Today the White House announced tariffs on certain products imported from China, including steel and aluminum products, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries and battery components, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, syringes and needles, and certain personal protective equipment (or PPE).
The aim is clear--subvert the power of any Democrat in the executive branch while looking to install a dictator. They have lost any claim to calling themselves Americans.
Behind the goody-two-shoes, Howdy Doody demeanor of Johnson is found an evil surpassing all belief. He is a Christian in name only, as his actions belie everything his purported savior preached. His moral stench is as ripe as T💩p’s foetid diaper. Hakeem Jeffries needs to do an about face and disassociate the Democratic Party from dealing fairly with this wolf in wolf’s clothing. Nothing good will come of trying to work with this Republican traitor.
He’s not diabolical, at least on his own he’s not. After he was pulled away from the MAGA extremists and into an intelligence briefing, he pushed for Ukraine funding.
But when he’s in the midst of Machiavellians such as Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, the orange gas-man himself, and others, he is easily co-opted. In short, his worldview is not, as he once said, found in the Bible. His worldview is found in that of those closing in on him.
In shirt, he’s just an ho-hum guy with a lot of personal financial problems in an important position, which makes him vulnerable to the likes of the Voldemorts of the world.
Him and his hypocritical wife want to make the US into a theocracy.
For that alone, I consider him diabolical, but coupled with the fact that he with held critical aid from Ukraine for over 6 months while the Russians killed thousands of Ukrainians further cements his evil intentions.
Jennifer, I'm not convinced that the intelligence briefing motivated him to push for Ukraine funding. I think it's likely that Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats let Johnson know that they would vote to have him removed unless he brought up the vote to fund Ukraine.
Johnson fully intends to steal the next election from Drumpf. He became aware the only way to stay in position to do that was to fund Ukraine aid. He's biding his time.
He needs to be in prison, along with all the other election denying thugs.
I agree! The man was chosen for his weaknesses, his lack of experience and character. He has no business leading the House of Representatives, much less our nation. Second in line to the presidency is horrifying.
His advocacy of Ukraine support would have been commendable if he'd done it almost a year ago. But he didn't. He fiddled and diddled as long as he possibly could and then, eventually and grudgingly, called a vote, He's not a good guy no matter who he's with.
Weak people, and by weak I mean he’s not the brightest bulb in the shed and that makes him dangerously malleable to a MAGA manipulator, are just a disaster when it comes time to make a decision on important things (eg., Ukraine, for example) …. He’ll never be a guy to do the right thing, to take an ethical stand if it means putting himself out there. He’s a pack animal…cause it’s safer in the pack than outside it. But he’s not the kind of guy plotting how he himself can shoot some guy in fifth avenue without losing any votes. He’s not brave enough for that.
Jennifer, I believe that he cooperated with the Dems because he had no choice. MTG was gunning for him and he believed that the Democrats would assume he'd seen the light, so his caving was disingenuous. They went along and got what they needed. I doubt that he'll get a warm reception in the future.
Hmmm …. I doubt the Dems ever thought he’d seen the light. They were desperate to get money for Ukraine.
As for his bring between the Dems and MTG: that’s part of my point …. A diabolical person is someone who is strategically manipulating his/her environment to achieve some cruel, immoral end. I just don’t see his decision as strategic: he had two choices forced on him after trying to avoid making any decision for months. He’s the kind of guy in an office who just tries to lie low so he can keep his job. If he were diabolical, he would be strategically crafting the environment to get what he wants. If he were a strategic thinker he would NOT be in so much personal debt …. That level of debt suggests to me that he not only wants to keep his job but also MUST keep his job to stay out of bankruptcy. If he lost the speakership, he’s lose face in his home district and likely get voted out. … loss of face, especially for men, is huge in the MAGA world.
So now to stay in MAGA graces, he MUST show up at the courthouse where the orange gasman is on trial for paying off a porn star to hide a sexual tryst from voters. He will now find himself covered in Trump’s slime. That’s not a sign of strategy. That’s a sign of desperation. When his wife (who counsels the desperate with medieval humoral theory) gets a big job with a corporation, you’ll know he’s financially desperate enough to take financial bribes. He’s just taken a political bribe.,
Jennifer, all of your points are exactly what I was suggesting, so we're on the same page. I heard someone say recently that Johnson "seems to be such a nice, sincere, fellow," and I stifled the urge to smack her! His aw-shucks, bespectacled demeanor is concocted to disarm, and if people aren't paying attention, they're shocked to learn that it's all a sham.
No. Johnson believes in the. Literal truth of the Bible which puts “God’s law” above man’s. And that is a death treat to the kind of government/society most of us would choose to live in. Don’t even consider throwing your vote away this time around.
I deliver Meals on Wheels a couple of days each week. One lady always pleads with me to pray for America. Sometimes, it's hard to get away from her as she is prone to prattle. Today, she said she doesn't watch the news, then asked me if I liked Trump. I said no. She said God told her Trump was to be the head of the church in America.
Today from another newsletter: "29%. The percentage of U.S. voters who say they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he’s convicted of a crime in the hush money trial, according to a March 2024 poll from Quinnipiac."
Why still on the fence? Don't these voters already have enough information to know that DJT should never be allowed near the White House again?
Did you point out to the woman that Trump was fooling around with other women when his wife was pregnant and then when she was home with their infant son, and ask her if she really thinks that God would want her to support such a person? I realize that's not likely to work. Perhaps if a preacher or someone in her family whom she respects would speak to her and point out that Jesus would almost certainly prefer Biden to Trump--maybe in spite of the abortion thing--she would begin to think. But probably no--that would be too much work. We can be heartened by the thought that people like that woman cannot elect a president.
She claims to have been a missionary from Germany for 50 years. I asked her if she knew what they say about wolves in sheep's clothing. She said no, so I wondered how much she knows about the Bible or if perhaps she's senile. But I assured her I would keep praying for American.
Say the name out loud. White Christian Nationalist. Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on me. Dictators everywhere are milking our political confusion for all it’s worth.
He studied acting. Here’s a March profile in New Yorker. Mike Johnson, the First Proudly Trumpian Speakerhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/25/mike-johnson-profile
Derek, I doubt that anyone here is surprised at Johnson's behavior. He's trying to re-ingratiate himself with the Orange Menace and his minions and hoping that EmpTGreene will relent. We all know that eventually he'll need another lifeline from the Democrats, but he spent his capital and hopefully his cooperation won't be needed in the future. I want to see them all crash and burn, and I await the day when Hakeem Jeffries is holding the gavel.
Next time Sporktoe calls to vacate the Speakership, Mr. Jeffries needs tb very hard to deal with in order to save the Malignant Moses from his own Caucus.
I agree.These people are clearly working against our current POTUS and are aiding the effort to install an authoritarian dictator.They are pro-Putin in every sense of the word. I don’t know about you but Holy Mike being 2nd in line for the presidency scares the bejesus out of me.
We've seen this before. Listen to Rachel Maddows pod cast Ultra. The difference today is that the white supremacy/ultra rich/Republicans have spent the decades since Reagan stacking the deck with ultra right judges, law enforcement, school boards, etc.
"... they [Republicans] are desperate. We need not fall for this charade."
I would suggest Republicans are more determined than desperate. They have taken two lessons from the Civil Rights movement. 1. The initial importance of uniting at the ballot box to take power. And 2. the later notion of "by any means necessary."* Of course this latter, while appropriating the left wing phrase, also perpetuates the right wing culture of physical violence. Initially adopted by the GOP first through their Southern Strategy pandering to the KKK and later by Republican embrace of militia movements (such as the Bundys) violently defying the Federal government. And as epitomized by Jan 6 and personified by Josh Hawley fist bumping insurrectionists on his way to employing congressional procedures to overturn the election results.
* 1. Voting was central to the early civil rights movement which embraced peaceful protest. When state forces responded with violence - perpetrated by state officials who also permitted violence by other racists - a majority of Americans joined in supporting civil rights protections for African Americans. And LBJ signed into law Federal protections.
2. "The English phrase [By Any Means Necessary] entered American civil rights culture through a speech given by Muslim minister Malcolm X at the Organization of Afro-American Unity's founding rally on 28 June 1964 in Manhattan, New York." In the speech, he made a disavowal of violence but was sufficiently ambiguous about how and when "initiating" violence was justified that the previously 'clean-cut' image strategically adopted by the early Southern civil rights organizers was replaced by the Che Guevara style 'berets and bandoliers' adopted with the ascent of relatively more privileged Northern raised organizers like Stokley Carmichael.
Today, this dichotomy can also be seen in the campus Gaza protests - split between peaceful and violent protestors.
I don't think Republicans are particularly desperate. Yes
their platform doesn't appeal to the majority, but they are close enough. Throw in that: they effectively have the entire Republican party and right wing apparatus all in for Trump; they will unite at the ballot box to take power; they have a myriad of voter suppression programs initiated since 2020; and they have a significant number of Americans - urged on by Stein, RFKJR et al - ready to elect Trump by treating voting as an individual exercise in personal expression. Republicans can already taste victory - and have Project 2025 ready to transform the entire Executive branch into the extension of an autocratic lunatic.
Do these Republican thugs think they will live forever? What kind of country are we allowing them to create for the future for our children and grandchildren....for our friends throughout the world who are anxious themselves as they experience the rise of authoritarianism around them? I am so upset with myself for trusting this political party for so long. They are empty power-hungry fakes.
We cannot blame this on others throughout this country...throughout this world....this is on all of us who love and value freedom and a persons "right to choose"....the right to freely vote without fear, the freedom to choose the books we want to read.
As a Christian, Jesus taught us to love one another as He loved us and gave His life for us. That love is rare to see in the religious Republican communities. He loves us where we are in life...He does not ask us to pretend we are someone we are not so that we can "join the club" and mindlessly agree on everything and vote the same way!!! We are each given minds, gifts, personalities....some mild , some of us wild and crazy, funny characters. His love changes our ability to love others if we are truly HIS. Why???? Because if you are a true believer , you are so overwhelmed by His presence in your life ...by the fact that He loves you and has accepted you raw and making bad choices...lost...maybe a criminal. etc. unconditionally and pours that love and forgiveness in us ....so much that we cannot hold it and so we are compelled to "love our fellowman" NOT JUDGE EVERYONE ELSE!!!
If the Republican Party is full of Christians, then I belong on another planet!!!!! They will each have to stand before God and if I were them I would be shaking in my shoes...unless Trump has become their God.....
Emily you said it all. trump has made himself a god. Even some of his adds are so offensive, he makes me ill🤮. I prayed over my ballot for the first time. Please GOD protect us🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
"We’ll need to adjust a lot when they win. Eventually they will, one State at a time:( "
Whew. Sheesh. Yikes. Giving up already. I hope by "adjusting" you mean upping our game to push back against clerical corporate fascism - as so many are even in 'red states.'
Knock it off. Realism in this case when billionaires, corporations, foreign entities, and a third of the countries voters would burn us down to get what they want isn’t negativity. State by state they’re destroying education and fixing it so women will be bed bound between F-ing a husband and whelping his spawn. Kinda hard to vote that way. Those mo-fo’s are playing the long game. I don’t feel like we’re doing enough to stop the spread of this cancer and not fast enough. Low education, 🐂 💩 religions, and corrupt media are taking its toll.
There's already an antidote being administered in one state at a time. It began in Alaska, a red state full of independents. They stopped Sarah Palin from winning their single house seat.
Nevada followed suit in 2022, and the deep red state of Idaho is on track to approve the reform in November. The campaign is being led by anti-Trump Republicans. There are a half dozen more states working on some type of electoral reform this year and others in the pipeline.
They have no shame, no conscience, these Republicans.
On the Clarence court, their taking bribes, perjuring themselves, and corrupting today’s law to serve that of the era of medieval witchcraft all self-exhibit.
