So how is it today we have become that hated fascist nation?
How is it that Congressional Republicans are holding the rest of us hostage ?
Where are we failing to let our representatives know we won’t take it any more? And if they can’t act with integrity and patriotism and defend our constitution (as they swore to do) we will do whatever we must to rescue our liberties, our freedoms and our democracy, indeed our nation from tyranny and the dictator.
I think we got lazy. We were fat and happy and ignored that our representatives were doing the work of corporate interests, not our.
I am thankful that Trump is a poor-planning idiot who cannot hide his intentions. Think how bad it would be if he were clever and stealthy! Maybe it's a good thing that Trump's insane bumbling has awoken us.
Trump may be a poor planning idiot, but Trump did not plan what got us here. It was the Republican uber-rich who funded the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, who laid the plans for the current authoritarian regime. The progression was laid out in all the many iterations of Project XXXX over the years.
We can't afford to think that if we get rid of Trump, we are "safe." All of those oligarchs and their money are still going to be there and will fight hard to maintain the system that enriches them.
The Nazis in World War II were uprooted by armed force, and the wealth of the fascist industrialists was destroyed. Democracy was rebuilt on the ashes of Europe, where authoritarianism was discredited in Western Europe. That was not the case in Eastern Europe, which led to another more than 40 years of dictatorships until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Our task is different. We will have to rebuild our democracy with the array of political forces and corrupted institutions still in play against us, with new factors coming on the scene, like AI-driven disinformation and climate change, that will be economic and societal disruptors. It is going to be a long process, made more difficult by the enormous concentration of wealth in the 1% in the United States, where the behind-the-scenes political power resides.
Oh I agree 100%. What I was trying to say was that I am happy Trump is such a fumbling idiot that he has shown us all the plans instead of being clever and stealthy so we don't know what's coming. He can't keep a secret to save his life! He'd much rather brag about how clever he is. And that exposes what's planned and in the works.
We do need to reform our government. We need a New Nuremberg to rout out and punish all the collaborators. And then we have to rebuild a government that is not based on "norms" and "Gentlemen's agreements".
We need to begin with the elimination of corporate money from politics. First follow Hawaii and Montans in redefining corporations as entities that cannot donate to campaigns. Then end Citizens United. for good SuperPACs must be outlawed and any candidate who takes money from anyone but constituent funds must be prosecuted for corruption. (We already have anti-corruption laws that we do not enforce.) Then we need a tax system that levels the rich and uplifts the poor (like it used to be in the 1950s when we were the most prosperous country in the world). We need to act like the wealthiest country in the world by providing healthcare, education, and a social safety net to all our citizens and legal residents. We need to enact and enforce a federal minimum wage based on the cost of living and we need to protect workers from corporate exploitation by strong labor legislation. No more "employed at will". We need to implement a justice system that is truly color blind and outlaw private prisons and the prisoner exemption to the 13th Amendment.
And we need to not get tired and stop halfway. We need to not say "It's over. Let's just move on." We cannot move on. The system was broken before Trump kicked it to pieces. We need to fix everything.
Joanne Freeman had one of her history chats yesterday on the topic of "norms" and how Trump and SCOTUS have destroyed the norms surrounding the concepts of "justice" and the rule of law by their politicization of the DOJ. How can we trust in government if there is no longer an institution that fights for justice for the people?
Precisely. That is why we must reform the DOJ. I think an integral part is getting money out of politics. The DOJ is meant to be apolitical. It must return to that ethos. And we must put in place guardrails that cannot be so easily violated by an Executive who disagrees. Truly, we need to make the President a servant of the people, not the master of anything.
We also need to recognize the limitations and criminal behavior of our allies who became yokes around the necks of the American people. Nations and their leaders, such as Israel, have long had their claws in our belly, bottom feeding from the treasury of the US. They have long been embarrassing us with their criminal and illegal theft of Palestinian land and invasions of Lebanese and invasions and theft of Syrian lands. We also need to remember on, June 8, 1967, an anniversary date just two days away, the unbridled assault in international waters, on the USS Liberty that was eavesdropping on Israeli war plans against Syria. To make sure there were no witnesses, the Israelis commenced to bomb, strafe, and torpedo this valiant ship and its crew. More than 70 of our sailors were murdered and more than 140 were severely injured. Although the initial explanation by Israel was that they had mistaken the USS Liberty for a nefarious looking foreign freighter, there was no mistaking the 5 by 8 foot flag flying from the center mast of the ship, nor was there any mistake that the silhouette of both ships in question was as far apart as that with a bathtub and an aircraft carrier. As usual, the Israelis lied, as they lie pretty much about everything, including what they "fear" Iran may do to attack them using a nuclear weapon. That they were waiting for someone like Trump is no coincidence; all they needed was someone stupid enough to swallow their reasoning. Clearly, Trump was their man.
Your comment won't get many "likes," Riad, because "antisemitism." I couldn't find a source that confirms your casualty numbers. The recurring statistics I found were 34 killed and 171 wounded. Maybe the additional 36 died some time later as a result of their injuries? Otherwise, there are no errors in your account that I could find.
It occurs to me that the Israelis are the MAGA of the Middle East; they've just been at it longer. Consider the similarities.
Both groups believe in the Judeo-Christian deity. Both groups believe that the Israelis are "God's chosen people" which exempts them from conventional rules of law. Both groups believe they (Israelis and MAGA) are perpetually under attack by godless leftists. Both groups believe this ongoing "persecution" justifies their aggression against "the other." Both groups are led by leaders who are avoiding imprisonment by lying to and manipulating their followers.
It's a neofascist GOP that needs Bibi to do the dirty work for them. There's a reason why they want to install a "Board of Peace" as alternative to the US in the Middle East: it's because the region is full of fascist regimes, and where the UN is neutral to pro-democracy, the Board of Peace will be pro-fascism, an international organization located in Gaza, owned by a fascist US, and designed to destroy democracies everywhere and to solve conflicts among fascist states in a peaceful way, through sheer corruption, so that fascism can thrive.
None of this is about Trump.
Read Gil Duran, see what the tech billionaires have been calling "Network States" (a reality already, including in China - see historian Quinn Slobodian's book "Crack-up Capitalism" for the details).
This has been going on inside the GOP and independently of Trump. Trump is merely their distracter in chief, so that they can move forward with their plan while we all have TDS.
I agree with you, Kass. But I do want to point out that the 1950s were good for whites only, not anyone else. So to me, the 1950s weren't really so great.
Yes, 100% true. I used "the 1950s" because it is generally looked upon as "when life was good in the US." Of course that is a statement of white privilege. It has never been good for all Americans, not any time in our history.
The rebuilding we're about to do is a perfect opportunity to change that and truly make it good for all!
Very true. I think FDR was a Democrat who held his nose, accepted that compromise was built in to our liberal democracy, and, in the interest of not making "perfect be the enemy of good,” accepted the demands of southern Democrats that segregation would be included in some New Deal legislation including Social Security. I sometimes think modern Democratic leaders should let that be a lesson to them. Agree? It’s a contentious issue.
Kass McGann, this was new to me, "First follow Hawaii and Montana in redefining corporations as entities that cannot donate to campaigns.” Thanks for it!
I especially agree with this part of your comment: “(W)e need a tax system that levels the rich and uplifts the poor (like it used to be in the 1950s when we were the most prosperous country in the world). We need to act like the wealthiest country in the world by providing healthcare, education, and a social safety net to all our citizens and legal residents. We need to enact and enforce a federal minimum wage based on the cost of living and we need to protect workers from corporate exploitation by strong labor legislation.”
I think those comments reflect the liberal consensus that influenced government so strongly during the era you point to. Heather Cox Richardson reminds us of it often. It included some Republicans and I’m tempted to think Eisenhower was one of them. Just two days ago she wrote: "The [Trump] administration has always been an alliance of groups and people that oppose the so-called liberal consensus: the idea that the U.S. government should regulate business, provide social welfare programs, promote infrastructure projects, protect civil rights, and support a rules-based international order."
Eisenhower was definitely one of them if anything I've read about him is true. The liberal consensus is alive today. They say 80% of US citizens support universal healthcare, education, a social safety net, etc. But our reps in Congress vote according to coporate interests, not ours. Which is why the first thing we have to do is permanently remove money from politics. If the Congressional salary isn't enough for our reps, they shouldn't run for office.
Public financing for every level of government and total public disclosure of who funds political advertising, along with government regulation of all AI-driven Social Media and sources of propaganda that can manipulate the public, are required to insure a healthy democracy.
While it was certainly not Heather's intent to wax nostalgic, as her lovely piece commemorating the D Day anniversary was spot on, we must move away from retrospect and fast forward to the present and the immediate future. Trump himself, as obnoxious, vulgar, corrupt, idiotic and destructive as he is, is simply the tip of the iceberg
During Biden, I wrote a letter to him expressing a need to communicate directly to the public in the form of a fireside chat maybe monthly chat. For some unknown reason, he didn’t take my advice.
Biden gave several of the best speeches of my lifetime. And his delivery was about like mine would be -- meh!
What Biden lacked in charisma he made up for it in assembling the best cabinet and team of any President ever. And he did it with a Senate of old farts and Republicans. And the House barely had a majority. He was in his element when he was twisting arms, one on one, not giving press conferences to oligarch owned MSM journalists.
Over 74,000 infrastructures projects were funded and initiated under Biden, many of which replaced crumbling bridges, roads, pipelines, water systems, etc. Hundreds of thousands of rural families now have high speed internet for the first time.
And what does Trump do immediately after taking office? He starts canceling these projects. And when he reinstates them, he often gives out no-bid contracts to oligarchs at many times the original bid.
Deb Haaland did an incredible job as Interior Secretary only to be replaced by an environment hating oligarch.
The list goes on. Does Trump even have ONE SINGLE competent advisor or cabinet member other than perhaps the Joint Chiefs and some of the military leaders?
And it's likely we will end up with a Democratic President in 2028 that will have to undo and attempt to fix many of these Trumpian messes. If you want a charismatic leader than can spew BS like Trump, you may end up with a great speaker and a less than competent President.
''It was the Republican uber-rich who funded the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, who laid the plans for the current authoritarian regime. ''
Don't forget ALEC and SPN as the nationwide influence on State Legislators and the multiple innocuously named State Policy Network organizations that had some multiples in some states pretending to be more more acceptable local versions, not so clearly tied to the more critically viewed ALEC driven policies.
I believe the implied agreement was that Trump could get his time in the sun to prove his power and get the respect he never had. In addition he could steal as much money as he wants.
In return, the oligarchs would work to destroy our constitutional government and lay the foundation for a fascist, White nationalist regime while putting the capitalist elitists in charge.
It is almost as if the fascists have been waiting for the perfect storm, and it arrived in 2015. A disgruntled White working class, unwitting Democrats, some underlying cultural issues, and a long simmering pool of racists seizing an opportunity.
What may save us is that Trump is both insatiably greedy and narcissistic that he is turning off the electorate before the fascists could finish the takeover. Add in his physical and mental deterioration, and we see the rush to set up the police state.
Simplistic? Sure, but the gist of my point seems real.
Len, it's not at all happenstance; this fascist regime is the result of decades of GOP plotting and actions to bring precisely what we are dealing with today.
Agreed. Good points. I’d just say that the pool of racists was/is festering. I get the image of “ready to boil,” but it brings to mind water, or at least soup. As the racist infection reaches maturation and irruption it releases toxic, putrid pollution.
The world will be a lighter place when this president is no longer part of it.
Lighter - but not unburdened by any means. He will leave behind a wealthy class empowered like never before, and they will fight tooth and nail not only to keep, but continue to expand their empire. Much like Normandy, the war of today against fascism will hardly be over.
Not only that, there will be government agencies that need to once again be oriented to serving citizens rather than a fascist cult. The poison that has been injected into virtually every federal agency will have to be excised, and competent, compassionate, patriotic staff will have to be recruited and hired to replace those who were hounded out by this regime.
Then there is the rot at the heart of our political system. Much of what really needs to change will require constitutional amendments, but the cause needs to be undertaken. Meanwhile, Citizens United can be ended by statute, and it should be with all due dispatch.
Furthermore, ICE needs to be abolished. It is culturally flawed with a predisposition of guilt before innocence and a predilection towards violence. There is no reforming it. It needs to go. No constitutional amendment required.
Lastly, there is the issue of justice for those in this regime who have imposed all manner of inhumanities on our people, including murder. They must face justice, as did the Nazis in Nuremberg.
What makes all the above possible? We the people staging our own D-Day. Not with guns and battleships, but with our votes. We need to be the massive invasion force that liberates our own country on November 3 despite the figurative barbed wire the regime will put in our path. This is our cause and our charge.
Georgia, excellent post. We have insidious wealth against us plus climate change and A.I. as you mention. It is so dystopian. Just when the world needs wisdom and integrity to fight these things, we have death star and his minions tearing up elements like the under sea instruments they now want to destroy. My own feeling is that the those elites who think their money will save them are in for a surprise in the long run. Meanwhile they will turn every place into extraction, high end resorts (bravo Albanians), data centers that use massive amounts of water and electricity (bravo to citizens who are fighting this).
It is going to be a long process, made more difficult by the enormous concentration of wealth in the 1% in the United States, where the behind-the-scenes political power resides.
The wealth of the German and Italian fascist industrialists in WWII was not destroyed. Much of it made its way to Argentina, Brazil and the United States. Some of that transfer was facilitated by "neutral" Swiss banks.
We can see from history that a transfer of wealth by the current Administration is happening now, either off-shore or domestically, or both, with little expectation that the inspectors general who remain after Trump's purge last year are able or willing to conduct credible audits. The two Treasury inspectors general, for example, one of whom oversees tax administration, remain unconfirmed. I wonder why.
Thanks for the historical information on the German oligarchs. They took their money with them. Thiel has already set up outposts in Honduras and Argentina.
I was thinking more in terms of the Marshall Plan and the money that had to go into rebuilding the European economies that had been devastated by the war. That provided money and jobs while democratic institutions were being built.
There will be no Marshall Plan for us post-Trump. We will have to rebuild democracy in a country burdened by massive debt in the aftermath of burst speculative bubbles and vast amounts of money wasted in bringing back coal and outdated defense tech, while the source of our former economic strength, world-class scientific research institutions, will have been destroyed.
Our former allies will not be investing here—they will be intent on strengthening their own economies since we are no longer seen as a reliable partner.
Restoring democratic institutions will be longer and harder to achieve in that environment.
Quite right, Georgia, the Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was very similar. And if you track Conservative politics from the New Deal on, you will see the long-term goals are being realized today. The Great Depression and the New Deal were the direct results of the political power weilded by the wealthy elite at that time. Some of the major inflection points that I can think of are the election of Ronald Reagan when the population as convinced that supply side (trickle down) economics was viable and incredibly still seen so today by some.
During his Presidency mandatory Civics education was ended, and the Southern Strategy was permanently ingrained in the GOP. Newt Gangrich brought the politics of hate to the GOP and it is also ingrained in the GOP, leading to utter hatred of anyone who doesn't share their political point of view. The left diligently continues to work with these hateful people, and when they do respond forcefully to the hatred, they are accused of being divisive. The AI-driven mass deception and manipulation has been used at least as long a Social Media has existed and as long as it remains unregulated will continue to manipulate the masses to let the Oligarchs do whatever they want. The toxic white evangelical Christian religion, with its 18th century values of racism and misogyny also benefit from modern AI-driven propaganda that has influenced many young men into admiring the idea of Fascist rule, they want non-white people and women to have no say in government.
I believe that the battle to save our democracy is going to be much more difficult than most people imagine. It is the entire right wing actively striving to end our democratic republic and bring about a totalitarian theocratic Fascist regime, and this election, no matter how big the blue wave is, will see every conceivable tactic to make sure the Fascist Oligarchic regime retains power.
agreed 100%. This will be America's greatest challenge post Civil War. Hope you haven't heard fortitude to fix it unlike the northerners that capitulation only 7 years after the Civil War to allow the traitors back into government. Will Americans have the fight in them?
From Day 1 of the regime, I have said that it will take violence to remove this regime, either via a civil or a world war. I am not advocating it; I am just being realistic. The corruption is far too broad and deep and history shows that even if most of the fascists were replaced via elections (unlikely), politicians won't do what it takes to prosecute the criminals and traitors, who always seem to rise again and this time with vast funding and control of the media by the oligarchs.
As always thank you for your wise and insightful comments. FDR famously said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. I would add comfort, convenience and the illusion of security.It is vital that we stay vigilant putting courage, compassion and conscience above all else.
Completely agree that Project 2025 crowd are still very much around and very well funded. But we can still be glad that Trump is completely incompetent. Things could have been worse.
You are so right! And if we are ever to undo these terrible forces we need to elect those who are willing to investigate, prosecute, and sentence all those who have participated in corruption, ignoring the Constitution and rule of law, violence, extra legal killing, violation of peoples’ civil rights, political retribution…
Whatever It Takes!
We will need to keep our focus on this for more than one election cycle, hard for the voters in this country.
As Sam Rayburn said, any jackass can kick down a barn. It’s the rebuilding that takes a community’s and a carpenter - or words to that effect. Thank you Joe, and whoever might arise this time to do more than document the damage. HCR not only documents but inspires, encourages, carries the torch and shines a light on the path. Will enough follow…
You've stated the ultimate question, JD. This nation of ours is not a nation of readers. I started to find that out during the W Bush years when everyone was gung-ho on going to war with Iraq. We will have to rebuild our national education infrastructure. We may be able to leave it to the individual states; however, and clearly, the feds will have to have their hands in the game. By giving the secretaryship to someone who is illiterate in matters of education, like McMahon, the states have all the power and therefore will make no effort to build ethical educational protocols that will ensure education for all and not only for the fair-haired boys. That's what project 2025 intended to do all along: use the male influence and cut out more than half the population and train the white guys growing up to handle all thinking. That of course, will only project the wealth at the expense of a deteriorating society. Do enough of us read and think along the lines of HCR, Robert Reich, those at Meidas, Paul Krugman, Robert Arnold, and the likes of all these rather brilliant folks? We are about the find out in November.
Sadly, the vocal majority seem to prefer reality tv crap, alternative facts, and the real housewives of hell, along with competitive games of ignorance. I was sure that the “silent majority” is wise but quiet, now maybe just silent to keep others from noticing the educational sinkholes all around us.
Thank you HCR, for the reminder that once upon a time we were ‘an international force’ with a General who took sole responsibility. Can you imagine that in relation to the very stupid Iranian war that’s now endangering not only the middle east, but the world?
Not all Americans got "fat and lazy". Individuals and groups throughout the U.S have worked, organized and engaged in the ongoing daily struggle to support justice. Faith groups, community groups, young people's organizations have been working as long as I can remember (I'm 76) to support democracy.
I didn't intend to imply anything negative. I should have said: "happy and satisfied with life." We got comfortable, so we stopped worrying about a lot of important concerns. Of course activists and switched-on people have always been aware and trying to remind us of these dangers all along. But you have to admit that the vast majority of Americans were too comfortable to notice.
I agree with you! I fought like crazy in High School and college for our rights! Made our voices heard. We accomplished a great deal. But then, I was busy raising a family, and living paycheck to paycheck, but I was happy and contented. I worked hard, and enjoyed my life. Then I stopped worrying about how to " fix " the misgivings of our country. I am 72 and I was really ready to enjoy my more laid back years and reap what I sowed. I am so tired of having to fight.
But I think the people in my son's age group( 30-45) didn't witness us fighting and protesting. They really had no idea. They rarely heard any objections from us politically, beyond, I like that guy, I don't like that guy. They grew up with witnessing our Comfort and they felt comfortable and didn't realize that to keep our rights as a democracy we have to be engaged. We didn't teach them to stay engaged or involved.
This Heritage group witnessed those in the 50-60 age range making fast money on wall st. They watched as people became more and more complacent.
Then Donnie came along and made it even easier for them to make money, and fed hate and finger pointing. and created the great divide of classes.
The heritage group even had the Brass ones to publicly post what their plan was. Guess what? They proved that most people were tuned out. I heard many people , who were paying attention saying, oh that could NEVER happen.........
Yup yup yup. All true. You are quite a historian, Cate. I can bear witness to the 50-60 wall street moneymakers. And I might add that the 20-somethings, who experienced active shooter drills in their schools, had no proms or homecomings because of the pandemic, and when they protested for Black Lives Matter and Gaza, saw nothing change. So I can see how they feel like they have no power, that their voices don't matter. So we have the "happy complacent", the "tired of fighting", and the "don't believe it can change" groups. It's no wonder it's such a slog. It's also no wonder that most protestors these days are your age and not mine!
And too many still are. Additionally, there are too many who have their own personal challenges that force, whether any of us like it or not, to put the nation's concerns on the back burner.
The transparency of all the corruption, lying, unconstitutional acts, and so on, by this regime troubles me. How come they are doing this so brazenly? They must know there will be a reckoning, someday, somehow. Or do they believe or know that day will never come?
Obviously they believe the reckoning will never happen, not the least because they know the Christian god is on their side, just as he was on the side of the Crusades, the Inquisition and the genocidal removal of the First Nations.
They also know SCOTUS is on their side, having immorally bestowed immunity on the president who will In turn give all his co-conspirators a free pass as well.
leloupduvillage, years ago, I worked at an advertising agency that handled election campaigns for candidates at various levels, who were independents, Republicans and Democrats. From that experience, I learned a lot about politicians. I learned that, with few exceptions, they will say anything to get a vote, oft-times declaring positions in direct opposition to each other, depending on the audience.
I also learned that after spending time in office, the overwhelming majority of politicians come to believe that they are "bullet-proof," that they can "color outside the lines" of ethics and legality and not get caught. Or if they do get caught, they will be able to talk their way out of the consequences.
Unfortunately, our culture gives them good reason to believe this. Consider Donald Trump, Ken Paxton and countless others as prime examples. Politicians who get "busted" are the outliers.
The question before us now is: are there enough American voters who understand the weight that is now on OUR shoulders? We do not have to face machine gunned bunkers and land mines to eradicate fascism. All we have to do is get to the polls to cast a vote against the people who are trying to take over this country for the benefit of a few rich men. I think that once again, the 18 and 19 year olds will take up the challenge and fight for the future of this Country. It is their future they are fighting for! And it is up to us older folks to support them by voting blue in every race. No excuses! VOTE!!
I understand your concern. But Vance has the charisma of a damp sweatsock. He won't be able to hold the various factions that brought Trump to power together. The Christian Nationalists will be for him and he;ll do the oligarchs' bidding, but the manophere hates him and the average guy-on-the-street thinks he's weird. I am not worried about Vance. I'm worried about Rubio.
Not very worried about JD Vance. He is such a suck up that he will go with what is popular, and whatever keeps him feeling like he is important. Seeing Donnie get impeached and hopefully in a courtroom facing imprisonment will convince JD that what he thought was the way to power is actually the way to prison, he will alter his entire philosophy in a heartbeat.
