In addition to his comments about Russia in Ukraine, Trump said something else in Thursday’s CNN presentation that should be called out for its embrace of one of the darkest moments in U.S. history. In response to a question about what the presidential candidates would say to a Black voter disappointed with racial progress in the United States, President Joe Biden pointed out that, while there was still far to go, more Black-owned businesses were started under his administration than at any other time in U.S. history, that Black unemployment is at a historic low, and that the administration has relieved student debt, invested in historically Black colleges and universities, and is working to provide for childcare costs, all issues that affect Black Americans.
Despite the fact that President Biden should never have dignified the felon by sharing a stage with him, some good material for future campaign ads came out of it.
And "black jobs" may be at the top of the list. I hope that all BIPOC voters were listening and sharpening their ballot marking implements.
You're right. Joe's campaign people should have said "we're not dignifying an habitual liar and convicted felon with air time next to Joe. Trump does not deserve to be on the same stage".
Calling these televised confrontations a "debate" is a not-funny joke. No more, please! I would like to see a televised Biden Administration Roundtable where the head of each Cabinet is introduced and has time to highlight what has been accomplished in the last 3 1/2 years. Biden could introduce each one and then let him/her take over. This would not only be an opportunity to focus on successes under Biden, thus focusing on content, but would show what active and responsible government actually looks like.
Can't begin to tell you how many times I've used Biden's cabinet in discussion with others as an example for why we should vote blue. "Do you truly believe every President gets everything done on his own? He builds a cabinet and CONSULTS with those people and then makes sure they get things done. That's leadership!" I'm sure it would be eye-opening to construct a graphic of Trump's cabinet and any accomplishments they made and compare it to Biden's.
Pat, when the local so-called progressives were busy dissing Biden as an establishment Democrat or a corporate Democrat, I often pointed out his cabinet including the first Native American as Sec. of Interior and a gay man as Sec. of Transportation to name two. They also ought to take a look at his various judicial nominees as well. Also they are not "tokens", but capable intelligent individuals.
Many of Trump's inner circle are felons...oh wait just like their leader. The sign of a good leader is how well they hire. Biden's team is exceptional - none better since FDR. Trump's is the worst (if they even kept their job) and those with integrity have made it clear they will not support Trump.
If you want to know who someone is, take a look at the company they keep. Biden has surrounded himself with talented, honest and hard working people. Trump has surrounded himself with corrupt, greedy self serving people.
According to the study conducted by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" Trump's supporters share his racism, misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia. In other words, the MAGA/KKK, white supremacy now, white supremacy forever. The marchers at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting, "Jews will not replace us." That's Klan talk.
Mimi, I heartily agree with Biden not standing for a 2nd debate (and have been making that point since Friday.) As to your 2nd thought, I love the concept but not the format, as it reeks of what CF45 would have his Cabinet do: fawn obsequious platitudes (is this tripley redundant?) in his direction.
Rather, as I've said before, they should all hit the road for a Truth Tour, pointing out the accomplishments of Biden's administration.
Right! And I would add that in the spirit of Biden’s early days in the Senate, he should barnstorm the country on a train. Crisscross the country in familiar comfort, while getting his message across the country.
Clare, love the traveling in comfort by train idea! His 6 crossings of the Atlantic in such a short period of time, had to have had a negative impact on his energy! Amazing that he didn’t get hit by the latest version of Covid!
So many good ideas! I hope his campaign people are taking note. Biden/Harris needs and deserves a new/old way of campaigning. It would add interest and excitement - and votes.
Great idea about the Truth Tour, especially with such smart, articulate folks as Buttigieg and especially if they emphasize what Biden's accomplishment mean for the average-Joe in middle America. Add to that support from such stars as Beyonce and Taylor Swift, maybe Bruce Springsteen for us oldies, and a few others who appeal to the under-40 set, and maybe Biden could overcome the unfortunate effects of Thursday night's debate.
Doug.. the "truth tour" has sailed. We're out of time. We need some grandstanding not unlike what that POS #45 did during this recent shit-show. A good example (opportunity missed) would have been to grab the words "Black Jobs" and shove that right down the dickheads' (#45) throat.. blammo. And, it's still a great line to lead off with. HCR's letter today kind of mealy-mouthed the subject by implying that #45 knew what he was saying, he didn't, he's in-ept. He speaks in grandiosely-ignorant spasms. And we dignify that POS by not hitting the "off" button.
MadRussian, I strongly disagree. We are NOT out of time. By my quick mental calculations there are 128 days until the election. That's plenty of time to push the message.
Yessir, but the time has come to shove the crap #45 spews right back down his gottdammned throat.., and it needn't be done politely either. And, not just by Joe. Harris is extremely capable, certainly.. as a woman as well, she is a force the MAGA-world has yet to experience. She and Joe are that 'tour-de-force' you're speaking of. So, I'm with you. Let's roll... 128 and counting!
"...implying that #45 knew what he was saying, he didn't...." I thought that, too for about a minute....but there is no other construction you can put on either statement than that immigrants are taking 'black jobs' or 'hispanic jobs'. Why not white jobs or jobs in general?
Because Pax, I don't think immigrants are taking jobs "away" from us. They are, however, taking those jobs that don't pay well, or are crummy, or that you don't want you son or daughter doing. #45 wants everyone to think the country is a failed state. He's just so full of crap But, if you want to believe anything, then believe that. He also would like that you just vote for Kennedy. Have you tried to find someone to do yardwork lately?
That was no debate, it was a debacle. No wonder Trump now claims that he loves CNN. What a gift: a platform to tell lie after lie after lie without being called out. This was a huge gift to Trump. His followers love his lies, which they believe are the gospel truth.
Doug, that ship has sailed. Biden has already agreed to a second debate; a no show would only debilitate him further. The debate scenario cat is out of the bag. Herding this particular cat is a tough job; better to go through with it, and this time, make dam sure that he's in good shape. I also agree that the moderators need to commit themselves to an honest debate. They are the landlords, overseers, if you will, that will give, or should give, this second debate the balance it deserves. It's clear that Trump doesn't have the cajónes to understand truth to power; power is all he understands, and the power of truth has to be shoved down his throat. Frankly, I wish he would try to debate Cornel West. West would put him down like the rabid dog he is.
True, and they got it, although a debate isn't what was delivered. It was a deluge of lies which couldn't be countered with any effect by a man clearly off his game. There's no reason to repeat it.
Yes! When one of the participants (DT) refuses to acknowledge and follow debate rules, we need to stop offering him this opportunity to gaslight the audience.
And lots of "entertainment factor". I'm sorry, but are we, as Americans, such big babies, that we can't handle intelligent discussion and truth? Do we really need our news to be entertaining? I was a kid, with a Democratic activist mother, and knew a lot about Adlai Stevenson and the elections at the time. One day, another kid at school called Stevenson an "egghead". That was what the GOP was dishing out at the time. I went home and asked mom: "What's wrong with being smart?" I want smart, accessible reporting. It should not be boring. But, entertaining? Come on!
Big Stevenson fan here. I was eleven in '52 and didn't know the politics. My instincts told me Adlai was a kind, honest man. Ike was okay except for his choice of VP. I had a strong negative reaction to him.
Yes Mimi! Don the con’s revolving door cabinet was a joke. A way for him to prove George Orwell’s last commandment in Animal Farm—all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. Donnie believes he is more equal than anyone in the world and showed it in his disaster of an administration that he controlled with an iron fist.
And, how about having the early cabinet members from current felon and defeated president tRUMP's cabinet have their own roundtable. Back to Back Cabinet Roundtables. The first cabinet members have had plenty to say about the tRUMP zoo. And, Biden's have their positive points and intellect and skill to showcase.
That’s a brilliant idea Mimi!! We can take this one further and send an email to all the major tv networks including CNN not only expressing our profound disappointment with Dana and Jack’s performance but offer this as a suggestion promising we will turn in to watch this type of programming otherwise we are going to add CNN to the list of Fox News. It’s all about the ratings!!
Great idea!! Love it! I have often said to my friends and family that its tiresome watching a candidate bad mouth, put down, and tell me what’s wrong with their opponent. I want to hear what the candidate is going to do for the people. These campaign ads only show how corruption is rampant. How wasting money on bashing the opponent. I want to know the plan and see the results. Mind you, I am in my sixties now, and have been a professional housekeeper and personal assistant for at least half of that. One time, about 20 years ago my mother (R) told me I should get a real job. It was then and there I knew how my mom felt and went on to become the best housekeeper I could be. I think she thought I was taking jobs away from black and Hispanics and that I was smarter than that ……I am sure I am not the only person who had Mom issues!
Good Grief what a wonderful idea. I am voting not just for Joe Biden. I am voting for his administration- the team he put together. A basketball coach is not expected to dribble, run and shoot. Her job is to select, strategize, direct and guide. Then get the hell out of the way. And of course take responsibility. There is no team Trump. Just a bunch of cheer “ followers “
Fabulous .. not that I necessarily agree with what you have proposed - Lawrence O’Donnell offered an alternative for consideration - but thinking outside of the preverbal box with something new and creatively meaningful is the right and better idea Mimi!
Yes,I totally agree.And there should not be a second”debate”.There is no debating with this hateful whirling dervish and his oral dysentery.The Gish Gallop that he used to try to immobilize Biden was ridiculous.Biden needs not to lower himself to a second round of this nonsense.
I'm pleased to see HCR's Gish Gallop reference posted multiple times on FB. Name the method of obfuscation and misdirection! Anyone supporting the impeached, indicted felon because they are sure he will make their lives better should think again. At least Steve Bannon goes to jail today!
I used both in my comments to those who are clamoring for Biden to step down...along with "magical thinking", "are we now playing fantasy league political football???" and other (rather snarky, I'm afraid) references.
Lordy, I'm sick to death of Democrat's insistence on "navel-gazing", "nit-picking", and otherwise fussing about the candidate not exhibiting their notions of perfection. No candidate--not one--is perfect. Have we forgotten that word "compromise"??? Whatever happened to solidarity; to supporting your chosen candidate even when the chips are down? Gone the way of the dodo, is what I gather from all the nonsense I've read.
Me too, but can get edited out…’diarrhea of the mouth, constipation of the mind.’ But spewing crap nonetheless! He just says shit, H2O, we bought a dog, perfect….all word salad with no facts, little meaning, really sad he once got elected for anything by anyone! If there is a real indication of the US being in serious shit it’s that millions of people, conservative Christians, voted for him over Ms Clinton! That is the symptom we must for the disease.
Trump would claim victory regardless of how ignorant he appeared in any format. He believes that there is no such thing as bad publicity. He would never apologize to anyone regardless of how insulting he had been. Those are things he learned from Roy Cohn.
I don't think Trump has read the theory. He just naturally spews and dominates, because it has worked for him...but it does prove the theory correct. Joe's campaign would be justified in saying no to a second debate except for Joe's poor performance on Thursday. He can not look like that again, the 2 big gaffs were bad, I saw them again on the morning shows yesterday. It was much worse than a stutter. He totally lost track and went sideways both times. If he chooses to stay in the race, it must be because he's healthy enough for 4 months of the most demanding and vitally important campaign he's ever been in. Otherwise hand the baton to Harris and do it soon.
Unfortunately, given Joe’s poor performance the other night, and the over-wrought and ignorant reaction to it (NYT ran its editorial calling for him to withdraw for three straight days), that will not be possible without it being seen as an admission that he is senile, if not in the grip of dementia. (As many of us know, Trump confuses Dementia with the name of his youngest daughter.)
Joe needs the second “debate.” He doesn’t need to prepare and know all the numbers. He just needs to stay calm, speak audibly and point out Trump’s lies, and explain briefly how dangerous, corrupt, and incompetent Trump really is. Trump is a liar, a felon, a racist, and is also showing signs of cognitive decline.
Remember msm thought Reagan was so great by saying there you go again to Jimmy Carter. 8 years of Raygun put us in this spot. And let’s tell CNN that if they want another “debate” get some moderators who will enforce the rules and shut down the galloping shitmouth immediately when he refuses to answer a question.
IMO you are mostly correct, but I would add that he needs to do that with some vigour at times. The swing voters need to see some ...I'll call it passion for lack of a better word.
While I agree with your overall sentiment, Biden’s performance on Thursday cannot be unseen. Any objective assessment must admit that he was addled. Anyone voting for him must consider the likelihood that he will not complete a second term. I doubt Biden will step aside before the election. VP Harris is largely an enigma, but she is certainly preferable to the angry, self-interested liar. But, honestly, if Biden loses, his performance will go down in history as the main reason he lost.
Many have suggested that Biden needs to sit down for interviews to demonstrate his ability to address the impact of his performance last Thursday. I’d love to see some version of that. I don’t think it is wise to keep him in a protective bubble when so many saw such a disastrous debate. No matter what, we will vote against tfg, but meanwhile we need to know a bit more about Biden’s competence.
Dave, nor can CF45's performance be unseen, and the same could rightly apply. My opinion, which I suspect is shared by many, is vote for Biden over the end of democracy as we know it. Let's worry about the rest once the existential threat is diminished (and hopefully in a series of court rooms.)
Because we are so desperate to see the Biden we hope is the hero, we focus on his performance. We hoped he'd wipe the floor with Cf45.
Everyone expected the trumpian idiot to show up, so we underrate the horrific monster he again showed himself to be.
I think Joe was over-prepared and struggling to find a useful response in all he'd prepared to the Gish gallop aimed at him. The format was new, the moderators little automatons sitting there, and really what could one expect?
He was not “addled.” He was over-prepared. I’m a trial lawyer and I’ve had it happen. You work so hard on every detail that you have trouble figuring out what to say. I was with a large number of other trial lawyers on Friday, and they all understood the point, and agreed that it has happened to us. It may be that the preparation was not all it should have been, but Joe was not -“ addled.”
Jon, I disagree, but Biden can always say that because of the lies (and he can measure them both in time and number), he will not stand on another stage with CF45 without a means of fact-checking in real time. Of course this can also work against him, as his own misstatements (which I believe are not intentional) would also be called out.
Biden’s day after speech was excellent. His interview with HCR was excellent. He has never appeared like that before. Did you ever consider that maybe he was drugged? I would not put it past some trumpian worshipper to do that and be very proud of it.
I agree. They would try to paint Biden as afraid to go head-to-head. A strategy I would like to see, as long as not answering questions is the MO, to call out the lies and the gross exaggerations. "Why do you lie, is it because you hate the truth?" "Why are you repeating the same nonsense over and. over". "Tell the audience how you. want to get even with your political opponents that you see as your enemies." Etc.
Great suggestion. I wonder who in the world could go up against a bully who had practiced the Gish Gallup and leveraged it like an amped up secret weapon. We used to his spouting stuff nonstop. But this was a new arrow in the quiver, that machine-gun like round after round of lies. CNN screwed is all by not fact checking. That was lazy, lousy “journalism”.
It was painful.
And I wonder if Biden had owned being sick and asked for a delay that that would not have been preferable.
Biden is an amazing patriot. His service this last 3.5 years is unparalleled. The office ages the heck out of everyone.
I don’t have the answer. But there are questions that must be asked and answered honestly.
It’s a heavy choice to make. Prayers for all involved.
I agree with your assessments, in part. If Joe had just gone out and said,"Sorry folks, but I'm a little under the weather tonight, but that will not stop me from telling you the truth," it would have precluded any hand wringing.
Next "debate" (because honestly, he HAS to do the next one to wipe out the memory of the last one) Joe must be succinct and start his answers with, "As you can see, my opponent, the convicted felon, continues to lie about every subject and never answers the question." And stop with that. Then continue with his answer. No trying to refute the lies, just call them out.
