Andrew Restuccia, Richard Rubin, and Stephanie Armour of the Wall Street Journal today published a preview of President Joe Biden’s budget, due to be released tomorrow.
The Perp who repeatedly zapped Officer Michael Michael Fanone with a stun gun on J6, PLED GUILTY just as his trial jury was about to be selected in February.The Perp will be sentenced in May 2023. Details are available at DOJ's website on the J6 prosecutions. MIchael is recovering in Virginia where he has a substantial support group. 🙏 Biden on 3/8/23: "More than 140 Officers were injured on January 6th".
Gangrene and any of those who go with her are not patriots either. The visits are going to be dumpster fires and stomach churning to any real patriots.
Yes, exactly! Truly, WE, the people, should file a class action lawsuit against the party of NO, the Pro-Rape Party, plus the makers and shakers of Fox for poisoning us.
Why did the intelligence community refrain from naming Tucker Carlson and members of the Republican House and Senate like Marge Greene and Joshy Hawley as members of the neo-fascist cohort?
I am not overreacting when I state that the repub party as it is today is dangerous. They have made it clear they want to trash the constitution, that human rights, equal rights, women’s rights, and specifically LGBTQ+, equality rights are not part of the United States of America. The Professor provides a threat assessment that should cause fear in all of us. “Today the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. It warned that transnational “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists” (RMVEs) continue to pose a threat more lethal to U.S. persons and interests than do Islamist terrorists.” We cannot stand by because we think we aren’t directly targeted, because we all are. The poetic warning, “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemöller” could have been written today. Change the targets. Who are “they” coming after today? We must speak out.
I dug out and am re-reading Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and it is no exaggeration to understand the peril the nation is in is not much different than 1933. Germany.
Hitler used illegal and criminal tactics to use the threat of relieving the crushing debt and depression of the time to become Dictator.
He didn’t even have a major base but used Goebbel’s propaganda to manufacture the illusion of support.
We are fortunate to have Joe Biden and the responsible leadership intact rather than a befuddled Hindenburg and ridiculous Von Papen allowing the Furher to slither into power, but the ingredients for catastrophe are present and must be examined.
Read “Adventures of A Bystander” if you want a clue what it was like about late 1930’s thru 1940’s. First hand account and riveting, but covered much more than that period
"...but the ingredients for catastrophe are present and must be examined." Truth right there. Trump is the most prominent cause of all this - he's the one who let the cat out of the bag. Lit the fire, if not assembled the fuel. Our beloved system of government has been exposed (by him and his ilk) to be a big sieve, where "norms" have been respected and followed in the past, only to be exploited by him. Most of what he has done to us cannot be prosecuted because it technically didn't break any law!! Where he has gotten into trouble is when he crossed the line - and so far he has NOT gotten into trouble at all even for that. He'll be in trouble when/IF he is indicted (note the "IF" is in caps). Our system for the most part allows this travesty. That's gotta be fixed, somehow. But Republicans are not going to allow it, for it helps their cause.
T just gave permission to turn over the hidden under belly of what was already present. I was hoping that exposing it to the light would stop the decay but it seems to be festering. Interesting opinion piece in the NYT A NEW VOICE FOR WINNING BACK LOST DEMOCRATIC VOTES. The appeal to elect people with grease under their finger nails & putting shop classes back in high schools. The rural people need a voice.
I was with you on this until the last sentence. Rural people have a voice. Unfortunately, it’s Trump’s voice. Rural people needdto be outvoted, which is a major challenge, what with 52 Senate seats controlled by 17% of the population, most of them in rural states, plus gerrymandering, which puts the House in control of a minority of the electorate, plus the Electoral College.
The 3rd district in Washington elected just such a person, a woman who owns an auto shop. Already there is an ad fill of lies about Biden and referencing her. Here in Salem Keizer, the school district has a couple career centers where students can pursue shop classes and I am not sure what else. One of the problems with shop classes in the past at least was/is finding people to teach them as often they could/can make more money elsewhere.
That was in the olden days, but not true in today’s time. I remember it well. Actually, the district’s knew that girls would kick ass so they denied them that right.
I’m always caught up by “the genie out of the vase” but retracing some of my comments back when, I am reminded that bin Laden made a comment about he was (my words) pleased of the tumbling of the towers but his main goal was to (his words) “…bleed(ing) America to the point of bankruptcy…” This can be taken monetarily or in terms of democracy! We, with the help of the existing GOP, are fulfilling this man’s aspirations for our country! If I could put it simply—fear-based!
Shirer was an invaluable journalist. Having lived through most of the period of Hitler’s Germany (my father and I listened to Mutual Broadcasting System news from the time I was four years old), reading “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” years later, I could feel the cold horror of the news broadcasts and photos in Life magazine, especially as the camps were liberated.
Anyone curious about the fall of France can read “The Nightmare Years,” Shirer’s account of Europe before WWII.
The major difference is the economy. Germany's was in tatters, our is strong. But Republicans are on a jihad about the debt ceiling that could well bring about economic calamity. And the match will be lit.
Art Shirer’s book is still among the best on Hitler’s rise. Shirer was an excellent journalist in Germany for much of the 1930s . To feel the full thrust of how the judicial system was Hitlerized, watch Judgment at Nuremberg. John Toland’s Hitler: The Definitive Biography in 1976 is also excellent for the general reader.
Indeed, the ingredients for catastrophe most certainly exist today. To update the cast of characters I offer the following.
1- Frank von Papen was Chancellor of Germany in 1932 however, in Dec of 1932 he lost favor in the Richstag which led to his dismissal by President von Hindenburg. Determined to return to power he convinced von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and he as Vice Chancellor believing he, Hitler, could be controlled. The rest is history.
2- von Popen’s role would be played by Mitch (The Great Enabler) McConnel and the entire right wing of the Republican Party, which at present includes 90% of the GOP. With their battle cry of “What ever it takes to win” they chose trump who they thought could garner votes of the so called “Base”that they had been gaslighting for several decades.
3- The part of Hitler goes to of course TFG, whose distaste for our friends and allies was only out done by his love for dictators such as Putin, Kim Jung Un, Zi and Benjamin Netanyahu.
4- I consider the befuddled ones to be TFG’s “Base”.
5- The part of Goebbles goes to Fox News which shouldn’t require explanation.
6- Lastly, the roll of FDR goes to Pres. Joe Biden who I consider a man for his time. No explanation required on that one either.
ROBERT Remember that Hitler was actually elected and supported by the legendary Hindenburg, who was old and faltering. Indeed, some major German businessmen thought they could ‘handle’ Hitler. When Hitler became chancellor, the story is that, when he entered the Reichstag, he said that the only way he would leave was ‘feet first.’
He was charismatic and attacking others—the first being the Communists. He also used his Brown Shirts to intimate and attack. By 1935 he was able to take over the judiciary. And the beat went on.
Keith, I thought I corrected you a couple of days ago. In Dec of 1932 Pres. Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany and Franz von Papen as Vice Chancellor. It appears something strange is going on with the posting of these comments.
Robert I have difficulty keeping up with your corrections of what I wrote inc the middle of the night or your corrections of your corrections. Of course I appreciate your proofreading. My weakness is focusing on substance> I’ll endeavor to correct this.
Indeed, the ingredients for catastrophe most certainly exist today. To update the cast of characters I offer the following.
1- Franz von Papen was chancellor of Germany in 1932 however, in Dec of 1932 he lost favor in Richstag which led to his dismissal by Pres. von Hindenburg. Determined to return to power he convinced von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and he as vice Chancellor believing that he, Hitler, could be controlled. The rest of course is history.
2- von Papen’s roll would be played by Mitch ( The Great Enabler) McConnell along with the entire right wing of he Republican Party, which at the moment includes 90% of the not so GOP. With their battle cry of “What ever it takes to win” they chose trump who they thought could garner votes of the so called “Base” that they had been gaslighting for several decades.
3- The part of Hitler of course goes to TFG, whose distaste for our friends and allies is only out done by his love for dictators such as Putin, KimJung Un,Zi and Netanyahu.
4- The part of the befuddled goes to TFG’s “Base”.
5- The part of Goebbles goes to Fox News, which
shouldn’t explanation.
6- Lastly, the roll of FDR goes to Pres. Joe Biden who I consider a man for his time. No explanation required on that one either.
Indeed the ingredients for catastrophe most certainly exist today. To up date the cast of characters I offer the following.
1- Fran von Papen was Chancellor of Germany on 1932 however, in Dec of 1932 he lost favor in Richstag which led to his dismissal by Pres. von Hindenburg. Determined to return to power he convinced von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and he as Vice Chancellor believing he, Hitler, could be controlled. The rest is history.
2- von Papen’s role would be played by Mitch (The Great Enabler) McConnell and the entire right wing of the Republican Party, which at present includes 90% of the GOP. With the battle cry of “what ever it takes to win” they chose trump who they thought could garner votes of the so called “base” that they had been gaslighting for several decades
3- The part of Hitler goes to of course TFG, whose distaste for our allies was only out done by his love for dictators such as Putin, Kim Jung Un, Zi and Benjamin Netanyahu.
4- I consider the befuddled ones to be TFG’s ( base).
5- The part of Goebbles goes to Fox News which shouldn’t require explanation.
6- Lastly, the roll of FDR goes to Pres. Joe Biden who I consider a man for his time. No explanation required on that one either.
It's all about predatory abuse of power. Bullies in a schoolyard, domestic violence, war, racism, sexism, homophobia, corrupt and tyrannical governance, Bundys et al intimidating whomever with guns. Until we get a better grip on the nature of abuse of power, humanity is it's own worst enemy, and of a vast array of other species as well.
Niemöller's poem is well known, but I am not sure that everybody knows that it was autobiographical (I did not until years after I first heard it). Initially sympathetic to Hitler, they really did come for him. He was saved at a Nazi concentration camp by the Allies. He too knew of what he was speaking.
@ J L Graham: There are too many "moderates" who do not pay enough attention to these clues and how important they are. Repubs who voted for Trump, even thought it was quite clear what he was, and ignored the writing on the wall. Small acts of violence are just that, acts of violence, and are not to be discounted. When a person bullies, abuses, neglects...anything...women, children, animals, minorities, others...it is a sign of more violence to come, and we must pay attention.
JL and Debbie, I agree 100%. I abhor their premises, but have to admit the Republicans are much better at distilling concepts into a phrase and rallying their followers to use it relentlessly - "woke" and "anti-woke" being the most obvious recent example.
Definitely so Louis. The varied cultures within our culture emanate noise from as far away as sing-song verses of childhood and windup doll jokes. Most being launched in negativism which vehicle moves with greater ease in the gen pop of political dogma. Yards barns and signs bear these doozies. Let’s go Brandon! Maga maga gaga.
Found that word woke on a UO basketball thread. I decided to leave it alone until someone else questioned it and then I mentioned people inserting politics into the discussion. What was woke in the person's post was the fact that for a while people had to be masked (and some still wear masks) when attending games in the arena. Yesterday a site for discussing the Congressional district 6 here in Oregon posted that there would be no toleration for name calling, etc. So trolls will have a hard time there.
Michele, I think most of us have encountered this, and more and more often. So what, I wonder, is a non-or minimally!-combative way to address this weaponizing of "Woke"? (Which has been completely co-opted and perverted from its original meaning and importance, but that argument won't help in these situations).
Something like - "Why would you want to bring a word that politicians have weaponized to serve their own agendas into a football forum?
Personally I have absolutely no problem with politics in any forum. I do have a huge problem with appropriation and weaponization.
I would love to know a concise and effective call-out for these situations.
We had one person who used the word woke to describe the new hire for superintendent for the Salem/Keizer school district. He got some nasty feed back immediately and then claimed that he was only concerned because she has no classroom or building principal experience and said he was only concerned about students and staff on that basis. I then asked him why he had not just said that instead of using a politically loaded word. That was on Tuesday and no answer from him yet. As for woke in a basketball thread, no thank you. I do not want politics there. I dealt with it there by answering the person who had questioned it and not the original poster. No reply there either. I think I would ask them exactly what it is about woke that they object to and then ask if they think people should have empathy.
But, in fact, first they came for the queer people.
A year before Nazis began attacking union leaders and socialists, a full five years before attacking Jewish-owned stores on Kristallnacht, the Nazis came for the trans people at the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin.
Yes. Read “ In the Garden of the Beasts” by Erik Larson. Non-fiction. U.S. Ambassador Dodd in Berlin, Nazi Germany was warning the State Department in 1933 and earlier about the Brown Shirts/Nazis and random as well as targeted violence and abuse. Our State Department and President knew.
Martin Niemöller's 1946 poetic confession. Though at first, he was Nazi-friendly, he became one of the most outspoken of the Confessing Church, spending - I think - 5 years in a Nazi prison camp. Niemöller's first night out of prison was in the Pastor's house of the Bergkirche in Wiesbaden - my church here - which was the only anti-Nazi church in the entire region.
After his death, Niemöller's wife converted to Judaism. I don't know, but I like to think this was to distance herself from the National Church of the Nazi occupation. Many of the Republicans have allied themselves with the National Church in America. Horrifying connection.
What should we all do? The threat is not an exaggeration. True believers are hard to stop. No amount of facts/reality changes their minds/positions. Their leaders must be held accountable. Trump is guilty and should spend time in prison, but it will not stop his army of true believers. Hitler spent time in prison and it did not stop him. (Comparing Trump to Hitler?)