When you have no principles, you can do that without one minutes understanding about what a hypocrite you are.
Kass, that is what worries me about Vance. He is a bit smarter than Trump, is an opportunist with no moral compass, a chameleon who will do whatever will get him what he wants, even to changing water flow so he and his family can go kaiaking. I have read his "Hillbilly Ellogy" and have no clue just how much was true. I bet a lot of it is from his imagination. He has little to no sympathy for the Appalachian people, claiming "hillbilly" status when he is really from Cincinnati. That is not exactly Appalachia.
The entire length of the current presidential succession if needed to replace Trump, is populated with incompetents, self-seeking ignoramuses, pseudochristian zealots, white supremacists, and worse. The question, how can we stop this path or maybe four-lane highway to disaster! It has to be We the People who do it and a lot of folks with Dr. Richardson have some powerful ideas!
ALL Democrats are currently fighting back hard against fascism and even though we put them in the opposition (after historians rank the Biden administration near the top of all US presidents in terms of achievements, and with only a convicted rapist and pro-fascism party as alternative), they achieve real successes in slowing down the installation of fascism.
And a healthy democracy combines the interests of corporations and of ordinary citizens.
Moreover, because of the conservative SC's Citizens United ruling, ALL politicians are now forced to accept money from big businesses, and many of those businesses want to put themselves first.
Fortunately, Pelosi and the Democrats already passed a bill in the House that repeals Citizens United and includes many other crucial campaign reforms. Why wasn't it signed into law yet?
Not because of their or our laziness, but because of our ignorance. People don't inform themselves anymore and then indulge in the most dangerous forms of cynicism.
The bill was never signed into law because "we the people" never gave Democrats the votes needed to do so.
Whatever it takes. What a great slogan; I will be using it. I love Michelle - but this slogan is much more appropriate than the obsolete "when they go low, we go high". How sad that this is the case, but that is indeed the case.
Here’s hoping that once those fascists in the Whitehouse are shown the door, each and every one of them is held accountable for their crimes. Until then, it’s heartening to know they’ve got to look at themselves in the mirror each morning.
The fascists in the White House are not the real power. They are the employees of the oligarchs, put in place to execute Project 2025 to create a system to enrich the 1%.
How will the oligarchs be made accountable? They will argue that they just took advantage of the Citizen United's money-is-speech ruling, and the laws that the Republicans enacted for their benefit, and that the SCOTUS majority ruled were constitutional. What crimes have they committed, other than potential bribery? And will Trump pardon them all?
So true Georgia, well at least they can’t take it with them - the money that is. They will get old and sick and die just like the rest of us. And if karma or judgement day really exist then there’ll be that to contend with too. Maybe they’ll come back as roaches lol.
Kazz, some of the Richie Rich’s have established lush “boltholes” in (mostly) faraway places like New Zealand, island near Hawaii, etc., they can escape to when the rabble rises up; here is an interesting article in the Guardian from several years back on the subject: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/23/tech-industry-wealth-futurism-transhumanism-singularity. Only thing they forget is they cannot do it alone & if it gets bad enough if/when money itself is worthless, how are they going to bribe—er, pay—their helpers? There is an interesting novel w/ a plot along these lines “The Future” by Naomi Alderman. Also a slim trilogy about the collapse and recovery (sort of) of global society: John Feffer’s “Splinterlands”, “Frostlands” and “Songlands”. Sigh….we’re in a place where we could treat our “pale blue dot” like our one and only home and with “enough” resources that all could have, well, enough. Wish it were so, but not gonna hold my breath!☮️🌎
I'm a postcards-to-voters writer, Kazz. Lately, I have been thinking about regularly sending a postcard to the administration's cabinet members to do just that, get them to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror and see what we see. It's the steady drumbeat of a card in their mailbox that I'm after more than anything.
Depends on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you reside. British author Oscar Wilde spelled Dorian's surname G-R-A-Y, in opposition to the accepted British spelling of the colour.
Of course, Wilde was gay. He was always doing something outrageous.
I love this Lynell, changing hearts and minds can happen in the simplest of ways. I would join you but I’m in Australia! My sister lives in Missouri - or as she calls it, ‘Misery’.
Through the decades since the 1971 Powell memo, specially-dedicated and fantastically-funded far right foundations killed humanities and essay writing across U.S. ed, K-12 to “higher.”
As a consequence, our public officials and media personalities lost touch with the great novels, memoirs, histories, biographies, and other arts which had previously sharpened our abilities to see and deal with the pain in others. So, too, we lost touch with our massively damaged working classes.
Testing filled the vacuum. Its machinery rumbles on, continuing to enrich its billionaire owners while even our non-fascists have proven too-often tested, too anesthetized in the face of the fascists taking over.
After HCR’s letter today, I will forever envision President Eisenhower, pencil in-hand, leaving his final message to the ages were he to have made the wrong decision 82 years ago. The high cost of personal accountability remains a fact of life for each of us.
Yes, Phil Balla, the many versions of “the humanities” are rich with the lessons we need most to live and be fulfilled as human beings…your persistent reminders are appreciated by me.
Thank you, HCR, for the way you teach lessons from our history.
Phil, I think what you’re saying is that schools have shifted from teaching critical thinking and literature to test taking skills. Great point. They also have a role to play in teaching resistance history, modern history and questioning American exceptionalism. I was born in the 80’s and never learned any history after ww2. I always half-joked as a kid that teachers wouldn’t teach us anything that happened during their lifetimes because it wasn’t “history” (to them). This is a problem…huge gaps in history. And why don’t schools teach American history as Resistance history? That’s the education we need.
Eta: also, we need to teach science fiction in literature classes. I’m pushing back on Flock cameras in our town (fyi everyone, these cameras are everywhere and multiplying like bunnies) and can tell exactly who hasn’t read/watched any science fiction.. they are stories warning us. And I wasn’t ever a fan of sci-fi (so many arguments with my sister when she turned Star Trek on) but my school taught us Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Bladerunner and we wrote essays on Star Wars.. I had enough exposure to learn the risks.
Phil, I wish I understood why they would purposely kill off the humanities. I just don’t get it. I am going to speak at public comments of my board of education next week. My issue is the horrible slowdown of learning that I believe is caused by our cell devices. Also, I once offered to be a guest at my old high school to talk about the lost interest of becoming self employed. Schools constantly address prep for being employed. I’ve been self employed all of my life. Ok, no high tech stuff. I taught myself the craft of picture framing a long time ago and I make more per hour than a psychologist I know I asked an acquaintance once. But my offer was denied. Too bad when educators can be so thick headed not realizing entrepreneurship is the way to go. Those high tech guys graduating and going into computer fields are now being replaced with AI. AI will never replace my ability to see view a painting or print and advise on the best and/or inextoptions.
Both Eisenhower and FDR had the humility to understand that the best and most noble of plans may fail, and may fail miserably, but that forging ahead despite the risks is truly the only option. My memory of the history I've learned is fuzzy, but didn't Lincoln also write and a letter accepting blame if he was not re-elected? Self-knowledge in our leaders is essential even when they spare us their doubts at the time How different this is from a leader who proclaims that he is the only one who can fix something and then stumbles into chaos because he is unable to see or understand the consequences, the possible peril, of his unrealistically narcissistic sense of self.
To answer your first question on how we ended up a hated fascist nation: Our troops came home from WW2 to the same segregation, caste system, and racism in our nation that the Nazis modeled their system after. Literally. Germany was held to account and we weren’t! Germany fixed their system but we never fully fixed ours. (They paid reparations. They torn down Nazi statues and put up memorials. They fixed their education system.. the list goes on). So, it slowly burned.
Just the fact that we don’t recognize that our founding wasn’t actually the founding of a democracy, but the founding of an apartheid state, is a perfect example of what we need to fix. We need to teach this in schools instead of American exceptionalism. The American exceptionalism that exists on both sides of the aisle that tells us we were founded as the greatest democracy on earth prevented us from seeing its faults. And prevented us from seeing and learning about the centuries of resistance efforts that actually, finally, created our democracy in 1965. We should be celebrating the resistors, not the founders.
So, we never fixed those faults, the cracks in the system. (Our government is not representative: the senate, the electoral college and then add gerrymandering on top) And now the racists are using those old cracks in the system to bring us back to Jim Crow. They would go further back in our history if we let them. And racism affects us all (this is why we don’t have universal healthcare, why we have privatized prisons-the school to prison pipeline- and of course why we have MAGA)
To me our revolution only helped found our new country as the greatest potential Democracy, a foot in the door, inspired by the best Declaration of Independence sentiments understood by the most people. Those truest in service of making those sentiments true for everyone are the most inspiring to me. The amendments to the Constitution improved the fidelity to those ideals but didn't fully perfect it, and surely won't ever defy further improvement.
I've come to think even the imperfect Nuremberg Trials were hampered by the attempts to define crimes against humanity just enough to convict the worst German offenders, but not so clearly that people like Goring and Goebbels could accuse the Allied countries of similar crimes against our own minorities.
Though Goring wasn't successful in making such comparisons publicly known, I do believe very many of our soldiers and even POWs we treated so much more humanely than our own minorities, started questioning the old backsliding ways we allowed in inequalities, so much so that we actually did make noticeable progress in the decades after WWII.
It shouldn't take as much war and extreme inequality to motivate progress as it did during and after WWII. The best solution I can suggest is as much thorough truth seeking and revaluation of truer and more complete history to keep the why of the need for true equality uppermost in our thoughts and actions.
But at least the Nazis faced trials, were exiled and hated. The founders didn’t face trials, and are celebrated, despite committing crimes against humanity (crimes equally atrocious to the Nazis, *the actual model* for the Nazi’s crimes) and consciously protecting slavery in the constitution. Making it illegal for anyone to resist enslavers. Protecting the slave trade, preventing any resistance to the slave trade. Giving more power to southern states. And yet, our founders are celebrated, not criticized like the Nazis. (Even confederate traitors are still celebrated!)
The fact that we celebrate the founders instead of charging them has continued the caste system that they started. And that caste system currently hurts us all—no universal healthcare, privatized prisons, the gutting of the voting rights act, yelling “but socialism!” every time we want a basic social safety net.. actually just a code word for racism.
The Declaration of Independence stating that “all men are created equal” left out one important word.. because it was just assumed.. it was so engrained in their thinking that they didn’t even think of putting the word in there. It forgot the word white. This is so important and everyone forgets it—they never intended equality for all. They intended to create a system where white land owning men had all the power. Sure, the declaration of “all men created equal” sounds great when we put our modern day interpretation into it.. but that isn’t what they intended. Why isn’t this recognized? Because we are all taught the propaganda that they actually intended to create a country that was equal for all. How can we possibly see fault in the system when we aren’t taught reality? Schools don’t teach that the Nazis studied the American system in order to design theirs. They should be teaching that the founders wanted power for all land owning white men (an apartheid state) and it was the resistance leaders that were our actual founders of democracy. Because that is the actual reality. American exceptionalism has poisoned us to think our democracy is perfect and infallible, allowing MAGA to take hold.
Highly recommend the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Thanks for the reply. Though somewhat limited in my knowledge of all versions of our history, I've tried to pay attention to the best of it, along with more complete examination of holes in it. My point wasn't that the founders were perfect, just that in seeking their own freedom they created a series of documents, the first of which stated principles that enough people believed applied to everyone, namely the Declaration of Independence, a great start.
Then we had the compromises that corrupted the principles in the first two Constitutions that followed, the first of which allowed very unequal basic rights in each state. The second attempt, to correct deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, had just barely enough corrupting features to get accepted by all 13 states (9 by June 21 1788 to have it take effect, and all 13 by May 29,1790). Though not an original state ([Vermont], the 14th admitted in ), had, as an independent State/Republic was the first to prohibit slavery in its 1777 Constitution, 14 years before being admitted to the United States, after it ratified the US Constitution).
I've been ever more appreciative of what I could learn about my multi-great uncle Ethan Allen for his pursuit of freedom of religion and what I assume would have been his views on equal rights for all (though more complete history is illusive, he was a British POW in 1777 and died 2 years before Vermont entered the union).
Some of the earliest things I remember was my dad as a 1st Sgt, always trying to help Black servicemen get fair treatment, and advising them on how to earn promotions on legitimate skills and leadership development. He wasn't perfect but like Harry Truman, stood on principles whatever his personal feelings towards any individuals. He was the first to get me started on Paul Robeson, who he said inspired him by his standing up as high as he could get to make a defiant target for whoever had shot at him (at what I later came to believe was the Sep 4, 1949 Concert in Peekskill, NY).
Among those learned to respect after meeting in person, my wife's grandfather, a lifelong Long-Island (Teddy Roosevelt branch) Republican, was one of the last hereditary active members of the East New Jersey Board of Proprietors. When I mentioned my respect for Harold L. Ickes who had been a Progressive Republican in the Teddy Roosevelt mold before becoming a Democrat in the FDR administration, I learned his best friend seemed to have been Harold L. Ickes, who had visited him so often my then young mother-in-law to be thought he was a real uncle of hers after he bought her first bicycle for her. They were both great (for the times), conservationists, he in particular in defending healthy watersheds in East New Jersey. He went on to tell me he had been Paul Robeson's locker mate and friend, who knew of the football teams efforts to break his hands to hamper his playing.
His wife, my wife's grandmother was one of the thousand or more DAR members that joined Eleanor Roosevelt in resigning from the DAR after the DAR had apparently denied Howard University's request to use their Constitution Hall for Marion Anderson's concert. They had seemingly previously allowed some Black performers and a small Black audience in a small section of the balcony, but blocked all Black performers and attendees after one Black performer refused to perform before the old limited audience.
Harold L. Ickes, as Secretary of the Interior (with other cabinet members like Frances Perkins moral support), then made National Mall available with the stage set on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939.
Others, earlier in my life, came from working in tobacco fields one town north of where Martin Luther King Jr. had worked in similar fields more than a decade earlier during his college years, an area where he was so well treated that he changed course to become the most important and effective peaceful protest advocate I could respect and try to follow. Another local (to me) hero was Dr Glenn Olds, President of the nearby Springfield College, who turned down threats to cancel a million dollar donation and other threats by the FBI to release tapes of phone taps that included King cursing (kind of like the attacks, and threats against Graham Platner), to grant MLK an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address. What I remember was MLK being held in a St Augustine that wouldn't release him until Dr Olds threatened to have the speech recorded in the jail to be played at the commencement.
This history is hard for me to trace as much seems to have been removed but I did find a good link at the wayback machine
It happened gradually, through fear, propaganda, political cowardice, concentrated wealth, attacks on truth, and the steady normalization of conduct that once would have ended a political career. Congressional Republicans are holding the country hostage because too many have placed party loyalty, personal ambition, and fear of Donald Trump above their constitutional oath. But responsibility does not belong to politicians alone. Democracy weakens when citizens retreat into exhaustion, cynicism, and helplessness. Too often, we contact representatives only after a crisis has become unavoidable. We protest briefly, vote inconsistently, ignore local politics, and expect institutions to defend themselves. Our representatives must hear, repeatedly and unmistakably, that their duty is to the Constitution, not a president, party, donor, or movement. Those who refuse that duty must be challenged, exposed, defeated at the ballot box, and replaced. “Whatever we must” cannot mean political violence. Violence strengthens authoritarianism. It must mean sustained, disciplined, lawful resistance: organizing, voting, striking, protesting, litigating, boycotting, supporting independent journalism, protecting threatened neighbors, and refusing to cooperate with injustice.
The country is not beyond rescue. But rescue requires millions of Americans to stop waiting for someone else to act.
Too many white people thought "America" was just for white people -- in some cases only straight Christian white people. Nixon and subsequent presidents, especially Reagan, capitalized (literally) on this in a big way.
Also -- and this is a big one -- USians don't pay nearly enough attention to economics and economic power. Parliamentary democracies have social democratic and even (gasp!) openly socialist parties. The U.S. has a valiant handful who are consistently marginalized within the Democratic Party.
The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision (2010) gave the legal seal of approval to something that was already happening: Big Money is free to buy elections, candidates, officeholders, whatever their nonexistent hearts desire.
I'm glad Trump II has woken a lot of people up, but seriously -- why did it have to get this bad for that to happen?
The NC senators and NC 7th congressional district representative are all southern Republicans, who are of the same ilk as the southern Democrat enslavers of the 1800’s. Same type of people, just switched party names. My Congress critter is busy lining his pockets as he enthusiastically invests in the stock market. Do you think people like these would ever make a statement like the one General Eisenhower did not need to send?! Today’s Republicans aren’t fit to polish General Eisenhower’s boots.
We focused on being rich. We admired rich celebrities regardless of how idiotic or amoral they are. We watched "reality" shows (The Apprentice, Housewives, Honey Boo Boo, Wrestling, Married a Prisoner, etc.). So many stupid shows and, actually believing that stuff is real, wanted to be like those 'celebrities'. And so many of the TV series now are about corporate greed and back-stabbing and how those 'clever' people get to be billionaires. So when we see those traits in our politicians it's not appalling. It's expected.
We need to get our heads on straight and focus on the real things that matter in a healthy life.
The first "reality" show I saw was in the San Francisco airport; I believe it was "Survivor" and it was on a TV in the gate area. There was a large cluster of people watching it. I saw about 30 seconds of it and thought "Well, that's dumb".
I can say the only reality show I watched was "Deadliest Catch" as I had a fisherman in the family. No billionaires there.
DebbieM, I agree with your first sentence. But I think the get-rich "reality" TV shows are more of a symptom than a cause.
After the Great Depression and major military conflicts of the 1940s, the white majority in the U.S. saw a sudden increase of affluence in the 1950s. At the beginning of that decade, a single paycheck could provide a family with a home, a car and dinner on the table. But the ad men of Madison Avenue sought to exploit this new financial security by creating insatiable desire for whatever products U.S. business was cranking out. By the late 1950s, enough wasn't enough.
"Keeping up with the Joneses" became a thing. Moms went to work. Television became the babysitter. Families became disconnected as they pursued more STUFF. Credit card debt exploded and people still wanted more and more in the 1970s and 80s, culminating in Gordon Gekko's famous statement, "Greed is good."
Not only are "reality shows" stupid, but the stuff we spend money on is stupid. Animal psychiatry? Coffee grounds in little plastic pods? Self-driving cars?
At 1:00 p.m.today, when it is su to b almost 90 degrees, I and a group of my fellow citizens (and any non-citizens who care to join) will be out in out town’s main intersection to say, as we do every week, that we are not taking it. And tens of millions of Americans will join us, physically, in sympathy and in spirit.
We rally on Fridays at 3:30PM, at the only stop lights in the county. The friendly honks, waves, and thumbs up have increased steadily over the past year. Small, rural, red town. The change in attitudes is not huge, but heartening
I've been steadily berating and begging my tiny (four-person) congressional delegation to act as we wish, and even the sole Republican has shifted considerably—but not enough, not nearly enough. But I shall continue ...
I see our current situation more as treason, a unified, deliberate war on all of our government’s services, making us ripe for the picking, by Presidents Putin & Xi.
They made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could now, 85 years later, betray Ukraine’s trust, and betray Europe’s trust and foolishly bargain away Taiwan’s security, not to mention alienating every other ally and aligning ourselves with our most unscrupulous adversaries, as if stumbling around a saloon like a bully drunk with greed and power, mistaking damage for progress.
Plenty of democratic countries have leaders and are not rudderless despite the difficult times and are yet to succumb to facism. Perhaps there's some heart to take from them in their (so far) more successful struggles??
It's true that they are the only people capable of imagining shouldering that burden. Our one task is do everything we can to honor their sacrifice by saving democracy (and who knows, maybe even an ember of life in what used to be the party of Lincoln) with a Blue Tsunami.
Agree, James. Our mission pales in comparison in many ways, but it is no less vital in this time. We must be the massive (peaceful) invasion force that liberates the USA from fascism. D-Day is November 3 and every precinct in the country is our beachhead.
My Uncle James, the eldest brother of my father, died in the rehearsal for Normandy. It was called Exercise Tiger. It was so secret that even with the deaths of so many that terrible day- they didn’t want to ruin the morale of the soldiers going to Normandy. My uncle’s body was temporarily buried in England until a few years later- he was finally transferred back to Kentucky to have a family burial. When he joined- he lied about his age, bumping him up a year to get in. He’d had a sweetheart back home. I inherited his Purple Heart after my father passed away. I look at my young adult sons, who are, thru no fault of their own but genetics and one of them a premature birth, much less ready for all the adult responsibilities so many their age leapt into, let alone being shipped off to war. My oldest is on the spectrum, and hates fights of any kind, loves art and film. My youngest is ADHD, and finally catching up growth wise physically and mentally, getting good grades in community college and studying theater. He too has zero interest in guns, battles, or anything military related. I say this not because I want them to be like that, but I think of how many young men were thrust into that situation if they couldn’t get out of the draft for WW2, Vietnam, etc. Some men I spoke to said my oldest would have been excluded due to his weight (he’s very skinny despite whatever he eats) and his selective mutism. But my youngest, might have had to go. And while the world the young men of WW2 was very different than the world my sons grow up in now, I still think of mothers, siblings, even some self aware fathers who would think- what will this do to them, the ones who are not fighters by nature, who are more sensitive to violence, aggression, etc? And will they come back at all?
My Memaw on my father’s side tended her bed for a month when James died. He’d also sent part of his pay home every month to her, because she’d been struggling financially with at least 6 other kids. She didn’t ask him to. My sons have not had part time jobs yet. The oldest is still looking with help and the youngest has school but wants to earn some independence. Uncle James would go hunting and fishing with a couple of my other uncles to help feed the family, foraging and growing wild greens, taking side work. He joined up as a just turned 17 year old with a fake document a friend helped him create.
So when I see these bootlicking, reality denying, cowardly, greedy, power hungry, misogynistic, racist, creepy, christonationalistic, cruel pieces of crap just completely befoul the memory of so many young people who either signed up or were thrust into the darkness of fighting fascism in WW2, I want to weep. They voted for a pick me reality tv star w a number of failed businesses, marriages and affairs, a history of racist real estate practices, a man found guilty of sexual assault, liberally mentioned in the Epstein files and who allegedly said, “Hitler did some good things.” What a way to crap on those who sacrificed everything so a bunch of mediocre whiny entitled white men can profit and not have their feelings hurt by history, facts and being decent human beings.
Thanks for such a personal account, both of your family, and Uncle James, who died during Exercise Tiger. Personally, I feel I learn something new every day anout this war, how it affected while families and communities. And bravo to your kids growing up without false bravado or the sick love of violence for its own sake.
I only found out recently that General Eisenhower was raised by pacifist Mennonites. It seems even more fitting that he, above others, should have led this effort on June 6,1944. Thanks to Uncle James and all those who died then so that we might remember their sacrifice today as (still) a free people.
