Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has been on a tour of visits with European leaders. On May 13 he met with Pope Francis, who offered help finding the Ukrainian children kidnapped by the Russians and returning them to Ukraine, and with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The next day he met with German chancellor Olaf Scholz before flying to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron. On Monday, Zelensky made a surprise visit to the United Kingdom, where he met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
So many pieces of news packed into this edition of LFAA! It must have been challenging to select and distill it all into one newsletter tonight. This week looks to be very interesting, so rest up, Dr. Heather; glad you published relatively earlier than typical, and once again I hope you have gone to bed to sleep by now. Thank you so much for your consistent high quality writing in these Letters.
Default due to the debt ceiling crisis will be a gift from Trump and his MAGA crazies in the House to Vladimir Putin and authoritarians worldwide by providing a prime example of how democracies can be dysfunctional.
It will also stoke hatred of the United States worldwide as it provokes an international monetary crisis. It will undue much of the meticulous foreign policy work this administation has done.
Domestically, with the deep-pocket funding of Koch and others like him, it will be a major issue in the coming Presidental election. And it will negatively affect every person in this country in terms of higher credit card interest rates, business failures due to credit drying, and increased unemployment.
"Leo quickly attracted the preeminent [court capture]scheme funders, including the foundations of rightwing megadonors John Olin, Lynde and Harry Bradley, Richard Scaife, and, of course, the perennially mischievous and malign Koch brothers."
If you have the time, read ALL The Scheme speeches. The Senator has turned them into a book called, "The Scheme" but if you use the link above, which offers the 5th speech, and scroll to the bottom of that page you can access all. Eye opening!
Thank you for the articles. I had an knowledge of how the courts were and are being captured by the money interests, but these three articles make it clear. Voting alone isn't going to change the trajectory.
I was amongst talented educated people last night, and fro what I could tell, the only one not full MAGA. Comments came up spuriously that reinforced "GOP" talking points that have since been publicly discredited, yet will not die, such as wrongdoing by Dominion Voting Systems to "steal" the election from Trump. I know a bright and seemingly aware older woman who went intensely MAGA, and cut herself off from former friends and relation. Such are the dynamics of a cult.
And yet it is necessary to provide alternative information to any who will hear it. I think that successful social movements create a focus and don't let it drop. Since control of mass media became solely the prerogative of the highest bidder, the plutocrats have dominated the public conversation, but resistance is not futile.
Was delighted that Professor Richardson ended with the AEP and Koch. The malign influence of the brothers and their friends is a fifth column in the US. Must look for Senator Whitehouse’s book. Anything to get US informed and get out the vote.
I continue to believe that there is a potential voting mother lode among the youngest voters (see https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2017/comm/voting-rates-age.html ). There is also, I gather, a lot of cynicism. Can we convince potential yet reluctant voters that they are not just being superficially pandered to, but heard?
JL Graham, my hope is that the young get to vote. There will be states where they may have great difficulty voting. As for voters who feel “unheard,” their votes will be their voices. It is up to us to let them know that.
Thank you lin . After reading the billionaire piece I was stunned , shared it with many others . My level of participation is limited. But with the help of all the YOUs I get to pass on the best info.
The only thing the democrats understand is capitulation. Why is it that repugs get almost everything they want with lies and more lies and democrats lay down.
Our capitalist culture continues to be mined by Robber Barons. Shelter, health, education are conscripted for profit. Unfettered capitalism cannot provide. It is its own proof.
Ultimately; but we have a stake in whether or not it consumes the whole human race and much of the ecosphere. The excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age" are but one of seemingly endless examples of the hell we create when power goes unchecked. Democracy, impartial rule of law, and social contracts were devised to try to deal with humanity's most tragic flaw. A just democracy is always a slog though competing agendas, and it is easy to ridicule, but it is this, not mall shootings, that is the true price of freedom.
Yet the "strong man" approach beguiles many. Mitt Romney was ignoring the obvious when he said "I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing." And Trump reportedly said the Hitler "did a lot of good things".
"Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises." - Lincoln
"Those righteous bastards sold their souls to the Devil for peace & safety, & we, We the People got neither one " - a paraphrase of Samuel L. Jackson as Augustus Gibbons, Triple X.
I think an even more classic devil- deal is souls for wealth and power. Certainly that what seems to motivate "GOP" leadership. Rank and file gets to cosplay "Master Race" and trade essential liberty for an illusion of safety.
Can we please stop paying lip service to "the debt ceiling crisis"? Every time we utter that phrase we reinforce the false notion that there is this calamitous event looming that is about to destroy us. And our media is all too happy to whip us into a frenzy about it every day. We do NOT have a "debt ceiling crisis". We have a revenue problem because we think it's OK to spend nearly a Trillion dollars a year on our bloated military, for example, while the Republicans cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy every chance they get. Not paying the bill for charges already incurred is not an option. If you doubt this, just try it when you get your next American Express credit card statement in the mail. We WILL pay for our expenditures. If the Republicans are serious about overspending they will enact some simple legislation stating that no spending above some fixed cap will be approved by the House next year once that limit is reached. Period and full stop. To suggest that we can address overspending by refusing to pay debts already incurred is monumentally stupid and we do ourselves no favor by even discussing it or using the term "debt ceiling crisis".
You are correct. We will pay our bills. But this IS a "crisis". Manufactured by Republican Cretins who have no policies other than hate and destruction.
The "debt ceiling law" is unconstitutional and President Biden should ignore it. Let's go to the Supreme Court. If they rule in favor of "default", they may actually sway most of America to support the recently resubmitted Supreme Court Reform Act - time for 13 justices. There were 9 circuit courts when the "9 idea" was created. There are now 13.
Bill is right; the "debt ceiling" is unconstitutional. Per se. Please take the time to read Prof. Robert Hockett's (Cornell Law School) surgical analysis of the false issue:
I would agree that there is a group of monumentally stupid cretins among our Republican Representatives. It remains to be seen how much trouble they will cause.
"To suggest that we can address overspending by refusing to pay debts already incurred is monumentally stupid and we do ourselves no favor by . . . using the term 'debt ceiling crisis'." 'Nuf said. The opposition is no longer loyal and ready to shred the Constitution with assault weapons. Thank you LeMoine Surlamont.
The debt ceiling will be raised. The Democrats will claim doing so had nothing to do with concessions made to the House Republican majority in developing the nation's budget, and that the two processes were on entirely separate tracks. They also still believe in the tooth fairy.
Sandra, I think we should call it what it is: kabuki theater, routinely engaged in by both political parties when Republicans control the House with the intention of creating the illusion that "momentous issues are being addressed". This against the backdrop of a media so irresponsible that it won't even take the time to simply explain to a puerile, dumbed down American populace that this "crisis" is manufactured and could be easily and permanently resolved in several ways. Because the media makes money off of this kind of drama. Biden had the right idea going in; that he wouldn't even dignify McCartthy's demands for spending cuts over this issue. Somehow Biden has allowed himself to be sucked into these "negotiations". Jack Lippman (above) is absolutely correct. Ill take the liberty of quoting his excellent comment here:
Jack Lippman: "The debt ceiling will be raised. The Democrats will claim doing so had nothing to do with concessions made to the House Republican majority in developing the nation's budget, and that the two processes were on entirely separate tracks. They also still believe in the tooth fairy."
These Rethugs behave and act like inmates that have broken out of an insane asylum, probably worse than that. It astounds me that human beings like Rethugs can be so cruel and hateful with a total lack of empathy for anyone but themselves. They are really horrible excuses for human beings.
Part 2 of the downfall will be crying “ Awk, the sky is falling.” The sky is falling with every breath we utter. No point at all in leading like lemmings except for precisely that purpose. Who will be the first over the cliff? Oops, too late. Perhaps there are some saner more stabilizing voices amongst us.
Just remember the news that most people read is over hyped to make it seem like the ‘bad guys’ are winning. The steadying force will rise and is rising to crush these traitors. Don’t buy in. It weakens us.
They are being run in part by the power elite who don't care about anything, but their bottom line and the ability to do anything they want no matter how harmful to the environment and to ordinary people (often the poorest). They think their money will save them and they are arrogant as well as we see nearly every day with the behavior of the people like Musk and the less obvious, but equally harmful spending by people like the Kochs. Then there is the festering cancer unleashed by death star. Of course, we have lots of chaos created by the fact that we can't get our gun problem under control. Here in Oregon we now have 4 Senators who fall under the new measure passed by voters that they can't run again when they reach 10 unexcused absences. Their problem is two bills: one about abortion and transgender care and of course, guns....what would people do without their ARs, etc. Their claim is that bills are not properly written so someone with an 8th grade education can understand them which is a mountainous steaming heap of bull pucky. And naturally, they will challenge the measure in court. So even if Ds have the majority, they do not have a quorum. I did notice that our screwball senator is not one of the absent, at least as far as I can tell. As I read A Fever in the Heartland (about the rise of the KKK particularly in Indiana), I am appalled by use of Protestant Christians to push the cause.....and now we have the same nonsense going on. Once again my ex-classmate in Elkhart was ranting about the border, why can't we just close it. This time she had plenty of company in the comments except for one person who talked about exploitation of the undocumented. Right out of what I am reading about in the 1920s.