Steve Hassan has good information on this. I believe we are doing it, just not fast enough. Most are very slow to wake up to it. Hard to wrap your mind around malice when it slaps you in the face. We should focus on the good and grow the good (Non voters). Be loud. Take a stand. Be kind. Do NOT be afraid. We want “just” accountability not the vengeance, like that which comes from bullies and tyrants. https://freedomofmind.com/
“What should we all do? The threat is not an exaggeration. True believers are hard to stop.” This is the question without an easy answer. Or without an answer. Don’t we often make decisions for future generations? We speak out and stand up, knowing we are at risk. For our children and our grandchildren and the future we take those risks. How naive I once was to think the Holocaust was the “only genocide.” Then I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. One of my poems, about this journey is about Genocide. I made a list. I stopped at 30 and then remembered our America. Remembered. The list. “The roll call is longer than we can carry.” How can we forget? We say Never again.
One of my husband's cousins who lives in Rapid City posted yesterday that she had been banned from the South Dakota legislative account and their Twitter account. She does not name call, etc, but does call out Rs for their nonsense (and there is a lot of it in South Dakota), so she is banned. So now citizens cannot have access to what their legislature posts if they disagree with them. Fascism 101.
Pastor Martin Niemöller says so much in a relatively short poem. So many lessons there. First off, if the people and groups representing them do not band together, we'll all be picked off one by one. All of the individual groups focused only on their particular race or religion or creed or gender will have to bind together to contend with the power which rules. Once bound together, the groups will have to come up with a common agenda--an agenda which is based primarily on the common denominators all people face (e.g., corruption, graft, public accountability of politicians and other public servants, et al).
Interesting that the Nazis chose to first go after the Communists. They knew the Communists represented the biggest threat to the Nazi's control of the country. There were so many brawls and street fights of large numbers of Nazis and Communists. After the Reichstag fire, the Nazis blamed the Communists and got away with it. After Hitler and the Nazis were in power, they banned all other political parties, so the Nazis had the field to themselves.
I believe all sane people want the same thing--Justice. The question is how are we The People going to achieve that? It seems to me that we have to move beyond political party rhetoric to achieve that.
Just one curious comment. I'd never thought of Niemöller's piece as a poem, the idea's new to me. Not even a prose poem, though I suppose we could call it that.
But then, I never regarded Brecht's Die Lösung as a poem either -- and that man was one hell of a poet.
Our times call for highly concentrated rhetoric. Ordinary prose won't do.
I faced the same issue in how to define this piece of Niemöller's writing. In years past, I've most often seen ("First they came...") referred to as a poem, so I decided to see it as a prose poem. I imagine it could also be referenced as a "Thought" or "Reflection" or "Account" or "Declaration".
"Our times call for highly concentrated rhetoric. " Definitely. Brevity is most effective in delivering a message, especially in these times. An excellent example of brevity quickly summing up an important point is the great Scottish Poet Robbie Burns summing up world history in four words--"Man's inhumanity to man."
I've read Brecht's Die Lösung. Great satire. In that vein, I think of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "A Modest Proposal."
I don't know if Niemöller considered it a poem, but it carries an experientially evocative package that exceeds the literal meaning of the text. I don't know if that makes something a poem (increasingly poems are not written in rhyme, although there is always a certain crafted "choreography" to them). I doubt that the Gettysburg Address was meant to be poetry, but it reads like poetry. Shakespeare's prose, "We strut and fret our hour upon the stage", packs that same musical clarity. I think there is a certain degree of music to all writing, even technical writing, when it is well composed.
I think there is a narcissistic urge to make everyone over in the mold of one's self, or like the self we like to imagine ourselves to be; the "master race" etc., irrespective of the fact it is hubris. I too am a fool in many ways, and converse here because I want to propagate my perspective; but also to learn what others know, and to fill some of the many gaps that are far too numerous for any human brain to fill. That's how our species got to the point that I can send this thought around the globe literally though the air, since my only Internet connection here is broadband cell service. We sniff around like puppies seeking any opportunity, and then pool our efforts though conversation, recordings, and commerce.
I think at some level, all, or at least most people have shared needs and desires but we seem to be prone to tunnel-think as well as doublethink. Tunnel-think (I think I just made that word up, but it's just tunnel vision in the sense of self-absorption) is like road rage, where the reptile rises to endanger lives of all concerned, for the sake of a real or imagined petty slight. Despots conspire to keep enough of the public in a state of "road rage" to the point that they will sacrifice their own decency, and ultimately their quality of life to champion the whims of a manipulative predator.
Yes, despots [and their puppetmasters] conspire to keep conflict alive, pitting one group against another and on... They thrive on conflict among the masses. People need to wake up to the fact that they are being used.
Ally, it’s time for Americans to wake up. The list of people in the “crosshairs” is long. I’m sorry. And I, too, am in the crosshairs. Because of that fear, there are more who are in the crosshairs and will not speak up. The saying “Silence equals consent” is not always true. Silence is often fear. For our lives. Is that how the bullies of the world operate?
Thank you for another informative newsletter. I continue to be amazed by your thoroughness in telling the real stories. Wish everyone read you. Then maybe some people will wake up to reality!
Well said Nancy. Heather needs to be read by all who are invested in how our government is governed and truly she is astoundingly comprehensive in her reporting. Such a gift to her readers. I've done my part as I have gifted her newsletter to at least three people, friends and family, over the past months.
Please watch Jeffry Sachs latest on YouTube. We are being asked to divert our attention from real facts. Pay close attention to those who aren’t in it for their own glory.
WIshing the same but doubting that could ever happen. Even if they read Heather they would deny all truth because they are so staunch in believing the lies they've been fed.
McConnell fell, like Trump's ex-wife the night before her testimony, and Mitney's shiner from "falling" after speaking out against the royal Right? Anyone else seeing a pattern? Speaking of patterns, if recent years events are any indication, the fact that Maga antics are currently on the rise (including McCarthy's stunt with Carlson), something big is coming down the pipeline, and I'm guessing it's the DOJ closing in on so the scoundrels who played any role in January 6 and the entire effort to overthrow our governed by overturning the election results. They get really squirmy when they're about to get in trouble, attempting to get ahead of the truth with lies to create a diversion and sow doubt, and somehow people "coincidentally" get hurt. These antics are their "tell". I give it a week. The DOJ is about to bring the hammer down.
They are also deflecting from their inability to write a national budget, or from their game of international economic chicken. The won’t have a choice - either blink or watch the POTUS use the 14th amendment to override them. There’s nothing good coming out of this.
In case readers aren't familiar with the 14th amendment reference, in section 4 of said amendment: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."
Sarah, I agree that politicians often create a smoke screen to divert attention from upcoming revelations.
However, in 81 year old McConnell’s case, this retired MD suspects he has significant problems with his gait & balance. Several falls, some serious, have been noted in media reports at least since 2014 (Google “Mitch McConnell falls” & “watch MM walk”).
The problems could be due to post polio syndrome although a progressive neurological problem can’t be ruled out.
Susan, I have to say my mind went directly to suspicion when I heard about it in Heather's Letter early today. However, I'm 64 and spent upwards of 50 minutes in a CT scanner late yesterday to find out what happened to my shoulder when I recently fell up my front steps. It happens.
Marlene that's the probability. I had x-rays immediately following to rule out broken bones. I will meet with my Orthopedic Surgeon bright and early Monday morning to discuss this. I need to get this behind me, I was given a new kayak for Christmas and it won't paddle itself this summer. 😄
Yes he did. He has a limp. PPS is not well understood. Completely different for each individual. Minimal impact for me. But maybe that's why I hate dancing :)
I am confident that 81 yr old McConnell tripped and fell. He has fallen a couple of times before . I hope he did not hit his head as a brain bleed is also likely if he did. I suspect he is on blood thinners ( purport of his hands obvious) and that complicates things. I believe that he as well as Grassley and Feinstein should retire. I do not wish them ill but it is time.
I am in my late 80’s with vertigo problems but adopted cane use 8 years ago and thereby have avoided spills. Close calls are occur several times daily.
But cane use is resisted but many. I suppose vanity a reason.
But I observe public figures like Mitch McConnell and President Biden doing the still hip shuffle on ramps and avoiding vigorous hand support on stairs as a regrettable effect of avoiding the cane.
I would urge an end to the silly concept that any device is a sign of weakness. Accidental falls remain a serious peril of anyone over 60 years old.
In light of McConnell's backpedaling to support the Capital Police, I wonder if he also regrets his obstructionism during Obama's tenure? There were so many bills that would have helped everyone that never made it to the floor. His Kentucky constituents are dying in droves from lack of healthcare. His Repub colleagues are eager to turn off the tap for health and human services. Mitch had a chance to do better and chose not to.
“McConnell said: ‘It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that’s completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks.’ ”(from today’s newsletter)
Let’s not give Mitch McConnell much credit. He did not call Carlson a liar. He did not call the video dishonest. All he said was 1) Carlson and a law enforcement official have different opinions, and 2) It was a mistake. After so many years of listening to MM, we should know that to him, “mistake” means tactical error, not dishonest. Honesty has never been an important standard for MM.
I too noted use of the word "Capitol thinks," not proved or revealed. Always space left for pivoting when the time is right to take advantage of the shifting winds. Me thinks he pivoted at the wrong moment in the hotel lobby, the result of his impairment not keeping up with his moral gymnastics, something an 80+ year old should avoid.
Every late evening (early morning) we are informed to a point wherein we are awakened to more disturbing yet necessary truth. Notwithstanding the loss of sleep and (hopefully) productive dreaming that involves the brain's ability to process information, solve problems, and even write timeless songs (see Keith Richards writing "Satisfaction" in his sleep and busily writing it all down upon awakening), I thank you for your diligence in so often providing historical context as the basis of your analysis of current developments. Here a retired professor from a career at a Jesuit institution other than your base at Boston College, thanks you for shining the disinfecting light of truth on our country's infectious and traitorous politicians' machinations.
Paul McCartney also created Yesterday while sleeping. I believe he woke up, told/ sang it to Linda, then went back to sleep. If I have this right, Paul woke up, couldn’t remember it, but Linda had taped him.
Oh my gosh. Appreciate this very much. I heard about this on a radio station many years ago. So it’s obvious I have the wrong “hit” of Paul’s but feel quite sure of the story in how it unfolded.
Having HCR's Letters show up so often late into the night, for me at least, aren't what I need as I'm trying to wind down to go to sleep. They sometimes do exactly the opposite and serve to get me riled up. I prefer to have them hit me in the morning when I can best get my brain involved, aided by some caffeine, think about things, and then maybe respond. My brain is busy enough most nights trying to process stuff!
That is the only way for me to read LFAA. I cannot read it before bed. Thankfully, I am still on a relatively "early bird" schedule, so I am almost always in bed (even on the west coast) when the Letter is published. It is a great start to the day. Heading off to pour cup #2 and enjoy the rest of the comments.
Same. No use worrying overnight when it will all be here waiting for me in the morning. Now enjoying 2nd cup of coffee with a puppy on my lap and my worrying cap firmly in place.
Nancy, I can see that puppy and relate to morning but I set my worrying cap aside as I move into the day feeling a measure of comfort that there are others of like mind that are not necessarily those in our daily news cycle. I repeat “things are always working out for me” and understanding that also includes not necessarily in the time I’d like at the moment. So grateful to have been introduced to HCR’s letters nearly 3 years ago and then discovering all the comments that broadened my history lesson even further.
WOW. Here's a sentence that jumped off of the page at me...
"Even the Republican leaders who do not embrace the racism, sexism, religiosity, nihilism, and authoritarianism of the hard-core MAGA Republicans appear to believe they cannot win an election without the votes of those people. And so the extremists now own the party."
What a horribly sad state of affairs that is....and for what somehow still claims to be the G.O.P. to willfully take us to the brink of default is incredible beyond belief.
It's so obvious that "leader" (really ??) McCarthy gave Tucker the footage, so his editors could create a false visual narrative to share with their base. Then Trump...who Tucker disdains...(this is really sick isn't it ?) can jump on the visual bandwagon...and say "I told you so". These people are totally lost in a fog of their own creation. What happened to "you have to fight"...you have to be angry patriots and reverse the wrong....take back the stolen election. They don't know what f-ing narrative they are telling. Now they are peaceful tourists, who just happen to have entered a building that's off limits to the public that day....and please just ignore that gallows out there and the chants to hang the VP...for doing his job. This is beyond nuts. How many ways can you spin the same story ?????
At least Leni Riefenstahl stuck to one consistent narrative in her propaganda.
I know I’m late to the party, but I had to look up nihilism:
“1. a: a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless; b: a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths” “Nihilism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nihilism. Accessed 9 Mar. 2023.
dt and his supporters certainly do not believe that their own existence is senseless and useless, but they trash objective truth at every opportunity. I feel like all y’all already knew that, but teachers, even retired ones, share what they learn.
And to see just how much extremists have taken over, take a gander at clips of MTG being appointed Pro Tem of the House for one day yesterday and actually sitting in the Speaker's chair and calling the House to order. An antisemitic, secessionist sitting in one of the more hallowed places in this democracy...chilling and nauseating. Democrats should have a field day with this one in the election!
Democrats would be only one seat short of a House majority were it not for the incompetence of the leaders of the NY Democratic Party. There are so many balls in the air, it’s impossible to get everything right, but NY Democrats should not have let four seats go R that could have been D.
I sure hope that your neighbors in her district can truly have a "field day" with her a year from now. From what I have read, her district is solidly MAGAt.
Thanks. This new Tucker Carlson spin job shows he has no respect for his audience and none for himself. He despises DJT, but then tries to help his narrative with this alternate reality edit of J6. Were they there fighting for Trump to win at any cost...or peaceful tourists ? You have to pick one. I've been editing video for much too long...you have to have a consistent storyline. There's a goal...or you have mush that you just disappear into...let's all pray for that quicksand to gobble up Tucker...and his parent company. Fox...there's no news here to see...it's whatever BS we want it to be. Edward R. Murrow would just roast these guys.