Jen, your comment sparked looking back and finding some new (to me) more personal history. My wife's great grand aunt Catherine was the wife of the Commander of the 1st Special Engineer Brigade, Colonel Eugene Mead Caffey, who was initially blamed for the disaster at Slapton Sands by General Omar Bradley (who was initially unaware of the attack by 9 German Schnellboots (S-boots to Germans, Enemy boats or E-boats to Allies). Col Caffey is credited as the 1st Colonel to land on Utah beach (along with Gen Theodore Roosevelt III, (known as Jr.), Deputy Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, the 1st General credited with landing on the beach.
Roosevelt was only allowed to go with the 1st wave by arguing that the best he could contribute was to be a moral booster while still a bit expendable as the deputy commander. He is credited with declaring, "We will start the war right here," when they discovered they had landed so far south of their intended area. (As depicted in The Longest Day by Henry Fonda.)
They were incredibly lucky for the mostly inexperienced combat troops and in the enemy forces they had to face. Caffey and some of the 1st Special Engineers did have experience from landings in Italy in 1943, though.
"...The landing sector included the area between Exits 3 and 4, the beach at Les Dunes de Varreville. It was divided by the Allied planners into the sectors Uncle Red (left) and Tare Green (right). The soldiers of the American 4th "Ivy" Infantry Division were chosen to attack the beach. This was despite the fact that the division had been battered during Operation Tiger, an invasion exercise on April 28 1944 when German E-boats had sunk several ships, killing 749 American soldiers and sailors, including men from the 4th Infantry Division. The division had not yet gained any combat experience during the Second World War which made Utah Beach the only beach that was attacked by a unit without experience. Major General Raymond Barton commanded this division. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the son of the former president, was added to the division as an additional general, without a fixed job description...
…The 4th Infantry Division established a solid bridgehead that almost met the goals set for the division before D-Day. The landings were completely different than planned in advance. There were several reasons why the landings had become a success. First of all, the assault troops had landed on a beach that was defended less strongly and they had not encountered strong German position at Les Dunes de Varreville. In addition, the aerial bombardment on Utah Beach had been much more effective. It had considerably damaged the German reinforcements in many places, unlike the reinforcements on Omaha Beach. Moreover, the naval bombings were also a lot more effective. Many more DD tanks came ashore on Utah Beach than on Omaha Beach, for example, where many had sunk because of the high waves. The choice to launch the tanks closer to the beach had been a correct one. When it turned out that the men had landed on a completely different beach than planned, Roosevelt and Van Fleet made the right decision by continuing the invasion from that location. There were also the airborne troops which had caused much unrest among the German troops inland and had taken on some important targets…"
My wife’s uncle , lost at Sainteny, Normandy, was a somewhat reluctant draftee (Carnegie sophomore that wanted to join later as a USCG officer), but most of our family members (22 of home served including my mother-in-law as a USCG SPAR Radio operator in WWII), favor other optional forms of service such as the Peace Corps some chose or, like the bravest man I ever met in Vietnam, a would be conscientious objector who became a medic and never would carry a weapon, no matter what. He was initially shunned, but became he most respected guy in the unit for running through fire so intense most would only shoot over logs without sticking their heads up to see what they were shooting at. In one incident they had tried to land the helicopter 3 times (or so he thought). The third time he had run through the fire and loaded two wounded, was trying to load the third, when the crew pushed them off and told him they hadn’t landed ,they had been shot down.
On other matters, m mother had worked at a mental health facility long after the war, and described how the best reforms in mental health care facilities had come from people like Mennonite conscientious objectors that were allowed to serve their instead of being drafted into the military or being jailed. Many were very much better educated than the average draftee and she credited them with much of the reforms. She most regretted the late 60s when it seemed the last of those that stayed long after their mandatory service aged out and were being replaced by younger people and administrators that didn’t do as well maintaining, or improving the mental health care to the best of what they had been able to do.
The French people also understood the assignment--and the sacrifice of those youths. Traveling through Normandy, France, it was remarkable how many people still expressed their appreciation all these decades later, even from stories passed down by their parents and grandparents.
I was so moved visiting Normandy and seeing in real time what our soldiers faced—with the caveat I wasn’t looking at the barbed wire and other obstacles. Standing in the American cemetery with its gleaming white crosses representing the sacrifices of the soldiers and their families … and wondering if we have it within us as a people to do the same today.
My father graduated high school, turned 19 and was drafted all in the month of June 1943. He didn’t participate in D-Day itself bc his unit wasn’t ready but did serve in Patton’s Third Army. I honor his service by fighting the fascism we are living with today, or trying.
I have a friend whose mother was a French Jew. She was a child, and told stories of "picnics" where they "played in the fields" while they were really hiding from German soldiers. She always paid tribute on Veteran's Day.
In the little french town of Sainte- Mere- Eglise, the first French town to be liberated by the allies, The stained glass windows in the church have American paratroopers gliding down in their parachutes. It's very moving to see.
Yes the soldiers understood their assignment. Per Wikipedia, "Allied casualties on D-Day (June 6, 1944) are estimated at approximately 10,300, with at least 4,414 confirmed dead."
My wife's uncle ,PFC John P. McBride, made it to July 11, near Sainteny, dying about 12 miles south and a day before General Theodore Roosevelt III died of a heart attack at Sainte-Mère-Église. Not part of the initial D-Day landings, the 329th "Buckshot" Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division entry to Normandy was delayed by a storm around June 19. Just one of the Arlington grave sites of those who continue to inspire us that we visit as often as we can.
Another uncle was found frozen and unconscious during the Battle of the Bulge, not aware of where he was until he was recovering in a hospital in England.
The most important lesson for Americans today is that freedom survives only when ordinary people act together with courage, discipline, and a shared sense of responsibility. The Allied victory over fascism was not the work of one nation, one leader, or one heroic moment. It depended on cooperation across borders, sacrifice at home, and people willing to face terrible risks for a cause larger than themselves.
Just as important was Eisenhower’s readiness to accept personal responsibility if the invasion failed. That kind of leadership stands in sharp contrast to leaders who claim every success, blame others for every failure, and treat accountability as weakness.
Democracy is not self-sustaining. It requires citizens who resist authoritarianism, defend truth, protect one another, and recognize that liberty carries obligations. Americans should remember that history did not turn toward freedom by accident. People made difficult choices, accepted sacrifice, and stood together. Our task today is not to admire their courage from a distance, but to practice it now.
It always brings tears to my eyes as well. The world responded - together - to shut down Hitler. If we don’t start standing up to Orange and his tribe, I’m afraid the world will shut us down. We all have to be vigilant and do all we can to redeem and save our democracy, imperfect as it may be.
Me, too, Annabel. As I read Heather's report I also thought of Renee Good and Alex Pretty, Americans serving the causes of Justice, Fairness and Freedom here on American soil. Their lives cut so short. Why? Because of monsters like Hitler and Trump. The torch has clearly been thrown to us. History will record how we respond and hopefully we will not have to write an "Eisenhower letter."
Me too, Annabelle. My husband and I visited Normandy as part of an American tour group two years ago. We went to the excellent museum there which explained in horrible detail exactly what Hitler's Nazis were doing and how many people they murdered: people with disabilities, Jews, Roma, socialists, anyone they didn't like. Then, we had a memorial ceremony at the American Cemetery where over 9000 soldiers are buried, just some of the people who never came home. There is also a memorial wall inscribed with the names of over of 1000 people, the missing soldiers whose remains were never recovered.
Our French guide thanked us as Americans. She said "because of you, I am free." Today those beaches are just beaches: kids playing, people walking along the shore, pleasure boats at sea. That's because of those people in that cemetery. They died because they thought democracy was worth fighting and dying for. We owe them.
As I read what FDR and Eisenhower wrote and said, knowing what was to come the next day, I could not help but compare them to our current "leadership": Trump and Hegseth. It's almost too painful to contemplate. Trump is now "bored" with the war he started. Hegseth has dismissed most of the senior military leaders who would know what to do were we attacked. He recently refused to promote several military leaders, all of them either women or African Americans. That American cemetery in Normandy holds the graves of 147 African Americans who had to fight in segregated units as well as 3 women WACS. They fought and died for a democracy in which they were not full participants.
We must honor the sacrifice of all of those people who have fought and died in that war and every war since by fighting the forces of fascism which now threaten our democracy right here at home. We're fortunate: we don't have to pick up guns to do that. We just have to vote for better leaders who are worthy of the sacrifice so many others have made for all of us.
I agree, Linda - we have an obligation to carry on the battle for which so many gave the ultimate sacrifice. While I spent four years in the U.S. Army in the 1960's, I feel that I have been called back to duty. The oath that I took to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, didn't have an expiration clause or date. Who is it who said: "If there be trouble, let it be in my day so that my children may have peace?"Fascism has established a beachhead on American soil.
IMO, the U.S. military is now under Vlad Putin's control. Its experience and expertise are being decimated in lightning speed. What comes next?
Thank you for writing Richard, and thank you for your service. Our veterans understand better than anyone else what the true costs of war and of keeping the peace are. I grew up in a Navy family. My Dad and his two brothers served during WWII. All three of them came home, but one brother died of a heart attack at 38. The other came home with what we would now call PTSD, and was never able to live a normal life. They did that for all of us, their children, so that we would not have to fight a war. I agree, fascism has established a beachhead here. Our only and best recourse is to fight back with our voices and our votes.
It's difficult reading reports like this, Linda. Having no belief in anything religious, for me this life that we have to live is everything. Many who do and did survive the wars couldn't shed the trauma caused by warfare and develop(ed) PTSD. The price paid by those who serve and who have served is enormous. The Chinese have an old saying: "An inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time." Our time is everything.
Yes, my mother danced with some of these boys at the USO in MA. Her mother, my grandmother said so quietly and sorrowfully what a terrible loss it was of young life. Brings a tear to my eye as well.
My mother too was a USO girl who went to dances with the soldiers in central Illinois. Some of her most touching and funny memories she shared with me. I treasure these stories.
If you haven't seen the U.S. Military Cemetery at Normandy, you should. The crosses there just go on and on and on... While I don't wish you more tears, one cannot help but cry. Especially now that fascism is a part of our current government and so, so many are delighted at that.
Of course you cry, beause any war brings death ending their lives to so many innocent young people. Any leader must always avoid war. In that sense, Putin, Trump and the Israel prime miister are all riminals themselves.
We owe so much to the brave soldiers--and their commander and commander in chief--on that fateful June day. Thank you, Heather, for reminding us of the best aspects of our country's commitments to freedom.
My uncle Phil Brow landed at Normandy. He was a small man, only about 5’5”, about 150 lbs, but he made it to the beach and with a 50 pound pack on his back, walked to Berlin. ♥️
A band friend of mine was a platoon lieutenant who jumped onto Omaha beach. He was 5'2" and soft spoken. He received the Croix de Guerre. He was a great clarinet player, and always finished our signoff tune "Loony Toons" with a descending chromatic line that sounded like a laugh. After he passed, I started doing the same thing...on my sousaphone.
Uncle Phil’s older brother, William, “Bill” Brow served in the 3rd Army under General Patton. He helped liberate a couple of smaller concentration camps. He survived the war, but he was never the same. He had nightmares about it for the rest of his life but could never talk about it. There were thousands of young American soldiers who had similar experiences. We can never begin to imagine the toll their service took upon them and the burdens they carried for the rest of their lives. We owe our freedom to all of them.
In the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, there is a constantly running film clip of reminiscences by survivors trying to put into words for visitors what they had experienced under Nazi rule. One of them, who had survived near death, multiple escapes, living under false identity, and finally as a slave laborer in a concentration camp recalls the day he met soldiers from the 89th Infantry Division in General Patton’s Third Army, probably in Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, the first camp Americans liberated at the end of April 1945.
He found himself in a boxcar, very close to death, “just wanting to sleep, why don’t they let me sleep.” Drifting in and out of consciousness, he heard voices saying “they’re bringing soup, they have bread.” Someone picked him up by the shoulders. In his delirium, he thought “no, no, they're not gonna kill me, not now, after so much time, no…” His eyes closed, he picked up a wooden shoe and hit the person as hard as he could, then opened his eyes. “A soldier, a young, American soldier was looking at me…and he was crying. He said ‘I’m not here to kill you — I’m here to liberate you. You’re free…’”
It has been some years since I saw that museum. I was with my daughter, and I didn't make it through the first floor before breaking down. It is a place that every American should see, to understand what happened, so that it never happens again.
I visited the Holocaust museum in Israel. The exhibit containing the pile of children's shoes brought me to my knees. At that time I wondered how the neighbours to the camps could keep quiet. Now I know.
We're discussing where to visit in Europe latter this year (if we can). Though Sainte-Mère-Église and less known Sainteny where one uncle died, are on a wish list, I believe a visit to Dachau will mean even more to me from the lessons of a lifetime from my parents who visited it in 1947.
Well, do you want to remain ignorant that’s up to you. I now have about 3000 likes for people that agree with all kinds of things that I post it here… not to mention that you guys represent less than 2% of the Democrat population of this country let alone all Americans in general. …. as you are points, 0625%. Of the American population.
Right nobody here gives a flying shit about telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, including the author.
Reading this, I am brought to tears...by the sacrifices that day and by how FAR we have fallen as a country, in our "leadership." What on Earth would Ike think?
Ike feared for us. He wanted us to know what they encountered because he said that at some point in history, someone would say that the evil never happened. He knew his fellow men.
It was Ike who ordered his subordinates to go into nearby towns and villages to round up local people, particularly anyone connected with the regime — mayors, police (if they could find them), aldermen, gauleiters — making them come to the camps to see for themselves. And work. Thousands of corpses all over the ground had to be buried in mass graves — typhus was raging.
Locals picked up the corpses with their own hands and threw them into prepared pits. The Mayor of Ohrdruf — the first camp GIs had liberated —together with his wife buried bodies all day long. They went back home thar first day and committed suicide, leaving behind a note with just one sentence: “we didn’t know, but we knew.”
Ike didn’t want Germans to be able to deny the Holocaust later on by saying ‘well, I never saw any so-called atrocities’ or ‘both sides do bad things in war.’ He said as much out loud — ‘I bear witness,’ he wrote ‘in case there ever comes a time people want to ascribe to “propaganda” acts of degradation and bestiality the likes of which have never been seen before.’ The exact words are on a wall ar the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Thank you, Ike also had a film made, saw it once on PBS, hope to never see it again. He said that eventually some would deny it, but we can thank him for the truth that is before us, despite the propaganda
I've been thinking lately that Ken Burns needs to make a documentary about January 6th., so that history will know what happened that day. Donald Trump and his supporters continue to white wash it - like it was nothing and claim that his supporters didn't attack the Capitol police and desecrate our Capitol.
I felt that I had only run into one truly evil person until the political focus on power and greed, deliberately and with malice. I had not lived a sheltered life, but not a life of abuse and hate. I agree that the dark side of human nature is much more prevalent than I had assumed. The religious evil is still shocking. I thought we had put the inquisition in the trash bin. Not so…
You are right, we should be but...are 'we'? 250 years ago, those people KNEW many were going to die too. Are we willing to make that sacrifice 🤔. If not for ourselves, then at least for our children and grandchildren! Heather's Letter about The Greatest Generation and Normandy ( joined by so many other countries) and General Eisenhower's willingness to accept all blame/ responsibility if the gamble failed.....I just can't help but wonder what this 'Generation ' is made of. I so hope and pray it doesn't come to proving it, by the numbers of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters that are lost. Thank you Professor Heather Cox Richardson for tonight's Letter. The first comment I read said reading about this always made that person weep....as I am now, writing this. So proud of those....kids, so many of them and the leadership from our nation!!!
How do we identify our foes accurately. How long might it take to get all of the new laws in order. Everyone says they love our country, but then they lie about everyone else. And then if the moneyed people own the courts. We could be good people again!
Really it should take less time than it did to dismantle them. Just reverse. However, that opportunity was not taken during the intervening four years, and I highly doubt democrats have the organization and the spine.
Ooooooops. Nor Joe Biden …Nor Bill Clinton. …Nor Barack Obama. And that’s the problem with this Substack. They’re just not fair minded at all. Nor do they have their eyes and ears open! Just the left eye and the left ear. As proven by your post Apache.
Hello Rick.... DJT's Father was of Military Age at that Time, but Fred Trump got a Draft Deferment... No Member of this Trump Clan, which is now 5-Generations on this Continent, has Served in Uniform... On this Continent, my Family goes back for over a 1,000 Generations.... Each Generation Has Served....
I’m going to question your comment about 1000 generations that’s essentially. Approximately 20 years per generation or more that’s 20000 years. Hmmmmm. I would love to see those records. Omg.
And your point is. ? Would you like me to name the list of about 1 million people or so that fit that exact description ? Isn’t it quite amazing that you’re being so selective?
And you should be very proud of your family. And you should not be judging anyone else’s family, where you don’t know all the details not that it matters. Whatever they did, they did it to themselves. And they came out on the other end the way they came out. There are people’s families from 1776. That have never served. Would you like to make a point?
There are many ways to serve your country by the way
Many people like Bill Clinton perhaps or Barack Obama perhaps or Joe Biden perhaps we’re not necessarily suited for military service however, in Bill Clinton’s case, he made sure he was not suited by fleeing to England and still got elected president hmmmmm
And what’s really funny Candace is people don’t like when you talk about Joe Biden because he’s no longer president but I keep reminding people that FDR is still remembered because he is still technically president because his policies are still alive
As are 15 or so million illegal immigrants. Thank you Joe Biden.
Why are you still plaguing those of us who walk without knuckle dragging?!?
As no human being is "illegal", there is no such thing as an "illegal immigrant". And even if there were, such long suffering and hard striving humans are not the sine qua non of all things plaguing our Puritan Republic, as you and your idiotic cohorts constantly bellow about.
Well, then, Daniel, you should probably wake up and realize that if we opened our borders to anybody two things would occur… One we would be the most populated country in the world. And two we would not be able to sustain life economically any longer here in America as we do today. That’s why we miraculously have borders just like every other country in the world has borders.. So much for your ignorance. Try going to Mexico without a passport. Try getting into Canada without a passport. It’s great to have fantasies there, Daniel. But try to keep them more personalized so you don’t look like a knuckle dragger
We have a quota here designed by our political class and should they want to increase the number of immigrants they permitt to enter this country all they have to do is vote for it. And you’re so fucking racist you don’t even.
The population of the United States doesn’t care where legal immigrants come from. Only that they’re here I have the right to be here.
I would love to come and try to bail you out of a Mexican prison for crossing the border illegally as an example. The lack of comprehension of real life amazes me sometimes here.
Bullshit. Try staying there! Try receiving any benefits from the Mexican government?
Try getting a job legally. Please don’t tell me you don’t show ID when you going to Mexico through legal means. Because I would call you a liar number one and I would tell you you’re doing it surreptitiously
I have crossed into Mexico many, many times at Algodones, San Luis and Tecate. Never showed anything. I WAS NOT speaking about anything but crossing. I was simply stating my experience of CROSSING INTO Mexico. I have waited 2-3 hours or more to cross back into the states and my families have been in the USA since the 1600s. You sir have very little worldly knowledge and the aptitude of a Neanderthal. Anybody know how I can block this AH?
That is correct. I didn’t forget anything. Do you know the reason? Do you know what their legal status was when you say illegal? Do yourself a favor don’t tell half the story here or a partial story… tell the complete story. And below this is not even the complete story. It’s amazing how you people try to get away with exactly what Heather gets away with. I’ll tell you part of the story but not the whole story
It was not Ronald Reagan Well, Reagan doesn’t make the laws he signs the mental law based on an approval of Congress.
End it made it illegal ILLEGAL To knowingly hire an illegal immigrant!! This is how Heather gets away with it she doesn’t tell you the whole story most of the people here they see a headliner like in a jump on it like a bitch in heat
Law that criminalized a "pattern or practice" of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants
The Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986. The Immigration Reform and Control Act legalized most illegal immigrants who had arrived in the country prior to January 1, 1982. The act altered U.S. immigration law by making it illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and establishing financial and other penalties for companies that employed illegal immigrants. Nearly three million people applied for legalization under the IRCA
As my post seemed to disappear midstream. so I am starting over.. I have visited Normandy and the cemetery five times and it is a very moving place. If my partial post shows up elsewhere with this information I’m sorry, but I could not find it to finish so I’ll finish here
As moving as the cemetery is , which is an amazing place, a more moving cemetery is nearby of the Canadians who died. And while they were only crosses and Jewish stars at Normand, the Canadian cemetery has headstones. Where you read and feel the sadness of the parents that came to bury their children.
And without knowing it one of the times that I was there with friends to Pay our respects, we actually stayed at a Château, which is now a hotel only to find out that it’s right outside of Canadian burial ground where they blatantly shot 150 unarmed soldiers/prisoners
At a place called Château d Adrieau which we later discovered was a Nazi officers barracks during the war.
I love these reminders of the invasion of Normandy, as well as the rest of our history. My father didn’t land on June 6th but was on a ship with his truck waiting for the signal to finally come ashore. From there he went on to fight until the end of the war. I have copies of the letters he wrote and saved and the memories of hearing him talk of that time. Many of those memories are still so clear to me. We lost him in 1985. I’ll be 80 in August. I know how important it is that history is passed down accurately and completely. Thank you for all you do.
Yes, as we're grounded in the humanity of others -- their complications, their contexts -- we can respond more vitally to those contexts as we also become better able to see them hitting others.
I like the personal scores many enter here on mostly earlier family members, as if those now doing the writing have enlarged personal capacities due to the good debts now constantly due those earlier others.
Of all the lunatic, psychotic, grotesquely stupid, pointlessly offensive actions our Moron-in-Chief has undertaken, few feel as cruel, as dumb, as generationally destructive as the GOP’s treatment of Canada.
Do none of them remember Juno Beach? Did any of them give a flying flamingo about the kindnesses shown to us by the people of St John’s — all those in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — who offered their homes, food, support to thousands of US-bound passengers whose flights got diverted to Canada on 9/11?
Have they forgotten how the Canadian Embassy bestowed Canadian citizenship (and matching, forged passports) to seven American hostages smuggled out of Iran in 1979? Did they pretend to forget all the signs and newspaper headlines in America at the time, saying “Merci, Canada!”?
I sure haven’t. You don’t do that to trusted friends the way this asshole has unless you’re a psychopath. You do not treat people who bled for you, fought with you, supported you, by slapping them in the face.
Trump did it but they all endorsed it. No words to describe these shabby little men and women of today’s Repulsican Party.
By the way, I am very moved and motivated by the sympathies of people here regarding World War II, especially those having love ones who went there to protect our freedom and our sovereignty. It is the last war that we have actually won
When this is all over, those gallant Canadians will forgive us. As long as we recognize our mistakes and admit to them. We should be emulating Canadian kindness. Maybe we can become a province of Canada!