I wish, and I know I will not get my wish that the news media would stop call these folks Evangelical Christians. They call themselves Christians but their leadership sure doesn't lead them in Christian behavior. CINO is correct. There are some caring people in this group but they are simply lead astray by those wanting money and power. A den of crooks and cons. Jesus would overturn their money tables.
I agree and the type of "Christians" we see are those who is uphold hatred of anyone not just like them. As i mentioned above A Fever in the Heartland spells out how Protestant Christianity was used by the KKK in the 1920s. Jesus was, gosh, a Jew, and not the light skinned person we often see portrayed. And once again I recommend God: An Anatomy for a revealing look at the god of both testaments.
Where are the Democratic super PACS countering Koch’s message in these states?? The R’s have always been great on messaging and spreading misinformation and the D’s have got to aggressively blanket the airwaves with the truth.
For public relations purposes, when deSantis and others talk about the "Soros-funded" this-and-that, the answer should be the "Koch-funded" that-and-this. (Historical note: David Koch died a few years ago. He was in my graduating class, but I didn't know him. He majored in Chem. E., so certainly understood the science of global warming. I suppose that's why he and brother Charles sought to undermine the public's understanding of it. May he rest in peace while the world picks up the pieces.)
Heather - Your post is a blatant lie. Your exact quote "House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), are refusing to raise the debt ceiling" is 100% lie.
The House on April 23 voted to raise the debt ceiling by 1.5T dollars.
This is an outrageous lie. Stop the disinformation. Its unseemly and dishonest.
The debt ceiling has not been raised. House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling loaded with cuts to many programs depended on by Americans including veterans. Without a concurring vote by the Senate, the bill is dead in the water. The Senate will not approve that bill. The debt ceiling has not been raised.
Are you on drugs? Heather claimed that House Republicans refused to raise the deficit ceiling. THAT IS A LIE. They voted to raise it. What the Senate does is irrelevant. She wasn't talking about the Senate.
Why do leftist only have hysteria as an argument for everything? No is going to die, the world isn't going to end. The House voted to raise the debt ceiling 1.5T and hold spending to 2022 levels. That is VERY MODEST. With a 35T deficit, you think ANYONE would applaud some financial restraint.
BTW the country doesn't need 80,000 new IRS agents. Especially given the Biden administration's love for weaponizing government to go after political opponents.
Ask journalist Matt Tiabbi. The IRS paid him a house call on the day he was supposed to testify before Congress on the Twitter files. Ask Carter Page, why the FBI forged a document and lied to a FISA court to get to warrant to spy on him.
James, is that all the House voted on that day, just a nice, clean little debt-ceiling raise to keep the US from defaulting on debts we are legally obliged to honor if we wish to avoid throwing the world economy into chaos and ourselves into History's dustbin?
And please correct me if I'm wrong: In order to raise the debt ceiling both the House and the Senate must pass the measure and the President must sign it.
I'm not lying, James. I just asked you a question. What else -- if anything -- was in the measure that would have raised the debt ceiling? It's a simple question. It would surprise me if you have no answer, even a dishonest one.
Does it ever occur to you that almost no one who reads Heather's letter is likely to take anything you say seriously? I know I don't, and what you say is nearly as inoffensive as it is unentertaining. Have a pleasant day.
This is simple. Heather wrote "House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), are refusing to raise the debt ceiling" That statement is either true or false. Its true you said its true. The House raised the debt ceiling by $1.5T
You can lie or spin but THIS FACTUAL TRUE.
I'm sorry that the truth is offensive to your snowflake ears. This is typical of leftist. That's why you want to censor truth.
You win James. You get the prize for being the most obnoxious pipsqueak of the day. You couldn't argue your way out of a rapid-disintegration faux-plastic wet-garbage recycling bag.
Sorry bro, that's my last word, more important things to do. The loo is calling...
President Biden is traveling the globe, supporting Democracy and countries working together. Meanwhile, at home in our own Democratic government, the repubs led by McCarthy and the Americans for Prosperity funded by Koch, refuse to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts and oppose raising taxes on the wealthy. America is not the model of a two party system. Repubs continue to be the party of obstruction and destruction. Our future depends on compromise and cooperation, but we are far from the government for the people and by the people. Stay tuned.
Bad thing about it is, compromise and cooperation can't be accomplished with Domestic terrorists. That is what the Rethugs are. To me, this whole thing with these Domestic terrorists reeks of blackmail and extortion. They aren't capable of governing, all they want to do deprive the poor and middle class so they can line their pockets with more money. These freaks of nature in the Rethug, fascist/.NAZI party are lower than the scum in a cesspool. All i can do right now is feel extreme hate and rage toward Rethugs. There are no worse humans on the planet than they are.
There is much in play in America that supports the ideal of government of, by, and for the people and much designed to thwart it. It's always been a mix, but plutocrats have abandoned any concession to decency and are Putin-grabbing at absolute power. I propose that of, by and for the people be utilized as a yardstick by which policies and candidates are measured. That which the preponderance of evidence indicates supportive of the goal has a good claim for retention, and that which is contrary to public benefit and control should be considered for rejection. I say "considered" because in some instances the decision may not be clear cut; though others seem obviously over the line, but ultimately the public must decide.
We worry about Turkey leaning toward Putin, when “our” president became his biggest fan in Helsinki, or before. We are teetering on the brink…with the repubs trying to push Humpty Dumpty off the wall.
"Republicans" (as a party name , now an Orwellian use of the word "rePUBLICan") don't really care who or what is hurt, so long as they get to be dominators. "Let them hate us so long as they fear us".
Daniel, it’s not Republicans you and John T are so fed up with. It’s the White Supremacists who usurped the title, the word, Republican. These are the real RINO ‘s. These people are domestic terrorists. Let’s start calling them what they are. They seem stronger that us only because their fear is stronger. But they are outnumbered.
Zelensky didn't submit to the pressures from tRump to give up dirt on Biden. If Zelensky didn't realize it then, I'm sure he recognizes it now that if tRump gets re-elected, the Ukraine war ends in a day as the US under new leadership with throw its support behind Putin.
So what is to stop Zelensky from coming out and supporting President Biden for re-election? And to throw his weight behind democracies that support human rights? If Zelensky is "all in" in his fight against Russian aggression, why not be "all in" against authoritarian dictators? Tell the American people the real dirt behind tRump's pressure phone call.
Al K in Mass: President Zelensky has more than enough on his hands with the extreme threats from Putin to his own country than to get mixed up in US Politics! It seems to be perfectly obvious what he thinks about authoritarian dictators. It's up to every American voter to insure that DJT, TFG, is not elected.
And not only DJT, TFG but DeSantos in Florida who has managed to out-trump Trump. It seems to be one hideous idea after another and the residents of Florida elected him. One wonders what those residents think now?
The rest of the world, especially Europe, can read the tea leaves. The chances of renewal of the aid package to Ukraine that's coming up in Congress is unlikely to pass. And if Trump or a Trump-alike is elected President in 2024, he'll end all US involvement in Ukraine and cozy up to Putin, again.
Can't help but see this artificial crisis as a repeat of the crisis in the Obama-Biden administration. Republican Congress gets Democratic president to make temporary tax cuts for rich (2013) permanent and Republicans pass another permanent tax cut for wealthy under Trump (2020?) and Biden must compromise on cuts to everyone but the 2%. And the hooked, the poor smucks who got a little tax cut are cheering the Republicans for cutting spending, the same spending that is doing more to stabilize and grow the economy upon which they depend. Brilliant! Not.
Charles Koch continues to be one of the worst threats to the United States. He is the personification of the dangers of economic injustice, inequitable taxation, the concentration of wealth, and the uses of dark money. He also personifies the dire effects of all the bad legislation and judicial decisions by legislators and judges/justices he and his plutocrat cronies have put in office - ie the Republican Party. Greedy Old Plutocrats. Gun and God Obsessed Populists
cf Leonard Leo - Koch's 'useful man', shell corp entrepreneur, and human manure spreader growing antidemocratic initiatives to repurpose a democratic republic as a clerical fascist state.
"I'd skip the second "G" - just "Gun Obsessed". The word "God" is lipstick on the pig, quickly and sloppily applied, nothing more meaningful."
I think the systemic tearing down of the constitutional wall between church and state is significant. In policy making and in judicial decisions, but also that the politics of faith - the wedding of movement conservatism and militant christianity - valorizes irrational habits of mind. Our government is intended to operate on coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence - through transfer of power by elections, the legislative process, and judicial decisions. When reason and empirical evidence is replaced by allegiance to religious creed, you get Reagan and Trump depicted as Christ, legislation attacking LGBTQ+ rights, and the Dobbs Decision. You get Leonard Leo lobbying for reinterpreting Freedom of Religion to mean anything you personally hold to be inviolable trumps obeying any civic law - in short, makes civic governance impossible.
ThankYou. As a person of faith, I am offended by the Republican weaponization of religion as political wedge issue. I think religion speaks to reining in human irrationality - on one hand ritualizing expressions of irrationality and on the other replacing irrationality with codes of ethics.
The Republican politics of faith has given us all the irrationality with none of the ethics. It uses specious rhetoric to magik false meanings from the Bible and Gospels just as the specious rhetoric of originalism/textualism magiks false meanings from the Constitution.
The Founders gave us a way of translating the Golden Rule into civic governance - government caring for the general welfare. It is a good idea.