They are correct in that belief. Republicans can’t even afford to lose 10% of the 80% of white evangelicals who vote for them. Their margin is razor thin, even though our political system gives them enormous advantages.
In Tucker's case it appears that he's not that smart...he certainly has no ethics. He found an audience and he plays to it. It's like professional wrestling...give 'em what they want...
'cause you're just making it up as you go along....NEWS...give me a break. It's a freak show.
I'm out of breath. Every time I think that I am ready for the next thing coming, the next thing is a bigger boulder coming at us. Thank you for preparing us further. Each of Heather's bullets should be shared individually to all your social media, to your family and friends, your community in every means possible. Too many won't read ¨long messages,¨ but they will read headline catching moments. In today's newsletter there are many, many headline catching moments - one especially is for ordinary Americans to understand that the tax will be on over $400,000 so that they will not be taxed which has been the false message of MAGA on every twitter. Pound this in every way possible. Celebrate Biden's budget in public and constantly demand to MAGAS to show us theirs.
Published along side Trumps tax return and pie charts of how wave after wave of tax cuts for the rich worked out. Somehow the public dividend got lost in the mail.
Absolutely right, JL. We were promised that tax cuts would pay for themselves. Let’s see charts of how that worked out. Remind people that there was a surplus in 2001, available to the newly installed Bush II administration. And then. . .
Not only was our dividend “lost in the mail” but the IRS was gradually shrunk to allow the biggest tax cheats to escape audits. At least that is being turned around now, and people can get their tax questions answered. Of course R’s voted against having decent customer service come from the federal government, which must never be allowed to look competent if Republicans can help it.
Bush II cut taxes for the wealthy while embarking on two simultaneous wars, which was unprecedented. I recall a commentator calling it "Spend but don't tax". Whenever the need arises (or is just pointed out) to aid the afflicted or shore up the common good, Republicans like to say, "we can't; we're broke. Austerity!" Meanwhile https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/12/superyacht-industry-booms-during-covid-pandemic
Gailee,I would further pound on the idea that the huge amounts of money the Republicans seem to command every election cycle arises from the the big businesses they inevitably promote. If asked to produce facts to support this we must repeatedly challenge them to reveal donor lists, to reveal sources of money, the one antidote to the Citizens United ruling. If corporations are deemed "persons" deserving the right to the "free speech" represented by money, then voters need to know who's speaking or shouting with those scads of money. It would serve the dual purpose of keeping our democratic politicians open about their sources of funding as well.
The area allocated to donors on their suits should be proportional to amounts contributed. Probably 1% of the donors would have 99% of the space and the rest would be in 8-pt type, or maybe more like the size of those letters in a name inscibed on a grain of rice at street fairs.
Gailee Walker Wells, they have no love for our nation nor for its citizens nor for the support of freedom throughout the world nor for the rule of law unless they can twist the rules for their own benefit. They know nothing about governing and have no respect for the USA . They only want money and power and control of what used to be our great institutions of governance. They are loud and rough and ignorant. We can see this fact everytime they open their mouths. They are being used to weaken our nation.
What I really have a difficult time understanding is how can so many who have used this country to gain wealth, and sucess, support those here and around the world who create chaos.
Do so many hate democracy? We are far from being a perfect nation. Our leaders have contributed to war and violence and poverty and loss of homes for many around the world but there have also been brave and intelligent and KIND men and women ...great, wise and humble...who have given so much....and thankfully continue to do so.
Thank you President Biden and fellow true Americans on both sides who know how to lead. Who follow procedure....who understand there is a process that must be followed in a Democracy if you want a bill to be passed, etc.
Young and older, thank you for your belief in America and freedom. Thank you for actually knowing how to govern....you understand the value and stability of RULES that are to be followed....you are truthful....an especially difficult choice it seems.
What is unacceptable about democracy is that it’s possible your side might lose. Will lose, unless you are supported by a majority. That’s pretty hard to stomach if you have been conditioned to think you deserve to have things your way, because you are who you are.
Thank you. Heather, for so compelling an analysis of the news. I was struck by Mitch McConnell's condemnation of Tucker Carlson's manipulation of the January 6 video. Note that he said it should not be at variance with what the Chief of the Capitol police "thinks." I would prefer a statement that affirms the reality we witnessed. I dislike McConnell's craftiness, but wish him a speedy recovery.
Mitch McConnell: there are no updates at this time, about McConnell's condition after his fall, but his impact on our democracy cannot be ignored. While there there have not been any substantial books written, yet, about Mitch's role in America's decline as a democracy, Jane Meredith Mayer, the noted American investigative journalist and staff writer for The New Yorker addressed a few of his accomplishments during the Trump administration.
'How Mitch McConnell Became Trump’s Enabler-in-Chief'
The Senate Majority Leader’s refusal to rein in the President is looking riskier than ever.
'April 12, 2020, McConnell, a voracious reader of history, has been cultivating his place in it for many years. But, in leaving Washington for the long weekend, he had misjudged the moment. The hashtag #WheresMitch? was trending on Twitter. President Trump had declared a national emergency; the stock market had ended one of its worst weeks since the Great Recession. Nearly two thousand cases of COVID-19 had already been confirmed in America.'
'Eleven days later, the Senate still had not come up with a bill. The Times ran a scorching editorial titled “The Coronavirus Bailout Stalled. And It’s Mitch McConnell’s Fault.” The Majority Leader had tried to jam through a bailout package that heavily favored big business. But by then five Republicans were absent in self-quarantine, and the Democrats forced McConnell to accept a $2.1-trillion compromise bill that reduced corporate giveaways and expanded aid to health-care providers and to hard-hit workers.'
'McConnell, who is known as one of the wiliest politicians in Washington, soon reframed the narrative as a personal success story.'
'When Trump ran for President, he frequently derided “the corrupt political establishment,” saying that Wall Street titans were “getting away with murder” by paying no taxes. In a furious campaign ad, images of the New York Stock Exchange and the C.E.O. of Goldman Sachs flashed onscreen as he promised an end to the élites who had “bled our country dry.” In interviews, he denounced his opponents for begging wealthy donors for campaign contributions, arguing that, if “somebody gives them money,” then “just psychologically, when they go to that person they’re going to do it—they owe him.”
'McConnell, by contrast, is the master of the Washington money machine. Nobody has done more than he has to engineer the current campaign-finance system, in which billionaires and corporations have virtually no spending limits, and self-dealing and influence-peddling are commonplace. Rick Wilson, a Never Trumper Republican and a former political consultant who once worked on races with McConnell’s team, said, “McConnell’s an astounding behind-the-scenes operator who’s got control of the most successful fund-raising operation in history.”
'Former McConnell staffers run an array of ostensibly independent spending groups, many of which take tens of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors. Wilson considers McConnell, who has been Majority Leader since 2015, a realist who does whatever is necessary to preserve both his own political survival and the Republicans’ edge in the Senate, which now stands at 53–47. “He feels no shame about it,” he said. “McConnell has been the most powerful force normalizing Trump in Washington.”
'The most famous example of McConnell’s obstructionism was his audacious refusal to allow a hearing on Merrick Garland, whom Obama nominated for the Supreme Court, in 2016. When Justice Antonin Scalia unexpectedly died, vacating the seat, there were three hundred and forty-two days left in Obama’s second term. But McConnell argued that “the American people” should decide who should fill the seat in the next election, ignoring the fact that the American people had elected Obama. As a young lawyer, McConnell had argued in an academic journal that politics should play no part in Supreme Court picks; the only thing that mattered was if the nominee was professionally qualified. In 2016, though, he said it made no difference how qualified Garland, a highly respected moderate judge, was. Before then, the Senate had never declined to consider a nominee simply because it was an election year. On the contrary, the Senate had previously confirmed seventeen Supreme Court nominees during election years and rejected two. Nevertheless, McConnell prevailed.'
'McConnell’s opposition to Obama was relentless. In 2010, the Senate Majority Leader famously said, when asked about his goals, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President.” Carroll, the Courier-Journal reporter, was dumbstruck by McConnell’s attitude when the Senator allowed him to listen in one day as he took a phone call from Obama, on the condition that Carroll not write about it. “McConnell said a couple of words, like ‘Yup,’ ‘O.K.,’ and ‘Bye,’ but he never said, ‘Mr. President,’ ” Carroll recalls. “There was just a total lack of respect even for the office.” McConnell preferred to deal with Obama’s Vice-President, Joe Biden. (In his autobiography, McConnell mocks Biden’s “incessant chatter” but also says, “We could talk to each other.”
'McConnell’s disrespect for Obama mirrored the views of rich conservative corporate donors like the Kochs, who underwrote many of the campaigns that enabled Republicans to capture the majority in the House of Representatives in 2010, and in the Senate four years later. In the 2014 midterm elections alone, the Koch donor network, which has a few hundred members, spent more than a hundred million dollars. In 2014, shortly before Republicans took the Senate, McConnell appeared as an honored guest at one of the Kochs’ semi-annual fund-raising summits. He thanked “Charles and David,” adding, “I don’t know where we would be without you.” Soon after he was sworn in as the Senate Majority Leader, he hired a former lobbyist for Koch Industries as his policy chief. McConnell then took aim at the Kochs’ longtime foe the Environmental Protection Agency, urging governors to disobey new restrictions on greenhouse gases.
Excellent analysis of McConnell and how he was able to manipulate events more than most people realize. Look at how disrespectful Trump and the MAGA radicals treat him now. 🙄 Wish him well getting better soon 🙏 💙 Funny how 🤔 if McConnell hadn't stalled out merrick garland for Supreme Court, guess who controls the fate of Trump and his J6 insurrectionists now regardless of how much McConnell stacked the last 3 justices ⚖️ appointed, which is why Congress needs to expand SCOTUS to 13 justices to accurately represent the 13 federal appellate districts.
I like a friend's idea of having 13 Supreme Court Justices, each serving a single term of 4 years, drawn from the 13 Districts' appellate courts' judges, chosen by a combination of seniority and chance. No political appointees slammed directly onto the Bench from whatever ideological rabbit hutch they keep them in.
It shows how far the GOP has fallen that I dread to think of losing McConnell, because I am certain that the person who follows him will have fewer scruples and be more dishonest.
OTOH, that person (which will almost certainly be a "he"), will not have the innumerable connections, nor the reins of the money or power that McConnell has held.
Yes, Fern, when I wrote of "recovering sense" -- or sentience -- I was imagining a human being, yes, puny but human, saved from under the avalanche of his own clever-cleverness and unending vanity... The Card Sharp of the Century! No, The Greatest Ever...
The Ultimate Gold Medallist in the Cheating Olympics.
Why see the worst in us, Peter? It's our honor to expose the liars, the cheats, the exploiters & thieves. You know of them in Britain, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Russia, China... and on and on, don't you?
One aspect of American exceptionalism is the couch potato masses that nothing gentler than a cattle prod can rouse to action.
If I use insults, if I try to outrage you, this is in fact a compliment. It signifies a remnant of confidence in America and Americans, the feeling that there's still resilience, still Life in that great slumberous mass!
Yes you CAN! You still can.
Chinese, Russians, hog-tied in a poke. Like sacrificial victims.
Others are insignificant or locked into their chaos.
Maybe I'm stupid in holding to this firm remnant of faith in a country that has gotten so much wrong, that has made such a mess of the world and of itself.
Then I choose to be stupid and to make myself hoarse yelling at you, WAKE UP, WAKE UP... while you're still free, while you still can.
Many may hate you, many resent you... yet you have not ceased to be the Realm of the Possible. And having shown the world that "the Possible" includes every conceivable way of getting things wrong and exhausted the whole range of how-to-get-it-all-wrong, now it is time to fulfill Churchill's expectation and do the right thing.
However hard, however demanding that doing the right thing may be.
Expressed so expertly. One of my favorite expressions used to be “the probability of the impossible.” Sadly, the impossible (death) won in that case, but only after an epic and, in many ways, a wonderful struggle. May America be the impossible probability that wins…
More about Mitch, by Gary Gerstle is Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus at Cambridge and a Guardian US columnist.
'Mitch McConnell greatly damaged US democracy with quiet, chess-like moves' (excerpts)
'The January 6 committee has now revealed how far Donald Trump was willing to go to prevent the peaceful and lawful transfer of power from his presidency to that of Joe Biden. Yet, his deadly serious attempt to upend American democracy also had a slapdash quality to it, reflecting Trump’s own impulsive nature and his reliance on a group of schemers – Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell, Roger Stone and John Eastman among them – of limited ability. It is not entirely surprising that Trump’s coup failed.'
'Another brazen GOP action, however, has succeeded – this one engineered by the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, whose chess-like skills of political strategizing put to shame Trump’s powerful but limited game of bluster and bullying. The act to which I refer is McConnell’s theft of Barack Obama’s 2016 appointment to the supreme court, a radical deed that has dimmed somewhat in public consciousness even as it proved crucial to fashioning a rightwing supreme court willing to overturn Roe v Wade and to destabilize American politics and American democracy in the process. '
'McConnell is widely considered to be a cynic about politics, more interested in maintaining and holding power than in advancing a particular agenda. This is true up to a point. But it is equally true that McConnell has believed, for decades, that the federal government had grown too large and too strong, that power had to be returned to private enterprise on the one hand and the individual states on the other, and that the legislative process in Washington could not be trusted to accomplish those aims. Hence the critical role of the federal courts: the federal judiciary, if sufficiently populated by conservative jurists, could constrain and dismantle the power of the federal government in ways in which Congress never would. It was fine, in McConnell’s eyes, for Congress to be paralyzed and ineffectual on most domestic issues, as long as the GOP, when in power, stacked the federal judiciary and the supreme court with conservative judges and justices. Thus, across Trump’s presidency, McConnell pushed 175 district court appointments and 54 court of appeals appointments through the congressional confirmation process, far exceeding in numbers what Obama had managed during the second term of his presidency.' (Guardian)
And look at how 🤔 in the end of all of McConnell's behind the scenes control of impeding Obama the best he could, then promoting Trump like the best thing like sliced bread 🍞 🤔 . Look at how Trump treats McConnell now calling his wife horrible names, and the MAGA radicals treat him like a traitor for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act for the good of all Americans.