Well, two things barry… number one proof about illegal immigration, oops…. So you can’t easily immigrate to Canada Well you fell right into my trap….. but it’s OK if we allow illegal immigration. Ooooops. And yes, Canada has strict immigration rules just like we do
and number two you should check out what Canada’s requirements are because you would HAVE TO QUALIFY… WHICH IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE UNITED STATES . Ooops #2.
And you can stay here with Trump, Rick, and create an even bigger cess pool than Trump has already created. Just stop commenting on Heather’s posts, Rick. Like all the MAGAs you take the joy out of everything with your ugliness.
You know how ridiculous you sound why don’t you go ahead and try to name the cesspool that Trump is creating according to you because he’s creating just the opposite right here in America and making America greater again. .. so go ahead define the cesspool that you’re talking about you’ve just been so inculcated with lies…. Then I would just love to hear your problems with America under Trump. I need the humor.
Aside; I learned yesterday my sycophantic republican senators—deeply Christian, mind you—voted to pay J6 criminals for their crimes. So much for Nixon’s ‘law and order’ party.
I’m retiring in Sept. My first trip is to Canada for all the reasons you’ve stated. (Never drop any dollars south of the Mason Dixon…and a few others north of it.)
Looking forward to their delightful country….and another opportunity to say “Merci.”
I've seen very moving videos on the risks Canadians took delivering food to civilians in the Netherlands while it was still under control of German forces, trusting the truce negotiated that allowed them to bring the food in, with convoys of unarmed supply trucks.
I have to believe the German command structure was at least aware of what the consequences to them personally would be, but also had some remnants of humanity.
And there you go, you fucked up again you gotta take some of those TDS pills or some anti-psychosis drugs to try to get some of that heat out of your system… or the next 3 to 11 years are going to be very tough on you
Yes, spinning Truth can be very painful for folks like you but nothing but blind hatred in their hearts, and not much in their minds, which is that thing 3 feet above their ass
But please, if you’d like to continue to try to unspin the truth.
My father also landed on Utah Beach. He was 30 years old in 1944 and had quit his law practice to join the Army in 1940. His wife--my mother--was pregnant with me as he dogpaddled ashore on June 6. He didn't describe the events until October. Here's his narrative in a letter to his parents, which was also published in his home town (Cheyenne, WY) paper. Thought you might be interested:
"October 7, 1944
"As you say, the Germans are quite stubborn about giving up. As a matter of fact, they fight very well, and unless the home front blows up on them or there is a great political upheaval, the Wehrmacht will have to be beaten insensible. Even the impressed Poles and Russians they have fighting for them are quite hard to get along with.
"Today I had a bath and put on clean clothes, and as a result I feel ten pounds lighter and have caught cold. The baths come so far apart that I'm afraid they're a detriment health, rather than a benefit. Anyway, I've never felt at home in the water since we waded ashore on D-day.
"I don't think I ever gave you the details on that little episode. When we were eating lunch just before it was time to put in – we were on one of those fancy little LCI jobs like you see disgorging soldiers in Life – the skipper said quite casually that he hoped we wouldn't have to wade in through more than five feet of water. Since the waves were fairly high, that didn't leave me feeling so good, particularly since the water was full of jelly fish and I didn't care about having them floating in and out of my mouth. But just as we were getting ready to chance it, a man came by with a smaller craft and the skipper made a deal with him to take us in, assuring us that by this means we could get in much closer. So we made the transfer and started out, assuming that we wouldn't have to wade in anything more than ankle deep.
"Finally this little boat ran aground and the front end was lowered, forming a ramp for landing. By that time we were close enough to see what was going on on the beach and had considerably lost our enthusiasm for visiting France, but since someone had to go, Boers [say: Berss) and I, who were closest anyway, started down the ramp. The ramp turned out to be a snare and delusion, because the damned thing missed reaching the bottom by about two feet. Boers got to the end before I did and promptly disappeared from view except for his right hand, which continued to hold out of the water a roll of maps. Seeing his plight, I stopped and felt out the edge of the thing and got in a little less impulsively. By the time I was in, Boers was back up, a little blue in the face but otherwise intact, and we started for the beach, the water lapping at our Adam's apples and the jelly fish threatening to crawl in any minute. It was almost half a mile to shore and very tiring to move, so we were pretty dead beat when we got there. About 100 yards out, with the end in sight, Boers stepped in the crater caused by the explosion of a mine and went under again. Once more you could see nothing but the roll of maps; then his head came up and he yelled, “Don't worry about me. I'm all right.” Then he disappeared again. He came out several times, each time assuring us that he was quite O.K., and each time going down before he had any more than got the words out of his mouth. Of course he wasn't all right – nobody was, at that point – and, what's more, no one gave a damn. We just wanted to get out of the water. Ultimately we got ashore on all fours and the war was on. It was all deadly serious at the time, but we get hysterical every time the subject comes up.
"I wish I could tell you about something brave and heroic that I did on the beach, but it just didn't happen that way. Upon getting out of the water, I was firmly convinced that my equipment had to be redistributed before I could engage the enemy, so I stopped to get rid of the life preserver which I'd never inflated and at the same time throw away my field glasses and few other pieces of excess baggage. Upon getting all that done I looked around and discovered to my horror that everyone had gone. I had only the vaguest idea where our assembly area was but I finally found a hole in the sea wall and started inland. Right away I found some other members of the party who had got lost, so I gathered them together, and we picked our way through the German artillery fired and in due time found the outfit. If I had been lost for a month, I couldn't have been more overjoyed at finding someone I knew. It was a great day – I'll never forget it."
He was Captain John Miller -- like Tom Hanks in the movie.
"I wish I could tell you about something brave and heroic that I did on the beach, but it just didn't happen that way." Clearly, your heroic father has some kind of sense of humor, David Miller. You must be proud. Hell, I'm proud for you just reading his letter. Thanks for posting it.
My dad’s letters to his parents hinted at where he was since he was not allowed to say. One said something like he was in the name of the girl who lived next door (Nancy, France).
One of the revealing aspects of reading the old letters is finding the occasional square hole, carefully excising a forbidden reference with a razor cut. (Of course, it also took out random information on the back side, too, which can be frustrating for the transcriber.) One such forbidden reference would be to a location. In a combination of annoyance and amusement, Dad once told his folks back in Cheyenne, WY, that he was currently "in a place very much like home but also very different." He told me that he never got bridged the cultural gap between himself and the Brits. For example, when he made a bad pool shot in Cheyenne, he get a good razzing from his friends. In England, his fellow pool players would say--condescendingly--"Good try, Old Boy" or some such. (He was not so impressed with the French, either, but that's another story.) You can take the boy out of cowboy country, but you can't take the cowboy out of the boy.
What nations would follow Trump’s Disunited States today? Not only are we moving nationally closer to fascism than democracy, but Trump has driven away major allies with his absurd tariffs and disrespectful rhetoric, while his military prances around the world thumping its scrawny chest. I want to believe that Trumpism can be defeated, but it may so infest our national institutions that it cannot be eradicated.
Although his influence has been and continues to be terrible, I must continue to believe that we the people will ultimately survive his and the oligarchs' forays into fascism and will emerge victorious over Trump, his cabinet of miscreants and Project 2025 authors and the billionaires and think tanks supporting him.
Do you know if you guys would put Project 2025 in your back pocket and realize that it doesn’t exist although you may not know it …but it is true that Joe Biden adopted some of the issues actually in project 2025. Ooooops
Perhaps you didn’t notice there mother… that’s all was going good when talking about the sadness of the second world war and Normandie
I did not interrupt such a discussion. I interrupted our discussion as soon as somebody decided to make a totally negative remark well, trying to relate the Contant of these kind words and remembrances of our lost soldiers. And try to drag Trump into this. For which there was no applicable or sensible reason.
I actually was complementing gum I was actually with sympathetic with the sentiments of most of these posts, in fact, explaining that I have been to Normandy on five different occasions to honor and recollect the memory of the loved and lost
And even bother to suggest that those that might visit there, go visit the Canadian cemetery as well, which is a lot more expressive because it contains headstones and sayings from their parents
Barry, it’s only disunited because of your hate… it would be wonderful if you haters could do exactly what Gingrich and Clinton did ….and got together in support of one another or set them in a room and came to an agreement on policies and laws, etc.
Unfortunately, the Democrat party doesn’t want any part of anything that comes out of Trump‘s mouth, regardless of the fact that if Biden did exactly the same things you’d be standing with a flag in your hand and cheering. Alas, all The Democrats want is control. So Endeth the lecture.
Hey barry, if you were a fair-minded person you would already know, but you don’t even think to look. They should’ve backed a big beautiful bill, especially for the part where it pays homage to every American that doesn’t pay as much tax as the others
And this is the usual pathetic nonsense where is my responsibility, somehow to demonstrate fairness, when not not one out of 100 participants here do so themselves
And I would be willing to bet like I have many times that I will never hear from you again
And frankly, based on your question, and your lack of investigating yourself, you tell this group everything they want to know about your BIAS
In addition, if you are a true American, and believe in the law, as many of the people here seem to use as a lever, which is fine The first thing they should’ve backed in his first time is building the wall, so the illegals could not get in and take advantage of benefits, but they’re not entitled to …..But in his second term they could’ve backed, and they still could be backing removing everybody here who’s here legally
And if you’re a fair-minded person, you should list all the reasons why they should not be here
Trump actually invented a way to reduce tax responsibility on a majority of Americans that don’t pay their fair share of tax. The bottom, 50% of income taxpayers Barry only pay 3% of income tax.
And it’s people like you that are automatically anti-Trump without even looking to be fair. So every president puts out a list of accomplishments as they go. You can find them under http://whitehouse.gov. And there is a list of what they do in their accomplishments and their laws and policies that they have been active on behalf of the American people.
Usually it would be slanted towards that president and you have the right to Challenge
It… evaluate it. And then come here and comment on it.
In May of this year.. I made a list of 20 accomplishments that I evaluated as some of the things that Trump did and everybody saw them here and this is a far left wing website and I only got a half a dozen comments back. That disagreed to a minimal extent… most people read the title or the headline, and changed the subject and went onto another alternative item on which they could complain.
But if you are a fair minded individual, then you should go check it out
Rick, I feel sorry for you because like most Trump supporters who will never benefit from Trump’s corruption you never state, maybe never even realize, what’s behind your support.
Trump’s anti “illegal” immigrant position is there because it brings out levels of fear and hatred in folks like you that lead you to support him while he violates every standard of decency the mind can imagine.
Don’t fall for the crap that comes out of the mouth of a lifelong huckster.
By the way, lastly, since I was correct about what I saw, your behavior was going to be, was no surprise to me. You were like every other fucking moron that doesn’t understand the responsibilities of a president. Let me see if I can be clear to you because most of you want to president Trump SPECIFICALLY… On the things he may have done before he became president
But none of that matters once he becomes president. A president signs laws into effect once Congress approves them. He also has some Liberty to produce policies that he feels are right for America. And Congress has the right to refute them , deny them , reject them, thereby making them moot… and defund them if necessary.
Harry, Truman as an example killed a half 1 million defenseless citizens…
Lyndon Johnson killed 56,000 Americans For no reason whatsoever
Presidents are judged by the actions they take as president What I love about the hypocrisy of the left they’re willing to forgive and forget their own….because they wanna give somebody a second chance, so they empathize
But not if the person is on the opposite side of the political aisle
You actually forgave Bill Clinton for desecrating the sacred House of our political system Not only during his presidency, but many times before his presidency..
Gennifer Flowers comes to mine as well as the $850,000. He paid Paula Jones will you let him off the hook? But you tried to make Trump look bad for the $80,000 he paid a porn star prostitute. But it didn’t work. Thank goodness it didn’t
What did I tell you Barry did you look it up? Did you look at his accomplishments?
You’re just another loser not enough ammunition to wiggle yourself out of a paper bag
Do you want to feel sorry for me? I would piss on your pity. I told you that you were biased, but you didn’t bite. So you continue to go on your merry way and remain swimming in the same piss like everybody else here pretty much
You are amongst the millions of people here that used to be members of the Twitter social media site , which at the time was 85% Democrat and 50% Republican
And I never did any any any any social media until I found out and investigated Twitter’s population. And the minute that Elon Musk bought Twitter and it became a 52% Democrat 42% Republican side. Hundreds and thousands of weaklings and haters and scumbags left the site and went to blue sky. We didn’t have to hear an opposing position. And there they commiserate with all the other losers that couldn’t take the heat of the truth. Go take a look in the mirror, Pal. I see who you are
And if you ever wanna become relatively levelheaded, then go back to the last three or four presidents look at their whitehouse.gov accomplishments, and evaluate them appropriately. Until then, you’re just another BIASED, HATEFUL loser…
The Normandy landing was a gamble. So many were lost as the Germans were prepared and pushed back. Without the massive naval and air support, many more would have been lost. I was not there. I can only think of my friends lost in the late sixties. I was not there to save them with my shooting skills from 14 years old onward. It was a different war in the sixties.
WWII was an all out slaughter on all sides of it. It is good to remember it and Vietnam. It is better
to make sure we never have to do it again. Peace . . .
Hate to tell you, Bill, but we are doing it again.
On the January streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul as fascist ICE and CBP marauded and murdered.
Adjoining all those neighborhoods across the U.S. where the most cruel of concentration camps have been set up so the horribly fed and without medicine in them all exhibit a U.S. now largely turned blind to and contemptuous of the rule of law.
Blind, deaf and dumb Phil weighing in here. You poor dear you just can’t help yourself. Not sure where you live, but apparently they took more than a couple billion dollars of your money and stole it. And over 100 of them are now serving prison time for just that so you keep talking about all the good folks of Minnesota and there are many but there are obviously many bad ones and they’re still getting bagged today
Bill, well if you’re talking about Vietnam, you have only one MAIN INDIVIDUAL TO THANK. With the assistance of John Kennedy, who was probably one of our best president ever,.. you should thank none other than Lyndon Johnson for killing 56,000 of our American soldiers/young men. . And I believe he was a Democrat.
We should’ve never been there in the first place nor Korea, nor Afghanistan, Nori rack, nor Libya. And unfortunately, we lost all those wars since World War II
But we were about to win a war. We haven’t won in 80 years. And hopefully it will bring peace to not only the region, but the entire planet
Oh I love this one. I’m guessing and I’m not sure but I’m guessing you’re trying to post Russian language here. And if so, let me easily demonstrate your ignorance.
If you want to talk about Russian influence and interference, please confirm that and I would be more than happy to pour you a glass of champagne. Although it might slip out of my hand all over your head. And make you a wet head. So please confirm the language you’re trying to use there and I would be most happy to destroy your attempt to give #MIN the current president and show you the proof of just the opposite
I had read quite a bit about the land forces of WW2, but it wasn't until I read the newest book from frequent commentor here TcinLA, the stories of the aviators of WW2. Amazing stories of bravery, as many did not return. Also amazing is the bombing missions to take out the oil refineries, as here we are, decades later, and the need for oil is causing havoc on the world economy. Take a fight to the death but put it in 3D! ("Bloody Skies" by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver)
Just imagine if we could truly embrace green energy! China is doing so, and they are beating us to the punch on electric vehicles as well. All these opportunities missed.
My Uncle drove an ambulance during the Pearl Harbor attack and served in the Pacific arena. A friend told me about his landing on Omaha Beach. 17 years old. I shot, hit the sand, shot, ran, hit the sand...
Yes, FDR that much earlier indeed knew "the troops were actually in the vessels, on the way across.”
We're in similar vessels now. Not facing booby-trapped, massively barbed-wire entangled beaches, with concrete pillboxes raining deadly fire on them.
But facing similarly deadly reincarnations of fascism -- ours yet in power today not just with an ideology of racial supremacy for some, but with an even more massive phalanx for corruption -- all those of criminal Donald's pal Jeffrey, plus the social media billionaires and their algorithms set to spreading hatreds and sensationalism, media billionaires just aiming to collapse all news and entertainment into criminal-Donald suck-ups, and the usual standardized testing billionaires ever zeroed in on the anesthetization and silo-neuterdom we've suffered for decades already.
Thank you once again. The sacrifices that so many made must never be forgotten. Fresh tears are more than appropriate as is resolve to defeat today’s fascists.
I would like to remember members of the French Resistance who sabotaged German trains on their way to the coast and thus reduced the numbers of German soldiers available for battle.
My dad jumped into Holland with the 82nd Airborne Division for Operation Market Garden in September, 1944. The bravery exhibited by these young men always brings me to tears.
I've followed this will hold since the election and learned a lot. I finally subscribed - have wanted to, but old and concerned about finances so there's only a few I have finally subscribed to. Heather Cox Richardson was the first! I've been following her for a long time! Finally got kicked off Facebook in February. Meta wasn't liking my posts! Thanks for sending me a share. Limited time to explore all of my subscriptions on Substack. Glad you have the time! Thank you!
This story always makes me weep. Those boys were so young and had so much courage. They understood the assignment...
So how is it today we have become that hated fascist nation?
How is it that Congressional Republicans are holding the rest of us hostage ?
Where are we failing to let our representatives know we won’t take it any more? And if they can’t act with integrity and patriotism and defend our constitution (as they swore to do) we will do whatever we must to rescue our liberties, our freedoms and our democracy, indeed our nation from tyranny and the dictator.
What. Ever. It. Takes.
I think we got lazy. We were fat and happy and ignored that our representatives were doing the work of corporate interests, not our.
I am thankful that Trump is a poor-planning idiot who cannot hide his intentions. Think how bad it would be if he were clever and stealthy! Maybe it's a good thing that Trump's insane bumbling has awoken us.
Time to take back governance. Whatever it takes!
Trump may be a poor planning idiot, but Trump did not plan what got us here. It was the Republican uber-rich who funded the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, who laid the plans for the current authoritarian regime. The progression was laid out in all the many iterations of Project XXXX over the years.
We can't afford to think that if we get rid of Trump, we are "safe." All of those oligarchs and their money are still going to be there and will fight hard to maintain the system that enriches them.
The Nazis in World War II were uprooted by armed force, and the wealth of the fascist industrialists was destroyed. Democracy was rebuilt on the ashes of Europe, where authoritarianism was discredited in Western Europe. That was not the case in Eastern Europe, which led to another more than 40 years of dictatorships until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Our task is different. We will have to rebuild our democracy with the array of political forces and corrupted institutions still in play against us, with new factors coming on the scene, like AI-driven disinformation and climate change, that will be economic and societal disruptors. It is going to be a long process, made more difficult by the enormous concentration of wealth in the 1% in the United States, where the behind-the-scenes political power resides.
Oh I agree 100%. What I was trying to say was that I am happy Trump is such a fumbling idiot that he has shown us all the plans instead of being clever and stealthy so we don't know what's coming. He can't keep a secret to save his life! He'd much rather brag about how clever he is. And that exposes what's planned and in the works.
We do need to reform our government. We need a New Nuremberg to rout out and punish all the collaborators. And then we have to rebuild a government that is not based on "norms" and "Gentlemen's agreements".
We need to begin with the elimination of corporate money from politics. First follow Hawaii and Montans in redefining corporations as entities that cannot donate to campaigns. Then end Citizens United. for good SuperPACs must be outlawed and any candidate who takes money from anyone but constituent funds must be prosecuted for corruption. (We already have anti-corruption laws that we do not enforce.) Then we need a tax system that levels the rich and uplifts the poor (like it used to be in the 1950s when we were the most prosperous country in the world). We need to act like the wealthiest country in the world by providing healthcare, education, and a social safety net to all our citizens and legal residents. We need to enact and enforce a federal minimum wage based on the cost of living and we need to protect workers from corporate exploitation by strong labor legislation. No more "employed at will". We need to implement a justice system that is truly color blind and outlaw private prisons and the prisoner exemption to the 13th Amendment.
And we need to not get tired and stop halfway. We need to not say "It's over. Let's just move on." We cannot move on. The system was broken before Trump kicked it to pieces. We need to fix everything.
Joanne Freeman had one of her history chats yesterday on the topic of "norms" and how Trump and SCOTUS have destroyed the norms surrounding the concepts of "justice" and the rule of law by their politicization of the DOJ. How can we trust in government if there is no longer an institution that fights for justice for the people?
Precisely. That is why we must reform the DOJ. I think an integral part is getting money out of politics. The DOJ is meant to be apolitical. It must return to that ethos. And we must put in place guardrails that cannot be so easily violated by an Executive who disagrees. Truly, we need to make the President a servant of the people, not the master of anything.
Joanne Freeman is very good... with her bird in the background. She has insight and is positive.. I love when she gets together with HCR.
"Norms" make my blood boil!
We also need to recognize the limitations and criminal behavior of our allies who became yokes around the necks of the American people. Nations and their leaders, such as Israel, have long had their claws in our belly, bottom feeding from the treasury of the US. They have long been embarrassing us with their criminal and illegal theft of Palestinian land and invasions of Lebanese and invasions and theft of Syrian lands. We also need to remember on, June 8, 1967, an anniversary date just two days away, the unbridled assault in international waters, on the USS Liberty that was eavesdropping on Israeli war plans against Syria. To make sure there were no witnesses, the Israelis commenced to bomb, strafe, and torpedo this valiant ship and its crew. More than 70 of our sailors were murdered and more than 140 were severely injured. Although the initial explanation by Israel was that they had mistaken the USS Liberty for a nefarious looking foreign freighter, there was no mistaking the 5 by 8 foot flag flying from the center mast of the ship, nor was there any mistake that the silhouette of both ships in question was as far apart as that with a bathtub and an aircraft carrier. As usual, the Israelis lied, as they lie pretty much about everything, including what they "fear" Iran may do to attack them using a nuclear weapon. That they were waiting for someone like Trump is no coincidence; all they needed was someone stupid enough to swallow their reasoning. Clearly, Trump was their man.
Your comment won't get many "likes," Riad, because "antisemitism." I couldn't find a source that confirms your casualty numbers. The recurring statistics I found were 34 killed and 171 wounded. Maybe the additional 36 died some time later as a result of their injuries? Otherwise, there are no errors in your account that I could find.
It occurs to me that the Israelis are the MAGA of the Middle East; they've just been at it longer. Consider the similarities.
Both groups believe in the Judeo-Christian deity. Both groups believe that the Israelis are "God's chosen people" which exempts them from conventional rules of law. Both groups believe they (Israelis and MAGA) are perpetually under attack by godless leftists. Both groups believe this ongoing "persecution" justifies their aggression against "the other." Both groups are led by leaders who are avoiding imprisonment by lying to and manipulating their followers.
I don't think it's just Trump.
