Three weeks to comply???? DEMAND THE PAPERWORK RIGHT EFFING NOW. Why do we keep playing by the rules while they metaphorically rape and sodomize our government right in front of our eyes?? Enough. Is. Enough.
Trump will try not complying if it comes to that, but we the people actually have the power. The problem is uniting us in mass, very loud, angry, ethically-oriented protest. I think it’s starting to happen, but clearly the sooner the better. Rafael Warnock, now a senator from Georgia, in his former life as a pastor gave a sermon about how “they” never do anything. “We” must do it. I am part of the “we” that must snowball together into an avalanche. Let’s do this, people.
If 1/3 of citizens didn’t vote, approximately 1/3 voted for Harris and about 1/3 voted for Trump, we’ve potentially got at least 2/3 of the adult population. And the Trump portion are, despite how they act sometimes, human beings who can change their minds. If we try we might win, but if we give up, we lose for sure. I say let’s try. Despair will not help us, but resolve and action will.
Thanks for your optimism. However, I have talked to some of the people who did not vote and it was because they did not want a Black Woman as President. Racism and prejudice are rampant. Thus the polls.
No! Mary and everyone else. No! 47% of some voters in a poll approved. How many were in the poll? Usually around 1000, 500 of each party. Nowhere near valid sample. How many are Russian tech guys? The last poll I saw in headlines that were overwhelmingly pro Trompe had polled over 50% repubs and 30% dems. Please ignore the headlines and go to the original poll website and go all the way to the end to find the sampling stats!!!! And spread the word. We have got to fight these lies.
YES! It's got to come from home. Because the general tactic with overseas diplomats now is to humour him face to face - all these laughing photos of victims sitting across the fireplace (which now has not only an array of golden objects on the mantelpiece, but also a huge Mar-a-Lago type golden decoration spread across the pure white marble of the fascia. That's only appeared since the Zelenskyy episode.)
Another question , after such a NO, how many weeks would it take for the Court of Law to issue another rule to make the "king" to comply with the first ruling?
This is all a show, a frantic paying of homage (by Congress and the Court) not to greatness but to mere might! When disasters come, they come in dreadful ways and numbers.
It's not MAGA. That is just a cover. It is white supremacy efforts to establish an elite group of rulers over the nation of undeserving rabble. We have to stop getting pulled into the MAGA distraction. I know a lot of upper middle class, educated people that ascribe to the elite ruler form of government. They believe some humans are 'deserving' and most are not.
I agree with you. The problem is that most Americans seem to be unaware that this white elitist thinking was exactly that of those hallowed "Founding Fathers."
White supremacy was literally coded into the newborn nation's DNA. When the phrase, "all men are created equal," was written in the Declaration of Independence, the definition of "men" wasn't a reference to the male of the human species. It was shorthand for "gentlemen," which was understood at the time to be male members of the aristocracy, the landed gentry.
This was meant as an implicit rebuttal of the notion of monarchy, whereby power is concentrated on the throne of one person. But the founders only meant that power should be shared by a GROUP of elites who were deemed to be superior to the uncouth rabble they governed.
It would take almost 100 years for the concept of equality to be expanded to everyone, regardless of race or social standing, by Abraham Lincoln. That radical notion precipitated a literal, bloody war. The losers still haven't gotten over it, and are still fighting that war. Just not with guns ... mostly.
However, what's going on now suggests that maybe the founders had a point: they could point to the MAGAs and say "See?"
But the founders didn't reckon with the potential of economic power to undermine even their limited democratic objectives -- perhaps because they didn't foresee the concentration of wealth brought by the rise of industry. The white Southern oligarchy should have given them a clue, but too many of them were either of it or closely related to it.
Economic power has been at war with democracy ever since, and since the Reagan administration it's been winning.
Yes ... and yet, what did they expect? The white supremacists who formed the U.S. government did so primarily to protect the property of those aristocrats who founded it. In other words, the nation was founded as a supremely white, capitalist nation. Until the U.S. government was formed and U.S. currency was created, barter was the primary form of commerce.
Until the invention of currency, the landowner's wealth could be measured only by the volume of crops or livestock he could raise and trade from that land. With the advent of the U.S. dollar, land had value based on its potential, rather than its produce. The dollar gave the elites an instrument with which to measure their wealth, and create more.
The foundation of U.S. economy has always been scarcity, not abundance. Participants think of the economy as a pie that must be sliced and distributed. This "scarcity doctrine" promotes greed rather than generosity.
Dale, I agree with your assessment. And yes, it has taken a long time for equality to have meaning, but at least it did start to happen. Now it is being rolled back because the "undeserving" have achieved some rights. We had our haircuts yesterday and go to a shop owned by two married gay men. They, of course, are very worried as are others I know are.
The "losers" are an irrelevant minority, and BTW, not all of them are GOP. I remember Robert Reich in 2007 trying to convince unions to vote for a black guy for POTUS. The Democrat Party was the party of slavery, racism, the KKK and segregation, so don't get too sure you are all that pure.
Nowhere in my comments have I suggested that white supremacists are all Republicans. There were plenty of racist and misogynistic Democrats who couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Black woman in 2024.
Perhaps you are unaware of "The Southern Strategy." From the 1920s until the 1960s, the Democratic and Republican parties gradually swapped platforms and philosophies.
Finally, the losers are definitely NOT an irrelevant minority. They are noisy and empowered by a political structure that gives the minority power over the majority (See: gerrymandering, Electoral College).
The parties switched ideologies—in Lincoln’s day, the Republican Party came much closer to today’s Democrats than the Democrats of Lincoln’s time. In Lincoln’s day I would have been a Republican. I wouldn’t go anywhere near today’s Republican Party.
Susan, yes, it is about the supremacy of white people with heterosexual white men on top. The rest of us have forgotten that we are supposed to be slaves. This is the politics of resentment. And fie on those who think their money makes them superior.
Actually, the Muskovites aren't even MAGA. Steve Bannon has called Musk 'evil'. This summer, I am planning a discussion with my MAGA family members, pleading with them that we are now all in this together... that it's no longer D's versus R's or MAGA, it's all of us against the oligarchs. My MAGA family members will suffer under this regime. I'm desperately hoping that they will see that we are now in the same boat. Unfortunately, I will need to target Musk and leave Trump out of it since they think he's wonderful....
CLS, yes death star is really the head of a cult with a hold on people that Vance does not have. I personally do not understand this at all. I keep thinking that if most people had to deal with him personally and maybe got shafted for work done, they would not think he was so great. Our cleaner lived in Brooklyn for a time and she cannot stand him. She worked for some wealthy people and her observations are quite the insight.
(Homage to Donald Trump’s ‘Proud Boys’ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they weren’t.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mysterious commander said, “the time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who I’m talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, “OrangeFatso.””
“Yep”… they screamed in unison, “Save our leader, OrangeFatso.”
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, “Maybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.” as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh no… not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's “Code of Conduct” that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles – just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross – who is thought to have sewn the first flag – was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
“He wasn’t born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,” cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the “Alliance.” The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of they’re mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
“CHARRRRRRGE!” he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly – an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, “recalculating... recalculating...” His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
“Yes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, I’ll inform the men.”
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
“I’ll tell the men right away.” The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
“All hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.”
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
“Come in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.”
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth – the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: “The Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.”
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
But he's one of the most effective front men either party has had for a while, and if he's gone the GOP has no one anywhere close to being able to take his place.
Well of course that's a given. But you have to wait a few years for that. Keep in mind that short of impeachment or a 25th amendment action, there is no other legal way to remove a President until the next election. And impeachment/25th amendment actions are basically non starters in any reasonable world.
You're right Jon, at least in the near term, but we have to start planning and building if we want to see things happen in the future. If, every time anyone opens a tab on social media, or a newspaper, or any other communication tool, they see DUMP TRUMP, and reasons why, it will become an increasingly common theme that may even persuade some Republicans to waver in their heretofore mindless following of Krasnov's lead.
I don't think so. Constant "Dump Trump" is not a persuasive or winning message. We need to articulate a vision and plans for something clearly better and fairer for all Americans now and into the future. And we need gifted and believable spokespeople to do the articulating.
Racism is real, of course, but it is, IMHO, a tool rather than a source of our predicament, just as Trump is only a useful idiot to the “dark enlightenment “ folks pulling the strings. Trump is not smart enough to envision or implement what is happening. The PayPal mafia (embodied by Musk in this administration) want to bring America to it knees as a forerunner to making us malleable to the iron fist to follow. Read about Curtis Yarvin.
I’ve read several reports quoting anonymous Republican legislators to effect that they would step out of line to object but are literally afraid for lives of themselves and their families. We are already living in a Putinesque world.
But the real goal is economic dominance by the mega-wealthy (specifically the tech bros, who think anybody who can’t code is beneath contempt) over the rest of us no matter our race. The problem is these coding geniuses know nothing about history or running civilization and we are the victims of their ignorance.
Yes as have many Presidents even if you look closely President Biden. We (the people) let the executive exercise too much power and here we are. It's not so easy to rein it in.
constitution - what constitution...? they are not going by the constitution and they will not comply with the rule of law once their power is fully secured (very very soon if not already ) ..The Law will be only to hurt others ..sorry to say = Autocratic
The Constitution created the Nation. Each State had to vote to ratify to become a part, rather than stay independent. Rhode Island was the last. If they shred the Constitution, doesn't each State have the Right to return to its former status as a separate independent Nation? Remember that some MAGAs carried the Confederate flag into the Capitol.
Well that will be hard to prove. Fact is that what they said they would do during their hearings can easily change after they are put on the court. It has worked both ways too, don't forget. Earl Warren was a die hard GOP governor from California when Eisenhower put him on the court and then he wrote Brown vs the Board of Education decision to end school segregation. Just because a justice changed their mind during a court case hardly makes them s criminal. In fact one would hope that judges WILL change their minds sometimes.
I'm not saying I love what the SCOTUS has done to support Trump but that's a far cry from criminality. Elections have consequences and right now we are paying for that.
They went against the constitution to allow him to run for office when another state supreme court denied him. That was overreach and unconstitutional.
That is where all of the shenanigans began. It encouraged Republicans to think they could get an imperial presidency, but they had to go about it more discreetly.
I think it played a major role. Equal Justice Under Law (as it says on the Supreme Court building) does not apply to a president. It was a clumsy way to establish that, but the precedent was made, and built on, kind of covering up the cover-up. It is the true psychological "basis" for more recent $COTUS claims of presidential impunity.
Supposedly the innovative pardon saved the nation from a divisive crisis of due process of law, but at a at a considerable cost of accountability of government to the public. $COUTUS has already announced the no power on earth has authority over it's choices, and Congress has been reduced, at least on the side of the majority, to fawning courtiers. "This is not normal" in the US.
Those are pretty bare feathers Daniel. I wish you luck but I will be STUNNED if there is ANY chance of impeachment of this guy. And then guess what, we've got Vance. JD not Joyce.
Okay so get him too. Oops next in line is Mike Johnson. Oh and then Chuck Grassley. So you see where this goes? Nowhere.
We are stuck with these jerks for at least 2 if not 4 years. If we focus on winning back the Congress and Senate in 2026 we MIGHT find a way out of this mess. If we waste time whining for impeachment we are wasting the few resources we have.
"Better to run away and live to fight another day".
Jon I agree with everything you said, except the Run Away part. We must standup and make our voices heard!!! As Joyce Vance says," Giving Up is Unforgiveable"
I've laid this out so many times.... there are a lot of qujirliques.
At a minimum, history shows that those impeached lose the following election. Those impeached have to spent most of their attention defending themselves....The facts become public record... The public gets to see "crimes and misdemeanors" for themselves.
Meanwhile, the vision of shared government .... 3 House votes to make Jeffries speaker.
22 Republican senators voted to fund Ukraine, dozens of House Republicans.... Many Congressional Republicans are calling Trump a liar on Putin... a boor and a bully on Ukraine...a traitor to our formerly loyal and trusted allies like Canada and NATO.
Can impeach both as Russian agents/willing idiots.
Like I said previously, the tactics of impeachment includes negotiation...Imagine Mike Turner R. Ohio as chair of the House Intelligence Committee...Armed Forces...
I can't argue with the fact of your statement but the sample size is pretty dismal. There have only been four presidential impeachment in 230 years. None have resulted in conviction and removal. One of those, Clinton's impeachment in 1998 can't be counted because he couldn't run for office again in 2000 anyway. The other three impeachment were Andrew Johnson in 1867 and Trump twice in 2019 and 2021. The latter was tried AFTER he already lost the election.
So yes, those impeached haven't won reelection but again the sample is abysmally small. And Trump isn't eligible to run again anyway. So your theory while possibly accurate doesn't have any real effect at least IMHO.
@Jon Rosen, ENOUGH ALREADY. You shoot down every possible solution, every way to fight back, every explanation. It's all negativity, all the time. Maybe we should all just give up now.
I called! The call should include no presidential impoundments, no sequestrations, in addition to what they suggest we say.
Furthermore, we should demand their definition of “day” REVERT back to a “CALENDAR DAY”(Ridiculous tricks!).
This from HCR:
“Republicans just passed a measure saying that for the rest of this congressional session, “each day…shall not constitute a calendar day” for the purposes of terminating Trump’s emergency declaration.”
Rachel Maddow spells out the absurdity of House Republicans ALTERING the meaning of a calendar day to “avoid responsibility for Trump wrecking the economy:”
Daniel- Impeachment is not possible until Democrats control both chambers of Congress. I recommend putting your time and energy into making that happen in 2026.
You have not reat Feathers of Holpe. Check iot out and get back.
We have a window of opportunity. Shared givernment. 22 Republicabn senators and dozens of RepublicanH ouse members voted to fund Ukraine. Trump/Musk is fumblking it's way into more internal dissention. For many of them he sold out to Putin. You probab;y haven't been following this... because the media won't touch it.
It’s amazing Trump’s attorneys must have SCOTUS on speed dial as they were able to submit a request to extend the immediate freeze on aide 10 minutes before the midnight deadline and within that time, SCOTUS RESPONDED saying the freeze could go on and handed it back to the courts. (Yet they dragged out Trump’s criminal trial for months until it was too close to the election! Sooo corrupt!). Once again interceding in a lower court’s ruling. Sooo corrupt.
It is a president's immunity, not only Trump's, they would be removing. The beauty and the beast of the constitution is that the document is short on detail.
Seems that the Executive has been taken over by an Outlaw... DJT... Outlaws do not play by the Rules... That is why they are called Outlaws... They are Social Predators that prey on Civil Society...
The republicans did it before SCOTUS did. McConnell is responsible for this, with his "personal favor" request to not convict this asshole. He didn't want the stain on his party. What a pitiful creature.
Apache: " ... has been taken over by an Outlaw ..."; HCR: Another Outlaw, Elon Musk's own political action committee is targeting "next month's election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court."
Musk's front in Wisconsin is "Building America's Future" (NOT) spending over $2.4 Million per 'AdImpact' in targeted Ads.
Many others including me (ActBlue $50) are supporting Judge SUSAN CRAWFORD as the Chief Justice in Wisconsin in 19 days, 4/1/25.