I despise his ideology, but there is no doubt at all that McConnell is a very wily old political trout. He plays chess while the rest of Congress plays checkers or even "Old Maid" (a long since abandoned sexist, ageist card game for kids).
Americans for too long have tolerated one party and their allied elephants in donkey suits ensuring that the citizens don't have a functional representative government. Rogue Republicans have lead us to the place where America would default on its national debt. Regardless of your partisan affiliation, it's time to support the adults' efforts to regain charge of the classroom from the juvenile class clowns.
Mass poisoners abusing the freedom accorded by the First Amendment and still walking free to poison yet more wellsprings.
It seems that America has no means of defending itself against the deadly enemies within the gates.
Money, which is intrinsically neutral, has been transformed by the gross abuse of corporate power into a seemingly incurable social cancer. Metastases everywhere, everywhere.
Such degeneracy.
Are we all brain dead that we permit this ultimate crime, waiting like cattle to be driven to the stockyard?
Peter, cattle aren't brain dead, just stupid and self-obsessed. Mooo!
Under present circumstances we still have a means of defending ourselves. It's called the law. Where is the DOJ at this late (too late?) date? What on earth is Garland waiting for? Another coup d'etat attempt? GOP clowns defaulting us into worldwide depression? The Second Coming?
Money is just a token, but how it is distributed makes a helluva difference. Organized crime is still very serious problem, even when they don't use machine guns; just lawyers and payoffs.
The Citizens United ruling declaring that corporations are persons deserving free speech and that money is the equivalent of free speech. The ruling DID NOT declare that free speech should remain anonymous. That was accomplished by our politicians and can and must be changed to make clear the extent the Republicans are bought and paid for by big business.
Thank you for pointing out that last part, Heather--about RMVEs recruiting former military. It is a real concern and one I've personally encountered on SM. It has also factored into numerous decisions, both publicized and some less so, made by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman in the past two years.
I wanted to point out a bit of GOOD news in this arena, however. There is an organization, Task Force Butler -- https://taskforcebutler.org/ -- founded by veteran Kristofer Goldsmith. It is an anti-fascist organization that does research, monitoring, and interdiction operations to counter domestic extremism across the country. They primarily use open source intelligence and information sharing techniques. They are particularly focused on countering misinformation that is crafted toward recruitment of veterans. It's worth checking out for folks who are curious or interested in supporting (I donate $ monthly).
Well, what is the alternative? Obviously, no such effort is anything close to a magic pill--there is no such thing. But is the RECIPE for how to fight such things, effectively and broadly. Waiting solely for the government to save us will not suffice. And countering violence with more violence will not either (except in last resort. If these A-holes take us to war, then sure, more than happy to kill them. We're not there yet) until we've done a LOT more to push back--and that takes MANY efforts, by MANY citizens, across the board. There are a TON of things we can do, this is just one small part. And it's LESS small if we contribute to it. So long as 30% of our populace still refuses to vote (and yes, the crazies vote more than we do--there's no excuse for that. None), I don't want to hear that we common, decent citizens have done all we can. We have not.
I've often thought that the military holds a place in our society that is more special that most people realize. Consider, it's enormous and very insular: military bases constitute small to mid-sized towns where many of the inhabitants only leave the compound for supplies and socializing with other military folk. It's a long-running society embedded within the larger society that seldom openly interacts with any civilian institution. They have their own laws, customs, mores, etc. that often only loosely resemble those of their civilian counterparts.
The military is also the repository for the most horrible parts of our society, not only legally-sanctioned killing, but all the moral and physical devastation of warmaking, where families are blown to bits in their beds and raping/pillaging is the ancient pasttime of bored, traumatized soldiers. I think that's why the military prizes honor and obedience so highly -- they are entrusted with our most hideous and dangerous national treasures. Even more so than with the police, this power of death subtly changes everyone connected to it.
Given their powers, history, and tasks, it is unsurprising that in most social dimensions, military personnel tend to be conservative. Since I'm not military, I can only speculate as to how that expresses in day to day life, but I suspect that much of the conservatism comes from the fear that adopting untried "progressive" ideas on the battlefield can get you and your buddies killed.
Additionally, respect for seniority and chain of command are very traditional values that are customarily viewed as "conservative" and are near the heart of the miltary ethos.
Yet this entire series of U.S. military organizations, some of which have been with us in some form since before we were a country, is completely funded by taxpayer dollars. Every bite of food they eat, every piece of clothing they wear, every dollar in their pockets comes is a government "handout." The very existance of our modern military requires an enormous federal government to support it, 'cause you don't build a fleet of F-22 Raptors, for instance, without a government that is taking gobs of money from business and citizens and is in firm control of the larger overall society.
Considering the tropes that drape over our political discourse (large vs. small government, social control by govenment, state's rights vs. federal, etc.), I suspect that the political life of the military is quite fraught, riddled with irreducible contradictions.
Gayle, hello. I am a fellow veteran living in Salmon, Idaho. I don’t have disabilities nor have I been dragged through the hell of military sexual trauma. My heart goes out to you. Outside of a handful of smaller cities, the Boise complex excepted, we are a rural population that feel much gratitude to our honored veterans. Like many veterans here I did suffer the indignities of a brutal conflict which in its own time divided the nation 50 years ago. It was difficult at times to let go of those extreme emotional scars. Some will remain for ever, but like veterans of prior conflicts time works to our advantage. Many veterans before us and many after will have to walk this down. As I usually read your comments I see your efforts to keep making us better. You do that.
I live and breath in this deep red state as well. I buy my groceries from a Mormon. I buy my tires from a Mormon. We are swimming in Mormons here. I once swam with poisonous sea snakes in the South China Sea. The locals thought I was insane. The locals hereabouts are the epitome of republicanism. It’s like swimming with sea snakes. They bump into you from time to time but they no more want to bite than you or I do. Law and order are still important. Your safety and well being is still a paramount concern here. Idaho is deep red but it still holds dear the underlying principals under the larger mantle of the good side of ethical behavior. It is a safe place to live. Yes, the currant crop of pols sucks the hind nipple. You know the one closest to the smelly end. I and the other democrat here in Salmon sometimes roll our eyes at each other. Most of us veterans will side with you. Let the fringe element remain fertive. Walk tall and proud here you deserve it.
Nocent, toxically so, would have been a better word. They try to rock people back on their heels. Usually they are missing teeth from misjudging their opponent. As a result they pick on easier prey. The old song “ you don’t tug on Superman’s cape” applies to our veterans. Thank you for being with us as we are here for you always.
How very horrific. I knew Mormons in Idaho, some had Cult characteristics long before the current disaster. It’s the cult run amok…. Coming to a neighborhood near you…
Regarding spending, is there an accounting for all Donald J. cost the USAmerican people going out of town every weekend with his retinue of Secret Service agents, and with all the golfing hours he spent, how much time did he spend as President doing the nation's work?
None I'm aware of. It seemed like he postured campaigned but most of the work that was done seemed to run on the stored momentum of the government apparatus, with Republicans gleefully throwing sand in the gears.
I read somewhere, but haven’t had the time to research at the moment, that each trip to Bedminster, NJ or to Merde a Lardo, FL, cost the taxpayers ~3mil for transportation to and from the sullied White House. Whether this included the overpayment of SS agents to stay in his bedbug-ridden accommodations I do not recall.
Thank you again Dr. Richardson for so truthfully summing the day's news. My question, "How do the False non-newscasters plan to present this bleached version to the millions of us who watched the entire attack on OUR Capitol as it was occurring LIVE on ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC etc. Will they ask us to believe the falsified version they are peddling or our own eyes?"
Interestingly, I watched F(n)NC on Jan 6th, 2021 for about an hour during the coverage on the assault on the Capitol; I really could not tell the difference between what different stations were running for on-air commentary. They (Faux) backflipped just like McConnell and McCarthy did in days following the insurrection.
To answer your question, they want you to believe the falsified version with all their stony, hateful hearts.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) told the Wall Street Journal reporters. “Republicans are not going to sign up for raising taxes” for my wealthy friends! [my edit 🥹]
The Perp who repeatedly zapped Officer Michael Michael Fanone with a stun gun on J6, PLED GUILTY just as his trial jury was about to be selected in February.The Perp will be sentenced in May 2023. Details are available at DOJ's website on the J6 prosecutions. MIchael is recovering in Virginia where he has a substantial support group. 🙏 Biden on 3/8/23: "More than 140 Officers were injured on January 6th".
Bryan Sean McKown "Details are available at DOJ's website on the J6 prosecutions."
Just in case, the citation can be found here:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/california-man-pleads-guilty-four-felonies-including-conspiracy-and-assaulting-police
...and MTG and some of her cronies are going to visit some of these "patriots" that are rotting away in prison.
Bruce, I guess it's too much to hope that she'll stay there. 😒
Good one, Nancy! That would be my hope as well.
If only . . . .
Gangrene and any of those who go with her are not patriots either. The visits are going to be dumpster fires and stomach churning to any real patriots.
This publicity stunt is intended to stoke more delusional rage among MAGAs and increases the chances of violence.
Yes, exactly! Truly, WE, the people, should file a class action lawsuit against the party of NO, the Pro-Rape Party, plus the makers and shakers of Fox for poisoning us.
Playing right into Trump the Dismal and Dreary.
...and of course the R's want to pardon the insurrectionists...
To bad the doors won’t shut and they can be locked up too . a shortcut for justice!
Ron, thank you for posting DOJ Press Release 23-77 which does have the details and, thank you George for referencing Michael's book, "HOLD THE LINE".
Bruce, over 989 people have been arrested by the FBI. Who knew their cellphones would give them away!! Thank goodness!
Read Fanone's book Hold the Line and distribute a copy to officers you know. I did.
Why did the intelligence community refrain from naming Tucker Carlson and members of the Republican House and Senate like Marge Greene and Joshy Hawley as members of the neo-fascist cohort?
I am not overreacting when I state that the repub party as it is today is dangerous. They have made it clear they want to trash the constitution, that human rights, equal rights, women’s rights, and specifically LGBTQ+, equality rights are not part of the United States of America. The Professor provides a threat assessment that should cause fear in all of us. “Today the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. It warned that transnational “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists” (RMVEs) continue to pose a threat more lethal to U.S. persons and interests than do Islamist terrorists.” We cannot stand by because we think we aren’t directly targeted, because we all are. The poetic warning, “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemöller” could have been written today. Change the targets. Who are “they” coming after today? We must speak out.
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me”
I dug out and am re-reading Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and it is no exaggeration to understand the peril the nation is in is not much different than 1933. Germany.
Hitler used illegal and criminal tactics to use the threat of relieving the crushing debt and depression of the time to become Dictator.
He didn’t even have a major base but used Goebbel’s propaganda to manufacture the illusion of support.
We are fortunate to have Joe Biden and the responsible leadership intact rather than a befuddled Hindenburg and ridiculous Von Papen allowing the Furher to slither into power, but the ingredients for catastrophe are present and must be examined.
Read “Adventures of A Bystander” if you want a clue what it was like about late 1930’s thru 1940’s. First hand account and riveting, but covered much more than that period
"...but the ingredients for catastrophe are present and must be examined." Truth right there. Trump is the most prominent cause of all this - he's the one who let the cat out of the bag. Lit the fire, if not assembled the fuel. Our beloved system of government has been exposed (by him and his ilk) to be a big sieve, where "norms" have been respected and followed in the past, only to be exploited by him. Most of what he has done to us cannot be prosecuted because it technically didn't break any law!! Where he has gotten into trouble is when he crossed the line - and so far he has NOT gotten into trouble at all even for that. He'll be in trouble when/IF he is indicted (note the "IF" is in caps). Our system for the most part allows this travesty. That's gotta be fixed, somehow. But Republicans are not going to allow it, for it helps their cause.
T just gave permission to turn over the hidden under belly of what was already present. I was hoping that exposing it to the light would stop the decay but it seems to be festering. Interesting opinion piece in the NYT A NEW VOICE FOR WINNING BACK LOST DEMOCRATIC VOTES. The appeal to elect people with grease under their finger nails & putting shop classes back in high schools. The rural people need a voice.
Rural red America needs to turn off the radio. They cannot allow doubt to assail their beliefs.
I was with you on this until the last sentence. Rural people have a voice. Unfortunately, it’s Trump’s voice. Rural people needdto be outvoted, which is a major challenge, what with 52 Senate seats controlled by 17% of the population, most of them in rural states, plus gerrymandering, which puts the House in control of a minority of the electorate, plus the Electoral College.
The 3rd district in Washington elected just such a person, a woman who owns an auto shop. Already there is an ad fill of lies about Biden and referencing her. Here in Salem Keizer, the school district has a couple career centers where students can pursue shop classes and I am not sure what else. One of the problems with shop classes in the past at least was/is finding people to teach them as often they could/can make more money elsewhere.
Another problem with shop classes of the past was that girls weren't allowed.
That was in the olden days, but not true in today’s time. I remember it well. Actually, the district’s knew that girls would kick ass so they denied them that right.
I can't remember, but the home ec classes had boys in them.
I’m always caught up by “the genie out of the vase” but retracing some of my comments back when, I am reminded that bin Laden made a comment about he was (my words) pleased of the tumbling of the towers but his main goal was to (his words) “…bleed(ing) America to the point of bankruptcy…” This can be taken monetarily or in terms of democracy! We, with the help of the existing GOP, are fulfilling this man’s aspirations for our country! If I could put it simply—fear-based!