When one has no respect for “others,” for the variations in American life, one can arrogate one’s ideology and impose it cookie-cutter on all.
And so congressional Republicans seek to outdo the vulgarity on the Clarence court. A presidential candidate who’s convicted in court, by a jury of his peers (more than one jury), of sexual abuse -- no problem. Same presidential candidate's business also convicted of widespread, deep, and many years of business fraud -- also no problem.
Whom do these Republicans serve, with their contempt for law, open embrace of vulgarity?
They serve the moneyed interests, the liars, the cheats, the greedy, the exploiters of both people and the planet. They do not serve the American people whom they attempt to disenfranchise. It you're not writing postcards to folks who haven't voted recently, now is the time to start.
How much good will they do so long as all U.S. K-12 serves primarily the billionaire standardized testers, in schools so intimidated that all just anymore teach to the test?
How much good will they do so long as all U.S. higher ed serves the corporate that has neutered all in silos (& personal safety identity zones) where no humanities need apply?
Studies show that as many as 4% of folks who haven't voted recently go to the polls when they get a postcard in the mail urging them to vote. Look at the slim margins, and in some states, that's enough to make a difference.
This has been true for the 50 years I have been involved in politics. Back when I worked in the California legislature running campaigns, postcards would be used as a community organizing tool. Organizations that supported a candidate would be asked to get their members to commit to sending personally signed postcards for the candidate to at least 10 friends, because it was known that a postcard was 80% more likely to be read and not thrown away as compared with the typical political mailers that flood my mailbox these days and go straight into the blue barrel.
It was stated last night on PBS that 16% of the base would NOT vote for TFG if found guilty but 80% said they still would …16% here…4% there…I’ll take every gain possible for the win!
There’s an outstanding rank of young Democrats already serving and in line for the next top dogs, impressive, willing, getting good review. Ousting these Complicits will take several years of voting cycles. Many Republicans jumped ship already realizing the ploy. Writers like Heather , historians , and others have laid bare the ‘aint pretty’ playbook of autocracy and the companies now at 100 planning 2025 clearly convinced of overthrow. But the American Dream is laced with the shiny schemes , the promises ( pointedly the tariff fiasco when nothing materialized to ‘build back better’ replacement) The holocaust/climate/election deniers prove the point-make it all shiny and pretty, build upon lies, promises,trust me and thoughts and prayers …’they will come’…
No the Dems don’t have the perfect solutions. Yes we’ve made some mistakes. But the turtle won the race.
We. Can. Do. This. But we got to do it at the ballot box…grab the 16% , the 4%, write post cards, share Heather’s , Joyce’s, Steve’s, Dan’s brilliant ‘letters’ …tell history as it is and plug away…WIN. THE. RACE.
I believe they were effective in the midterms during Trump's presidency to preserve the Democratic majority in the House. Postcard writing helped motivate people to vote by stirring them from their political hopelessness. The example of John Lewis' battle cry to "get in good trouble" remains pertinent today. It is a cry to do something; rather than to observe history, to be part of it; to be influential in some small way. By how many votes did Bush win Florida?
Though not sure about your "By how many votes did Bush win Florida?" Not sure because the far-right Supreme Court of that era would not countenance any actual final, legitimate counting of the votes then.
Our far right has long thought itself entitled to wreck its will upon the land -- damn any who think otherwise.
Bush "won" Florida by 500 votes. Had the recount continued 3 more days, it's likely Gore would have won by 1,500, with the momentum he was getting in the recount.
Actually 537 popular votes awarded to Bush/Cheney as I wrote to friends years ago:
"...The 2000 Florida election still grates with me, since Bush "won" 271 Electoral Votes to 266 (a 5 vote margin at just exactly the number required with the one abstention being one of the 3 D.C. Electors for Gore), 538 more votes if counted for Gore, would have given Gore 292 to Bush's 246 (a 46 Electoral vote margin). The Brooks Brother's Riot got the recount that the court said was justified (except they kept the deadline impossibly short) effectively halted so that Cheney/Bush ended up with a 537 vote lead (exactly as many popular votes as Electoral College voters that voted, since one abstained).
The attitude of one of the Republican poll workers I talked to seemed too hasty, too (eager to ignore any attempt to do an honest recount, back when I still considered many of our lower echelon Republican's honest brokers). During the 2016 primaries, I had a running issue with one of the D.C. Republican [alternate] delegates (I think), about the dozen different ways they assigned delegates in winner-take-all, winner-take-most, or proportional rules they got for states where my old party couldn't win in the general, so wanted every delegate (and later Elector) possible to skew the Electoral votes whichever way helped them the most..."
I have nothing but contempt for all the participants and supporters of the Brooks Brothers rioters for all the damage they did then and are still doing from the higher positions they have infiltrated into.
I'm disgusted to imagine even worse people that will be enabled to replace all that Trump promises to replace in his "Shallow State," should the electoral college be as counter to the popular vote winner (I suspect Trump will be an even bigger loser in the popular vote than both previous elections).
Oh, I agree that Bush likely didn't win Florida; that the Supreme Court interfered with — short circuited —the process of determining the legitimacy of the vote count. Contrastingly, all of Trump's spurious court challenges after his loss were given consideration.
But for the politicized Supreme Court, there would be no Iraq war; a new ramping up of cascading lies for political ends; no Abu Graib and its attendant abuse of the term "torture".
There would have been the commencement of consciousness about global warming and political action to curb it. In essence, historically, then as now, Republican influence is usually destructive to our national interests and private freedoms and Democrats are constructive; they specifically tend to insure the general welfare; support respect for self-determination, equality before the law and promote the positive influence that a strong, true democracy exerts internationally.
If the Dems take both houses and the presidency, they should act IMMEDIATELY to enlarge the court to at least one justice per circuit, enact term limits, passing voting rights legislation and protect women’s reproductive health care. They need to flood us with legislation it’s been proven we need—no more relying on the republicans “good faith,” as if they actually have any.
I agree. I only said "likely" because the Supreme Court stopped the count. Am I wrong;; did the count continue despite their interference? Was there an actual, final number?
I'll add that I was surprised Gore didn't loudly protest.
Just got a hundred AZ RTV postcards from Blue Wave Postcard Movement yesterday. As they came with pre-printed address labels and 2 sentences to write, can have all of them in the mail by Friday, latest. All 100 are labeled and 25 written (while I listened to MSNBC on the trial).
You are sending them out now? Wouldn't it be more strategic to wait until October? My letter and postcard writing campaigns instruct us to wait until October to send them out.
These are RTV (register to vote) postcards. Instructions are for two weeks maximum from the day there were received (5/14). I have others (GOTV) with an October date. I’m worried about DeJoy. Hope he will be gone by then. I’ll follow instructions, however.
Been a postcard writer for some time now. Given how many of us ignore/block calls and texts from unknown numbers, I feel like a postcard at least stands a chance.
His misconduct justifies their appetite for the same. "If he can get away with it, why can't I?"
TFG does not have a lock on despicable behavior, he just does it on stage for the world to see. Having lost any semblance of shame or self respect, he can make reality TV out of it. He openly does what many other power hungry individuals wish they had the chutzpah to do themselves. There's a really big gang of thugs out there in the DC pantheon of horribles.
He loves the spectacle, it may be draining but it serves his sick agenda since his ugly, putrid image is on every tv, computer and front page. Any publicity…
Tens of millions of Americans learned zero humanities in school, so cannot imagine artists beyond the vulgar, the stereotyped, the canned, formulaic, and soon eminently A.I.-mass-producible for more corporate profit, more of a cesspool for American public space.
Phil, as someone who's made his career through an audience of people who did get some education in the humanities, the truth is that 80% of Americans have ALWAYS been half-educated yokels, going back to the founding.
I worry much more about elites who never use any humanities, TCinLA.
I worry about the "educational" institutions that produced this dehumanization. I worry about the tens of millions who lost decent working-class jobs to offshoring, and their justifiable resentment of elites indifferent to them, our elites so largely unaware of, without literacy in the many fine novels, memoirs, films, songs, and other arts actually out there, available to us for helping to see, to experience what our neighbors have had to experience.
To which educational institutions are you referring? I'm a retired professor of mathematics. Are you accusing me of propagating dehuminization? Are you including me in your sweeping statement regarding elites?
I doubt that mathematics, part of liberal arts education, are part of the discussion. It’s the dehumanization of American universities which my favorite professor (Medieval French, Harvard PhD at 20) meant when he said that he graduated from
Harvard “while it was still a university—the year before Harvard put in the business school.”
Count the references to novels, films, songs, memoirs, histories.
Do the math.
As you do, note the tens of millions of embittered Americans whose jobs biz school elites offshored, whose lives most other elites learned to ignore, their instructors in dutifully neutered silos.
Sadly, that is the only way they were able to grab back the power in the Republican Party, they had an advisor who convinced the Republican Party to focus on the Abortion issue. That is how the Republicans recruited as many Right Wing Christian and More, orchestrated by Doris Schlafly. If she hadn't convinced them to focus on the abortion issue, they would never would have defeated the Democrats..
Yes he did. A couple of days ago at one of his rallies at a beach in New Jersey. It’s amazing how little to no coverage the MSM has given that comment. A psychopath praising another psychopath (even if a fictional one).
Do a search you’ll find a video clip of it with ease.
At this point I call the Speaker of the House, Mike "Goebbels" Johnson since he has become the mouthpiece to spin Trump's bad deads, just as Goebbels did for Hitler. The spin doctor. Let us hope the American people do not fall for it.
Tens of millions already have fallen for it, Linda.
They hate elites in the same proportion they love egregious lies. They hate gays in the same proportion they love their cult leader adorned with his Liberace coif and his drag queen orange encrusted make-up. They love pussy-grabbing in the same proportion they profess something they call "Christianity" or "Christian nationalism."
Embracing vulgarity is but a side effect of a much larger dynamic. What Trump has done, and the GOP has latched on to, is to tell voters what they want to hear without admitting their grievances are more due to GOP policies that have favored the rich since the 80's but instead they blame them on the worst progressive policy failures.
They have successfully demonized the left regardless of how liberal/progressive they might be. It's metastasized and it's here for generations. Because the facts didn't support the reality, they successfully reverted to story telling on right wing media and at political events.
The NIMBY progressive policies in deep blue cities have given fuel to GOP attacks. Look at the idiocy in SF for example and CA in general. This has been used to extend to the justice system and rule of law. Democrats are afraid of the maga movement and would rather avoid direct contact and believe they can win with reason.
It's why Biden can't break out of the perpetual deadlock with Trump in national polls. No matter how much Biden touts the economy and infrastructure it gets less traction than Trump/GOP false memes and storytelling. Democrats think they can debate their way out of a knife fight. That never works.
The only hope I see in 2024 comes from women willing to vote anti-GOP across the board because Biden has to risen to the level needed to counter Trump's erratic, yet effective, rhetoric.
Asking why is no longer an option, only a delaying mechanism.
The Putin finger on the polls is part of the problem too. I actually heard a learned member of the Orthodox Church say that Putin is a believer (he has “restored” the Orthodox Church in Russia, forbidden under Stalin to enhance his power). Those who spend time online for their news seem to have left all weighing of sources. The idea that a KGB trained member of the Stasi is suddenly Christian, in particular Putin, is mind boggling.
Let's be real. Religion for Putin and Trump is just another card in their decks of deception for the masses. They are not religious except for worshipping themselves.
Biden made me wish I'd waited to post my original remark. He did a gutsy thing today. Personally, I doubt the debates will happen but that doesn't upset me. While I would have LOVED to see Biden cross-examine Trump on his "Proud Boys stand down and stand by" remark, he can still do that whether there are debates or not.