Discouraging indeed, Virginia. Somehow the Republican tidal wave rolled right past our efforts, and we don't get a do-over. My guess is that some of those postcards (I wrote several batches myself) were no match for the inertia that settled in on a lot of voters who forgot the first T administration. Millions of people are going to suffer for their inaction.
I’ve been writing postcards with 2-3 organizations since 2018. Wrote 1000+ for Senator Warnock’s multiple senate races. At 90, it’s what I can do and Indivisible vouches for their value. This Wisconsin judge race, into which Elon the Terrible has poured so much money, is critical. Got a good look at Judge Crawford’s opponent this morning. Face told much (mean), words told same (mean AND stupid).
For other writers who might read this: be sure to mail each card SEPARATELY. They tend to stick together. Even with all my experience and care, every time I mail 100, there is at least one I failed to stamp (1 address; 2 write message; 3 stamp.)
At LFAA no one forgets the creation of FDR's 8/14/1935 Social Security Act, the insurance program built by Frances Perkins born on 4/10/1882.
Frances Perkins was the 1st woman to hold a Presidential cabinet position.
You cannot miss Frances in the SSA's historical photograph of FDR's signing the law. Secretary of Labor Perkins is 'No 12' in the photo standing directly behind FDR.
Hello Ricardo... That maybe on the National Level. but I was referring to our Personal Honor... What is being done to our Allies are Criminal Actions by Convicted Criminal DJT...
Honor is honor Apache. The people running this regime, from the scumbag president down ,do have blood in their hands starting by what they are doing to Ukraine, our own people and abroad.
People are literally dying because of a tax cut for the richest people on earth.
Virginia: In my humble opinion. It is the American people as a whole that have to address this issue, not foreign countries. We now just have to wait, until the people get upset enough, to band together to remove trump. As I mentioned from Day 1, this is going to get very ugly, and yes even bloody!
Mr. Graham, I for the most art agree with you. However, in my military experience, when a dictatorship occurs, the rules of law are discarded, as with trump. Therefore, if you play the game by his rules, you put your life in his hands. Trump will only recognize force, as so many dictators before him. I always Pray for peace, but in this case, we would be negligent not to prepare for war!
Stop being distracted by tariffs and immigrant issues. Yes, they are certainly legitimate worries but the goal is to distract us while they PRIVATIZE THE GOVERNMENT!!! They seem to be succeeding. At the time I am posting this there are about 200+ comments about the distractions, not the dismantling of our country!!
Absolutely! Please look up what privatize means America!!! It means the greedy goons who actually hate us will own you! Every part of you, your family, your children, your planet…. Is that what you believe is the right thing to agree to?
That’s amazing. Let me throw in to make you laugh: I have this on good authority: everybody in Ukraine knows who Jasmine Crockett is. Humor wins there as it once did here.
A DISASTER. The United States of America, Inc. Currently, corporations have more rights than individuals. The “consumer” is merely here as the product being sold for corporate profit. Now imagine the government programs as big corporations. We will become Consumers of the United States of America vs Citizens of the United Stated of America Inc.
Privatization is the pot of gold for oligarchs. It promises untold wealth for the small price of complete loyalty. And it will sink everything good in America. Atlanta tried privatizing their public water several decades ago. They picked the low bid and then found mud - or nothing - coming out of their faucets. Turned out that low bid was a “foot-in-the-door” bid. Once the contract gave them control over Atlanta’s water, they demanded more money, saying the water infrastructure was worse than had been disclosed (the usual bait-and-switch story). Atlanta took back control of their water.
Now imagine eliminating the bidding process. Suppose they had simply given the water system to the mayor’s major donor. No contract. And imagine the schools, the medical system, etc. also being privatized. Oh shit, I forgot; that’s already happening….
BIG issues here in Baghdad By the Sea. E.G. Virtually all fed employees here in some agencies dealing with the public are bi lingual. The mjusk algorythm makes tyhem expendible. e3 of our local House members are Republican MAGAT Cuban Americans. 2 of the 3 had been Dems. They are publicly objecting to Trump immigration, Ukraine policy. I published a letter I got from Rick Scott (of all MAGATs) to that extent.
We also have more Canadian taxpayers here than live in some Canadian provinces, many with dual citizenship. They pay Florida real estate taxes, create boucoups American jobs..... Our economy is based on tourism. 3 mil + Canadian tourists per year. We have Canadian banks, developers.....
Florida, Daniel? Snowbirds are in a real bind, all i can say for the moment. Not something i can afford, mind you, however Trump/Musk 2.X steers the USA and maybe my home country towards an abyss. In 60 or so years i suspect water may be regularly lapping over the tops of the docks in our local port, maybe sooner, will I'll definitely be "gone" sooner. Florida? definitely "in the water"...
Yes, Musk keeps hiring more of his muskrats that have no clue how things work and it is never a good idea to take a hatchet to a computer system that you have no idea how it works. You have to make those conversions with planned delicacy. Deciding the FAA air traffic would work better under your super computer powers that haven’t even been designed and messing with the one keeping the planes in the air will kill people. Twitter/X and SpaceX are prime examples. Massive crashes that currently won’t kill anyone and now they want to do it to,systems that affect our lives. 🤦♀️
After they have destroyed it, they will tell you that government can be run much more efficiently by a CEO/Monarch, along with all their subsidiary corporations (read "oligarchs"). Even if they manage to create what they call efficiency, who do you think will reap the benefits? These are the same a-holes who have brought us "health care" for profit, corporate landlords raising rents and home prices, and monopolies like Walmart and Amazon that squeeze their suppliers so they can pocket more profit while paying lower wages. No profit? No services.
I really don't think many on this thread don't understand that every item HCR writes so eloquently about is tied to the overall right-wing conspiracy to destroy every aspect of our country.
The way DOGE is dismantling our social safety net and institutions meant to keep us all safe, healthy, scientifically, and technologically advanced in such an opaque way that it seems like there is no way to stop them until it's too late. Judge Chutcan has ordered Musk and the DOGE team to answer questions under oath, so there is a little hope.
Then there is the Congressional rule that if any Congress critters introduce a bill to review the emergency powers trump is using to implement the tariffs, they must act within fifteen days; the right-wingers in Congress have made it so that for the remainder of this Congress will be considered one day.
The executive actions to intimidate the media and to take away privileges from law firms that undermine the rule of law, the imperial threats to annex Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.
It is all one colossal right-wing plot to betray all Americans by collapsing our government, our economy, and our social contract and replacing it with an Oligarch controlled White Christian nationalist theocratic totalitarian dictatorship where if you are not rich or a male White Christian nationalist, you will find you have no rights or liberty, where fetal personhood is the law. Pregnant women will be at much more risk of death than they have to be.
Only massive civil protests and probably a general strike to shut down commerce until trump and his henchmen are forced out of office to flee to Russia where they belong.
Yes. I got a no-reply email supposedly from Social Security today. It tells me my New social security statement is now available. Do I trust this email? NO I DON'T! I am not even going to open it until my husband is up. If I find that my amount is smaller what is the recourse? Is there anyone even working there to check this. Also, if they send an email like this to my mom, she has dementia and can no longer open her email on her own. We are not even in the same country to check it.
I am calling what Musk and Trump and our Republicans in Congress and in SCOTUS are imposing on us, the New Feudalism.
It is feudalism, and we happen to think the government should work for everyone, not just billionaires. Really, I am tired of the care and feeding of Donald and Elon’s collective egos and bank accounts.
Someone suggested, and I did it, that you go to the part of the Social Security website that you trust, and copy your record of wages from day one. And then secure it in a good place so that if somebody tries to erase it or change it, you have a copy of the original. I did that and mine was fine. But do it right away.
They will never accept the copy of that if there’s a problem. What you need is a copy of your tax returns or w-2s. I read an article about that. But it would be good for you to have as a reference should you think the data was messed with.
I took a few screenshots including my name and address and the heading on the Social Security site of the details as they exist now. I hope if it comes to it we are dealing with rational people but that’s no guarantee anymore is it?
I use login.gov. I have had copies of my SS earnings since very young & did just print out my current SS payout. Along with copy of who can speak for me if needed. Safe deposit with dual ownership is a good place to protect copies.
Appreciate your concerns Linda, but don't "jump the gun" on your pension... everyone in the community is freaking out from today's letter from Heather.... not that i can blame them! .... actually, if EVERYONE'S pension statement was reduced, what a POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY! excuse the caps and hyperbole please!
Don't use the link! I got that email, too. It's mist likely a scam. If you want to see your statement, go directly to the SSA website and sign yourself in.
I have logged into the Social Security site and saved our earnings records and statements (which show how much we'll be eligible for each year, beginning at age 62). Someone recommended it, it's easy to do, and it's not a bad idea.
On another note.... Due to the recent Social Security Fairness Act eliminating the WEP and GOP, I have received my lump sum entitlement for the past year. Still waiting for the monthly uptick in earnings to take effect. However, cynically, I'm also waiting for it to be taken back by the bozos rummaging around in there.
Accept the President's position on Musk at face value. He is merely an advisor to him. Therefore find all his actions null and void and orders given to all others in government. Bar him from access to federal buildings and secured computer systems and records. Order him to appear in court to show cause why he should not be held in contempt. Bring a civil action against him and his cohorts for damages and injustice relief under RICO for thousands of individual plaintiffs. The may have money to pay them but they do not have enough lawyers to defend against all the actions that could be brought against them by all the people and organizations they have already harmed. And they will not find enough. The legal profession by and large will turn against these vandals. It can not survive if it can not prove effective in resisting what they are doing.
The very last paragraph, tacked onto the bottom of the bill:
"Each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622) with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1, 2025."
Agree. Trump and DEMs are fighting using different rules. DEMs are told to use bows and arrows and bamboo spears by courts while Trump is using guns and tanks.
Sure, "demand the paperwork right effing now" -- and what happens when the demand is ignored? How's it going to be enforced? The Supreme Court? Congress? The military?
I hope the 640+ readers who so far have liked this post realize that it may be satisfying as rhetoric but as a recommendation it's got serious problems.
It is increasingly difficult to press "like" on these daily LFAAs as the information just keeps getting worse and more terrifying. However I do appreciate all the efforts that go into each edition and we do need to know what's happening in our government, horrible as it is. Thank you, Dr. Heather, and please stay safe.
But we press "like" because we appreciate Dr. Richardson's efforts to keep us informed and put some historical perspective on the madness that is unfolding around us. We always learn something new from her letters.
There are no conservatives. Most of us realized that when Trump was elected in 2016. Mitch McConnell's idea of being conservative was to pass as little legislation as possible.
He created this mess we are in when he refused to impeach Trump in 2020 after the insurrection.
And Robert's in 2009, allowing unlimited money to flow into politics has allowed Trump and his billionaire friends to buy enough elections. We cannot defeat their money, but we can opt out of cable TV and cancel our subscriptions to the lame stream print media. And cancel your Xitter accounts.
As of 2024, around 68.7 million people in the United States have cable TV subscriptions.
From 2021 to 2023, the number of pay TV subscribers worldwide dropped by about 20 million.
As of 2023, the number of cable TV subscribers has fallen to 72.2 million, down from 98.7 million in 2016.
We cut the cord a few years ago. Streaming is where the eyeballs are going along with the ad dollars. Cable could completely collapse and the majority of people under 50 wouldn't notice.
But I suspect the FOX will be sneaking into the hen house of streaming.
However, if Rupert loses the appeal on his lawsuit about his trust, when he passes, the majority of the inheritors could change the world of legacy media. For the better.
Roberts and McConnell, along with Trump, are three of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Judicial, legislative and executive. Take away any one of them, and we would still have had one uncorrupted branch of government to check the other two and prevent this power grab.
Sadly, by not stepping aside in time to allow a full and transparent process to nominate a Democratic successor to beat Trump in 2024,, Joe Biden is IMO a strong candidate to be horseman #4.
I especially welcome to reach-out to conservatives through Edmund Burke who wrote in 'Reflexions on the Revolution in France': "Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." ✍️
Until President Reagan's election, conservatism had a cooperative bent through leaders like President Eisenhower, Senator Dirksen, President Ford, Senator Landon Kassebaum. 'Project 2025' is recycled Reaganism without the velvet-glove. 💔
Because the Reaganist ideology is exhausted, conservatism has become more radical and intellectually dishonest As the good professor writes, Burke warns that governments based on untested ideologies destroy rather than affirm lives of peace and freedom. 😱
>>>So Republicans just passed a measure saying that for the rest of this congressional session, “each day…shall not constitute a calendar day”<<<
Has there ever been a better example of George Orwell's warning? "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." -1984 (published in 1949)
Not to mention stealing the election in at least one swing state (Ohio). And GW knew it. In a news interview he was asked if he was going to win. With a very sly smile he said “well, I know I’m going to win here” and pointed on a map to Ohio. Books have been written on whatever happened in Ohio in the 2004 election.
I tried to look up the said measure that a day shall not constitute a day. Did not find it on the house votes. Can someone point me to the bill or resolution number?
It's only for purposes of Section 202 of the National Emergencies Act...declared by the president on Feb 1, 2025. So, does that mean for ALL OTHER purposes there is more than one day? Dimwits!
And by making time subjective, they give Trump an opening to decide for himself how long he wants the four years till the next election to be.
But there is a silver lining. I plan to tell the IRS that based on Congressional precedent I will decide when April 15th actually is. They'll get my tax payment promptly on that date.
It means that Republicans won't have to vote to show how they are supporting trumps "emergency powers to implement tariffs on his own whim". They figure that their complicity is not on the record.
It’s no coincidence that Edmund Burke, in “Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents” (1770), wrote: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
That’s a quote I used in this essay on megalomaniacs:
Check out Roman history before using it as a good example for our society. The assassination of Julius Csesar didn't exactly go well for Rome.
Assassinations rarely do.
A really good example of this is the assassination of Caligula by his praetorion guards. Claudius, upon taking over, had most of the guards executed because it just doesn't look good for the guy who benefits from the assassination to let the murderers go free.
This insanity won’t end well for us either. The richest man in the world and arguably the most powerful man in the world are playground bullies. This is way worse than the four years we spent learning the hard way what dangerous cretins chump and all republicans are. It is beyond my comprehension that even one American can logically support this shit show. Of course, it is all emotion, not logic. Hate, jealousy, greed, religious hypocrisy, and just dumbasses support this take over. There are no excuses..
Maybe. Maybe not. It won't end well if we give up hope.
I'm getting careful about how much news I take in. Local protests have started where I live in NC. I have gotten much more relaxed about making calls to my reps. At the first, it took me a week just to get their numbers.
I think it is bizarre that the same pattern is showing up in other nations. Autocrats, dictators, oligarchs….and citizens paralyzed by stress, fear, sociopathy, whatever?
Is there something in the water? A few years ago Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s (MN’s nutcase ex-governor) did a show on his conspiracy theory about the government putting lithium in the drinking water to control the population. The “truth” behind the “conspiracy” was some government study that found communities with low levels of naturally-occurring lithium in their water had fewer assaults, murders, etc. Maybe we should implement a little reverse-conspiracy and the people could put a little lithium in the water system that feeds Congress, SCOTUS and the White House?
I'd be cautious with a statement like that. No one was convicted of murder (or even CHARGED with murder) during Jan6 although there were several people killed. And of the 1500 people convicted and ultimately pardoned only about 300 were even convicted of felonies, most were convicted of misdemeanors. I certainly don't support the pardons but to use the categorical phrase Jan 6 "murderers" is a far cry from the truth.