Yes. Words are prone to many, even opposing, interpretations. As I look back on my life, at the times I was mistaken, bad or wrong - at the times I was the devil, I had no idea at all that I was bad, or wrong, or the devil. I’m pretty sure it’s the same for those I now consider my foes in our fight to learn how to create a more perfect Union.
“ You get Leonard Leo lobbying for reinterpreting Freedom of Religion to mean anything you personally hold to be inviolable trumps obeying any civic law “ -but only if you are a white, christian. Everyone else doesn’t matter.
Anne-Louise, you CANNOT forego the "God" part of that statement. This is white Christian Nationalism writ large. That is how they define themselves. I see this in my former work cohort, who have adopted "God and Guns" as their mantra. Their God is as real to them as your God is to you.
So then the question really becomes how do we deal with it? Even if workers and common citizens flooded the streets in protest, staged work stoppages, until it truly affects them it means nothing to the ultra wealthy who have insulated and isolated themselves from any real exchanges in life with the ‘commoners.’ If the private pilot and mechanics at private airports refuse to fly them around the world, that is one minor inconvenience for a day. Someone else would step in to do the work because we are being kept desperate enough now. It is and always has been about control and power.
And to top it off, Republicans in the North Carolina legislature voted to override the governor's veto of that cruel abortion bill, giving us more evidence of their lack of humanity and their cowardly need to control.
On MSNBC this morning, during the report on Tuberville's blocking of promotions because of the DoD policy re: healthcare when stationed in a state where abortion is banned, a graphic was shown of the states with bans... it was the entire southeastern portion of the US (plus a few scattered others). I recall the saying "The South shall rise again" - but that graphic showed it has not made any progress.
As a native-born Southerner, when I hear the phrase, "The South shall rise again", in my mind I always add, ". . . to screw screw up the rest of the country one more time."
No, it isn't. I've had a love/hate relationship with it all my life. As is said about tricky relationships: "it's complicated." I'll be the first to point out its flaws, and the first to defend it if I feel it's being run down unnecessarily. It's called being "torn"! It is not the place I would have preferred to live, but I sort of ended up here with no chance to leave at this point. Like the other Southerners on here, it can be terribly frustrating living here, especially outside the urban Atlanta "blue bubble", because one has to endure feeling like you have no one to represent you. One can almost feel cowed into keeping silent in order to avoid being threatened. It really is one-party rule here. And with the way things are being rigged to ensure this remains the status quo, it can be hard to hope. Still, there are a few of us progressives around, and maybe the more Democrats nationally feel emboldened to stand up for what's right, the more progressives here will do likewise.
Bruce, I cannot express how much I appreciated reading your thoughtful and thought provoking reply. I have friends in NC who have expressed very similar sentiments. Sorry in advance for the impending text wall.
I meant to convey in my earlier comment that the very fact that you, Camilla and others with similar ideals exist in GA at all is a fact that makes it a better place. Without people and voices there pushing for progress, from all over the state, the light is snuffed out and darkness officially rules without resistance. As I hit send, however, I failed to consider the high daily personal cost to outnumbered folks fighting a wall of reactionary resistance; a wall that is being relentlessly pushed towards them by an earth mover to pen them in and crush them. Sometimes the threats come with actual physical danger as a possibility. Actually, more and more, many on the right bear lots of similarities to the Taliban. Unfortunately, there seems a reflexive angry combativeness, occasionally leaning towards violence, on the opposite side of the aisle when their stands are challenged or questioned. Being outnumbered and systematically silenced by those in your local power structure, in addition to that, is definitely a crushingly exhausting proposition.
If it's any consolation, you've got friends north, west and east and we're all doing our best to pull the bit of tug-of-war rope we have in our hands where we are too, attempting to move this country forward. Many of us feel outmanned and outgunned but the fact is, there are more of us than we get led to believe, national polling shows we're in the majority and we're all working towards the same goals. Even if you're essentially alone where you are, you're part of a larger movement nationwide. Please stay encouraged. You, and others like you, give us all hope that the south rises for everyone in it.
The veto override was a foregone conclusion. Up to the voters in NC to take care of their problem in the legislature. Dems hardly bother to "show up" outside of urban/academic Districts.
My daughter lived there 5 years -- well aware of that.
In almost every election across the US, 1/4 to 1/3 of people eligible to vote do not. First, the Dems need to "show up" despite the gerrymeandering and very long odds; have to continue to push back on the Republican narrative (like lowering the deficit by ending tax loopholes the wealthiest use and raising corporate taxes instead of cutting benefits). Billboards, ads on local radio stations/tv, etc. Dems don't do enough of that to begin with, and don't at all in Very Red States with long odds of winning anything.
And there needs to be a focused "get out the vote" effort, inside the state and through the different groups mailing postcards to all inside NC--just vote.
Yes, Citizen60, I agree with your theories and especially the billboards. I retired to Mexico so, while I vote in the federal elections, I think I'm out of reach of the mailing of postcards and/or making phone calls. Thanks for your ideas.
President Zelensky’s constant pleas for more sophisticated armaments immediately reminds me of Winston Churchill’s response to FDR’s 1941 ‘Ship of State’ letter, when Britain was standing alone against Hitler’s Germany:
“WE SHALL NOT FAIL OR FALTER, WE SHALL NOT WEAKEN OR TIRE…
GIVE US THE TOOLS AND WE WILL FINISH THE JOB.”
No outsiders thought that President Zelensky and his brave Ukrainians could long survive Putin’s brutal military onslaught on February 24, 2022. They were astonished that Kyiv was not swiftly occupied and that Zelensky was not killed, captured, or obliged to flee his country.
President Biden led an extraordinary Western (and Eastern Europe) response to Putin’s ‘special military operation.’ From the outset, Putin and others were astonished by Ukrainians gutsy and resourceful fight to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty against ‘Greater Russia’ Putin. Also, from the outset, the United States and others ‘slow walked’ Ukrainian pleas for modern weapons to counter the Russian onslaught.
Military historians will reflect on the ‘too little, perhaps too late’ response. Now there is great urgency to provide Zelensky with more sophisticated weapons—especially tanks, artillery, and planes, as well as ammunition. Meanwhile, as Anne Applebaum describes in her latest The Atlantic article, the outgunned Ukrainians are ‘doing the mostest with the leastest.’
America and the West has endeavored to limit to scope of the Russian/Ukrainian life-and-death struggle. Restrictions on armaments that would permit Ukraine to attack the attackers on their own soil [Russian and Belorussian staging areas] have been draconian.
Meanwhile, countless Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield and from Russian carpet bombing.
I implore GIVE THEM THE TOOLS SO THAT THEY CAN FINISH THE JOB.
As President Zelensky expressed it “The choice is between freedom and fear.”
If Putin is permitted to batter Ukraine into some Insipid cease fire leading to Russia retaining perhaps 20% of Ukraine including Crimea, he will be emboldened to ‘nibble’ at Moldova and other sovereign states in Eastern Europe.
In my war they handcuffed us and sent us out to fight. It was bloody and brutal. I remember every day. Every day the bodies fell. And finally there were enough bodies to stink up the world. So we gave it back to the politicians. The politicians gave it back to the attackers. But we still have our choking wall. The one we can visit to retch and cry and go to pieces under. So I ask you. Shall we just go ahead and build that wall in Ukraine? Give it back to Putin to crow and gloat and prove for all time that freedom can’t be? It is the winter at Valley Forge. Do we blink? Or do we cross the Potomac?
Pat, do you know why the massive leak of detailed top secret intelligence documents from Discord suddenly fell into silence. I was troubled when the news report of US spying on Zelensky appeared. I wonder what Z knows or suspects and if he feels abandoned or worse by the US. Is that why he took a trip to Europe?
His show of solidarity with his European Allies has nothing to do with US interests. He is cementing a foothold and on a shopping spree at the same time. We spy on everyone especially our closest Allies.Spying is the system by which information is exchanged. The curtains are sometimes left open. I think Zelinsky wants to build an offensive. He must get that done.
Thank you, Pat. The news I read on the subject made it seem like the Biden administration had been doing something very wrong. That so much of the news does not accurately represent the truth must be stopped.
That is the heart of the matter. I don’t worry about us so long as people like you, ones I respect, hold that opinion. Your thinking is the only way forward. Thank you.
The June, 2023 The Atlantic article, "The Counteroffensive" by Anne Applebaum and Jeffrey Goldberg, shows the amazing creativity of the Ukrainians in fighting this war. They use everything they can possibly use to increase their resilience & communication.Applebaum and Goldberg spent several days seeing it for themselves. This is not a report from afar!
I can't help wondering why the 140 companies and Charles Koch (who essentially own the House Republicans) don't tell their boys to raise the debt limit. Why do they bother threatening Biden ? Those boys are the responsibility of their puppet masters. Koch and companies should know by now Biden can't be blackmailed. And Koch and companies will suffer most if the entire world economy crashe and they will be responsible. I think they are cowards trying to be bullies, blowing hot air.
They simply want to take America hostage, but without negotiations. They were apparently bullied & became bullies. They want to continue further into the dark side & be OPPRESSORS.
They were always bullies. People who have been bullied, in general, develop a bit of empathy and vigilance. It really is mind-blowing that Republicans take on the gang affectation in totality and prove every day that they are only out for more power, prestige, and money. They continually do nothing but arm more followers for the upcoming 'civil war' that they all so desperately seek.