I want to see Biden get nasty. I know he has it in him as he does it all the time behind the scenes. #littlesighofrelief
This is Christian Nationalism. It is ugly and it is here. We need to defeat it at every level. Think about it as the American Taliban. All Old Testament retribution and anger. No room for The Sermon on the Mount.
And to underscore your balking at "Christian nationalism" today, too, so-called Christian Mike Johnson (Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) now publicly aligns his version of Christianity with that of his friend Trump's pussy-grabbing, grabbing women for sex in high-end department store dressing rooms, inviting young women "for dinner" which turns out only to be forcing sex on them, too, in Las Vegas hotel room.
Thank you Dr. Richardson. I was born in the same year that the state of Israel was born , in 1948. At that time there was much strife and gunfire, yet somehow a two state plan was in place which it was hoped would bring about a peaceful settlement. Over the years the war would heat up and cool down. Today CNN reported a new arms package was about to be discussed in the House of Reps. (In the amount of one billion dollars. ) As a counter to this plan for more munitions and weaponry, I sent a donation to ANERA, an organization that provides food and other necessities to Palestinians. How much more arms does Israel need? How many dead children and civilians will be enough? Let me be clear that I support the right of Israel to exist and that nation has every right to defend itself. So does the nation of Palestine. Cease fire now. Give peace a chance.
Thank you Daniel Streeter. Those early songs by Bob Dylan will live forever. Blowing in the Wind. Masters of War. It’s alright ma. To name a few. Part of the problem is that war is highly profitable for those in the war industry whether right or wrong, win or lose.
Also our education industry where humanities no longer have any meaningful role -- by design, by Powell memo design, by billionaire and dark money cohering game plan, so a massive, worldwide criminality may rule, of which "the war industry" forms just another part of many similarly tribal, sectarian, group atavistic.
I was not a believer in an international mob at first, but now I do. Even Bob Mueller gave a speech on the iron triangle which consists of corrupt politicians, businessmen loaded with cash and mob types who know how to commit crimes. When those three elements cooperate, they are a formidable force.
I wonder if folks are aware that the UN has revised the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. The number of women and children who have died are half of what has been reported for months now.
Update to Gazan death tolls:
The fully identified death toll comprises of 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men, the UN spokesperson said, citing the Gaza health ministry.
Its clear from these figures that many Hamas combatants have been killed. I’m writing this to try to stop the relentless parroting of the phrase “34,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children have died.” Obviously, Hamas has not been truthful, which I expected all along. It was obvious that the majority of deaths could not possibly be only women and children.
Please remember too that this is a war, not just “an overreaction to a terrorist attack”or a genocide. According to Al Jazeera the Hamas brigades number between 35-40,000. Its these brigades and their weapons, all hiding underground, that Israel is battling. Hamas terrorists and their ambitions must be stopped. There is no other solution at this point.
And these ‘reduced numbers’ are OK? The numbers of Palestinians killed in ANY conflict with Israel is always exponentially higher, and destructive to women and children. The Zionist expansion of settlements, apartheid system with regard to Palestinians, and rejection of a two state solution, has only served to foster grief, resentment and hostility for generations. Where does it end? ‘We are creating enemies faster than we can kill them’ the saying goes.
Absolutely, and that is why this war is the solution to nothing. It will only foster more armed resistance. Some new terrorist networks will pop up to replace Hamas.
The only sustainable solution to this problem is to give the Palestinians something to live for, a land of their own.
Betty, the Palestinians/Gazans/Arabs have been given that option repeatedly over the past 75 years always with the same outcome, the relentless effort by their political leaders to destroy Israel (e.g.- by digging extensive tunnels, creating military "bases" in schools & hospitals rather than use the resources to build the physical, administrative and political infrastructure necessary for any viable "country."
Let's see, Heather, that would be 24,686 Palestinians (Gazans?) dead rather than 34,000? A poignant question indeed about "reduced numbers" dead being OK!
Everyone with a beating heart looks at what is happening in Gaza with horror. And then the blame game begins its endless cycle. As usual, armchair critics blame Biden. Because everything is always the fault of whoever the sitting president is. I rear ended a car, it's Biden's fault. A ship sank in the Atlantic. It's Biden's fault. I stubbed my toe. It's Biden's fault.
Hamas is dedicated to the elimination of all Jews in the region.
Hamas hides in tunnels underneath their women, children and parents.
Hamas committed an atrocity that seems to be drifting away in the public consciousness.
Hamas promises more violence.
Hamas could have ended this conflict by negotiating peace.
Hamas could end the conflict today and save thousands of lives.
Hamas watches their own people starve as they spend billions of donations from Qatar and Iran to build tunnels and launch missiles into Israel.
Hamas uses their babies as shields. They are not warriors. They are devious monsters.
With all the financial support Hamas has received from their "religious" leaders they could have been building infrastructure, feeding their people, negotiating nationhood. Instead, they refused the two state solution, allowed their children to starve and invited the destruction of their neighborhoods. Invited it.
I ask what Americans would do if a paramilitary organization were to have slaughtered over a thousand people at a music festival. Raped and tortured peaceful people. Beheaded children.
Would we allow that organization to hide in tunnels? Would we not seek their surrender or death? What if there were Neo-Nazis in tunnels right now, right here - who were pledged to the destruction of our nation? Would we walk away? Could we?
I don't have the answer to how Israel could approach this situation differently. I welcome suggested solutions. But they won't be solutions unless they include the complete and total elimination of a Hamas - proxy assassins operating under the direct influence of Iran and by extension - with the approval of Putin.
The horrors of Gaza are the perfect distraction from Ukraine. There is a real genocide happening in Ukraine. Where is the rage at those who oppose assisting the Ukrainians who are being slaughtered by Russians? Ukrainians who simply wanted to exist peacefully as a democracy. A people whose only mistake was having a border with Russia. Where were the campus protests while Republicans held up support for our allies?
Putin is playing three dimensional chess and we are playing checkers.
Hamas have the same values as the Nazis of WWII Germany. The same values as the military leaders of Japan when they bombed Pearl Harbor. The people of Germany and Japan in the early 20th century supported them. They paid a horrible price.
The children of Gaza are the victims. The adults who caused this should look in the mirror.
October 7th is just a preview if Hamas is allowed to survive and rebuild.
Thanks for saying all of this, Bill. I agree with it all. The Palestinians have been treated badly by Israel. Everything they have done, especially allowing settlers to go into the West Bank and take good land, has been done without any respect to the people or their rights. Hamas was an outgrowth of this treatment. One thing I want to add is that "Palestinian" should not be equated with Hamas. It was Hamas who committed the horrible actions of October 6, not Palestinians.
Thank you Bill. I’m so tired of Israel being blamed shunned and vilified around the globe. I’m so tired of Jews who are living elsewhere being blamed. I cannot understand why young people are casting their lot in with a terrorist organization. Imagine if your country was invaded by 4000 militants and other hangers on to commit murder, rape and take hostages. What would you do? Clearly the Arab countries who support Hamas and Iran have a superior PR system. I don’t know if you read the article in the NYT about Sinwar. He states that he is prepared to sacrifice the whole population of Gaza in order to fulfill his aims.
The figures you give are probably more accurate than the larger numbers that have been reported, yet just as ghastly. Looking at the photos of Gaza and the incredible destruction brought upon that narrow strip of land, how will we ever know, how many were killed? We have such advanced weaponry, that kills with precision yet also indiscriminately, by its sheer power alone. If it is a war, I don’t want to wait for Israel to win it, I want to stop it. Enough already.
Gutsy comment, Annie; many thanks. Those numbers total 24,686 people.
¿Is that the total death toll or that of civilians who are not Hamas fighters?
Other articles state that ten-to-eleven thousand Gazans are missing or dead but with identities pending verification.
B.L.U.F. (bottom-line, up-front): though the civilian death toll is high in Gaza it is in the vicinity of other recent urban conflicts. Israël is making an effort to contain direct casualties but creating conditions likely to expand the death toll greatly.
Annie, I have also read that the number of hamas fighters is around forty thousand.
Israël claims to have killed fourteen-to-fifteen thousand. The numbers are hard to nail down; I doubt anyone really knows. Best case is that more than half of the hamas combatants (19,000) are not accounted for (i.e., not included in the number killed to date or the four thousand said to be in Rafah). So, ¿where are they? And, ¿is Netanyahu proving to be hamas's most effective recruiter?
Though the numbers are fuzzy and these guesstimates are, more likely than not, significantly off the mark, the civilian death toll relative to combatants in Gaza of 50-60% is higher than those of Viêt Nam (46%) and Afghanistan (30%) but similar to that in Iraq (66%). Like Gaza, Iraq entailed more urban combat than Viêt Nam or Afghanistan.
The problem with these comparisons remains WHO is responsible for WHAT civilian deaths. The numbers cited above, I believe, count those killed directly by military personnel. They exclude the deaths attendant to a break-down of the civil society. That is the primary threat facing Gaza now as food and medical supplies as well as water remain limited.
In Viêt Nam, 600,000 civilians died from military fire with estimates of two million 'excess deaths'. In Iraq, some 100,000 civilians died by direct military violence while 'excess' deaths were roughly 450,000. In Afghanistan, some 50,000 died by direct military contact versus roughly 200,000 'excess deaths'. In theory, most or all of these 'excess deaths' would NOT have occurred BUT for war.
They keep talking about a plan to protect civilians, but it seems to consist of telling people to evacuate an area they plan to invade or bomb. These people have little option with borders closed and much of the country in ruins. I wonder how careful the IMF is being since they shot an unarmed hostage before confirming identity and killed World Central kitchen relief workers returning from bringing food to starving people.
It is a real dilemma. This war is really an urban counter-insurgency. Israël is using the same search-&-destroy tactics that the United States used in Viêt Nam. Those tactics did not work fifty-to-sixty years ago and they are failing here. It is hard to square the city-scapes of Bakhmut and Gaza being indistinguishable.
The U.S. did succeed in turning the situation around in Iraq with the surge and, more importantly, gaining the trust and support of the Sunni sheiks in the Western provinces in 2007-08. Yet hamas really has to be defeated. What Israël needed to do was to be patient and to apply the concepts of community policing.
By partnering with the peace-minded Gazans, Israël could hunt down the hamas fighters and seal, at least, the key tunnels. That tactic may not have worked either, but then Israël could resort to her current, kinetic approach. Now, I fear (as a philo-Semite and fan of Israël) that Netanyahu is doing more harm than good not only for the welfare of Palestineans, but also for the security of his own people.
Is the only way to achieve that end is for Israel to murder every Palestinian with US materiel? This is an 80 year struggle that has only used violence and propaganda to oppress and occupy a neighbor after usurping lands. It doesn’t work. You can’t kill your enemies faster than you make new ones.
Strong regionally enforced cease fire and peace talks. For eighty years these two and their gangs have been fighting in the sand box. We need some adults in the room and Biden is trying to end something that it appears neither of the combatants want to stop.
Jack - but there must be a plan in place for Israel and the Palestinians for that to happen and Natinyahu is against a two state solution which would result in more of the same. Being on the brink of a World War I should think would give people pause. It’s a global issue. And where are the grownups.
Precisely, it is striking Tutone. Netanyahu could well lead us to WWIII, this is one case where a little war may not prevent a bigger one. When he openly abandoned a two state solution, I got worried. Can you imagine what life must be like in Gaza? I am a 75 year old looking at a war as old as I am. No, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
He is an example of a corrupt extremist autocrat who is drawn to violence to solve problems. We have been down this road before. He has to go but they keep voting for him and his Likud party.
Although Israel makes much of being the only democracy in the Middle East, it's a parliamentary democracy, and "they" are right-wingers with some very undemocratic ideas.