Do you have a point?? It feels like, sounds like but a misdirection play, argument for its own sake rather than prospective action.
I've been relatively quiet the last ten days. I have been reading HCR's columns and all the subsequent comments. Doing so has been dismaying to me, deeply so. Hence my silence. Therefore: .
Please, please, PLEASE --- EVERYONE --- read Laurie Winer's guest column today at Tim Snyder's Substack. Just as HCR relates and explains current events in the context of America's history, Laurie Winer goes back 8/9 decades to the installation of Germany's fascist era and lays out for us as succinct a set of lessons as could be found as to how the Weimar Republic could disappear so quickly. Yes, the same could happen here. Each passing day leads to new outrageous consequences -- the gutting yesterday of basic data collection and analysis at the Department of Education, and after stiffing Columbia University for $400 million a few days ago, it doubled that bite out of Johns Hopkins yesterday. For whatever, reasons -- and there is a handful of individual Democrats who have distinguished themselves -- as a leadership instrument, the party has shown itself ineffective in the coup that is taking place. That fight must now be assumed by the people.
All the authority required is clearly written in the First Amendment -- our Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Peaceable Assembly, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom to Petition the Government. But the lessons of German history is that dithering further on defining and sending messages and staging recurring nationwide assemblies cannot be allowed to compromise our ability to protect and preserve the best of what America has come to stand for, for us and for the world of which we are a part.
My point was simple. Don't call people by names that are not supportable by facts. The words "Jan 6 murderers" carry heavy weight and are 100% wrong as there were 1500 Jan 6 people pardoned and NONE were convicted of murder, moreover at best only a few could even be CONSIDERED murderers.
I believe it is horrible to call people names which are wrong and meant to damage them. That is a Trump tactic which I abhor and I refuse to let people I feel are on our side use such language without calling them out for it.
I was speaking metaphorically, Jon. Though, given the deaths and needless suffering he continues to inflict upon humanity, the black-comedy visual did make me smile.
On this day in 1881, Czar Alexander II was assassinated. Things didn't improve. Number III took over and the people starved. It would be over 35 years before the people would finally successfully revolt. And that didn't lead to good times either.
Octavia was George Bush who should have worked harder to keep Trump away from the white house the first time. But GWB has no real interest in saving the country. He doesn't need to either, he lives in Texas.
So they are rescinding facts like the EPA’s 2009 finding that the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change endanger public health and a day is not a day. Are they all wearing Zuck’s clumsy virtual reality goggles?
And Trump is berating the leader of Ireland for stealing the major pharmaceutical companies from the US while completely gutting the underlying scientific research IN the US. How many John’s Hopkins researchers and their US peers will be looking to Europe to continue their life’s work?
It’s entirely typical that Trump would behave boorishly with a foreign leader of a free country, while being overly respectful of authoritarian “leaders.” I was ashamed and embarrassed when he and Vance got into it with President Zelensky, and now Trump gets nasty with the Irish PM.
He has a compulsion to throw his weight around. When he can't find anything "substantive" ( because he is not a substantive person ) he takes control of the shiny objects--Vance's socks, Martin's suit, etc.
Even those comments are ambiguous as to whether they are compliments or snide remarks. Either way, he is losing cognitive coherence on a daily basis.
Yes the Higgs Boson people. Tim Berners-Lee of CERN gave the world the World Wide Web (www.http: whatever). Berners- Lee has been a champion of egalitarian access to the Internet. The Internet itself was a US public sphere creation, but Berners-Lee fitted it with a flexible text and graphic, multimedia format: the Web page, as it now appears before us.
Thank you. I had no idea of the extent or origins of CERN, having seen the installation on the Swiss border (near Voltaire’s “escape” place and meeting at my 60th class reunion at Hollins University a 50th reunion person who had a considerable part in CERN, thanks to graduate stidies in chemistry at the Sorbonne.
KSC, I hope all of them look to Europe to continue they life work, but at the same time I hope this situation it's totally temporary and guaranteed them a warm welcome when they come back 😀
Speaking from experience, employment aside, there is no bed of roses involved in moving from home to a new continent. And the number of people whose lives have been turned upside down is crushing to consider….it will be a while until the full grizzly picture can be understood.
It was my personal experience fleeing a dictatorship at home while setting down in the US, with an impressive wife and three little kids. It was a mixture of spines and some roses.
Everything in the name of tax cuts KSC. Nothing more important to the richest people on Earth to have more money even if kids around the globe go hungry an die of curable diseases.
If there are no facts or data - then there are no problems. Then, for example, climate change is not happening as there is no verifiable proof without data.
>>>They are abruptly dismantling a government that has kept the United States relatively prosperous, secure, and healthy for the past 80 years. In its place, they are trying to impose a government based in the idea that a few men should rule.<<<
And this is precisely why Commerce Secretary Lutnick and his billionaire kleptocrat friends think that this whole Trump cocktail party and MAGA-bation is just peachy.
"Commerce Secretary Lutnick and his billionaire kleptocrat friends"... Made their Wealth in 'Paper Money'... They did not build Factories, grow Crops, or Educate Children... Lutnick is a Wall Street Salesman... He doesn't live in the same World as most People... If the USA flounders, Lutnick will just sail to somewhere else...
When I heard Ludnick say that the tariffs/trade wars would be worth it in the end the question that came to mind was “what end? “ what is the end goal? That is when I realized the Republican Party is the new Nazi party. Every single person that the felon put in place has that same end goal. There hasn’t been anyone from the republican side saying that dismantling every single department and agency is a bad idea. Not one.
I looked up Lunicks bio. Another welfare child. He got his degree in economics (undergrad) at some third tier school that catered to Jewish kids, which waived his tuition when his dad died.
Then hired at Cantor Fitzgerald which took a huge hit on 9/11 and won in a power struggle to take over the counpany.,
It’s that over-generosity that a t got Trump out of jail to start with. If Musk’s hackers had actually been doing a legit job, there would be accounting books already available for inspection. But they haven’t been looking for waste; they have been data mining, reprogramming and recoding our private and financial data for access to the new elite. Cambridge Analytica was just a little practice session for the surveillance they are planning.
I would not even be surprised to find out that some of Trump’s secret documents were used to finance his campaign. And musk is all for China, where a lot of his cars are made some 50%. They have already compromised their country.
Hmmmm….by King Toot’s own metric: “...but many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work.” HE should be purged as well. Unless you call riding around in a golf cart and cheating at golf “work”🏌️♂️. Ha! it could be easily calculated how much the American tax payer would save not having to pay for all the aspects of his ⛳️“fairway job”.
Those comments make me apoplectic. My husband was a NASA contract administrator for 32 years having spent Five years in the AF. How dare that lazy bastard accuse anyone of not showing up for work. When I spent 12 years in civil service, I knew a few layabouts. Not one as useless as chump. Most earned their pay and then some. Unlike these moral and ethical black holes who call us parasites.
I assume he is fixated on 'work from home', remote work, or something like that someone said to him, when he says this about government employees. And if they are not in an office they can't be working!?!? So yeah, if he's off on a golf course, it's pretty obvious he's not working. But the rest of us are. Lazy bastard is too nice.
Yeah, Nancy, pure projection on his part ‘cuz that’s what HE does when “working” from home…nuthin, or watching Fox News or golfing…so, of course, that’s what everybody else does… Sigh, wish the guy had two brain cells to rub together!
Dr Bandy Lee has written extensively on Trump‘s psychological pathology… How destructive a force his mind is on America and the world. She is on Substack and also hosts a weekly zoom chat with her supporters. While I cannot quote her directly on this subject, I think she would agree with my assessment of Trump‘s inane levels of hate for the world and self-hate. The bottom line for me is that Trump has a death wish … not just for himself but for the world.
There has been an expression floating around for a bunch of years that says “everything Trump touches dies“. I think we are seeing the final stages of that truism play itself out here in America. And for that matter, Trump is causing NATO to die as well.
How can we survive this force of destruction and chaos? We have to know there is an alternative path to the future. That path was laid out many decades ago by pioneers in the human social system transformation philosophy, known as systems thinking. I urge everyone to study the work of Dr R Buckminster Fuller, Dr. W Edwards, Deming, Dr. Russel Ackoff, and Dr. Riane Eisler. 
Like yours mostly here, Steve, but worry a bit about "systems thinking."
Reminds me of all those of "the best and the brightest" 50-60 years ago in Nam and in D.C.
Here from p. 157 of paperback of Lyndsey Stonebridge’s recent book, “We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience”:
"Toward the end of her California stay, she took a trip to Stanford University to visit a new centre for the study of behavioural sciences. She was not impressed. 'You act in A-way, so B will follow and then C . . .' The logic looked familiar. The problem with modern theories of behaviourism is not that they are wrong but that they could become true . . .. The thought that future governments and big businesses would routinely use behavioural science to predict and manage the lives of their populations and customers would have confirmed her worst nightmares about the problem solver."
Complex original ideas like those of Buckminster Fuller are too often taken up by fools and knaves. The manner in which social media encourages dangerous emotional addiction in the young has its psychological roots in behaviourism. Proving that it works as a seductive control mechanism but that it does so at the social price of also destroying human agency, dignity and sovereignty. Hannah Arendt would have recognised this at that time.
Why are you talking about “fools and knives” when you could be mentioning the students of Buckminster Fuller who are making the world a better place today and could transform the world if their ideas were given the attention they deserve? Some examples of this are the Rocky Mountain Institute founded by Amory Lovins, natural capitalism founded by Hunter Lovins, Cradle to cradle design founded by William McDonough and Michael Braungart?
You are referencing something you don’t like to speak poorly of something you don’t know anything about. This makes me sad. But also reminds me it’s a mistake to mention things without explaining what they are. So, my bad.
I will do my best in this reply to at least begin your educational journey on the subject, but I also have a museum here in Stroud, Oklahoma (on Route 66) that includes an exhibit devoted to teaching people what systems thinking is.
In short, it’s the same problem solving methodology engineers use. (I have a civil engineering degree. UMass - Amherst, Class of 1976.) You analyze why things are broken so that you can redesign the system in which they function to eliminate the root causes of the problem. We live in a society based on analytic thinking not system thinking… and in analytic thinking you fix broken problems by putting them back to together the way they were. And that means they inevitably break again, because you have not eliminated the root cause or causes of why they break in the first place. Engineers build things back smarter so they don’t break time after time after time. I hope this helps but to give you additional information, here is a 12 minute talk from systems thinking master Dr. Russel Ackoff who was my friend and mentor for the last 10 years of his life. I hope this further helps you see that this way of viewing the world - this way of problem solving - is the roadmap to the better future that is out there waiting to be born.
Steve- Thanks so much for sharing these videos. They remind me of times when as a society we were having serious dialogue about where we've been as a society and where we were heading. We were dialoguing and diagnosing our problems using systems thinking. We looked for root causes and embraced creativity to as Ackoff said "redesign the system" and as Drucker said, "do what was right". People like Drucker, Ackoff, Deming were inspiring us to consider that life itself is an interdependent system. Indeed, no man is an island.
Ackoff's analogy of cars being essential for getting us from one place to another clearly teaches us about the importance of considering the whole of humanity and not just the parts. He made the point that the engine alone or the chassis alone can't get us to where we want to go. The 2024 election showed me that America is more deeply divided along the lines of gender, race, citizenship status and so much more. These issues are systemic. We're not seeing each other as parts of an entire system.
I thought we were making progress toward helping people to understand that "we are stronger together" and "we won't go back". When Obama was elected it seemed that we were ready to include "parts" of our society that haven't been around the table or on the golf courses when decisions were being made by powerful people who were more concerned with building wealth for themselves than insuring that we can all survive and thrive in a peaceful and prosperous world. I don't think they're capable of imaging that peace, liberty and justice for all can someday be real if we decide to embrace the whole of humanity and our environment.
The current "regime" focuses only on keeping the whole divided and eliminating what they determine are defects. Ackoff reminds us that these approaches only lead to failure-not to system improvements-and we surely need improvements. He also said there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. The people who have the political power now have demonstrated that they have neither and don't know the difference.
Sorry for the long comment but I appreciate you sharing an example of thoughtful and hopeful dialogue between people who care about the best of what we can be. I'm never going to give up "systems thinking" as a way for us to improve because the fact of our interdependence demands that we accept and include everyone instead of allowing systemic racism, misogyny and other forms of discrimination to be used as tools that keep us divided instead of a "united" whole.
Thank you so much for all you wrote, Gina! I don’t have time to respond in detail now. But I did just follow and subscribe to you. If you have not already, I hope you will do the same to me. Let’s keep the dialogue going on the subject of bringing back the kind of thoughtful problem-solving that used to exist and is desperately needed again now. Thanks again!
Huh. I never knew I was a systems thinker. As an analytical chemist who sold the mass spectrometers analytical chemists use, that was the way I approached my customers' problems.
And never thought a lot of the engineers I ran across, most of whom seemed to just have harebrained ideas that failed on someone else's dime, and then they moved on to another guys dime.
All the while they were testing why crap failed so it would stop failing. Huh.
Ackoff is super good, Steve -- stressing creativity, interdependent parts in living systems.
But it's so funny. Academia only got much worse since his time. All gone into niches, virtually none able to see let alone imagine any wholes -- any ways to change the questions we ask.
Also, the death trip which testing has brought, so the personal has long been absent, and only neutered, specialist, truncated, niche-set outlooks exist.
I agree that today is an academia - from what I know of it at least - is also not where it was years ago. I can tell you that Russ‘s PhD program at Wharton was very popular with his students, but not popular with the school’s administration, who felt threatened in some way by what he was teaching. I forget how they justified it, but it was eventually canceled. Russ stayed as a leader of the system thinking community nonetheless, and I helped him organize a 2004 conference on system thinking that was held there. Attracted people from all over the world.
I'm glad to see the conversations you've had with Gina, Jane, and Jen.
You four conversed, Steve, during what has been the night for me here in Japan. It's now a bit after seven in the morning, and one thing I can report on further to your (plural) good exchanges is that here, also, in addition to sleep, during the night I finished Colm Toibin's great new novel, "Long Island."
It's totally relevant to "system thinking" (which, I hasten to add, really should have another descriptor, not so engineer-niched).
"Long Island" follows up on "Brooklyn," an earlier Colm Toibin novel. In the first one, an Irish girl travels to the U.S., meets, and marries an Italian guy with a large family from Brooklyn. In the follow-up novel, when their two children are grown, she returns to Ireland for the first time in over 20 years. She meets the guy she loved when they were both younger and, these years later, complications ensue.
It's these complications which reverberate with the humanity Russ Ackoff calls interdependency, or resonant parts of a whole. A great suspense novel it turns into being, as all the minor characters in small town Ireland turn out to have qualities much more vital than the sum of them put together.
All our great works of art share this wisdom -- which explains, again, too, Steve, how the vulgar have so taken over, given that schools have so kicked out the arts, and so embraced testing's death trip instead.