It's a neofascist GOP that needs Bibi to do the dirty work for them. There's a reason why they want to install a "Board of Peace" as alternative to the US in the Middle East: it's because the region is full of fascist regimes, and where the UN is neutral to pro-democracy, the Board of Peace will be pro-fascism, an international organization located in Gaza, owned by a fascist US, and designed to destroy democracies everywhere and to solve conflicts among fascist states in a peaceful way, through sheer corruption, so that fascism can thrive.
None of this is about Trump.
Read Gil Duran, see what the tech billionaires have been calling "Network States" (a reality already, including in China - see historian Quinn Slobodian's book "Crack-up Capitalism" for the details).
This has been going on inside the GOP and independently of Trump. Trump is merely their distracter in chief, so that they can move forward with their plan while we all have TDS.
I agree with you, Kass. But I do want to point out that the 1950s were good for whites only, not anyone else. So to me, the 1950s weren't really so great.
Yes, 100% true. I used "the 1950s" because it is generally looked upon as "when life was good in the US." Of course that is a statement of white privilege. It has never been good for all Americans, not any time in our history.
The rebuilding we're about to do is a perfect opportunity to change that and truly make it good for all!
Very true. I think FDR was a Democrat who held his nose, accepted that compromise was built in to our liberal democracy, and, in the interest of not making "perfect be the enemy of good,” accepted the demands of southern Democrats that segregation would be included in some New Deal legislation including Social Security. I sometimes think modern Democratic leaders should let that be a lesson to them. Agree? It’s a contentious issue.
I am not so sure we have a clue as to what is coming Kass.
True. After every insane thing that's happened, how could we possibly!
Kass McGann, this was new to me, "First follow Hawaii and Montana in redefining corporations as entities that cannot donate to campaigns.” Thanks for it!
I especially agree with this part of your comment: “(W)e need a tax system that levels the rich and uplifts the poor (like it used to be in the 1950s when we were the most prosperous country in the world). We need to act like the wealthiest country in the world by providing healthcare, education, and a social safety net to all our citizens and legal residents. We need to enact and enforce a federal minimum wage based on the cost of living and we need to protect workers from corporate exploitation by strong labor legislation.”
I think those comments reflect the liberal consensus that influenced government so strongly during the era you point to. Heather Cox Richardson reminds us of it often. It included some Republicans and I’m tempted to think Eisenhower was one of them. Just two days ago she wrote: "The [Trump] administration has always been an alliance of groups and people that oppose the so-called liberal consensus: the idea that the U.S. government should regulate business, provide social welfare programs, promote infrastructure projects, protect civil rights, and support a rules-based international order."
Eisenhower was definitely one of them if anything I've read about him is true. The liberal consensus is alive today. They say 80% of US citizens support universal healthcare, education, a social safety net, etc. But our reps in Congress vote according to coporate interests, not ours. Which is why the first thing we have to do is permanently remove money from politics. If the Congressional salary isn't enough for our reps, they shouldn't run for office.
Every Dem running needs to be asked how they will reform government as you stated above. And hold them accountable!!!
Public financing for every level of government and total public disclosure of who funds political advertising, along with government regulation of all AI-driven Social Media and sources of propaganda that can manipulate the public, are required to insure a healthy democracy.
100%! Other countries have this. Why not us?
Well said! Your last paragraph especially. I’d add a part of it to the slogan started above in these comments by Dirk F.
“Whatever It Takes. We Cannot Move On.”
Very accurate and prescient, Georgia.
While it was certainly not Heather's intent to wax nostalgic, as her lovely piece commemorating the D Day anniversary was spot on, we must move away from retrospect and fast forward to the present and the immediate future. Trump himself, as obnoxious, vulgar, corrupt, idiotic and destructive as he is, is simply the tip of the iceberg
During Biden, I wrote a letter to him expressing a need to communicate directly to the public in the form of a fireside chat maybe monthly chat. For some unknown reason, he didn’t take my advice.
Biden gave several of the best speeches of my lifetime. And his delivery was about like mine would be -- meh!
What Biden lacked in charisma he made up for it in assembling the best cabinet and team of any President ever. And he did it with a Senate of old farts and Republicans. And the House barely had a majority. He was in his element when he was twisting arms, one on one, not giving press conferences to oligarch owned MSM journalists.
Over 74,000 infrastructures projects were funded and initiated under Biden, many of which replaced crumbling bridges, roads, pipelines, water systems, etc. Hundreds of thousands of rural families now have high speed internet for the first time.
And what does Trump do immediately after taking office? He starts canceling these projects. And when he reinstates them, he often gives out no-bid contracts to oligarchs at many times the original bid.
Deb Haaland did an incredible job as Interior Secretary only to be replaced by an environment hating oligarch.
The list goes on. Does Trump even have ONE SINGLE competent advisor or cabinet member other than perhaps the Joint Chiefs and some of the military leaders?
And it's likely we will end up with a Democratic President in 2028 that will have to undo and attempt to fix many of these Trumpian messes. If you want a charismatic leader than can spew BS like Trump, you may end up with a great speaker and a less than competent President.
''It was the Republican uber-rich who funded the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, who laid the plans for the current authoritarian regime. ''
Exactly.
Don't forget ALEC and SPN as the nationwide influence on State Legislators and the multiple innocuously named State Policy Network organizations that had some multiples in some states pretending to be more more acceptable local versions, not so clearly tied to the more critically viewed ALEC driven policies.
Agree.
I believe the implied agreement was that Trump could get his time in the sun to prove his power and get the respect he never had. In addition he could steal as much money as he wants.
In return, the oligarchs would work to destroy our constitutional government and lay the foundation for a fascist, White nationalist regime while putting the capitalist elitists in charge.
It is almost as if the fascists have been waiting for the perfect storm, and it arrived in 2015. A disgruntled White working class, unwitting Democrats, some underlying cultural issues, and a long simmering pool of racists seizing an opportunity.
What may save us is that Trump is both insatiably greedy and narcissistic that he is turning off the electorate before the fascists could finish the takeover. Add in his physical and mental deterioration, and we see the rush to set up the police state.
Simplistic? Sure, but the gist of my point seems real.
Len, it's not at all happenstance; this fascist regime is the result of decades of GOP plotting and actions to bring precisely what we are dealing with today.
Agreed. Good points. I’d just say that the pool of racists was/is festering. I get the image of “ready to boil,” but it brings to mind water, or at least soup. As the racist infection reaches maturation and irruption it releases toxic, putrid pollution.
Our pot isn't overflowing, it's boiling over.
More like reasonable, Len. It may be the similar to the difference between probable and possible.
The world will be a lighter place when this president is no longer part of it.
Lighter - but not unburdened by any means. He will leave behind a wealthy class empowered like never before, and they will fight tooth and nail not only to keep, but continue to expand their empire. Much like Normandy, the war of today against fascism will hardly be over.
Not only that, there will be government agencies that need to once again be oriented to serving citizens rather than a fascist cult. The poison that has been injected into virtually every federal agency will have to be excised, and competent, compassionate, patriotic staff will have to be recruited and hired to replace those who were hounded out by this regime.
Then there is the rot at the heart of our political system. Much of what really needs to change will require constitutional amendments, but the cause needs to be undertaken. Meanwhile, Citizens United can be ended by statute, and it should be with all due dispatch.
Furthermore, ICE needs to be abolished. It is culturally flawed with a predisposition of guilt before innocence and a predilection towards violence. There is no reforming it. It needs to go. No constitutional amendment required.
Lastly, there is the issue of justice for those in this regime who have imposed all manner of inhumanities on our people, including murder. They must face justice, as did the Nazis in Nuremberg.
What makes all the above possible? We the people staging our own D-Day. Not with guns and battleships, but with our votes. We need to be the massive invasion force that liberates our own country on November 3 despite the figurative barbed wire the regime will put in our path. This is our cause and our charge.
Georgia, excellent post. We have insidious wealth against us plus climate change and A.I. as you mention. It is so dystopian. Just when the world needs wisdom and integrity to fight these things, we have death star and his minions tearing up elements like the under sea instruments they now want to destroy. My own feeling is that the those elites who think their money will save them are in for a surprise in the long run. Meanwhile they will turn every place into extraction, high end resorts (bravo Albanians), data centers that use massive amounts of water and electricity (bravo to citizens who are fighting this).
It is going to be a long process, made more difficult by the enormous concentration of wealth in the 1% in the United States, where the behind-the-scenes political power resides.
Yes,all by design Georgia.
The wealth of the German and Italian fascist industrialists in WWII was not destroyed. Much of it made its way to Argentina, Brazil and the United States. Some of that transfer was facilitated by "neutral" Swiss banks.
We can see from history that a transfer of wealth by the current Administration is happening now, either off-shore or domestically, or both, with little expectation that the inspectors general who remain after Trump's purge last year are able or willing to conduct credible audits. The two Treasury inspectors general, for example, one of whom oversees tax administration, remain unconfirmed. I wonder why.
Thanks for the historical information on the German oligarchs. They took their money with them. Thiel has already set up outposts in Honduras and Argentina.
I was thinking more in terms of the Marshall Plan and the money that had to go into rebuilding the European economies that had been devastated by the war. That provided money and jobs while democratic institutions were being built.
There will be no Marshall Plan for us post-Trump. We will have to rebuild democracy in a country burdened by massive debt in the aftermath of burst speculative bubbles and vast amounts of money wasted in bringing back coal and outdated defense tech, while the source of our former economic strength, world-class scientific research institutions, will have been destroyed.
Our former allies will not be investing here—they will be intent on strengthening their own economies since we are no longer seen as a reliable partner.
Restoring democratic institutions will be longer and harder to achieve in that environment.
Quite right, Georgia, the Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was very similar. And if you track Conservative politics from the New Deal on, you will see the long-term goals are being realized today. The Great Depression and the New Deal were the direct results of the political power weilded by the wealthy elite at that time. Some of the major inflection points that I can think of are the election of Ronald Reagan when the population as convinced that supply side (trickle down) economics was viable and incredibly still seen so today by some.
During his Presidency mandatory Civics education was ended, and the Southern Strategy was permanently ingrained in the GOP. Newt Gangrich brought the politics of hate to the GOP and it is also ingrained in the GOP, leading to utter hatred of anyone who doesn't share their political point of view. The left diligently continues to work with these hateful people, and when they do respond forcefully to the hatred, they are accused of being divisive. The AI-driven mass deception and manipulation has been used at least as long a Social Media has existed and as long as it remains unregulated will continue to manipulate the masses to let the Oligarchs do whatever they want. The toxic white evangelical Christian religion, with its 18th century values of racism and misogyny also benefit from modern AI-driven propaganda that has influenced many young men into admiring the idea of Fascist rule, they want non-white people and women to have no say in government.
I believe that the battle to save our democracy is going to be much more difficult than most people imagine. It is the entire right wing actively striving to end our democratic republic and bring about a totalitarian theocratic Fascist regime, and this election, no matter how big the blue wave is, will see every conceivable tactic to make sure the Fascist Oligarchic regime retains power.
agreed 100%. This will be America's greatest challenge post Civil War. Hope you haven't heard fortitude to fix it unlike the northerners that capitulation only 7 years after the Civil War to allow the traitors back into government. Will Americans have the fight in them?
From Day 1 of the regime, I have said that it will take violence to remove this regime, either via a civil or a world war. I am not advocating it; I am just being realistic. The corruption is far too broad and deep and history shows that even if most of the fascists were replaced via elections (unlikely), politicians won't do what it takes to prosecute the criminals and traitors, who always seem to rise again and this time with vast funding and control of the media by the oligarchs.
Hope you’re wrong but who knows?
I hope so as well!
As always thank you for your wise and insightful comments. FDR famously said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. I would add comfort, convenience and the illusion of security.It is vital that we stay vigilant putting courage, compassion and conscience above all else.
Completely agree that Project 2025 crowd are still very much around and very well funded. But we can still be glad that Trump is completely incompetent. Things could have been worse.
Unfortunately. The people and organizations that put the Trump regime in power will still be there long after they have discarded Trump.
You are so right! And if we are ever to undo these terrible forces we need to elect those who are willing to investigate, prosecute, and sentence all those who have participated in corruption, ignoring the Constitution and rule of law, violence, extra legal killing, violation of peoples’ civil rights, political retribution…
Whatever It Takes!
We will need to keep our focus on this for more than one election cycle, hard for the voters in this country.
As Sam Rayburn said, any jackass can kick down a barn. It’s the rebuilding that takes a community’s and a carpenter - or words to that effect. Thank you Joe, and whoever might arise this time to do more than document the damage. HCR not only documents but inspires, encourages, carries the torch and shines a light on the path. Will enough follow…
You've stated the ultimate question, JD. This nation of ours is not a nation of readers. I started to find that out during the W Bush years when everyone was gung-ho on going to war with Iraq. We will have to rebuild our national education infrastructure. We may be able to leave it to the individual states; however, and clearly, the feds will have to have their hands in the game. By giving the secretaryship to someone who is illiterate in matters of education, like McMahon, the states have all the power and therefore will make no effort to build ethical educational protocols that will ensure education for all and not only for the fair-haired boys. That's what project 2025 intended to do all along: use the male influence and cut out more than half the population and train the white guys growing up to handle all thinking. That of course, will only project the wealth at the expense of a deteriorating society. Do enough of us read and think along the lines of HCR, Robert Reich, those at Meidas, Paul Krugman, Robert Arnold, and the likes of all these rather brilliant folks? We are about the find out in November.
Sadly, the vocal majority seem to prefer reality tv crap, alternative facts, and the real housewives of hell, along with competitive games of ignorance. I was sure that the “silent majority” is wise but quiet, now maybe just silent to keep others from noticing the educational sinkholes all around us.
Thank you HCR, for the reminder that once upon a time we were ‘an international force’ with a General who took sole responsibility. Can you imagine that in relation to the very stupid Iranian war that’s now endangering not only the middle east, but the world?
Not all Americans got "fat and lazy". Individuals and groups throughout the U.S have worked, organized and engaged in the ongoing daily struggle to support justice. Faith groups, community groups, young people's organizations have been working as long as I can remember (I'm 76) to support democracy.
I didn't intend to imply anything negative. I should have said: "happy and satisfied with life." We got comfortable, so we stopped worrying about a lot of important concerns. Of course activists and switched-on people have always been aware and trying to remind us of these dangers all along. But you have to admit that the vast majority of Americans were too comfortable to notice.
I agree with you! I fought like crazy in High School and college for our rights! Made our voices heard. We accomplished a great deal. But then, I was busy raising a family, and living paycheck to paycheck, but I was happy and contented. I worked hard, and enjoyed my life. Then I stopped worrying about how to " fix " the misgivings of our country. I am 72 and I was really ready to enjoy my more laid back years and reap what I sowed. I am so tired of having to fight.
But I think the people in my son's age group( 30-45) didn't witness us fighting and protesting. They really had no idea. They rarely heard any objections from us politically, beyond, I like that guy, I don't like that guy. They grew up with witnessing our Comfort and they felt comfortable and didn't realize that to keep our rights as a democracy we have to be engaged. We didn't teach them to stay engaged or involved.
This Heritage group witnessed those in the 50-60 age range making fast money on wall st. They watched as people became more and more complacent.
Then Donnie came along and made it even easier for them to make money, and fed hate and finger pointing. and created the great divide of classes.
The heritage group even had the Brass ones to publicly post what their plan was. Guess what? They proved that most people were tuned out. I heard many people , who were paying attention saying, oh that could NEVER happen.........
Yup yup yup. All true. You are quite a historian, Cate. I can bear witness to the 50-60 wall street moneymakers. And I might add that the 20-somethings, who experienced active shooter drills in their schools, had no proms or homecomings because of the pandemic, and when they protested for Black Lives Matter and Gaza, saw nothing change. So I can see how they feel like they have no power, that their voices don't matter. So we have the "happy complacent", the "tired of fighting", and the "don't believe it can change" groups. It's no wonder it's such a slog. It's also no wonder that most protestors these days are your age and not mine!
And too many still are. Additionally, there are too many who have their own personal challenges that force, whether any of us like it or not, to put the nation's concerns on the back burner.
True. It's hard to care about politics when you're working two jobs just to make the rent.
The transparency of all the corruption, lying, unconstitutional acts, and so on, by this regime troubles me. How come they are doing this so brazenly? They must know there will be a reckoning, someday, somehow. Or do they believe or know that day will never come?
They don’t plan to lose again, the oligarchs are “ante ing” up as we play by the rules
That is why it troubles me.
Obviously they believe the reckoning will never happen, not the least because they know the Christian god is on their side, just as he was on the side of the Crusades, the Inquisition and the genocidal removal of the First Nations.
They also know SCOTUS is on their side, having immorally bestowed immunity on the president who will In turn give all his co-conspirators a free pass as well.
Surely not all of them truly believe that 😉.
leloupduvillage, years ago, I worked at an advertising agency that handled election campaigns for candidates at various levels, who were independents, Republicans and Democrats. From that experience, I learned a lot about politicians. I learned that, with few exceptions, they will say anything to get a vote, oft-times declaring positions in direct opposition to each other, depending on the audience.
I also learned that after spending time in office, the overwhelming majority of politicians come to believe that they are "bullet-proof," that they can "color outside the lines" of ethics and legality and not get caught. Or if they do get caught, they will be able to talk their way out of the consequences.
Unfortunately, our culture gives them good reason to believe this. Consider Donald Trump, Ken Paxton and countless others as prime examples. Politicians who get "busted" are the outliers.
The question before us now is: are there enough American voters who understand the weight that is now on OUR shoulders? We do not have to face machine gunned bunkers and land mines to eradicate fascism. All we have to do is get to the polls to cast a vote against the people who are trying to take over this country for the benefit of a few rich men. I think that once again, the 18 and 19 year olds will take up the challenge and fight for the future of this Country. It is their future they are fighting for! And it is up to us older folks to support them by voting blue in every race. No excuses! VOTE!!
Agreed!
Yes Kass, you are absolutely clear about the scumbag president but JD Vance it's not Trump. That's a big problem.
I understand your concern. But Vance has the charisma of a damp sweatsock. He won't be able to hold the various factions that brought Trump to power together. The Christian Nationalists will be for him and he;ll do the oligarchs' bidding, but the manophere hates him and the average guy-on-the-street thinks he's weird. I am not worried about Vance. I'm worried about Rubio.
Don't worry about Mini Marco, he'll be president of Cuba.😅
LOL Mamá and Popí would be so proud!
Not very worried about JD Vance. He is such a suck up that he will go with what is popular, and whatever keeps him feeling like he is important. Seeing Donnie get impeached and hopefully in a courtroom facing imprisonment will convince JD that what he thought was the way to power is actually the way to prison, he will alter his entire philosophy in a heartbeat.
When you have no principles, you can do that without one minutes understanding about what a hypocrite you are.
Sorry to say, there is truth in what you say, Kass.
Kass, that is what worries me about Vance. He is a bit smarter than Trump, is an opportunist with no moral compass, a chameleon who will do whatever will get him what he wants, even to changing water flow so he and his family can go kaiaking. I have read his "Hillbilly Ellogy" and have no clue just how much was true. I bet a lot of it is from his imagination. He has little to no sympathy for the Appalachian people, claiming "hillbilly" status when he is really from Cincinnati. That is not exactly Appalachia.
The entire length of the current presidential succession if needed to replace Trump, is populated with incompetents, self-seeking ignoramuses, pseudochristian zealots, white supremacists, and worse. The question, how can we stop this path or maybe four-lane highway to disaster! It has to be We the People who do it and a lot of folks with Dr. Richardson have some powerful ideas!
Absurd.
ALL Democrats are currently fighting back hard against fascism and even though we put them in the opposition (after historians rank the Biden administration near the top of all US presidents in terms of achievements, and with only a convicted rapist and pro-fascism party as alternative), they achieve real successes in slowing down the installation of fascism.
And a healthy democracy combines the interests of corporations and of ordinary citizens.
Moreover, because of the conservative SC's Citizens United ruling, ALL politicians are now forced to accept money from big businesses, and many of those businesses want to put themselves first.
Fortunately, Pelosi and the Democrats already passed a bill in the House that repeals Citizens United and includes many other crucial campaign reforms. Why wasn't it signed into law yet?
Not because of their or our laziness, but because of our ignorance. People don't inform themselves anymore and then indulge in the most dangerous forms of cynicism.
The bill was never signed into law because "we the people" never gave Democrats the votes needed to do so.
We only have ourselves to blame.
Yep, that’s us older folks who have stood by and let this happen.
Well said!
Whatever it takes. What a great slogan; I will be using it. I love Michelle - but this slogan is much more appropriate than the obsolete "when they go low, we go high". How sad that this is the case, but that is indeed the case.
It feels
Here’s hoping that once those fascists in the Whitehouse are shown the door, each and every one of them is held accountable for their crimes. Until then, it’s heartening to know they’ve got to look at themselves in the mirror each morning.
The fascists in the White House are not the real power. They are the employees of the oligarchs, put in place to execute Project 2025 to create a system to enrich the 1%.
How will the oligarchs be made accountable? They will argue that they just took advantage of the Citizen United's money-is-speech ruling, and the laws that the Republicans enacted for their benefit, and that the SCOTUS majority ruled were constitutional. What crimes have they committed, other than potential bribery? And will Trump pardon them all?
So true Georgia, well at least they can’t take it with them - the money that is. They will get old and sick and die just like the rest of us. And if karma or judgement day really exist then there’ll be that to contend with too. Maybe they’ll come back as roaches lol.
Kazz, some of the Richie Rich’s have established lush “boltholes” in (mostly) faraway places like New Zealand, island near Hawaii, etc., they can escape to when the rabble rises up; here is an interesting article in the Guardian from several years back on the subject: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/23/tech-industry-wealth-futurism-transhumanism-singularity. Only thing they forget is they cannot do it alone & if it gets bad enough if/when money itself is worthless, how are they going to bribe—er, pay—their helpers? There is an interesting novel w/ a plot along these lines “The Future” by Naomi Alderman. Also a slim trilogy about the collapse and recovery (sort of) of global society: John Feffer’s “Splinterlands”, “Frostlands” and “Songlands”. Sigh….we’re in a place where we could treat our “pale blue dot” like our one and only home and with “enough” resources that all could have, well, enough. Wish it were so, but not gonna hold my breath!☮️🌎
The legacy of WWII bravery is now sullied by trump tyranny and gross Republican misrule as blatant as the enemy in 1944.
How long will we let our democracy be trampled by men and women who ruthlessly serve only themselves?
I'm a postcards-to-voters writer, Kazz. Lately, I have been thinking about regularly sending a postcard to the administration's cabinet members to do just that, get them to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror and see what we see. It's the steady drumbeat of a card in their mailbox that I'm after more than anything.
Editorial: CFO Ingoglia says he hates waste – then sends gun-toting officers to ‘investigate’ a postcard
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/13/editorial-cfo-ingoglia-says-he-hates-waste-then-sends-gun-toting-officers-to-investigate-a-postcard/?share=tio5eclsasiethoeidos
It was just a matter of time before they would come for the postcarders !