Jack, I fear that the entrenched politics of those "representing" Palestinians which dedicated themselves to never, ever accepting Israel as a separate viable state but dedicating themselves to the destruction of Israel in any way possible rather than the construction of a viable political state for Palestinians. So now we have the inevitable stalemate that has existed since the founding of Israel in 1948. The UN clearly needed some other or some additional way to create space for the multitudes of surviving Jews displaced from across Europe and Asia. I have neither the expertise nor experience to imagine HOW that should have been done differently but those original plans clearly have failed to provide a peaceful resolution or two-state solution for the past 3/4 of a century.
At the negotiations one side proclaims death to Israel and the other wants everything from the river to the sea. It is a failed project without a doubt.
Meg Kinnard, “a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker turning his Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy.” to support the slimy actions being described in that courtroom. OMG!!Mike Johnson has totally joined the coup... last weeks hero turned traitor to constitutional governance.
Nobody did consider him a "hero". They voted for him so they could get the rest of the budget bills passed for the new fiscal year (starts October 1) and he was the most "reasonable" alternative. Given the rest of them are completely unreasonable, it was just keep the best of a bad lot and retake the majority in November.
Hi TC, In retrospect I would say 'reasonable person' instead of 'hero.' That does not change the issue... it is not about the names we can call these people... the fact the Speaker of the House dis-graced himself, dis-graced his position, dis-graced this country shows he missed one of the basic lessons in life... NO MATTER WHAT LIFE HANDS YOU, IF YOU DON'T HAVE CHARITY OR HOPE, AT LEAST ACT WITH GRACE. I thought you might understand this.
“Now extremists in the House are trying to run foreign policy on their own.”
These Republicans remind me of people we’ve all known. They talk big and tell everyone how smart they are, yet are shallow blowhards incapable of accomplishing anything of true value.
Running foreign policy? It would be like a 10 year old driving a massive truck and speeding in heavy interstate traffic. Disaster.
They're not really interested in foreign policy, or in any kind of policy, beyond being obstructionist. "Owning the libs" is not policy. It is an expression that they hide behind without offering any policy of their own.
Betsy, I think you correct. To add some detail 'Owning the Libs' = accumulating power = kissing Trump's huge orange ass = obstructing anything that is not their idea = manipulating their followers.
The blatant hypocrisy is stunning: if the president in office is Trump, the executive should have unrestrained powers without Congressional interference. If not, they want unrestrained power against the executive. It’s as self-contradictory as being willing to sacrifice the life of the mother for the unborn fetus and calling it “pro-life.” If the fetus turns out to be female, she will be expected to make the same sacrifice for her own fetus. It makes no sense.
Meg Kinnard of the AP is absolutely, 100% correct. The simpering, shameless, sycophantic, soulless shell of a Speaker from Shreveport is a complete disgrace.
The Speaker of the House is one of the few clearly articulated elected officials bearing specific constitutional responsibilities. He/She has power and responsibilities independent of the President. For our entire history, the Speaker has served as an avatar of constitutional protection, whether minor or major, insuring that the People's House conducts the People's business within constitutional parameters. There have been great and legendary Speakers, corrupt and placeholder Speakers, and obnoxious Speakers (yes, looking at you eye of Newt!). But until now, there has never been a slavishly servile Speaker, wholly and readily willing to demean his lowly self before a convicted sex offender and traducer of the Constitution who happens to be a former President, a Speaker willing to cast aside his solemn constitutional duties to travel to the first ever criminal trial of that same former President so as to serve as his sycophantic factotum, mouthing inanities and dangerous falsehoods, directly casting disrespect upon the essential institutions of Justice, the Courts and the Jury system.
What a shameful display by a man who should, as Despicable Don would say, be grabbed by the pusillanimity!
Daniel, love the alliteration describing little Johnson. But I am sure this shameless (to borrow one of your words) person would do anything to put into place a pseudo theocracy run by the craven hypocrites of the party of death. I say pseudo because he and any so-called Christian who supports death star isn't.
The courtroom witnessed a parade of useful idiots parroting the words ‘’the orange turd’’ is forbidden to utter.
He would cast them aside without a thought should it serve his purposes but yet they do his bidding, faces set in servile smiles. When I saw Mike Johnson outside the courtroom, the image of him in an SS uniform was impossible to erase. I think I will forever see him that way.
Well the house GOP is helping me with one thing..I read their antics of going to the courthouse, the comments they are making and if it’s before dinner I eat very little .
Following his party's use of projection for everything they say, Speaker Johnson's own quote, “[n]o one should believe a word he says (in there)" should immediately be applied by Democrats,...to himself. To which the answer is,.... and we don't.
As corruption expert Sarah Kendzior has said for years, “We are the only ones who will save us now!”
Forget about Jack Smith, Fani Willis, or Alvin Brag (whose conviction of Trump if obtained will be declared invalid and politically motivated by the GOP leadership).
The G.O.P.-led House of Representatives brazenly breaks down the separation of powers. It makes me think that the Republicans know that the party -- and their Party -- is over. So, they grab everything and every shred of power before the lights come on in November. Well, there goes my short-lived admiration of Speaker Johnson. These antics merely inspire Trump to drumpf our democracy again, and always.
Dr. Richardson's excellent summary of the day points out the points of continuing Republican insurgency during this in-process Civil War. Quite remarkable, though, that there is no spotlight on the total refusal of the Biden administration to do a thing about it. As she points out, Biden continues Trump's tariffs. His Justice Department continues to refuse taking action against any Republican insurgents. And Democrats apparently have no plans to put Mike Johnson on the hot seat for condemning the U.S. judiciary. As they have no plans to call to account the actual corrupt judiciary—Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge Aileen Cannon to name two.
Dr. Richardson concludes her essay with a quote from Niger's Prime Minister, explaining his turn towards Russia: “We have seen what the United States will do to defend its allies,” he said, “because we have seen Ukraine and Israel.” The question we should be asking is this: how and why is our Democratic Party continuing to have no strategy or actions to fight this? President Biden continues to feel too constrained by Congress to act promptly as Commander-in-Chief when Donald Trump makes it clear that the Executive Branch has zero constraints. So we should be asking, why isn't he and his administration doing everything they can to protect our Constitution?
Justice Thomas is clearly corrupt; Justice Cannon is "merely" incompetent and biased. Or is it biased and incompetent?
But you're right. I, too, am dismayed by the reluctance of the Biden Administration to call out and hit back hard at those internal enemies who would subvert our democracy. We can hope that there will be a change of heart once the campaign gets into full swing, but I doubt it.
Yes, I think similarly. Pres. Biden shows strong leadership in every way except the way that matters the most—protecting our Constitution. Our nation watches the Republican Party tearing our Constitution apart and he doesn't call them out. That silence teaches us to fear Republicans as they commit terrorism each day, undermining our justice and our freedoms. Pres. Biden does such a great job calling out Putin and other dictators. It's a shame he can't do the same calling out the Republican Party. Instead, House Speaker Mike Johnson will get a free pass for saying publicly that our justice system is corrupt. And the silence from our President will teach us also to be silent and to fear even more.
Thanks. That article makes my point: "The most important thing about these tariffs is probably the message they send. Protectionism is now the consensus economic policy of both major political parties in the United States."
I am extremely angry at Merrick Garland's refusal to prosecute those members of the GOP who supported the January 6th Insurrection and continue to deny that Joe Biden won. They are in violation of their Constitutional Oaths. Of course, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate is silent on this matter as well. Where are the calls from Schumer, Jeffries as well as Biden for these members to be prosecuted? Are they really that afraid of appearing to be "partisan" in how they talk about the DOJ? It is NOT partisan to say the DOJ should protect democracy from those who want to destroy it! SMH
Exactly! And without those unified condemnations from Democrats, Republicans see a green light to tear apart our Constitution with no downside. Meanwhile, we of the sane public, watch gobsmacked each week as dangerous precedents get set with Democrats too fearful to declare the Republican Party what it clearly has become—a terrorist organization that makes no bones about its intent to destroy our government and freedom.
Regarding the visits of Johnson and Tuberville to NY to act as spokescreatures for the Orange Abomination, Dean Obeidallah referred to them in his substack today as "Trump's service animals" (no disrespect to real service animals intended).
Johnson and Tuberville attending the trial. To put this in larger perspective… this Congress is getting NOTHING done because they’re consumed with placating and babysitting one whiney, spoiled, self-centered orange brat. This is beyond disgusting.
The aim is clear--subvert the power of any Democrat in the executive branch while looking to install a dictator. They have lost any claim to calling themselves Americans.
Behind the goody-two-shoes, Howdy Doody demeanor of Johnson is found an evil surpassing all belief. He is a Christian in name only, as his actions belie everything his purported savior preached. His moral stench is as ripe as T💩p’s foetid diaper. Hakeem Jeffries needs to do an about face and disassociate the Democratic Party from dealing fairly with this wolf in wolf’s clothing. Nothing good will come of trying to work with this Republican traitor.
I agree. Mike Johnson is a diabolical man and a grave threat to democracy. He defines the word hypocrite.
He’s not diabolical, at least on his own he’s not. After he was pulled away from the MAGA extremists and into an intelligence briefing, he pushed for Ukraine funding.
But when he’s in the midst of Machiavellians such as Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, the orange gas-man himself, and others, he is easily co-opted. In short, his worldview is not, as he once said, found in the Bible. His worldview is found in that of those closing in on him.
In shirt, he’s just an ho-hum guy with a lot of personal financial problems in an important position, which makes him vulnerable to the likes of the Voldemorts of the world.
Him and his hypocritical wife want to make the US into a theocracy.
For that alone, I consider him diabolical, but coupled with the fact that he with held critical aid from Ukraine for over 6 months while the Russians killed thousands of Ukrainians further cements his evil intentions.
Jennifer, I'm not convinced that the intelligence briefing motivated him to push for Ukraine funding. I think it's likely that Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats let Johnson know that they would vote to have him removed unless he brought up the vote to fund Ukraine.
Additionally, I think trump told him it was "okay" so "it" would keep johnson in a position to help said "it."
Johnson fully intends to steal the next election from Drumpf. He became aware the only way to stay in position to do that was to fund Ukraine aid. He's biding his time.
He needs to be in prison, along with all the other election denying thugs.
I agree! The man was chosen for his weaknesses, his lack of experience and character. He has no business leading the House of Representatives, much less our nation. Second in line to the presidency is horrifying.
He’s not weak. He’s the architect of J6.
Mike Johnson is a dangerous fool. I wouldn't trust that little Dobby look alike as far as I could pitch his wife abusing ass.
Wife-abusing? I’ve missed something.
His religious misogyny is abuse
His advocacy of Ukraine support would have been commendable if he'd done it almost a year ago. But he didn't. He fiddled and diddled as long as he possibly could and then, eventually and grudgingly, called a vote, He's not a good guy no matter who he's with.
No Republican is “good” at this point. Vote everyone of them OUT for the next decade to clean house.
Weak people, and by weak I mean he’s not the brightest bulb in the shed and that makes him dangerously malleable to a MAGA manipulator, are just a disaster when it comes time to make a decision on important things (eg., Ukraine, for example) …. He’ll never be a guy to do the right thing, to take an ethical stand if it means putting himself out there. He’s a pack animal…cause it’s safer in the pack than outside it. But he’s not the kind of guy plotting how he himself can shoot some guy in fifth avenue without losing any votes. He’s not brave enough for that.
Jennifer, I believe that he cooperated with the Dems because he had no choice. MTG was gunning for him and he believed that the Democrats would assume he'd seen the light, so his caving was disingenuous. They went along and got what they needed. I doubt that he'll get a warm reception in the future.
Hmmm …. I doubt the Dems ever thought he’d seen the light. They were desperate to get money for Ukraine.