Thank you for all you wrote… and “hello, Japan”. It occurs to me that Substack does not tell us where people are located. I wish it would. Then I would be able to see if there are any international dimensions to the conversations taking place here. Meanwhile, I will look for more information about the books you mentioned. I don’t read fiction anymore these days. I do watch fictional films a lot. But my tolerance for reading fiction has deteriorated, possibly because I spent so much time reading non-fiction essays. Take care of yourself. We’re all in this together.
I am not sure that ways of thinking about engineering are the best comparison for thinking about government and human social systems. With good planning, a bridge can be built that will be stable and long lasting. But assigning people into functional categories - those good under compression, or those who function well under tension, or those who can be sunk into the muck of the river - is a recipe for a hierarchical society where the fortunate few get to travel over the deck of the bridge while the rest support them. Is that what most of us want?
I try to use metaphors people can relate to, Jane. Sorry that metaphor didn’t work for you. This problem-solving method goes back to before World War II. I urge you to look up the work of the people I mentioned. I don’t have time to run a course here in the comments. But I will offer you a 12 minute video that is like watching a TED talk by the particular pioneer who was also my friend and mentor for the last 10 years of his life. I hope that helps you better understand why this approach is basically the new thinking Einstein was referring to when he famously said “the specific problems we face cannot be solved, using the same thinking that created them”. Analytic thinking got us into this crisis, and systems thinking has the power to get us out … by eliminating the root causes of the crisis. And now, here’s a link to the video. I hope you enjoy watching it.
While I was not familiar with the semantics of analytic thinking vs systematic thinking, I am familiar with the challenge of designing a system that needed to meet a variety of criteria successfully, where no single element existed or functioned in isolation. I watched the video of Russ Ackoff that you suggested, and noted his emphasis on “essential properties” and the necessary interdependence of any parts to achieve that goal. One of the examples he used was a car, whose essential property (its purpose) is to transport us from one place to another.
I also have a background in museums, so you are probably familiar with the concept of a “Statement of Purpose” that articulates a museum’s “essential properties”, its raison d'être – what its goals are, what defines the scope of its collections, and how they will be maintained and made available through display and research. It serves as a guide to how a museum should function, and helps prevent it from descending into the chaos of becoming “grandma’s attic”.
One of the important things I see lacking in the discussions of our current political situation is an articulation of the essential properties of our government – what its goals should be (if any). Ackoff says, improving a system “must be directed at what you want, not what you don’t want”. And there’s the rub. Until recently, we seemed to agree that our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, served as our statement of purpose and over two centuries of lawmaking have built on that foundation. Now, the whole “essential purpose” seems to be up for grabs. Thinking wholistically about the system of a car when trying to understand its flaws gets us nowhere if we can’t agree on where we want it to take us.
I have a feeling that at least some in this administration know where they want to take us.
I really appreciate that you took the time to watch the video. Sounds like you understood Russ’s presentation really well. Some people I know have watched it multiple times (myself too). I always seem to get something new from each viewing. But to your point, the purpose of America appears to be fading into obscurity. The founding fathers vision is pushed aside by the rich and powerful, who are finally in control of enough of the public conversation to at least think they can win, unlike the rich and powerful of 100 years ago. I do not believe their victory is so predestined, because like a good episode of Star Trek the desire for freedom is not easily eliminated. But I do believe our education system has failed us by not creating an American citizen committed to preserving the gift the founding fathers gave us.
Richard Dreyfuss is passionate about civic education and spoke for four minutes on Bill Maher‘s show about 20 years ago on the subject. As wise as Russ’s talk is on the new way we need to think, Richard’s talk on the importance of teaching what it means to be part of a nation based on self rule is equally powerful. I invite you to watch those four minutes now.
My husband was a fan of Deming, but I know nothing about him. Everybody knows Fuller of course. Are we dependent on these dead men to save us. Well, dead men still speak to us through the ages. As is proved by Mein Kampf still resonating with some sick minds.
I’m happy to learn you know of Deming through your husband‘s awareness of his work. Not enough people have even heard his name. I believe ideas that can save us don’t have to come from people who are no longer alive, but sometimes do. That’s because some new ideas are not really new. They are just hidden from the public by an education system designed to keep things the way they are. When you learn about systems thinking, it empowers you to make things better than they are, and that is a threat to the existing power structures of society. Buckminster Fuller literally paved the way to a world beyond war. but his ideas are so unknown to the public that they have not achieved the critical mass of awareness to flip the global developmental paradigm.
Here I am almost 20 years ago raising this subject with Ted Koppel, Tom Friedman, and Joseph Stiglitz. I hope you enjoy this video which lasts about seven minutes.
Charming response to your Q here, Steve, among Friedman, Stiglitz, and Koppel.
But quaint, too, given how civil all are to each other, how all look at problems in civilized ways, as if better to solve them.
So much our billionaires have gone entirely into another direction -- just the most vulgar of greed, the most rapacious in allying with dictators, thugs, mass murderers.
We are living in very different times. I agree. And I don’t blame Rupert Murdoch, Mitch McConnell, Trump, Putin et al for this crisis. The Democrats failed to offer a vision that matched what Deming, Ackoff, Fuller and Eisler knew is possible. They marginalized people like Bernie Sanders and -in one if the great political failures of recent years - NEVER publicized (while Bill Clinton was POTUS) the transformational plan Clinton authorized when he launched the Presidents Council on Sustainable Development in 1993. Its Sustainable America plan is still online, but not only does Clinton still never talk about it Al Gore never mentions it too. He should have campaigned on its vision in 2000. But he was afraid to be labeled a “tree hugger” by the GOP. Here’s the link. Truly tragic. Someone needs to ask Clinton and Gore about this at a public event as soon as possible. And I pray Heather reports on it someday too. It is after all part of American political history, even if it’s invisible to most people today. I was involved in a small way, which is why I know about it.
Few things frustrate me more than that no one talks about this project. I’m pretty sure Heather has never heard of it either. Well, she has now, because she follows me on Substack and I sent her news about it by direct message. She did not respond, which I attribute to how busy she is. But assuming she read my message. she knows Clinton did this.
You’re welcome. And yes, Tom Friedman‘s point that “what we can imagine can happen” is key to the future is a hugely important concept. Right now, the vast majority of Americans cannot imagine a better world. That is why so many of them have withdrawn (did not vote), and why so many others have sided with forces of destruction … because they themselves are so angry that all they can think of is wanting to burn it all down. 😢💔
I think we'll have to muster the courage for that, since they've planned for it. The national guard will be called out, if not the military. Already the Sheriff is called out instead of the town police for a small local protest.
I'm counting on former military leaders to become part of a group of Americans with the necessary skills to devise a plan of action. Think of it as a D Day. Dissent, Defy, Defeat.
What a path the GQP, MAGA, the old Repub party is creating. It is the pathway to hell for middle-class and poor folks. I agree that Judge Chutkin should not give these monsters three weeks to get their papers or whatever lies together. They feel they are above the law. Didn’t she or any other judge see their crowns of thorns?
The day that is NOT a day! It is absolutely astounding that such a resolution can be voted on at all. Where is the Congressional parliamentarian to rule such a vote or of order? This is so absurd that it needs to be called out for the sham it is.
Eventually, this sour era in American history will end. Only time and America's collective sense of resolve (and vision for the future) will tell what rises from the ashes. Sadly, Europe needs to disconnect from the upended US apple cart.
I have subscribed to the Sabine Hossenfelder "science channel" on youtube for quite a while...her usual topics might include "the Einstein Molecule", or "is AI the solution". She has a Ph.D. in physics, but her discussions about complex scientific issues are simplified and straight forward.
Her most recent video really touched a nerve - "Are Americans Stupid?" Readers of this letter know that not all Americans are "stupid", but "we" seem determined to answer a resounding "yes". Worth watching for a European perspective.
You don’t need to talk to too many Europeans to realize that they are better educated & what agency is The Trump regime trying to eliminate first? Education.
Three weeks to comply???? DEMAND THE PAPERWORK RIGHT EFFING NOW. Why do we keep playing by the rules while they metaphorically rape and sodomize our government right in front of our eyes?? Enough. Is. Enough.
SCOTUS needs to REMOVE Trump’s immunity! Only they can do it.
But will a king comply with a ruling by a court of law?.
Trump will try not complying if it comes to that, but we the people actually have the power. The problem is uniting us in mass, very loud, angry, ethically-oriented protest. I think it’s starting to happen, but clearly the sooner the better. Rafael Warnock, now a senator from Georgia, in his former life as a pastor gave a sermon about how “they” never do anything. “We” must do it. I am part of the “we” that must snowball together into an avalanche. Let’s do this, people.
Protests in state capitols tomorrow, the 14th. Focus is on Vets. Check to see if local groups are out in your area. 12 noon.
47% of Americans approve of Trump. Only on Foreighn policy do the numbers lower! It will take some of these 47% to help us. They won't!
If 1/3 of citizens didn’t vote, approximately 1/3 voted for Harris and about 1/3 voted for Trump, we’ve potentially got at least 2/3 of the adult population. And the Trump portion are, despite how they act sometimes, human beings who can change their minds. If we try we might win, but if we give up, we lose for sure. I say let’s try. Despair will not help us, but resolve and action will.
Thanks for your optimism. However, I have talked to some of the people who did not vote and it was because they did not want a Black Woman as President. Racism and prejudice are rampant. Thus the polls.
No! Mary and everyone else. No! 47% of some voters in a poll approved. How many were in the poll? Usually around 1000, 500 of each party. Nowhere near valid sample. How many are Russian tech guys? The last poll I saw in headlines that were overwhelmingly pro Trompe had polled over 50% repubs and 30% dems. Please ignore the headlines and go to the original poll website and go all the way to the end to find the sampling stats!!!! And spread the word. We have got to fight these lies.
Only 21% approve of the Democrats --- you really must spend time figuring out why .
I doubt your statistic—we got nearly the votes Trump did. Sounds like more disinformation to me.
YES! It's got to come from home. Because the general tactic with overseas diplomats now is to humour him face to face - all these laughing photos of victims sitting across the fireplace (which now has not only an array of golden objects on the mantelpiece, but also a huge Mar-a-Lago type golden decoration spread across the pure white marble of the fascia. That's only appeared since the Zelenskyy episode.)
They need to get out their WeeGee boards and "find"originalist law the demotes Trump to a jack. Or maybe a three.
And Musk ambassador to Mars. Hurry Elon, you'll miss your flight.
He could stop off with the stranded astronauts.
They have said they're fine, thanks.
They might be better off hitching a ride on a Vogon Destroyer.
.... I know, "but the poetry!"
J L. Death star may be the joker which many games just drop from the deck. Yes, muskrat to Mars on one of his rockets.
Great one, there, J. L. Thank you!
Simple answer Anne Louise: NO!!!!
Another question , after such a NO, how many weeks would it take for the Court of Law to issue another rule to make the "king" to comply with the first ruling?
Something it's not working here !!!!!
Correct, It is called a coup.
This is all a show, a frantic paying of homage (by Congress and the Court) not to greatness but to mere might! When disasters come, they come in dreadful ways and numbers.
No!
In a word!!!
I think NOT. BEST HE DIE
Sigh.
Moot point, he owns Scotus.
The likes of Harlan Crow own $COTUS, and Trump. They just rent him out to Putin.
NO
This is the questions that concerns me the most.
“54*” 40 or Fight was a battle cry in the 1840s of increasing the Oregon territory against Great Britain.
Today’s battle cry: “Rid the Land of Putrid Savage Infidel MAGAs or Lose America”
It's not MAGA. That is just a cover. It is white supremacy efforts to establish an elite group of rulers over the nation of undeserving rabble. We have to stop getting pulled into the MAGA distraction. I know a lot of upper middle class, educated people that ascribe to the elite ruler form of government. They believe some humans are 'deserving' and most are not.
I agree with you. The problem is that most Americans seem to be unaware that this white elitist thinking was exactly that of those hallowed "Founding Fathers."
White supremacy was literally coded into the newborn nation's DNA. When the phrase, "all men are created equal," was written in the Declaration of Independence, the definition of "men" wasn't a reference to the male of the human species. It was shorthand for "gentlemen," which was understood at the time to be male members of the aristocracy, the landed gentry.
This was meant as an implicit rebuttal of the notion of monarchy, whereby power is concentrated on the throne of one person. But the founders only meant that power should be shared by a GROUP of elites who were deemed to be superior to the uncouth rabble they governed.
It would take almost 100 years for the concept of equality to be expanded to everyone, regardless of race or social standing, by Abraham Lincoln. That radical notion precipitated a literal, bloody war. The losers still haven't gotten over it, and are still fighting that war. Just not with guns ... mostly.
However, what's going on now suggests that maybe the founders had a point: they could point to the MAGAs and say "See?"
But the founders didn't reckon with the potential of economic power to undermine even their limited democratic objectives -- perhaps because they didn't foresee the concentration of wealth brought by the rise of industry. The white Southern oligarchy should have given them a clue, but too many of them were either of it or closely related to it.
Economic power has been at war with democracy ever since, and since the Reagan administration it's been winning.
Yes ... and yet, what did they expect? The white supremacists who formed the U.S. government did so primarily to protect the property of those aristocrats who founded it. In other words, the nation was founded as a supremely white, capitalist nation. Until the U.S. government was formed and U.S. currency was created, barter was the primary form of commerce.
Until the invention of currency, the landowner's wealth could be measured only by the volume of crops or livestock he could raise and trade from that land. With the advent of the U.S. dollar, land had value based on its potential, rather than its produce. The dollar gave the elites an instrument with which to measure their wealth, and create more.
The foundation of U.S. economy has always been scarcity, not abundance. Participants think of the economy as a pie that must be sliced and distributed. This "scarcity doctrine" promotes greed rather than generosity.
Dale, I agree with your assessment. And yes, it has taken a long time for equality to have meaning, but at least it did start to happen. Now it is being rolled back because the "undeserving" have achieved some rights. We had our haircuts yesterday and go to a shop owned by two married gay men. They, of course, are very worried as are others I know are.
The "losers" are an irrelevant minority, and BTW, not all of them are GOP. I remember Robert Reich in 2007 trying to convince unions to vote for a black guy for POTUS. The Democrat Party was the party of slavery, racism, the KKK and segregation, so don't get too sure you are all that pure.
Nowhere in my comments have I suggested that white supremacists are all Republicans. There were plenty of racist and misogynistic Democrats who couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Black woman in 2024.
Perhaps you are unaware of "The Southern Strategy." From the 1920s until the 1960s, the Democratic and Republican parties gradually swapped platforms and philosophies.
Finally, the losers are definitely NOT an irrelevant minority. They are noisy and empowered by a political structure that gives the minority power over the majority (See: gerrymandering, Electoral College).
The parties switched ideologies—in Lincoln’s day, the Republican Party came much closer to today’s Democrats than the Democrats of Lincoln’s time. In Lincoln’s day I would have been a Republican. I wouldn’t go anywhere near today’s Republican Party.
Susan, yes, it is about the supremacy of white people with heterosexual white men on top. The rest of us have forgotten that we are supposed to be slaves. This is the politics of resentment. And fie on those who think their money makes them superior.
I can't "like" this, but I think you are correct...
Supremacists.
Susan: Yeah, how many of them are Democrats? Don't think you all are pure as the driven snow.
You totally missed my point.
Ya gotta get that down to 3 words or no one will bother listening to your "slogan".
Too many words.
"MAGA Out! - NOW!
