Seeing all these signs: the flags, the Supreme Court rulings that restrict and take away freedoms, reading Project 2025 and all the rest, I feel like I’m watching a documentary from the far future entitled “The Year it Ended in Darkness”. PT Barnum had it right except suckers aren’t just born every minute, they’re converted because someo…
Seeing all these signs: the flags, the Supreme Court rulings that restrict and take away freedoms, reading Project 2025 and all the rest, I feel like I’m watching a documentary from the far future entitled “The Year it Ended in Darkness”. PT Barnum had it right except suckers aren’t just born every minute, they’re converted because someone took away their pacifier that they are somehow more deserving and entitled and this is their chance to lash out. Usually, I can laugh and rage at this and I don’t know why knowing Leonard Leo also flies the Appeal to Heaven flag is my final straw tonight but this seems creepy and terrifying, like a secret handshake we see out in public and not enough people believe us. I know I’ll be ok again tomorrow but wow.
Thank you Dr Richardson as always for shining a light of knowledge and context.
I love being proven wrong in this way. I had been complaining that HCR 'did not talk about Leonard.' And in today's Letter she leads with Leo! (ThankYou also to a fellow commenter who provided a Letter from almost exactly a year ago.)
It's not just the politicians and party, populists and plutocrats, pundits and personalities, with a bent for authoritarianism. And in this case, religious extremists hungry for a corporate clerical fascist state. It's all those who step up to do the day to day work. The Eichmanns and apparatchiks. All those filling out applications for The Heritage Society's Project 2025. As a path to personal advancement.
"For when I speak of the banality of evil, I do so only on the strictly factual level, pointing to a phenomenon which stared one in the face at the trial. Eichmann was not Iago and not Macbeth, and nothing would have been farther from his mind than to determine with Richard III 'to prove a villain.' Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all… He merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what he was doing… It was sheer thoughtlessness—something by no means identical with stupidity—that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of that period.
And if this is 'banal' and even funny, if with the best will in the world one cannot extract any diabolical or demonic profundity from Eichmann, this is still far from calling it commonplace… That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem.
- Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Tragically, today in Jerusalem, having seemingly missed the lesson of the Eichmann trial, we have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich et al. And in the US, AIPAC, the Evangelicals, and the Republican party. Whose reflexive and thoughtless response to the Hamas atrocities of Oct 7, are piling wreckage on wreckage. On Palestinians, on Israel itself, and by extension the USA. And of course, Hamas and Iran saw an opening for their attack in the Netanyahu regime's preoccupation with a Leonard Leo style court capture, throwing Israeli government and society into disarray.
Of course, you know, lin, how these characters always self-identify.
They speak in slogans, abstractions, dead metaphor, bureaucratic cliché, and all the other forms of what Orwell called "bad language."
And yes, so many of them -- all kissing up to power, always. Never possessed of any humanities, which ground us in the specifics of things we love, things that hurt.
Not in MAGAmerica! They are not crimes in that country, they are the means to an end! And that end, well, I think that each of us has a fitting answer so I'll leave it to you. the reader, to complete the thought of what end you will see. Each of us I think will agree on much but with different emphasis depending on our experiences & wisdom.
I worked really hard to educate people and the media (through comments and letters) about the No Labels Party. A lot of people did. This is what is takes.
None of this is luck. My biggest concern about this Election isn't the power of the Democrats but the malaise and defeatist attitude of the electorate.
Phil, and those are the guys who don't want real history taught in our schools or the humanities unless they are books approved by themselves, folks who hardly read anything but their own propaganda. They also are working to shape and totally take over our social media platforms by "permitting" anything to be spewed forth. They have more money than ordinary people, so can see that more of the lies and disinformation are entered than the truth which they have been pretty effective at blotting out or hiding from all but the very persistent. We need ways to wake up at least a few of these people imprisoned in their likes and sharing what is not true, so we can get Democrats elected at every level in this nation so this insanity can be turned around.
The current term for banal is “normalize.” Once you’ve normalized evil, people tend to just roll over and accept it. Evil becomes banal. The norm. And here we are.
At a public lecture, a geophysicist speaking on subduction zones described one as, "folding fracturing, fissuring friction forces". It sounded like poetry to me and I wrote those words on pots after that and gave him one -- I never saw him appreciate the wondrousness he gave me. ( I was a potter privileged to have samples from scientists' scraps of muds and rock powders that I used for glaze. Since I had materials from converging and diverging plate boundaries, I was eager to grasp plate tectonics.)
I think you are right Lin and it is devastatingly simple. I look at good people around me who vote to protect their wealth, or their lifestyle, or their comfort. Ignoring the long term consequences of white supremacy or the idea that those who give themselves extraordinary power can take that lifestyle, comfort, and wealth in a nanosecond.