A few well - armed NATIONAL GUARDSMEN should quell any of these freaks looking for a civil war. I'm normally a pacifist in search of rational answers to situations like these, BUT we aren't talking about rational people. They're like some mutant life form that knows no solution to anything except BRUTE FORCE & VIOLENCE. Instead of knocking on a door, they'll break it down or toss a Molotov cocktail in. AND they'll find SOME way to justify it as " God's will " or similar BS.
They are the velociraptors testing the fence. If they can successfully get Biden to bend - even an inch - then there is a new tool in their arsenal for minority control. Holding the debt-ceiling vote hostage is a dick-move, but it may just work for them. Create-a-crisis-and-blame-it-on-Biden is stock fodder for their gop narratives to their supporters. The MSM loves to allow their narrative to lead the news because it sells advertisements, and keeps us forever in a “They-can’t-possibly-be-this-crazy” grip. After all these years, we still have not truly woke up to the fact that there is a growing effort to crash our entire system. It’s an effort of “death-by-a-thousand-cuts” / “flood-the-zone-with-shit”. It’s meant to defeat our minds’ ability to sustain the effort to comprehend how we can counter the onslaught. Keeping us angry, and impotent-feeling leads us to feeling disgusted. And disgust is the working-clay of manipulators. Being “disgusted” with feelings of no agency to do anything to improve or affect our situation, is where the minority-maga-sphere-manipulators want us to be. So resilience has never been more important. Finding efforts to actionable “push back against the entropy” is key personally, and collectively.
I read a pretty good article yesterday ( https://open.substack.com/pub/tcinla757/p/what-an-economic-crash-will-really?r=3hlhv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email) that explained that the uber wealthy make out like bandits when there is a crash/recession/depression because they can rake in profits as those who are not of that financial background have to sell the "things" (mostly stocks, investments, etc.) to try and keep their house (which also gets sold farther down the pike). They see only profit at the expense of the public.
I believe it’s all happening behind the scenes, this is just part of the show. Perhaps they’re hoping the dems will cave, and do their dirty work for them. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen. Stay tuned...
Koch Dad & Brothers, now just Charles Koch, were basically Libertarians and don't believe the government should spend anything at all on domestic programs that help people. Barely support public education. That's the role of religions and charities (as it was before FDR).
They believe in no "social welfare" (but accept corporate welfare happily), low taxes, no regulations, and a balanced budget, or as close to it as possible.
Koch & Co have a dog in this hunt; downgrading US credit rating costs them lots of money.
In a small but perhaps significant victory, Jacksonville, FL elected Democrat Donna Deegan as mayor yesterday, rejecting DeSantis's extremist choice. Democrats also won a number of other races on the ballot.
McCarthy is trying to '... extract budget cuts they cannot get through the normal process of legislation.' This, in order to roll back the Biden agenda , which is working.
"While Republicans claim to be concerned about spending, it is notable that they have flat-out refused to help reduce the deficit by closing tax loopholes that would raise $40 billion. They also refuse to consider any measure that would raise taxes, focusing solely on spending cuts."
That's the whole issue, somewhere, in the background , the "big boys" are telling them to cut the taxes and regulation on business and the repubs do what they are told !
Genius brilliant political philosopher and the most profoundly influential U Chicago professor, buried at Bard College, Hannah Arendt, used the Banality of Evil to discuss the worst fascism’s affect in her writings. Her phrasing moved mountains... and is used this day at the Institute named after her at Bard College..
What political philosopher, author, campus or group will coin the phrase that describes the run away fascism of today - that is influencing dozens of nations, including the United States of America, today?
And what is driving the fear, ignorance and banality of today’s intolerance and political violence that is driving the Republican Party, threatening a Crash and chaos in the name of a false solvency in the craven stupidity of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, toady to his most insane members, for whom he is the slave bitch, heading straight to Hell... at the direction of his party’s most malevolent fascists bent on power to the exclusion of everything else.
What is the invisible force driving McCarthy’s masters headlong rush to chaos? PREJUDICE and racial hatred are the triggers, ignorance and fear are the fuel feeding the banal prejudice and rank Republican banality... today’s Banality of Evil... which has no Hannah Arendt, no political North Star to light the darkness... no philosopher to voice the phrase needed to capture the diminishing flame of freedom in nation after nation consumed with radical hatred’s, explosive intolerance and, yes, fascism.
Conspicuous Consumption coined by Thorstein Veblen focused the philosophy of his day... as he moved from The University of Chicago north to a far smaller campus that lit up with his genius. What is the name of that Minnesota college? Carleton College, and it is one of the best.
Where is Professor and author Allison S. Davis of the University of Chicago, where is Max Eastman... of New York City?
Yale University and Columbia University and Boston University - in their day - had outspoken leaders that formed the dialogue... that moved the congress.. and led the nation. What were their names?
President Dwight David Eisenhower used troops to open Little Rock high school and flip Gov. Orval Faubus...
AG Nicholas de B. Katzenbach of Lyndon Johnson’s one term administration used federal Marshals to roll third party candidate and racist, the mortally wounded Governor George C. Wallace, to open a campus. AG Bobby Kennedy risked his life...and spoke out, paying the ultimate price at the hands of a lunatic.
Where is President Kingman Brewster? Where is Martin Luther King? Caesar Chavez?
Sandy, since, ( as Anne Applebaum keeps warning us) the anti- democracy turn to extreme nationalism & fascism is global, maybe we have to look off the traditional grids for the kind of leadership you seek.... Zelensky, Navalny, Applebaum herself, Fiona Hill, Rev.William Barber II....but I take your point. Where are the " big voices"?
I totally agree, these selfish, greedy, arrogant criminals don't give a hoot about anyone but themselves. I just cant understand how these crooks be so uncaring, hateful, and cruel to other human beings. Seems like NAZI Germany all over again, except instead of Hitler, it's TUMP as king dictator.
Per Reuters, the President of Belarus who has not been seen in Public since early May has been hospitalized but, that status is "not officially confirmed". Lukashenko is 68 years old.
Perhaps Lukashenko is a loyal ally to Putin who just happened to start showing illness while in Moscow. Or perhaps Putin had him poisoned for lack of enthusiasm for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. A lot of Putin’s associates have died suddenly in office buildings in the last year.
It's worth noting that the Republican "patriots" never flinched after the hagoc they visited on the American people after the debt ceiling budget fiasco in 2011. GOP loyalty plainly is to itself while America be damned. Ike Eisenhower would administer a sharp rejoinder to his wretched party if he was alive today.
So many pieces of news packed into this edition of LFAA! It must have been challenging to select and distill it all into one newsletter tonight. This week looks to be very interesting, so rest up, Dr. Heather; glad you published relatively earlier than typical, and once again I hope you have gone to bed to sleep by now. Thank you so much for your consistent high quality writing in these Letters.
Default due to the debt ceiling crisis will be a gift from Trump and his MAGA crazies in the House to Vladimir Putin and authoritarians worldwide by providing a prime example of how democracies can be dysfunctional.
It will also stoke hatred of the United States worldwide as it provokes an international monetary crisis. It will undue much of the meticulous foreign policy work this administation has done.
Domestically, with the deep-pocket funding of Koch and others like him, it will be a major issue in the coming Presidental election. And it will negatively affect every person in this country in terms of higher credit card interest rates, business failures due to credit drying, and increased unemployment.
"We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.” - Louis Brandeis
ThankYou!
ThankYou Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
ThankYou Lisa Graves.
"Leo quickly attracted the preeminent [court capture]scheme funders, including the foundations of rightwing megadonors John Olin, Lynde and Harry Bradley, Richard Scaife, and, of course, the perennially mischievous and malign Koch brothers."
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/the-scheme-speech-5-the-federalist-society
https://harvardlpr.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/04/9-1_Whitehouse.pdf
https://progressive.org/magazine/billionaire-kingmaker-still-dividing-the-nation-maclean-graves/
If you have the time, read ALL The Scheme speeches. The Senator has turned them into a book called, "The Scheme" but if you use the link above, which offers the 5th speech, and scroll to the bottom of that page you can access all. Eye opening!
Thanks for the “nudge” A man chilling article.
Thank you for the articles. I had an knowledge of how the courts were and are being captured by the money interests, but these three articles make it clear. Voting alone isn't going to change the trajectory.
I was amongst talented educated people last night, and fro what I could tell, the only one not full MAGA. Comments came up spuriously that reinforced "GOP" talking points that have since been publicly discredited, yet will not die, such as wrongdoing by Dominion Voting Systems to "steal" the election from Trump. I know a bright and seemingly aware older woman who went intensely MAGA, and cut herself off from former friends and relation. Such are the dynamics of a cult.
And yet it is necessary to provide alternative information to any who will hear it. I think that successful social movements create a focus and don't let it drop. Since control of mass media became solely the prerogative of the highest bidder, the plutocrats have dominated the public conversation, but resistance is not futile.
It's always confounding to see educated people falling into that kind of trap. The educational system is not teaching critical thinking.
I know someone like that and I just avoid going near the MAGA conversations.
Was delighted that Professor Richardson ended with the AEP and Koch. The malign influence of the brothers and their friends is a fifth column in the US. Must look for Senator Whitehouse’s book. Anything to get US informed and get out the vote.