Respectfully, I disagree as I think they'd spin it as "the Dems trying to hide Biden's condition."
I want to see Biden debate again, and each time Trump fails to answer a question and lie, have Biden say "you didn't answer the question and the American voters deserve to hear your plans" and "I will let the media fact check the lie you just told" and then ignore Trump and answer the question.
If Joe is up to it, he pretty much has to "debate" again. The Biden Campaign just can't blow them off now. If he is in the same condition as Thursday they MUST postpone it. It would be a disaster. That "performance" in September only matters to voters who are still undecided, or can be influenced....ABC is the lowest rated Network News...it will be a bonanza for them. For moderator they should bring back Diane Sawyer & Charlie Gibson or use George Stephanopolos. We're at a political crossroads like we have not seen, since South Carolina seceded after Lincoln was elected. 4 months later they fired on Ft. Sumter...we have 4 months.
Exactly what I think! Remind everyone in one sentence that tffg lies continuously, doesn't answer the questions, and then Joe goes on to answeer the question posed. Don't get down in the gish gallop weeds at all.
I wonder why I need to argue with my fellow democrats on the issue of border control and immigration and migration. Here we are very close to electing the greatest monster America could create and migration is a very touchy subject with most Americans. We lose on this one issue. We are so thickheaded and often respond that we need immigration and so on all the while we are in danger of losing to an authoritarian state.
The regressive Supreme Court has already sent women back to the stone ages. It has dismantled the administrative state that protects the people through EPA. Yet, we will sit here and yap about how important immigration is. Hello did ya know that we need a super majority to reverse the damage that the repoops have already done? And you’re worried about fairness at the border?
Black jobs. Not just Trump, but the Republican Party tries to pit Blacks as well as most of "leftover" country against immigrants, and demagogues them in the same manner that Hitler and the Nazis scapegoated Jews.
The Nazis offer to appropriate Jews' property iIn part, it led to a "final solution."
Just the idea someone running for President of the Free World needs to classify or label jobs should be telling. Aren't we over that. Grandpa has not been in the real world, or knows everyday Americans. We need a President who has lived a real life. His kids have never worked a real job.
Grandpa - if what you mean is an older person, might be the sharpest tool in the workroom. Some older people get dementia. Some don't. Sometimes people slide into early onset dementia in their fifties. Don't write people off because they are over s to or seventy or eighty. If you are fortunate enough to live to be "old" you are a survivor. You have weathered many a storm and found a way through. You could learn a lot from most "old" people. In government and politics, experience is important. Joe Biden has a lot still to contribute. He's an asset. Trump is simply an ass.
It was Trump I was referring to who was labeling jobs to certain races. He's the old duffer who is out of touch. People who are out of touch can also be old duffers at 50! Again, we need Presidents who are real people. Getting rid of Citizens United would help. I know exactly who people learn from.
They should have refused to debate. It was easy to say, "He's a serial liar who attempted a coup and a convicted felon...he does not deserve the stage or the air time with this decent man who has been a faithful public servant." Drop the mic and walk away.
Maybe. Perhaps. I think Joe and campaign were waiting for Trump to blow himself up with anger. Because the moderators played dumbos, that never happened.
If Biden had been D-Day Joe it would have been a different show. He would have pushed back and engaged. We've seen him do it "Shut up man !!" comes to mind. He could have baited Trump effectively. This Joe did not look or sound like the man who "debated" Trump 4 years ago.
Yes. DT knows how to harangue, spew, belittle, enrage, and Biden would do well to remember DT is not debating, and he shouldn’t try to follow the lies and propaganda and rebut them. That is a trap. By studying what DT says over and over, one can construct a narrative that is clearly different, which Biden tried to do: America is the envy of the world, etc. But ignoring DT and answering the questions (which were good ‘by the way’), he would have gotten a lot farther. And the NYT would do well to focus on DTs outrageous performance than calling out Biden.
Ignore the baiting of a bully and just speak to us.
That's what the Democratic advisors to Biden had when preparing him for an actual debate without paying attention to Biden's opponent.
In the Art of War:
Intelligence
You should understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your enemy. Sun Tzu said, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles".
In short, this election is the Democrats' to lose, and as is historically true for Democratic leadership, they listen to each other in an echo chamber without truly understanding the opposition.
Dem faults fail to measure up to the unrelenting evil of republicans. Can’t imagine any being overly confident in a election that is defined by cheating of every kind thought of, and some created especially to test our humanity.
If one counts faults, and the lower the number, the better, Dems win by a ton. The problem is that they get distracted by R's relentless tsunami of shit. Biden's advisors should have prepared him for Trump’s barrage of b.s. We should be on the attack on immigration. We should be talking to constituents where they are instead of talking over them about platitudes like freedom from state religion, democracy, and regulations. The Democrats are right on every issue, but issues don't address fears and worries. Conversations and when possible, actions, do.
I never thought that. Anywhere there is a tv camera, his arse will show up. I read that she did say that he would spew garbage, and behave in a way that would preclude any debate. She should know.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that “All men are created equal.” yet owned 600 enslaved in his time and took pleasure with at least one of his enslaved. Would anybody want to try and round that square peg?
No person of any great intellect would or should be in opposition to immigration. Even the birds of the sky traverse oceans of air unencumbered by walls of clouds. (An imperfect analogy at best.) But lawful recognition of immigration should be understood the desirable alternative to uncontrolled and massive violations of nation states and the historical reaction is an ugly populism and has been for centuries. There is no contesting this reaction. So what does it gain to stress social systems to the point that demigods take advantage as governors like the one from Massachusetts flies to Texas begging them to stop sending migrants north.
We seem to be in a mind set to take either one side or the other with no compromise when in fact there are reasons to comprehend this in a more nuanced fashion.
Considering the economic contribution from esp latino/mexican immigrants whether legal or otherwise, it has been and continues to be an inherent "economic draw" that has created the "border crisis". USA is now in "full employment" mode, and immigration has been a natural response. Perhaps Congress needs to address the full scope of immigration, the response should be much broader than figuring out how to firm up the border to keep people out.
In addition to agreeing, I will add that Congress will address the full scope of immigration, crime, the economy, healthcare, and so on, when people start exclusively electing people who promise to engage in political practice, which involves serving the whole at the short-term expense of its parts (and then the parts benefit in the long term from the strength of the whole), and stop voting for people who promise to engage in political malpractice, which involves serving parts at the expense of the whole (and then all parts suffer in the long term from the weakness of the whole).
For the record, the best way to serve yourself is to serve the part of yourself that is suffering the most. Likewise, the best way to serve the social system is to serve the parts that are suffering the most. That explains a statistically significant trend starting with Nixon, which is that the US economy does better under Democratic presidents and worse under Republican presidents.
Yes to electing quality but you can’t quite achieve this when issues like hundreds of thousands rushing the border and these issues are developed exclusively to be raped and pillaged for the sake of rabble rousing and seeing them get elected to Congress.
"Perhaps Congress needs to address the full scope of immigration..." Frank that's precisely why the gop selected this complex bugaboo issue for easy talking points. To say we're going to select a one word issue like 'immigration' and pose it as a singular issue is false to begin with. Immigration has more moving legal parts than simply border crossing.
Well, gee. That is exactly what Democrats have been trying to do, but just haven't had the numbers to override the opposition. Part of the problem is that they keep getting distracted by jingoistic arguments instead of talking to their constituents. A campaign for a rational immigration system should be campaigned for as hard as we do for the oval office. We are a nation of immigrants and freed slaves.
Bill, I'll take on your challenge. Jefferson believed that all men are created equal, and he believed in the conspiracy theory that "all men" didn't include all people.
While I'm at it, I'll take on Lincoln's "where will it stop" challenge. From the origin of our species roughly 12,000 generations ago, till the end of the Paleolithic Period, which was only about 400 generations ago, it stopped when the "hunter-gatherer band" social system divided in two, and the outcome was two bands. From the emergence of the first agricultural settlement at the dawn of the Neolithic Period until today, the social system has been dividing in two, which is potentially but not necessarily followed by war, and it stopped when people recognized something revealed to anyone paying attention: "We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us." That was the conclusion of Jo Cox (1974–2016), a British MP who was murdered by a conspiracy theorist. IMHO, disagreeing with Jo's conclusion is believing in the mother of all conspiracy theories.
Though anecdotal, the message I was given during my near death experience (will be 58 years ago this July 4th) was, "All men are brothers". Sorta' supports what you're saying.
Well done. I neglected to place Jefferson’s quote in context. While you have adroitly contested my positions, you haven’t said much about the real fact that the populists who I give no legitimate quarters to, do untold damage to nation states while using uncontrolled migration as their mantra. For what does it benefit a state to lose control, to lose democracy, to lose all by their disregard for migratory trends? Once again, you seem to be an example I expressed that many “…don't comprehend this in a more nuanced fashion.” To you as to many others, it’s our way or the door way. And that’s a losing proposition. You have taken a defense to an argument that I haven’t quite made. But I do respect your account of the origins of human development and mis-development.
If you think I am one of those "my way or the highway" people, you're right. But when you think about it, who isn't? My position is that there is "the way or you're on the highway to hell," even if paved with good intentions. To put it another way, I look on all those so-called SCOTUS originalists as phony originalists. Allow me to explain.
If you and I draw conflicting conclusions about the same phenomenon, it's because one of us (or more likely both of us) is using potentially erroneous but testable assumptions. If we get to the point that we're drawing harmonious conclusions, it's because we both did the same thing. I allowed you to challenge my assumptions, and vice versa.
That's one way I describe the wisdom principle, which is the bedrock foundation of every wisdom practice, and I think all the great religions, democracy, science, and capitalism are all wisdom practices. They are wise if their followers are adhering to the wisdom principle in every context, and unwise the minute the wisdom principle is violated in any context.
Adherence is easy to say, and hard to do, but the issue is that getting the easy part wrong makes the hard part impossible.
We only have to adhere to the wisdom principle when the conflict is having a significant negative effect on at least one party. But the alternative is to leave the conflict unresolved. If that's what happens, then it's almost certainly because one party is benefitting from the conflict.
One of my assumptions is that our ability to survive and thrive depends on a healthy social system in which unforeseeable but inevitable dilemmas are resolved one-by-one in the sequence in which they emerge, and the only alternative is an unhealthy system with a continuously increasing inventory of unresolved dilemmas.
It would be hypocritical of me if I didn't welcome anyone who wants to challenge my assumptions. Please do.
How about we just cut through to basics. Politics is a dirty business I think we could both agree. I want our side (I think you are in this club) to win. The only reason Biden likely reluctantly invoked an executive order is because he finally listened to someone. He neglected this issue for 3 years. Let’s leave the right thing and the wrong thing to do alone and address the most popular thing to do. Can we? Because we are about to lose our democracy. Is that important enough to do the most popular thing?
In my view, there's the right thing, and there's wrong thing. And there are two choices. If we choose to do the right thing, then we are not choosing to do the wrong thing, and vice versa. There are always reasons for doing the wrong thing, but the more I know, the more they appear to me to be excuses. And there are always reasons why we shouldn't be doing the right thing, but the more I know, the more they appear to me to be the result of not taking the right amount of time to think it through.
That's my opinion. I'm pretty sure you disagree, but I'm even more sure it's an honest disagreement.
I don't think Biden is neglecting anything. I think he knows the only thing he can do without public sentiment is destroy, and that's the other guy's MO.
I wish the president had been prepared to describe the tactics being used by Trump: My opponent is using a well known propaganda technique called the firehose of falsehoods (or gish gallop). He hopes to overwhelm the truth with too many lies to rebut in 2 minutes. You will find the fact check all these lies on our campaign website after this presentation. Here I'll make a bigger point - do we want a pathological lier in the WH again? I'll ignore the tidal wave of untruths and I'll use my time to answer the questions and share the accomplishments of my Administration.
Lynn: Exactly. So what is the campaign advisors' answer to all this? We are all focusing on Biden, of course, but what the hell was the prep about? No doubt he was OVERtrained. Why didn't Bob Bauer prepare him for this? TFG's lying is not a secret. I am not looking to blame, a useless concept, but especially if there will be a second "debate", I want to know...
THANK YOU! I also believe the Biden team should have refused to debate Trump. It’s like having a state dinner with the (Warner Bros) Tasmanian Devil. Biden should have pointed to Trump’s term - jailing children, confirming 3 SCOTUS justices who overturned ROE, the COVID and anti-vax mess, and - the cherry on top - January 6th. He should have said ‘I don’t debate sore losers. I have presidential work to do.’ They were suckered into it from the beginning.
I had always felt that the most profound thing that Biden should have done was to show trump the same respect that he showed to those in his party vying for the republican’s presidential nomination - and especially after the 34 guilty verdicts, which in my mind and by my standards would disqualify him or anyone from the presidency … giving the idiot the respect of a debate opportunity was and is now seen as doing a disservice to himself - Biden - and the country.
The main thing is not to engage with a convicted felon and illegitimate candidate. The calls should be for the GOP to replace THEIR candidate. I wrote a stack on the details yesterday. But this needs to get before the eyes of Joe Biden's advisors, and soon.
As for people thinking he is scared to "debate" the felon in September, that is not a concern. It is months away. He has all that time to show his obvious competence at running the country.
Yup Annabel you're so right. And being the tabloid society we would seem to have become.. "would seem to have"... (ponder that) , this is what we get. Sensationalism. I am so tired (spelled S I C K ) of everyone using the term/word "lies" to describe his blather. Plainly, he DISTORTS whatever he chooses to suit HIS narrative at that particular moment. Calling that DISTORTION a lie should end ANY further discussion. But no. We continue to entertain that POS (piece of shit - thank you), because, "lies" .."he's a liar", etc SENSATIONALIZE making it front-page tabloid material for Big Media. And, instead of shutting off the lights and pulling the curtains closed on the stage.. Show Over.!!!, his well-paid promoters give us more. And, what do "we" do..? We put the spot light on it and that POS gets ride some more. Free. Look at another POS.. Alex Jones. And another POS.. Bannon. And another POS, roger Stone. Go ahead..., you name your favorite. I'm going to go take a ride in my Jersey Speed Skiff... "Good Googa Mooga". It's a crazy fast ride, and I like it. Get one.
"they were illustrating for the modern world the principle Lincoln articulated: in the United States there should be no such thing as “Black jobs” or “Hispanic jobs."
"Such a construction directly contradicts the principles of the Declaration of Independence and ignores the victory of the United States in the Civil War. Anyone who sees the world through such a lens is on the wrong side of history."
Brilliant conclusion to today's LFAA . Shame on tfg. Shame! Oh, I see: there is no character, so how can there be shame. The Snake Oil salesman is on the wrong side of EVERYTHING. Me Me Ga Ga.
Interestingly, it was clear Trump's a racist and misogynist prior to the 2016 election. His first term crime wave aligned his corrupt actions with his hateful rhetoric. And then more people voted for him in 2020 than in 2016, despite knowing precisely who he is. Now he's a convicted felon, however, that's not newsworthy -President Biden's age is. (As it was during the run up to the State of the Union address). So while the extreme MAGA cult is unwavering in their support of Trump, it seems they are joined by the media -all too happy to turn this into an exciting game -instead of the devastating consequences a second Trump crime wave will have on America.
Yes 🙌 thank you 🙏… And now, I wish we would try to discipline ourselves to use the conditional and not the future tense -> « a second Trump crime wave will have on America. » Let’s strike the word « will » and replace it with « would/could », no? It chagrins me each time I come across this rhetorical conundrum. ☹️ … just saying…
It might have something to do with my Monday morning mood and seeing the rise of National Rally/Le Pen in France.