I have been confused by this behavior, concocting extravagant reasons for their choices...but after reading your post I think it is simple. They want to protect what they spent a lifetime building...not willing to consider future ramifications of their choices.
Susan, those that have created a good life for themselves only think that trump will help them keep their nest egg but in the long run but I know they are not any better off. Especially like you say they cannot see the road of authoritarianism ahead. Stupid, ignorant and self centered just like their leader or idiot they follow.
Maybe it could be that simple ... among old people or folks at what they perceive to be nearing the end of their acquisition stage. Gotta keep what is mine if I'm going to make it to the finish line with my dime in my pocket with the tribe I chose.
lin, I chuckled this morning reading LFAA and seeing Leonard Leo mentioned in the first sentence. Having read your recent comments here and elsewhere, the timing was both excellent and sweet for calling out Leo’s destruction of the Supreme Court. And connecting the dots for those who don’t seem to get how influential the Federalist Society is.
I grew up Catholic and had dozens of opportunities, with my parents, to discuss how faithful Catholics could or should vote and/or be active in politics as an American.
Leo and the many who work with him, fail every measure, every policy ideal, every rule I learned. Biden, on the other hand, walks the walk. Every day.
As hammered as I feel given the complete corruption of the Supreme Court by Leo and his ilk, I will do what I always do under pressure - help get out the vote (Field team 6 - register Democrats).
Elect more Democrats. Expand the court. Preserve democracy. Rinse. Repeat.
Along with ProPublica, True North Research, and Accountable USA, the National Catholic Reporter has done fine critiques of Leo.
I think the American Council of Bishops might represent a schism in the church. More aligned with the GOP and Evangelicals than with Pope Francis. Or even with Vatican 2.
I have been saying ( mostly to myself, because people shut out what I say) and now I know, firsthand, how a nation like Germany could fall under the spell of fascism. Before this year ends, we may be saying to ourselves, why didn’t we stop this when we were still able to? The future for democracy is uncertain. These people had this plan in the works since the 1990’s IMHO.
Quite likely, I wondered why my Republican friend got religion so suddenly and unexpectedly, now I know why. He also made the bizarre statement that Democrats should not be allowed to vote. I disregarded it back then but it has become relevant now.
I know, Jean, I’ve wondered in comments here before how is it possible to have my hair on fire whilst being chilled to the bone by it all???!!! This was my realization after reading Project 2025 & the Heritage Foundation’s announcment of it back when it dropped to the public.
"That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem. " Chilling.
Hamas does not get nearly enough credit in our discourses for the horror of Gaza. YahYa and friends knew what would happen when they attackef Israeli grandmas in their beds. They are getting the result they wanted.
Thank you for the quote! I have in my mind the recurring thought about the banality of evil in our time, in ourselves, in humanity itself as well. We are delft to the point of blindness.
With luck and encouragement, everyone who can vote will have a "break my soul" moment and act to stop the nightmare. Otherwise we are truly and and irrevocably lost.
I was at a restaurant some years ago, eating at the bar and chatting with the black woman manager. Her bartender kept making the white power sign at her, but she didn't know what it meant.
I told her.
The next time he did it she demanded to know if that was what he meant, and the smarmy prick dared her, yes it was.
Your post reminds me of being a kid back in the 50’s and coming home and asking my parents what does *xxx* mean? It was usually something I heard on the playground regarding an ethnic or cultural group & I had no clue, but was usually in a mocking tone. My folks would explain the meaning, and tell us kids that we don’t use such words as they are disrespectful. Never, not once, do I recall hearing my parents/grandmother/aunts & uncles speak such words.
Sioux—just got finished reading the ProPublica article once more, “We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority” 10-11-23, which is basically the history of Leo Leonard.
It’s people like him that view our country as having basically 3 classes: the poor who serve, the middle class who basically fund the country with their labor and taxes, and the uber-rich who control and rule and supply the jobs so that the other 2 classes do their jobs for the only class (the God-given class) that really matters.
A woman’s role is to birth and know her place (barefoot and pregnant), and all people of color and immigrants to serve and also to be clear about their status or lack of same. And unless the aging can support themselves by being one of the self-sustaining and therefore, deserving, they should die.
This is the belief system that is justification for this .05% of the population who are the billionaires — this is the order of things and the status quo that has been disrupted since WW2 and they intend to be reestablished.
This above vision protects leeches like Leo and many others like multibillionaire Republican megadonors like, and so many more.
What they want is to protect their billions from that pesky, pushy majority of the population. After all the billionaire class has got the power and funds to manipulate the system.