I continue to believe that there is a potential voting mother lode among the youngest voters (see https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2017/comm/voting-rates-age.html ). There is also, I gather, a lot of cynicism. Can we convince potential yet reluctant voters that they are not just being superficially pandered to, but heard?
JL Graham, my hope is that the young get to vote. There will be states where they may have great difficulty voting. As for voters who feel “unheard,” their votes will be their voices. It is up to us to let them know that.
Needs to be on billboards and ads on Fox
Thank you lin . After reading the billionaire piece I was stunned , shared it with many others . My level of participation is limited. But with the help of all the YOUs I get to pass on the best info.
Thanks again Heather too.
I feel sick to my stomach.
The only thing the democrats understand is capitulation. Why is it that repugs get almost everything they want with lies and more lies and democrats lay down.
When will they fight back.
Sadly, Whitehouse's book doesn't release until October of 2023.
Bruce,
It's available on Amazon. I have a copy on my reading stack right now, next to be read.
Listened to the audiobook. Months ago. It’s depressing.
Find Scheme 1 from the link above. This will be a fascinating I read I have saved.
Bruce, the hardback has been out for awhile. It’s the paperback that’s due out in Oct 2023.
Our capitalist culture continues to be mined by Robber Barons. Shelter, health, education are conscripted for profit. Unfettered capitalism cannot provide. It is its own proof.
It will consume itself.
It is doing so now.
Ultimately; but we have a stake in whether or not it consumes the whole human race and much of the ecosphere. The excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age" are but one of seemingly endless examples of the hell we create when power goes unchecked. Democracy, impartial rule of law, and social contracts were devised to try to deal with humanity's most tragic flaw. A just democracy is always a slog though competing agendas, and it is easy to ridicule, but it is this, not mall shootings, that is the true price of freedom.
Yet the "strong man" approach beguiles many. Mitt Romney was ignoring the obvious when he said "I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing." And Trump reportedly said the Hitler "did a lot of good things".
"Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises." - Lincoln
Thank you for the Lincoln quote. Very powerful. I will use it!
"Those righteous bastards sold their souls to the Devil for peace & safety, & we, We the People got neither one " - a paraphrase of Samuel L. Jackson as Augustus Gibbons, Triple X.
I think an even more classic devil- deal is souls for wealth and power. Certainly that what seems to motivate "GOP" leadership. Rank and file gets to cosplay "Master Race" and trade essential liberty for an illusion of safety.
Can we please stop paying lip service to "the debt ceiling crisis"? Every time we utter that phrase we reinforce the false notion that there is this calamitous event looming that is about to destroy us. And our media is all too happy to whip us into a frenzy about it every day. We do NOT have a "debt ceiling crisis". We have a revenue problem because we think it's OK to spend nearly a Trillion dollars a year on our bloated military, for example, while the Republicans cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy every chance they get. Not paying the bill for charges already incurred is not an option. If you doubt this, just try it when you get your next American Express credit card statement in the mail. We WILL pay for our expenditures. If the Republicans are serious about overspending they will enact some simple legislation stating that no spending above some fixed cap will be approved by the House next year once that limit is reached. Period and full stop. To suggest that we can address overspending by refusing to pay debts already incurred is monumentally stupid and we do ourselves no favor by even discussing it or using the term "debt ceiling crisis".
You are correct. We will pay our bills. But this IS a "crisis". Manufactured by Republican Cretins who have no policies other than hate and destruction.
The "debt ceiling law" is unconstitutional and President Biden should ignore it. Let's go to the Supreme Court. If they rule in favor of "default", they may actually sway most of America to support the recently resubmitted Supreme Court Reform Act - time for 13 justices. There were 9 circuit courts when the "9 idea" was created. There are now 13.
Bill is right; the "debt ceiling" is unconstitutional. Per se. Please take the time to read Prof. Robert Hockett's (Cornell Law School) surgical analysis of the false issue:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rhockett/2023/05/11/six-legal-reasons-the-federal-budget-is-its-own-debt-ceilingand-floor/?sh=3256d52732e8
That was a great link to a terrific read, Sheila. Thank you!
Glad you found it helpful!
I sent that link to my 2 Senators and Congresswoman, too. I figured it might help? They all have easy online contact forms ...
I would agree that there is a group of monumentally stupid cretins among our Republican Representatives. It remains to be seen how much trouble they will cause.
Per Joyce Vance...
"To suggest that we can address overspending by refusing to pay debts already incurred is monumentally stupid and we do ourselves no favor by . . . using the term 'debt ceiling crisis'." 'Nuf said. The opposition is no longer loyal and ready to shred the Constitution with assault weapons. Thank you LeMoine Surlamont.
The debt ceiling will be raised. The Democrats will claim doing so had nothing to do with concessions made to the House Republican majority in developing the nation's budget, and that the two processes were on entirely separate tracks. They also still believe in the tooth fairy.
Pretty much.
What has happened to Rep. Mark DeSaulnier's suggestion to end the stalemate????
What should we call it LeMoine?
Sandra, I think we should call it what it is: kabuki theater, routinely engaged in by both political parties when Republicans control the House with the intention of creating the illusion that "momentous issues are being addressed". This against the backdrop of a media so irresponsible that it won't even take the time to simply explain to a puerile, dumbed down American populace that this "crisis" is manufactured and could be easily and permanently resolved in several ways. Because the media makes money off of this kind of drama. Biden had the right idea going in; that he wouldn't even dignify McCartthy's demands for spending cuts over this issue. Somehow Biden has allowed himself to be sucked into these "negotiations". Jack Lippman (above) is absolutely correct. Ill take the liberty of quoting his excellent comment here:
Jack Lippman: "The debt ceiling will be raised. The Democrats will claim doing so had nothing to do with concessions made to the House Republican majority in developing the nation's budget, and that the two processes were on entirely separate tracks. They also still believe in the tooth fairy."
Would like if they added your idea of a "tax increase on the wealthy." Another option which would help.
Right on! Thank you!
Exactly
These Rethugs behave and act like inmates that have broken out of an insane asylum, probably worse than that. It astounds me that human beings like Rethugs can be so cruel and hateful with a total lack of empathy for anyone but themselves. They are really horrible excuses for human beings.
They are now running the asylum it seems
The more power & control they get, the more they want. this vicious cycle will be our downfall
Part 2 of the downfall will be crying “ Awk, the sky is falling.” The sky is falling with every breath we utter. No point at all in leading like lemmings except for precisely that purpose. Who will be the first over the cliff? Oops, too late. Perhaps there are some saner more stabilizing voices amongst us.
Just remember the news that most people read is over hyped to make it seem like the ‘bad guys’ are winning. The steadying force will rise and is rising to crush these traitors. Don’t buy in. It weakens us.
Thank you. Susan. That is the voice.
They are being run in part by the power elite who don't care about anything, but their bottom line and the ability to do anything they want no matter how harmful to the environment and to ordinary people (often the poorest). They think their money will save them and they are arrogant as well as we see nearly every day with the behavior of the people like Musk and the less obvious, but equally harmful spending by people like the Kochs. Then there is the festering cancer unleashed by death star. Of course, we have lots of chaos created by the fact that we can't get our gun problem under control. Here in Oregon we now have 4 Senators who fall under the new measure passed by voters that they can't run again when they reach 10 unexcused absences. Their problem is two bills: one about abortion and transgender care and of course, guns....what would people do without their ARs, etc. Their claim is that bills are not properly written so someone with an 8th grade education can understand them which is a mountainous steaming heap of bull pucky. And naturally, they will challenge the measure in court. So even if Ds have the majority, they do not have a quorum. I did notice that our screwball senator is not one of the absent, at least as far as I can tell. As I read A Fever in the Heartland (about the rise of the KKK particularly in Indiana), I am appalled by use of Protestant Christians to push the cause.....and now we have the same nonsense going on. Once again my ex-classmate in Elkhart was ranting about the border, why can't we just close it. This time she had plenty of company in the comments except for one person who talked about exploitation of the undocumented. Right out of what I am reading about in the 1920s.
These ARE Christian people you are referring to, right?
CINO's.
I wish, and I know I will not get my wish that the news media would stop call these folks Evangelical Christians. They call themselves Christians but their leadership sure doesn't lead them in Christian behavior. CINO is correct. There are some caring people in this group but they are simply lead astray by those wanting money and power. A den of crooks and cons. Jesus would overturn their money tables.
I agree and the type of "Christians" we see are those who is uphold hatred of anyone not just like them. As i mentioned above A Fever in the Heartland spells out how Protestant Christianity was used by the KKK in the 1920s. Jesus was, gosh, a Jew, and not the light skinned person we often see portrayed. And once again I recommend God: An Anatomy for a revealing look at the god of both testaments.
EXACTLY!
They're certainly not doing anything to help their constituents!
Where are the Democratic super PACS countering Koch’s message in these states?? The R’s have always been great on messaging and spreading misinformation and the D’s have got to aggressively blanket the airwaves with the truth.
What has happened to Rep. Mark DeSaulnier's work to end the debt ceiling stalemate????
Really good insights into the Regressives' deeper motivations and goals.
For public relations purposes, when deSantis and others talk about the "Soros-funded" this-and-that, the answer should be the "Koch-funded" that-and-this. (Historical note: David Koch died a few years ago. He was in my graduating class, but I didn't know him. He majored in Chem. E., so certainly understood the science of global warming. I suppose that's why he and brother Charles sought to undermine the public's understanding of it. May he rest in peace while the world picks up the pieces.)
