, but not speak for us.
That's where human experiential sentience and empathy come in. We collectively must focus on what, in the end, makes life worth living, and whether this human awareness of our vast and amazing universe will prove sustainable at all. As a species, compared to dinosaurs, we have just arrived on the scene, and capacity for deliberate agency is a wondrous blessing and a curse. Where is humility and wisdom in all this?
We may have the dubious distinction of being the first species to arrange our own mass extinction.
AND be doing it eyes-wide-open! Kinda makes me wonder if we really are all that intelligent!!!
JL, human hubris may do us in.
I would say excruciating, with an occasional breath allowing a modicum of hope
A little bit more than a "modicum", please. We need a way out. Emily D.: "Hope is a thing with feathers . . . "
I like Churchill's comment that he was an optimist. Of what use is it to be anything else. But that was paired with a fighting spirit that we all need.
As they say in British pubs, "Take Courage." Thanks, Jeri, for your wisdom born of courage.
A heart, a brain and courage is a fine basic kit.
I recall Jessie Jackson saying that you don't drown until you stop swimming. People do drown of course, but being able to swim tilts the odds.
For the first time in about 9 years, I feel hopeful that the citizens of America will get a fair choice in representation in 2024, so that good government will heal our divide over time. I know that there is so much more we have to grind for, but it is actually working. This is no time to rest on our laurels; in fact we should all push harder to bear out the liars, and to show that living with equity doesn’t disenfranchise anybody; or that paying taxes is patriotic; or that we can live with new energy resources. IT ALL STARTS WITH FAIR ELECTIONS!
We are persnickety about performance enhancing drugs used by athletes but ignore gross funding bias, self-evident and screaming conflicts of interest, and dishonest "dirty tricks". It turns out that they won't even let you kneecap your opponent in the Olympics; but politics dramatically shapes our future, and the Olympics, despite showcasing remarkable human accomplishments, does not.
True that….tho to be honest, some athletes (and handlers/coaches/etc) DO try to put their thumb on the scale and is why, when it comes out, folks are appalled at the lack of “sportsmanship”. Now if we could just take that “sportsmanship” model and apply it to politics (oh, and everyday life too!).