If they can keep laws from taxing them as they should, they can also wait as long as it takes for laws to be changed to match their vision of how the real “chosen”see things as they should be. Right now they make the laws, they own the companies that control news distribution and one way or the other, they control politics, if the rest of us let them.
We know what is wrong with the other side. I just wish we would examine ourselves and determine what is wrong with us and make adjustments. But we won’t because we are all hardwired to think we can do and think no wrong.
They note the hypocrisies on our side that we don't see. Like nobody is applauding South Carolina's move to create more diversity and inclusion in their Congressional Districts.
I don’t believe errors of omission to be necessarily hypocritical but rather a question of priorities. There is no possible way to please critics who demand that “their” issue should be getting front burner attention
Because knife ends with an e, so knifefight pushes the brain toward “nyfehfyt” instead of nyfyt. A double ff (“nyffyt”) begs for a pause between them. So we naturally get knife-fight.
Exactly. I mean, I think they're much worse than we are, but like on this gerrymandering issue, it's not race, but votes. Our side thinks there's nothing wrong with bending a rule about racial gerrymandering to serve our political purpose in getting more of our votes in one Congressional district. What always strikes me is how often we see it noted that Trump supporters are white rural males without a college degree. Somehow implying that maybe they're not as well educated as us and isn't it a shame that they vote like that. But we have no problem fighting as hard as we can to make sure that urban blacks without a high school degree get to vote. I don't think either side really cares about a person's race other than how it relates to how they vote.
We should meet them halfway and condone abortion only when a court says it is OK (which, given this nation's courts, the decision would come down along about the 33rd week)...?
What? How about we go back to the correct decision in Roe v Wade that stood for over 50 years? The one where women were recognized as equal human beings. The one where their healthcare was between them and their doctors, not freaking politicians or anyone else suggesting a "compromise."
This is exactly the issue. Nine individuals on the Supreme Court shouldn't have had to make "the law of the land" on abortion. Congress should have done it. If our Democracy worked right, we would all vote for our congress people, and they would deliberate, and make good laws, but instead we're in this ridiculous situation where our vote for president is made important because the president appoints those judges and we (both sides) are looking to those judges to make law. And we love it when those judges do what we want, and hate it when they do what the other side does. It should be Congress. We need to fix Congress.
In this nation’s courts, that would be the 6th week, before many women even know they are pregnant. We should NOT meet them halfway. We should do what is right. And what is right is to leave these decisions to women and their doctors.
The true democracy way to deal with an issue like abortion is Citizen Assemblies. Google Ireland, abortion and Citizen's Assembly. When people get together a deliberate on what the law should be, they make good decisions.
My decisions about my body are my business alone. Not yours, not the government’s, and not a Citizen’s Assembly.
I would also like to point out that we women are f’ing pissed off. This one issue may be the issue that keeps our democracy intact, as pissed off people are more likely to vote. That’s why Fox News keeps rousing the rabble.
Dennis, would you like a citizens Assembly to determine your health needs? Would you like them to tell you that new breakthroughs in science have made it possible for the father to carry a fetus. Since the female partner has a very low probability of carrying to term, we are voting to implant the fetus into the male cocreactor of said fetus. Oh, this was unplanned and you are not emotionally, psychologically, financially, or mature enough to have a child. Citizens Assembly does not care. Our only purpose to to ensure propagation of the species. We don’t care about the quality of parents lives, or even the child’s life after the fetus stage. Or would you like the committee to determine who gets ED treatment? Abortion in its many reasons for being needed is healthcare and should be an equal basic human right of a woman. As a woman, I sure don’t think I have the right to interfere in your healthcare. Why do you feel this entitlement?
Exactly! It infuriates me that the most outspoken leaders of the antiabortion movement are MEN! Yet do we hear anything about the role/need of male sperm to fertilize an egg???? Bet not!
Hmmm, assuming a lot of things about me...(I am 100% pro-choice and I think Roe v. Wade got it right.) The first question is, should there be a law about abortion? or are we talking some sort of divine or inalienable right? If the latter, then this political thread is inappropriate. If the former, then, the question is how best to come up with the law of our land on abortion. Our politicians use abortion to get our votes, on both sides, and there is no evidence they actually care either way. A Citizen's Assembly is exactly that, say 100 people randomly chosen from all walks of life chosen to listen to and discuss all sides of an issue and come up with a recommended law expressing as best they can the sentiments of a nation. Exactly like a jury. Ireland had anti-abortion in its constitution, and it was a political football, just like here, but they decided to try a Citizen's Assembly (CA). These were non-politicians, debating, thinking, hearing each other, and they came up with a recommendation that something like 70% of the country voted for and approved. It was very similar to the Roe v. Wade decision, but it wasn't nine elites who decided but rather 100 Irish citizens, not politicians. Google it. Really it's a much better way to deal with any contentious issue, like say immigration or health care. Our Congress could convene a CA on abortion and stop using it as football. I'll tell you what p*sses me off. It's all the Democrats who are glad about Dodd because they think it will p*ss women off and get them out to vote for Democrats. They couldn't care less about the individual suffering it's caused.