As for his bring between the Dems and MTG: that’s part of my point …. A diabolical person is someone who is strategically manipulating his/her environment to achieve some cruel, immoral end. I just don’t see his decision as strategic: he had two choices forced on him after trying to avoid making any decision for months. He’s the kind of guy in an office who just tries to lie low so he can keep his job. If he were diabolical, he would be strategically crafting the environment to get what he wants. If he were a strategic thinker he would NOT be in so much personal debt …. That level of debt suggests to me that he not only wants to keep his job but also MUST keep his job to stay out of bankruptcy. If he lost the speakership, he’s lose face in his home district and likely get voted out. … loss of face, especially for men, is huge in the MAGA world.
So now to stay in MAGA graces, he MUST show up at the courthouse where the orange gasman is on trial for paying off a porn star to hide a sexual tryst from voters. He will now find himself covered in Trump’s slime. That’s not a sign of strategy. That’s a sign of desperation. When his wife (who counsels the desperate with medieval humoral theory) gets a big job with a corporation, you’ll know he’s financially desperate enough to take financial bribes. He’s just taken a political bribe.,
Jennifer, all of your points are exactly what I was suggesting, so we're on the same page. I heard someone say recently that Johnson "seems to be such a nice, sincere, fellow," and I stifled the urge to smack her! His aw-shucks, bespectacled demeanor is concocted to disarm, and if people aren't paying attention, they're shocked to learn that it's all a sham.
He worked with Dems to save his ass, i.e. speakership.
No. Johnson believes in the. Literal truth of the Bible which puts “God’s law” above man’s. And that is a death treat to the kind of government/society most of us would choose to live in. Don’t even consider throwing your vote away this time around.
I agree with you 👍Helen!!!
The fundamentalist defending the man who dallied with a porn star while his wife was home with their infant son. Need we say more?
I deliver Meals on Wheels a couple of days each week. One lady always pleads with me to pray for America. Sometimes, it's hard to get away from her as she is prone to prattle. Today, she said she doesn't watch the news, then asked me if I liked Trump. I said no. She said God told her Trump was to be the head of the church in America.
Today from another newsletter: "29%. The percentage of U.S. voters who say they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he’s convicted of a crime in the hush money trial, according to a March 2024 poll from Quinnipiac."
Why still on the fence? Don't these voters already have enough information to know that DJT should never be allowed near the White House again?
Did you point out to the woman that Trump was fooling around with other women when his wife was pregnant and then when she was home with their infant son, and ask her if she really thinks that God would want her to support such a person? I realize that's not likely to work. Perhaps if a preacher or someone in her family whom she respects would speak to her and point out that Jesus would almost certainly prefer Biden to Trump--maybe in spite of the abortion thing--she would begin to think. But probably no--that would be too much work. We can be heartened by the thought that people like that woman cannot elect a president.
She claims to have been a missionary from Germany for 50 years. I asked her if she knew what they say about wolves in sheep's clothing. She said no, so I wondered how much she knows about the Bible or if perhaps she's senile. But I assured her I would keep praying for American.
I told her in German that I lived in Germany for 3 years 40 years ago and, after checking, I only got the last word wrong. ;)
Did you forget that he is the new Moses and rewriting the commandments.
I thought he was the new Jesus, or is that Trump? Or did you mean Trump is the new Moses?
Apparently his speech was written by TFG. He was seen editing them in court while Michael cohen was testifying.
Which would violate the gag order, if it could be proved.
But really, if you were Lil' Mikey, would you let Trump edit anything?
Nope, that about covers it.
Say the name out loud. White Christian Nationalist. Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on me. Dictators everywhere are milking our political confusion for all it’s worth.
He studied acting. Here’s a March profile in New Yorker. Mike Johnson, the First Proudly Trumpian Speakerhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/25/mike-johnson-profile
That’s interesting. Trump also wanted to be an actor. Two wannabe thespians seeking the death of democracy. How dramatic can you get?
Derek, I doubt that anyone here is surprised at Johnson's behavior. He's trying to re-ingratiate himself with the Orange Menace and his minions and hoping that EmpTGreene will relent. We all know that eventually he'll need another lifeline from the Democrats, but he spent his capital and hopefully his cooperation won't be needed in the future. I want to see them all crash and burn, and I await the day when Hakeem Jeffries is holding the gavel.
But this is the “ new Christian “
No. This is Christofacism.
No. This is Christian Nationalism. Christianity in name only. Old Testament eye for an eye stuff. God is watching you.
Next time Sporktoe calls to vacate the Speakership, Mr. Jeffries needs tb very hard to deal with in order to save the Malignant Moses from his own Caucus.
I agree.These people are clearly working against our current POTUS and are aiding the effort to install an authoritarian dictator.They are pro-Putin in every sense of the word. I don’t know about you but Holy Mike being 2nd in line for the presidency scares the bejesus out of me.
Don’t be scared. Fight back. Fear is a form of paralysis.
We've seen this before. Listen to Rachel Maddows pod cast Ultra. The difference today is that the white supremacy/ultra rich/Republicans have spent the decades since Reagan stacking the deck with ultra right judges, law enforcement, school boards, etc.
Excellently stated. This is a fear we should all share.
Exactly so.
and to do so in the short amount of time remaining until the election, (while holding the voters hostage in the mean time,) just in case they lose.
David - they are desperate. We need not fall for this charade.
"... they [Republicans] are desperate. We need not fall for this charade."
I would suggest Republicans are more determined than desperate. They have taken two lessons from the Civil Rights movement. 1. The initial importance of uniting at the ballot box to take power. And 2. the later notion of "by any means necessary."* Of course this latter, while appropriating the left wing phrase, also perpetuates the right wing culture of physical violence. Initially adopted by the GOP first through their Southern Strategy pandering to the KKK and later by Republican embrace of militia movements (such as the Bundys) violently defying the Federal government. And as epitomized by Jan 6 and personified by Josh Hawley fist bumping insurrectionists on his way to employing congressional procedures to overturn the election results.
* 1. Voting was central to the early civil rights movement which embraced peaceful protest. When state forces responded with violence - perpetrated by state officials who also permitted violence by other racists - a majority of Americans joined in supporting civil rights protections for African Americans. And LBJ signed into law Federal protections.
2. "The English phrase [By Any Means Necessary] entered American civil rights culture through a speech given by Muslim minister Malcolm X at the Organization of Afro-American Unity's founding rally on 28 June 1964 in Manhattan, New York." In the speech, he made a disavowal of violence but was sufficiently ambiguous about how and when "initiating" violence was justified that the previously 'clean-cut' image strategically adopted by the early Southern civil rights organizers was replaced by the Che Guevara style 'berets and bandoliers' adopted with the ascent of relatively more privileged Northern raised organizers like Stokley Carmichael.
Today, this dichotomy can also be seen in the campus Gaza protests - split between peaceful and violent protestors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_any_means_necessary
Thank you for this, lin•
"...determined rather than desperate." I think you're chillingly accurate.
ThankYou Ally House. I know that you are among the good cadre here who realize how much work we have to do for a Democratic victory.
Realize - in understanding and in making real the work in your efforts.
determined and desperate! they have no policy that the majority want and will stop at nothing to get trump or snother lackey ( Haley) back in power
I don't think Republicans are particularly desperate. Yes
their platform doesn't appeal to the majority, but they are close enough. Throw in that: they effectively have the entire Republican party and right wing apparatus all in for Trump; they will unite at the ballot box to take power; they have a myriad of voter suppression programs initiated since 2020; and they have a significant number of Americans - urged on by Stein, RFKJR et al - ready to elect Trump by treating voting as an individual exercise in personal expression. Republicans can already taste victory - and have Project 2025 ready to transform the entire Executive branch into the extension of an autocratic lunatic.
Eyes open and brains engaged.
Annabel Ascher,
Do these Republican thugs think they will live forever? What kind of country are we allowing them to create for the future for our children and grandchildren....for our friends throughout the world who are anxious themselves as they experience the rise of authoritarianism around them? I am so upset with myself for trusting this political party for so long. They are empty power-hungry fakes.
We cannot blame this on others throughout this country...throughout this world....this is on all of us who love and value freedom and a persons "right to choose"....the right to freely vote without fear, the freedom to choose the books we want to read.
As a Christian, Jesus taught us to love one another as He loved us and gave His life for us. That love is rare to see in the religious Republican communities. He loves us where we are in life...He does not ask us to pretend we are someone we are not so that we can "join the club" and mindlessly agree on everything and vote the same way!!! We are each given minds, gifts, personalities....some mild , some of us wild and crazy, funny characters. His love changes our ability to love others if we are truly HIS. Why???? Because if you are a true believer , you are so overwhelmed by His presence in your life ...by the fact that He loves you and has accepted you raw and making bad choices...lost...maybe a criminal. etc. unconditionally and pours that love and forgiveness in us ....so much that we cannot hold it and so we are compelled to "love our fellowman" NOT JUDGE EVERYONE ELSE!!!
If the Republican Party is full of Christians, then I belong on another planet!!!!! They will each have to stand before God and if I were them I would be shaking in my shoes...unless Trump has become their God.....
Emily you said it all. trump has made himself a god. Even some of his adds are so offensive, he makes me ill🤮. I prayed over my ballot for the first time. Please GOD protect us🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Emily, may I respectfully suggest your third paragraph be rewritten to: "As a Jew, Jesus taught us..."?
Yes, Mary…you may!!!👍❤️
They are all traitors.
So true and tired of dems just sit idly by when all this is happening. Dems stand up and fight for us!
Democrats' biggest mistake was fearing Bernie Sanders more than they feared Donald Trump. 😪
It’s a full court insurrection now.
Bruce Glick: True.
Your short statement catches a lot.
Well said.
We’ll need to adjust a lot when they win. Eventually they will, one State at a time:(
Don't put up with it! Fight. Register Democrats -- save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Tonight Robert Hubbell is speaking at a Field Team 6 event called “How you can turn your dollars in Democrats!”
Sign up here: https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/622159/
https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/622159/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thanks
"We’ll need to adjust a lot when they win. Eventually they will, one State at a time:( "
Whew. Sheesh. Yikes. Giving up already. I hope by "adjusting" you mean upping our game to push back against clerical corporate fascism - as so many are even in 'red states.'
Knock it off. Realism in this case when billionaires, corporations, foreign entities, and a third of the countries voters would burn us down to get what they want isn’t negativity. State by state they’re destroying education and fixing it so women will be bed bound between F-ing a husband and whelping his spawn. Kinda hard to vote that way. Those mo-fo’s are playing the long game. I don’t feel like we’re doing enough to stop the spread of this cancer and not fast enough. Low education, 🐂 💩 religions, and corrupt media are taking its toll.
There's already an antidote being administered in one state at a time. It began in Alaska, a red state full of independents. They stopped Sarah Palin from winning their single house seat.
Nevada followed suit in 2022, and the deep red state of Idaho is on track to approve the reform in November. The campaign is being led by anti-Trump Republicans. There are a half dozen more states working on some type of electoral reform this year and others in the pipeline.
Yes, don't give up hope.
Brief, to the point,clear and eloquent. Thank you from someone who struggles with all these qualities.
Annabell Ascher: No WONDER I read your postings regularly.
You state it so clearly, so truthfully in two, short sentences.
I concur on all points.
Here, here!
They have no shame, no conscience, these Republicans.
On the Clarence court, their taking bribes, perjuring themselves, and corrupting today’s law to serve that of the era of medieval witchcraft all self-exhibit.
When one has no respect for “others,” for the variations in American life, one can arrogate one’s ideology and impose it cookie-cutter on all.
And so congressional Republicans seek to outdo the vulgarity on the Clarence court. A presidential candidate who’s convicted in court, by a jury of his peers (more than one jury), of sexual abuse -- no problem. Same presidential candidate's business also convicted of widespread, deep, and many years of business fraud -- also no problem.