Heather - Your post is a blatant lie. Your exact quote "House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), are refusing to raise the debt ceiling" is 100% lie.
The House on April 23 voted to raise the debt ceiling by 1.5T dollars.
This is an outrageous lie. Stop the disinformation. Its unseemly and dishonest.
The debt ceiling has not been raised. House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling loaded with cuts to many programs depended on by Americans including veterans. Without a concurring vote by the Senate, the bill is dead in the water. The Senate will not approve that bill. The debt ceiling has not been raised.
Are you on drugs? Heather claimed that House Republicans refused to raise the deficit ceiling. THAT IS A LIE. They voted to raise it. What the Senate does is irrelevant. She wasn't talking about the Senate.
Why do leftist only have hysteria as an argument for everything? No is going to die, the world isn't going to end. The House voted to raise the debt ceiling 1.5T and hold spending to 2022 levels. That is VERY MODEST. With a 35T deficit, you think ANYONE would applaud some financial restraint.
BTW the country doesn't need 80,000 new IRS agents. Especially given the Biden administration's love for weaponizing government to go after political opponents.
Ask journalist Matt Tiabbi. The IRS paid him a house call on the day he was supposed to testify before Congress on the Twitter files. Ask Carter Page, why the FBI forged a document and lied to a FISA court to get to warrant to spy on him.
James, is that all the House voted on that day, just a nice, clean little debt-ceiling raise to keep the US from defaulting on debts we are legally obliged to honor if we wish to avoid throwing the world economy into chaos and ourselves into History's dustbin?
GOP propaganda is such crap.
You just admitted Heather's post was A LIE. You admitted The House DID RAISE the debt ceiling. Thank you very much!
So yes Heather's post was propaganda crap. You are right again!
And please correct me if I'm wrong: In order to raise the debt ceiling both the House and the Senate must pass the measure and the President must sign it.
I'm not lying, James. I just asked you a question. What else -- if anything -- was in the measure that would have raised the debt ceiling? It's a simple question. It would surprise me if you have no answer, even a dishonest one.
Does it ever occur to you that almost no one who reads Heather's letter is likely to take anything you say seriously? I know I don't, and what you say is nearly as inoffensive as it is unentertaining. Have a pleasant day.
This is simple. Heather wrote "House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), are refusing to raise the debt ceiling" That statement is either true or false. Its true you said its true. The House raised the debt ceiling by $1.5T
You can lie or spin but THIS FACTUAL TRUE.
I'm sorry that the truth is offensive to your snowflake ears. This is typical of leftist. That's why you want to censor truth.
You win James. You get the prize for being the most obnoxious pipsqueak of the day. You couldn't argue your way out of a rapid-disintegration faux-plastic wet-garbage recycling bag.
Sorry bro, that's my last word, more important things to do. The loo is calling...
President Biden is traveling the globe, supporting Democracy and countries working together. Meanwhile, at home in our own Democratic government, the repubs led by McCarthy and the Americans for Prosperity funded by Koch, refuse to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts and oppose raising taxes on the wealthy. America is not the model of a two party system. Repubs continue to be the party of obstruction and destruction. Our future depends on compromise and cooperation, but we are far from the government for the people and by the people. Stay tuned.
Bad thing about it is, compromise and cooperation can't be accomplished with Domestic terrorists. That is what the Rethugs are. To me, this whole thing with these Domestic terrorists reeks of blackmail and extortion. They aren't capable of governing, all they want to do deprive the poor and middle class so they can line their pockets with more money. These freaks of nature in the Rethug, fascist/.NAZI party are lower than the scum in a cesspool. All i can do right now is feel extreme hate and rage toward Rethugs. There are no worse humans on the planet than they are.
There is much in play in America that supports the ideal of government of, by, and for the people and much designed to thwart it. It's always been a mix, but plutocrats have abandoned any concession to decency and are Putin-grabbing at absolute power. I propose that of, by and for the people be utilized as a yardstick by which policies and candidates are measured. That which the preponderance of evidence indicates supportive of the goal has a good claim for retention, and that which is contrary to public benefit and control should be considered for rejection. I say "considered" because in some instances the decision may not be clear cut; though others seem obviously over the line, but ultimately the public must decide.
We worry about Turkey leaning toward Putin, when “our” president became his biggest fan in Helsinki, or before. We are teetering on the brink…with the repubs trying to push Humpty Dumpty off the wall.
The Rethuglicans can add sabotage to their list of skills. Great. F--king fantastic.
"Republicans" (as a party name , now an Orwellian use of the word "rePUBLICan") don't really care who or what is hurt, so long as they get to be dominators. "Let them hate us so long as they fear us".
That was well put J.L.
EXACTIMUNDO ! The Repubs won't be happy until they become the Alphas, the ones on top. the ruling class, dropping offal on the rest of us.
Daniel, it’s not Republicans you and John T are so fed up with. It’s the White Supremacists who usurped the title, the word, Republican. These are the real RINO ‘s. These people are domestic terrorists. Let’s start calling them what they are. They seem stronger that us only because their fear is stronger. But they are outnumbered.
Zelensky didn't submit to the pressures from tRump to give up dirt on Biden. If Zelensky didn't realize it then, I'm sure he recognizes it now that if tRump gets re-elected, the Ukraine war ends in a day as the US under new leadership with throw its support behind Putin.
So what is to stop Zelensky from coming out and supporting President Biden for re-election? And to throw his weight behind democracies that support human rights? If Zelensky is "all in" in his fight against Russian aggression, why not be "all in" against authoritarian dictators? Tell the American people the real dirt behind tRump's pressure phone call.
Al K in Mass: President Zelensky has more than enough on his hands with the extreme threats from Putin to his own country than to get mixed up in US Politics! It seems to be perfectly obvious what he thinks about authoritarian dictators. It's up to every American voter to insure that DJT, TFG, is not elected.
And not only DJT, TFG but DeSantos in Florida who has managed to out-trump Trump. It seems to be one hideous idea after another and the residents of Florida elected him. One wonders what those residents think now?
Thank you, Judith, for pointing out what should be obvious. Some Americans can't think beyond their own noses.
The rest of the world, especially Europe, can read the tea leaves. The chances of renewal of the aid package to Ukraine that's coming up in Congress is unlikely to pass. And if Trump or a Trump-alike is elected President in 2024, he'll end all US involvement in Ukraine and cozy up to Putin, again.
Can't help but see this artificial crisis as a repeat of the crisis in the Obama-Biden administration. Republican Congress gets Democratic president to make temporary tax cuts for rich (2013) permanent and Republicans pass another permanent tax cut for wealthy under Trump (2020?) and Biden must compromise on cuts to everyone but the 2%. And the hooked, the poor smucks who got a little tax cut are cheering the Republicans for cutting spending, the same spending that is doing more to stabilize and grow the economy upon which they depend. Brilliant! Not.
The Rs are the party of death.
Yes, but not theirs.
Charles Koch continues to be one of the worst threats to the United States. He is the personification of the dangers of economic injustice, inequitable taxation, the concentration of wealth, and the uses of dark money. He also personifies the dire effects of all the bad legislation and judicial decisions by legislators and judges/justices he and his plutocrat cronies have put in office - ie the Republican Party. Greedy Old Plutocrats. Gun and God Obsessed Populists
cf Leonard Leo - Koch's 'useful man', shell corp entrepreneur, and human manure spreader growing antidemocratic initiatives to repurpose a democratic republic as a clerical fascist state.
https://progressive.org/magazine/billionaire-kingmaker-still-dividing-the-nation-maclean-graves/
I cannot disagree with one word, here. You hit the nail on the head on every point!
I'd skip the second "G" - just "Gun Obsessed". The word "God" is lipstick on the pig, quickly and sloppily applied, nothing more meaningful.
"I'd skip the second "G" - just "Gun Obsessed". The word "God" is lipstick on the pig, quickly and sloppily applied, nothing more meaningful."
I think the systemic tearing down of the constitutional wall between church and state is significant. In policy making and in judicial decisions, but also that the politics of faith - the wedding of movement conservatism and militant christianity - valorizes irrational habits of mind. Our government is intended to operate on coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence - through transfer of power by elections, the legislative process, and judicial decisions. When reason and empirical evidence is replaced by allegiance to religious creed, you get Reagan and Trump depicted as Christ, legislation attacking LGBTQ+ rights, and the Dobbs Decision. You get Leonard Leo lobbying for reinterpreting Freedom of Religion to mean anything you personally hold to be inviolable trumps obeying any civic law - in short, makes civic governance impossible.
Well Said. This evil "godness" is deliberate and matters.
ThankYou. As a person of faith, I am offended by the Republican weaponization of religion as political wedge issue. I think religion speaks to reining in human irrationality - on one hand ritualizing expressions of irrationality and on the other replacing irrationality with codes of ethics.
The Republican politics of faith has given us all the irrationality with none of the ethics. It uses specious rhetoric to magik false meanings from the Bible and Gospels just as the specious rhetoric of originalism/textualism magiks false meanings from the Constitution.
The Founders gave us a way of translating the Golden Rule into civic governance - government caring for the general welfare. It is a good idea.
The Devil can cite scripture for his purpose. (Merch. of Venice, Act 1 Sc 3).