Bern, there are late term miscarriages of 33 weeks because of nonviable pregnancies—they’re rare, but they happen. The standard of care is to allow the doctor to “finish cleaning out” the uterine lining so that the woman doesn’t hemorrhage or go septic (and this dilation and curettage is called abortion). So, setting the date at 33 weeks will not solve the problem. By the way, setting any date will encourage a chipping away by those legislators who want to ban it entirely. Look at what is happening with contraception—start with IUD’s and end up outlawing all contraception that is used by women.
I'm hip tp (some of( the outer limits of pregnancy. That 33 was just a way to point out that the courts will never rule on this sort of thing til after the kid is carried to term, therefor moot.
Bern, we’ve already seen instances of miscarriages in which the court did not rule until after the fact, but it wasn’t moot because the ruling set the stage for another hospital board or lawyer to use that ruling as a reason to deny treatment until the woman ended up in the ICU. I’d like good attorneys to take the hospitals to court from ICU bills and damages.
It seems to be an unspoken conspiracy. An understanding among a certain group of coconspirators . Their influence is outsized because of money and influence.
Hello Sioux. Agreed, creepy. And no matter how well the economy is doing it does nothing to undo what the extreme republicans are doing to our country, taking us back to the late 1800’s. And there is literally nothing we the people can do.
Keeping the truth out there and public is the only way to combat these traitors. Expose them for the nazis they are.
I tell EVERYONE I talk to about what is at stake and what it is those traitors are trying to do to ALL Americans, even the foolish maga people who think those people give a damn about them. Truth. It's the only way.
Sioux, I’m with you. It’s hard to believe in all the turmoil around us but we have to keep the faith that Justice and Liberty will prevail for us all.
I have such a hard time thinking about the issue of race because there’s not one person in United States that was born here unless you’re a Native American, why does color or ethnicity matter. I wish we would be more like Canada and be a mosaic rather than thinking we have to be a melting pot .
Sioux Fleming, You sum up my take on Dr Richardson's letter perfectly. We must be full awake and we must do our best not to argue with those that think all those negative things about our economy but to replace their thinking that is fed to them because they are not reading what is really going on; we must point them to the facts and explain it is time to wake up, to smell the coffee, to think for yourself. Share Professor Richardson's Letters From an American. Vote. encourage anyone that cares about our Democracy and not wanting to go back to the 4 years prior to President Biden's term of service to America and ALL of us.
Gradual takeover of an authoritarian government has occurred so far in countries of single race - Germany, Japan, China, Hungary and so on. America is a nation of diversified races and religions and this structure cannot be unified easily except law and rules, namely democracy.
Seeing all these signs: the flags, the Supreme Court rulings that restrict and take away freedoms, reading Project 2025 and all the rest, I feel like I’m watching a documentary from the far future entitled “The Year it Ended in Darkness”. PT Barnum had it right except suckers aren’t just born every minute, they’re converted because someone took away their pacifier that they are somehow more deserving and entitled and this is their chance to lash out. Usually, I can laugh and rage at this and I don’t know why knowing Leonard Leo also flies the Appeal to Heaven flag is my final straw tonight but this seems creepy and terrifying, like a secret handshake we see out in public and not enough people believe us. I know I’ll be ok again tomorrow but wow.
Thank you Dr Richardson as always for shining a light of knowledge and context.
2 mins ago
I love being proven wrong in this way. I had been complaining that HCR 'did not talk about Leonard.' And in today's Letter she leads with Leo! (ThankYou also to a fellow commenter who provided a Letter from almost exactly a year ago.)
It's not just the politicians and party, populists and plutocrats, pundits and personalities, with a bent for authoritarianism. And in this case, religious extremists hungry for a corporate clerical fascist state. It's all those who step up to do the day to day work. The Eichmanns and apparatchiks. All those filling out applications for The Heritage Society's Project 2025. As a path to personal advancement.
"For when I speak of the banality of evil, I do so only on the strictly factual level, pointing to a phenomenon which stared one in the face at the trial. Eichmann was not Iago and not Macbeth, and nothing would have been farther from his mind than to determine with Richard III 'to prove a villain.' Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all… He merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what he was doing… It was sheer thoughtlessness—something by no means identical with stupidity—that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of that period.
And if this is 'banal' and even funny, if with the best will in the world one cannot extract any diabolical or demonic profundity from Eichmann, this is still far from calling it commonplace… That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem.
- Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Tragically, today in Jerusalem, having seemingly missed the lesson of the Eichmann trial, we have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich et al. And in the US, AIPAC, the Evangelicals, and the Republican party. Whose reflexive and thoughtless response to the Hamas atrocities of Oct 7, are piling wreckage on wreckage. On Palestinians, on Israel itself, and by extension the USA. And of course, Hamas and Iran saw an opening for their attack in the Netanyahu regime's preoccupation with a Leonard Leo style court capture, throwing Israeli government and society into disarray.
Of course, you know, lin, how these characters always self-identify.
They speak in slogans, abstractions, dead metaphor, bureaucratic cliché, and all the other forms of what Orwell called "bad language."
And yes, so many of them -- all kissing up to power, always. Never possessed of any humanities, which ground us in the specifics of things we love, things that hurt.
Leonard Leo should be called to a grand jury. If he won't divulge all the judicial beneficiaries of his largesse with specifics, indict him.
I think, Daniel, he and his dark money friends foreclosed on all that in Citizens United (2010).
Bribery and perjury are crimes.
And who, with our judicial system so compromised, will enforce?
"Bribery and perjury are crimes."
Not in MAGAmerica! They are not crimes in that country, they are the means to an end! And that end, well, I think that each of us has a fitting answer so I'll leave it to you. the reader, to complete the thought of what end you will see. Each of us I think will agree on much but with different emphasis depending on our experiences & wisdom.
Solomon. Bribery and perjury may be crimes but wealth allows evasion of justice. It should be obvious now.
The good news is that their No Labels Party failed spectacularly.
Yes, this is something to be grateful for.
I worked really hard to educate people and the media (through comments and letters) about the No Labels Party. A lot of people did. This is what is takes.
None of this is luck. My biggest concern about this Election isn't the power of the Democrats but the malaise and defeatist attitude of the electorate.
Phil, and those are the guys who don't want real history taught in our schools or the humanities unless they are books approved by themselves, folks who hardly read anything but their own propaganda. They also are working to shape and totally take over our social media platforms by "permitting" anything to be spewed forth. They have more money than ordinary people, so can see that more of the lies and disinformation are entered than the truth which they have been pretty effective at blotting out or hiding from all but the very persistent. We need ways to wake up at least a few of these people imprisoned in their likes and sharing what is not true, so we can get Democrats elected at every level in this nation so this insanity can be turned around.
Please, Ruth, note mine just now to Barbara Mullen, above (or near here).
The current term for banal is “normalize.” Once you’ve normalized evil, people tend to just roll over and accept it. Evil becomes banal. The norm. And here we are.
But it doesn’t stay “banal.” At least, not for some
William As in Trump seeks to ‘normalize’ the Constitution and the judiciary.
Lin -- what a stunning sequence of "p"s: politicians and party, populists and plutocrats, pundits and personalities!
Indeed! Worthy of the sardonic stylishness of this Letter, which is in a category of its own. As deeply depressing as it is brilliantly written.
Right up there with Rep. Crockett's "bleach-blond bad-built butch-body." (My favorite part was Chair Comer's response -- "Whut, now?")
At a public lecture, a geophysicist speaking on subduction zones described one as, "folding fracturing, fissuring friction forces". It sounded like poetry to me and I wrote those words on pots after that and gave him one -- I never saw him appreciate the wondrousness he gave me. ( I was a potter privileged to have samples from scientists' scraps of muds and rock powders that I used for glaze. Since I had materials from converging and diverging plate boundaries, I was eager to grasp plate tectonics.)
Yep and I’m loving the laugh! Thank you.
I think you are right Lin and it is devastatingly simple. I look at good people around me who vote to protect their wealth, or their lifestyle, or their comfort. Ignoring the long term consequences of white supremacy or the idea that those who give themselves extraordinary power can take that lifestyle, comfort, and wealth in a nanosecond.
I have been confused by this behavior, concocting extravagant reasons for their choices...but after reading your post I think it is simple. They want to protect what they spent a lifetime building...not willing to consider future ramifications of their choices.
Susan, those that have created a good life for themselves only think that trump will help them keep their nest egg but in the long run but I know they are not any better off. Especially like you say they cannot see the road of authoritarianism ahead. Stupid, ignorant and self centered just like their leader or idiot they follow.
And with that 'holding onto a lifestyle' thought process is a lot of privilege...I earned this and that's why I'll get to keep it.
Maybe it could be that simple ... among old people or folks at what they perceive to be nearing the end of their acquisition stage. Gotta keep what is mine if I'm going to make it to the finish line with my dime in my pocket with the tribe I chose.
lin, I chuckled this morning reading LFAA and seeing Leonard Leo mentioned in the first sentence. Having read your recent comments here and elsewhere, the timing was both excellent and sweet for calling out Leo’s destruction of the Supreme Court. And connecting the dots for those who don’t seem to get how influential the Federalist Society is.