Wow!
Ya.... who would have thought that one would be this thin-skinned? Oh wait.....birds of a feather.....
maybe we should send them pocket mirrors!
Wasted glass: it will crack when they see themselves.
Create postcards with the picture side saying “YOU ARE DORIAN GRAY” (or is it grey?).
Depends on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you reside. British author Oscar Wilde spelled Dorian's surname G-R-A-Y, in opposition to the accepted British spelling of the colour.
Of course, Wilde was gay. He was always doing something outrageous.
I love this Lynell, changing hearts and minds can happen in the simplest of ways. I would join you but I’m in Australia! My sister lives in Missouri - or as she calls it, ‘Misery’.
Morning, Lynell! That sounds like an excellent idea.
They only see the reflection of evil but embrace it
... and the mirror reflects what they think to be success...
And that’s the tragedy.
Indeed it is, warped from the crib
I like your style, Kazz
One part Dorothy Parker, one part Robespierre!😀
Being able to hold these people accountable to the extent that they used their power to enrich themselves will determine our future.
i could never even look in the mirror..
i dont know how they do it.
I’m amazed the mirrors don’t go crackle and pop!
Our schools lost the key tools we needed, Dirk.
Through the decades since the 1971 Powell memo, specially-dedicated and fantastically-funded far right foundations killed humanities and essay writing across U.S. ed, K-12 to “higher.”
As a consequence, our public officials and media personalities lost touch with the great novels, memoirs, histories, biographies, and other arts which had previously sharpened our abilities to see and deal with the pain in others. So, too, we lost touch with our massively damaged working classes.
Testing filled the vacuum. Its machinery rumbles on, continuing to enrich its billionaire owners while even our non-fascists have proven too-often tested, too anesthetized in the face of the fascists taking over.
After HCR’s letter today, I will forever envision President Eisenhower, pencil in-hand, leaving his final message to the ages were he to have made the wrong decision 82 years ago. The high cost of personal accountability remains a fact of life for each of us.
Yes, Phil Balla, the many versions of “the humanities” are rich with the lessons we need most to live and be fulfilled as human beings…your persistent reminders are appreciated by me.
Thank you, HCR, for the way you teach lessons from our history.
Phil, I think what you’re saying is that schools have shifted from teaching critical thinking and literature to test taking skills. Great point. They also have a role to play in teaching resistance history, modern history and questioning American exceptionalism. I was born in the 80’s and never learned any history after ww2. I always half-joked as a kid that teachers wouldn’t teach us anything that happened during their lifetimes because it wasn’t “history” (to them). This is a problem…huge gaps in history. And why don’t schools teach American history as Resistance history? That’s the education we need.
Eta: also, we need to teach science fiction in literature classes. I’m pushing back on Flock cameras in our town (fyi everyone, these cameras are everywhere and multiplying like bunnies) and can tell exactly who hasn’t read/watched any science fiction.. they are stories warning us. And I wasn’t ever a fan of sci-fi (so many arguments with my sister when she turned Star Trek on) but my school taught us Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Bladerunner and we wrote essays on Star Wars.. I had enough exposure to learn the risks.
The tools weren't lost. They were stolen.
Phil, I wish I understood why they would purposely kill off the humanities. I just don’t get it. I am going to speak at public comments of my board of education next week. My issue is the horrible slowdown of learning that I believe is caused by our cell devices. Also, I once offered to be a guest at my old high school to talk about the lost interest of becoming self employed. Schools constantly address prep for being employed. I’ve been self employed all of my life. Ok, no high tech stuff. I taught myself the craft of picture framing a long time ago and I make more per hour than a psychologist I know I asked an acquaintance once. But my offer was denied. Too bad when educators can be so thick headed not realizing entrepreneurship is the way to go. Those high tech guys graduating and going into computer fields are now being replaced with AI. AI will never replace my ability to see view a painting or print and advise on the best and/or inextoptions.
How is it? It’s because we don’t see the enemy because the enemy is us! When we are in the midst of the fire it’s hard to see a way out.
We need our own D(T)-Day. But that can’t happen without a charismatic, dedicated leader. Where is that person?
Both Eisenhower and FDR had the humility to understand that the best and most noble of plans may fail, and may fail miserably, but that forging ahead despite the risks is truly the only option. My memory of the history I've learned is fuzzy, but didn't Lincoln also write and a letter accepting blame if he was not re-elected? Self-knowledge in our leaders is essential even when they spare us their doubts at the time How different this is from a leader who proclaims that he is the only one who can fix something and then stumbles into chaos because he is unable to see or understand the consequences, the possible peril, of his unrealistically narcissistic sense of self.
.... and we have a POTUS who answers most questions with "I know nothing about it" or "I was not involved".
He lies constantly of course.
"Where is that person?" If you ask HCR, she will answer it is all of us put together.
Pete: https://martinedic.substack.com/p/pete-buttigieg-has-a-strategy-its?r=6u8ti&utm_medium=ios
To answer your first question on how we ended up a hated fascist nation: Our troops came home from WW2 to the same segregation, caste system, and racism in our nation that the Nazis modeled their system after. Literally. Germany was held to account and we weren’t! Germany fixed their system but we never fully fixed ours. (They paid reparations. They torn down Nazi statues and put up memorials. They fixed their education system.. the list goes on). So, it slowly burned.
Just the fact that we don’t recognize that our founding wasn’t actually the founding of a democracy, but the founding of an apartheid state, is a perfect example of what we need to fix. We need to teach this in schools instead of American exceptionalism. The American exceptionalism that exists on both sides of the aisle that tells us we were founded as the greatest democracy on earth prevented us from seeing its faults. And prevented us from seeing and learning about the centuries of resistance efforts that actually, finally, created our democracy in 1965. We should be celebrating the resistors, not the founders.
So, we never fixed those faults, the cracks in the system. (Our government is not representative: the senate, the electoral college and then add gerrymandering on top) And now the racists are using those old cracks in the system to bring us back to Jim Crow. They would go further back in our history if we let them. And racism affects us all (this is why we don’t have universal healthcare, why we have privatized prisons-the school to prison pipeline- and of course why we have MAGA)
Excellent assessment.
To me our revolution only helped found our new country as the greatest potential Democracy, a foot in the door, inspired by the best Declaration of Independence sentiments understood by the most people. Those truest in service of making those sentiments true for everyone are the most inspiring to me. The amendments to the Constitution improved the fidelity to those ideals but didn't fully perfect it, and surely won't ever defy further improvement.
I've come to think even the imperfect Nuremberg Trials were hampered by the attempts to define crimes against humanity just enough to convict the worst German offenders, but not so clearly that people like Goring and Goebbels could accuse the Allied countries of similar crimes against our own minorities.
Though Goring wasn't successful in making such comparisons publicly known, I do believe very many of our soldiers and even POWs we treated so much more humanely than our own minorities, started questioning the old backsliding ways we allowed in inequalities, so much so that we actually did make noticeable progress in the decades after WWII.
It shouldn't take as much war and extreme inequality to motivate progress as it did during and after WWII. The best solution I can suggest is as much thorough truth seeking and revaluation of truer and more complete history to keep the why of the need for true equality uppermost in our thoughts and actions.
But at least the Nazis faced trials, were exiled and hated. The founders didn’t face trials, and are celebrated, despite committing crimes against humanity (crimes equally atrocious to the Nazis, *the actual model* for the Nazi’s crimes) and consciously protecting slavery in the constitution. Making it illegal for anyone to resist enslavers. Protecting the slave trade, preventing any resistance to the slave trade. Giving more power to southern states. And yet, our founders are celebrated, not criticized like the Nazis. (Even confederate traitors are still celebrated!)
The fact that we celebrate the founders instead of charging them has continued the caste system that they started. And that caste system currently hurts us all—no universal healthcare, privatized prisons, the gutting of the voting rights act, yelling “but socialism!” every time we want a basic social safety net.. actually just a code word for racism.
The Declaration of Independence stating that “all men are created equal” left out one important word.. because it was just assumed.. it was so engrained in their thinking that they didn’t even think of putting the word in there. It forgot the word white. This is so important and everyone forgets it—they never intended equality for all. They intended to create a system where white land owning men had all the power. Sure, the declaration of “all men created equal” sounds great when we put our modern day interpretation into it.. but that isn’t what they intended. Why isn’t this recognized? Because we are all taught the propaganda that they actually intended to create a country that was equal for all. How can we possibly see fault in the system when we aren’t taught reality? Schools don’t teach that the Nazis studied the American system in order to design theirs. They should be teaching that the founders wanted power for all land owning white men (an apartheid state) and it was the resistance leaders that were our actual founders of democracy. Because that is the actual reality. American exceptionalism has poisoned us to think our democracy is perfect and infallible, allowing MAGA to take hold.
Highly recommend the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Thanks for the reply. Though somewhat limited in my knowledge of all versions of our history, I've tried to pay attention to the best of it, along with more complete examination of holes in it. My point wasn't that the founders were perfect, just that in seeking their own freedom they created a series of documents, the first of which stated principles that enough people believed applied to everyone, namely the Declaration of Independence, a great start.
Then we had the compromises that corrupted the principles in the first two Constitutions that followed, the first of which allowed very unequal basic rights in each state. The second attempt, to correct deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, had just barely enough corrupting features to get accepted by all 13 states (9 by June 21 1788 to have it take effect, and all 13 by May 29,1790). Though not an original state ([Vermont], the 14th admitted in ), had, as an independent State/Republic was the first to prohibit slavery in its 1777 Constitution, 14 years before being admitted to the United States, after it ratified the US Constitution).
I've been ever more appreciative of what I could learn about my multi-great uncle Ethan Allen for his pursuit of freedom of religion and what I assume would have been his views on equal rights for all (though more complete history is illusive, he was a British POW in 1777 and died 2 years before Vermont entered the union).
Some of the earliest things I remember was my dad as a 1st Sgt, always trying to help Black servicemen get fair treatment, and advising them on how to earn promotions on legitimate skills and leadership development. He wasn't perfect but like Harry Truman, stood on principles whatever his personal feelings towards any individuals. He was the first to get me started on Paul Robeson, who he said inspired him by his standing up as high as he could get to make a defiant target for whoever had shot at him (at what I later came to believe was the Sep 4, 1949 Concert in Peekskill, NY).
Among those learned to respect after meeting in person, my wife's grandfather, a lifelong Long-Island (Teddy Roosevelt branch) Republican, was one of the last hereditary active members of the East New Jersey Board of Proprietors. When I mentioned my respect for Harold L. Ickes who had been a Progressive Republican in the Teddy Roosevelt mold before becoming a Democrat in the FDR administration, I learned his best friend seemed to have been Harold L. Ickes, who had visited him so often my then young mother-in-law to be thought he was a real uncle of hers after he bought her first bicycle for her. They were both great (for the times), conservationists, he in particular in defending healthy watersheds in East New Jersey. He went on to tell me he had been Paul Robeson's locker mate and friend, who knew of the football teams efforts to break his hands to hamper his playing.
His wife, my wife's grandmother was one of the thousand or more DAR members that joined Eleanor Roosevelt in resigning from the DAR after the DAR had apparently denied Howard University's request to use their Constitution Hall for Marion Anderson's concert. They had seemingly previously allowed some Black performers and a small Black audience in a small section of the balcony, but blocked all Black performers and attendees after one Black performer refused to perform before the old limited audience.
Harold L. Ickes, as Secretary of the Interior (with other cabinet members like Frances Perkins moral support), then made National Mall available with the stage set on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939.
Others, earlier in my life, came from working in tobacco fields one town north of where Martin Luther King Jr. had worked in similar fields more than a decade earlier during his college years, an area where he was so well treated that he changed course to become the most important and effective peaceful protest advocate I could respect and try to follow. Another local (to me) hero was Dr Glenn Olds, President of the nearby Springfield College, who turned down threats to cancel a million dollar donation and other threats by the FBI to release tapes of phone taps that included King cursing (kind of like the attacks, and threats against Graham Platner), to grant MLK an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address. What I remember was MLK being held in a St Augustine that wouldn't release him until Dr Olds threatened to have the speech recorded in the jail to be played at the commencement.
This history is hard for me to trace as much seems to have been removed but I did find a good link at the wayback machine
See http://news.msn.com/in-depth/how-the-fbi-tried-to-block-martin-luther-king%E2%80%99s-commencement-speech-1
It happened gradually, through fear, propaganda, political cowardice, concentrated wealth, attacks on truth, and the steady normalization of conduct that once would have ended a political career. Congressional Republicans are holding the country hostage because too many have placed party loyalty, personal ambition, and fear of Donald Trump above their constitutional oath. But responsibility does not belong to politicians alone. Democracy weakens when citizens retreat into exhaustion, cynicism, and helplessness. Too often, we contact representatives only after a crisis has become unavoidable. We protest briefly, vote inconsistently, ignore local politics, and expect institutions to defend themselves. Our representatives must hear, repeatedly and unmistakably, that their duty is to the Constitution, not a president, party, donor, or movement. Those who refuse that duty must be challenged, exposed, defeated at the ballot box, and replaced. “Whatever we must” cannot mean political violence. Violence strengthens authoritarianism. It must mean sustained, disciplined, lawful resistance: organizing, voting, striking, protesting, litigating, boycotting, supporting independent journalism, protecting threatened neighbors, and refusing to cooperate with injustice.
The country is not beyond rescue. But rescue requires millions of Americans to stop waiting for someone else to act.
The comment that belongs at the top of the heap, rather than the bottom…👍
Too many white people thought "America" was just for white people -- in some cases only straight Christian white people. Nixon and subsequent presidents, especially Reagan, capitalized (literally) on this in a big way.
Also -- and this is a big one -- USians don't pay nearly enough attention to economics and economic power. Parliamentary democracies have social democratic and even (gasp!) openly socialist parties. The U.S. has a valiant handful who are consistently marginalized within the Democratic Party.
The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision (2010) gave the legal seal of approval to something that was already happening: Big Money is free to buy elections, candidates, officeholders, whatever their nonexistent hearts desire.
I'm glad Trump II has woken a lot of people up, but seriously -- why did it have to get this bad for that to happen?
The NC senators and NC 7th congressional district representative are all southern Republicans, who are of the same ilk as the southern Democrat enslavers of the 1800’s. Same type of people, just switched party names. My Congress critter is busy lining his pockets as he enthusiastically invests in the stock market. Do you think people like these would ever make a statement like the one General Eisenhower did not need to send?! Today’s Republicans aren’t fit to polish General Eisenhower’s boots.
We focused on being rich. We admired rich celebrities regardless of how idiotic or amoral they are. We watched "reality" shows (The Apprentice, Housewives, Honey Boo Boo, Wrestling, Married a Prisoner, etc.). So many stupid shows and, actually believing that stuff is real, wanted to be like those 'celebrities'. And so many of the TV series now are about corporate greed and back-stabbing and how those 'clever' people get to be billionaires. So when we see those traits in our politicians it's not appalling. It's expected.
We need to get our heads on straight and focus on the real things that matter in a healthy life.
The first "reality" show I saw was in the San Francisco airport; I believe it was "Survivor" and it was on a TV in the gate area. There was a large cluster of people watching it. I saw about 30 seconds of it and thought "Well, that's dumb".
I can say the only reality show I watched was "Deadliest Catch" as I had a fisherman in the family. No billionaires there.
DebbieM, I agree with your first sentence. But I think the get-rich "reality" TV shows are more of a symptom than a cause.
After the Great Depression and major military conflicts of the 1940s, the white majority in the U.S. saw a sudden increase of affluence in the 1950s. At the beginning of that decade, a single paycheck could provide a family with a home, a car and dinner on the table. But the ad men of Madison Avenue sought to exploit this new financial security by creating insatiable desire for whatever products U.S. business was cranking out. By the late 1950s, enough wasn't enough.
"Keeping up with the Joneses" became a thing. Moms went to work. Television became the babysitter. Families became disconnected as they pursued more STUFF. Credit card debt exploded and people still wanted more and more in the 1970s and 80s, culminating in Gordon Gekko's famous statement, "Greed is good."
Not only are "reality shows" stupid, but the stuff we spend money on is stupid. Animal psychiatry? Coffee grounds in little plastic pods? Self-driving cars?
At 1:00 p.m.today, when it is su to b almost 90 degrees, I and a group of my fellow citizens (and any non-citizens who care to join) will be out in out town’s main intersection to say, as we do every week, that we are not taking it. And tens of millions of Americans will join us, physically, in sympathy and in spirit.
I'm finally recovered enough to rejoin my Monday morning at 10:00 group. I'll be there with a new sign.
We rally on Fridays at 3:30PM, at the only stop lights in the county. The friendly honks, waves, and thumbs up have increased steadily over the past year. Small, rural, red town. The change in attitudes is not huge, but heartening
I will be at our weekly Saturday 12:00 gathering in my town, too.
😢 Well said, Dirk! Thank you.
Bravo, Dick!
Indeed!
I've been steadily berating and begging my tiny (four-person) congressional delegation to act as we wish, and even the sole Republican has shifted considerably—but not enough, not nearly enough. But I shall continue ...
What. Ever. It. Takes.
I see our current situation more as treason, a unified, deliberate war on all of our government’s services, making us ripe for the picking, by Presidents Putin & Xi.
The Greatest Generation. 🇺🇸
They made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could now, 85 years later, betray Ukraine’s trust, and betray Europe’s trust and foolishly bargain away Taiwan’s security, not to mention alienating every other ally and aligning ourselves with our most unscrupulous adversaries, as if stumbling around a saloon like a bully drunk with greed and power, mistaking damage for progress.
very sad, but this is the misery of the present world and the place of the rest of the free world in it … leaderless and rudderless 😥
Plenty of democratic countries have leaders and are not rudderless despite the difficult times and are yet to succumb to facism. Perhaps there's some heart to take from them in their (so far) more successful struggles??
The essence of tragedy!
They had a job to do, they did it, and came home. Shouldered a burden the likes of which most of us can scarcely imagine today.
It's true that they are the only people capable of imagining shouldering that burden. Our one task is do everything we can to honor their sacrifice by saving democracy (and who knows, maybe even an ember of life in what used to be the party of Lincoln) with a Blue Tsunami.
Agree, James. Our mission pales in comparison in many ways, but it is no less vital in this time. We must be the massive (peaceful) invasion force that liberates the USA from fascism. D-Day is November 3 and every precinct in the country is our beachhead.
My Uncle James, the eldest brother of my father, died in the rehearsal for Normandy. It was called Exercise Tiger. It was so secret that even with the deaths of so many that terrible day- they didn’t want to ruin the morale of the soldiers going to Normandy. My uncle’s body was temporarily buried in England until a few years later- he was finally transferred back to Kentucky to have a family burial. When he joined- he lied about his age, bumping him up a year to get in. He’d had a sweetheart back home. I inherited his Purple Heart after my father passed away. I look at my young adult sons, who are, thru no fault of their own but genetics and one of them a premature birth, much less ready for all the adult responsibilities so many their age leapt into, let alone being shipped off to war. My oldest is on the spectrum, and hates fights of any kind, loves art and film. My youngest is ADHD, and finally catching up growth wise physically and mentally, getting good grades in community college and studying theater. He too has zero interest in guns, battles, or anything military related. I say this not because I want them to be like that, but I think of how many young men were thrust into that situation if they couldn’t get out of the draft for WW2, Vietnam, etc. Some men I spoke to said my oldest would have been excluded due to his weight (he’s very skinny despite whatever he eats) and his selective mutism. But my youngest, might have had to go. And while the world the young men of WW2 was very different than the world my sons grow up in now, I still think of mothers, siblings, even some self aware fathers who would think- what will this do to them, the ones who are not fighters by nature, who are more sensitive to violence, aggression, etc? And will they come back at all?
My Memaw on my father’s side tended her bed for a month when James died. He’d also sent part of his pay home every month to her, because she’d been struggling financially with at least 6 other kids. She didn’t ask him to. My sons have not had part time jobs yet. The oldest is still looking with help and the youngest has school but wants to earn some independence. Uncle James would go hunting and fishing with a couple of my other uncles to help feed the family, foraging and growing wild greens, taking side work. He joined up as a just turned 17 year old with a fake document a friend helped him create.
So when I see these bootlicking, reality denying, cowardly, greedy, power hungry, misogynistic, racist, creepy, christonationalistic, cruel pieces of crap just completely befoul the memory of so many young people who either signed up or were thrust into the darkness of fighting fascism in WW2, I want to weep. They voted for a pick me reality tv star w a number of failed businesses, marriages and affairs, a history of racist real estate practices, a man found guilty of sexual assault, liberally mentioned in the Epstein files and who allegedly said, “Hitler did some good things.” What a way to crap on those who sacrificed everything so a bunch of mediocre whiny entitled white men can profit and not have their feelings hurt by history, facts and being decent human beings.
https://share.google/GLSlUCsruAFeg2W4F
I dunno if the link is good but it’s Wikipedia’s summary of Exercise Tiger.
Thanks for such a personal account, both of your family, and Uncle James, who died during Exercise Tiger. Personally, I feel I learn something new every day anout this war, how it affected while families and communities. And bravo to your kids growing up without false bravado or the sick love of violence for its own sake.
I only found out recently that General Eisenhower was raised by pacifist Mennonites. It seems even more fitting that he, above others, should have led this effort on June 6,1944. Thanks to Uncle James and all those who died then so that we might remember their sacrifice today as (still) a free people.
Jen, your comment sparked looking back and finding some new (to me) more personal history. My wife's great grand aunt Catherine was the wife of the Commander of the 1st Special Engineer Brigade, Colonel Eugene Mead Caffey, who was initially blamed for the disaster at Slapton Sands by General Omar Bradley (who was initially unaware of the attack by 9 German Schnellboots (S-boots to Germans, Enemy boats or E-boats to Allies). Col Caffey is credited as the 1st Colonel to land on Utah beach (along with Gen Theodore Roosevelt III, (known as Jr.), Deputy Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, the 1st General credited with landing on the beach.
Roosevelt was only allowed to go with the 1st wave by arguing that the best he could contribute was to be a moral booster while still a bit expendable as the deputy commander. He is credited with declaring, "We will start the war right here," when they discovered they had landed so far south of their intended area. (As depicted in The Longest Day by Henry Fonda.)
They were incredibly lucky for the mostly inexperienced combat troops and in the enemy forces they had to face. Caffey and some of the 1st Special Engineers did have experience from landings in Italy in 1943, though.