Actually, the Muskovites aren't even MAGA. Steve Bannon has called Musk 'evil'. This summer, I am planning a discussion with my MAGA family members, pleading with them that we are now all in this together... that it's no longer D's versus R's or MAGA, it's all of us against the oligarchs. My MAGA family members will suffer under this regime. I'm desperately hoping that they will see that we are now in the same boat. Unfortunately, I will need to target Musk and leave Trump out of it since they think he's wonderful....
CLS, yes death star is really the head of a cult with a hold on people that Vance does not have. I personally do not understand this at all. I keep thinking that if most people had to deal with him personally and maybe got shafted for work done, they would not think he was so great. Our cleaner lived in Brooklyn for a time and she cannot stand him. She worked for some wealthy people and her observations are quite the insight.
NO to bullies.
End MAGA or America
End MAGA or end America--how about that for a slogan?
Make Amerika Go Away...MAGA
Yeah.. but the sentiment is right on the money
TRUTH (lies), JUSTICE (convicted felon, liar), AND THE AMERICAN WAY(side with Russia, break promises, cause chaos, USA INC.)
MAGA Muck and Lose America
(A Short Story)
Fred Jackson and the Second American Revolution
(Homage to Donald Trump’s ‘Proud Boys’ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they weren’t.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mysterious commander said, “the time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who I’m talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, “OrangeFatso.””
“Yep”… they screamed in unison, “Save our leader, OrangeFatso.”
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, “Maybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.” as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
"Left...right...left...right...left...right...left...right."
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh no… not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's “Code of Conduct” that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles – just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross – who is thought to have sewn the first flag – was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
“He wasn’t born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,” cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the “Alliance.” The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of they’re mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
“CHARRRRRRGE!” he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly – an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, “recalculating... recalculating...” His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
“Yes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, I’ll inform the men.”
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
“I’ll tell the men right away.” The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
“All hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.”
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
“Come in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.”
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth – the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: “The Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.”
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
"It Can't Happen Here" - Sinclair Lewis
That's a lot better!
Or just DUMP TRUMP.
He is just the front man unfortunately,
But he's one of the most effective front men either party has had for a while, and if he's gone the GOP has no one anywhere close to being able to take his place.
Well of course that's a given. But you have to wait a few years for that. Keep in mind that short of impeachment or a 25th amendment action, there is no other legal way to remove a President until the next election. And impeachment/25th amendment actions are basically non starters in any reasonable world.
We made our bed, now we have to lay in it.
Sigh.
Yes there is another way. We must take to the streets. He will never leave his office willingly.
You're right Jon, at least in the near term, but we have to start planning and building if we want to see things happen in the future. If, every time anyone opens a tab on social media, or a newspaper, or any other communication tool, they see DUMP TRUMP, and reasons why, it will become an increasingly common theme that may even persuade some Republicans to waver in their heretofore mindless following of Krasnov's lead.
I don't think so. Constant "Dump Trump" is not a persuasive or winning message. We need to articulate a vision and plans for something clearly better and fairer for all Americans now and into the future. And we need gifted and believable spokespeople to do the articulating.
Hopefully, it's not too late for the "or Loose America" part of your comment Bill.
Racism is real, of course, but it is, IMHO, a tool rather than a source of our predicament, just as Trump is only a useful idiot to the “dark enlightenment “ folks pulling the strings. Trump is not smart enough to envision or implement what is happening. The PayPal mafia (embodied by Musk in this administration) want to bring America to it knees as a forerunner to making us malleable to the iron fist to follow. Read about Curtis Yarvin.
I’ve read several reports quoting anonymous Republican legislators to effect that they would step out of line to object but are literally afraid for lives of themselves and their families. We are already living in a Putinesque world.
But the real goal is economic dominance by the mega-wealthy (specifically the tech bros, who think anybody who can’t code is beneath contempt) over the rest of us no matter our race. The problem is these coding geniuses know nothing about history or running civilization and we are the victims of their ignorance.
And cancel the National Emergency
The mext thing after "national emergency " will be martial law declaration
Or we need to limit SCOTUS power.
Lol good luck with that. SCOTUS power is written into the Constitution.
No, he has repeatedly ignored the constitution and no- one has stopped him.
Yes as have many Presidents even if you look closely President Biden. We (the people) let the executive exercise too much power and here we are. It's not so easy to rein it in.
constitution - what constitution...? they are not going by the constitution and they will not comply with the rule of law once their power is fully secured (very very soon if not already ) ..The Law will be only to hurt others ..sorry to say = Autocratic
The Constitution created the Nation. Each State had to vote to ratify to become a part, rather than stay independent. Rhode Island was the last. If they shred the Constitution, doesn't each State have the Right to return to its former status as a separate independent Nation? Remember that some MAGAs carried the Confederate flag into the Capitol.
Agree!
Too true to be good... :(
Your comment appeals to my cynical side.
6 members are criminals that lied under oath.
Well that will be hard to prove. Fact is that what they said they would do during their hearings can easily change after they are put on the court. It has worked both ways too, don't forget. Earl Warren was a die hard GOP governor from California when Eisenhower put him on the court and then he wrote Brown vs the Board of Education decision to end school segregation. Just because a justice changed their mind during a court case hardly makes them s criminal. In fact one would hope that judges WILL change their minds sometimes.
I'm not saying I love what the SCOTUS has done to support Trump but that's a far cry from criminality. Elections have consequences and right now we are paying for that.
They went against the constitution to allow him to run for office when another state supreme court denied him. That was overreach and unconstitutional.
Not the King part. They made that up. Why was Nixon pardoned?
That is where all of the shenanigans began. It encouraged Republicans to think they could get an imperial presidency, but they had to go about it more discreetly.
I think it played a major role. Equal Justice Under Law (as it says on the Supreme Court building) does not apply to a president. It was a clumsy way to establish that, but the precedent was made, and built on, kind of covering up the cover-up. It is the true psychological "basis" for more recent $COTUS claims of presidential impunity.
Supposedly the innovative pardon saved the nation from a divisive crisis of due process of law, but at a at a considerable cost of accountability of government to the public. $COUTUS has already announced the no power on earth has authority over it's choices, and Congress has been reduced, at least on the side of the majority, to fawning courtiers. "This is not normal" in the US.
Term limits would be a good start
Too late
And we need to limit The President/King power Mildred.
All I can say is “what in the actual fuck”…
Impeach. Feathers of Hope. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/p/remove-impeach-impeach
Call. https://act.commoncause.org/call_campaigns/tell-congress-stop-the-musk-budget/?source=email-share
Those are pretty bare feathers Daniel. I wish you luck but I will be STUNNED if there is ANY chance of impeachment of this guy. And then guess what, we've got Vance. JD not Joyce.
Okay so get him too. Oops next in line is Mike Johnson. Oh and then Chuck Grassley. So you see where this goes? Nowhere.
We are stuck with these jerks for at least 2 if not 4 years. If we focus on winning back the Congress and Senate in 2026 we MIGHT find a way out of this mess. If we waste time whining for impeachment we are wasting the few resources we have.
"Better to run away and live to fight another day".
Sage words for the moment.
Jon I agree with everything you said, except the Run Away part. We must standup and make our voices heard!!! As Joyce Vance says," Giving Up is Unforgiveable"
I've laid this out so many times.... there are a lot of qujirliques.
At a minimum, history shows that those impeached lose the following election. Those impeached have to spent most of their attention defending themselves....The facts become public record... The public gets to see "crimes and misdemeanors" for themselves.
Meanwhile, the vision of shared government .... 3 House votes to make Jeffries speaker.
22 Republican senators voted to fund Ukraine, dozens of House Republicans.... Many Congressional Republicans are calling Trump a liar on Putin... a boor and a bully on Ukraine...a traitor to our formerly loyal and trusted allies like Canada and NATO.
Can impeach both as Russian agents/willing idiots.
Like I said previously, the tactics of impeachment includes negotiation...Imagine Mike Turner R. Ohio as chair of the House Intelligence Committee...Armed Forces...
..
I can't argue with the fact of your statement but the sample size is pretty dismal. There have only been four presidential impeachment in 230 years. None have resulted in conviction and removal. One of those, Clinton's impeachment in 1998 can't be counted because he couldn't run for office again in 2000 anyway. The other three impeachment were Andrew Johnson in 1867 and Trump twice in 2019 and 2021. The latter was tried AFTER he already lost the election.
So yes, those impeached haven't won reelection but again the sample is abysmally small. And Trump isn't eligible to run again anyway. So your theory while possibly accurate doesn't have any real effect at least IMHO.
@Jon Rosen, ENOUGH ALREADY. You shoot down every possible solution, every way to fight back, every explanation. It's all negativity, all the time. Maybe we should all just give up now.
Winning or losing is immaterial if we can negotiate shared government and save democracy.
Never up, never in.
I called! The call should include no presidential impoundments, no sequestrations, in addition to what they suggest we say.
Furthermore, we should demand their definition of “day” REVERT back to a “CALENDAR DAY”(Ridiculous tricks!).
This from HCR:
“Republicans just passed a measure saying that for the rest of this congressional session, “each day…shall not constitute a calendar day” for the purposes of terminating Trump’s emergency declaration.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/march-12-2025
Rachel Maddow spells out the absurdity of House Republicans ALTERING the meaning of a calendar day to “avoid responsibility for Trump wrecking the economy:”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/house-republicans-literally-alter-time-to-avoid-responsibility-for-trump-wrecking-the-economy-234171974002
Daniel- Impeachment is not possible until Democrats control both chambers of Congress. I recommend putting your time and energy into making that happen in 2026.
You have not reat Feathers of Holpe. Check iot out and get back.
We have a window of opportunity. Shared givernment. 22 Republicabn senators and dozens of RepublicanH ouse members voted to fund Ukraine. Trump/Musk is fumblking it's way into more internal dissention. For many of them he sold out to Putin. You probab;y haven't been following this... because the media won't touch it.
Good luck with that. They're all in!! Unbelievably.
Time to bring in the 25th Amendment. Way past time, actually.
He needs to be removed regardless...
How could they do it? Wouldn't they need another case which would allow them to somehow interpret the law differently?
I am no lawyer, but I believe you are correct.
It’s amazing Trump’s attorneys must have SCOTUS on speed dial as they were able to submit a request to extend the immediate freeze on aide 10 minutes before the midnight deadline and within that time, SCOTUS RESPONDED saying the freeze could go on and handed it back to the courts. (Yet they dragged out Trump’s criminal trial for months until it was too close to the election! Sooo corrupt!). Once again interceding in a lower court’s ruling. Sooo corrupt.
Marlo, at this point, DonOLD is no longer paying attention to courts or laws.
like, but you've got the wrong court....sigh and worse
It is a president's immunity, not only Trump's, they would be removing. The beauty and the beast of the constitution is that the document is short on detail.
How can we get this demand to SCOTUS? A MARCH?
There would have to be an action brought, the Court cannot just meet and change an earlier decision.
Seems that the Executive has been taken over by an Outlaw... DJT... Outlaws do not play by the Rules... That is why they are called Outlaws... They are Social Predators that prey on Civil Society...
SCOTUS allowed the outlaw to run for president. They did not follow the constitution. That makes them “outlaws” as well.
“Conclusive Audits Could Serve Trump’s Impeachment”
Read Kevin McKinney’s excellent article below and SHARE!
https://open.substack.com/pub/kmac/p/if-the-2024-election-was-hacked-whats
Accessories certainly.
Thanks Marlo... Outlaw Ideologues... ;-)
The republicans did it before SCOTUS did. McConnell is responsible for this, with his "personal favor" request to not convict this asshole. He didn't want the stain on his party. What a pitiful creature.
But SCOTUS could have stopped him.
There whole figgin' "Party of Lincoln" has turned to organized crime.
Yes, "in plain sight"....
In our faces.
Apache: " ... has been taken over by an Outlaw ..."; HCR: Another Outlaw, Elon Musk's own political action committee is targeting "next month's election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court."
Musk's front in Wisconsin is "Building America's Future" (NOT) spending over $2.4 Million per 'AdImpact' in targeted Ads.
Many others including me (ActBlue $50) are supporting Judge SUSAN CRAWFORD as the Chief Justice in Wisconsin in 19 days, 4/1/25.
Acting Blue $188.437.50+ $50 = $188,487.50
: ---)
I’ve written and sent more than 200 postcards to voters. Now facing loss of Social Security at 90.
Discouraging indeed, Virginia. Somehow the Republican tidal wave rolled right past our efforts, and we don't get a do-over. My guess is that some of those postcards (I wrote several batches myself) were no match for the inertia that settled in on a lot of voters who forgot the first T administration. Millions of people are going to suffer for their inaction.
I’ve been writing postcards with 2-3 organizations since 2018. Wrote 1000+ for Senator Warnock’s multiple senate races. At 90, it’s what I can do and Indivisible vouches for their value. This Wisconsin judge race, into which Elon the Terrible has poured so much money, is critical. Got a good look at Judge Crawford’s opponent this morning. Face told much (mean), words told same (mean AND stupid).
For other writers who might read this: be sure to mail each card SEPARATELY. They tend to stick together. Even with all my experience and care, every time I mail 100, there is at least one I failed to stamp (1 address; 2 write message; 3 stamp.)
At LFAA no one forgets the creation of FDR's 8/14/1935 Social Security Act, the insurance program built by Frances Perkins born on 4/10/1882.
Frances Perkins was the 1st woman to hold a Presidential cabinet position.
You cannot miss Frances in the SSA's historical photograph of FDR's signing the law. Secretary of Labor Perkins is 'No 12' in the photo standing directly behind FDR.
See, ssa.gov under "Social Security History".
Apache, if the Outlaws don play by the rules, at least, we shouldn't play by the books.
Ricardo... We may get Creative, but we can't lose our Honor....
Apache, we loose a portion of our honor every day the scumbag is president.
Hello Ricardo... That maybe on the National Level. but I was referring to our Personal Honor... What is being done to our Allies are Criminal Actions by Convicted Criminal DJT...
Honor is honor Apache. The people running this regime, from the scumbag president down ,do have blood in their hands starting by what they are doing to Ukraine, our own people and abroad.
People are literally dying because of a tax cut for the richest people on earth.
Would/could NATO help stop the maga thievery?
It's entirely up to us Victoria. That's not a bad thing. 😉
Nope, not their job. It's up to us!
But if we cannot handle on our own, it’s lawful (if they aren’t too p*****off to help US).
Virginia: In my humble opinion. It is the American people as a whole that have to address this issue, not foreign countries. We now just have to wait, until the people get upset enough, to band together to remove trump. As I mentioned from Day 1, this is going to get very ugly, and yes even bloody!
I've wondered the same. Or maybe UN peacekeeping forces.
That’s great! Thank you!
It's complicated. Unusual remedies for sure, but rule of law is an ally, and a prize worth saving.
Mr. Graham, I for the most art agree with you. However, in my military experience, when a dictatorship occurs, the rules of law are discarded, as with trump. Therefore, if you play the game by his rules, you put your life in his hands. Trump will only recognize force, as so many dictators before him. I always Pray for peace, but in this case, we would be negligent not to prepare for war!
That may be but we're not there yet. Musk/Trump are doing a great job of making enemies. His fan-base has been shrinking.