I grew up Catholic and had dozens of opportunities, with my parents, to discuss how faithful Catholics could or should vote and/or be active in politics as an American.
Leo and the many who work with him, fail every measure, every policy ideal, every rule I learned. Biden, on the other hand, walks the walk. Every day.
As hammered as I feel given the complete corruption of the Supreme Court by Leo and his ilk, I will do what I always do under pressure - help get out the vote (Field team 6 - register Democrats).
Elect more Democrats. Expand the court. Preserve democracy. Rinse. Repeat.
Along with ProPublica, True North Research, and Accountable USA, the National Catholic Reporter has done fine critiques of Leo.
I think the American Council of Bishops might represent a schism in the church. More aligned with the GOP and Evangelicals than with Pope Francis. Or even with Vatican 2.
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
https://truenorthresearch.org/
https://accountable.us/leonard-leo/
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/scheme-18_leonard-leos-16-billion-payday/
https://www.ncronline.org/news/leonard-leo-architect-conservative-supreme-court-takes-wider-culture
Same here!
I have been saying ( mostly to myself, because people shut out what I say) and now I know, firsthand, how a nation like Germany could fall under the spell of fascism. Before this year ends, we may be saying to ourselves, why didn’t we stop this when we were still able to? The future for democracy is uncertain. These people had this plan in the works since the 1990’s IMHO.
Since Reagan was elected in 1980!
Quite likely, I wondered why my Republican friend got religion so suddenly and unexpectedly, now I know why. He also made the bizarre statement that Democrats should not be allowed to vote. I disregarded it back then but it has become relevant now.
"And in this case, religious extremists hungry for a corporate clerical fascist state. " Well said, lin. And thanks for the Hannah Arendt quote.
What you say: "those doing the work" and following with your assessment of Macbeth; outstanding!
My argument was that the 2016 election was about the Supreme Court. I hate being right. Sadly, it is even worse that I could have imagined.
The confirmation 'tip-off' for my mind was when the r's shot down Obama's appointment of Garland. That's when I knew what the real prize was.
I don’t know if I should scream or sob… oh hell, I am doing both!
I know, Jean, I’ve wondered in comments here before how is it possible to have my hair on fire whilst being chilled to the bone by it all???!!! This was my realization after reading Project 2025 & the Heritage Foundation’s announcment of it back when it dropped to the public.
Beyond tragic. Sorry you had to write this, and thank you
Thank you for that crystalline quote and reflection!
"That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem. " Chilling.
I'd also reccomend reading the book: Into That Darkness, a brilliant exploration of very ordinary people doing horrible things.
Hamas does not get nearly enough credit in our discourses for the horror of Gaza. YahYa and friends knew what would happen when they attackef Israeli grandmas in their beds. They are getting the result they wanted.
She heard you, Lin.😉 Always appreciate your wisdom…
Thank you for the quote! I have in my mind the recurring thought about the banality of evil in our time, in ourselves, in humanity itself as well. We are delft to the point of blindness.
With luck and encouragement, everyone who can vote will have a "break my soul" moment and act to stop the nightmare. Otherwise we are truly and and irrevocably lost.
It makes me weary to know the prolific gerrymandering will negate a lot of these votes.
The secret handshake.
I was at a restaurant some years ago, eating at the bar and chatting with the black woman manager. Her bartender kept making the white power sign at her, but she didn't know what it meant.
I told her.
The next time he did it she demanded to know if that was what he meant, and the smarmy prick dared her, yes it was.
She fired him on the spot.
Wish we could it felt great seeing her do that.
Your post reminds me of being a kid back in the 50’s and coming home and asking my parents what does *xxx* mean? It was usually something I heard on the playground regarding an ethnic or cultural group & I had no clue, but was usually in a mocking tone. My folks would explain the meaning, and tell us kids that we don’t use such words as they are disrespectful. Never, not once, do I recall hearing my parents/grandmother/aunts & uncles speak such words.
It does get to be a massive bummer at times, ¿does it not? 😯🫣😢
Sioux—just got finished reading the ProPublica article once more, “We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority” 10-11-23, which is basically the history of Leo Leonard.
It’s people like him that view our country as having basically 3 classes: the poor who serve, the middle class who basically fund the country with their labor and taxes, and the uber-rich who control and rule and supply the jobs so that the other 2 classes do their jobs for the only class (the God-given class) that really matters.