Bin Laden wins again every time you take off your shoes or empty out your drink...
Exactly!!
Shirer was an invaluable journalist. Having lived through most of the period of Hitler’s Germany (my father and I listened to Mutual Broadcasting System news from the time I was four years old), reading “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” years later, I could feel the cold horror of the news broadcasts and photos in Life magazine, especially as the camps were liberated.
Anyone curious about the fall of France can read “The Nightmare Years,” Shirer’s account of Europe before WWII.
The major difference is the economy. Germany's was in tatters, our is strong. But Republicans are on a jihad about the debt ceiling that could well bring about economic calamity. And the match will be lit.
Art Shirer’s book is still among the best on Hitler’s rise. Shirer was an excellent journalist in Germany for much of the 1930s . To feel the full thrust of how the judicial system was Hitlerized, watch Judgment at Nuremberg. John Toland’s Hitler: The Definitive Biography in 1976 is also excellent for the general reader.
Indeed, the ingredients for catastrophe most certainly exist today. To update the cast of characters I offer the following.
1- Frank von Papen was Chancellor of Germany in 1932 however, in Dec of 1932 he lost favor in the Richstag which led to his dismissal by President von Hindenburg. Determined to return to power he convinced von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and he as Vice Chancellor believing he, Hitler, could be controlled. The rest is history.
2- von Popen’s role would be played by Mitch (The Great Enabler) McConnel and the entire right wing of the Republican Party, which at present includes 90% of the GOP. With their battle cry of “What ever it takes to win” they chose trump who they thought could garner votes of the so called “Base”that they had been gaslighting for several decades.
3- The part of Hitler goes to of course TFG, whose distaste for our friends and allies was only out done by his love for dictators such as Putin, Kim Jung Un, Zi and Benjamin Netanyahu.
4- I consider the befuddled ones to be TFG’s “Base”.
5- The part of Goebbles goes to Fox News which shouldn’t require explanation.
6- Lastly, the roll of FDR goes to Pres. Joe Biden who I consider a man for his time. No explanation required on that one either.
MAY GOD HELP US,
ROBERT🙏
ROBERT Remember that Hitler was actually elected and supported by the legendary Hindenburg, who was old and faltering. Indeed, some major German businessmen thought they could ‘handle’ Hitler. When Hitler became chancellor, the story is that, when he entered the Reichstag, he said that the only way he would leave was ‘feet first.’
He was charismatic and attacking others—the first being the Communists. He also used his Brown Shirts to intimate and attack. By 1935 he was able to take over the judiciary. And the beat went on.
Keith, I thought I corrected you a couple of days ago. In Dec of 1932 Pres. Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany and Franz von Papen as Vice Chancellor. It appears something strange is going on with the posting of these comments.
Robert 🙏🤔
Robert I have difficulty keeping up with your corrections of what I wrote inc the middle of the night or your corrections of your corrections. Of course I appreciate your proofreading. My weakness is focusing on substance> I’ll endeavor to correct this.
Correct
CORRECTION
FRANZ VON PAPEN
Indeed, the ingredients for catastrophe most certainly exist today. To update the cast of characters I offer the following.
1- Franz von Papen was chancellor of Germany in 1932 however, in Dec of 1932 he lost favor in Richstag which led to his dismissal by Pres. von Hindenburg. Determined to return to power he convinced von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and he as vice Chancellor believing that he, Hitler, could be controlled. The rest of course is history.
2- von Papen’s roll would be played by Mitch ( The Great Enabler) McConnell along with the entire right wing of he Republican Party, which at the moment includes 90% of the not so GOP. With their battle cry of “What ever it takes to win” they chose trump who they thought could garner votes of the so called “Base” that they had been gaslighting for several decades.
3- The part of Hitler of course goes to TFG, whose distaste for our friends and allies is only out done by his love for dictators such as Putin, KimJung Un,Zi and Netanyahu.
4- The part of the befuddled goes to TFG’s “Base”.
5- The part of Goebbles goes to Fox News, which
shouldn’t explanation.
6- Lastly, the roll of FDR goes to Pres. Joe Biden who I consider a man for his time. No explanation required on that one either.
God help us,
Robert🙏
Indeed the ingredients for catastrophe most certainly exist today. To up date the cast of characters I offer the following.
1- Fran von Papen was Chancellor of Germany on 1932 however, in Dec of 1932 he lost favor in Richstag which led to his dismissal by Pres. von Hindenburg. Determined to return to power he convinced von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and he as Vice Chancellor believing he, Hitler, could be controlled. The rest is history.
2- von Papen’s role would be played by Mitch (The Great Enabler) McConnell and the entire right wing of the Republican Party, which at present includes 90% of the GOP. With the battle cry of “what ever it takes to win” they chose trump who they thought could garner votes of the so called “base” that they had been gaslighting for several decades
3- The part of Hitler goes to of course TFG, whose distaste for our allies was only out done by his love for dictators such as Putin, Kim Jung Un, Zi and Benjamin Netanyahu.
4- I consider the befuddled ones to be TFG’s ( base).
5- The part of Goebbles goes to Fox News which shouldn’t require explanation.
6- Lastly, the roll of FDR goes to Pres. Joe Biden who I consider a man for his time. No explanation required on that one either.
May God Help Us,
Robert🙏
Robert I am reminded of a sign in a store: “God can get credit, all others must pay cash.” Should the Republicans visit a taxidermist?
It's all about predatory abuse of power. Bullies in a schoolyard, domestic violence, war, racism, sexism, homophobia, corrupt and tyrannical governance, Bundys et al intimidating whomever with guns. Until we get a better grip on the nature of abuse of power, humanity is it's own worst enemy, and of a vast array of other species as well.
Niemöller's poem is well known, but I am not sure that everybody knows that it was autobiographical (I did not until years after I first heard it). Initially sympathetic to Hitler, they really did come for him. He was saved at a Nazi concentration camp by the Allies. He too knew of what he was speaking.
@ J L Graham: There are too many "moderates" who do not pay enough attention to these clues and how important they are. Repubs who voted for Trump, even thought it was quite clear what he was, and ignored the writing on the wall. Small acts of violence are just that, acts of violence, and are not to be discounted. When a person bullies, abuses, neglects...anything...women, children, animals, minorities, others...it is a sign of more violence to come, and we must pay attention.
Kim, I agree 100%. It's incomprehensible.
JL and Debbie, I agree 100%. I abhor their premises, but have to admit the Republicans are much better at distilling concepts into a phrase and rallying their followers to use it relentlessly - "woke" and "anti-woke" being the most obvious recent example.
Our culture is mired in a ‘sound bite’ world!
Louis, it is! But we have to use it well, as —one— of many tools to reach people who are reachable.
Definitely so Louis. The varied cultures within our culture emanate noise from as far away as sing-song verses of childhood and windup doll jokes. Most being launched in negativism which vehicle moves with greater ease in the gen pop of political dogma. Yards barns and signs bear these doozies. Let’s go Brandon! Maga maga gaga.
Found that word woke on a UO basketball thread. I decided to leave it alone until someone else questioned it and then I mentioned people inserting politics into the discussion. What was woke in the person's post was the fact that for a while people had to be masked (and some still wear masks) when attending games in the arena. Yesterday a site for discussing the Congressional district 6 here in Oregon posted that there would be no toleration for name calling, etc. So trolls will have a hard time there.
Michele, I think most of us have encountered this, and more and more often. So what, I wonder, is a non-or minimally!-combative way to address this weaponizing of "Woke"? (Which has been completely co-opted and perverted from its original meaning and importance, but that argument won't help in these situations).
Something like - "Why would you want to bring a word that politicians have weaponized to serve their own agendas into a football forum?
Personally I have absolutely no problem with politics in any forum. I do have a huge problem with appropriation and weaponization.
I would love to know a concise and effective call-out for these situations.
We had one person who used the word woke to describe the new hire for superintendent for the Salem/Keizer school district. He got some nasty feed back immediately and then claimed that he was only concerned because she has no classroom or building principal experience and said he was only concerned about students and staff on that basis. I then asked him why he had not just said that instead of using a politically loaded word. That was on Tuesday and no answer from him yet. As for woke in a basketball thread, no thank you. I do not want politics there. I dealt with it there by answering the person who had questioned it and not the original poster. No reply there either. I think I would ask them exactly what it is about woke that they object to and then ask if they think people should have empathy.
Thank you, Irenie, for voicing Niemoeller's words, very much in my thoughts as I read and commented on Letters from an American today.
If the Law and We the People do not come for them, they will surely come for us.
Irenie “First they came for the Communists"
But, in fact, first they came for the queer people.
A year before Nazis began attacking union leaders and socialists, a full five years before attacking Jewish-owned stores on Kristallnacht, the Nazis came for the trans people at the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/what-will-happen-to-everyone-who?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
This.
It's happening NOW.
Trans/gay rights have been taken away.
Abortion has been outlawed in many red states, and they will come after birth control next.
NEW: The Tennessee House Just Passed a Bill Completely Gutting Marriage Equality: https://newrepublic.com/post/171025/tennessee-house-bill-gutting-marriage-equality
I feel insulated in my blue state... but I'm not.
OMG!
😢
Yes. Read “ In the Garden of the Beasts” by Erik Larson. Non-fiction. U.S. Ambassador Dodd in Berlin, Nazi Germany was warning the State Department in 1933 and earlier about the Brown Shirts/Nazis and random as well as targeted violence and abuse. Our State Department and President knew.
A warning for everyone. What’s our category?
Thank you for posting this poem and your observations. They are so poignant.
Martin Niemöller's 1946 poetic confession. Though at first, he was Nazi-friendly, he became one of the most outspoken of the Confessing Church, spending - I think - 5 years in a Nazi prison camp. Niemöller's first night out of prison was in the Pastor's house of the Bergkirche in Wiesbaden - my church here - which was the only anti-Nazi church in the entire region.
After his death, Niemöller's wife converted to Judaism. I don't know, but I like to think this was to distance herself from the National Church of the Nazi occupation. Many of the Republicans have allied themselves with the National Church in America. Horrifying connection.
What should we all do? The threat is not an exaggeration. True believers are hard to stop. No amount of facts/reality changes their minds/positions. Their leaders must be held accountable. Trump is guilty and should spend time in prison, but it will not stop his army of true believers. Hitler spent time in prison and it did not stop him. (Comparing Trump to Hitler?)
Steve Hassan has good information on this. I believe we are doing it, just not fast enough. Most are very slow to wake up to it. Hard to wrap your mind around malice when it slaps you in the face. We should focus on the good and grow the good (Non voters). Be loud. Take a stand. Be kind. Do NOT be afraid. We want “just” accountability not the vengeance, like that which comes from bullies and tyrants. https://freedomofmind.com/
Christy, great response/comment. Thank you.
“What should we all do? The threat is not an exaggeration. True believers are hard to stop.” This is the question without an easy answer. Or without an answer. Don’t we often make decisions for future generations? We speak out and stand up, knowing we are at risk. For our children and our grandchildren and the future we take those risks. How naive I once was to think the Holocaust was the “only genocide.” Then I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. One of my poems, about this journey is about Genocide. I made a list. I stopped at 30 and then remembered our America. Remembered. The list. “The roll call is longer than we can carry.” How can we forget? We say Never again.
I used to post this before I got banned, violated SM “community standards.” Ha
One of my husband's cousins who lives in Rapid City posted yesterday that she had been banned from the South Dakota legislative account and their Twitter account. She does not name call, etc, but does call out Rs for their nonsense (and there is a lot of it in South Dakota), so she is banned. So now citizens cannot have access to what their legislature posts if they disagree with them. Fascism 101.
Yikes. Sounds all too familiar It really makes me want to cry for all the craziness in people’s hearts and minds.
Pastor Martin Niemöller says so much in a relatively short poem. So many lessons there. First off, if the people and groups representing them do not band together, we'll all be picked off one by one. All of the individual groups focused only on their particular race or religion or creed or gender will have to bind together to contend with the power which rules. Once bound together, the groups will have to come up with a common agenda--an agenda which is based primarily on the common denominators all people face (e.g., corruption, graft, public accountability of politicians and other public servants, et al).
Interesting that the Nazis chose to first go after the Communists. They knew the Communists represented the biggest threat to the Nazi's control of the country. There were so many brawls and street fights of large numbers of Nazis and Communists. After the Reichstag fire, the Nazis blamed the Communists and got away with it. After Hitler and the Nazis were in power, they banned all other political parties, so the Nazis had the field to themselves.
I believe all sane people want the same thing--Justice. The question is how are we The People going to achieve that? It seems to me that we have to move beyond political party rhetoric to achieve that.
Agreed.
Just one curious comment. I'd never thought of Niemöller's piece as a poem, the idea's new to me. Not even a prose poem, though I suppose we could call it that.
But then, I never regarded Brecht's Die Lösung as a poem either -- and that man was one hell of a poet.
Our times call for highly concentrated rhetoric. Ordinary prose won't do.
I faced the same issue in how to define this piece of Niemöller's writing. In years past, I've most often seen ("First they came...") referred to as a poem, so I decided to see it as a prose poem. I imagine it could also be referenced as a "Thought" or "Reflection" or "Account" or "Declaration".
"Our times call for highly concentrated rhetoric. " Definitely. Brevity is most effective in delivering a message, especially in these times. An excellent example of brevity quickly summing up an important point is the great Scottish Poet Robbie Burns summing up world history in four words--"Man's inhumanity to man."
I've read Brecht's Die Lösung. Great satire. In that vein, I think of Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "A Modest Proposal."