Yes. Words are prone to many, even opposing, interpretations. As I look back on my life, at the times I was mistaken, bad or wrong - at the times I was the devil, I had no idea at all that I was bad, or wrong, or the devil. I’m pretty sure it’s the same for those I now consider my foes in our fight to learn how to create a more perfect Union.
It’s just a tactic. A very persuasive one. One used over the millennia, since the time God was invented.
Amen and Awomen.
“ You get Leonard Leo lobbying for reinterpreting Freedom of Religion to mean anything you personally hold to be inviolable trumps obeying any civic law “ -but only if you are a white, christian. Everyone else doesn’t matter.
Actually Leo is ecumenical on that and makes common cause with other denomination right wing religious extremists.
You make an important point to remember. Thank you.
Anne-Louise, you CANNOT forego the "God" part of that statement. This is white Christian Nationalism writ large. That is how they define themselves. I see this in my former work cohort, who have adopted "God and Guns" as their mantra. Their God is as real to them as your God is to you.
OK.
It’s the reason why they will brook no disagreement. They have created their own God, based on the power-hungry Lucifer.
Or to my view, they have simply made god in their own image.
This!!!
It is incumbent upon all of us to boycott their products. https://www.change.org/p/nationwide-boycott-of-trump-businesses-and-koch-brothers-products
So then the question really becomes how do we deal with it? Even if workers and common citizens flooded the streets in protest, staged work stoppages, until it truly affects them it means nothing to the ultra wealthy who have insulated and isolated themselves from any real exchanges in life with the ‘commoners.’ If the private pilot and mechanics at private airports refuse to fly them around the world, that is one minor inconvenience for a day. Someone else would step in to do the work because we are being kept desperate enough now. It is and always has been about control and power.
GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV
Democratic candidates all the way, up and down the ballot. And then reform the party from within. As per the Progressive Caucus.
Koch has managed to purchase the GOP in my home State and some of our congressional delegation including Mike Pompeo. SMH
And to top it off, Republicans in the North Carolina legislature voted to override the governor's veto of that cruel abortion bill, giving us more evidence of their lack of humanity and their cowardly need to control.
NC has their evil in govt, just like Tx and Fl. Just waiting for 2024 when their new laws will assure Repub wins…
On MSNBC this morning, during the report on Tuberville's blocking of promotions because of the DoD policy re: healthcare when stationed in a state where abortion is banned, a graphic was shown of the states with bans... it was the entire southeastern portion of the US (plus a few scattered others). I recall the saying "The South shall rise again" - but that graphic showed it has not made any progress.
As a native-born Southerner, when I hear the phrase, "The South shall rise again", in my mind I always add, ". . . to screw screw up the rest of the country one more time."
Same here, Bruce.
The South isn't all bad, Bruce: you and Camilla B. are still there. Keep shining your light and may more there join you soon.
No, it isn't. I've had a love/hate relationship with it all my life. As is said about tricky relationships: "it's complicated." I'll be the first to point out its flaws, and the first to defend it if I feel it's being run down unnecessarily. It's called being "torn"! It is not the place I would have preferred to live, but I sort of ended up here with no chance to leave at this point. Like the other Southerners on here, it can be terribly frustrating living here, especially outside the urban Atlanta "blue bubble", because one has to endure feeling like you have no one to represent you. One can almost feel cowed into keeping silent in order to avoid being threatened. It really is one-party rule here. And with the way things are being rigged to ensure this remains the status quo, it can be hard to hope. Still, there are a few of us progressives around, and maybe the more Democrats nationally feel emboldened to stand up for what's right, the more progressives here will do likewise.
Bruce, I cannot express how much I appreciated reading your thoughtful and thought provoking reply. I have friends in NC who have expressed very similar sentiments. Sorry in advance for the impending text wall.
I meant to convey in my earlier comment that the very fact that you, Camilla and others with similar ideals exist in GA at all is a fact that makes it a better place. Without people and voices there pushing for progress, from all over the state, the light is snuffed out and darkness officially rules without resistance. As I hit send, however, I failed to consider the high daily personal cost to outnumbered folks fighting a wall of reactionary resistance; a wall that is being relentlessly pushed towards them by an earth mover to pen them in and crush them. Sometimes the threats come with actual physical danger as a possibility. Actually, more and more, many on the right bear lots of similarities to the Taliban. Unfortunately, there seems a reflexive angry combativeness, occasionally leaning towards violence, on the opposite side of the aisle when their stands are challenged or questioned. Being outnumbered and systematically silenced by those in your local power structure, in addition to that, is definitely a crushingly exhausting proposition.
If it's any consolation, you've got friends north, west and east and we're all doing our best to pull the bit of tug-of-war rope we have in our hands where we are too, attempting to move this country forward. Many of us feel outmanned and outgunned but the fact is, there are more of us than we get led to believe, national polling shows we're in the majority and we're all working towards the same goals. Even if you're essentially alone where you are, you're part of a larger movement nationwide. Please stay encouraged. You, and others like you, give us all hope that the south rises for everyone in it.
The veto override was a foregone conclusion. Up to the voters in NC to take care of their problem in the legislature. Dems hardly bother to "show up" outside of urban/academic Districts.
The state of NC is gerrymandered to death.
My daughter lived there 5 years -- well aware of that.
In almost every election across the US, 1/4 to 1/3 of people eligible to vote do not. First, the Dems need to "show up" despite the gerrymeandering and very long odds; have to continue to push back on the Republican narrative (like lowering the deficit by ending tax loopholes the wealthiest use and raising corporate taxes instead of cutting benefits). Billboards, ads on local radio stations/tv, etc. Dems don't do enough of that to begin with, and don't at all in Very Red States with long odds of winning anything.
And there needs to be a focused "get out the vote" effort, inside the state and through the different groups mailing postcards to all inside NC--just vote.
Yes, Citizen60, I agree with your theories and especially the billboards. I retired to Mexico so, while I vote in the federal elections, I think I'm out of reach of the mailing of postcards and/or making phone calls. Thanks for your ideas.
President Zelensky’s constant pleas for more sophisticated armaments immediately reminds me of Winston Churchill’s response to FDR’s 1941 ‘Ship of State’ letter, when Britain was standing alone against Hitler’s Germany:
“WE SHALL NOT FAIL OR FALTER, WE SHALL NOT WEAKEN OR TIRE…
GIVE US THE TOOLS AND WE WILL FINISH THE JOB.”
No outsiders thought that President Zelensky and his brave Ukrainians could long survive Putin’s brutal military onslaught on February 24, 2022. They were astonished that Kyiv was not swiftly occupied and that Zelensky was not killed, captured, or obliged to flee his country.
President Biden led an extraordinary Western (and Eastern Europe) response to Putin’s ‘special military operation.’ From the outset, Putin and others were astonished by Ukrainians gutsy and resourceful fight to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty against ‘Greater Russia’ Putin. Also, from the outset, the United States and others ‘slow walked’ Ukrainian pleas for modern weapons to counter the Russian onslaught.
Military historians will reflect on the ‘too little, perhaps too late’ response. Now there is great urgency to provide Zelensky with more sophisticated weapons—especially tanks, artillery, and planes, as well as ammunition. Meanwhile, as Anne Applebaum describes in her latest The Atlantic article, the outgunned Ukrainians are ‘doing the mostest with the leastest.’
America and the West has endeavored to limit to scope of the Russian/Ukrainian life-and-death struggle. Restrictions on armaments that would permit Ukraine to attack the attackers on their own soil [Russian and Belorussian staging areas] have been draconian.
Meanwhile, countless Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield and from Russian carpet bombing.
I implore GIVE THEM THE TOOLS SO THAT THEY CAN FINISH THE JOB.
As President Zelensky expressed it “The choice is between freedom and fear.”
If Putin is permitted to batter Ukraine into some Insipid cease fire leading to Russia retaining perhaps 20% of Ukraine including Crimea, he will be emboldened to ‘nibble’ at Moldova and other sovereign states in Eastern Europe.
In my war they handcuffed us and sent us out to fight. It was bloody and brutal. I remember every day. Every day the bodies fell. And finally there were enough bodies to stink up the world. So we gave it back to the politicians. The politicians gave it back to the attackers. But we still have our choking wall. The one we can visit to retch and cry and go to pieces under. So I ask you. Shall we just go ahead and build that wall in Ukraine? Give it back to Putin to crow and gloat and prove for all time that freedom can’t be? It is the winter at Valley Forge. Do we blink? Or do we cross the Potomac?
Well said, Pat.
Pat, do you know why the massive leak of detailed top secret intelligence documents from Discord suddenly fell into silence. I was troubled when the news report of US spying on Zelensky appeared. I wonder what Z knows or suspects and if he feels abandoned or worse by the US. Is that why he took a trip to Europe?
His show of solidarity with his European Allies has nothing to do with US interests. He is cementing a foothold and on a shopping spree at the same time. We spy on everyone especially our closest Allies.Spying is the system by which information is exchanged. The curtains are sometimes left open. I think Zelinsky wants to build an offensive. He must get that done.
Thank you, Pat. The news I read on the subject made it seem like the Biden administration had been doing something very wrong. That so much of the news does not accurately represent the truth must be stopped.
That is the heart of the matter. I don’t worry about us so long as people like you, ones I respect, hold that opinion. Your thinking is the only way forward. Thank you.