A woman’s role is to birth and know her place (barefoot and pregnant), and all people of color and immigrants to serve and also to be clear about their status or lack of same. And unless the aging can support themselves by being one of the self-sustaining and therefore, deserving, they should die.
This is the belief system that is justification for this .05% of the population who are the billionaires — this is the order of things and the status quo that has been disrupted since WW2 and they intend to be reestablished.
This above vision protects leeches like Leo and many others like multibillionaire Republican megadonors like, and so many more.
What they want is to protect their billions from that pesky, pushy majority of the population. After all the billionaire class has got the power and funds to manipulate the system.
If they can keep laws from taxing them as they should, they can also wait as long as it takes for laws to be changed to match their vision of how the real “chosen”see things as they should be. Right now they make the laws, they own the companies that control news distribution and one way or the other, they control politics, if the rest of us let them.
Well, I WON'T be OK again tomorrow, and neither will our country.
Support Senator Whitehouse's Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act!
Senator Whitehouse is a hero and the leading and persistent voice against corruption of and by the Court.
We know what is wrong with the other side. I just wish we would examine ourselves and determine what is wrong with us and make adjustments. But we won’t because we are all hardwired to think we can do and think no wrong.
Bill recognizing evil is a pretty simple task. What do you think we may he wrong about?
They note the hypocrisies on our side that we don't see. Like nobody is applauding South Carolina's move to create more diversity and inclusion in their Congressional Districts.
I don’t believe errors of omission to be necessarily hypocritical but rather a question of priorities. There is no possible way to please critics who demand that “their” issue should be getting front burner attention
Love this. Like Rick Wilson said 'Stop bringing a cheese plate to a knife fight'.- or something like that.
We always said "knife to a gunfight" but I really like "cheese plate to a knife fight".
Spelling/grammar question here: why is "gunfight" one word, and knife fight two?
I always wanted to know why we drive on a parkway, but park in the driveway 🤣
😂😂😂
Because knife ends with an e, so knifefight pushes the brain toward “nyfehfyt” instead of nyfyt. A double ff (“nyffyt”) begs for a pause between them. So we naturally get knife-fight.
Thanks!!
because I made a typo.
Not according to my laptop. It recognized "gunfight" but not "knifefight".
Exactly. I mean, I think they're much worse than we are, but like on this gerrymandering issue, it's not race, but votes. Our side thinks there's nothing wrong with bending a rule about racial gerrymandering to serve our political purpose in getting more of our votes in one Congressional district. What always strikes me is how often we see it noted that Trump supporters are white rural males without a college degree. Somehow implying that maybe they're not as well educated as us and isn't it a shame that they vote like that. But we have no problem fighting as hard as we can to make sure that urban blacks without a high school degree get to vote. I don't think either side really cares about a person's race other than how it relates to how they vote.
We should meet them halfway and condone abortion only when a court says it is OK (which, given this nation's courts, the decision would come down along about the 33rd week)...?
What? How about we go back to the correct decision in Roe v Wade that stood for over 50 years? The one where women were recognized as equal human beings. The one where their healthcare was between them and their doctors, not freaking politicians or anyone else suggesting a "compromise."
This is exactly the issue. Nine individuals on the Supreme Court shouldn't have had to make "the law of the land" on abortion. Congress should have done it. If our Democracy worked right, we would all vote for our congress people, and they would deliberate, and make good laws, but instead we're in this ridiculous situation where our vote for president is made important because the president appoints those judges and we (both sides) are looking to those judges to make law. And we love it when those judges do what we want, and hate it when they do what the other side does. It should be Congress. We need to fix Congress.
What?
In this nation’s courts, that would be the 6th week, before many women even know they are pregnant. We should NOT meet them halfway. We should do what is right. And what is right is to leave these decisions to women and their doctors.
In Indiana doctors are leaving. It is hard for women in need to get care!
Make that most women don’t know they’re pregnant at six weeks
The true democracy way to deal with an issue like abortion is Citizen Assemblies. Google Ireland, abortion and Citizen's Assembly. When people get together a deliberate on what the law should be, they make good decisions.
My decisions about my body are my business alone. Not yours, not the government’s, and not a Citizen’s Assembly.
I would also like to point out that we women are f’ing pissed off. This one issue may be the issue that keeps our democracy intact, as pissed off people are more likely to vote. That’s why Fox News keeps rousing the rabble.
Dennis, would you like a citizens Assembly to determine your health needs? Would you like them to tell you that new breakthroughs in science have made it possible for the father to carry a fetus. Since the female partner has a very low probability of carrying to term, we are voting to implant the fetus into the male cocreactor of said fetus. Oh, this was unplanned and you are not emotionally, psychologically, financially, or mature enough to have a child. Citizens Assembly does not care. Our only purpose to to ensure propagation of the species. We don’t care about the quality of parents lives, or even the child’s life after the fetus stage. Or would you like the committee to determine who gets ED treatment? Abortion in its many reasons for being needed is healthcare and should be an equal basic human right of a woman. As a woman, I sure don’t think I have the right to interfere in your healthcare. Why do you feel this entitlement?