Thank God
Unitary executive in Nicaragua. https://globalpost.com/stories/the-guerrillas-of-peace-how-nicaraguas-first-couple-cemented-total-control/?lh_aid=35942&lh_cid=494qbr4a53&lh_em=apaalj%40gmail.com&di=57d575d0742b17b4cf9b7cb0b5f4a3fa
Note Li'l Marco's response.
Absolutely Correct Salute!
Thank Gary...
PLEASE!
Stop being distracted by tariffs and immigrant issues. Yes, they are certainly legitimate worries but the goal is to distract us while they PRIVATIZE THE GOVERNMENT!!! They seem to be succeeding. At the time I am posting this there are about 200+ comments about the distractions, not the dismantling of our country!!
I agree with that thought, Joan, but Heather has just written us a tsunami of news today. No wonder people are freaking out.
Tsunami is their goal.
Not just today Frank, since January 20th it's a daily avalanche.
Russia has been privatized. We are being privatized.WTF.
We are being “privatized” by Putin/DT/Musk/Vance by FSB recipe.
Absolutely! Please look up what privatize means America!!! It means the greedy goons who actually hate us will own you! Every part of you, your family, your children, your planet…. Is that what you believe is the right thing to agree to?
Da.
I have heard them called Russian Republicans. Very appropriate!
That’s amazing. Let me throw in to make you laugh: I have this on good authority: everybody in Ukraine knows who Jasmine Crockett is. Humor wins there as it once did here.
A DISASTER. The United States of America, Inc. Currently, corporations have more rights than individuals. The “consumer” is merely here as the product being sold for corporate profit. Now imagine the government programs as big corporations. We will become Consumers of the United States of America vs Citizens of the United Stated of America Inc.
I always hated the label Consumer. It replaces Citizen and removes our agency. The only use for the word is as an adjective to Boycott.
Privatization is the pot of gold for oligarchs. It promises untold wealth for the small price of complete loyalty. And it will sink everything good in America. Atlanta tried privatizing their public water several decades ago. They picked the low bid and then found mud - or nothing - coming out of their faucets. Turned out that low bid was a “foot-in-the-door” bid. Once the contract gave them control over Atlanta’s water, they demanded more money, saying the water infrastructure was worse than had been disclosed (the usual bait-and-switch story). Atlanta took back control of their water.
Now imagine eliminating the bidding process. Suppose they had simply given the water system to the mayor’s major donor. No contract. And imagine the schools, the medical system, etc. also being privatized. Oh shit, I forgot; that’s already happening….
He likes to put his name in things: Trump’s United States, Inc.
We already are “consumers” not “customers.” Hadn’t you noticed?
All politics is local.
BIG issues here in Baghdad By the Sea. E.G. Virtually all fed employees here in some agencies dealing with the public are bi lingual. The mjusk algorythm makes tyhem expendible. e3 of our local House members are Republican MAGAT Cuban Americans. 2 of the 3 had been Dems. They are publicly objecting to Trump immigration, Ukraine policy. I published a letter I got from Rick Scott (of all MAGATs) to that extent.
We also have more Canadian taxpayers here than live in some Canadian provinces, many with dual citizenship. They pay Florida real estate taxes, create boucoups American jobs..... Our economy is based on tourism. 3 mil + Canadian tourists per year. We have Canadian banks, developers.....
Get the 3 amigos to flip and Jeffries is speaker.
Jeffries as speaker is not a comforting thought. His moment to lead the party is now and he is failing miserably.
Florida, Daniel? Snowbirds are in a real bind, all i can say for the moment. Not something i can afford, mind you, however Trump/Musk 2.X steers the USA and maybe my home country towards an abyss. In 60 or so years i suspect water may be regularly lapping over the tops of the docks in our local port, maybe sooner, will I'll definitely be "gone" sooner. Florida? definitely "in the water"...
Most are NOT snowbirds. Dual citizenship but they live, work here. Doctors, lawyers, etc.
I wish.
Yes, Musk keeps hiring more of his muskrats that have no clue how things work and it is never a good idea to take a hatchet to a computer system that you have no idea how it works. You have to make those conversions with planned delicacy. Deciding the FAA air traffic would work better under your super computer powers that haven’t even been designed and messing with the one keeping the planes in the air will kill people. Twitter/X and SpaceX are prime examples. Massive crashes that currently won’t kill anyone and now they want to do it to,systems that affect our lives. 🤦♀️
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, except that this is real, not a movie made in Hollywood for our comic entertainment.
Profits over People!
After they have destroyed it, they will tell you that government can be run much more efficiently by a CEO/Monarch, along with all their subsidiary corporations (read "oligarchs"). Even if they manage to create what they call efficiency, who do you think will reap the benefits? These are the same a-holes who have brought us "health care" for profit, corporate landlords raising rents and home prices, and monopolies like Walmart and Amazon that squeeze their suppliers so they can pocket more profit while paying lower wages. No profit? No services.
I really don't think many on this thread don't understand that every item HCR writes so eloquently about is tied to the overall right-wing conspiracy to destroy every aspect of our country.
The way DOGE is dismantling our social safety net and institutions meant to keep us all safe, healthy, scientifically, and technologically advanced in such an opaque way that it seems like there is no way to stop them until it's too late. Judge Chutcan has ordered Musk and the DOGE team to answer questions under oath, so there is a little hope.
Then there is the Congressional rule that if any Congress critters introduce a bill to review the emergency powers trump is using to implement the tariffs, they must act within fifteen days; the right-wingers in Congress have made it so that for the remainder of this Congress will be considered one day.
The executive actions to intimidate the media and to take away privileges from law firms that undermine the rule of law, the imperial threats to annex Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.
It is all one colossal right-wing plot to betray all Americans by collapsing our government, our economy, and our social contract and replacing it with an Oligarch controlled White Christian nationalist theocratic totalitarian dictatorship where if you are not rich or a male White Christian nationalist, you will find you have no rights or liberty, where fetal personhood is the law. Pregnant women will be at much more risk of death than they have to be.
Only massive civil protests and probably a general strike to shut down commerce until trump and his henchmen are forced out of office to flee to Russia where they belong.
You're right Joan. His immigration schtick is failing completely. The 40 sent to Gitmo are back, a total flop and tariffs no one is falling for.
Circus Joan, circus !!!!!
Didn't musk just buy the treasury department?
Yes. I got a no-reply email supposedly from Social Security today. It tells me my New social security statement is now available. Do I trust this email? NO I DON'T! I am not even going to open it until my husband is up. If I find that my amount is smaller what is the recourse? Is there anyone even working there to check this. Also, if they send an email like this to my mom, she has dementia and can no longer open her email on her own. We are not even in the same country to check it.
I am calling what Musk and Trump and our Republicans in Congress and in SCOTUS are imposing on us, the New Feudalism.
I general don't touch link on "official" emails. I go to the site I am familiar with and sign in. Too many are fake.
That's good information security.
It is feudalism, and we happen to think the government should work for everyone, not just billionaires. Really, I am tired of the care and feeding of Donald and Elon’s collective egos and bank accounts.
Someone suggested, and I did it, that you go to the part of the Social Security website that you trust, and copy your record of wages from day one. And then secure it in a good place so that if somebody tries to erase it or change it, you have a copy of the original. I did that and mine was fine. But do it right away.
They will never accept the copy of that if there’s a problem. What you need is a copy of your tax returns or w-2s. I read an article about that. But it would be good for you to have as a reference should you think the data was messed with.
Who woulda thought that at age 73 I’d be told I should have saved 56 years of W2s?!
I know. Somewhere we have many of them scanned. Maybe back to the early 90s. Same with our tax returns.
I took a few screenshots including my name and address and the heading on the Social Security site of the details as they exist now. I hope if it comes to it we are dealing with rational people but that’s no guarantee anymore is it?
Kept almost entire work years worth of W2, 10 years of tax forms filed. Also, mortgage papers in case of a scam.
Rachel Maddow suggested that
I use login.gov. I have had copies of my SS earnings since very young & did just print out my current SS payout. Along with copy of who can speak for me if needed. Safe deposit with dual ownership is a good place to protect copies.
I got a similar email a couple of weeks ago. I deleted it. Scary, though.
Our SS checks were depositied yesterday.
👍👍👍 thank you for sharing this good newd
This Vermonter agrees with ewe!😃
🤣🤣🤣🤣 First of the day. Thank you!
Mine also!
Appreciate your concerns Linda, but don't "jump the gun" on your pension... everyone in the community is freaking out from today's letter from Heather.... not that i can blame them! .... actually, if EVERYONE'S pension statement was reduced, what a POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY! excuse the caps and hyperbole please!
Don't use the link! I got that email, too. It's mist likely a scam. If you want to see your statement, go directly to the SSA website and sign yourself in.
I have logged into the Social Security site and saved our earnings records and statements (which show how much we'll be eligible for each year, beginning at age 62). Someone recommended it, it's easy to do, and it's not a bad idea.
Go directly to the SSA site and log in.
On another note.... Due to the recent Social Security Fairness Act eliminating the WEP and GOP, I have received my lump sum entitlement for the past year. Still waiting for the monthly uptick in earnings to take effect. However, cynically, I'm also waiting for it to be taken back by the bozos rummaging around in there.
You can ignore the email and log on to the ssa website to see the status and news about your account. I never click the links in those emails.
And then acting executive secretary Erica Carr at USAID tells them to shred or burn agency records!! 😡
I'd hide them under my clothing and take them home before I'd do that!
OMG, that sounds like the Jews in Vilnius who saved books that the Nazis ordered them to burn...
Accept the President's position on Musk at face value. He is merely an advisor to him. Therefore find all his actions null and void and orders given to all others in government. Bar him from access to federal buildings and secured computer systems and records. Order him to appear in court to show cause why he should not be held in contempt. Bring a civil action against him and his cohorts for damages and injustice relief under RICO for thousands of individual plaintiffs. The may have money to pay them but they do not have enough lawyers to defend against all the actions that could be brought against them by all the people and organizations they have already harmed. And they will not find enough. The legal profession by and large will turn against these vandals. It can not survive if it can not prove effective in resisting what they are doing.
Your lead post sets a great tone for our collective feelings....There isn't enough vocabulary in our Thesauruses to describe the outrage....
NOW - absolutely. Especially when, “each day…shall not constitute a calendar day”
Republicans just passed a measure saying that for the rest of this congressional session, each day is NOT a calendar day?
Even Mad Magazine and Willy Wonka could not make up this craziness.
Democrats and any adult Republicans MUST realize the government is currently under Ketamine Control.
Terrifying. Where are our elected government officials? Locked up? Not yet. In front of firing squads? Not yet.
The very last paragraph, tacked onto the bottom of the bill:
"Each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622) with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1, 2025."
https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hres211/BILLS-119hres211eh.pdf
I can't decide if this is Alice in Wonderland, or "The Upside Down" of Stranger Things.
So if you are asked to report 5 things you did this "week", what time period does that encompass?
1984: GroupThink
Agreed. 3 weeks is an eternity for DOGE.
1 day = 1 yr now
legally
Bizzaro world we’re in
Starting to sound like the January 6 committee just drag it out
Thanks Jessie, my exact reaction!!!
Agree. Trump and DEMs are fighting using different rules. DEMs are told to use bows and arrows and bamboo spears by courts while Trump is using guns and tanks.
Sure, "demand the paperwork right effing now" -- and what happens when the demand is ignored? How's it going to be enforced? The Supreme Court? Congress? The military?
I hope the 640+ readers who so far have liked this post realize that it may be satisfying as rhetoric but as a recommendation it's got serious problems.
My thought exactly!
Agree. The response is to shred documents? Really?
It is increasingly difficult to press "like" on these daily LFAAs as the information just keeps getting worse and more terrifying. However I do appreciate all the efforts that go into each edition and we do need to know what's happening in our government, horrible as it is. Thank you, Dr. Heather, and please stay safe.
But we press "like" because we appreciate Dr. Richardson's efforts to keep us informed and put some historical perspective on the madness that is unfolding around us. We always learn something new from her letters.
There are no conservatives. Most of us realized that when Trump was elected in 2016. Mitch McConnell's idea of being conservative was to pass as little legislation as possible.
He created this mess we are in when he refused to impeach Trump in 2020 after the insurrection.
And Robert's in 2009, allowing unlimited money to flow into politics has allowed Trump and his billionaire friends to buy enough elections. We cannot defeat their money, but we can opt out of cable TV and cancel our subscriptions to the lame stream print media. And cancel your Xitter accounts.
As of 2024, around 68.7 million people in the United States have cable TV subscriptions.
From 2021 to 2023, the number of pay TV subscribers worldwide dropped by about 20 million.
As of 2023, the number of cable TV subscribers has fallen to 72.2 million, down from 98.7 million in 2016.
The old GOP is long dead. The new GOP is far right fascism and theocracy.
Soon people will cancel bc they can't afford it. Last night I cancelled 2 subscription and are checking on the last 2.
Yup. Good point.
We cut the cord a few years ago. Streaming is where the eyeballs are going along with the ad dollars. Cable could completely collapse and the majority of people under 50 wouldn't notice.
But I suspect the FOX will be sneaking into the hen house of streaming.
However, if Rupert loses the appeal on his lawsuit about his trust, when he passes, the majority of the inheritors could change the world of legacy media. For the better.
That's a nice fantasy.
I like the Myopia Firing Squad one better though.
Roberts and McConnell, along with Trump, are three of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Judicial, legislative and executive. Take away any one of them, and we would still have had one uncorrupted branch of government to check the other two and prevent this power grab.
Sadly, by not stepping aside in time to allow a full and transparent process to nominate a Democratic successor to beat Trump in 2024,, Joe Biden is IMO a strong candidate to be horseman #4.
I especially welcome to reach-out to conservatives through Edmund Burke who wrote in 'Reflexions on the Revolution in France': "Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." ✍️
Until President Reagan's election, conservatism had a cooperative bent through leaders like President Eisenhower, Senator Dirksen, President Ford, Senator Landon Kassebaum. 'Project 2025' is recycled Reaganism without the velvet-glove. 💔
Because the Reaganist ideology is exhausted, conservatism has become more radical and intellectually dishonest As the good professor writes, Burke warns that governments based on untested ideologies destroy rather than affirm lives of peace and freedom. 😱
>>>So Republicans just passed a measure saying that for the rest of this congressional session, “each day…shall not constitute a calendar day”<<<
Has there ever been a better example of George Orwell's warning? "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." -1984 (published in 1949)
Justin, they are legalizing gas lightning.
They have been doing that, W was foisted on the country by the most heinous lies.
Not to mention stealing the election in at least one swing state (Ohio). And GW knew it. In a news interview he was asked if he was going to win. With a very sly smile he said “well, I know I’m going to win here” and pointed on a map to Ohio. Books have been written on whatever happened in Ohio in the 2004 election.
But first they assure/soothe us that we are just going to take a nice warm shower before they gas - light us.
I tried to look up the said measure that a day shall not constitute a day. Did not find it on the house votes. Can someone point me to the bill or resolution number?
Thanks
https://x.com/ringwiss/status/1899471022941725169
I found it following Heather's 4th from last reference
It's only for purposes of Section 202 of the National Emergencies Act...declared by the president on Feb 1, 2025. So, does that mean for ALL OTHER purposes there is more than one day? Dimwits!