Thank you for your heartbreaking poetry of that war.
The June, 2023 The Atlantic article, "The Counteroffensive" by Anne Applebaum and Jeffrey Goldberg, shows the amazing creativity of the Ukrainians in fighting this war. They use everything they can possibly use to increase their resilience & communication.Applebaum and Goldberg spent several days seeing it for themselves. This is not a report from afar!
Well worth reading!
Thank you deeply, Keith Wheelock, for this! (And thanks for the reference to Anne Applebaum's latest article in The Atlantic.)
I can't help wondering why the 140 companies and Charles Koch (who essentially own the House Republicans) don't tell their boys to raise the debt limit. Why do they bother threatening Biden ? Those boys are the responsibility of their puppet masters. Koch and companies should know by now Biden can't be blackmailed. And Koch and companies will suffer most if the entire world economy crashe and they will be responsible. I think they are cowards trying to be bullies, blowing hot air.
Here's why the richest of the rich look forward to an economic crisis:
https://open.substack.com/pub/tcinla757/p/what-an-economic-crash-will-really?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android
Many thanks to TCinLA for posting this piece
(From Thom Hartman's substack)
I think that's TC's Substack TAFM.
Really puts it into black and white.
I think TC posted Thom Hartmann's article so search either way.
It was, Wendy. I just read it on TC’s page.
They simply want to take America hostage, but without negotiations. They were apparently bullied & became bullies. They want to continue further into the dark side & be OPPRESSORS.
They were always bullies. People who have been bullied, in general, develop a bit of empathy and vigilance. It really is mind-blowing that Republicans take on the gang affectation in totality and prove every day that they are only out for more power, prestige, and money. They continually do nothing but arm more followers for the upcoming 'civil war' that they all so desperately seek.
The Republican party really should be considered a Cartel.
A few well - armed NATIONAL GUARDSMEN should quell any of these freaks looking for a civil war. I'm normally a pacifist in search of rational answers to situations like these, BUT we aren't talking about rational people. They're like some mutant life form that knows no solution to anything except BRUTE FORCE & VIOLENCE. Instead of knocking on a door, they'll break it down or toss a Molotov cocktail in. AND they'll find SOME way to justify it as " God's will " or similar BS.
They are the velociraptors testing the fence. If they can successfully get Biden to bend - even an inch - then there is a new tool in their arsenal for minority control. Holding the debt-ceiling vote hostage is a dick-move, but it may just work for them. Create-a-crisis-and-blame-it-on-Biden is stock fodder for their gop narratives to their supporters. The MSM loves to allow their narrative to lead the news because it sells advertisements, and keeps us forever in a “They-can’t-possibly-be-this-crazy” grip. After all these years, we still have not truly woke up to the fact that there is a growing effort to crash our entire system. It’s an effort of “death-by-a-thousand-cuts” / “flood-the-zone-with-shit”. It’s meant to defeat our minds’ ability to sustain the effort to comprehend how we can counter the onslaught. Keeping us angry, and impotent-feeling leads us to feeling disgusted. And disgust is the working-clay of manipulators. Being “disgusted” with feelings of no agency to do anything to improve or affect our situation, is where the minority-maga-sphere-manipulators want us to be. So resilience has never been more important. Finding efforts to actionable “push back against the entropy” is key personally, and collectively.
Velociraptors indeed!
Great visual!
I read a pretty good article yesterday ( https://open.substack.com/pub/tcinla757/p/what-an-economic-crash-will-really?r=3hlhv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email) that explained that the uber wealthy make out like bandits when there is a crash/recession/depression because they can rake in profits as those who are not of that financial background have to sell the "things" (mostly stocks, investments, etc.) to try and keep their house (which also gets sold farther down the pike). They see only profit at the expense of the public.
I believe it’s all happening behind the scenes, this is just part of the show. Perhaps they’re hoping the dems will cave, and do their dirty work for them. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen. Stay tuned...
Koch Dad & Brothers, now just Charles Koch, were basically Libertarians and don't believe the government should spend anything at all on domestic programs that help people. Barely support public education. That's the role of religions and charities (as it was before FDR).
They believe in no "social welfare" (but accept corporate welfare happily), low taxes, no regulations, and a balanced budget, or as close to it as possible.
Koch & Co have a dog in this hunt; downgrading US credit rating costs them lots of money.
Corporate taxes. Greedy bturds
In a small but perhaps significant victory, Jacksonville, FL elected Democrat Donna Deegan as mayor yesterday, rejecting DeSantis's extremist choice. Democrats also won a number of other races on the ballot.
And Colorado Springs elected a Democrat -- the first time in 60+ years
YAYAYAY!!
McCarthy is trying to '... extract budget cuts they cannot get through the normal process of legislation.' This, in order to roll back the Biden agenda , which is working.
"While Republicans claim to be concerned about spending, it is notable that they have flat-out refused to help reduce the deficit by closing tax loopholes that would raise $40 billion. They also refuse to consider any measure that would raise taxes, focusing solely on spending cuts."
That's the whole issue, somewhere, in the background , the "big boys" are telling them to cut the taxes and regulation on business and the repubs do what they are told !
Been their mantra since FDR
I want to salute the Ukraine for " not going gently into that good ( ? ) night ". Instead of being conquered like, say, Tibet, they're resisting.
They're not " The Mouse that Roared ", but they're baring their teeth.....
Dear Heather,
Grateful for you. Your sharing. Your report of Truth.
All. The. Things.
Onward!
Peace + Love
E 💜
Genius brilliant political philosopher and the most profoundly influential U Chicago professor, buried at Bard College, Hannah Arendt, used the Banality of Evil to discuss the worst fascism’s affect in her writings. Her phrasing moved mountains... and is used this day at the Institute named after her at Bard College..
What political philosopher, author, campus or group will coin the phrase that describes the run away fascism of today - that is influencing dozens of nations, including the United States of America, today?
And what is driving the fear, ignorance and banality of today’s intolerance and political violence that is driving the Republican Party, threatening a Crash and chaos in the name of a false solvency in the craven stupidity of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, toady to his most insane members, for whom he is the slave bitch, heading straight to Hell... at the direction of his party’s most malevolent fascists bent on power to the exclusion of everything else.
What is the invisible force driving McCarthy’s masters headlong rush to chaos? PREJUDICE and racial hatred are the triggers, ignorance and fear are the fuel feeding the banal prejudice and rank Republican banality... today’s Banality of Evil... which has no Hannah Arendt, no political North Star to light the darkness... no philosopher to voice the phrase needed to capture the diminishing flame of freedom in nation after nation consumed with radical hatred’s, explosive intolerance and, yes, fascism.
Conspicuous Consumption coined by Thorstein Veblen focused the philosophy of his day... as he moved from The University of Chicago north to a far smaller campus that lit up with his genius. What is the name of that Minnesota college? Carleton College, and it is one of the best.
Where is Professor and author Allison S. Davis of the University of Chicago, where is Max Eastman... of New York City?
Yale University and Columbia University and Boston University - in their day - had outspoken leaders that formed the dialogue... that moved the congress.. and led the nation. What were their names?
President Dwight David Eisenhower used troops to open Little Rock high school and flip Gov. Orval Faubus...
AG Nicholas de B. Katzenbach of Lyndon Johnson’s one term administration used federal Marshals to roll third party candidate and racist, the mortally wounded Governor George C. Wallace, to open a campus. AG Bobby Kennedy risked his life...and spoke out, paying the ultimate price at the hands of a lunatic.
Where is President Kingman Brewster? Where is Martin Luther King? Caesar Chavez?
There were so many - back then.
Sandy, since, ( as Anne Applebaum keeps warning us) the anti- democracy turn to extreme nationalism & fascism is global, maybe we have to look off the traditional grids for the kind of leadership you seek.... Zelensky, Navalny, Applebaum herself, Fiona Hill, Rev.William Barber II....but I take your point. Where are the " big voices"?
I totally agree, these selfish, greedy, arrogant criminals don't give a hoot about anyone but themselves. I just cant understand how these crooks be so uncaring, hateful, and cruel to other human beings. Seems like NAZI Germany all over again, except instead of Hitler, it's TUMP as king dictator.
Been saying this for years, banned from Twit and FB because they didn’t like it
One of the most common themes in literature is, "mans' inhumanity to man".
The Cruelty is the Point.
Per Reuters, the President of Belarus who has not been seen in Public since early May has been hospitalized but, that status is "not officially confirmed". Lukashenko is 68 years old.
Perhaps Lukashenko is a loyal ally to Putin who just happened to start showing illness while in Moscow. Or perhaps Putin had him poisoned for lack of enthusiasm for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. A lot of Putin’s associates have died suddenly in office buildings in the last year.
You are correct Joan; I understand there is "office building watch" out for Luka'.
It's worth noting that the Republican "patriots" never flinched after the hagoc they visited on the American people after the debt ceiling budget fiasco in 2011. GOP loyalty plainly is to itself while America be damned. Ike Eisenhower would administer a sharp rejoinder to his wretched party if he was alive today.
He wouldn’t claim them and he wouldn’t be acceptable to them. Chump is their man. A Nazi lover that Ike would have swatted with one hand…
Republicans never flinched when the numbers came in on what their 2017 tax increase would do to the budget.
“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Domestic terrorists are the worst kind. Whatever the Koch nuts want is an attack on the country and us all