One minute Americans and allies are dying on the beaches of Normandy. The next minute the fascists are simply winning a war predicated upon lies, propaganda, hate, and fear.
And it is also clear that Putin is feeding social media in Europe in the same way he has done it in the US, pitting us against each other, railing against immigrants and pushing uniculture and theocracy. In fact, through his aggression and support of Assad and his Wagner group work in Africa, he has manufactured war and refugee crises— knowing that this fuels bigotry and fear. All part of the plan to castrate NATO…
Very true Heather. Missiles, bombs, and bullets, (and begging Iran and North Korea for armaments) are expensive. A few state actors from the GRU/Internet Research Agency posting propaganda and lies on Twitter and Facebook -cheap and easy.
We live in Europe and the news here was hours and hours of the polls, pundits discussing the election in France and the upcoming in England. Let us home France isn't a precusor to the US.
It already is to extent that authoritarianism is a clear and present danger. George Polisner's comment on the beaches of Normandy is especially poignant. France suffered Nazi rule. We sentient beings dubiously self-named "Homo sapiens" are far too often victims of our own "road rage" lizard brains, and don't see the trap for the lure of the bait. We appear to be running out of time to expand our personal and social bubbles of awareness, and see as much of "the whole" as we are able. I believe it greatly enriches our individual and collective quality of life, and saves us from the often dire consequences of preventable folly. The "whole truth" to the degree we are able to obtain it, grasp it, and bear it, is always our best investment in a semi-predictable world, and embracing any form of fool's paradise is likely to reach a disadvantaged, when not wholly disastrous, end.
Among other sacred things. I suspect we all possess a capacity for narcissistic thinking. I know I do. But deeply disregarding the rights and pains of others, unbalanced by empathy and conscience, is identical with what is traditionally known as "evil".
I’ve been a tad selfish as have many others that I have observed over the years. But chump’s devoted MAGAts are a whole ‘nother category. Despite being evangelical to a fault. I call them master hypocrites. I call total disregard for others “evil.”
George: knowing there are many who vote against their own interests, I am still confounded by the increase in the European right, coupled with what is going on here. Granted the pendulum always swings, it is really hard to watch these developments without wanting to scream in the streets!!
The "pendulum" is supposed to swing, although authoritarianism appears to wait at both extremities. I've been waiting about half a century to see a retreat from the the swing to the right from Johnson. A fair amount of white, heterosexual, male privileged has been softened in the interim, but dominant plutocracy has grown ever stronger. The main thing I like about Biden is that noticeably more than other post-Johnson Democratic presidents, he has been moving away from that trajectory (tragictory?) more than most.
Just as there is supposed to be a "marketplace" of ideas in a free and open society, I believe in a marketplace for free enterprise, and see no obviously viable alternative to one. I also think that there are necessary and/or desirable social functions of a society that are so necessary and/or so dangerous when used improperly that they never be trusted outside of control by the public.
What makes a thing free in any defensible social sense is how evenly it is applied. Impunity for the few, or when it comes to 'unalienable rights" even a majority, is tyranny (and ask certain minorities if there is such a thing as a "tyranny of the majority); thus the Constitution contains a Bill of Rights as well as majority rules. Monopolies of both money and political power (and in a corrupted society, the two go together) is the antipode of democracy and justice. We were getting a handle on the corrupting power of unregulated uses of money though much of the 20th century, but let much of that grip slip away. I am fine with capitalism that, like any other undertaking in a free society, obeys certain rules of the road*. I also see a government of, by and for the people as a more frequent source of needed capital than the money bins of billionaires, who, since "deregulation" own an ever increasing share of the entire country, and the "people" less.
*Anti-trust, Glass-Steagal, fair taxation, rules about political spending, etc.
Me too. Democracy, collaboration, and having to think and plan is hard. Simply being told what to do is probably seductive to far too many who also found studying history to be hard and boring.
with the French, the root cause may well be a long term mismanaged immigration, much of it stemming from the breakdown of the French colonies in Africa. The economic and political crises in the middle east eg Syria / ISIS have resulted in huge immigration into esp Germany. The economic migrations from north Africa at large continue to seeing migrants drown in attempted crossings of the Mediterranean. Most of these immigrants also happen to be Muslim.
Yes, and there is an uptick throughout Europe. Notably, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. And I don't think we've started to see the large waves of climate refugees. I suspect it's a huge reward for the right-wing -who continue to gleefully concentrate wealth and power through mining, extraction, coal and oil industries. The more planetary damage they do, and the economic uncertainty they cause -the larger the immigration wave which feeds their hateful rhetoric.
I don't know if it's all that simple, but I suspect you've done some homework. I thought it was more about jobs, culture clash, social-economic problems. I'll keep an eye out, or if you have an interesting article on it, kindly send us a link. You know, even the corporate "wealth and power" folk have to live with the consequences too. Lifeboat Europe? Come to think of it, something of lifeboat and fortress OECD nations is already something of a de facto story. Well, then there's all that resource extraction....
We can all agree on the origins of migration in the near past and today. And let’s be clear, the W. Bush regime had a lot to do with destabilization inthe Middle East and now in Europe today. And really, both Bush regimes have had a huge negative effect from the fall-out. The Golf War was predicated on lies and the toppling of Sadam pure madness from which we may not recover for many generations. And today on account of these migratory movements, we are approaching autocracy in many nations including our own.
I fear this is just the tip of the melting iceberg. The number of climate refugees is bound only to increase. The world could recognize the impending crisis and start planning what to do about it but as ever, nobody is willing to do that.
The evil that men do lives after them. The violence involved in our nation's birth, conquest and slavery, lives on in many of the violent incidents of the day. Social violence as well as physical.
There are those who condemn it no mater where it occurs. My point is that under Bush is was claimed to be justified and and was applied by the US government. Yes, a large swath of our nation was horrified, but it was still and official act. Even this designation of "enemy combatants" that were supposed to be unprotected by either the US Constitution and international conventions was a knife in the pack of rule of law and decency.
And from my point of view, far too little has been done visibly and officially to totally renounce those actions after the fact. Obama admitted that "we tortured some folks" but like the grotesque and cruel kidnapping of children from immigrants by US officials under Trump, I am unaware of official efforts to publicly detail and thoroughly renounce the crime. In any case, those who were steering US policy at the time openly justified torture and GWB got two terms, meanwhile letting Bin Laden get away, while Bush bombed Iraq.
Trump’s victory would mean the rise of a dictator. I know for my part that the people did not appoint the Heritage Foundation, Leonard Leo and dark money billionaires to run our lives and makes the rest of us their serfs. We have an out of control majority on the Supreme Court that is busily destroying all the guardrails on our government, including those on bribery. We have two justices who can be credibly said to be on the take, and we elect people to the house and senate who are manifestly ignorant and immature.
Correct. But the crime wave can be identified with any number of people, including Trump. I don't consider Trump to be capable of reading Project 2025. I call him Howdy Doody with a Hitler complex.
Bannon has delivered himself of a long farewell speech before recording his last podcast and actually entering the prison. Here's a quote from the BBC reporter:
"It is “impossible”, he told me, for Joe Biden to win the election in November. And, therefore, there is no way he or his "Maga army" will accept the result if the president is reelected.
In pride of place in the "War Room" is a full 900-page copy of Project 2025.
I agree. Donald, the SCOTUS, and the Heritage Foundation have made their intentions quite clear.. They've abandoned conditionals and use the word "will" freely.
Indeed. Why do you think those oligarchs resent unions so much?
And why do you think so many companies relocated their manufacturing to the South?
I've worked in non-unionized "sweatshops" in at-will states, and spent awhile as an adunct professor myself. Places like that ALWAYS have what they call entry-level job openings, and it's no mystery as to why. Gig labor is simply more of the same thing.
I have a theory that Kindergarten teachers need to be far better trained professionals than high school teachers. By then a few incompetent ones would not matter as much.
Undergrad professors need to be more extensively trained that grad school profs, at least with respect to the art of teaching. Again, by grad school, I think a student in better equipped to deal with a prof with impressive narrow expertise, but rotten teaching skills, even though the latter should not be allowed to happen as often as it does. Real, developmental teaching is interactive, and pressing a button if the Powerpoint presentation is too confusing hardly qualifies.
Americans have a genre of movies, J L -- all set in schools, or on teachers.
We've taken education seriously for a long, long time. Not only do many Americans of all stripes have thoughtful observations as yours here, but Hollywood, too, has seen mobility, democracy, and the good fight against faux aristocracy and privilege for a long, long time.
I agree that it is an entire ‘machine’ in play here. But that is more reason to vote in droves, to publicize Project 2025 to those who don’t know about it, to show up for the down-ballot races! The State Legislators are what the MAGA ts are counting on to settle any ambiguity in the election.
It has puzzled me how easily demagogues utilize fear that the underprivileged of society are the salient threats to those just getting by. I noticed that even in the depths of serious unemployment in the "Great Recession" there was little public reaction to massive off shoring;, in one case I recall 20,000 from one corporation alone put out of work my moving the job to a country with lower wages. The timing alone was outrageous, but the strange part is how companies do things like hostile takeovers to loot companies of their assets, merger, after merger, after merging, shedding jobs with each elimination of competition, shed stable defined benefit pensions and other responsibilities to workers, etc., etc. and while the public clearly does not like it, they don't rally to condemn or stop it, the way they do wen they think someone less economically comfortable than them is getting help. Who killed blue collar manufacturing in this country? It wasn't immigrants.
Thank you JL -and so very true. Unbridled greed (or maximizing profit as Milton Friedman would say). And greed is not done pushing American workers to the edge of the economic abyss.
Milton Friedman’s economic advice was very damaging for the workers in companies who took his advice, which included most American businesses. The shareholders and CEOs walk off with most of the profits, while the workers who earn those profits are shoved into a perverse game of musical chairs in which they don’t know from day to day whether they’ll lose their jobs.
Friedman’s policies have been devastating to ordinary people and have helped to destroy many American communities. Trump would never do anything to fix the problem. There are up and coming people who support Trump who have no clue about the economic devastation he will inflict.
Yes -although Friedman's advice was specifically about concentrating wealth (and thus power) and so that's what the MAGA/GOP democracy-hating extremists want. A society of obedient hyper-consumers filled with economic uncertainty is much easier to manipulate and control.
People don't fight the powers that be for a number of reasons. Some of it is the distractions of consumerism. Equally daunting, in my view, is the feeling that there's no way to win.
Thanks Art. I think of it as concentrated wealth versus (unfortunately) disorganized and readily divided people. I may be naively optimistic, however I think if people could actively aspire toward something tangibly better, people could win. I think the social, civil, and economic gains of the 1960’s are an example.
Friedman drew up a formula for sociopathy, and that's been evident since Reagan was it's pitch man. Those who would benefit picked up the excrement and proclaimed it to be gold; even holy. Given the advice of the Bible's Timothy on the "love of money", the churches should have been among the first to rise in sustained protest, but many of the most visible ones have gone along for the ride.
True. We moved to a shareholder economy....Jack Welch took a great company, GE, and drove it to a shell of itself and left with a honey of a deal. Every time he laid off workers and sent jobs out of the country, he got a raise.
Former members of the Trump Cabinet validated what we already know. Trump’s ignorance, narcissism, and dedicated focus on enriching himself are front and center for all not blinded by their own hate, fear, ignorance, and bitterness to see.
" . . . a second Trump crime wave" -- love it, George.
I see here, too, very soon in the commenting, an Amy and a James have already vouched for your most piquant term. Many more will, too.
We who've seen the Keystone Cops know that American culture has long had a ribald anti-establishment, suspicion of royal or any other authority, ready sense of latent humor for all our elites. The first American (pointedly non-Brit) vernacular arose on the frontier in the era of Davy Crockett.
Trump has seized on it -- to his huge advantage. Dems don't even know of any such humanities, as our Dems learned in school only to talk wonk -- nothing human, let alone any vernacular (heaven forbid -- get yourself sued -- anything remotely impolite to any group protected by HR).
I think you are right about our "rebel" impulses, which can serve us in some circumstances. My dog makes no secret of what she thinks is unjust, and injustice and it's remedies will be celebrated in just a few days. But we need to be careful about where we direct our indignation. Most people are wise enough to support vehicular speed laws even though, in my experience, most people speed (though probably not so much as they might otherwise).
Thank you, George, for including this 2016 NY Times article about how racism has defined Donald Trump from the very beginning. Wish The NY Times would continue to publish articles that point out the danger Trump is to all of us. To spend so much time on Biden's age and unfortunate stumbles in one 90 minute debate and not to emphasize the threat embedded in Trump's outrageous lies is mind boggling to me! Trump's bullying performance at that debate should give everyone pause (and horror). Why is that not emphasized by the journalists? And while I'm at it, why isn't The NY Times shouting from the rooftops about Project 2025! So many people, even Dems, aren't aware of it.
The sins of the grandfather(draft dodger, shady real estate deals including ownership of brothels) passed down to an unscrupulous father, and passed on to trump (sexual predator, crooked real estate dealings, draft dodging
Sadly, Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine and media companies today just try to maximize revenue and profit. They would probably say if people were interested in actual news, Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, or C-Span would have massive audiences instead of CNN or Fox ‘Spews’.
The debate – the Trump/Biden show – at least gave us a needed word.
Firehose.
We all heard that word afterwards, for Trump’s deluge of lies.
It also fits worldwide assaults: Putin’s bearded, long-skirted, jewelry-draped priests intoning murder, his oligarchs delivering murder; Xi’s corrupt cadres; Kim’s missiles; Orban’s Hungarian institutions he killed; Iranian mullahs arming Hamas, Houthis, and Hezbollah; Saudi royals killing journalists; Netanyahu’s far-right settlers ever-stealing Palestinian West Bank land.
Oblivious of the human, remorseless, near-mechanically gush the firehoses.
So, too, have U.S. billionaires, with their dark money corrupting congressional Republicans, state legislatures, the perjured, dehumanized Clarence court.
For a firehose trifecta, American schools have now also dehumanized for standardized testing. They’ve cast out the personal, turned people to numbers, units, abstractions, life all linear, easily-grouped. (In music, says Rick Beato, this is life replaced by the “quantized,” the formulaic, machine-driven.)
Firehoses all: international autocrats, U.S. oligarchs, zombie schools.
Law for personal rights, and schools buoying personal humanity, could keep us from the firehoses, but look at the Trump/Biden “debate,” where even apparently professional moderators haplessly fell to Trump’s firehose of lies.
The Clarence court wants a king, above the law. It wants theocracy to rule over all women. It wants tax and regulatory systems that free the billionaires as the new aristocracy over all us serfs.
The Clarence court can indulge its mad abstractions because it is totally dehumanized. It has no respect for little people, democracy, individuals in the same proportion as it is totally dehumanized.
We can measure dehumanization by stats showing interests people have.
Rick Beato has the stats on interest in music. Popular music. Hip hop. Country music. In fact, he also has stats on the larger world of arts.
They have all fallen. People’s interest in the arts, and all forms of music has crashed, sunk.
Our elites, such as the Clarence court, their hero the orange criminal, have zero humanities. This frees them for their abstractions on one hand, his lies and criminality on the other.
I did see this video earlier and am still thinking about how Rick Beato is justifiably alarmed about decline of people's appreciation for the arts and humanities. So am I.
As we can see from today's ruling by the Clarence court, people who dwell totally in abstractions can become even more totally mad if severed from the taming, civilizing touches of our arts -- music, novels, memoirs, films, all our arts.
The far-right in the U.S. grew gangrenous over time -- over the more than half-century since the Powell memo of August 23, 1971.