Whom do these Republicans serve, with their contempt for law, open embrace of vulgarity?
They serve the moneyed interests, the liars, the cheats, the greedy, the exploiters of both people and the planet. They do not serve the American people whom they attempt to disenfranchise. It you're not writing postcards to folks who haven't voted recently, now is the time to start.
They are the party of death as you have so neatly outlined for us.
Postcards, Betsy?
How much good will they do so long as all U.S. K-12 serves primarily the billionaire standardized testers, in schools so intimidated that all just anymore teach to the test?
How much good will they do so long as all U.S. higher ed serves the corporate that has neutered all in silos (& personal safety identity zones) where no humanities need apply?
Studies show that as many as 4% of folks who haven't voted recently go to the polls when they get a postcard in the mail urging them to vote. Look at the slim margins, and in some states, that's enough to make a difference.
This has been true for the 50 years I have been involved in politics. Back when I worked in the California legislature running campaigns, postcards would be used as a community organizing tool. Organizations that supported a candidate would be asked to get their members to commit to sending personally signed postcards for the candidate to at least 10 friends, because it was known that a postcard was 80% more likely to be read and not thrown away as compared with the typical political mailers that flood my mailbox these days and go straight into the blue barrel.
It was stated last night on PBS that 16% of the base would NOT vote for TFG if found guilty but 80% said they still would …16% here…4% there…I’ll take every gain possible for the win!
There’s an outstanding rank of young Democrats already serving and in line for the next top dogs, impressive, willing, getting good review. Ousting these Complicits will take several years of voting cycles. Many Republicans jumped ship already realizing the ploy. Writers like Heather , historians , and others have laid bare the ‘aint pretty’ playbook of autocracy and the companies now at 100 planning 2025 clearly convinced of overthrow. But the American Dream is laced with the shiny schemes , the promises ( pointedly the tariff fiasco when nothing materialized to ‘build back better’ replacement) The holocaust/climate/election deniers prove the point-make it all shiny and pretty, build upon lies, promises,trust me and thoughts and prayers …’they will come’…
No the Dems don’t have the perfect solutions. Yes we’ve made some mistakes. But the turtle won the race.
We. Can. Do. This. But we got to do it at the ballot box…grab the 16% , the 4%, write post cards, share Heather’s , Joyce’s, Steve’s, Dan’s brilliant ‘letters’ …tell history as it is and plug away…WIN. THE. RACE.
💙💙VOTE💙💙
Native American votes helped secure President Biden’s win in 2020.
✍️They have a very effective postcarding campaign that pairs voters with a local organizer.
https://neaznativedemocrats.org/
This is the organization I write postcards for. Well run and effective
Absolutely, demonstrably true.
I believe they were effective in the midterms during Trump's presidency to preserve the Democratic majority in the House. Postcard writing helped motivate people to vote by stirring them from their political hopelessness. The example of John Lewis' battle cry to "get in good trouble" remains pertinent today. It is a cry to do something; rather than to observe history, to be part of it; to be influential in some small way. By how many votes did Bush win Florida?
Good points, Russell.
Especially re Florida 2000.
Though not sure about your "By how many votes did Bush win Florida?" Not sure because the far-right Supreme Court of that era would not countenance any actual final, legitimate counting of the votes then.
Our far right has long thought itself entitled to wreck its will upon the land -- damn any who think otherwise.
Bush "won" Florida by 500 votes. Had the recount continued 3 more days, it's likely Gore would have won by 1,500, with the momentum he was getting in the recount.
Actually 537 popular votes awarded to Bush/Cheney as I wrote to friends years ago:
"...The 2000 Florida election still grates with me, since Bush "won" 271 Electoral Votes to 266 (a 5 vote margin at just exactly the number required with the one abstention being one of the 3 D.C. Electors for Gore), 538 more votes if counted for Gore, would have given Gore 292 to Bush's 246 (a 46 Electoral vote margin). The Brooks Brother's Riot got the recount that the court said was justified (except they kept the deadline impossibly short) effectively halted so that Cheney/Bush ended up with a 537 vote lead (exactly as many popular votes as Electoral College voters that voted, since one abstained).
The attitude of one of the Republican poll workers I talked to seemed too hasty, too (eager to ignore any attempt to do an honest recount, back when I still considered many of our lower echelon Republican's honest brokers). During the 2016 primaries, I had a running issue with one of the D.C. Republican [alternate] delegates (I think), about the dozen different ways they assigned delegates in winner-take-all, winner-take-most, or proportional rules they got for states where my old party couldn't win in the general, so wanted every delegate (and later Elector) possible to skew the Electoral votes whichever way helped them the most..."
I have nothing but contempt for all the participants and supporters of the Brooks Brothers rioters for all the damage they did then and are still doing from the higher positions they have infiltrated into.
I'm disgusted to imagine even worse people that will be enabled to replace all that Trump promises to replace in his "Shallow State," should the electoral college be as counter to the popular vote winner (I suspect Trump will be an even bigger loser in the popular vote than both previous elections).
…which is exactly why the rush to stop the count.
Yup. That was the stolen election so of course Stop the Steal is now their mantra.
That's true!
Yes, that is the truth.
Oh, I agree that Bush likely didn't win Florida; that the Supreme Court interfered with — short circuited —the process of determining the legitimacy of the vote count. Contrastingly, all of Trump's spurious court challenges after his loss were given consideration.
Bush only "won" Florida because the Supreme Court stopped the recount.
And that win should have been called out.
But for the politicized Supreme Court, there would be no Iraq war; a new ramping up of cascading lies for political ends; no Abu Graib and its attendant abuse of the term "torture".
There would have been the commencement of consciousness about global warming and political action to curb it. In essence, historically, then as now, Republican influence is usually destructive to our national interests and private freedoms and Democrats are constructive; they specifically tend to insure the general welfare; support respect for self-determination, equality before the law and promote the positive influence that a strong, true democracy exerts internationally.
If the Dems take both houses and the presidency, they should act IMMEDIATELY to enlarge the court to at least one justice per circuit, enact term limits, passing voting rights legislation and protect women’s reproductive health care. They need to flood us with legislation it’s been proven we need—no more relying on the republicans “good faith,” as if they actually have any.
I dreamed
He didn’t
Russell Meyer
just now
I agree. I only said "likely" because the Supreme Court stopped the count. Am I wrong;; did the count continue despite their interference? Was there an actual, final number?
I'll add that I was surprised Gore didn't loudly protest.
He gave up too soon, did not need to, but why???????
Are there other options?
How much good will it do all of us to just lie down & let these crooks take over our country? Do you really think giving up is the answer?
Just got a hundred AZ RTV postcards from Blue Wave Postcard Movement yesterday. As they came with pre-printed address labels and 2 sentences to write, can have all of them in the mail by Friday, latest. All 100 are labeled and 25 written (while I listened to MSNBC on the trial).
You are sending them out now? Wouldn't it be more strategic to wait until October? My letter and postcard writing campaigns instruct us to wait until October to send them out.
These are RTV (register to vote) postcards. Instructions are for two weeks maximum from the day there were received (5/14). I have others (GOTV) with an October date. I’m worried about DeJoy. Hope he will be gone by then. I’ll follow instructions, however.
Thank you for clarifying, and especially for all you do to GOTV.
My group just did 300 of those cards!
Just mailed the 100 cards. The stick-on labels and two sentence message are a breeze.
Been a postcard writer for some time now. Given how many of us ignore/block calls and texts from unknown numbers, I feel like a postcard at least stands a chance.
His misconduct justifies their appetite for the same. "If he can get away with it, why can't I?"
TFG does not have a lock on despicable behavior, he just does it on stage for the world to see. Having lost any semblance of shame or self respect, he can make reality TV out of it. He openly does what many other power hungry individuals wish they had the chutzpah to do themselves. There's a really big gang of thugs out there in the DC pantheon of horribles.
He loves the spectacle, it may be draining but it serves his sick agenda since his ugly, putrid image is on every tv, computer and front page. Any publicity…
". . . make reality TV out of it."
Very good, Just Sayin'.
Tens of millions of Americans learned zero humanities in school, so cannot imagine artists beyond the vulgar, the stereotyped, the canned, formulaic, and soon eminently A.I.-mass-producible for more corporate profit, more of a cesspool for American public space.
Phil, as someone who's made his career through an audience of people who did get some education in the humanities, the truth is that 80% of Americans have ALWAYS been half-educated yokels, going back to the founding.
I worry much more about elites who never use any humanities, TCinLA.
I worry about the "educational" institutions that produced this dehumanization. I worry about the tens of millions who lost decent working-class jobs to offshoring, and their justifiable resentment of elites indifferent to them, our elites so largely unaware of, without literacy in the many fine novels, memoirs, films, songs, and other arts actually out there, available to us for helping to see, to experience what our neighbors have had to experience.
To which educational institutions are you referring? I'm a retired professor of mathematics. Are you accusing me of propagating dehuminization? Are you including me in your sweeping statement regarding elites?
I doubt that mathematics, part of liberal arts education, are part of the discussion. It’s the dehumanization of American universities which my favorite professor (Medieval French, Harvard PhD at 20) meant when he said that he graduated from
Harvard “while it was still a university—the year before Harvard put in the business school.”
Look, Bob, at the comment writers here.
Count the references to novels, films, songs, memoirs, histories.
Do the math.
As you do, note the tens of millions of embittered Americans whose jobs biz school elites offshored, whose lives most other elites learned to ignore, their instructors in dutifully neutered silos.
Agree with 70%
Sadly, that is the only way they were able to grab back the power in the Republican Party, they had an advisor who convinced the Republican Party to focus on the Abortion issue. That is how the Republicans recruited as many Right Wing Christian and More, orchestrated by Doris Schlafly. If she hadn't convinced them to focus on the abortion issue, they would never would have defeated the Democrats..
Phyllis.
Read about Paul Weyrich. Where we are today goes back to him and his diabolical, RW beliefs.
Nothing like tfg calling Hannibal Lecter a good guy : “the late, great Hannibal Lecter, a wonderful man”
He did? Funny, I was just thinking he reminds me of Louis XIV.
Yes he did. A couple of days ago at one of his rallies at a beach in New Jersey. It’s amazing how little to no coverage the MSM has given that comment. A psychopath praising another psychopath (even if a fictional one).
Do a search you’ll find a video clip of it with ease.
Good grief!
At this point I call the Speaker of the House, Mike "Goebbels" Johnson since he has become the mouthpiece to spin Trump's bad deads, just as Goebbels did for Hitler. The spin doctor. Let us hope the American people do not fall for it.
Tens of millions already have fallen for it, Linda.
They hate elites in the same proportion they love egregious lies. They hate gays in the same proportion they love their cult leader adorned with his Liberace coif and his drag queen orange encrusted make-up. They love pussy-grabbing in the same proportion they profess something they call "Christianity" or "Christian nationalism."
The spirit of Reagan, the original “ dismantler” of post-WW2 stability.
Embracing vulgarity is but a side effect of a much larger dynamic. What Trump has done, and the GOP has latched on to, is to tell voters what they want to hear without admitting their grievances are more due to GOP policies that have favored the rich since the 80's but instead they blame them on the worst progressive policy failures.
They have successfully demonized the left regardless of how liberal/progressive they might be. It's metastasized and it's here for generations. Because the facts didn't support the reality, they successfully reverted to story telling on right wing media and at political events.
The NIMBY progressive policies in deep blue cities have given fuel to GOP attacks. Look at the idiocy in SF for example and CA in general. This has been used to extend to the justice system and rule of law. Democrats are afraid of the maga movement and would rather avoid direct contact and believe they can win with reason.
It's why Biden can't break out of the perpetual deadlock with Trump in national polls. No matter how much Biden touts the economy and infrastructure it gets less traction than Trump/GOP false memes and storytelling. Democrats think they can debate their way out of a knife fight. That never works.