Link refused to open for me; message was “something went wrong.” Indeed.
Thanks Justin 👌
It is the last paragraph at the end of the bill.
https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hres211/BILLS-119hres211eh.pdf
Link to text on congressional website:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/211/text
Best I could do to find reference at 7:00 am...
https://x.com/ringwiss/status/1899471022941725169/photo/1
Thank You. I was surprise to find that it was passed with the help of a number of Democrats.
Actually Scott, Zero Democrats voted for it. Two didn't vote, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome: 216 R Yeas - 212 D nays.
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202566
I wouldn't be surprised Scott, I'd be nauseous.
And by making time subjective, they give Trump an opening to decide for himself how long he wants the four years till the next election to be.
But there is a silver lining. I plan to tell the IRS that based on Congressional precedent I will decide when April 15th actually is. They'll get my tax payment promptly on that date.
I really don’t understand what that means?!?!
It means that Republicans won't have to vote to show how they are supporting trumps "emergency powers to implement tariffs on his own whim". They figure that their complicity is not on the record.
It’s no coincidence that Edmund Burke, in “Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents” (1770), wrote: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
That’s a quote I used in this essay on megalomaniacs:
https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/good-must-associate
Alternatively, the ‘good’ pull off a Julius Caesar style ending to this money-drunken maniacal madness.
Check out Roman history before using it as a good example for our society. The assassination of Julius Csesar didn't exactly go well for Rome.
Assassinations rarely do.
A really good example of this is the assassination of Caligula by his praetorion guards. Claudius, upon taking over, had most of the guards executed because it just doesn't look good for the guy who benefits from the assassination to let the murderers go free.
This insanity won’t end well for us either. The richest man in the world and arguably the most powerful man in the world are playground bullies. This is way worse than the four years we spent learning the hard way what dangerous cretins chump and all republicans are. It is beyond my comprehension that even one American can logically support this shit show. Of course, it is all emotion, not logic. Hate, jealousy, greed, religious hypocrisy, and just dumbasses support this take over. There are no excuses..
"This insanity won't end well for us either."
Maybe. Maybe not. It won't end well if we give up hope.
I'm getting careful about how much news I take in. Local protests have started where I live in NC. I have gotten much more relaxed about making calls to my reps. At the first, it took me a week just to get their numbers.
I think it is bizarre that the same pattern is showing up in other nations. Autocrats, dictators, oligarchs….and citizens paralyzed by stress, fear, sociopathy, whatever?
Is there something in the water? A few years ago Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s (MN’s nutcase ex-governor) did a show on his conspiracy theory about the government putting lithium in the drinking water to control the population. The “truth” behind the “conspiracy” was some government study that found communities with low levels of naturally-occurring lithium in their water had fewer assaults, murders, etc. Maybe we should implement a little reverse-conspiracy and the people could put a little lithium in the water system that feeds Congress, SCOTUS and the White House?
How do you manage to survive in Texas? There may be help for the rest of us, where the whole country may soon be Texas.
We are little blue dots in a red sea.
Trump let the January 6 murderers free. We will see how that works out.
I'd be cautious with a statement like that. No one was convicted of murder (or even CHARGED with murder) during Jan6 although there were several people killed. And of the 1500 people convicted and ultimately pardoned only about 300 were even convicted of felonies, most were convicted of misdemeanors. I certainly don't support the pardons but to use the categorical phrase Jan 6 "murderers" is a far cry from the truth.
Do you have a point?? It feels like, sounds like but a misdirection play, argument for its own sake rather than prospective action.
I've been relatively quiet the last ten days. I have been reading HCR's columns and all the subsequent comments. Doing so has been dismaying to me, deeply so. Hence my silence. Therefore: .
Please, please, PLEASE --- EVERYONE --- read Laurie Winer's guest column today at Tim Snyder's Substack. Just as HCR relates and explains current events in the context of America's history, Laurie Winer goes back 8/9 decades to the installation of Germany's fascist era and lays out for us as succinct a set of lessons as could be found as to how the Weimar Republic could disappear so quickly. Yes, the same could happen here. Each passing day leads to new outrageous consequences -- the gutting yesterday of basic data collection and analysis at the Department of Education, and after stiffing Columbia University for $400 million a few days ago, it doubled that bite out of Johns Hopkins yesterday. For whatever, reasons -- and there is a handful of individual Democrats who have distinguished themselves -- as a leadership instrument, the party has shown itself ineffective in the coup that is taking place. That fight must now be assumed by the people.
All the authority required is clearly written in the First Amendment -- our Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Peaceable Assembly, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom to Petition the Government. But the lessons of German history is that dithering further on defining and sending messages and staging recurring nationwide assemblies cannot be allowed to compromise our ability to protect and preserve the best of what America has come to stand for, for us and for the world of which we are a part.
My point was simple. Don't call people by names that are not supportable by facts. The words "Jan 6 murderers" carry heavy weight and are 100% wrong as there were 1500 Jan 6 people pardoned and NONE were convicted of murder, moreover at best only a few could even be CONSIDERED murderers.
I believe it is horrible to call people names which are wrong and meant to damage them. That is a Trump tactic which I abhor and I refuse to let people I feel are on our side use such language without calling them out for it.
That is my point. End of story.
I was speaking metaphorically, Jon. Though, given the deaths and needless suffering he continues to inflict upon humanity, the black-comedy visual did make me smile.
It made me salivate Kazz. 😜
On this day in 1881, Czar Alexander II was assassinated. Things didn't improve. Number III took over and the people starved. It would be over 35 years before the people would finally successfully revolt. And that didn't lead to good times either.
"it just doesn't look good for the guy who benefits from the assassination to let the murderers go free."
And yet, this is what Trump essentially did with the Jan 6 perpetrators.
Indeed and I don't think it looks good for him either. But that in and of itself doesn't mean he is going to go away.
And also prevents a vicious circle Jon.😉
Who is Octavius in this scenario?
Octavia was George Bush who should have worked harder to keep Trump away from the white house the first time. But GWB has no real interest in saving the country. He doesn't need to either, he lives in Texas.
You're killin me
So they are rescinding facts like the EPA’s 2009 finding that the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change endanger public health and a day is not a day. Are they all wearing Zuck’s clumsy virtual reality goggles?
And Trump is berating the leader of Ireland for stealing the major pharmaceutical companies from the US while completely gutting the underlying scientific research IN the US. How many John’s Hopkins researchers and their US peers will be looking to Europe to continue their life’s work?
It’s entirely typical that Trump would behave boorishly with a foreign leader of a free country, while being overly respectful of authoritarian “leaders.” I was ashamed and embarrassed when he and Vance got into it with President Zelensky, and now Trump gets nasty with the Irish PM.
Maybe it is becoming a badge of honor to have Trump get ugly with you.
I would be honored!!!!
He has the manners of a two-year old.
But he told him that he has a nice suit. WTF!!! That is what passes as diplomacy.
Hi Stephanie. WTF indeed!
He has a compulsion to throw his weight around. When he can't find anything "substantive" ( because he is not a substantive person ) he takes control of the shiny objects--Vance's socks, Martin's suit, etc.
Even those comments are ambiguous as to whether they are compliments or snide remarks. Either way, he is losing cognitive coherence on a daily basis.
Brain drain. Republicans are why the most significant particle collider research is now done in Europe.
Exactly, I remember that. And work had already been started in Texas.
A lot of work had started on the Supercollider.
Seig fucken heil.
Is that at CERN?
Yes the Higgs Boson people. Tim Berners-Lee of CERN gave the world the World Wide Web (www.http: whatever). Berners- Lee has been a champion of egalitarian access to the Internet. The Internet itself was a US public sphere creation, but Berners-Lee fitted it with a flexible text and graphic, multimedia format: the Web page, as it now appears before us.
Thank you. I had no idea of the extent or origins of CERN, having seen the installation on the Swiss border (near Voltaire’s “escape” place and meeting at my 60th class reunion at Hollins University a 50th reunion person who had a considerable part in CERN, thanks to graduate stidies in chemistry at the Sorbonne.
It is about war turning the American people against Ireland so he can take over sounds far-fetched, but in his mind, it’s a reality
KSC, I hope all of them look to Europe to continue they life work, but at the same time I hope this situation it's totally temporary and guaranteed them a warm welcome when they come back 😀
Speaking from experience, employment aside, there is no bed of roses involved in moving from home to a new continent. And the number of people whose lives have been turned upside down is crushing to consider….it will be a while until the full grizzly picture can be understood.
It was my personal experience fleeing a dictatorship at home while setting down in the US, with an impressive wife and three little kids. It was a mixture of spines and some roses.
It's already started.
Everything in the name of tax cuts KSC. Nothing more important to the richest people on Earth to have more money even if kids around the globe go hungry an die of curable diseases.
Yes.
If there are no facts or data - then there are no problems. Then, for example, climate change is not happening as there is no verifiable proof without data.
Yes! This was Trump’s approach to Covid.
>>>They are abruptly dismantling a government that has kept the United States relatively prosperous, secure, and healthy for the past 80 years. In its place, they are trying to impose a government based in the idea that a few men should rule.<<<
And this is precisely why Commerce Secretary Lutnick and his billionaire kleptocrat friends think that this whole Trump cocktail party and MAGA-bation is just peachy.
"Commerce Secretary Lutnick and his billionaire kleptocrat friends"... Made their Wealth in 'Paper Money'... They did not build Factories, grow Crops, or Educate Children... Lutnick is a Wall Street Salesman... He doesn't live in the same World as most People... If the USA flounders, Lutnick will just sail to somewhere else...
Now they will just swing it all into cryptocurrencies. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe replace our gold reserves with bit coin. Crash in record time while they laugh their arses off.
The maga horde will be all on board with the replacement JD.
The US is floundering already Apache, but not enough for the
Lutnik's alike to sail away.They still can extract some more juice out of us.
Thanks Ricardo... That is because they are Societal Parasites...
When I heard Ludnick say that the tariffs/trade wars would be worth it in the end the question that came to mind was “what end? “ what is the end goal? That is when I realized the Republican Party is the new Nazi party. Every single person that the felon put in place has that same end goal. There hasn’t been anyone from the republican side saying that dismantling every single department and agency is a bad idea. Not one.
And THIS is why I outwardly HATE ANYONE who EVER cast a vote for first felon.
I am with you on that. Knowing and acknowledging the depth of my hate is shocking to me. Truly.
I looked up Lunicks bio. Another welfare child. He got his degree in economics (undergrad) at some third tier school that catered to Jewish kids, which waived his tuition when his dad died.
Then hired at Cantor Fitzgerald which took a huge hit on 9/11 and won in a power struggle to take over the counpany.,
He'd lie as soon as look at you.
Wolf of Wall Street
At the end, they will be the only beneficiaries Michael.
It’s that over-generosity that a t got Trump out of jail to start with. If Musk’s hackers had actually been doing a legit job, there would be accounting books already available for inspection. But they haven’t been looking for waste; they have been data mining, reprogramming and recoding our private and financial data for access to the new elite. Cambridge Analytica was just a little practice session for the surveillance they are planning.
It's not just the new elite having access to our data Heather, I'm sure the Russians and Chinese are paying good money for that information.
I would not even be surprised to find out that some of Trump’s secret documents were used to finance his campaign. And musk is all for China, where a lot of his cars are made some 50%. They have already compromised their country.
Hmmmm….by King Toot’s own metric: “...but many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work.” HE should be purged as well. Unless you call riding around in a golf cart and cheating at golf “work”🏌️♂️. Ha! it could be easily calculated how much the American tax payer would save not having to pay for all the aspects of his ⛳️“fairway job”.
Those comments make me apoplectic. My husband was a NASA contract administrator for 32 years having spent Five years in the AF. How dare that lazy bastard accuse anyone of not showing up for work. When I spent 12 years in civil service, I knew a few layabouts. Not one as useless as chump. Most earned their pay and then some. Unlike these moral and ethical black holes who call us parasites.
I assume he is fixated on 'work from home', remote work, or something like that someone said to him, when he says this about government employees. And if they are not in an office they can't be working!?!? So yeah, if he's off on a golf course, it's pretty obvious he's not working. But the rest of us are. Lazy bastard is too nice.
Yeah, Nancy, pure projection on his part ‘cuz that’s what HE does when “working” from home…nuthin, or watching Fox News or golfing…so, of course, that’s what everybody else does… Sigh, wish the guy had two brain cells to rub together!
No Barbara, if two of his brain cells, out of five left, rub together, it would start another firestorm. Please delete your post.!!!!
🤣🔥
We might not have midterm elections in 2026 but we can have a little fun now 😀
This is horrifying. And mobilizing. We the People will not continue to stand by and watch a con man and his ketamine-cronies destroy our country.
Dr Bandy Lee has written extensively on Trump‘s psychological pathology… How destructive a force his mind is on America and the world. She is on Substack and also hosts a weekly zoom chat with her supporters. While I cannot quote her directly on this subject, I think she would agree with my assessment of Trump‘s inane levels of hate for the world and self-hate. The bottom line for me is that Trump has a death wish … not just for himself but for the world.
There has been an expression floating around for a bunch of years that says “everything Trump touches dies“. I think we are seeing the final stages of that truism play itself out here in America. And for that matter, Trump is causing NATO to die as well.
How can we survive this force of destruction and chaos? We have to know there is an alternative path to the future. That path was laid out many decades ago by pioneers in the human social system transformation philosophy, known as systems thinking. I urge everyone to study the work of Dr R Buckminster Fuller, Dr. W Edwards, Deming, Dr. Russel Ackoff, and Dr. Riane Eisler. 
Like yours mostly here, Steve, but worry a bit about "systems thinking."
Reminds me of all those of "the best and the brightest" 50-60 years ago in Nam and in D.C.
Here from p. 157 of paperback of Lyndsey Stonebridge’s recent book, “We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience”:
"Toward the end of her California stay, she took a trip to Stanford University to visit a new centre for the study of behavioural sciences. She was not impressed. 'You act in A-way, so B will follow and then C . . .' The logic looked familiar. The problem with modern theories of behaviourism is not that they are wrong but that they could become true . . .. The thought that future governments and big businesses would routinely use behavioural science to predict and manage the lives of their populations and customers would have confirmed her worst nightmares about the problem solver."
Complex original ideas like those of Buckminster Fuller are too often taken up by fools and knaves. The manner in which social media encourages dangerous emotional addiction in the young has its psychological roots in behaviourism. Proving that it works as a seductive control mechanism but that it does so at the social price of also destroying human agency, dignity and sovereignty. Hannah Arendt would have recognised this at that time.
I guess we know, Monnina, the abilities of the social media billionaires, and their algorithms, to seduce and addict.
Why are you talking about “fools and knives” when you could be mentioning the students of Buckminster Fuller who are making the world a better place today and could transform the world if their ideas were given the attention they deserve? Some examples of this are the Rocky Mountain Institute founded by Amory Lovins, natural capitalism founded by Hunter Lovins, Cradle to cradle design founded by William McDonough and Michael Braungart?
Another small flame in a dark world
Some fools take up Canadian Jordan Peterson as their idol.
You are referencing something you don’t like to speak poorly of something you don’t know anything about. This makes me sad. But also reminds me it’s a mistake to mention things without explaining what they are. So, my bad.