All the first efforts of the far-right foundations springing from that aimed to kill humanities in schools. They did that. They got them all replaced K-12 with standardized testing, whose logic was also non-human, more linear-formulaic, categorical, machine-like repetitious ("quantized," as Rick Beato says about the damage to musical arts).
Trimp's backers and Donald himself never stop promoting their racism. Similarly, their authoritarian European counterparts also fulminate against immigration and say their country's national identity is being erased by the influx of "foreigners". Over there or over here, once the audience is worried about evil outsiders coming to ruin their homelands, the speakers routinely use that as a springboard to insert fascism as the cure. One issue or another, all roads lead to fascism with them but it works best when a scapegoat can be pointed to.
Eric Hoffer once wrote “Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents... Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a belief in a devil.”
I'm not sure I would classify him as a conservative. Absolutely not by the standards of the Republican Party (which you can argue is not conservative, unless authoritarianism is). He certainly was a union man.
Jesus is attributed to the saying "the poor will always be with us". I attribute the saying "the rich will always be with us" to myself. Some will succeed by discipline and hard work, by longevity, by genius, some by serendipity, some by blind luck, and many by inheritance. If born to wealth, they will see themselves as entitled, and divinely entitled, no less. They will equate wealth with their nationality, their race, their particular family line, their skin color or any other outstanding characteristic they can identify that distinguishes them from "others". Particularly those who are born to wealth, they tend to identify some sorts of worth as beneath them and their peers. They assign types of work in a sort of "caste" construct of the imagination. Access to high-wage occupations is certainly more difficult for individuals coming out of poverty, but not impossible. It is stlll possible to excel out of purely public education institutions, to take advantage of programs designed to raise up individuals disadvantaged by the socio-economic status into which they were born. By some standards, I might be considered wealthy. I inherited a work ethic and some educational support. I worked hard to achieve a professional degree, then worked very hard in a high paying career for three decades. I saved diligently. Still, I am far from "escaping gravity", or enjoying increasing wealth without working for wages. My career is accessible to both genders, any nation of origin, any skin color. One of my friends and co-students arrived in America with the boat people from Viet Nam. She achieved the same professional status as I, while learning English first at age 14. This is the America I want to live in. There were less blacks amongst my peers than there should have been by proportion in our population. That is still a work in progress, but more now by proportion than 40 years ago. We need to move FORWARD in equal representation, but I fear we have stalled and may be on the verge of moving backward with our current SCOTUS. The last thing on earth we need is a chief executive in our government that believes that there are certain "black jobs" and "hispanic jobs". Immigrants are one of the keys to our economic strength and their drive to ascend the ranks of the working class is what distinguishes our country is a place where opportunity is limited only by the limits of one's motivation, energy and dreams. We need to continue to make that dream a reality for people already here and for those who aspire to join us from places less enlightened.
Agree, and Trump and Company would take any opportunities away from everyone else. It isn’t immigrants I fear, it’s the policies Trump and his funders and the theocrats want. I get tired of right wing politicians who misquote Jesus’s saying “the poor will always be with you” as a justification for voting against any help for the poor at all. They quote this out of context because Jesus was all about action for the poor and needy. It’s an example of how Christian Nationalism warps Jesus and God into petty images of themselves.
They use and insult the name of Christ and His teachings! I do not understand why true persons of faith accept this false version of scripture....they must never read the New Testament regarding Christ.
Since the ACA was passed in 2010, the GOP (now the Party of Trump) has done very little to help anyone but the wealthy. We can call it whatever percentage you want to, the top 1%, 20% or whatever, but they are devoid of ideas to bring back the middle class.
Convicted Felon Donald Trump has no platform and never has. He says Make America Great Again, but when I ask MAGAs to name 4 things CFDT did to make America great again, they can't (or won't) even name one.
Just Sayin’, starting with Reagan, those who’d “made it” have worked hard to close the door on those who would aspire to better their lot in life. First, they stopped supporting their public universities with tax dollars, so poor students were forced to bankroll their education with federal loans. Then the banks failed to honor the terms of loan forgiveness by those who chose to teach or do other forms of public service.
The next step was to require a college degree to be considered for any job that offered upward mobility. Biden’s “loan forgiveness” is forcing banks to comply with the terms of the loans.
All of this was designed to further denigrate an artificially created underclass—“if they were smarter, they’d be as rich as me”.
Now we’ve got a presidential candidate that is so dumb that he doesn’t bother to use Reagan’s dog whistles—he just calls them Black and Hispanic jobs—and implies that immigrants/POC are so dumb that they will either fight for low wage jobs or in a mixed martial arts ring against “the white hope”.
In the midst of the stream of howling gibberish spewed forth by Trump, that phrase stood out to me as well. I wish either President Biden or one of the moderators had asked Trump to define a "Black" job or a "Hispanic" job.
Robin, I came here to say the same thing. They "moderated" nothing; they asked questions, that's it. I was yelling and throwing stuff at my screen......
I saw Trump’s comment as extremely racist as he thinks that African Americans and Latinos are suited only for “mud sill” jobs. He is totally unaware there are African American and Latino scientists, scholars, professionals, including lawyers, doctors and teachers. I think they are far smarter than Trump. Trump seems to positively fear intelligent African American women like New York’s AG, who managed to win a huge civil judgment against him for tax evasion in New York State. It’s one reason why he offers the racist and stupid commentary.
Miselle-That would be a reminder to the MAGAs and actually points to the problem that MAGAs are trying to correct. Obama took a White man’s job. The idea of a Black person as president enraged too many Americans.
As David Frum wrote in an Atlantic article, this election is really not about Trump or Biden it’s about the American people.
Miselle-in 2008 44% of registered non-Hispanic White voters cast their vote for Obama. In 2012 it was 38%.
White voters represent about 75% of U.S registered voters. Most vote for the Rs and Trump.
I hope you’re right about overestimating the number of MAGA voters, but I think that’s what all the debate panic is about-some people think that there are far more MAGA voters than not.
Trump has told them this election is their last chance to preserve white supremacy because people of color will be outnumbering them in the future. Trump is promoting a new version of the 1915 film Birth of a Nation.
Essentially doesn't it seem that it's always about the American people? It's much easier to see that inside of democracy, where our individual selves do indeed matter.
Every store in our town has a help wanted sign displayed. The local grocery store lists 15 openings, the Home Depot only 5 as of yesterday. And try to get in to see a doctor or a dentist -- 4 to 12 months even to see a specialist.
We need workers here, but we have no excess housing. It's a conundrum that closing the border would only exacerbate.
Where I live on Cape Cod has been similar and different maybe, because new housing is being developed at an amazing rate -- so-called affordable aka attainable, and is causing density-traffic and challenging the water table and solid waste disposal that's out of whack with what the land can support. I'm beginning to see how this new housing stock is likely to burst the bubble-pricing of older homes which is another reason for NIMBYism. All complicated and all arise from our general incapacity to think well together about the carrying capacity of the land and about these honorable mud-sill jobs (essential workers) and the hierarchical mindsets that typify our social organizations.
It's the same old story....Money now....who cares 20-30 years down the road about the condition of houses or our water or sewer systems or roads or schools for our future citizenry.
Acadia National Park is visited by 3-4 million people each year. And that's just the main park not including the Schoodic portion or Isle Au Hast. Our town may only have about 1700 residents but from May 15 - October 15 that number increases to around 4000 at times. So there lots of seasonal workers needed and a fraction of the space needed for them to stay.
The other day an electrician was wondering about what happens when the famine comes. It's been feast for 2021, but if only 2.5 million people come instead of the 3-4 million a lot of rentals will not bring in the money to cover the mortgages.
Out of necessity due to lack of people in the trades, our town has a fairly large proportion of mobile homes and modular housing. But a mobile home still needs a well since we have no town water a septic field and site work which can cost $25,000 to $50,000. To set up a mobile home park in our town with 20 lots would require at least 25 acres and cost a million or so dollars to set up for roads, wells, septic, etc. But once it's set up, it could be fairly agile for mobile homes.
And then there are the tiny homes as well. I like the concept and hopefully several different agile models can be deployed across the country that work with the particular geography of that area.
I’m glad for this conversation. Sharing setup costs seems important. Composting toilets can be a good option. Hydroponic growing of greens on pasteurized diluted urine has worked at rich Earth institute in VT. MA is working with the state to get septic systems that could cost less if urine diverting toilets are more commonplace but nothing’s ready for scaling up now. As a grower of food in soil I’ve built up around my house from years of composting, my fantasies include common spaces that produce local food in neighborhoods. Tending can be a community building plus for inter generational cross cultural living.
Watch Documentary: “You’ve Been Trumped”. It is from 2011 and shows how cruel and rude Trump really is.
“ReelScotland reviewed the film, concluding "an emotive film which shows both what can happen when a Government considers money over its own laws and how those at the sharp end remain resilient throughout".[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Timesgave the film three stars out of four, writing that the most fascinating aspect of the documentary is "Trump’s almost joyous rudeness" and that "the underlying message is that if you are rich and powerful enough, you can run roughshod over tradition and private property rights and buy your place at the table."[4] Stephen Holdenwrote in the New York Times that the documentary is an "unabashedly hostile portrait" of Trump, depicting him as "an insensitive, lying bully" who tried to pressure the golf course's neighbours into sell their properties to him, including threatening them with compulsory purchase orders.[2]”
Marlo, as Stephen Miller showed so well, when dealing with the powerless, the cruelty IS the point—especially if you can rip nursing babies from their mothers.
I have “watched” the full debate several times over now. I notice that I see and hear things I missed on the first, second, and third go around. I am ready to watch yet again and again after reading this letter. There is plenty to take in. The rally cries in the aftermath are equally disturbing. I am grateful for the wider perspective presented here.
YES! As I posted here, I went back to the transcript to see that I had not imagined it, but Biden asked Trump to call out the Proud boys now, and Trump did not do it.
Just looked at your page. You and your commenters are making racist tropes and comments. As a Chinese American, not funny at all. I'm sure you'll say it's all in fun, and dismiss what I'm conveying. You write you are pointing out social ills. Yet, you are using the same kind of stupid nonsense we've put up with for years. Why our country is where it is now.
The Molly McGuires, the Wobblies, all in organized labor took most seriously how the industrial titans and their Pinkertons and other paid stooges in Congress used divide-&-conquer -- plus fear of the "other" to keep workplaces unsafe, workers pitifully underpaid, and schools mechanical as the coming assembly lines.
Cartoon reiterates that we have always been anything but welcoming to new arrivals. Sadly, we denigrate other earthlings at our peril. We never seem to learn that we are all in it together. Maybe an alien invasion could help. But, baring that, climate change could suffice.
As you point out, the assertion of human dignity remains a continuous task.
The struggle is exacerbated by the failure of many of our fellow citizens to accept the challenge of appreciating and demanding respect for their democratic status. Lincoln's task remains for all of us: to treat our fellow citizens with dignity and to demand they join us as equals.
Well, the one good thing about the "black jobs" comment are the many Black people posting pictures of themselves at work. They are professors, doctors, judges, and so on. It gives me some hope for the future.
Despite the fact that President Biden should never have dignified the felon by sharing a stage with him, some good material for future campaign ads came out of it.
And "black jobs" may be at the top of the list. I hope that all BIPOC voters were listening and sharpening their ballot marking implements.
You're right. Joe's campaign people should have said "we're not dignifying an habitual liar and convicted felon with air time next to Joe. Trump does not deserve to be on the same stage".
Calling these televised confrontations a "debate" is a not-funny joke. No more, please! I would like to see a televised Biden Administration Roundtable where the head of each Cabinet is introduced and has time to highlight what has been accomplished in the last 3 1/2 years. Biden could introduce each one and then let him/her take over. This would not only be an opportunity to focus on successes under Biden, thus focusing on content, but would show what active and responsible government actually looks like.
Can't begin to tell you how many times I've used Biden's cabinet in discussion with others as an example for why we should vote blue. "Do you truly believe every President gets everything done on his own? He builds a cabinet and CONSULTS with those people and then makes sure they get things done. That's leadership!" I'm sure it would be eye-opening to construct a graphic of Trump's cabinet and any accomplishments they made and compare it to Biden's.
I cannot agree more! This is why I support Biden wholeheartedly - he has qualified, intelligent people who know how to do their jobs around him.
Comparison chart, please !
Pat, when the local so-called progressives were busy dissing Biden as an establishment Democrat or a corporate Democrat, I often pointed out his cabinet including the first Native American as Sec. of Interior and a gay man as Sec. of Transportation to name two. They also ought to take a look at his various judicial nominees as well. Also they are not "tokens", but capable intelligent individuals.
Many of Trump's inner circle are felons...oh wait just like their leader. The sign of a good leader is how well they hire. Biden's team is exceptional - none better since FDR. Trump's is the worst (if they even kept their job) and those with integrity have made it clear they will not support Trump.
If you want to know who someone is, take a look at the company they keep. Biden has surrounded himself with talented, honest and hard working people. Trump has surrounded himself with corrupt, greedy self serving people.
According to the study conducted by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" Trump's supporters share his racism, misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia. In other words, the MAGA/KKK, white supremacy now, white supremacy forever. The marchers at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting, "Jews will not replace us." That's Klan talk.
Lovin’ it
Most of trump’s administration have disowned him or are in jail. You probably couldn’t pull together enough to fill a table.
Mimi, I heartily agree with Biden not standing for a 2nd debate (and have been making that point since Friday.) As to your 2nd thought, I love the concept but not the format, as it reeks of what CF45 would have his Cabinet do: fawn obsequious platitudes (is this tripley redundant?) in his direction.
Rather, as I've said before, they should all hit the road for a Truth Tour, pointing out the accomplishments of Biden's administration.
Right! And I would add that in the spirit of Biden’s early days in the Senate, he should barnstorm the country on a train. Crisscross the country in familiar comfort, while getting his message across the country.
Clare, love the traveling in comfort by train idea! His 6 crossings of the Atlantic in such a short period of time, had to have had a negative impact on his energy! Amazing that he didn’t get hit by the latest version of Covid!
Hello Harry (give en hell) Truman.
So many good ideas! I hope his campaign people are taking note. Biden/Harris needs and deserves a new/old way of campaigning. It would add interest and excitement - and votes.
A "Truth Tour". I love that!
Great idea about the Truth Tour, especially with such smart, articulate folks as Buttigieg and especially if they emphasize what Biden's accomplishment mean for the average-Joe in middle America. Add to that support from such stars as Beyonce and Taylor Swift, maybe Bruce Springsteen for us oldies, and a few others who appeal to the under-40 set, and maybe Biden could overcome the unfortunate effects of Thursday night's debate.
Taylor Swift works for me as well as Beyonce, and I am an oldie.
Doug.. the "truth tour" has sailed. We're out of time. We need some grandstanding not unlike what that POS #45 did during this recent shit-show. A good example (opportunity missed) would have been to grab the words "Black Jobs" and shove that right down the dickheads' (#45) throat.. blammo. And, it's still a great line to lead off with. HCR's letter today kind of mealy-mouthed the subject by implying that #45 knew what he was saying, he didn't, he's in-ept. He speaks in grandiosely-ignorant spasms. And we dignify that POS by not hitting the "off" button.
MadRussian, I strongly disagree. We are NOT out of time. By my quick mental calculations there are 128 days until the election. That's plenty of time to push the message.
Yessir, but the time has come to shove the crap #45 spews right back down his gottdammned throat.., and it needn't be done politely either. And, not just by Joe. Harris is extremely capable, certainly.. as a woman as well, she is a force the MAGA-world has yet to experience. She and Joe are that 'tour-de-force' you're speaking of. So, I'm with you. Let's roll... 128 and counting!