I don't know if Niemöller considered it a poem, but it carries an experientially evocative package that exceeds the literal meaning of the text. I don't know if that makes something a poem (increasingly poems are not written in rhyme, although there is always a certain crafted "choreography" to them). I doubt that the Gettysburg Address was meant to be poetry, but it reads like poetry. Shakespeare's prose, "We strut and fret our hour upon the stage", packs that same musical clarity. I think there is a certain degree of music to all writing, even technical writing, when it is well composed.
I think there is a narcissistic urge to make everyone over in the mold of one's self, or like the self we like to imagine ourselves to be; the "master race" etc., irrespective of the fact it is hubris. I too am a fool in many ways, and converse here because I want to propagate my perspective; but also to learn what others know, and to fill some of the many gaps that are far too numerous for any human brain to fill. That's how our species got to the point that I can send this thought around the globe literally though the air, since my only Internet connection here is broadband cell service. We sniff around like puppies seeking any opportunity, and then pool our efforts though conversation, recordings, and commerce.
I think at some level, all, or at least most people have shared needs and desires but we seem to be prone to tunnel-think as well as doublethink. Tunnel-think (I think I just made that word up, but it's just tunnel vision in the sense of self-absorption) is like road rage, where the reptile rises to endanger lives of all concerned, for the sake of a real or imagined petty slight. Despots conspire to keep enough of the public in a state of "road rage" to the point that they will sacrifice their own decency, and ultimately their quality of life to champion the whims of a manipulative predator.
Yes, despots [and their puppetmasters] conspire to keep conflict alive, pitting one group against another and on... They thrive on conflict among the masses. People need to wake up to the fact that they are being used.
Irenie, as someone who is in the crosshairs of the MAGAts, this poem is more and more real to me.
Ally, it’s time for Americans to wake up. The list of people in the “crosshairs” is long. I’m sorry. And I, too, am in the crosshairs. Because of that fear, there are more who are in the crosshairs and will not speak up. The saying “Silence equals consent” is not always true. Silence is often fear. For our lives. Is that how the bullies of the world operate?
I believe what you said Irene. Silence is definitely out of Fear!😔
Thank you for another informative newsletter. I continue to be amazed by your thoroughness in telling the real stories. Wish everyone read you. Then maybe some people will wake up to reality!
Well said Nancy. Heather needs to be read by all who are invested in how our government is governed and truly she is astoundingly comprehensive in her reporting. Such a gift to her readers. I've done my part as I have gifted her newsletter to at least three people, friends and family, over the past months.
And, Robert Reich cements our clearer knowledge.
Please watch Jeffry Sachs latest on YouTube. We are being asked to divert our attention from real facts. Pay close attention to those who aren’t in it for their own glory.
WIshing the same but doubting that could ever happen. Even if they read Heather they would deny all truth because they are so staunch in believing the lies they've been fed.
Trolls have confirmed you are so right.
The very definition of a cult mentality.
Dream on. Anyone who has bought into all the BS ain't gunah chain dar mind.
Sadly true
But we must live in the hope that informed, at least a few will “see the light.”
McConnell fell, like Trump's ex-wife the night before her testimony, and Mitney's shiner from "falling" after speaking out against the royal Right? Anyone else seeing a pattern? Speaking of patterns, if recent years events are any indication, the fact that Maga antics are currently on the rise (including McCarthy's stunt with Carlson), something big is coming down the pipeline, and I'm guessing it's the DOJ closing in on so the scoundrels who played any role in January 6 and the entire effort to overthrow our governed by overturning the election results. They get really squirmy when they're about to get in trouble, attempting to get ahead of the truth with lies to create a diversion and sow doubt, and somehow people "coincidentally" get hurt. These antics are their "tell". I give it a week. The DOJ is about to bring the hammer down.
Well, it would be about f***ing time.
Right?
Sarah, I hope your little telltale "antics" theory is right on the mark.
I do too, David. I guess we shall see.
They are also deflecting from their inability to write a national budget, or from their game of international economic chicken. The won’t have a choice - either blink or watch the POTUS use the 14th amendment to override them. There’s nothing good coming out of this.
In case readers aren't familiar with the 14th amendment reference, in section 4 of said amendment: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."
Thank you!
Which means that Sec Yellen can simply state that the US will honor its debts and pay its bills. Then let the idiots sue her.
Janet has the checkbook. The bills were previously authorized by Congress.
The Constitution is on our side.
Thanks for the reference. Early morning isn’t my best time of day.
Thanks for that, was just wondering.
JaneDough56 "They are also deflecting from their inability to write a national budget, or from their game of international economic chicken."
"𝘎𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴." --Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, March 7, 2023
Could you imagine the call between McCarthy and Carlson? ‘We need a distraction from the debt ceiling. How about pushing the election lie?’
‘No can-do. We’re already getting sued for that.’
‘Hunter Biden?’
‘Nobody cares.’
‘Oh I know. Why don’t we paint the January 6 insurrectionists as political prisoners?’
‘Sounds like a plan. I’ll dig up all the camera footage. I can get and send it to you, and…’
A playwright in our midst. Thanks for the script. First laugh of the day.🤣
Someday this entire episode will make an insanely perverted comedy if the right person writes it.
Maybe ... just maybe JaneDough56; Coen Brothers direct.
Funny, but also true!!!
Sarah, I agree that politicians often create a smoke screen to divert attention from upcoming revelations.
However, in 81 year old McConnell’s case, this retired MD suspects he has significant problems with his gait & balance. Several falls, some serious, have been noted in media reports at least since 2014 (Google “Mitch McConnell falls” & “watch MM walk”).
The problems could be due to post polio syndrome although a progressive neurological problem can’t be ruled out.
Dementia seems to have started decades ago, along with his habit of saying one thing and voting the opposite way!
Susan, I have to say my mind went directly to suspicion when I heard about it in Heather's Letter early today. However, I'm 64 and spent upwards of 50 minutes in a CT scanner late yesterday to find out what happened to my shoulder when I recently fell up my front steps. It happens.
Hope your shoulder hasn’t suffered torn ligaments. Have had so many friends having that problem.
Marlene that's the probability. I had x-rays immediately following to rule out broken bones. I will meet with my Orthopedic Surgeon bright and early Monday morning to discuss this. I need to get this behind me, I was given a new kayak for Christmas and it won't paddle itself this summer. 😄
Heck no, unless you put an outboard motor on it! 😄
I hope I'm wrong about Mutch. I just don't put anything past these mobsters.
Did McConnell have polio when he was young? I know someone with post polio syndrome and it's very sad to see her declining health and mobility.
Yes he did. He has a limp. PPS is not well understood. Completely different for each individual. Minimal impact for me. But maybe that's why I hate dancing :)
Ellen, yes he did.
Susan Czapiewski, is it possible you attended the Burgundy Farm school back in 7th and 8th grades?
Boy oh boy...I hope you’re right but I heard Jack Smith will bring the hammer down at the beginning of summer.
That's not soon enough.
Sarah, I can't help but think there is a pattern. I haven't seen footage to say if McConnell's tumble was a simple mistep of an 80+ year old.
Should I bring up Jeffrey Epstein?
I am confident that 81 yr old McConnell tripped and fell. He has fallen a couple of times before . I hope he did not hit his head as a brain bleed is also likely if he did. I suspect he is on blood thinners ( purport of his hands obvious) and that complicates things. I believe that he as well as Grassley and Feinstein should retire. I do not wish them ill but it is time.
I am in my late 80’s with vertigo problems but adopted cane use 8 years ago and thereby have avoided spills. Close calls are occur several times daily.
But cane use is resisted but many. I suppose vanity a reason.
But I observe public figures like Mitch McConnell and President Biden doing the still hip shuffle on ramps and avoiding vigorous hand support on stairs as a regrettable effect of avoiding the cane.
I would urge an end to the silly concept that any device is a sign of weakness. Accidental falls remain a serious peril of anyone over 60 years old.
McConnell will retire when he dies, if history tells us anything
Maybe not, they’ll continue the taxidermy work already started and prop him up in his office a La strom Thurmond!
Next month I join the octogenarian club, hopefully!
Weekend at Bernie's
Thanks for the laugh this morning Louis.
👏🏼👏🏼😂😂😂
Jeri
In light of McConnell's backpedaling to support the Capital Police, I wonder if he also regrets his obstructionism during Obama's tenure? There were so many bills that would have helped everyone that never made it to the floor. His Kentucky constituents are dying in droves from lack of healthcare. His Repub colleagues are eager to turn off the tap for health and human services. Mitch had a chance to do better and chose not to.
Is it not the noble thing to do, pay with your health, for continuing to vote McConnell in? 🤔
I also note that his demuring to the Tucker narrative ends with "as the Capitol Police think," not that they proved. Always a step removed from fact.
Can I answer that question, Cheryl? Nah, Mitch regrets nothing. He is a chess master, obnoxious and unnerving.
that may be sooner than later
Oh! A "diversion" makes perfect sense. Thank You!
I hope you are right about the DOJ bringing down the hammer.
Truth. Soon.
Beware (aka celebrate) the Ides of March.
McConnell gave us this illegitimate SCOTUS, but right now he is bucking tRump, so I'm unsure how I feel about his fall.
Uh huh, mixed feelings. Me too.
Oh glory, such a long wait. Bring it on…
I’m not sure I want to be hopeful, but……..
Lord, do I know that feeling…
Sarah, from your lips to God’s ear.
How interesting!
Thank goodness you survived polio. I had a friend who contracted polio at age 3 in 1954. She was regulated to a wheelchair.
Oh oops! My mistake!!🤪
“McConnell said: ‘It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that’s completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks.’ ”(from today’s newsletter)
Let’s not give Mitch McConnell much credit. He did not call Carlson a liar. He did not call the video dishonest. All he said was 1) Carlson and a law enforcement official have different opinions, and 2) It was a mistake. After so many years of listening to MM, we should know that to him, “mistake” means tactical error, not dishonest. Honesty has never been an important standard for MM.
Power is, like the Ring to Gollum, MM’s “Precious.”
I too noted use of the word "Capitol thinks," not proved or revealed. Always space left for pivoting when the time is right to take advantage of the shifting winds. Me thinks he pivoted at the wrong moment in the hotel lobby, the result of his impairment not keeping up with his moral gymnastics, something an 80+ year old should avoid.
MM is too smart for his own good!
Mr. Goodman, that was an excellent and well observed point!
T L Mills, thank you!
Bravo, nor integrity!
Exactly, plus, Rupert has confessed to being a propaganda megaphone for MAGA lies. McConnell isn’t going off a political cliff for MAGA.
Good point. I suspect McConnell won’t go off a political cliff for anyone except himself. He didn’t even go near the cliff’s edge for his wife.
Dr. Cox Richardson,
Every late evening (early morning) we are informed to a point wherein we are awakened to more disturbing yet necessary truth. Notwithstanding the loss of sleep and (hopefully) productive dreaming that involves the brain's ability to process information, solve problems, and even write timeless songs (see Keith Richards writing "Satisfaction" in his sleep and busily writing it all down upon awakening), I thank you for your diligence in so often providing historical context as the basis of your analysis of current developments. Here a retired professor from a career at a Jesuit institution other than your base at Boston College, thanks you for shining the disinfecting light of truth on our country's infectious and traitorous politicians' machinations.
Paul McCartney also created Yesterday while sleeping. I believe he woke up, told/ sang it to Linda, then went back to sleep. If I have this right, Paul woke up, couldn’t remember it, but Linda had taped him.
Yesterday was released in 1965. Paul and Linda met in 67 and married in 69.
Just found it. Let it Be was the song.
Oh my gosh. Appreciate this very much. I heard about this on a radio station many years ago. So it’s obvious I have the wrong “hit” of Paul’s but feel quite sure of the story in how it unfolded.
Thank you for checking this, Marg.
Having HCR's Letters show up so often late into the night, for me at least, aren't what I need as I'm trying to wind down to go to sleep. They sometimes do exactly the opposite and serve to get me riled up. I prefer to have them hit me in the morning when I can best get my brain involved, aided by some caffeine, think about things, and then maybe respond. My brain is busy enough most nights trying to process stuff!
That is the only way for me to read LFAA. I cannot read it before bed. Thankfully, I am still on a relatively "early bird" schedule, so I am almost always in bed (even on the west coast) when the Letter is published. It is a great start to the day. Heading off to pour cup #2 and enjoy the rest of the comments.
Same. No use worrying overnight when it will all be here waiting for me in the morning. Now enjoying 2nd cup of coffee with a puppy on my lap and my worrying cap firmly in place.
Nancy, I can see that puppy and relate to morning but I set my worrying cap aside as I move into the day feeling a measure of comfort that there are others of like mind that are not necessarily those in our daily news cycle. I repeat “things are always working out for me” and understanding that also includes not necessarily in the time I’d like at the moment. So grateful to have been introduced to HCR’s letters nearly 3 years ago and then discovering all the comments that broadened my history lesson even further.
I hear you Ally House. I too am on the west coast and can empathize with you completely
I really love Biden's Budget - at last a budget for the majority of Americans. A novelty, but a good one
👏👏👏👏
But does it have a prayer of passing T L Mills ?
WOW. Here's a sentence that jumped off of the page at me...
"Even the Republican leaders who do not embrace the racism, sexism, religiosity, nihilism, and authoritarianism of the hard-core MAGA Republicans appear to believe they cannot win an election without the votes of those people. And so the extremists now own the party."
What a horribly sad state of affairs that is....and for what somehow still claims to be the G.O.P. to willfully take us to the brink of default is incredible beyond belief.
It's so obvious that "leader" (really ??) McCarthy gave Tucker the footage, so his editors could create a false visual narrative to share with their base. Then Trump...who Tucker disdains...(this is really sick isn't it ?) can jump on the visual bandwagon...and say "I told you so". These people are totally lost in a fog of their own creation. What happened to "you have to fight"...you have to be angry patriots and reverse the wrong....take back the stolen election. They don't know what f-ing narrative they are telling. Now they are peaceful tourists, who just happen to have entered a building that's off limits to the public that day....and please just ignore that gallows out there and the chants to hang the VP...for doing his job. This is beyond nuts. How many ways can you spin the same story ?????