See https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/5410/Landings-on-Utah-Beach.htm
"...The landing sector included the area between Exits 3 and 4, the beach at Les Dunes de Varreville. It was divided by the Allied planners into the sectors Uncle Red (left) and Tare Green (right). The soldiers of the American 4th "Ivy" Infantry Division were chosen to attack the beach. This was despite the fact that the division had been battered during Operation Tiger, an invasion exercise on April 28 1944 when German E-boats had sunk several ships, killing 749 American soldiers and sailors, including men from the 4th Infantry Division. The division had not yet gained any combat experience during the Second World War which made Utah Beach the only beach that was attacked by a unit without experience. Major General Raymond Barton commanded this division. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the son of the former president, was added to the division as an additional general, without a fixed job description...
…The 4th Infantry Division established a solid bridgehead that almost met the goals set for the division before D-Day. The landings were completely different than planned in advance. There were several reasons why the landings had become a success. First of all, the assault troops had landed on a beach that was defended less strongly and they had not encountered strong German position at Les Dunes de Varreville. In addition, the aerial bombardment on Utah Beach had been much more effective. It had considerably damaged the German reinforcements in many places, unlike the reinforcements on Omaha Beach. Moreover, the naval bombings were also a lot more effective. Many more DD tanks came ashore on Utah Beach than on Omaha Beach, for example, where many had sunk because of the high waves. The choice to launch the tanks closer to the beach had been a correct one. When it turned out that the men had landed on a completely different beach than planned, Roosevelt and Van Fleet made the right decision by continuing the invasion from that location. There were also the airborne troops which had caused much unrest among the German troops inland and had taken on some important targets…"
My wife’s uncle , lost at Sainteny, Normandy, was a somewhat reluctant draftee (Carnegie sophomore that wanted to join later as a USCG officer), but most of our family members (22 of home served including my mother-in-law as a USCG SPAR Radio operator in WWII), favor other optional forms of service such as the Peace Corps some chose or, like the bravest man I ever met in Vietnam, a would be conscientious objector who became a medic and never would carry a weapon, no matter what. He was initially shunned, but became he most respected guy in the unit for running through fire so intense most would only shoot over logs without sticking their heads up to see what they were shooting at. In one incident they had tried to land the helicopter 3 times (or so he thought). The third time he had run through the fire and loaded two wounded, was trying to load the third, when the crew pushed them off and told him they hadn’t landed ,they had been shot down.
On other matters, m mother had worked at a mental health facility long after the war, and described how the best reforms in mental health care facilities had come from people like Mennonite conscientious objectors that were allowed to serve their instead of being drafted into the military or being jailed. Many were very much better educated than the average draftee and she credited them with much of the reforms. She most regretted the late 60s when it seemed the last of those that stayed long after their mandatory service aged out and were being replaced by younger people and administrators that didn’t do as well maintaining, or improving the mental health care to the best of what they had been able to do.
The French people also understood the assignment--and the sacrifice of those youths. Traveling through Normandy, France, it was remarkable how many people still expressed their appreciation all these decades later, even from stories passed down by their parents and grandparents.
I found that same appreciation from the French people when I visited Normandy a few years ago.
I was so moved visiting Normandy and seeing in real time what our soldiers faced—with the caveat I wasn’t looking at the barbed wire and other obstacles. Standing in the American cemetery with its gleaming white crosses representing the sacrifices of the soldiers and their families … and wondering if we have it within us as a people to do the same today.
My father graduated high school, turned 19 and was drafted all in the month of June 1943. He didn’t participate in D-Day itself bc his unit wasn’t ready but did serve in Patton’s Third Army. I honor his service by fighting the fascism we are living with today, or trying.
🙏
I have a friend whose mother was a French Jew. She was a child, and told stories of "picnics" where they "played in the fields" while they were really hiding from German soldiers. She always paid tribute on Veteran's Day.
In the little french town of Sainte- Mere- Eglise, the first French town to be liberated by the allies, The stained glass windows in the church have American paratroopers gliding down in their parachutes. It's very moving to see.
We visited Ste. Mère Église, but not the church. I wish we had. We found a fabulous museum, the Mémorial de Caen, where we spent the whole day.
Thank you for this reminder
Yes the soldiers understood their assignment. Per Wikipedia, "Allied casualties on D-Day (June 6, 1944) are estimated at approximately 10,300, with at least 4,414 confirmed dead."
My wife's uncle ,PFC John P. McBride, made it to July 11, near Sainteny, dying about 12 miles south and a day before General Theodore Roosevelt III died of a heart attack at Sainte-Mère-Église. Not part of the initial D-Day landings, the 329th "Buckshot" Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division entry to Normandy was delayed by a storm around June 19. Just one of the Arlington grave sites of those who continue to inspire us that we visit as often as we can.
Another uncle was found frozen and unconscious during the Battle of the Bulge, not aware of where he was until he was recovering in a hospital in England.
Thank you for your family history of PFC John P. McBride & the respect for other PFC's, any rank & the wounded.
The most important lesson for Americans today is that freedom survives only when ordinary people act together with courage, discipline, and a shared sense of responsibility. The Allied victory over fascism was not the work of one nation, one leader, or one heroic moment. It depended on cooperation across borders, sacrifice at home, and people willing to face terrible risks for a cause larger than themselves.
Just as important was Eisenhower’s readiness to accept personal responsibility if the invasion failed. That kind of leadership stands in sharp contrast to leaders who claim every success, blame others for every failure, and treat accountability as weakness.
Democracy is not self-sustaining. It requires citizens who resist authoritarianism, defend truth, protect one another, and recognize that liberty carries obligations. Americans should remember that history did not turn toward freedom by accident. People made difficult choices, accepted sacrifice, and stood together. Our task today is not to admire their courage from a distance, but to practice it now.
Well said, Michael. Democracy is not a given; it must be worked for and carefully tended.
Yes Thank you for reminding us.
Beautifully said
It always brings tears to my eyes as well. The world responded - together - to shut down Hitler. If we don’t start standing up to Orange and his tribe, I’m afraid the world will shut us down. We all have to be vigilant and do all we can to redeem and save our democracy, imperfect as it may be.
Me, too, Annabel. As I read Heather's report I also thought of Renee Good and Alex Pretty, Americans serving the causes of Justice, Fairness and Freedom here on American soil. Their lives cut so short. Why? Because of monsters like Hitler and Trump. The torch has clearly been thrown to us. History will record how we respond and hopefully we will not have to write an "Eisenhower letter."
Me too, Annabelle. My husband and I visited Normandy as part of an American tour group two years ago. We went to the excellent museum there which explained in horrible detail exactly what Hitler's Nazis were doing and how many people they murdered: people with disabilities, Jews, Roma, socialists, anyone they didn't like. Then, we had a memorial ceremony at the American Cemetery where over 9000 soldiers are buried, just some of the people who never came home. There is also a memorial wall inscribed with the names of over of 1000 people, the missing soldiers whose remains were never recovered.
Our French guide thanked us as Americans. She said "because of you, I am free." Today those beaches are just beaches: kids playing, people walking along the shore, pleasure boats at sea. That's because of those people in that cemetery. They died because they thought democracy was worth fighting and dying for. We owe them.
As I read what FDR and Eisenhower wrote and said, knowing what was to come the next day, I could not help but compare them to our current "leadership": Trump and Hegseth. It's almost too painful to contemplate. Trump is now "bored" with the war he started. Hegseth has dismissed most of the senior military leaders who would know what to do were we attacked. He recently refused to promote several military leaders, all of them either women or African Americans. That American cemetery in Normandy holds the graves of 147 African Americans who had to fight in segregated units as well as 3 women WACS. They fought and died for a democracy in which they were not full participants.
We must honor the sacrifice of all of those people who have fought and died in that war and every war since by fighting the forces of fascism which now threaten our democracy right here at home. We're fortunate: we don't have to pick up guns to do that. We just have to vote for better leaders who are worthy of the sacrifice so many others have made for all of us.
I agree, Linda - we have an obligation to carry on the battle for which so many gave the ultimate sacrifice. While I spent four years in the U.S. Army in the 1960's, I feel that I have been called back to duty. The oath that I took to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, didn't have an expiration clause or date. Who is it who said: "If there be trouble, let it be in my day so that my children may have peace?"Fascism has established a beachhead on American soil.
IMO, the U.S. military is now under Vlad Putin's control. Its experience and expertise are being decimated in lightning speed. What comes next?
Thank you for writing Richard, and thank you for your service. Our veterans understand better than anyone else what the true costs of war and of keeping the peace are. I grew up in a Navy family. My Dad and his two brothers served during WWII. All three of them came home, but one brother died of a heart attack at 38. The other came home with what we would now call PTSD, and was never able to live a normal life. They did that for all of us, their children, so that we would not have to fight a war. I agree, fascism has established a beachhead here. Our only and best recourse is to fight back with our voices and our votes.
It's difficult reading reports like this, Linda. Having no belief in anything religious, for me this life that we have to live is everything. Many who do and did survive the wars couldn't shed the trauma caused by warfare and develop(ed) PTSD. The price paid by those who serve and who have served is enormous. The Chinese have an old saying: "An inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time." Our time is everything.
Yes, my mother danced with some of these boys at the USO in MA. Her mother, my grandmother said so quietly and sorrowfully what a terrible loss it was of young life. Brings a tear to my eye as well.
My mother too was a USO girl who went to dances with the soldiers in central Illinois. Some of her most touching and funny memories she shared with me. I treasure these stories.
Me too. 29950 mornings later.
respect.
I feel the same way.
If you haven't seen the U.S. Military Cemetery at Normandy, you should. The crosses there just go on and on and on... While I don't wish you more tears, one cannot help but cry. Especially now that fascism is a part of our current government and so, so many are delighted at that.
My 25 year-old dad-to-be was a pilot of a Mitchell B-26 bomber in 1944, based in England.
He and his crews flew 96 sorties into France 1943-1944.
He hardly ever mentioned it.
He took a photo of Ike in one of the 8th Bomb Group's B-26's. I still have that photo.
Of course you cry, beause any war brings death ending their lives to so many innocent young people. Any leader must always avoid war. In that sense, Putin, Trump and the Israel prime miister are all riminals themselves.
It made me weep as well.
We owe so much to the brave soldiers--and their commander and commander in chief--on that fateful June day. Thank you, Heather, for reminding us of the best aspects of our country's commitments to freedom.
My uncle Phil Brow landed at Normandy. He was a small man, only about 5’5”, about 150 lbs, but he made it to the beach and with a 50 pound pack on his back, walked to Berlin. ♥️
My deepest respect to your family and your uncle's stout legs and incredible, miraculous service.
"It is not the strength of body that counts, but the strength of the spirit."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
A band friend of mine was a platoon lieutenant who jumped onto Omaha beach. He was 5'2" and soft spoken. He received the Croix de Guerre. He was a great clarinet player, and always finished our signoff tune "Loony Toons" with a descending chromatic line that sounded like a laugh. After he passed, I started doing the same thing...on my sousaphone.
Thanks for sharing!
I checked the WWII draft cards of the men of my family of that era. They were pretty skinny guys by today's standards.
Yes, they were. It was due to malnutrition due to the Great Depression, among other things.
🫡🫡🫡🇺🇲❤️
Uncle Phil’s older brother, William, “Bill” Brow served in the 3rd Army under General Patton. He helped liberate a couple of smaller concentration camps. He survived the war, but he was never the same. He had nightmares about it for the rest of his life but could never talk about it. There were thousands of young American soldiers who had similar experiences. We can never begin to imagine the toll their service took upon them and the burdens they carried for the rest of their lives. We owe our freedom to all of them.
In the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, there is a constantly running film clip of reminiscences by survivors trying to put into words for visitors what they had experienced under Nazi rule. One of them, who had survived near death, multiple escapes, living under false identity, and finally as a slave laborer in a concentration camp recalls the day he met soldiers from the 89th Infantry Division in General Patton’s Third Army, probably in Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, the first camp Americans liberated at the end of April 1945.
He found himself in a boxcar, very close to death, “just wanting to sleep, why don’t they let me sleep.” Drifting in and out of consciousness, he heard voices saying “they’re bringing soup, they have bread.” Someone picked him up by the shoulders. In his delirium, he thought “no, no, they're not gonna kill me, not now, after so much time, no…” His eyes closed, he picked up a wooden shoe and hit the person as hard as he could, then opened his eyes. “A soldier, a young, American soldier was looking at me…and he was crying. He said ‘I’m not here to kill you — I’m here to liberate you. You’re free…’”
It has been some years since I saw that museum. I was with my daughter, and I didn't make it through the first floor before breaking down. It is a place that every American should see, to understand what happened, so that it never happens again.
I visited the Holocaust museum in Israel. The exhibit containing the pile of children's shoes brought me to my knees. At that time I wondered how the neighbours to the camps could keep quiet. Now I know.
And now we have ‘detention centers’ here. And roaming teams to pull people out of their homes and away from their families.
But tragically, people like Stephen Miller are orchestrating it again, now, in America. Truly unbelievable - heartbreaking and angering.
We're discussing where to visit in Europe latter this year (if we can). Though Sainte-Mère-Église and less known Sainteny where one uncle died, are on a wish list, I believe a visit to Dachau will mean even more to me from the lessons of a lifetime from my parents who visited it in 1947.
Well, I have to give it to you. This is probably the first uplifting and optimistic thing you’ve said in a year and a half that I’ve been here.
Go fu k yourself, you deranged, malicious, condescending moron. Nobody here gives a flying shit what you think about anything.
Well, do you want to remain ignorant that’s up to you. I now have about 3000 likes for people that agree with all kinds of things that I post it here… not to mention that you guys represent less than 2% of the Democrat population of this country let alone all Americans in general. …. as you are points, 0625%. Of the American population.
Right nobody here gives a flying shit about telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, including the author.
And we should be prepared to do no less here in our own country, as awful as it is to have to say that, we must or we are lost.
Reading this, I am brought to tears...by the sacrifices that day and by how FAR we have fallen as a country, in our "leadership." What on Earth would Ike think?
Ike feared for us. He wanted us to know what they encountered because he said that at some point in history, someone would say that the evil never happened. He knew his fellow men.
It was Ike who ordered his subordinates to go into nearby towns and villages to round up local people, particularly anyone connected with the regime — mayors, police (if they could find them), aldermen, gauleiters — making them come to the camps to see for themselves. And work. Thousands of corpses all over the ground had to be buried in mass graves — typhus was raging.
Locals picked up the corpses with their own hands and threw them into prepared pits. The Mayor of Ohrdruf — the first camp GIs had liberated —together with his wife buried bodies all day long. They went back home thar first day and committed suicide, leaving behind a note with just one sentence: “we didn’t know, but we knew.”
Ike didn’t want Germans to be able to deny the Holocaust later on by saying ‘well, I never saw any so-called atrocities’ or ‘both sides do bad things in war.’ He said as much out loud — ‘I bear witness,’ he wrote ‘in case there ever comes a time people want to ascribe to “propaganda” acts of degradation and bestiality the likes of which have never been seen before.’ The exact words are on a wall ar the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Thank you, Ike also had a film made, saw it once on PBS, hope to never see it again. He said that eventually some would deny it, but we can thank him for the truth that is before us, despite the propaganda
I've been thinking lately that Ken Burns needs to make a documentary about January 6th., so that history will know what happened that day. Donald Trump and his supporters continue to white wash it - like it was nothing and claim that his supporters didn't attack the Capitol police and desecrate our Capitol.
Human nature really doesn't change much, does it?
I felt that I had only run into one truly evil person until the political focus on power and greed, deliberately and with malice. I had not lived a sheltered life, but not a life of abuse and hate. I agree that the dark side of human nature is much more prevalent than I had assumed. The religious evil is still shocking. I thought we had put the inquisition in the trash bin. Not so…
Agreed. Ike knew.
Hello Sherry... FDR indeed was the Greatest President of the 20th Century,,,, FDR did so much Good...
You are right, we should be but...are 'we'? 250 years ago, those people KNEW many were going to die too. Are we willing to make that sacrifice 🤔. If not for ourselves, then at least for our children and grandchildren! Heather's Letter about The Greatest Generation and Normandy ( joined by so many other countries) and General Eisenhower's willingness to accept all blame/ responsibility if the gamble failed.....I just can't help but wonder what this 'Generation ' is made of. I so hope and pray it doesn't come to proving it, by the numbers of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters that are lost. Thank you Professor Heather Cox Richardson for tonight's Letter. The first comment I read said reading about this always made that person weep....as I am now, writing this. So proud of those....kids, so many of them and the leadership from our nation!!!
🇺🇲🇺🇲🫡🫡😪
People don’t vote and cannot even cancel amazon. We are a different country today. Weak, lazy and self-absorbed.
When cancelling Amazon is our biggest sacrifice, we are truly hopeless
I have some real concern that hopeless is the reality
Apathy and ostrichication are epidemic in Texas
Better than nothing.
True, but my grands looked at me like I had used the worst profanity.
I understand!
How do we identify our foes accurately. How long might it take to get all of the new laws in order. Everyone says they love our country, but then they lie about everyone else. And then if the moneyed people own the courts. We could be good people again!
Really it should take less time than it did to dismantle them. Just reverse. However, that opportunity was not taken during the intervening four years, and I highly doubt democrats have the organization and the spine.
Emma it is easy to break things and far more difficult and costly to rebuild.
What do cost and rebuilding have to do with law?
We have become a screwworm state, ruled by plutocrats and politicians who live by consuming the people.
They can’t fathom that immigrants can love the country. They need to do a little genealogy
People don’t vote and cannot even cancel amazon. We are a different country today. Weak, lazy and self-absorbed.
People don’t vote and cannot even cancel amazon. We are a different country today. Weak, lazy and self-absorbed.
People don’t vote and cannot even cancel amazon. We are a different country today. Weak, lazy and self-absorbed.
And yet people don’t vote and cannot even handle cancelling amazon.
That is a sad commentary...but true.
Got it.
Lol yes I bet you do. Just saw that. Substack app is whack sometimes lately.
It’s repeating your comments multiple times. I refuse to use the app.
Hello Evelyn... We owe so much to the Heroes involved.... Not a Trump contributed...
Ooooooops. Nor Joe Biden …Nor Bill Clinton. …Nor Barack Obama. And that’s the problem with this Substack. They’re just not fair minded at all. Nor do they have their eyes and ears open! Just the left eye and the left ear. As proven by your post Apache.
Hello Rick.... DJT's Father was of Military Age at that Time, but Fred Trump got a Draft Deferment... No Member of this Trump Clan, which is now 5-Generations on this Continent, has Served in Uniform... On this Continent, my Family goes back for over a 1,000 Generations.... Each Generation Has Served....
I’m going to question your comment about 1000 generations that’s essentially. Approximately 20 years per generation or more that’s 20000 years. Hmmmmm. I would love to see those records. Omg.
Hello Rick.... Get Educated...
Well, you did say 1000 generations did you not? How many years do you think 1000 generations is?
And your point is. ? Would you like me to name the list of about 1 million people or so that fit that exact description ? Isn’t it quite amazing that you’re being so selective?
And you should be very proud of your family. And you should not be judging anyone else’s family, where you don’t know all the details not that it matters. Whatever they did, they did it to themselves. And they came out on the other end the way they came out. There are people’s families from 1776. That have never served. Would you like to make a point?
There are many ways to serve your country by the way
Many people like Bill Clinton perhaps or Barack Obama perhaps or Joe Biden perhaps we’re not necessarily suited for military service however, in Bill Clinton’s case, he made sure he was not suited by fleeing to England and still got elected president hmmmmm
If you’re going to make a point make a fair point
Tsk, tsk
And what’s really funny Candace is people don’t like when you talk about Joe Biden because he’s no longer president but I keep reminding people that FDR is still remembered because he is still technically president because his policies are still alive
As are 15 or so million illegal immigrants. Thank you Joe Biden.
Rick,
Why are you still plaguing those of us who walk without knuckle dragging?!?
As no human being is "illegal", there is no such thing as an "illegal immigrant". And even if there were, such long suffering and hard striving humans are not the sine qua non of all things plaguing our Puritan Republic, as you and your idiotic cohorts constantly bellow about.
So please, will you kindly fuck off?!?
Well, then, Daniel, you should probably wake up and realize that if we opened our borders to anybody two things would occur… One we would be the most populated country in the world. And two we would not be able to sustain life economically any longer here in America as we do today. That’s why we miraculously have borders just like every other country in the world has borders.. So much for your ignorance. Try going to Mexico without a passport. Try getting into Canada without a passport. It’s great to have fantasies there, Daniel. But try to keep them more personalized so you don’t look like a knuckle dragger
We have a quota here designed by our political class and should they want to increase the number of immigrants they permitt to enter this country all they have to do is vote for it. And you’re so fucking racist you don’t even.
The population of the United States doesn’t care where legal immigrants come from. Only that they’re here I have the right to be here.
I would love to come and try to bail you out of a Mexican prison for crossing the border illegally as an example. The lack of comprehension of real life amazes me sometimes here.
Funny…I go to Mexico regularly without showing my passport…but I cannot get back into the US without it. I just simply walk into Mexico.
Bullshit. Try staying there! Try receiving any benefits from the Mexican government?
Try getting a job legally. Please don’t tell me you don’t show ID when you going to Mexico through legal means. Because I would call you a liar number one and I would tell you you’re doing it surreptitiously
I have crossed into Mexico many, many times at Algodones, San Luis and Tecate. Never showed anything. I WAS NOT speaking about anything but crossing. I was simply stating my experience of CROSSING INTO Mexico. I have waited 2-3 hours or more to cross back into the states and my families have been in the USA since the 1600s. You sir have very little worldly knowledge and the aptitude of a Neanderthal. Anybody know how I can block this AH?
You are off topic, малыш
I was on topic until somebody here unpleasantly and needlessly went off topic
Rick…you seem to have forgotten that Reagan gave amnesty to 11 MILLION “ILLEGAL” IMMIGRANTS.
That is correct. I didn’t forget anything. Do you know the reason? Do you know what their legal status was when you say illegal? Do yourself a favor don’t tell half the story here or a partial story… tell the complete story. And below this is not even the complete story. It’s amazing how you people try to get away with exactly what Heather gets away with. I’ll tell you part of the story but not the whole story
It was not Ronald Reagan Well, Reagan doesn’t make the laws he signs the mental law based on an approval of Congress.
End it made it illegal ILLEGAL To knowingly hire an illegal immigrant!! This is how Heather gets away with it she doesn’t tell you the whole story most of the people here they see a headliner like in a jump on it like a bitch in heat
Law that criminalized a "pattern or practice" of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants
The Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986. The Immigration Reform and Control Act legalized most illegal immigrants who had arrived in the country prior to January 1, 1982. The act altered U.S. immigration law by making it illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and establishing financial and other penalties for companies that employed illegal immigrants. Nearly three million people applied for legalization under the IRCA
As my post seemed to disappear midstream. so I am starting over.. I have visited Normandy and the cemetery five times and it is a very moving place. If my partial post shows up elsewhere with this information I’m sorry, but I could not find it to finish so I’ll finish here
As moving as the cemetery is , which is an amazing place, a more moving cemetery is nearby of the Canadians who died. And while they were only crosses and Jewish stars at Normand, the Canadian cemetery has headstones. Where you read and feel the sadness of the parents that came to bury their children.