"...implying that #45 knew what he was saying, he didn't...." I thought that, too for about a minute....but there is no other construction you can put on either statement than that immigrants are taking 'black jobs' or 'hispanic jobs'. Why not white jobs or jobs in general?
Because Pax, I don't think immigrants are taking jobs "away" from us. They are, however, taking those jobs that don't pay well, or are crummy, or that you don't want you son or daughter doing. #45 wants everyone to think the country is a failed state. He's just so full of crap But, if you want to believe anything, then believe that. He also would like that you just vote for Kennedy. Have you tried to find someone to do yardwork lately?
That was no debate, it was a debacle. No wonder Trump now claims that he loves CNN. What a gift: a platform to tell lie after lie after lie without being called out. This was a huge gift to Trump. His followers love his lies, which they believe are the gospel truth.
Doug, that ship has sailed. Biden has already agreed to a second debate; a no show would only debilitate him further. The debate scenario cat is out of the bag. Herding this particular cat is a tough job; better to go through with it, and this time, make dam sure that he's in good shape. I also agree that the moderators need to commit themselves to an honest debate. They are the landlords, overseers, if you will, that will give, or should give, this second debate the balance it deserves. It's clear that Trump doesn't have the cajónes to understand truth to power; power is all he understands, and the power of truth has to be shoved down his throat. Frankly, I wish he would try to debate Cornel West. West would put him down like the rabid dog he is.
Except that Biden's people wanted the debate.
True, and they got it, although a debate isn't what was delivered. It was a deluge of lies which couldn't be countered with any effect by a man clearly off his game. There's no reason to repeat it.
I think they should do both!
Yes! When one of the participants (DT) refuses to acknowledge and follow debate rules, we need to stop offering him this opportunity to gaslight the audience.
and, what's taking so long? Big money! Big Media - Big money. Click.
And lots of "entertainment factor". I'm sorry, but are we, as Americans, such big babies, that we can't handle intelligent discussion and truth? Do we really need our news to be entertaining? I was a kid, with a Democratic activist mother, and knew a lot about Adlai Stevenson and the elections at the time. One day, another kid at school called Stevenson an "egghead". That was what the GOP was dishing out at the time. I went home and asked mom: "What's wrong with being smart?" I want smart, accessible reporting. It should not be boring. But, entertaining? Come on!
Big Stevenson fan here. I was eleven in '52 and didn't know the politics. My instincts told me Adlai was a kind, honest man. Ike was okay except for his choice of VP. I had a strong negative reaction to him.
Yes Mimi! Don the con’s revolving door cabinet was a joke. A way for him to prove George Orwell’s last commandment in Animal Farm—all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. Donnie believes he is more equal than anyone in the world and showed it in his disaster of an administration that he controlled with an iron fist.
Wow, what a great idea! I would love to see that...
And, how about having the early cabinet members from current felon and defeated president tRUMP's cabinet have their own roundtable. Back to Back Cabinet Roundtables. The first cabinet members have had plenty to say about the tRUMP zoo. And, Biden's have their positive points and intellect and skill to showcase.
That’s a brilliant idea Mimi!! We can take this one further and send an email to all the major tv networks including CNN not only expressing our profound disappointment with Dana and Jack’s performance but offer this as a suggestion promising we will turn in to watch this type of programming otherwise we are going to add CNN to the list of Fox News. It’s all about the ratings!!
Imagine what a Trump Cabinet Roundtable discussion would be?
They could only utter words of discord, lies, and threats. No substance whatsoever.
It would be a show like, "What's my Crime?"
"What's My Crime" -- brilliant! I'm keeping that one.
😊
Great idea!! Love it! I have often said to my friends and family that its tiresome watching a candidate bad mouth, put down, and tell me what’s wrong with their opponent. I want to hear what the candidate is going to do for the people. These campaign ads only show how corruption is rampant. How wasting money on bashing the opponent. I want to know the plan and see the results. Mind you, I am in my sixties now, and have been a professional housekeeper and personal assistant for at least half of that. One time, about 20 years ago my mother (R) told me I should get a real job. It was then and there I knew how my mom felt and went on to become the best housekeeper I could be. I think she thought I was taking jobs away from black and Hispanics and that I was smarter than that ……I am sure I am not the only person who had Mom issues!
Good Grief what a wonderful idea. I am voting not just for Joe Biden. I am voting for his administration- the team he put together. A basketball coach is not expected to dribble, run and shoot. Her job is to select, strategize, direct and guide. Then get the hell out of the way. And of course take responsibility. There is no team Trump. Just a bunch of cheer “ followers “
What a great idea! A spotlight on achievement with meat rather than sound bites.!
Exactly. C'mon Whitehouse (staff) pull your heads out.
Fabulous .. not that I necessarily agree with what you have proposed - Lawrence O’Donnell offered an alternative for consideration - but thinking outside of the preverbal box with something new and creatively meaningful is the right and better idea Mimi!
Great idea. But would the networks make time for it?
Such a great idea!
That's a great idea
Yes,I totally agree.And there should not be a second”debate”.There is no debating with this hateful whirling dervish and his oral dysentery.The Gish Gallop that he used to try to immobilize Biden was ridiculous.Biden needs not to lower himself to a second round of this nonsense.
I'm pleased to see HCR's Gish Gallop reference posted multiple times on FB. Name the method of obfuscation and misdirection! Anyone supporting the impeached, indicted felon because they are sure he will make their lives better should think again. At least Steve Bannon goes to jail today!
I prefer the more earthy description--A Firehose of Bullshit
I used both in my comments to those who are clamoring for Biden to step down...along with "magical thinking", "are we now playing fantasy league political football???" and other (rather snarky, I'm afraid) references.
Lordy, I'm sick to death of Democrat's insistence on "navel-gazing", "nit-picking", and otherwise fussing about the candidate not exhibiting their notions of perfection. No candidate--not one--is perfect. Have we forgotten that word "compromise"??? Whatever happened to solidarity; to supporting your chosen candidate even when the chips are down? Gone the way of the dodo, is what I gather from all the nonsense I've read.
Exactly, TL. Here's how Lucian Truscott puts it with no mincing of words:
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/grow-a-spine-democrats?r=4xbds&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Me too, but can get edited out…’diarrhea of the mouth, constipation of the mind.’ But spewing crap nonetheless! He just says shit, H2O, we bought a dog, perfect….all word salad with no facts, little meaning, really sad he once got elected for anything by anyone! If there is a real indication of the US being in serious shit it’s that millions of people, conservative Christians, voted for him over Ms Clinton! That is the symptom we must for the disease.
Yay!
Trump would claim victory regardless of how ignorant he appeared in any format. He believes that there is no such thing as bad publicity. He would never apologize to anyone regardless of how insulting he had been. Those are things he learned from Roy Cohn.
Those are facts Harvey; How to use them is the thing.
I don't think Trump has read the theory. He just naturally spews and dominates, because it has worked for him...but it does prove the theory correct. Joe's campaign would be justified in saying no to a second debate except for Joe's poor performance on Thursday. He can not look like that again, the 2 big gaffs were bad, I saw them again on the morning shows yesterday. It was much worse than a stutter. He totally lost track and went sideways both times. If he chooses to stay in the race, it must be because he's healthy enough for 4 months of the most demanding and vitally important campaign he's ever been in. Otherwise hand the baton to Harris and do it soon.
Whirling Dervishes are skilled. In contrast ....
Unfortunately, given Joe’s poor performance the other night, and the over-wrought and ignorant reaction to it (NYT ran its editorial calling for him to withdraw for three straight days), that will not be possible without it being seen as an admission that he is senile, if not in the grip of dementia. (As many of us know, Trump confuses Dementia with the name of his youngest daughter.)
Joe needs the second “debate.” He doesn’t need to prepare and know all the numbers. He just needs to stay calm, speak audibly and point out Trump’s lies, and explain briefly how dangerous, corrupt, and incompetent Trump really is. Trump is a liar, a felon, a racist, and is also showing signs of cognitive decline.
Remember msm thought Reagan was so great by saying there you go again to Jimmy Carter. 8 years of Raygun put us in this spot. And let’s tell CNN that if they want another “debate” get some moderators who will enforce the rules and shut down the galloping shitmouth immediately when he refuses to answer a question.
IMO you are mostly correct, but I would add that he needs to do that with some vigour at times. The swing voters need to see some ...I'll call it passion for lack of a better word.
While I agree with your overall sentiment, Biden’s performance on Thursday cannot be unseen. Any objective assessment must admit that he was addled. Anyone voting for him must consider the likelihood that he will not complete a second term. I doubt Biden will step aside before the election. VP Harris is largely an enigma, but she is certainly preferable to the angry, self-interested liar. But, honestly, if Biden loses, his performance will go down in history as the main reason he lost.
Many have suggested that Biden needs to sit down for interviews to demonstrate his ability to address the impact of his performance last Thursday. I’d love to see some version of that. I don’t think it is wise to keep him in a protective bubble when so many saw such a disastrous debate. No matter what, we will vote against tfg, but meanwhile we need to know a bit more about Biden’s competence.
Was there a reason that we have not seen for this struggling during the debate?
See my comment below.
Dave, nor can CF45's performance be unseen, and the same could rightly apply. My opinion, which I suspect is shared by many, is vote for Biden over the end of democracy as we know it. Let's worry about the rest once the existential threat is diminished (and hopefully in a series of court rooms.)
Because we are so desperate to see the Biden we hope is the hero, we focus on his performance. We hoped he'd wipe the floor with Cf45.
Everyone expected the trumpian idiot to show up, so we underrate the horrific monster he again showed himself to be.
I think Joe was over-prepared and struggling to find a useful response in all he'd prepared to the Gish gallop aimed at him. The format was new, the moderators little automatons sitting there, and really what could one expect?
He was not “addled.” He was over-prepared. I’m a trial lawyer and I’ve had it happen. You work so hard on every detail that you have trouble figuring out what to say. I was with a large number of other trial lawyers on Friday, and they all understood the point, and agreed that it has happened to us. It may be that the preparation was not all it should have been, but Joe was not -“ addled.”
Jon, I disagree, but Biden can always say that because of the lies (and he can measure them both in time and number), he will not stand on another stage with CF45 without a means of fact-checking in real time. Of course this can also work against him, as his own misstatements (which I believe are not intentional) would also be called out.
Biden’s day after speech was excellent. His interview with HCR was excellent. He has never appeared like that before. Did you ever consider that maybe he was drugged? I would not put it past some trumpian worshipper to do that and be very proud of it.
lol Jon ~
I agree. They would try to paint Biden as afraid to go head-to-head. A strategy I would like to see, as long as not answering questions is the MO, to call out the lies and the gross exaggerations. "Why do you lie, is it because you hate the truth?" "Why are you repeating the same nonsense over and. over". "Tell the audience how you. want to get even with your political opponents that you see as your enemies." Etc.
Great suggestion. I wonder who in the world could go up against a bully who had practiced the Gish Gallup and leveraged it like an amped up secret weapon. We used to his spouting stuff nonstop. But this was a new arrow in the quiver, that machine-gun like round after round of lies. CNN screwed is all by not fact checking. That was lazy, lousy “journalism”.
It was painful.
And I wonder if Biden had owned being sick and asked for a delay that that would not have been preferable.
Biden is an amazing patriot. His service this last 3.5 years is unparalleled. The office ages the heck out of everyone.
I don’t have the answer. But there are questions that must be asked and answered honestly.
It’s a heavy choice to make. Prayers for all involved.
🙏🏽
I agree with your assessments, in part. If Joe had just gone out and said,"Sorry folks, but I'm a little under the weather tonight, but that will not stop me from telling you the truth," it would have precluded any hand wringing.
Next "debate" (because honestly, he HAS to do the next one to wipe out the memory of the last one) Joe must be succinct and start his answers with, "As you can see, my opponent, the convicted felon, continues to lie about every subject and never answers the question." And stop with that. Then continue with his answer. No trying to refute the lies, just call them out.
Respectfully, I disagree as I think they'd spin it as "the Dems trying to hide Biden's condition."
I want to see Biden debate again, and each time Trump fails to answer a question and lie, have Biden say "you didn't answer the question and the American voters deserve to hear your plans" and "I will let the media fact check the lie you just told" and then ignore Trump and answer the question.
If Joe is up to it, he pretty much has to "debate" again. The Biden Campaign just can't blow them off now. If he is in the same condition as Thursday they MUST postpone it. It would be a disaster. That "performance" in September only matters to voters who are still undecided, or can be influenced....ABC is the lowest rated Network News...it will be a bonanza for them. For moderator they should bring back Diane Sawyer & Charlie Gibson or use George Stephanopolos. We're at a political crossroads like we have not seen, since South Carolina seceded after Lincoln was elected. 4 months later they fired on Ft. Sumter...we have 4 months.
Exactly what I think! Remind everyone in one sentence that tffg lies continuously, doesn't answer the questions, and then Joe goes on to answeer the question posed. Don't get down in the gish gallop weeds at all.
I wonder why I need to argue with my fellow democrats on the issue of border control and immigration and migration. Here we are very close to electing the greatest monster America could create and migration is a very touchy subject with most Americans. We lose on this one issue. We are so thickheaded and often respond that we need immigration and so on all the while we are in danger of losing to an authoritarian state.
The regressive Supreme Court has already sent women back to the stone ages. It has dismantled the administrative state that protects the people through EPA. Yet, we will sit here and yap about how important immigration is. Hello did ya know that we need a super majority to reverse the damage that the repoops have already done? And you’re worried about fairness at the border?
Are you kiddin’ or something?
Not to mention the Climate Crisis, which cannot be mitigated without United States actions.
That too. There is no more EPA. Gone. No protection for woman. Gone.
Nixon even created the EPA.
Honestly “ I know you are but what am I?” May have been an effective strategy.
Black jobs. Not just Trump, but the Republican Party tries to pit Blacks as well as most of "leftover" country against immigrants, and demagogues them in the same manner that Hitler and the Nazis scapegoated Jews.
The Nazis offer to appropriate Jews' property iIn part, it led to a "final solution."
Just the idea someone running for President of the Free World needs to classify or label jobs should be telling. Aren't we over that. Grandpa has not been in the real world, or knows everyday Americans. We need a President who has lived a real life. His kids have never worked a real job.
Grandpa - if what you mean is an older person, might be the sharpest tool in the workroom. Some older people get dementia. Some don't. Sometimes people slide into early onset dementia in their fifties. Don't write people off because they are over s to or seventy or eighty. If you are fortunate enough to live to be "old" you are a survivor. You have weathered many a storm and found a way through. You could learn a lot from most "old" people. In government and politics, experience is important. Joe Biden has a lot still to contribute. He's an asset. Trump is simply an ass.
It was Trump I was referring to who was labeling jobs to certain races. He's the old duffer who is out of touch. People who are out of touch can also be old duffers at 50! Again, we need Presidents who are real people. Getting rid of Citizens United would help. I know exactly who people learn from.
Ask his consultants and advisors, they apparently thought that chump could be “debated.” They should have listened to HRC.
The amoral orange creature is not capable of debating. He doesn’t listen to anyone but the demons in his head!
HRC knows that, she told the world
They should have refused to debate. It was easy to say, "He's a serial liar who attempted a coup and a convicted felon...he does not deserve the stage or the air time with this decent man who has been a faithful public servant." Drop the mic and walk away.
Maybe. Perhaps. I think Joe and campaign were waiting for Trump to blow himself up with anger. Because the moderators played dumbos, that never happened.