Exactly! It infuriates me that the most outspoken leaders of the antiabortion movement are MEN! Yet do we hear anything about the role/need of male sperm to fertilize an egg???? Bet not!
Hmmm, assuming a lot of things about me...(I am 100% pro-choice and I think Roe v. Wade got it right.) The first question is, should there be a law about abortion? or are we talking some sort of divine or inalienable right? If the latter, then this political thread is inappropriate. If the former, then, the question is how best to come up with the law of our land on abortion. Our politicians use abortion to get our votes, on both sides, and there is no evidence they actually care either way. A Citizen's Assembly is exactly that, say 100 people randomly chosen from all walks of life chosen to listen to and discuss all sides of an issue and come up with a recommended law expressing as best they can the sentiments of a nation. Exactly like a jury. Ireland had anti-abortion in its constitution, and it was a political football, just like here, but they decided to try a Citizen's Assembly (CA). These were non-politicians, debating, thinking, hearing each other, and they came up with a recommendation that something like 70% of the country voted for and approved. It was very similar to the Roe v. Wade decision, but it wasn't nine elites who decided but rather 100 Irish citizens, not politicians. Google it. Really it's a much better way to deal with any contentious issue, like say immigration or health care. Our Congress could convene a CA on abortion and stop using it as football. I'll tell you what p*sses me off. It's all the Democrats who are glad about Dodd because they think it will p*ss women off and get them out to vote for Democrats. They couldn't care less about the individual suffering it's caused.
No one here have a sense of mordant humor but me?
Not on this subject, no.
Bern, there are late term miscarriages of 33 weeks because of nonviable pregnancies—they’re rare, but they happen. The standard of care is to allow the doctor to “finish cleaning out” the uterine lining so that the woman doesn’t hemorrhage or go septic (and this dilation and curettage is called abortion). So, setting the date at 33 weeks will not solve the problem. By the way, setting any date will encourage a chipping away by those legislators who want to ban it entirely. Look at what is happening with contraception—start with IUD’s and end up outlawing all contraception that is used by women.
I'm hip tp (some of( the outer limits of pregnancy. That 33 was just a way to point out that the courts will never rule on this sort of thing til after the kid is carried to term, therefor moot.
Bern, we’ve already seen instances of miscarriages in which the court did not rule until after the fact, but it wasn’t moot because the ruling set the stage for another hospital board or lawyer to use that ruling as a reason to deny treatment until the woman ended up in the ICU. I’d like good attorneys to take the hospitals to court from ICU bills and damages.
You say that as if men are willing to use contraception
I’ve known men willing to get vasectomies as well as using condoms.
It seems to be an unspoken conspiracy. An understanding among a certain group of coconspirators . Their influence is outsized because of money and influence.
My feelings exactly....yesterdays news took away a bit of my hope.
Hello Sioux. Agreed, creepy. And no matter how well the economy is doing it does nothing to undo what the extreme republicans are doing to our country, taking us back to the late 1800’s. And there is literally nothing we the people can do.
Keeping the truth out there and public is the only way to combat these traitors. Expose them for the nazis they are.
I tell EVERYONE I talk to about what is at stake and what it is those traitors are trying to do to ALL Americans, even the foolish maga people who think those people give a damn about them. Truth. It's the only way.
Very well said and over 200 readers who also liked your comment agree. Well done!
Sioux, I’m with you. It’s hard to believe in all the turmoil around us but we have to keep the faith that Justice and Liberty will prevail for us all.
I have such a hard time thinking about the issue of race because there’s not one person in United States that was born here unless you’re a Native American, why does color or ethnicity matter. I wish we would be more like Canada and be a mosaic rather than thinking we have to be a melting pot .
Spot on as always Sioux.
Sioux Fleming, You sum up my take on Dr Richardson's letter perfectly. We must be full awake and we must do our best not to argue with those that think all those negative things about our economy but to replace their thinking that is fed to them because they are not reading what is really going on; we must point them to the facts and explain it is time to wake up, to smell the coffee, to think for yourself. Share Professor Richardson's Letters From an American. Vote. encourage anyone that cares about our Democracy and not wanting to go back to the 4 years prior to President Biden's term of service to America and ALL of us.
Gradual takeover of an authoritarian government has occurred so far in countries of single race - Germany, Japan, China, Hungary and so on. America is a nation of diversified races and religions and this structure cannot be unified easily except law and rules, namely democracy.