At least Leni Riefenstahl stuck to one consistent narrative in her propaganda.
I know I’m late to the party, but I had to look up nihilism:
“1. a: a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless; b: a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths” “Nihilism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nihilism. Accessed 9 Mar. 2023.
dt and his supporters certainly do not believe that their own existence is senseless and useless, but they trash objective truth at every opportunity. I feel like all y’all already knew that, but teachers, even retired ones, share what they learn.
I think definition b. is what she was going for here.
And to see just how much extremists have taken over, take a gander at clips of MTG being appointed Pro Tem of the House for one day yesterday and actually sitting in the Speaker's chair and calling the House to order. An antisemitic, secessionist sitting in one of the more hallowed places in this democracy...chilling and nauseating. Democrats should have a field day with this one in the election!
Democrats would be only one seat short of a House majority were it not for the incompetence of the leaders of the NY Democratic Party. There are so many balls in the air, it’s impossible to get everything right, but NY Democrats should not have let four seats go R that could have been D.
That just galled the hell outta me!!
I sure hope that your neighbors in her district can truly have a "field day" with her a year from now. From what I have read, her district is solidly MAGAt.
Yes...Sadly, her district is the land time left behind. Lots of intermarriage, I'd wager. *snark*
Thanks Mike, for that bombshell of a post. I think you nailed it with "How many ways can you spin the same story ?????".
Thanks. This new Tucker Carlson spin job shows he has no respect for his audience and none for himself. He despises DJT, but then tries to help his narrative with this alternate reality edit of J6. Were they there fighting for Trump to win at any cost...or peaceful tourists ? You have to pick one. I've been editing video for much too long...you have to have a consistent storyline. There's a goal...or you have mush that you just disappear into...let's all pray for that quicksand to gobble up Tucker...and his parent company. Fox...there's no news here to see...it's whatever BS we want it to be. Edward R. Murrow would just roast these guys.
They are correct in that belief. Republicans can’t even afford to lose 10% of the 80% of white evangelicals who vote for them. Their margin is razor thin, even though our political system gives them enormous advantages.
In Tucker's case it appears that he's not that smart...he certainly has no ethics. He found an audience and he plays to it. It's like professional wrestling...give 'em what they want...
'cause you're just making it up as you go along....NEWS...give me a break. It's a freak show.
I'm out of breath. Every time I think that I am ready for the next thing coming, the next thing is a bigger boulder coming at us. Thank you for preparing us further. Each of Heather's bullets should be shared individually to all your social media, to your family and friends, your community in every means possible. Too many won't read ¨long messages,¨ but they will read headline catching moments. In today's newsletter there are many, many headline catching moments - one especially is for ordinary Americans to understand that the tax will be on over $400,000 so that they will not be taxed which has been the false message of MAGA on every twitter. Pound this in every way possible. Celebrate Biden's budget in public and constantly demand to MAGAS to show us theirs.
Published along side Trumps tax return and pie charts of how wave after wave of tax cuts for the rich worked out. Somehow the public dividend got lost in the mail.
Absolutely right, JL. We were promised that tax cuts would pay for themselves. Let’s see charts of how that worked out. Remind people that there was a surplus in 2001, available to the newly installed Bush II administration. And then. . .
Not only was our dividend “lost in the mail” but the IRS was gradually shrunk to allow the biggest tax cheats to escape audits. At least that is being turned around now, and people can get their tax questions answered. Of course R’s voted against having decent customer service come from the federal government, which must never be allowed to look competent if Republicans can help it.
Bush II cut taxes for the wealthy while embarking on two simultaneous wars, which was unprecedented. I recall a commentator calling it "Spend but don't tax". Whenever the need arises (or is just pointed out) to aid the afflicted or shore up the common good, Republicans like to say, "we can't; we're broke. Austerity!" Meanwhile https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/12/superyacht-industry-booms-during-covid-pandemic
Gailee,I would further pound on the idea that the huge amounts of money the Republicans seem to command every election cycle arises from the the big businesses they inevitably promote. If asked to produce facts to support this we must repeatedly challenge them to reveal donor lists, to reveal sources of money, the one antidote to the Citizens United ruling. If corporations are deemed "persons" deserving the right to the "free speech" represented by money, then voters need to know who's speaking or shouting with those scads of money. It would serve the dual purpose of keeping our democratic politicians open about their sources of funding as well.
I still wish that the elected officials had to wear suits like NASCAR drivers do, listing all of their supporters. It would be very telling.
The area allocated to donors on their suits should be proportional to amounts contributed. Probably 1% of the donors would have 99% of the space and the rest would be in 8-pt type, or maybe more like the size of those letters in a name inscibed on a grain of rice at street fairs.
🤣
Go for it
Gailee Walker Wells, they have no love for our nation nor for its citizens nor for the support of freedom throughout the world nor for the rule of law unless they can twist the rules for their own benefit. They know nothing about governing and have no respect for the USA . They only want money and power and control of what used to be our great institutions of governance. They are loud and rough and ignorant. We can see this fact everytime they open their mouths. They are being used to weaken our nation.
What I really have a difficult time understanding is how can so many who have used this country to gain wealth, and sucess, support those here and around the world who create chaos.
Do so many hate democracy? We are far from being a perfect nation. Our leaders have contributed to war and violence and poverty and loss of homes for many around the world but there have also been brave and intelligent and KIND men and women ...great, wise and humble...who have given so much....and thankfully continue to do so.
Thank you President Biden and fellow true Americans on both sides who know how to lead. Who follow procedure....who understand there is a process that must be followed in a Democracy if you want a bill to be passed, etc.
Young and older, thank you for your belief in America and freedom. Thank you for actually knowing how to govern....you understand the value and stability of RULES that are to be followed....you are truthful....an especially difficult choice it seems.
What is unacceptable about democracy is that it’s possible your side might lose. Will lose, unless you are supported by a majority. That’s pretty hard to stomach if you have been conditioned to think you deserve to have things your way, because you are who you are.
Well said Emily. And if we are in need of a sound bite, why not just ask the question: Why do you hate democracy?
Every time I think “it’s beyond the pale”, that “pale” gets lighter and lighter
Not that pale; it's a fence post : https://www.google.com/search?q=in+%22beyond+the+pale%27+what+is+a+pale%3F&oq=in+%22beyond+the+pale%27+what+is+a+pale%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160l2j33i299j33i22i29i30.25972j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Tom, can’t thank you enough for this.
love this. yes. in a way, it becomes ´a darker shade of pale´ that lurks, and if we are not on the ready....
Thank you. Heather, for so compelling an analysis of the news. I was struck by Mitch McConnell's condemnation of Tucker Carlson's manipulation of the January 6 video. Note that he said it should not be at variance with what the Chief of the Capitol police "thinks." I would prefer a statement that affirms the reality we witnessed. I dislike McConnell's craftiness, but wish him a speedy recovery.
Mitch McConnell: there are no updates at this time, about McConnell's condition after his fall, but his impact on our democracy cannot be ignored. While there there have not been any substantial books written, yet, about Mitch's role in America's decline as a democracy, Jane Meredith Mayer, the noted American investigative journalist and staff writer for The New Yorker addressed a few of his accomplishments during the Trump administration.
'How Mitch McConnell Became Trump’s Enabler-in-Chief'
The Senate Majority Leader’s refusal to rein in the President is looking riskier than ever.
'April 12, 2020, McConnell, a voracious reader of history, has been cultivating his place in it for many years. But, in leaving Washington for the long weekend, he had misjudged the moment. The hashtag #WheresMitch? was trending on Twitter. President Trump had declared a national emergency; the stock market had ended one of its worst weeks since the Great Recession. Nearly two thousand cases of COVID-19 had already been confirmed in America.'
'Eleven days later, the Senate still had not come up with a bill. The Times ran a scorching editorial titled “The Coronavirus Bailout Stalled. And It’s Mitch McConnell’s Fault.” The Majority Leader had tried to jam through a bailout package that heavily favored big business. But by then five Republicans were absent in self-quarantine, and the Democrats forced McConnell to accept a $2.1-trillion compromise bill that reduced corporate giveaways and expanded aid to health-care providers and to hard-hit workers.'
'McConnell, who is known as one of the wiliest politicians in Washington, soon reframed the narrative as a personal success story.'
'When Trump ran for President, he frequently derided “the corrupt political establishment,” saying that Wall Street titans were “getting away with murder” by paying no taxes. In a furious campaign ad, images of the New York Stock Exchange and the C.E.O. of Goldman Sachs flashed onscreen as he promised an end to the élites who had “bled our country dry.” In interviews, he denounced his opponents for begging wealthy donors for campaign contributions, arguing that, if “somebody gives them money,” then “just psychologically, when they go to that person they’re going to do it—they owe him.”
'McConnell, by contrast, is the master of the Washington money machine. Nobody has done more than he has to engineer the current campaign-finance system, in which billionaires and corporations have virtually no spending limits, and self-dealing and influence-peddling are commonplace. Rick Wilson, a Never Trumper Republican and a former political consultant who once worked on races with McConnell’s team, said, “McConnell’s an astounding behind-the-scenes operator who’s got control of the most successful fund-raising operation in history.”
'Former McConnell staffers run an array of ostensibly independent spending groups, many of which take tens of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors. Wilson considers McConnell, who has been Majority Leader since 2015, a realist who does whatever is necessary to preserve both his own political survival and the Republicans’ edge in the Senate, which now stands at 53–47. “He feels no shame about it,” he said. “McConnell has been the most powerful force normalizing Trump in Washington.”
'The most famous example of McConnell’s obstructionism was his audacious refusal to allow a hearing on Merrick Garland, whom Obama nominated for the Supreme Court, in 2016. When Justice Antonin Scalia unexpectedly died, vacating the seat, there were three hundred and forty-two days left in Obama’s second term. But McConnell argued that “the American people” should decide who should fill the seat in the next election, ignoring the fact that the American people had elected Obama. As a young lawyer, McConnell had argued in an academic journal that politics should play no part in Supreme Court picks; the only thing that mattered was if the nominee was professionally qualified. In 2016, though, he said it made no difference how qualified Garland, a highly respected moderate judge, was. Before then, the Senate had never declined to consider a nominee simply because it was an election year. On the contrary, the Senate had previously confirmed seventeen Supreme Court nominees during election years and rejected two. Nevertheless, McConnell prevailed.'
'McConnell’s opposition to Obama was relentless. In 2010, the Senate Majority Leader famously said, when asked about his goals, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President.” Carroll, the Courier-Journal reporter, was dumbstruck by McConnell’s attitude when the Senator allowed him to listen in one day as he took a phone call from Obama, on the condition that Carroll not write about it. “McConnell said a couple of words, like ‘Yup,’ ‘O.K.,’ and ‘Bye,’ but he never said, ‘Mr. President,’ ” Carroll recalls. “There was just a total lack of respect even for the office.” McConnell preferred to deal with Obama’s Vice-President, Joe Biden. (In his autobiography, McConnell mocks Biden’s “incessant chatter” but also says, “We could talk to each other.”
'McConnell’s disrespect for Obama mirrored the views of rich conservative corporate donors like the Kochs, who underwrote many of the campaigns that enabled Republicans to capture the majority in the House of Representatives in 2010, and in the Senate four years later. In the 2014 midterm elections alone, the Koch donor network, which has a few hundred members, spent more than a hundred million dollars. In 2014, shortly before Republicans took the Senate, McConnell appeared as an honored guest at one of the Kochs’ semi-annual fund-raising summits. He thanked “Charles and David,” adding, “I don’t know where we would be without you.” Soon after he was sworn in as the Senate Majority Leader, he hired a former lobbyist for Koch Industries as his policy chief. McConnell then took aim at the Kochs’ longtime foe the Environmental Protection Agency, urging governors to disobey new restrictions on greenhouse gases.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/how-mitch-mcconnell-became-trumps-enabler-in-chief
To use a quip of Mae West, McConnell is low enough to walk under a closed door.
Thank you, Carmen, for a big laugh. To you and Mae, a morning toast of eggs and coffee.
Excellent analysis of McConnell and how he was able to manipulate events more than most people realize. Look at how disrespectful Trump and the MAGA radicals treat him now. 🙄 Wish him well getting better soon 🙏 💙 Funny how 🤔 if McConnell hadn't stalled out merrick garland for Supreme Court, guess who controls the fate of Trump and his J6 insurrectionists now regardless of how much McConnell stacked the last 3 justices ⚖️ appointed, which is why Congress needs to expand SCOTUS to 13 justices to accurately represent the 13 federal appellate districts.
I like a friend's idea of having 13 Supreme Court Justices, each serving a single term of 4 years, drawn from the 13 Districts' appellate courts' judges, chosen by a combination of seniority and chance. No political appointees slammed directly onto the Bench from whatever ideological rabbit hutch they keep them in.
Scorching.
It shows how far the GOP has fallen that I dread to think of losing McConnell, because I am certain that the person who follows him will have fewer scruples and be more dishonest.
OTOH, that person (which will almost certainly be a "he"), will not have the innumerable connections, nor the reins of the money or power that McConnell has held.
Hopefully.
I knew most of this and am gobsmacked that he is more rational than the MAGAts. A sad commentary for our future
Thanks again Fern--I despise the man.
Yes, Fern, when I wrote of "recovering sense" -- or sentience -- I was imagining a human being, yes, puny but human, saved from under the avalanche of his own clever-cleverness and unending vanity... The Card Sharp of the Century! No, The Greatest Ever...
The Ultimate Gold Medallist in the Cheating Olympics.