If Biden had been D-Day Joe it would have been a different show. He would have pushed back and engaged. We've seen him do it "Shut up man !!" comes to mind. He could have baited Trump effectively. This Joe did not look or sound like the man who "debated" Trump 4 years ago.
Didn’t they ask for the debate?
They did. To their everlasting shame!
Hopefully not to our everlasting regret
Yes. DT knows how to harangue, spew, belittle, enrage, and Biden would do well to remember DT is not debating, and he shouldn’t try to follow the lies and propaganda and rebut them. That is a trap. By studying what DT says over and over, one can construct a narrative that is clearly different, which Biden tried to do: America is the envy of the world, etc. But ignoring DT and answering the questions (which were good ‘by the way’), he would have gotten a lot farther. And the NYT would do well to focus on DTs outrageous performance than calling out Biden.
Ignore the baiting of a bully and just speak to us.
Bullies need to be called out, but that was the wrong setting. Chump just made it another rally.
Online Merriam Webster Dictionary:
Hubris: exaggerated pride or self-confidence.
That's what the Democratic advisors to Biden had when preparing him for an actual debate without paying attention to Biden's opponent.
In the Art of War:
Intelligence
You should understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your enemy. Sun Tzu said, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles".
(From:
https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries/the-art-of-war#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIf%20you%20know%20the%20enemy,will%20succumb%20in%20every%20battle.%E2%80%9D)
In short, this election is the Democrats' to lose, and as is historically true for Democratic leadership, they listen to each other in an echo chamber without truly understanding the opposition.
Dem faults fail to measure up to the unrelenting evil of republicans. Can’t imagine any being overly confident in a election that is defined by cheating of every kind thought of, and some created especially to test our humanity.
If one counts faults, and the lower the number, the better, Dems win by a ton. The problem is that they get distracted by R's relentless tsunami of shit. Biden's advisors should have prepared him for Trump’s barrage of b.s. We should be on the attack on immigration. We should be talking to constituents where they are instead of talking over them about platitudes like freedom from state religion, democracy, and regulations. The Democrats are right on every issue, but issues don't address fears and worries. Conversations and when possible, actions, do.
Absolutely
HCR did say that she thought Trump would not show up for the debate.
I never thought that. Anywhere there is a tv camera, his arse will show up. I read that she did say that he would spew garbage, and behave in a way that would preclude any debate. She should know.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that “All men are created equal.” yet owned 600 enslaved in his time and took pleasure with at least one of his enslaved. Would anybody want to try and round that square peg?
No person of any great intellect would or should be in opposition to immigration. Even the birds of the sky traverse oceans of air unencumbered by walls of clouds. (An imperfect analogy at best.) But lawful recognition of immigration should be understood the desirable alternative to uncontrolled and massive violations of nation states and the historical reaction is an ugly populism and has been for centuries. There is no contesting this reaction. So what does it gain to stress social systems to the point that demigods take advantage as governors like the one from Massachusetts flies to Texas begging them to stop sending migrants north.
We seem to be in a mind set to take either one side or the other with no compromise when in fact there are reasons to comprehend this in a more nuanced fashion.
I personally think governors sending immigrants out of state should be charged with human trafficking.
Dotty, brilliant!
Considering the economic contribution from esp latino/mexican immigrants whether legal or otherwise, it has been and continues to be an inherent "economic draw" that has created the "border crisis". USA is now in "full employment" mode, and immigration has been a natural response. Perhaps Congress needs to address the full scope of immigration, the response should be much broader than figuring out how to firm up the border to keep people out.
In addition to agreeing, I will add that Congress will address the full scope of immigration, crime, the economy, healthcare, and so on, when people start exclusively electing people who promise to engage in political practice, which involves serving the whole at the short-term expense of its parts (and then the parts benefit in the long term from the strength of the whole), and stop voting for people who promise to engage in political malpractice, which involves serving parts at the expense of the whole (and then all parts suffer in the long term from the weakness of the whole).
For the record, the best way to serve yourself is to serve the part of yourself that is suffering the most. Likewise, the best way to serve the social system is to serve the parts that are suffering the most. That explains a statistically significant trend starting with Nixon, which is that the US economy does better under Democratic presidents and worse under Republican presidents.
Yes to electing quality but you can’t quite achieve this when issues like hundreds of thousands rushing the border and these issues are developed exclusively to be raped and pillaged for the sake of rabble rousing and seeing them get elected to Congress.
Bill: ???
Doug: Everyone is entitled to a goofy selection of word salad once in awhile.
"Perhaps Congress needs to address the full scope of immigration..." Frank that's precisely why the gop selected this complex bugaboo issue for easy talking points. To say we're going to select a one word issue like 'immigration' and pose it as a singular issue is false to begin with. Immigration has more moving legal parts than simply border crossing.
Well, gee. That is exactly what Democrats have been trying to do, but just haven't had the numbers to override the opposition. Part of the problem is that they keep getting distracted by jingoistic arguments instead of talking to their constituents. A campaign for a rational immigration system should be campaigned for as hard as we do for the oval office. We are a nation of immigrants and freed slaves.
Bill, I'll take on your challenge. Jefferson believed that all men are created equal, and he believed in the conspiracy theory that "all men" didn't include all people.
While I'm at it, I'll take on Lincoln's "where will it stop" challenge. From the origin of our species roughly 12,000 generations ago, till the end of the Paleolithic Period, which was only about 400 generations ago, it stopped when the "hunter-gatherer band" social system divided in two, and the outcome was two bands. From the emergence of the first agricultural settlement at the dawn of the Neolithic Period until today, the social system has been dividing in two, which is potentially but not necessarily followed by war, and it stopped when people recognized something revealed to anyone paying attention: "We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us." That was the conclusion of Jo Cox (1974–2016), a British MP who was murdered by a conspiracy theorist. IMHO, disagreeing with Jo's conclusion is believing in the mother of all conspiracy theories.
Though anecdotal, the message I was given during my near death experience (will be 58 years ago this July 4th) was, "All men are brothers". Sorta' supports what you're saying.
Well done. I neglected to place Jefferson’s quote in context. While you have adroitly contested my positions, you haven’t said much about the real fact that the populists who I give no legitimate quarters to, do untold damage to nation states while using uncontrolled migration as their mantra. For what does it benefit a state to lose control, to lose democracy, to lose all by their disregard for migratory trends? Once again, you seem to be an example I expressed that many “…don't comprehend this in a more nuanced fashion.” To you as to many others, it’s our way or the door way. And that’s a losing proposition. You have taken a defense to an argument that I haven’t quite made. But I do respect your account of the origins of human development and mis-development.
If you think I am one of those "my way or the highway" people, you're right. But when you think about it, who isn't? My position is that there is "the way or you're on the highway to hell," even if paved with good intentions. To put it another way, I look on all those so-called SCOTUS originalists as phony originalists. Allow me to explain.
If you and I draw conflicting conclusions about the same phenomenon, it's because one of us (or more likely both of us) is using potentially erroneous but testable assumptions. If we get to the point that we're drawing harmonious conclusions, it's because we both did the same thing. I allowed you to challenge my assumptions, and vice versa.
That's one way I describe the wisdom principle, which is the bedrock foundation of every wisdom practice, and I think all the great religions, democracy, science, and capitalism are all wisdom practices. They are wise if their followers are adhering to the wisdom principle in every context, and unwise the minute the wisdom principle is violated in any context.
Adherence is easy to say, and hard to do, but the issue is that getting the easy part wrong makes the hard part impossible.
We only have to adhere to the wisdom principle when the conflict is having a significant negative effect on at least one party. But the alternative is to leave the conflict unresolved. If that's what happens, then it's almost certainly because one party is benefitting from the conflict.
One of my assumptions is that our ability to survive and thrive depends on a healthy social system in which unforeseeable but inevitable dilemmas are resolved one-by-one in the sequence in which they emerge, and the only alternative is an unhealthy system with a continuously increasing inventory of unresolved dilemmas.
It would be hypocritical of me if I didn't welcome anyone who wants to challenge my assumptions. Please do.
How about we just cut through to basics. Politics is a dirty business I think we could both agree. I want our side (I think you are in this club) to win. The only reason Biden likely reluctantly invoked an executive order is because he finally listened to someone. He neglected this issue for 3 years. Let’s leave the right thing and the wrong thing to do alone and address the most popular thing to do. Can we? Because we are about to lose our democracy. Is that important enough to do the most popular thing?
In my view, there's the right thing, and there's wrong thing. And there are two choices. If we choose to do the right thing, then we are not choosing to do the wrong thing, and vice versa. There are always reasons for doing the wrong thing, but the more I know, the more they appear to me to be excuses. And there are always reasons why we shouldn't be doing the right thing, but the more I know, the more they appear to me to be the result of not taking the right amount of time to think it through.
That's my opinion. I'm pretty sure you disagree, but I'm even more sure it's an honest disagreement.
I don't think Biden is neglecting anything. I think he knows the only thing he can do without public sentiment is destroy, and that's the other guy's MO.
I wish the president had been prepared to describe the tactics being used by Trump: My opponent is using a well known propaganda technique called the firehose of falsehoods (or gish gallop). He hopes to overwhelm the truth with too many lies to rebut in 2 minutes. You will find the fact check all these lies on our campaign website after this presentation. Here I'll make a bigger point - do we want a pathological lier in the WH again? I'll ignore the tidal wave of untruths and I'll use my time to answer the questions and share the accomplishments of my Administration.
Perfect! That would have been invaluable.
Lo, that either of the moderators had called what was happening.
Surely they had people in their earpieces who could have identified it.
Debating tactics must be studied.
How do turn all of this into a positive. It anyone can if is Biden.
Lynn: Exactly. So what is the campaign advisors' answer to all this? We are all focusing on Biden, of course, but what the hell was the prep about? No doubt he was OVERtrained. Why didn't Bob Bauer prepare him for this? TFG's lying is not a secret. I am not looking to blame, a useless concept, but especially if there will be a second "debate", I want to know...
As I have posted, yesterday "Beau of the Fifth Column" had a clip that mentioned that POTUS is a "Black job" as Trump's predecessor held it.
THAT fact should go viral!
We are definitely paying attention! Black Twitter was trending and comments on LinkedIn Black Jobs post are 🎯
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hashtag-black-linkedin_blackjobs-blacklinkedin-blackprofessionals-activity-7212855603650600961-D6n0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android
See Twitter links at end of article...
https://chicagodefender.com/column-trumps-debate-remark-on-black-jobs-exposes-his-true-nature/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=COLUMN%3A%20Trump%20s%20Debate%20Remark%20on%20%20Black%20Jobs%20%20Exposes%20His%20True%20Nature&utm_campaign=Newsletter%3A%20Chicago%20Defender%20-%20Digital%20Daily
THANK YOU! I also believe the Biden team should have refused to debate Trump. It’s like having a state dinner with the (Warner Bros) Tasmanian Devil. Biden should have pointed to Trump’s term - jailing children, confirming 3 SCOTUS justices who overturned ROE, the COVID and anti-vax mess, and - the cherry on top - January 6th. He should have said ‘I don’t debate sore losers. I have presidential work to do.’ They were suckered into it from the beginning.
I had always felt that the most profound thing that Biden should have done was to show trump the same respect that he showed to those in his party vying for the republican’s presidential nomination - and especially after the 34 guilty verdicts, which in my mind and by my standards would disqualify him or anyone from the presidency … giving the idiot the respect of a debate opportunity was and is now seen as doing a disservice to himself - Biden - and the country.
The main thing is not to engage with a convicted felon and illegitimate candidate. The calls should be for the GOP to replace THEIR candidate. I wrote a stack on the details yesterday. But this needs to get before the eyes of Joe Biden's advisors, and soon.
As for people thinking he is scared to "debate" the felon in September, that is not a concern. It is months away. He has all that time to show his obvious competence at running the country.
Why on earth, when Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of felony Falsifying Business Records, didn't Biden call for him to drop out of the race?
Yup Annabel you're so right. And being the tabloid society we would seem to have become.. "would seem to have"... (ponder that) , this is what we get. Sensationalism. I am so tired (spelled S I C K ) of everyone using the term/word "lies" to describe his blather. Plainly, he DISTORTS whatever he chooses to suit HIS narrative at that particular moment. Calling that DISTORTION a lie should end ANY further discussion. But no. We continue to entertain that POS (piece of shit - thank you), because, "lies" .."he's a liar", etc SENSATIONALIZE making it front-page tabloid material for Big Media. And, instead of shutting off the lights and pulling the curtains closed on the stage.. Show Over.!!!, his well-paid promoters give us more. And, what do "we" do..? We put the spot light on it and that POS gets ride some more. Free. Look at another POS.. Alex Jones. And another POS.. Bannon. And another POS, roger Stone. Go ahead..., you name your favorite. I'm going to go take a ride in my Jersey Speed Skiff... "Good Googa Mooga". It's a crazy fast ride, and I like it. Get one.
"they were illustrating for the modern world the principle Lincoln articulated: in the United States there should be no such thing as “Black jobs” or “Hispanic jobs."
"Such a construction directly contradicts the principles of the Declaration of Independence and ignores the victory of the United States in the Civil War. Anyone who sees the world through such a lens is on the wrong side of history."
Brilliant conclusion to today's LFAA . Shame on tfg. Shame! Oh, I see: there is no character, so how can there be shame. The Snake Oil salesman is on the wrong side of EVERYTHING. Me Me Ga Ga.
Thank you Professor Richardson.
Interestingly, it was clear Trump's a racist and misogynist prior to the 2016 election. His first term crime wave aligned his corrupt actions with his hateful rhetoric. And then more people voted for him in 2020 than in 2016, despite knowing precisely who he is. Now he's a convicted felon, however, that's not newsworthy -President Biden's age is. (As it was during the run up to the State of the Union address). So while the extreme MAGA cult is unwavering in their support of Trump, it seems they are joined by the media -all too happy to turn this into an exciting game -instead of the devastating consequences a second Trump crime wave will have on America.
And remember that in the Trump family, Trump is a liar, but not an outlier. Rotten apple. Rotten tree. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/us/politics/donald-trump-housing-race.html
Yes 🙌 thank you 🙏… And now, I wish we would try to discipline ourselves to use the conditional and not the future tense -> « a second Trump crime wave will have on America. » Let’s strike the word « will » and replace it with « would/could », no? It chagrins me each time I come across this rhetorical conundrum. ☹️ … just saying…
Thank you for the reminder Amy!
It might have something to do with my Monday morning mood and seeing the rise of National Rally/Le Pen in France.
One minute Americans and allies are dying on the beaches of Normandy. The next minute the fascists are simply winning a war predicated upon lies, propaganda, hate, and fear.
And it is also clear that Putin is feeding social media in Europe in the same way he has done it in the US, pitting us against each other, railing against immigrants and pushing uniculture and theocracy. In fact, through his aggression and support of Assad and his Wagner group work in Africa, he has manufactured war and refugee crises— knowing that this fuels bigotry and fear. All part of the plan to castrate NATO…
Very true Heather. Missiles, bombs, and bullets, (and begging Iran and North Korea for armaments) are expensive. A few state actors from the GRU/Internet Research Agency posting propaganda and lies on Twitter and Facebook -cheap and easy.
We live in Europe and the news here was hours and hours of the polls, pundits discussing the election in France and the upcoming in England. Let us home France isn't a precusor to the US.