The only hope I see in 2024 comes from women willing to vote anti-GOP across the board because Biden has to risen to the level needed to counter Trump's erratic, yet effective, rhetoric.
Asking why is no longer an option, only a delaying mechanism.
The Putin finger on the polls is part of the problem too. I actually heard a learned member of the Orthodox Church say that Putin is a believer (he has “restored” the Orthodox Church in Russia, forbidden under Stalin to enhance his power). Those who spend time online for their news seem to have left all weighing of sources. The idea that a KGB trained member of the Stasi is suddenly Christian, in particular Putin, is mind boggling.
Let's be real. Religion for Putin and Trump is just another card in their decks of deception for the masses. They are not religious except for worshipping themselves.
Yes! Exactly. That’s why DT and his bibles are hilarious (or scary).
More like sad, sacrilegious and sick. But I'm very jaded. ;-)
Biden made me wish I'd waited to post my original remark. He did a gutsy thing today. Personally, I doubt the debates will happen but that doesn't upset me. While I would have LOVED to see Biden cross-examine Trump on his "Proud Boys stand down and stand by" remark, he can still do that whether there are debates or not.
I want to see Biden get nasty. I know he has it in him as he does it all the time behind the scenes. #littlesighofrelief
This is Christian Nationalism. It is ugly and it is here. We need to defeat it at every level. Think about it as the American Taliban. All Old Testament retribution and anger. No room for The Sermon on the Mount.
Yes, Susan.
And to underscore your balking at "Christian nationalism" today, too, so-called Christian Mike Johnson (Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) now publicly aligns his version of Christianity with that of his friend Trump's pussy-grabbing, grabbing women for sex in high-end department store dressing rooms, inviting young women "for dinner" which turns out only to be forcing sex on them, too, in Las Vegas hotel room.
Thank you Dr. Richardson. I was born in the same year that the state of Israel was born , in 1948. At that time there was much strife and gunfire, yet somehow a two state plan was in place which it was hoped would bring about a peaceful settlement. Over the years the war would heat up and cool down. Today CNN reported a new arms package was about to be discussed in the House of Reps. (In the amount of one billion dollars. ) As a counter to this plan for more munitions and weaponry, I sent a donation to ANERA, an organization that provides food and other necessities to Palestinians. How much more arms does Israel need? How many dead children and civilians will be enough? Let me be clear that I support the right of Israel to exist and that nation has every right to defend itself. So does the nation of Palestine. Cease fire now. Give peace a chance.
Absolutely right, Jack.
To paraphrase the Bard of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, "How many dead Gazans will it take, to say too many Gazans have died?!"
For those who don’t understand the reference, that would be Robert Zimmerman, also known as Bob Dylan, Minnesota native. the land of 10,000 lakes.
Thank you for this touching thought.
Thank you Daniel Streeter. Those early songs by Bob Dylan will live forever. Blowing in the Wind. Masters of War. It’s alright ma. To name a few. Part of the problem is that war is highly profitable for those in the war industry whether right or wrong, win or lose.
Not just "the war industry," Jack.
Also our education industry where humanities no longer have any meaningful role -- by design, by Powell memo design, by billionaire and dark money cohering game plan, so a massive, worldwide criminality may rule, of which "the war industry" forms just another part of many similarly tribal, sectarian, group atavistic.
I was not a believer in an international mob at first, but now I do. Even Bob Mueller gave a speech on the iron triangle which consists of corrupt politicians, businessmen loaded with cash and mob types who know how to commit crimes. When those three elements cooperate, they are a formidable force.
I wonder if folks are aware that the UN has revised the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. The number of women and children who have died are half of what has been reported for months now.
Update to Gazan death tolls:
The fully identified death toll comprises of 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men, the UN spokesperson said, citing the Gaza health ministry.
Its clear from these figures that many Hamas combatants have been killed. I’m writing this to try to stop the relentless parroting of the phrase “34,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children have died.” Obviously, Hamas has not been truthful, which I expected all along. It was obvious that the majority of deaths could not possibly be only women and children.
Please remember too that this is a war, not just “an overreaction to a terrorist attack”or a genocide. According to Al Jazeera the Hamas brigades number between 35-40,000. Its these brigades and their weapons, all hiding underground, that Israel is battling. Hamas terrorists and their ambitions must be stopped. There is no other solution at this point.
And these ‘reduced numbers’ are OK? The numbers of Palestinians killed in ANY conflict with Israel is always exponentially higher, and destructive to women and children. The Zionist expansion of settlements, apartheid system with regard to Palestinians, and rejection of a two state solution, has only served to foster grief, resentment and hostility for generations. Where does it end? ‘We are creating enemies faster than we can kill them’ the saying goes.
Absolutely, and that is why this war is the solution to nothing. It will only foster more armed resistance. Some new terrorist networks will pop up to replace Hamas.
The only sustainable solution to this problem is to give the Palestinians something to live for, a land of their own.
Betty, the Palestinians/Gazans/Arabs have been given that option repeatedly over the past 75 years always with the same outcome, the relentless effort by their political leaders to destroy Israel (e.g.- by digging extensive tunnels, creating military "bases" in schools & hospitals rather than use the resources to build the physical, administrative and political infrastructure necessary for any viable "country."
Let's see, Heather, that would be 24,686 Palestinians (Gazans?) dead rather than 34,000? A poignant question indeed about "reduced numbers" dead being OK!
Thank you Annie.
Everyone with a beating heart looks at what is happening in Gaza with horror. And then the blame game begins its endless cycle. As usual, armchair critics blame Biden. Because everything is always the fault of whoever the sitting president is. I rear ended a car, it's Biden's fault. A ship sank in the Atlantic. It's Biden's fault. I stubbed my toe. It's Biden's fault.
Hamas is dedicated to the elimination of all Jews in the region.
Hamas hides in tunnels underneath their women, children and parents.
Hamas committed an atrocity that seems to be drifting away in the public consciousness.
Hamas promises more violence.
Hamas could have ended this conflict by negotiating peace.
Hamas could end the conflict today and save thousands of lives.
Hamas watches their own people starve as they spend billions of donations from Qatar and Iran to build tunnels and launch missiles into Israel.
Hamas uses their babies as shields. They are not warriors. They are devious monsters.
With all the financial support Hamas has received from their "religious" leaders they could have been building infrastructure, feeding their people, negotiating nationhood. Instead, they refused the two state solution, allowed their children to starve and invited the destruction of their neighborhoods. Invited it.
I ask what Americans would do if a paramilitary organization were to have slaughtered over a thousand people at a music festival. Raped and tortured peaceful people. Beheaded children.
Would we allow that organization to hide in tunnels? Would we not seek their surrender or death? What if there were Neo-Nazis in tunnels right now, right here - who were pledged to the destruction of our nation? Would we walk away? Could we?
I don't have the answer to how Israel could approach this situation differently. I welcome suggested solutions. But they won't be solutions unless they include the complete and total elimination of a Hamas - proxy assassins operating under the direct influence of Iran and by extension - with the approval of Putin.
The horrors of Gaza are the perfect distraction from Ukraine. There is a real genocide happening in Ukraine. Where is the rage at those who oppose assisting the Ukrainians who are being slaughtered by Russians? Ukrainians who simply wanted to exist peacefully as a democracy. A people whose only mistake was having a border with Russia. Where were the campus protests while Republicans held up support for our allies?
Putin is playing three dimensional chess and we are playing checkers.
Hamas have the same values as the Nazis of WWII Germany. The same values as the military leaders of Japan when they bombed Pearl Harbor. The people of Germany and Japan in the early 20th century supported them. They paid a horrible price.
The children of Gaza are the victims. The adults who caused this should look in the mirror.
October 7th is just a preview if Hamas is allowed to survive and rebuild.
Thanks for saying all of this, Bill. I agree with it all. The Palestinians have been treated badly by Israel. Everything they have done, especially allowing settlers to go into the West Bank and take good land, has been done without any respect to the people or their rights. Hamas was an outgrowth of this treatment. One thing I want to add is that "Palestinian" should not be equated with Hamas. It was Hamas who committed the horrible actions of October 6, not Palestinians.
Thank you Bill. I’m so tired of Israel being blamed shunned and vilified around the globe. I’m so tired of Jews who are living elsewhere being blamed. I cannot understand why young people are casting their lot in with a terrorist organization. Imagine if your country was invaded by 4000 militants and other hangers on to commit murder, rape and take hostages. What would you do? Clearly the Arab countries who support Hamas and Iran have a superior PR system. I don’t know if you read the article in the NYT about Sinwar. He states that he is prepared to sacrifice the whole population of Gaza in order to fulfill his aims.
The figures you give are probably more accurate than the larger numbers that have been reported, yet just as ghastly. Looking at the photos of Gaza and the incredible destruction brought upon that narrow strip of land, how will we ever know, how many were killed? We have such advanced weaponry, that kills with precision yet also indiscriminately, by its sheer power alone. If it is a war, I don’t want to wait for Israel to win it, I want to stop it. Enough already.
Gutsy comment, Annie; many thanks. Those numbers total 24,686 people.
¿Is that the total death toll or that of civilians who are not Hamas fighters?
Other articles state that ten-to-eleven thousand Gazans are missing or dead but with identities pending verification.
B.L.U.F. (bottom-line, up-front): though the civilian death toll is high in Gaza it is in the vicinity of other recent urban conflicts. Israël is making an effort to contain direct casualties but creating conditions likely to expand the death toll greatly.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/05/13/un-cuts-estimates-women-children-deaths-gaza/73669560007/
Annie, I have also read that the number of hamas fighters is around forty thousand.
Israël claims to have killed fourteen-to-fifteen thousand. The numbers are hard to nail down; I doubt anyone really knows. Best case is that more than half of the hamas combatants (19,000) are not accounted for (i.e., not included in the number killed to date or the four thousand said to be in Rafah). So, ¿where are they? And, ¿is Netanyahu proving to be hamas's most effective recruiter?
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-hamas-war-counterterrorism/
Though the numbers are fuzzy and these guesstimates are, more likely than not, significantly off the mark, the civilian death toll relative to combatants in Gaza of 50-60% is higher than those of Viêt Nam (46%) and Afghanistan (30%) but similar to that in Iraq (66%). Like Gaza, Iraq entailed more urban combat than Viêt Nam or Afghanistan.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8581199/
The problem with these comparisons remains WHO is responsible for WHAT civilian deaths. The numbers cited above, I believe, count those killed directly by military personnel. They exclude the deaths attendant to a break-down of the civil society. That is the primary threat facing Gaza now as food and medical supplies as well as water remain limited.
https://www.philanthropy.com/article/heres-why-so-little-humanitarian-is-reaching-gaza
In Viêt Nam, 600,000 civilians died from military fire with estimates of two million 'excess deaths'. In Iraq, some 100,000 civilians died by direct military violence while 'excess' deaths were roughly 450,000. In Afghanistan, some 50,000 died by direct military contact versus roughly 200,000 'excess deaths'. In theory, most or all of these 'excess deaths' would NOT have occurred BUT for war.
They keep talking about a plan to protect civilians, but it seems to consist of telling people to evacuate an area they plan to invade or bomb. These people have little option with borders closed and much of the country in ruins. I wonder how careful the IMF is being since they shot an unarmed hostage before confirming identity and killed World Central kitchen relief workers returning from bringing food to starving people.
It is a real dilemma. This war is really an urban counter-insurgency. Israël is using the same search-&-destroy tactics that the United States used in Viêt Nam. Those tactics did not work fifty-to-sixty years ago and they are failing here. It is hard to square the city-scapes of Bakhmut and Gaza being indistinguishable.