Isn't that the nec plus ultra in today's America?
Why see the worst in us, Peter? It's our honor to expose the liars, the cheats, the exploiters & thieves. You know of them in Britain, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Russia, China... and on and on, don't you?
Sometimes provocation is needed.
Yes. Here. Now.
One aspect of American exceptionalism is the couch potato masses that nothing gentler than a cattle prod can rouse to action.
If I use insults, if I try to outrage you, this is in fact a compliment. It signifies a remnant of confidence in America and Americans, the feeling that there's still resilience, still Life in that great slumberous mass!
Yes you CAN! You still can.
Chinese, Russians, hog-tied in a poke. Like sacrificial victims.
Others are insignificant or locked into their chaos.
Maybe I'm stupid in holding to this firm remnant of faith in a country that has gotten so much wrong, that has made such a mess of the world and of itself.
Then I choose to be stupid and to make myself hoarse yelling at you, WAKE UP, WAKE UP... while you're still free, while you still can.
Many may hate you, many resent you... yet you have not ceased to be the Realm of the Possible. And having shown the world that "the Possible" includes every conceivable way of getting things wrong and exhausted the whole range of how-to-get-it-all-wrong, now it is time to fulfill Churchill's expectation and do the right thing.
However hard, however demanding that doing the right thing may be.
The world demands this of you.
Expressed so expertly. One of my favorite expressions used to be “the probability of the impossible.” Sadly, the impossible (death) won in that case, but only after an epic and, in many ways, a wonderful struggle. May America be the impossible probability that wins…
So, you think to have a role in waking us up!? It was not me that roused you, Peter. You come to us roused or is it aroused?
Excuse me, but who does not have a role, who does not have a duty to wake up and rouse all those who can be roused?
Must only the mad have a voice?
Must only mad money have a voice?
Maybe Love thy neighbor as thyself can mean kick thyself then go kick thy neighbor.
If that's the only way out when the house is already on fire.
“Wiley Coyote” should be another name for Mitch and maybe “Obnoxiously Audacious”.
Ol Wiley Coyote took a fall last night, so I don't think 🤔 he's up to chasing any Road Runners for awhile.
☺️
Thanks 👍 😊
Wow!!
Yes, that "thinks" stands out...
"Thinks" stinks.
As in e e cummings "a salesman is an it that stinks Excuse..."
Let us hope that shock enables Mr McConnell to recover long-lost sense while he still can.
Thank you for quoting ee cummings, my favorite poets!
I thought the same thing.
You are much kinder than me, Carmen.
More about Mitch, by Gary Gerstle is Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus at Cambridge and a Guardian US columnist.
'Mitch McConnell greatly damaged US democracy with quiet, chess-like moves' (excerpts)
'The January 6 committee has now revealed how far Donald Trump was willing to go to prevent the peaceful and lawful transfer of power from his presidency to that of Joe Biden. Yet, his deadly serious attempt to upend American democracy also had a slapdash quality to it, reflecting Trump’s own impulsive nature and his reliance on a group of schemers – Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell, Roger Stone and John Eastman among them – of limited ability. It is not entirely surprising that Trump’s coup failed.'
'Another brazen GOP action, however, has succeeded – this one engineered by the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, whose chess-like skills of political strategizing put to shame Trump’s powerful but limited game of bluster and bullying. The act to which I refer is McConnell’s theft of Barack Obama’s 2016 appointment to the supreme court, a radical deed that has dimmed somewhat in public consciousness even as it proved crucial to fashioning a rightwing supreme court willing to overturn Roe v Wade and to destabilize American politics and American democracy in the process. '
'McConnell is widely considered to be a cynic about politics, more interested in maintaining and holding power than in advancing a particular agenda. This is true up to a point. But it is equally true that McConnell has believed, for decades, that the federal government had grown too large and too strong, that power had to be returned to private enterprise on the one hand and the individual states on the other, and that the legislative process in Washington could not be trusted to accomplish those aims. Hence the critical role of the federal courts: the federal judiciary, if sufficiently populated by conservative jurists, could constrain and dismantle the power of the federal government in ways in which Congress never would. It was fine, in McConnell’s eyes, for Congress to be paralyzed and ineffectual on most domestic issues, as long as the GOP, when in power, stacked the federal judiciary and the supreme court with conservative judges and justices. Thus, across Trump’s presidency, McConnell pushed 175 district court appointments and 54 court of appeals appointments through the congressional confirmation process, far exceeding in numbers what Obama had managed during the second term of his presidency.' (Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/15/us-supreme-court-mitch-mcconell-conservative-judges-democracy
And look at how 🤔 in the end of all of McConnell's behind the scenes control of impeding Obama the best he could, then promoting Trump like the best thing like sliced bread 🍞 🤔 . Look at how Trump treats McConnell now calling his wife horrible names, and the MAGA radicals treat him like a traitor for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act for the good of all Americans.
McConnell deserves what he is getting, but we do not
I despise his ideology, but there is no doubt at all that McConnell is a very wily old political trout. He plays chess while the rest of Congress plays checkers or even "Old Maid" (a long since abandoned sexist, ageist card game for kids).
I remember
Marlene, your words to Carmen betray your own kindness.
Hard kindness.
The kindness we need at this time, harsh, not mushy.
Thanks, Peter. Yeah, I thought of all of the 4-letter words I’d like to have said but then my so-called intelligence kicked in.
Americans for too long have tolerated one party and their allied elephants in donkey suits ensuring that the citizens don't have a functional representative government. Rogue Republicans have lead us to the place where America would default on its national debt. Regardless of your partisan affiliation, it's time to support the adults' efforts to regain charge of the classroom from the juvenile class clowns.
Mass poisoners abusing the freedom accorded by the First Amendment and still walking free to poison yet more wellsprings.
It seems that America has no means of defending itself against the deadly enemies within the gates.
Money, which is intrinsically neutral, has been transformed by the gross abuse of corporate power into a seemingly incurable social cancer. Metastases everywhere, everywhere.
Such degeneracy.
Are we all brain dead that we permit this ultimate crime, waiting like cattle to be driven to the stockyard?
Peter, cattle aren't brain dead, just stupid and self-obsessed. Mooo!
Under present circumstances we still have a means of defending ourselves. It's called the law. Where is the DOJ at this late (too late?) date? What on earth is Garland waiting for? Another coup d'etat attempt? GOP clowns defaulting us into worldwide depression? The Second Coming?
He knows what will happen, we all do…
Money is just a token, but how it is distributed makes a helluva difference. Organized crime is still very serious problem, even when they don't use machine guns; just lawyers and payoffs.
The Citizens United ruling declaring that corporations are persons deserving free speech and that money is the equivalent of free speech. The ruling DID NOT declare that free speech should remain anonymous. That was accomplished by our politicians and can and must be changed to make clear the extent the Republicans are bought and paid for by big business.
"Drinking the kool aid!" just popped into my mind. Over 900 people killed themselves in 1968 following a mad man.
1978. Jim Jones.
Thank you for pointing out that last part, Heather--about RMVEs recruiting former military. It is a real concern and one I've personally encountered on SM. It has also factored into numerous decisions, both publicized and some less so, made by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman in the past two years.
I wanted to point out a bit of GOOD news in this arena, however. There is an organization, Task Force Butler -- https://taskforcebutler.org/ -- founded by veteran Kristofer Goldsmith. It is an anti-fascist organization that does research, monitoring, and interdiction operations to counter domestic extremism across the country. They primarily use open source intelligence and information sharing techniques. They are particularly focused on countering misinformation that is crafted toward recruitment of veterans. It's worth checking out for folks who are curious or interested in supporting (I donate $ monthly).
Can they counter 40+ years of hate spewed from “repubs?” Good on them for trying.
Well, what is the alternative? Obviously, no such effort is anything close to a magic pill--there is no such thing. But is the RECIPE for how to fight such things, effectively and broadly. Waiting solely for the government to save us will not suffice. And countering violence with more violence will not either (except in last resort. If these A-holes take us to war, then sure, more than happy to kill them. We're not there yet) until we've done a LOT more to push back--and that takes MANY efforts, by MANY citizens, across the board. There are a TON of things we can do, this is just one small part. And it's LESS small if we contribute to it. So long as 30% of our populace still refuses to vote (and yes, the crazies vote more than we do--there's no excuse for that. None), I don't want to hear that we common, decent citizens have done all we can. We have not.
I've often thought that the military holds a place in our society that is more special that most people realize. Consider, it's enormous and very insular: military bases constitute small to mid-sized towns where many of the inhabitants only leave the compound for supplies and socializing with other military folk. It's a long-running society embedded within the larger society that seldom openly interacts with any civilian institution. They have their own laws, customs, mores, etc. that often only loosely resemble those of their civilian counterparts.
The military is also the repository for the most horrible parts of our society, not only legally-sanctioned killing, but all the moral and physical devastation of warmaking, where families are blown to bits in their beds and raping/pillaging is the ancient pasttime of bored, traumatized soldiers. I think that's why the military prizes honor and obedience so highly -- they are entrusted with our most hideous and dangerous national treasures. Even more so than with the police, this power of death subtly changes everyone connected to it.
Given their powers, history, and tasks, it is unsurprising that in most social dimensions, military personnel tend to be conservative. Since I'm not military, I can only speculate as to how that expresses in day to day life, but I suspect that much of the conservatism comes from the fear that adopting untried "progressive" ideas on the battlefield can get you and your buddies killed.
Additionally, respect for seniority and chain of command are very traditional values that are customarily viewed as "conservative" and are near the heart of the miltary ethos.
Yet this entire series of U.S. military organizations, some of which have been with us in some form since before we were a country, is completely funded by taxpayer dollars. Every bite of food they eat, every piece of clothing they wear, every dollar in their pockets comes is a government "handout." The very existance of our modern military requires an enormous federal government to support it, 'cause you don't build a fleet of F-22 Raptors, for instance, without a government that is taking gobs of money from business and citizens and is in firm control of the larger overall society.
Considering the tropes that drape over our political discourse (large vs. small government, social control by govenment, state's rights vs. federal, etc.), I suspect that the political life of the military is quite fraught, riddled with irreducible contradictions.
Gayle, hello. I am a fellow veteran living in Salmon, Idaho. I don’t have disabilities nor have I been dragged through the hell of military sexual trauma. My heart goes out to you. Outside of a handful of smaller cities, the Boise complex excepted, we are a rural population that feel much gratitude to our honored veterans. Like many veterans here I did suffer the indignities of a brutal conflict which in its own time divided the nation 50 years ago. It was difficult at times to let go of those extreme emotional scars. Some will remain for ever, but like veterans of prior conflicts time works to our advantage. Many veterans before us and many after will have to walk this down. As I usually read your comments I see your efforts to keep making us better. You do that.
I live and breath in this deep red state as well. I buy my groceries from a Mormon. I buy my tires from a Mormon. We are swimming in Mormons here. I once swam with poisonous sea snakes in the South China Sea. The locals thought I was insane. The locals hereabouts are the epitome of republicanism. It’s like swimming with sea snakes. They bump into you from time to time but they no more want to bite than you or I do. Law and order are still important. Your safety and well being is still a paramount concern here. Idaho is deep red but it still holds dear the underlying principals under the larger mantle of the good side of ethical behavior. It is a safe place to live. Yes, the currant crop of pols sucks the hind nipple. You know the one closest to the smelly end. I and the other democrat here in Salmon sometimes roll our eyes at each other. Most of us veterans will side with you. Let the fringe element remain fertive. Walk tall and proud here you deserve it.
Nocent, toxically so, would have been a better word. They try to rock people back on their heels. Usually they are missing teeth from misjudging their opponent. As a result they pick on easier prey. The old song “ you don’t tug on Superman’s cape” applies to our veterans. Thank you for being with us as we are here for you always.
How very horrific. I knew Mormons in Idaho, some had Cult characteristics long before the current disaster. It’s the cult run amok…. Coming to a neighborhood near you…
It is legitimate Gayle. I researched it through an EXTREMELY well-trusted source.
Regarding spending, is there an accounting for all Donald J. cost the USAmerican people going out of town every weekend with his retinue of Secret Service agents, and with all the golfing hours he spent, how much time did he spend as President doing the nation's work?
None I'm aware of. It seemed like he postured campaigned but most of the work that was done seemed to run on the stored momentum of the government apparatus, with Republicans gleefully throwing sand in the gears.
I read somewhere, but haven’t had the time to research at the moment, that each trip to Bedminster, NJ or to Merde a Lardo, FL, cost the taxpayers ~3mil for transportation to and from the sullied White House. Whether this included the overpayment of SS agents to stay in his bedbug-ridden accommodations I do not recall.
...let alone the more than $10 million in legal expenses the Republican party has paid out to defend his endless lawsuits!
Thank you again Dr. Richardson for so truthfully summing the day's news. My question, "How do the False non-newscasters plan to present this bleached version to the millions of us who watched the entire attack on OUR Capitol as it was occurring LIVE on ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC etc. Will they ask us to believe the falsified version they are peddling or our own eyes?"
Exactly!
Apparently.
Interestingly, I watched F(n)NC on Jan 6th, 2021 for about an hour during the coverage on the assault on the Capitol; I really could not tell the difference between what different stations were running for on-air commentary. They (Faux) backflipped just like McConnell and McCarthy did in days following the insurrection.
To answer your question, they want you to believe the falsified version with all their stony, hateful hearts.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) told the Wall Street Journal reporters. “Republicans are not going to sign up for raising taxes” for my wealthy friends! [my edit 🥹]
Dr Bob, may I edit your edit?
“Republicans are not going to sign up for raising taxes” for ME and my wealthy friends!
Now, whenever I hear of Mitt Romney, I remember him running thru the Capitol, looking for a safe place to hide.
Right behind Josh Hawley