It already is to extent that authoritarianism is a clear and present danger. George Polisner's comment on the beaches of Normandy is especially poignant. France suffered Nazi rule. We sentient beings dubiously self-named "Homo sapiens" are far too often victims of our own "road rage" lizard brains, and don't see the trap for the lure of the bait. We appear to be running out of time to expand our personal and social bubbles of awareness, and see as much of "the whole" as we are able. I believe it greatly enriches our individual and collective quality of life, and saves us from the often dire consequences of preventable folly. The "whole truth" to the degree we are able to obtain it, grasp it, and bear it, is always our best investment in a semi-predictable world, and embracing any form of fool's paradise is likely to reach a disadvantaged, when not wholly disastrous, end.
And besmirching the sacrifices on D-Day
Among other sacred things. I suspect we all possess a capacity for narcissistic thinking. I know I do. But deeply disregarding the rights and pains of others, unbalanced by empathy and conscience, is identical with what is traditionally known as "evil".
I’ve been a tad selfish as have many others that I have observed over the years. But chump’s devoted MAGAts are a whole ‘nother category. Despite being evangelical to a fault. I call them master hypocrites. I call total disregard for others “evil.”
George: knowing there are many who vote against their own interests, I am still confounded by the increase in the European right, coupled with what is going on here. Granted the pendulum always swings, it is really hard to watch these developments without wanting to scream in the streets!!
The "pendulum" is supposed to swing, although authoritarianism appears to wait at both extremities. I've been waiting about half a century to see a retreat from the the swing to the right from Johnson. A fair amount of white, heterosexual, male privileged has been softened in the interim, but dominant plutocracy has grown ever stronger. The main thing I like about Biden is that noticeably more than other post-Johnson Democratic presidents, he has been moving away from that trajectory (tragictory?) more than most.
Just as there is supposed to be a "marketplace" of ideas in a free and open society, I believe in a marketplace for free enterprise, and see no obviously viable alternative to one. I also think that there are necessary and/or desirable social functions of a society that are so necessary and/or so dangerous when used improperly that they never be trusted outside of control by the public.
What makes a thing free in any defensible social sense is how evenly it is applied. Impunity for the few, or when it comes to 'unalienable rights" even a majority, is tyranny (and ask certain minorities if there is such a thing as a "tyranny of the majority); thus the Constitution contains a Bill of Rights as well as majority rules. Monopolies of both money and political power (and in a corrupted society, the two go together) is the antipode of democracy and justice. We were getting a handle on the corrupting power of unregulated uses of money though much of the 20th century, but let much of that grip slip away. I am fine with capitalism that, like any other undertaking in a free society, obeys certain rules of the road*. I also see a government of, by and for the people as a more frequent source of needed capital than the money bins of billionaires, who, since "deregulation" own an ever increasing share of the entire country, and the "people" less.
*Anti-trust, Glass-Steagal, fair taxation, rules about political spending, etc.
Me too. Democracy, collaboration, and having to think and plan is hard. Simply being told what to do is probably seductive to far too many who also found studying history to be hard and boring.
with the French, the root cause may well be a long term mismanaged immigration, much of it stemming from the breakdown of the French colonies in Africa. The economic and political crises in the middle east eg Syria / ISIS have resulted in huge immigration into esp Germany. The economic migrations from north Africa at large continue to seeing migrants drown in attempted crossings of the Mediterranean. Most of these immigrants also happen to be Muslim.
Yes, and there is an uptick throughout Europe. Notably, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. And I don't think we've started to see the large waves of climate refugees. I suspect it's a huge reward for the right-wing -who continue to gleefully concentrate wealth and power through mining, extraction, coal and oil industries. The more planetary damage they do, and the economic uncertainty they cause -the larger the immigration wave which feeds their hateful rhetoric.
I don't know if it's all that simple, but I suspect you've done some homework. I thought it was more about jobs, culture clash, social-economic problems. I'll keep an eye out, or if you have an interesting article on it, kindly send us a link. You know, even the corporate "wealth and power" folk have to live with the consequences too. Lifeboat Europe? Come to think of it, something of lifeboat and fortress OECD nations is already something of a de facto story. Well, then there's all that resource extraction....
We can all agree on the origins of migration in the near past and today. And let’s be clear, the W. Bush regime had a lot to do with destabilization inthe Middle East and now in Europe today. And really, both Bush regimes have had a huge negative effect from the fall-out. The Golf War was predicated on lies and the toppling of Sadam pure madness from which we may not recover for many generations. And today on account of these migratory movements, we are approaching autocracy in many nations including our own.
Excessive imbalances of power makes for abuse and conflict.
I fear this is just the tip of the melting iceberg. The number of climate refugees is bound only to increase. The world could recognize the impending crisis and start planning what to do about it but as ever, nobody is willing to do that.
The evil that men do lives after them. The violence involved in our nation's birth, conquest and slavery, lives on in many of the violent incidents of the day. Social violence as well as physical.
You make an excellent point vis-a-vis sacrifices we made on France's/Europe's behalf in WW2, George.
Seems like torture: is heinous if anyone does it, except us.
I mean, that's what they all say.
Some of us have condemned torture no matter by whom. Dont be disingenuous. There was a huge outcry against it.
There are those who condemn it no mater where it occurs. My point is that under Bush is was claimed to be justified and and was applied by the US government. Yes, a large swath of our nation was horrified, but it was still and official act. Even this designation of "enemy combatants" that were supposed to be unprotected by either the US Constitution and international conventions was a knife in the pack of rule of law and decency.
And from my point of view, far too little has been done visibly and officially to totally renounce those actions after the fact. Obama admitted that "we tortured some folks" but like the grotesque and cruel kidnapping of children from immigrants by US officials under Trump, I am unaware of official efforts to publicly detail and thoroughly renounce the crime. In any case, those who were steering US policy at the time openly justified torture and GWB got two terms, meanwhile letting Bin Laden get away, while Bush bombed Iraq.
Trump’s victory would mean the rise of a dictator. I know for my part that the people did not appoint the Heritage Foundation, Leonard Leo and dark money billionaires to run our lives and makes the rest of us their serfs. We have an out of control majority on the Supreme Court that is busily destroying all the guardrails on our government, including those on bribery. We have two justices who can be credibly said to be on the take, and we elect people to the house and senate who are manifestly ignorant and immature.
With Project 25, ANY CONSERVATIVE.
THEY HAVE ABANDONED DEMOCRACY.
Seems to me there is nothing genuinely conservative about modern politcal "Conservatives".
I knew they abandoned it long ago, and the leopards will eat their faces too.
Allowing anyone to be judged for criminal behavior by the very person who gave them that job is simply bat-guano crazy. Crazy.
But there is no stopping a second Trump crime wave. Or a third. Or a fourth. It will happen in one way or another, by Trump or someone else.
Project 2025 is the blueprint for wiping out the Constitution. It doesn't name Trump.
Correct. But the crime wave can be identified with any number of people, including Trump. I don't consider Trump to be capable of reading Project 2025. I call him Howdy Doody with a Hitler complex.
Bannon has delivered himself of a long farewell speech before recording his last podcast and actually entering the prison. Here's a quote from the BBC reporter:
"It is “impossible”, he told me, for Joe Biden to win the election in November. And, therefore, there is no way he or his "Maga army" will accept the result if the president is reelected.
In pride of place in the "War Room" is a full 900-page copy of Project 2025.
Bannon is our Hitler.
Project 2025
STOP IT AT ALL COSTS!
Yes, and that will need to be seriously organised. Have you looked at its scope?
So many people I talk to aren't even aware of Project 2025. I tell them it is essentially the GOP platform.
No, Anne-Louise, it doesn't, but the chump is who they had in mind. If Biden wins, we must be on our guard for who the MAGA party puts up in 2028.
And even sooner.
I agree. Donald, the SCOTUS, and the Heritage Foundation have made their intentions quite clear.. They've abandoned conditionals and use the word "will" freely.
Remember the word "will," Gary, in another context.
This is college campuses, where 75% of all undergrad teaching gets done by hugely underpaid, contingent labor, all with "at will" contracts.
These contracts designate labor as serfs -- which is the goal for all America run by Project 2025 and its dark money billionaires.
Indeed. Why do you think those oligarchs resent unions so much?
And why do you think so many companies relocated their manufacturing to the South?
I've worked in non-unionized "sweatshops" in at-will states, and spent awhile as an adunct professor myself. Places like that ALWAYS have what they call entry-level job openings, and it's no mystery as to why. Gig labor is simply more of the same thing.
I have a theory that Kindergarten teachers need to be far better trained professionals than high school teachers. By then a few incompetent ones would not matter as much.
Undergrad professors need to be more extensively trained that grad school profs, at least with respect to the art of teaching. Again, by grad school, I think a student in better equipped to deal with a prof with impressive narrow expertise, but rotten teaching skills, even though the latter should not be allowed to happen as often as it does. Real, developmental teaching is interactive, and pressing a button if the Powerpoint presentation is too confusing hardly qualifies.
Americans have a genre of movies, J L -- all set in schools, or on teachers.
We've taken education seriously for a long, long time. Not only do many Americans of all stripes have thoughtful observations as yours here, but Hollywood, too, has seen mobility, democracy, and the good fight against faux aristocracy and privilege for a long, long time.
"School of Rock"
"Dead Poets Society"
"Mona Lisa Smile"
"To Sir, With Love"
"Some Came Running"
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
"Election"
"Heathers"
"Carrie"
"The Breakfast Club"
"Mean Girls"
"Grease"
"American Graffiti"
"Some Kind of Wonderful"
"October Sky"
One interview I heard, they had passed not just conditionals and shall, and moved on to 'taunting.'
I agree that it is an entire ‘machine’ in play here. But that is more reason to vote in droves, to publicize Project 2025 to those who don’t know about it, to show up for the down-ballot races! The State Legislators are what the MAGA ts are counting on to settle any ambiguity in the election.
The vote still has power if we use it en masse.
When does the next term of SCOTUS commence?
It has puzzled me how easily demagogues utilize fear that the underprivileged of society are the salient threats to those just getting by. I noticed that even in the depths of serious unemployment in the "Great Recession" there was little public reaction to massive off shoring;, in one case I recall 20,000 from one corporation alone put out of work my moving the job to a country with lower wages. The timing alone was outrageous, but the strange part is how companies do things like hostile takeovers to loot companies of their assets, merger, after merger, after merging, shedding jobs with each elimination of competition, shed stable defined benefit pensions and other responsibilities to workers, etc., etc. and while the public clearly does not like it, they don't rally to condemn or stop it, the way they do wen they think someone less economically comfortable than them is getting help. Who killed blue collar manufacturing in this country? It wasn't immigrants.
Thank you JL -and so very true. Unbridled greed (or maximizing profit as Milton Friedman would say). And greed is not done pushing American workers to the edge of the economic abyss.
Milton Friedman’s economic advice was very damaging for the workers in companies who took his advice, which included most American businesses. The shareholders and CEOs walk off with most of the profits, while the workers who earn those profits are shoved into a perverse game of musical chairs in which they don’t know from day to day whether they’ll lose their jobs.
Friedman’s policies have been devastating to ordinary people and have helped to destroy many American communities. Trump would never do anything to fix the problem. There are up and coming people who support Trump who have no clue about the economic devastation he will inflict.
Yes -although Friedman's advice was specifically about concentrating wealth (and thus power) and so that's what the MAGA/GOP democracy-hating extremists want. A society of obedient hyper-consumers filled with economic uncertainty is much easier to manipulate and control.
People don't fight the powers that be for a number of reasons. Some of it is the distractions of consumerism. Equally daunting, in my view, is the feeling that there's no way to win.
Thanks Art. I think of it as concentrated wealth versus (unfortunately) disorganized and readily divided people. I may be naively optimistic, however I think if people could actively aspire toward something tangibly better, people could win. I think the social, civil, and economic gains of the 1960’s are an example.
Exactly. "Resistance is futile", except it isn't, as history demonstrates.
"Neo-liberalism", AKA "neo-feudalism".
Friedman drew up a formula for sociopathy, and that's been evident since Reagan was it's pitch man. Those who would benefit picked up the excrement and proclaimed it to be gold; even holy. Given the advice of the Bible's Timothy on the "love of money", the churches should have been among the first to rise in sustained protest, but many of the most visible ones have gone along for the ride.
Economic, political, cultural...
Anyone remember Michael Moore's "Roger & Me"? Folks haven't been paying attention for a long time.
True. We moved to a shareholder economy....Jack Welch took a great company, GE, and drove it to a shell of itself and left with a honey of a deal. Every time he laid off workers and sent jobs out of the country, he got a raise.
Coincidentally, we have GE to thank for propping up and molding Reagan.
The age is an issue, but President Biden is addressing it. Trump's mental incapacity is not an issue; it is a menace.
Former members of the Trump Cabinet validated what we already know. Trump’s ignorance, narcissism, and dedicated focus on enriching himself are front and center for all not blinded by their own hate, fear, ignorance, and bitterness to see.
"Kakistocracy", governance by the worst, personified.
" . . . a second Trump crime wave" -- love it, George.
I see here, too, very soon in the commenting, an Amy and a James have already vouched for your most piquant term. Many more will, too.
We who've seen the Keystone Cops know that American culture has long had a ribald anti-establishment, suspicion of royal or any other authority, ready sense of latent humor for all our elites. The first American (pointedly non-Brit) vernacular arose on the frontier in the era of Davy Crockett.
Trump has seized on it -- to his huge advantage. Dems don't even know of any such humanities, as our Dems learned in school only to talk wonk -- nothing human, let alone any vernacular (heaven forbid -- get yourself sued -- anything remotely impolite to any group protected by HR).
Thank you Phil -he really is the head of a 'disorganized' crime family.
However we should all celebrate the small victories like July 1st: "the National Steve Bannon makes new friends" holiday.
Today's the day! Has it happened?
I would watch on pay-per-view. Repeatedly. 🤓
Hey - he's turning on the charm for the inmates! er, new friends.
Today's picture shows him with SHORT CURLY HAIR! apparently clean, too.
It's a one step down from the 'Club Med' detention facilities. He's gonna' come out of there with every other inmates money - and more.
I think you are right about our "rebel" impulses, which can serve us in some circumstances. My dog makes no secret of what she thinks is unjust, and injustice and it's remedies will be celebrated in just a few days. But we need to be careful about where we direct our indignation. Most people are wise enough to support vehicular speed laws even though, in my experience, most people speed (though probably not so much as they might otherwise).
"Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!"
Thank you, George, for including this 2016 NY Times article about how racism has defined Donald Trump from the very beginning. Wish The NY Times would continue to publish articles that point out the danger Trump is to all of us. To spend so much time on Biden's age and unfortunate stumbles in one 90 minute debate and not to emphasize the threat embedded in Trump's outrageous lies is mind boggling to me! Trump's bullying performance at that debate should give everyone pause (and horror). Why is that not emphasized by the journalists? And while I'm at it, why isn't The NY Times shouting from the rooftops about Project 2025! So many people, even Dems, aren't aware of it.
Thanks Carol -and if you haven't seen it -I published "An Arsonist's Guide to Project 2025" yesterday -https://bomdia.substack.com/p/an-arsonists-guide-to-project-2025.
:)
Excellent! Thanks, George. I will take a look.
The sins of the grandfather(draft dodger, shady real estate deals including ownership of brothels) passed down to an unscrupulous father, and passed on to trump (sexual predator, crooked real estate dealings, draft dodging
The media needs to take responsibility for their sensationalize the news rather than telling the absolute truth so people can make informed decisions.
Sadly, Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine and media companies today just try to maximize revenue and profit. They would probably say if people were interested in actual news, Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, or C-Span would have massive audiences instead of CNN or Fox ‘Spews’.
“Hope is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -“
Emily Dickinson
Registering more Democrats brings hope.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Wonderful quote. The last line is worth a look.