And without knowing it one of the times that I was there with friends to Pay our respects, we actually stayed at a Château, which is now a hotel only to find out that it’s right outside of Canadian burial ground where they blatantly shot 150 unarmed soldiers/prisoners
At a place called Château d Adrieau which we later discovered was a Nazi officers barracks during the war.
I love these reminders of the invasion of Normandy, as well as the rest of our history. My father didn’t land on June 6th but was on a ship with his truck waiting for the signal to finally come ashore. From there he went on to fight until the end of the war. I have copies of the letters he wrote and saved and the memories of hearing him talk of that time. Many of those memories are still so clear to me. We lost him in 1985. I’ll be 80 in August. I know how important it is that history is passed down accurately and completely. Thank you for all you do.
"I love these reminders," you say, Diana.
Yes, as we're grounded in the humanity of others -- their complications, their contexts -- we can respond more vitally to those contexts as we also become better able to see them hitting others.
I like the personal scores many enter here on mostly earlier family members, as if those now doing the writing have enlarged personal capacities due to the good debts now constantly due those earlier others.
Our friends, “gallant Canadians…”
Of all the lunatic, psychotic, grotesquely stupid, pointlessly offensive actions our Moron-in-Chief has undertaken, few feel as cruel, as dumb, as generationally destructive as the GOP’s treatment of Canada.
Do none of them remember Juno Beach? Did any of them give a flying flamingo about the kindnesses shown to us by the people of St John’s — all those in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — who offered their homes, food, support to thousands of US-bound passengers whose flights got diverted to Canada on 9/11?
Have they forgotten how the Canadian Embassy bestowed Canadian citizenship (and matching, forged passports) to seven American hostages smuggled out of Iran in 1979? Did they pretend to forget all the signs and newspaper headlines in America at the time, saying “Merci, Canada!”?
I sure haven’t. You don’t do that to trusted friends the way this asshole has unless you’re a psychopath. You do not treat people who bled for you, fought with you, supported you, by slapping them in the face.
Trump did it but they all endorsed it. No words to describe these shabby little men and women of today’s Repulsican Party.
Infuriating. Embarrassing. We, decent, U.S. Citizens remember and are ashamed.
Exactly my view, Jane. Well said. (Nevermind the idiot Russian bot response.)
Ashamed of what?
You, baby.
By the way, I am very moved and motivated by the sympathies of people here regarding World War II, especially those having love ones who went there to protect our freedom and our sovereignty. It is the last war that we have actually won
Then why be such a condescending asshole? I’m ashamed.
Not being one at all.. I am simply responding to those who change the subject to demean current president again for no reason whatsoever
But if you feel that I’m a condescending asshole, I apologize without pleading guilty. How’s that?
When this is all over, those gallant Canadians will forgive us. As long as we recognize our mistakes and admit to them. We should be emulating Canadian kindness. Maybe we can become a province of Canada!
That thought had occurred.
Why wait? you can simply move there. There is not one thing stopping you except yourself. Uh oh. I just hate when the truth happens. lol
Wrong! Canada has very strict requirements for immigration. Otherwise, my family would be in Toronto right now
Well, two things barry… number one proof about illegal immigration, oops…. So you can’t easily immigrate to Canada Well you fell right into my trap….. but it’s OK if we allow illegal immigration. Ooooops. And yes, Canada has strict immigration rules just like we do
and number two you should check out what Canada’s requirements are because you would HAVE TO QUALIFY… WHICH IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE UNITED STATES . Ooops #2.
When are you people gonna learn?
And you can stay here with Trump, Rick, and create an even bigger cess pool than Trump has already created. Just stop commenting on Heather’s posts, Rick. Like all the MAGAs you take the joy out of everything with your ugliness.
You know how ridiculous you sound why don’t you go ahead and try to name the cesspool that Trump is creating according to you because he’s creating just the opposite right here in America and making America greater again. .. so go ahead define the cesspool that you’re talking about you’ve just been so inculcated with lies…. Then I would just love to hear your problems with America under Trump. I need the humor.
Aside; I learned yesterday my sycophantic republican senators—deeply Christian, mind you—voted to pay J6 criminals for their crimes. So much for Nixon’s ‘law and order’ party.
I haven’t forgotten
I’m retiring in Sept. My first trip is to Canada for all the reasons you’ve stated. (Never drop any dollars south of the Mason Dixon…and a few others north of it.)
Looking forward to their delightful country….and another opportunity to say “Merci.”
I've seen very moving videos on the risks Canadians took delivering food to civilians in the Netherlands while it was still under control of German forces, trusting the truce negotiated that allowed them to bring the food in, with convoys of unarmed supply trucks.
The least dramatized versions of Operations Manna, Chowhound, and Faust are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operations_Manna,_Chowhound,_and_Faust
I have to believe the German command structure was at least aware of what the consequences to them personally would be, but also had some remnants of humanity.
Yeah, and we’re about to win the first war since then
And there you go, you fucked up again you gotta take some of those TDS pills or some anti-psychosis drugs to try to get some of that heat out of your system… or the next 3 to 11 years are going to be very tough on you
Enough is enough. You are spinning … it is time to stop.
Yes, spinning Truth can be very painful for folks like you but nothing but blind hatred in their hearts, and not much in their minds, which is that thing 3 feet above their ass
But please, if you’d like to continue to try to unspin the truth.
My father landed on Utah Beach. 19 years old and scared out of his mind. He survived and I was born 10 years later.
My father also landed on Utah Beach. He was 30 years old in 1944 and had quit his law practice to join the Army in 1940. His wife--my mother--was pregnant with me as he dogpaddled ashore on June 6. He didn't describe the events until October. Here's his narrative in a letter to his parents, which was also published in his home town (Cheyenne, WY) paper. Thought you might be interested:
"October 7, 1944
"As you say, the Germans are quite stubborn about giving up. As a matter of fact, they fight very well, and unless the home front blows up on them or there is a great political upheaval, the Wehrmacht will have to be beaten insensible. Even the impressed Poles and Russians they have fighting for them are quite hard to get along with.
"Today I had a bath and put on clean clothes, and as a result I feel ten pounds lighter and have caught cold. The baths come so far apart that I'm afraid they're a detriment health, rather than a benefit. Anyway, I've never felt at home in the water since we waded ashore on D-day.
"I don't think I ever gave you the details on that little episode. When we were eating lunch just before it was time to put in – we were on one of those fancy little LCI jobs like you see disgorging soldiers in Life – the skipper said quite casually that he hoped we wouldn't have to wade in through more than five feet of water. Since the waves were fairly high, that didn't leave me feeling so good, particularly since the water was full of jelly fish and I didn't care about having them floating in and out of my mouth. But just as we were getting ready to chance it, a man came by with a smaller craft and the skipper made a deal with him to take us in, assuring us that by this means we could get in much closer. So we made the transfer and started out, assuming that we wouldn't have to wade in anything more than ankle deep.
"Finally this little boat ran aground and the front end was lowered, forming a ramp for landing. By that time we were close enough to see what was going on on the beach and had considerably lost our enthusiasm for visiting France, but since someone had to go, Boers [say: Berss) and I, who were closest anyway, started down the ramp. The ramp turned out to be a snare and delusion, because the damned thing missed reaching the bottom by about two feet. Boers got to the end before I did and promptly disappeared from view except for his right hand, which continued to hold out of the water a roll of maps. Seeing his plight, I stopped and felt out the edge of the thing and got in a little less impulsively. By the time I was in, Boers was back up, a little blue in the face but otherwise intact, and we started for the beach, the water lapping at our Adam's apples and the jelly fish threatening to crawl in any minute. It was almost half a mile to shore and very tiring to move, so we were pretty dead beat when we got there. About 100 yards out, with the end in sight, Boers stepped in the crater caused by the explosion of a mine and went under again. Once more you could see nothing but the roll of maps; then his head came up and he yelled, “Don't worry about me. I'm all right.” Then he disappeared again. He came out several times, each time assuring us that he was quite O.K., and each time going down before he had any more than got the words out of his mouth. Of course he wasn't all right – nobody was, at that point – and, what's more, no one gave a damn. We just wanted to get out of the water. Ultimately we got ashore on all fours and the war was on. It was all deadly serious at the time, but we get hysterical every time the subject comes up.
"I wish I could tell you about something brave and heroic that I did on the beach, but it just didn't happen that way. Upon getting out of the water, I was firmly convinced that my equipment had to be redistributed before I could engage the enemy, so I stopped to get rid of the life preserver which I'd never inflated and at the same time throw away my field glasses and few other pieces of excess baggage. Upon getting all that done I looked around and discovered to my horror that everyone had gone. I had only the vaguest idea where our assembly area was but I finally found a hole in the sea wall and started inland. Right away I found some other members of the party who had got lost, so I gathered them together, and we picked our way through the German artillery fired and in due time found the outfit. If I had been lost for a month, I couldn't have been more overjoyed at finding someone I knew. It was a great day – I'll never forget it."
He was Captain John Miller -- like Tom Hanks in the movie.
David Miller
davem5929@gmail.com
Very moving to hear from the original Captain Miller. Appreciate the kind sharing of your family’s history.
"I wish I could tell you about something brave and heroic that I did on the beach, but it just didn't happen that way." Clearly, your heroic father has some kind of sense of humor, David Miller. You must be proud. Hell, I'm proud for you just reading his letter. Thanks for posting it.
The irony was not lost.
David, thank you for sharing that!
OMG - thank you for sharing your father's incredible story.
Thanks for this bit of family history, David. I love it!!
My dad’s letters to his parents hinted at where he was since he was not allowed to say. One said something like he was in the name of the girl who lived next door (Nancy, France).
One of the revealing aspects of reading the old letters is finding the occasional square hole, carefully excising a forbidden reference with a razor cut. (Of course, it also took out random information on the back side, too, which can be frustrating for the transcriber.) One such forbidden reference would be to a location. In a combination of annoyance and amusement, Dad once told his folks back in Cheyenne, WY, that he was currently "in a place very much like home but also very different." He told me that he never got bridged the cultural gap between himself and the Brits. For example, when he made a bad pool shot in Cheyenne, he get a good razzing from his friends. In England, his fellow pool players would say--condescendingly--"Good try, Old Boy" or some such. (He was not so impressed with the French, either, but that's another story.) You can take the boy out of cowboy country, but you can't take the cowboy out of the boy.
This is gold David! Thanks for sharing!
We owe so much to so few who did the unfathomable and the impossible. Thanking that scared-to-death 19-year-old today…
🫡🫡🫡🇺🇲🇺🇲🥲
ABC
What nations would follow Trump’s Disunited States today? Not only are we moving nationally closer to fascism than democracy, but Trump has driven away major allies with his absurd tariffs and disrespectful rhetoric, while his military prances around the world thumping its scrawny chest. I want to believe that Trumpism can be defeated, but it may so infest our national institutions that it cannot be eradicated.
trump WANTS ISOLATION for America and Americans!!
trump WANTS Americans to feel ALONE and deserted EVERY SINGLE DAY!!
Now that trump's poll numbers are falling daily ...he feels more deserted than America does!
WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED!!
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!!
WE SHALL and MUST OVERCOME!!
Although his influence has been and continues to be terrible, I must continue to believe that we the people will ultimately survive his and the oligarchs' forays into fascism and will emerge victorious over Trump, his cabinet of miscreants and Project 2025 authors and the billionaires and think tanks supporting him.
Do you know if you guys would put Project 2025 in your back pocket and realize that it doesn’t exist although you may not know it …but it is true that Joe Biden adopted some of the issues actually in project 2025. Ooooops
Let these good people enjoy their community without being such a dick, sweetie.
Perhaps you didn’t notice there mother… that’s all was going good when talking about the sadness of the second world war and Normandie
I did not interrupt such a discussion. I interrupted our discussion as soon as somebody decided to make a totally negative remark well, trying to relate the Contant of these kind words and remembrances of our lost soldiers. And try to drag Trump into this. For which there was no applicable or sensible reason.
I actually was complementing gum I was actually with sympathetic with the sentiments of most of these posts, in fact, explaining that I have been to Normandy on five different occasions to honor and recollect the memory of the loved and lost
And even bother to suggest that those that might visit there, go visit the Canadian cemetery as well, which is a lot more expressive because it contains headstones and sayings from their parents
That's a name I wouldn't have mentioned even in comments on today's letter.
History repeats itself...
0
None
And yet he still has 30%-35% support!
Barry, it’s only disunited because of your hate… it would be wonderful if you haters could do exactly what Gingrich and Clinton did ….and got together in support of one another or set them in a room and came to an agreement on policies and laws, etc.
Unfortunately, the Democrat party doesn’t want any part of anything that comes out of Trump‘s mouth, regardless of the fact that if Biden did exactly the same things you’d be standing with a flag in your hand and cheering. Alas, all The Democrats want is control. So Endeth the lecture.
Tsk tsk…
Hey, Rick. Please list some Trump policies and actions Democrats should support. And, be sure to include the reason why.
And you are just nothing but a hit and run “male” coward with a vagina.
So please run along.
Hey barry, if you were a fair-minded person you would already know, but you don’t even think to look. They should’ve backed a big beautiful bill, especially for the part where it pays homage to every American that doesn’t pay as much tax as the others
And this is the usual pathetic nonsense where is my responsibility, somehow to demonstrate fairness, when not not one out of 100 participants here do so themselves
And I would be willing to bet like I have many times that I will never hear from you again
And frankly, based on your question, and your lack of investigating yourself, you tell this group everything they want to know about your BIAS
In addition, if you are a true American, and believe in the law, as many of the people here seem to use as a lever, which is fine The first thing they should’ve backed in his first time is building the wall, so the illegals could not get in and take advantage of benefits, but they’re not entitled to …..But in his second term they could’ve backed, and they still could be backing removing everybody here who’s here legally
And if you’re a fair-minded person, you should list all the reasons why they should not be here
Trump actually invented a way to reduce tax responsibility on a majority of Americans that don’t pay their fair share of tax. The bottom, 50% of income taxpayers Barry only pay 3% of income tax.
And it’s people like you that are automatically anti-Trump without even looking to be fair. So every president puts out a list of accomplishments as they go. You can find them under http://whitehouse.gov. And there is a list of what they do in their accomplishments and their laws and policies that they have been active on behalf of the American people.
Usually it would be slanted towards that president and you have the right to Challenge
It… evaluate it. And then come here and comment on it.
In May of this year.. I made a list of 20 accomplishments that I evaluated as some of the things that Trump did and everybody saw them here and this is a far left wing website and I only got a half a dozen comments back. That disagreed to a minimal extent… most people read the title or the headline, and changed the subject and went onto another alternative item on which they could complain.
But if you are a fair minded individual, then you should go check it out
Sorry, I missed the typo that everybody should back removing the ones that are already here. ILLEGALLY.
Rick, I feel sorry for you because like most Trump supporters who will never benefit from Trump’s corruption you never state, maybe never even realize, what’s behind your support.
Trump’s anti “illegal” immigrant position is there because it brings out levels of fear and hatred in folks like you that lead you to support him while he violates every standard of decency the mind can imagine.
Don’t fall for the crap that comes out of the mouth of a lifelong huckster.
By the way, lastly, since I was correct about what I saw, your behavior was going to be, was no surprise to me. You were like every other fucking moron that doesn’t understand the responsibilities of a president. Let me see if I can be clear to you because most of you want to president Trump SPECIFICALLY… On the things he may have done before he became president
But none of that matters once he becomes president. A president signs laws into effect once Congress approves them. He also has some Liberty to produce policies that he feels are right for America. And Congress has the right to refute them , deny them , reject them, thereby making them moot… and defund them if necessary.
Harry, Truman as an example killed a half 1 million defenseless citizens…
Lyndon Johnson killed 56,000 Americans For no reason whatsoever
Presidents are judged by the actions they take as president What I love about the hypocrisy of the left they’re willing to forgive and forget their own….because they wanna give somebody a second chance, so they empathize
But not if the person is on the opposite side of the political aisle
You actually forgave Bill Clinton for desecrating the sacred House of our political system Not only during his presidency, but many times before his presidency..
Gennifer Flowers comes to mine as well as the $850,000. He paid Paula Jones will you let him off the hook? But you tried to make Trump look bad for the $80,000 he paid a porn star prostitute. But it didn’t work. Thank goodness it didn’t
What did I tell you Barry did you look it up? Did you look at his accomplishments?
You’re just another loser not enough ammunition to wiggle yourself out of a paper bag
Do you want to feel sorry for me? I would piss on your pity. I told you that you were biased, but you didn’t bite. So you continue to go on your merry way and remain swimming in the same piss like everybody else here pretty much
You are amongst the millions of people here that used to be members of the Twitter social media site , which at the time was 85% Democrat and 50% Republican
And I never did any any any any social media until I found out and investigated Twitter’s population. And the minute that Elon Musk bought Twitter and it became a 52% Democrat 42% Republican side. Hundreds and thousands of weaklings and haters and scumbags left the site and went to blue sky. We didn’t have to hear an opposing position. And there they commiserate with all the other losers that couldn’t take the heat of the truth. Go take a look in the mirror, Pal. I see who you are
And if you ever wanna become relatively levelheaded, then go back to the last three or four presidents look at their whitehouse.gov accomplishments, and evaluate them appropriately. Until then, you’re just another BIASED, HATEFUL loser…
The Normandy landing was a gamble. So many were lost as the Germans were prepared and pushed back. Without the massive naval and air support, many more would have been lost. I was not there. I can only think of my friends lost in the late sixties. I was not there to save them with my shooting skills from 14 years old onward. It was a different war in the sixties.
WWII was an all out slaughter on all sides of it. It is good to remember it and Vietnam. It is better
to make sure we never have to do it again. Peace . . .
Hate to tell you, Bill, but we are doing it again.
On the January streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul as fascist ICE and CBP marauded and murdered.
Adjoining all those neighborhoods across the U.S. where the most cruel of concentration camps have been set up so the horribly fed and without medicine in them all exhibit a U.S. now largely turned blind to and contemptuous of the rule of law.
Blind, deaf and dumb Phil weighing in here. You poor dear you just can’t help yourself. Not sure where you live, but apparently they took more than a couple billion dollars of your money and stole it. And over 100 of them are now serving prison time for just that so you keep talking about all the good folks of Minnesota and there are many but there are obviously many bad ones and they’re still getting bagged today
Bill, well if you’re talking about Vietnam, you have only one MAIN INDIVIDUAL TO THANK. With the assistance of John Kennedy, who was probably one of our best president ever,.. you should thank none other than Lyndon Johnson for killing 56,000 of our American soldiers/young men. . And I believe he was a Democrat.
We should’ve never been there in the first place nor Korea, nor Afghanistan, Nori rack, nor Libya. And unfortunately, we lost all those wars since World War II
But we were about to win a war. We haven’t won in 80 years. And hopefully it will bring peace to not only the region, but the entire planet
ну сколько можно уже!
Oh I love this one. I’m guessing and I’m not sure but I’m guessing you’re trying to post Russian language here. And if so, let me easily demonstrate your ignorance.
If you want to talk about Russian influence and interference, please confirm that and I would be more than happy to pour you a glass of champagne. Although it might slip out of my hand all over your head. And make you a wet head. So please confirm the language you’re trying to use there and I would be most happy to destroy your attempt to give #MIN the current president and show you the proof of just the opposite
Have a good morning
I had read quite a bit about the land forces of WW2, but it wasn't until I read the newest book from frequent commentor here TcinLA, the stories of the aviators of WW2. Amazing stories of bravery, as many did not return. Also amazing is the bombing missions to take out the oil refineries, as here we are, decades later, and the need for oil is causing havoc on the world economy. Take a fight to the death but put it in 3D! ("Bloody Skies" by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver)
Just imagine if we could truly embrace green energy! China is doing so, and they are beating us to the punch on electric vehicles as well. All these opportunities missed.
Tcinla tells it from the mouths of the heroes
Garrett Graff has also written a very good oral History of Dday, Entitled "When the Sea Came Alive"
My Uncle drove an ambulance during the Pearl Harbor attack and served in the Pacific arena. A friend told me about his landing on Omaha Beach. 17 years old. I shot, hit the sand, shot, ran, hit the sand...
#shorts - Rep. Jasmine Crockett shames the court for racism & corruption (6/3/26)
https://substack.com/@repjasminecrockett/note/c-270063850?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Thank you! I would have missed it normally. Shared it with family. Well done Jaksaa!
Every American, if they can, should visit that beach in Normandy and the cemetery. It is sacred ground 🙏🏼
Many of us visit it, Lois, by viewing and re-viewing the ending of "Saving Private Ryan."
Yes ! I know it is not possible for many to actually go there. I was fortunate and took the family 🥹
Yes, FDR that much earlier indeed knew "the troops were actually in the vessels, on the way across.”
We're in similar vessels now. Not facing booby-trapped, massively barbed-wire entangled beaches, with concrete pillboxes raining deadly fire on them.
But facing similarly deadly reincarnations of fascism -- ours yet in power today not just with an ideology of racial supremacy for some, but with an even more massive phalanx for corruption -- all those of criminal Donald's pal Jeffrey, plus the social media billionaires and their algorithms set to spreading hatreds and sensationalism, media billionaires just aiming to collapse all news and entertainment into criminal-Donald suck-ups, and the usual standardized testing billionaires ever zeroed in on the anesthetization and silo-neuterdom we've suffered for decades already.
Didn’t your mother and father tell you about drugs?
Thank you once again. The sacrifices that so many made must never be forgotten. Fresh tears are more than appropriate as is resolve to defeat today’s fascists.
I would like to remember members of the French Resistance who sabotaged German trains on their way to the coast and thus reduced the numbers of German soldiers available for battle.
Thank you so very much for this!
My dad jumped into Holland with the 82nd Airborne Division for Operation Market Garden in September, 1944. The bravery exhibited by these young men always brings me to tears.
Tech Whistleblower: The UAE Colluded With Elon Musk to Interfere In the 2024 Election. The program is "Aleria" and we have the receipts.
https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/tech-whistleblower-the-uae-colluded?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
JUN 5 2026 | Substack
THIS WILL HOLD
I've followed this will hold since the election and learned a lot. I finally subscribed - have wanted to, but old and concerned about finances so there's only a few I have finally subscribed to. Heather Cox Richardson was the first! I've been following her for a long time! Finally got kicked off Facebook in February. Meta wasn't liking my posts! Thanks for sending me a share. Limited time to explore all of my subscriptions on Substack. Glad you have the time! Thank you!
Congrats, FB banned me in 2020.
You’re an early adopter! 😊