I will do my best in this reply to at least begin your educational journey on the subject, but I also have a museum here in Stroud, Oklahoma (on Route 66) that includes an exhibit devoted to teaching people what systems thinking is.
In short, it’s the same problem solving methodology engineers use. (I have a civil engineering degree. UMass - Amherst, Class of 1976.) You analyze why things are broken so that you can redesign the system in which they function to eliminate the root causes of the problem. We live in a society based on analytic thinking not system thinking… and in analytic thinking you fix broken problems by putting them back to together the way they were. And that means they inevitably break again, because you have not eliminated the root cause or causes of why they break in the first place. Engineers build things back smarter so they don’t break time after time after time. I hope this helps but to give you additional information, here is a 12 minute talk from systems thinking master Dr. Russel Ackoff who was my friend and mentor for the last 10 years of his life. I hope this further helps you see that this way of viewing the world - this way of problem solving - is the roadmap to the better future that is out there waiting to be born.
https://youtu.be/OqEeIG8aPPk?si=VC1x1ZVVFwDmCjP8
Steve- Thanks so much for sharing these videos. They remind me of times when as a society we were having serious dialogue about where we've been as a society and where we were heading. We were dialoguing and diagnosing our problems using systems thinking. We looked for root causes and embraced creativity to as Ackoff said "redesign the system" and as Drucker said, "do what was right". People like Drucker, Ackoff, Deming were inspiring us to consider that life itself is an interdependent system. Indeed, no man is an island.
Ackoff's analogy of cars being essential for getting us from one place to another clearly teaches us about the importance of considering the whole of humanity and not just the parts. He made the point that the engine alone or the chassis alone can't get us to where we want to go. The 2024 election showed me that America is more deeply divided along the lines of gender, race, citizenship status and so much more. These issues are systemic. We're not seeing each other as parts of an entire system.
I thought we were making progress toward helping people to understand that "we are stronger together" and "we won't go back". When Obama was elected it seemed that we were ready to include "parts" of our society that haven't been around the table or on the golf courses when decisions were being made by powerful people who were more concerned with building wealth for themselves than insuring that we can all survive and thrive in a peaceful and prosperous world. I don't think they're capable of imaging that peace, liberty and justice for all can someday be real if we decide to embrace the whole of humanity and our environment.
The current "regime" focuses only on keeping the whole divided and eliminating what they determine are defects. Ackoff reminds us that these approaches only lead to failure-not to system improvements-and we surely need improvements. He also said there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. The people who have the political power now have demonstrated that they have neither and don't know the difference.
Sorry for the long comment but I appreciate you sharing an example of thoughtful and hopeful dialogue between people who care about the best of what we can be. I'm never going to give up "systems thinking" as a way for us to improve because the fact of our interdependence demands that we accept and include everyone instead of allowing systemic racism, misogyny and other forms of discrimination to be used as tools that keep us divided instead of a "united" whole.
Thank you so much for all you wrote, Gina! I don’t have time to respond in detail now. But I did just follow and subscribe to you. If you have not already, I hope you will do the same to me. Let’s keep the dialogue going on the subject of bringing back the kind of thoughtful problem-solving that used to exist and is desperately needed again now. Thanks again!
Huh. I never knew I was a systems thinker. As an analytical chemist who sold the mass spectrometers analytical chemists use, that was the way I approached my customers' problems.
And never thought a lot of the engineers I ran across, most of whom seemed to just have harebrained ideas that failed on someone else's dime, and then they moved on to another guys dime.
All the while they were testing why crap failed so it would stop failing. Huh.
Welcome to the club, Jen. Here I am using it in a question I asked Ted Koppel, Tom Friedman, and Joe Stiglitz nearly 20 years ago
https://youtu.be/xbdP09pAlV4?si=Ne-vhBqfWM62P9j4
Ackoff is super good, Steve -- stressing creativity, interdependent parts in living systems.
But it's so funny. Academia only got much worse since his time. All gone into niches, virtually none able to see let alone imagine any wholes -- any ways to change the questions we ask.
Also, the death trip which testing has brought, so the personal has long been absent, and only neutered, specialist, truncated, niche-set outlooks exist.
I agree that today is an academia - from what I know of it at least - is also not where it was years ago. I can tell you that Russ‘s PhD program at Wharton was very popular with his students, but not popular with the school’s administration, who felt threatened in some way by what he was teaching. I forget how they justified it, but it was eventually canceled. Russ stayed as a leader of the system thinking community nonetheless, and I helped him organize a 2004 conference on system thinking that was held there. Attracted people from all over the world.
I'm glad to see the conversations you've had with Gina, Jane, and Jen.
You four conversed, Steve, during what has been the night for me here in Japan. It's now a bit after seven in the morning, and one thing I can report on further to your (plural) good exchanges is that here, also, in addition to sleep, during the night I finished Colm Toibin's great new novel, "Long Island."
It's totally relevant to "system thinking" (which, I hasten to add, really should have another descriptor, not so engineer-niched).
"Long Island" follows up on "Brooklyn," an earlier Colm Toibin novel. In the first one, an Irish girl travels to the U.S., meets, and marries an Italian guy with a large family from Brooklyn. In the follow-up novel, when their two children are grown, she returns to Ireland for the first time in over 20 years. She meets the guy she loved when they were both younger and, these years later, complications ensue.
It's these complications which reverberate with the humanity Russ Ackoff calls interdependency, or resonant parts of a whole. A great suspense novel it turns into being, as all the minor characters in small town Ireland turn out to have qualities much more vital than the sum of them put together.
All our great works of art share this wisdom -- which explains, again, too, Steve, how the vulgar have so taken over, given that schools have so kicked out the arts, and so embraced testing's death trip instead.
Thank you for all you wrote… and “hello, Japan”. It occurs to me that Substack does not tell us where people are located. I wish it would. Then I would be able to see if there are any international dimensions to the conversations taking place here. Meanwhile, I will look for more information about the books you mentioned. I don’t read fiction anymore these days. I do watch fictional films a lot. But my tolerance for reading fiction has deteriorated, possibly because I spent so much time reading non-fiction essays. Take care of yourself. We’re all in this together.
I am not sure that ways of thinking about engineering are the best comparison for thinking about government and human social systems. With good planning, a bridge can be built that will be stable and long lasting. But assigning people into functional categories - those good under compression, or those who function well under tension, or those who can be sunk into the muck of the river - is a recipe for a hierarchical society where the fortunate few get to travel over the deck of the bridge while the rest support them. Is that what most of us want?
I try to use metaphors people can relate to, Jane. Sorry that metaphor didn’t work for you. This problem-solving method goes back to before World War II. I urge you to look up the work of the people I mentioned. I don’t have time to run a course here in the comments. But I will offer you a 12 minute video that is like watching a TED talk by the particular pioneer who was also my friend and mentor for the last 10 years of his life. I hope that helps you better understand why this approach is basically the new thinking Einstein was referring to when he famously said “the specific problems we face cannot be solved, using the same thinking that created them”. Analytic thinking got us into this crisis, and systems thinking has the power to get us out … by eliminating the root causes of the crisis. And now, here’s a link to the video. I hope you enjoy watching it.
https://youtu.be/OqEeIG8aPPk?si=UL6dra5L7BenWhIv
While I was not familiar with the semantics of analytic thinking vs systematic thinking, I am familiar with the challenge of designing a system that needed to meet a variety of criteria successfully, where no single element existed or functioned in isolation. I watched the video of Russ Ackoff that you suggested, and noted his emphasis on “essential properties” and the necessary interdependence of any parts to achieve that goal. One of the examples he used was a car, whose essential property (its purpose) is to transport us from one place to another.
I also have a background in museums, so you are probably familiar with the concept of a “Statement of Purpose” that articulates a museum’s “essential properties”, its raison d'être – what its goals are, what defines the scope of its collections, and how they will be maintained and made available through display and research. It serves as a guide to how a museum should function, and helps prevent it from descending into the chaos of becoming “grandma’s attic”.
One of the important things I see lacking in the discussions of our current political situation is an articulation of the essential properties of our government – what its goals should be (if any). Ackoff says, improving a system “must be directed at what you want, not what you don’t want”. And there’s the rub. Until recently, we seemed to agree that our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, served as our statement of purpose and over two centuries of lawmaking have built on that foundation. Now, the whole “essential purpose” seems to be up for grabs. Thinking wholistically about the system of a car when trying to understand its flaws gets us nowhere if we can’t agree on where we want it to take us.
I have a feeling that at least some in this administration know where they want to take us.
I really appreciate that you took the time to watch the video. Sounds like you understood Russ’s presentation really well. Some people I know have watched it multiple times (myself too). I always seem to get something new from each viewing. But to your point, the purpose of America appears to be fading into obscurity. The founding fathers vision is pushed aside by the rich and powerful, who are finally in control of enough of the public conversation to at least think they can win, unlike the rich and powerful of 100 years ago. I do not believe their victory is so predestined, because like a good episode of Star Trek the desire for freedom is not easily eliminated. But I do believe our education system has failed us by not creating an American citizen committed to preserving the gift the founding fathers gave us.
Richard Dreyfuss is passionate about civic education and spoke for four minutes on Bill Maher‘s show about 20 years ago on the subject. As wise as Russ’s talk is on the new way we need to think, Richard’s talk on the importance of teaching what it means to be part of a nation based on self rule is equally powerful. I invite you to watch those four minutes now.
https://youtu.be/t8C3MUDVn_I?si=rtlS-MJwTcTsfSJK
My husband was a fan of Deming, but I know nothing about him. Everybody knows Fuller of course. Are we dependent on these dead men to save us. Well, dead men still speak to us through the ages. As is proved by Mein Kampf still resonating with some sick minds.
I’m happy to learn you know of Deming through your husband‘s awareness of his work. Not enough people have even heard his name. I believe ideas that can save us don’t have to come from people who are no longer alive, but sometimes do. That’s because some new ideas are not really new. They are just hidden from the public by an education system designed to keep things the way they are. When you learn about systems thinking, it empowers you to make things better than they are, and that is a threat to the existing power structures of society. Buckminster Fuller literally paved the way to a world beyond war. but his ideas are so unknown to the public that they have not achieved the critical mass of awareness to flip the global developmental paradigm.
Here I am almost 20 years ago raising this subject with Ted Koppel, Tom Friedman, and Joseph Stiglitz. I hope you enjoy this video which lasts about seven minutes.
https://youtu.be/xbdP09pAlV4?si=1FpsimaOS3RLNVLK
Charming response to your Q here, Steve, among Friedman, Stiglitz, and Koppel.
But quaint, too, given how civil all are to each other, how all look at problems in civilized ways, as if better to solve them.
So much our billionaires have gone entirely into another direction -- just the most vulgar of greed, the most rapacious in allying with dictators, thugs, mass murderers.
We are living in very different times. I agree. And I don’t blame Rupert Murdoch, Mitch McConnell, Trump, Putin et al for this crisis. The Democrats failed to offer a vision that matched what Deming, Ackoff, Fuller and Eisler knew is possible. They marginalized people like Bernie Sanders and -in one if the great political failures of recent years - NEVER publicized (while Bill Clinton was POTUS) the transformational plan Clinton authorized when he launched the Presidents Council on Sustainable Development in 1993. Its Sustainable America plan is still online, but not only does Clinton still never talk about it Al Gore never mentions it too. He should have campaigned on its vision in 2000. But he was afraid to be labeled a “tree hugger” by the GOP. Here’s the link. Truly tragic. Someone needs to ask Clinton and Gore about this at a public event as soon as possible. And I pray Heather reports on it someday too. It is after all part of American political history, even if it’s invisible to most people today. I was involved in a small way, which is why I know about it.
https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/PCSD/Publications/index.html
Yes, Steve, "if only" Dems had campaigned on this those many years ago.
Sad to see, now "This is historical material, 'frozen in time.'
"The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work."
Few things frustrate me more than that no one talks about this project. I’m pretty sure Heather has never heard of it either. Well, she has now, because she follows me on Substack and I sent her news about it by direct message. She did not respond, which I attribute to how busy she is. But assuming she read my message. she knows Clinton did this.
I usually like Stiglitz more than Mr World is Flat, but boy in light of current events he was prescient. Thanks for posting the link.
You’re welcome. And yes, Tom Friedman‘s point that “what we can imagine can happen” is key to the future is a hugely important concept. Right now, the vast majority of Americans cannot imagine a better world. That is why so many of them have withdrawn (did not vote), and why so many others have sided with forces of destruction … because they themselves are so angry that all they can think of is wanting to burn it all down. 😢💔
An excellent piece of journalism. The time for massive dissent and radical protest is drawing near.
Really, way past time I fear
The CNN poll I saw this morning showed trump 44% approve, 56% disapprove or close to those numbers in most categories.
Unfortunately, I don't see the masses waking up to the extreme danger we face.
I think we'll have to muster the courage for that, since they've planned for it. The national guard will be called out, if not the military. Already the Sheriff is called out instead of the town police for a small local protest.
I'm counting on former military leaders to become part of a group of Americans with the necessary skills to devise a plan of action. Think of it as a D Day. Dissent, Defy, Defeat.
What a path the GQP, MAGA, the old Repub party is creating. It is the pathway to hell for middle-class and poor folks. I agree that Judge Chutkin should not give these monsters three weeks to get their papers or whatever lies together. They feel they are above the law. Didn’t she or any other judge see their crowns of thorns?
She ordered Musk and his DOGE crew to testify under oath.
I'm sure trump will declare executive privilege and delay any testimony for weeks or months.
Or years!
The day that is NOT a day! It is absolutely astounding that such a resolution can be voted on at all. Where is the Congressional parliamentarian to rule such a vote or of order? This is so absurd that it needs to be called out for the sham it is.
There's a long, long, list of sham before this astounding one. Be patient Jon.
The GOP members who are afraid of MAGA enforcers fail to comprehend political danger lurks everywhere ... This will not end well. 😎
Roy, there are no more GOP members, there are all MAGA members.
They're Nazis
Yes ... Cowardly MAGA members.
Will it end?
Eventually, this sour era in American history will end. Only time and America's collective sense of resolve (and vision for the future) will tell what rises from the ashes. Sadly, Europe needs to disconnect from the upended US apple cart.
Badly 😢
I am sick of hearing about Republicans' concerns in private but don't have the courage to stand up to save our nation.
Frankly, I don't believe it; they are just as responsible for this situation as anyone.
They will be remembered in infamy.
“…..François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's minister of innovation, science, and industry…”
What a great idea for a cabinet position! If we had one of those, President Musk would have shut it down on day one.
I have subscribed to the Sabine Hossenfelder "science channel" on youtube for quite a while...her usual topics might include "the Einstein Molecule", or "is AI the solution". She has a Ph.D. in physics, but her discussions about complex scientific issues are simplified and straight forward.
Her most recent video really touched a nerve - "Are Americans Stupid?" Readers of this letter know that not all Americans are "stupid", but "we" seem determined to answer a resounding "yes". Worth watching for a European perspective.
https://youtu.be/kgec0-ddRc4?feature=shared
You don’t need to talk to too many Europeans to realize that they are better educated & what agency is The Trump regime trying to eliminate first? Education.
It would be too painful to watch AK. I pass.