The debate – the Trump/Biden show – at least gave us a needed word.
Firehose.
We all heard that word afterwards, for Trump’s deluge of lies.
It also fits worldwide assaults: Putin’s bearded, long-skirted, jewelry-draped priests intoning murder, his oligarchs delivering murder; Xi’s corrupt cadres; Kim’s missiles; Orban’s Hungarian institutions he killed; Iranian mullahs arming Hamas, Houthis, and Hezbollah; Saudi royals killing journalists; Netanyahu’s far-right settlers ever-stealing Palestinian West Bank land.
Oblivious of the human, remorseless, near-mechanically gush the firehoses.
So, too, have U.S. billionaires, with their dark money corrupting congressional Republicans, state legislatures, the perjured, dehumanized Clarence court.
For a firehose trifecta, American schools have now also dehumanized for standardized testing. They’ve cast out the personal, turned people to numbers, units, abstractions, life all linear, easily-grouped. (In music, says Rick Beato, this is life replaced by the “quantized,” the formulaic, machine-driven.)
Firehoses all: international autocrats, U.S. oligarchs, zombie schools.
Law for personal rights, and schools buoying personal humanity, could keep us from the firehoses, but look at the Trump/Biden “debate,” where even apparently professional moderators haplessly fell to Trump’s firehose of lies.
Firehouse sounds too positive…effluent outfall…shit storm…cognitive diarrhea…
Rick Beato's musical analogies are spot on.
The Clarence court wants a king, above the law. It wants theocracy to rule over all women. It wants tax and regulatory systems that free the billionaires as the new aristocracy over all us serfs.
The Clarence court can indulge its mad abstractions because it is totally dehumanized. It has no respect for little people, democracy, individuals in the same proportion as it is totally dehumanized.
We can measure dehumanization by stats showing interests people have.
Rick Beato has the stats on interest in music. Popular music. Hip hop. Country music. In fact, he also has stats on the larger world of arts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU96wCDHGKM
They have all fallen. People’s interest in the arts, and all forms of music has crashed, sunk.
Our elites, such as the Clarence court, their hero the orange criminal, have zero humanities. This frees them for their abstractions on one hand, his lies and criminality on the other.
And he's got the data, the facts, Wendy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU96wCDHGKM
I did see this video earlier and am still thinking about how Rick Beato is justifiably alarmed about decline of people's appreciation for the arts and humanities. So am I.
Yes, Wendy, sadly yes.
As we can see from today's ruling by the Clarence court, people who dwell totally in abstractions can become even more totally mad if severed from the taming, civilizing touches of our arts -- music, novels, memoirs, films, all our arts.
The far-right in the U.S. grew gangrenous over time -- over the more than half-century since the Powell memo of August 23, 1971.
All the first efforts of the far-right foundations springing from that aimed to kill humanities in schools. They did that. They got them all replaced K-12 with standardized testing, whose logic was also non-human, more linear-formulaic, categorical, machine-like repetitious ("quantized," as Rick Beato says about the damage to musical arts).
We're seeing such massive vulgarity take over.
Trimp's backers and Donald himself never stop promoting their racism. Similarly, their authoritarian European counterparts also fulminate against immigration and say their country's national identity is being erased by the influx of "foreigners". Over there or over here, once the audience is worried about evil outsiders coming to ruin their homelands, the speakers routinely use that as a springboard to insert fascism as the cure. One issue or another, all roads lead to fascism with them but it works best when a scapegoat can be pointed to.
Eric Hoffer once wrote “Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents... Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a belief in a devil.”
Love that last sentence, so true.
Eric Hoffer is a favorite political philosopher. So much to say for these times.
Hoffer was a conservative, but boy oh boy could he turn a phrase.
I'm not sure I would classify him as a conservative. Absolutely not by the standards of the Republican Party (which you can argue is not conservative, unless authoritarianism is). He certainly was a union man.
Jesus is attributed to the saying "the poor will always be with us". I attribute the saying "the rich will always be with us" to myself. Some will succeed by discipline and hard work, by longevity, by genius, some by serendipity, some by blind luck, and many by inheritance. If born to wealth, they will see themselves as entitled, and divinely entitled, no less. They will equate wealth with their nationality, their race, their particular family line, their skin color or any other outstanding characteristic they can identify that distinguishes them from "others". Particularly those who are born to wealth, they tend to identify some sorts of worth as beneath them and their peers. They assign types of work in a sort of "caste" construct of the imagination. Access to high-wage occupations is certainly more difficult for individuals coming out of poverty, but not impossible. It is stlll possible to excel out of purely public education institutions, to take advantage of programs designed to raise up individuals disadvantaged by the socio-economic status into which they were born. By some standards, I might be considered wealthy. I inherited a work ethic and some educational support. I worked hard to achieve a professional degree, then worked very hard in a high paying career for three decades. I saved diligently. Still, I am far from "escaping gravity", or enjoying increasing wealth without working for wages. My career is accessible to both genders, any nation of origin, any skin color. One of my friends and co-students arrived in America with the boat people from Viet Nam. She achieved the same professional status as I, while learning English first at age 14. This is the America I want to live in. There were less blacks amongst my peers than there should have been by proportion in our population. That is still a work in progress, but more now by proportion than 40 years ago. We need to move FORWARD in equal representation, but I fear we have stalled and may be on the verge of moving backward with our current SCOTUS. The last thing on earth we need is a chief executive in our government that believes that there are certain "black jobs" and "hispanic jobs". Immigrants are one of the keys to our economic strength and their drive to ascend the ranks of the working class is what distinguishes our country is a place where opportunity is limited only by the limits of one's motivation, energy and dreams. We need to continue to make that dream a reality for people already here and for those who aspire to join us from places less enlightened.
Agree, and Trump and Company would take any opportunities away from everyone else. It isn’t immigrants I fear, it’s the policies Trump and his funders and the theocrats want. I get tired of right wing politicians who misquote Jesus’s saying “the poor will always be with you” as a justification for voting against any help for the poor at all. They quote this out of context because Jesus was all about action for the poor and needy. It’s an example of how Christian Nationalism warps Jesus and God into petty images of themselves.
Kathy Hughes!
YES!!!
They use and insult the name of Christ and His teachings! I do not understand why true persons of faith accept this false version of scripture....they must never read the New Testament regarding Christ.
Since the ACA was passed in 2010, the GOP (now the Party of Trump) has done very little to help anyone but the wealthy. We can call it whatever percentage you want to, the top 1%, 20% or whatever, but they are devoid of ideas to bring back the middle class.
Convicted Felon Donald Trump has no platform and never has. He says Make America Great Again, but when I ask MAGAs to name 4 things CFDT did to make America great again, they can't (or won't) even name one.
Just Sayin’, starting with Reagan, those who’d “made it” have worked hard to close the door on those who would aspire to better their lot in life. First, they stopped supporting their public universities with tax dollars, so poor students were forced to bankroll their education with federal loans. Then the banks failed to honor the terms of loan forgiveness by those who chose to teach or do other forms of public service.
The next step was to require a college degree to be considered for any job that offered upward mobility. Biden’s “loan forgiveness” is forcing banks to comply with the terms of the loans.
All of this was designed to further denigrate an artificially created underclass—“if they were smarter, they’d be as rich as me”.
Now we’ve got a presidential candidate that is so dumb that he doesn’t bother to use Reagan’s dog whistles—he just calls them Black and Hispanic jobs—and implies that immigrants/POC are so dumb that they will either fight for low wage jobs or in a mixed martial arts ring against “the white hope”.
Just sayin for me too.
Thank you, Just Sayin
In the midst of the stream of howling gibberish spewed forth by Trump, that phrase stood out to me as well. I wish either President Biden or one of the moderators had asked Trump to define a "Black" job or a "Hispanic" job.
I wish this so-called moderators asked him to define anything at all
Starting with: what is a tariff?
Robin, I came here to say the same thing. They "moderated" nothing; they asked questions, that's it. I was yelling and throwing stuff at my screen......
The media is worse than medium these days
Precisely. Or 'if' the moderators ever utilized the mythical but adequately advertised "mute" button.
I saw Trump’s comment as extremely racist as he thinks that African Americans and Latinos are suited only for “mud sill” jobs. He is totally unaware there are African American and Latino scientists, scholars, professionals, including lawyers, doctors and teachers. I think they are far smarter than Trump. Trump seems to positively fear intelligent African American women like New York’s AG, who managed to win a huge civil judgment against him for tax evasion in New York State. It’s one reason why he offers the racist and stupid commentary.
And then have Biden point out that, as vice president, he worked for a black man!!
Miselle-That would be a reminder to the MAGAs and actually points to the problem that MAGAs are trying to correct. Obama took a White man’s job. The idea of a Black person as president enraged too many Americans.
As David Frum wrote in an Atlantic article, this election is really not about Trump or Biden it’s about the American people.
And yet, Obama was elected and re-elected. don't forget that.
I think people overestimate the number of MAGA in the US.
Miselle-in 2008 44% of registered non-Hispanic White voters cast their vote for Obama. In 2012 it was 38%.
White voters represent about 75% of U.S registered voters. Most vote for the Rs and Trump.
I hope you’re right about overestimating the number of MAGA voters, but I think that’s what all the debate panic is about-some people think that there are far more MAGA voters than not.
Trump has told them this election is their last chance to preserve white supremacy because people of color will be outnumbering them in the future. Trump is promoting a new version of the 1915 film Birth of a Nation.
Essentially doesn't it seem that it's always about the American people? It's much easier to see that inside of democracy, where our individual selves do indeed matter.
Thank you for your calm and thorough Letter. We need your voice now as much as we ever have.
Every store in our town has a help wanted sign displayed. The local grocery store lists 15 openings, the Home Depot only 5 as of yesterday. And try to get in to see a doctor or a dentist -- 4 to 12 months even to see a specialist.
We need workers here, but we have no excess housing. It's a conundrum that closing the border would only exacerbate.
Where I live on Cape Cod has been similar and different maybe, because new housing is being developed at an amazing rate -- so-called affordable aka attainable, and is causing density-traffic and challenging the water table and solid waste disposal that's out of whack with what the land can support. I'm beginning to see how this new housing stock is likely to burst the bubble-pricing of older homes which is another reason for NIMBYism. All complicated and all arise from our general incapacity to think well together about the carrying capacity of the land and about these honorable mud-sill jobs (essential workers) and the hierarchical mindsets that typify our social organizations.
Joan Lederman,
It's the same old story....Money now....who cares 20-30 years down the road about the condition of houses or our water or sewer systems or roads or schools for our future citizenry.
I've made my money!!!
Acadia National Park is visited by 3-4 million people each year. And that's just the main park not including the Schoodic portion or Isle Au Hast. Our town may only have about 1700 residents but from May 15 - October 15 that number increases to around 4000 at times. So there lots of seasonal workers needed and a fraction of the space needed for them to stay.
The other day an electrician was wondering about what happens when the famine comes. It's been feast for 2021, but if only 2.5 million people come instead of the 3-4 million a lot of rentals will not bring in the money to cover the mortgages.
You just explained why I compulsively think about minimal and agile design of living spaces.
Out of necessity due to lack of people in the trades, our town has a fairly large proportion of mobile homes and modular housing. But a mobile home still needs a well since we have no town water a septic field and site work which can cost $25,000 to $50,000. To set up a mobile home park in our town with 20 lots would require at least 25 acres and cost a million or so dollars to set up for roads, wells, septic, etc. But once it's set up, it could be fairly agile for mobile homes.
And then there are the tiny homes as well. I like the concept and hopefully several different agile models can be deployed across the country that work with the particular geography of that area.
I’m glad for this conversation. Sharing setup costs seems important. Composting toilets can be a good option. Hydroponic growing of greens on pasteurized diluted urine has worked at rich Earth institute in VT. MA is working with the state to get septic systems that could cost less if urine diverting toilets are more commonplace but nothing’s ready for scaling up now. As a grower of food in soil I’ve built up around my house from years of composting, my fantasies include common spaces that produce local food in neighborhoods. Tending can be a community building plus for inter generational cross cultural living.
Watch Documentary: “You’ve Been Trumped”. It is from 2011 and shows how cruel and rude Trump really is.
“ReelScotland reviewed the film, concluding "an emotive film which shows both what can happen when a Government considers money over its own laws and how those at the sharp end remain resilient throughout".[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Timesgave the film three stars out of four, writing that the most fascinating aspect of the documentary is "Trump’s almost joyous rudeness" and that "the underlying message is that if you are rich and powerful enough, you can run roughshod over tradition and private property rights and buy your place at the table."[4] Stephen Holdenwrote in the New York Times that the documentary is an "unabashedly hostile portrait" of Trump, depicting him as "an insensitive, lying bully" who tried to pressure the golf course's neighbours into sell their properties to him, including threatening them with compulsory purchase orders.[2]”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Been_Trumped
Well described by Roger Ebert: an almost joyous rudeness.
Cruel joyous rudeness
Also joyous cruelty.
Hmm -- "When you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything."
Words of a future president of the United States of America.
Yes, to our shame.
Marlo, as Stephen Miller showed so well, when dealing with the powerless, the cruelty IS the point—especially if you can rip nursing babies from their mothers.
Again, you are back from your wanderings
with such delicate clarity buttressed w historical quotes from one of our favorite orators ! Welcome home !
Thanks Carol; that certainly needed to be said.
I have “watched” the full debate several times over now. I notice that I see and hear things I missed on the first, second, and third go around. I am ready to watch yet again and again after reading this letter. There is plenty to take in. The rally cries in the aftermath are equally disturbing. I am grateful for the wider perspective presented here.
Someone suggested reading the transcript as well as a better way to get everything.
Trump saying, "the Black people" means he is "othering" them: he is one thing, and the "others" are something else entirely separate from him. Wrong.
Right
YES! As I posted here, I went back to the transcript to see that I had not imagined it, but Biden asked Trump to call out the Proud boys now, and Trump did not do it.
But did that get noticed. Not for a nanosecond
"They're taking Black jobs and they're taking Hispanic jobs." ~ Trump
~ And for historical context, here's the famous "Eating America" cartoon that captured the racial tensions and immigration in 19th C America. https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/eating-america-1860
Just looked at your page. You and your commenters are making racist tropes and comments. As a Chinese American, not funny at all. I'm sure you'll say it's all in fun, and dismiss what I'm conveying. You write you are pointing out social ills. Yet, you are using the same kind of stupid nonsense we've put up with for years. Why our country is where it is now.
It wasn't meant to be funny then, either, Susan.
The Molly McGuires, the Wobblies, all in organized labor took most seriously how the industrial titans and their Pinkertons and other paid stooges in Congress used divide-&-conquer -- plus fear of the "other" to keep workplaces unsafe, workers pitifully underpaid, and schools mechanical as the coming assembly lines.
Cartoon reiterates that we have always been anything but welcoming to new arrivals. Sadly, we denigrate other earthlings at our peril. We never seem to learn that we are all in it together. Maybe an alien invasion could help. But, baring that, climate change could suffice.
As you point out, the assertion of human dignity remains a continuous task.
The struggle is exacerbated by the failure of many of our fellow citizens to accept the challenge of appreciating and demanding respect for their democratic status. Lincoln's task remains for all of us: to treat our fellow citizens with dignity and to demand they join us as equals.
Thank you, Heather! 💙💙
Well, the one good thing about the "black jobs" comment are the many Black people posting pictures of themselves at work. They are professors, doctors, judges, and so on. It gives me some hope for the future.
I hope that Obama makes an ad for Biden and points out that he (Obama) was POTUS for 8 years, so obviously, POTUS is a "black job" as well!!
YES!