The U.S. did succeed in turning the situation around in Iraq with the surge and, more importantly, gaining the trust and support of the Sunni sheiks in the Western provinces in 2007-08. Yet hamas really has to be defeated. What Israël needed to do was to be patient and to apply the concepts of community policing.
By partnering with the peace-minded Gazans, Israël could hunt down the hamas fighters and seal, at least, the key tunnels. That tactic may not have worked either, but then Israël could resort to her current, kinetic approach. Now, I fear (as a philo-Semite and fan of Israël) that Netanyahu is doing more harm than good not only for the welfare of Palestineans, but also for the security of his own people.
Is the only way to achieve that end is for Israel to murder every Palestinian with US materiel? This is an 80 year struggle that has only used violence and propaganda to oppress and occupy a neighbor after usurping lands. It doesn’t work. You can’t kill your enemies faster than you make new ones.
Strong regionally enforced cease fire and peace talks. For eighty years these two and their gangs have been fighting in the sand box. We need some adults in the room and Biden is trying to end something that it appears neither of the combatants want to stop.
Jack - but there must be a plan in place for Israel and the Palestinians for that to happen and Natinyahu is against a two state solution which would result in more of the same. Being on the brink of a World War I should think would give people pause. It’s a global issue. And where are the grownups.
Precisely, it is striking Tutone. Netanyahu could well lead us to WWIII, this is one case where a little war may not prevent a bigger one. When he openly abandoned a two state solution, I got worried. Can you imagine what life must be like in Gaza? I am a 75 year old looking at a war as old as I am. No, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
He is an example of a corrupt extremist autocrat who is drawn to violence to solve problems. We have been down this road before. He has to go but they keep voting for him and his Likud party.
Although Israel makes much of being the only democracy in the Middle East, it's a parliamentary democracy, and "they" are right-wingers with some very undemocratic ideas.
Sounds like us or at least the MAGA GOP.
I see that, too.
Jack, I fear that the entrenched politics of those "representing" Palestinians which dedicated themselves to never, ever accepting Israel as a separate viable state but dedicating themselves to the destruction of Israel in any way possible rather than the construction of a viable political state for Palestinians. So now we have the inevitable stalemate that has existed since the founding of Israel in 1948. The UN clearly needed some other or some additional way to create space for the multitudes of surviving Jews displaced from across Europe and Asia. I have neither the expertise nor experience to imagine HOW that should have been done differently but those original plans clearly have failed to provide a peaceful resolution or two-state solution for the past 3/4 of a century.
At the negotiations one side proclaims death to Israel and the other wants everything from the river to the sea. It is a failed project without a doubt.
Meg Kinnard, “a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker turning his Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy.” to support the slimy actions being described in that courtroom. OMG!!Mike Johnson has totally joined the coup... last weeks hero turned traitor to constitutional governance.
Mike Johnson has been an election denier from the very beginning.
Sorry Lynn, but I would Never consider Mike Johnson a "hero " in any stretch of my imagination 😜
Nobody did consider him a "hero". They voted for him so they could get the rest of the budget bills passed for the new fiscal year (starts October 1) and he was the most "reasonable" alternative. Given the rest of them are completely unreasonable, it was just keep the best of a bad lot and retake the majority in November.
Hi TC, In retrospect I would say 'reasonable person' instead of 'hero.' That does not change the issue... it is not about the names we can call these people... the fact the Speaker of the House dis-graced himself, dis-graced his position, dis-graced this country shows he missed one of the basic lessons in life... NO MATTER WHAT LIFE HANDS YOU, IF YOU DON'T HAVE CHARITY OR HOPE, AT LEAST ACT WITH GRACE. I thought you might understand this.
It's going to tak all uf us being heroes (doing the job no matter how scared we are) to win in November.
I think Johnson may have helped engineer the coup, at the very beginning.
Lynn - appalling.
“Now extremists in the House are trying to run foreign policy on their own.”
These Republicans remind me of people we’ve all known. They talk big and tell everyone how smart they are, yet are shallow blowhards incapable of accomplishing anything of true value.
Running foreign policy? It would be like a 10 year old driving a massive truck and speeding in heavy interstate traffic. Disaster.
They're not really interested in foreign policy, or in any kind of policy, beyond being obstructionist. "Owning the libs" is not policy. It is an expression that they hide behind without offering any policy of their own.
Betsy, I think you correct. To add some detail 'Owning the Libs' = accumulating power = kissing Trump's huge orange ass = obstructing anything that is not their idea = manipulating their followers.
The blatant hypocrisy is stunning: if the president in office is Trump, the executive should have unrestrained powers without Congressional interference. If not, they want unrestrained power against the executive. It’s as self-contradictory as being willing to sacrifice the life of the mother for the unborn fetus and calling it “pro-life.” If the fetus turns out to be female, she will be expected to make the same sacrifice for her own fetus. It makes no sense.
Looking for logic again
We all need to do more than read: call your elected officials And demand
1. Debate between Biden and Trump hosted by PBS
2. Live Tv but no audience in peanut gallery
3. Only one live microphone on at a time for speaker who is being questioned to avoid Rude interruption
Let Americans see and hear what they are choosing between…
And let them debate policy issues only!!!!!!
Evening to All!
Meg Kinnard of the AP is absolutely, 100% correct. The simpering, shameless, sycophantic, soulless shell of a Speaker from Shreveport is a complete disgrace.
The Speaker of the House is one of the few clearly articulated elected officials bearing specific constitutional responsibilities. He/She has power and responsibilities independent of the President. For our entire history, the Speaker has served as an avatar of constitutional protection, whether minor or major, insuring that the People's House conducts the People's business within constitutional parameters. There have been great and legendary Speakers, corrupt and placeholder Speakers, and obnoxious Speakers (yes, looking at you eye of Newt!). But until now, there has never been a slavishly servile Speaker, wholly and readily willing to demean his lowly self before a convicted sex offender and traducer of the Constitution who happens to be a former President, a Speaker willing to cast aside his solemn constitutional duties to travel to the first ever criminal trial of that same former President so as to serve as his sycophantic factotum, mouthing inanities and dangerous falsehoods, directly casting disrespect upon the essential institutions of Justice, the Courts and the Jury system.
What a shameful display by a man who should, as Despicable Don would say, be grabbed by the pusillanimity!
Daniel, love the alliteration describing little Johnson. But I am sure this shameless (to borrow one of your words) person would do anything to put into place a pseudo theocracy run by the craven hypocrites of the party of death. I say pseudo because he and any so-called Christian who supports death star isn't.
Thank you for your kind words, Michele. I will confess to an alliteration addiction 🤣
More importantly, you are most certainly correct about the pseudo theocratic impulse driving Little Mikey and many others of similar ilk.
A nice addition to have.
The courtroom witnessed a parade of useful idiots parroting the words ‘’the orange turd’’ is forbidden to utter.
He would cast them aside without a thought should it serve his purposes but yet they do his bidding, faces set in servile smiles. When I saw Mike Johnson outside the courtroom, the image of him in an SS uniform was impossible to erase. I think I will forever see him that way.
That makes two of us.
Well the house GOP is helping me with one thing..I read their antics of going to the courthouse, the comments they are making and if it’s before dinner I eat very little .
Christine, they are nauseating. The slime continues unabated. They accomplish nothing but chaos which might be the point.
It is the point, along with cruelty
Following his party's use of projection for everything they say, Speaker Johnson's own quote, “[n]o one should believe a word he says (in there)" should immediately be applied by Democrats,...to himself. To which the answer is,.... and we don't.
As corruption expert Sarah Kendzior has said for years, “We are the only ones who will save us now!”
Forget about Jack Smith, Fani Willis, or Alvin Brag (whose conviction of Trump if obtained will be declared invalid and politically motivated by the GOP leadership).
WE MUST VOTE AS IF OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT!!!
www.sarahkendzior.com
And they most certainly do. And not only our lives, but democracy the world over.
The G.O.P.-led House of Representatives brazenly breaks down the separation of powers. It makes me think that the Republicans know that the party -- and their Party -- is over. So, they grab everything and every shred of power before the lights come on in November. Well, there goes my short-lived admiration of Speaker Johnson. These antics merely inspire Trump to drumpf our democracy again, and always.
Dr. Richardson's excellent summary of the day points out the points of continuing Republican insurgency during this in-process Civil War. Quite remarkable, though, that there is no spotlight on the total refusal of the Biden administration to do a thing about it. As she points out, Biden continues Trump's tariffs. His Justice Department continues to refuse taking action against any Republican insurgents. And Democrats apparently have no plans to put Mike Johnson on the hot seat for condemning the U.S. judiciary. As they have no plans to call to account the actual corrupt judiciary—Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge Aileen Cannon to name two.
Dr. Richardson concludes her essay with a quote from Niger's Prime Minister, explaining his turn towards Russia: “We have seen what the United States will do to defend its allies,” he said, “because we have seen Ukraine and Israel.” The question we should be asking is this: how and why is our Democratic Party continuing to have no strategy or actions to fight this? President Biden continues to feel too constrained by Congress to act promptly as Commander-in-Chief when Donald Trump makes it clear that the Executive Branch has zero constraints. So we should be asking, why isn't he and his administration doing everything they can to protect our Constitution?
Justice Thomas is clearly corrupt; Justice Cannon is "merely" incompetent and biased. Or is it biased and incompetent?
But you're right. I, too, am dismayed by the reluctance of the Biden Administration to call out and hit back hard at those internal enemies who would subvert our democracy. We can hope that there will be a change of heart once the campaign gets into full swing, but I doubt it.
Yes, I think similarly. Pres. Biden shows strong leadership in every way except the way that matters the most—protecting our Constitution. Our nation watches the Republican Party tearing our Constitution apart and he doesn't call them out. That silence teaches us to fear Republicans as they commit terrorism each day, undermining our justice and our freedoms. Pres. Biden does such a great job calling out Putin and other dictators. It's a shame he can't do the same calling out the Republican Party. Instead, House Speaker Mike Johnson will get a free pass for saying publicly that our justice system is corrupt. And the silence from our President will teach us also to be silent and to fear even more.
No fear. Only a simmering anger at what the Republican Party has become. And I shall not be silenced, despite the pacific reticence of the President.
Chump is depending on the campaign to be his shield
Uh-huh, no. There is a difference in the tariffs. Check it out.
Indeed there is. See https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-big-tariffs-are-here
Thanks. That article makes my point: "The most important thing about these tariffs is probably the message they send. Protectionism is now the consensus economic policy of both major political parties in the United States."
Interesting blog post — thanks for the link.
I am extremely angry at Merrick Garland's refusal to prosecute those members of the GOP who supported the January 6th Insurrection and continue to deny that Joe Biden won. They are in violation of their Constitutional Oaths. Of course, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate is silent on this matter as well. Where are the calls from Schumer, Jeffries as well as Biden for these members to be prosecuted? Are they really that afraid of appearing to be "partisan" in how they talk about the DOJ? It is NOT partisan to say the DOJ should protect democracy from those who want to destroy it! SMH
Exactly! And without those unified condemnations from Democrats, Republicans see a green light to tear apart our Constitution with no downside. Meanwhile, we of the sane public, watch gobsmacked each week as dangerous precedents get set with Democrats too fearful to declare the Republican Party what it clearly has become—a terrorist organization that makes no bones about its intent to destroy our government and freedom.
Regarding the visits of Johnson and Tuberville to NY to act as spokescreatures for the Orange Abomination, Dean Obeidallah referred to them in his substack today as "Trump's service animals" (no disrespect to real service animals intended).
Stephen Colbert just noted that Tuberville is evidence that coaching football can cause brain damage, not just playing it.
Johnson and Tuberville attending the trial. To put this in larger perspective… this Congress is getting NOTHING done because they’re consumed with placating and babysitting one whiney, spoiled, self-centered orange brat. This is beyond disgusting.
Exactly!