Tonight the House passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling for two years, enabling the Treasury to borrow money to prevent a default. More Democrats than Republicans rallied to the measure, with 165 Democrats and 149 Republicans voting in favor, for a final vote of 314 to 117. Seventy-one Republicans and 46 Democrats opposed the bill. Now the measure heads to the Senate.
Joyce Vance said tonight that in light of the news today, she's gone from "if" the fat old traitor is indicted to "when" he's indicted. And the only thing better than that will be "when" he's stuffed into the 8x10 windowless cell on the third sub-basement level of the Florence SuperMax.
I just want him gone: a fatal hamberder, a smack on the noggin from a golf ball, or death from old age, ignored and forgotten in his 8X10 cell. Make America Truly Great Again with the fat old traitor six feet under.
You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.
____Arthur Ashe
We are coming down from our pedestal and up from the laundry room.
____Bella Abzug
Negroes must be free in order to be equal, and they must be equal in order to be free. Men cannot win freedom unless they win equality. They cannot win equality unless they win freedom.
_____A. Philip Randolph
Remember, remember always, that the vast majority of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants.
_____Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have never denied my background or my culture. I have taught my child to embrace her Mexican heritage, to love my first language, Spanish, to learn about Mexican history, music, folk art, food, and even the Mexican candy I grew up with.
___Salma Hayek
My dad's from that generation like a lot of immigrants where he feels like if you come to this country, you pay this thing like the American dream tax: like you're going to endure some racism, and if it doesn't cost you your life, well hey, you lucked out. Pay it; there you go, Uncle Sam. I was born here, so I actually had the audacity of equality.
Thank you Fern. I would like to add to your quotes with one of my father's, a beautifully quixotic Greek immigrant who arrived in this country, alone at the age of 15 in 1909, who also had to endure:
"Work with your nose to the grindstone but never lose your sense of humor." John Demas
Thank you, Sophia Demas. Your father's quote is true, funny, physical and eloquent. Please add his name to his words. You can do that with the edit function, Press on the three dots to the right in order to open the editing function. Cheers!
Thank you Fern McBride. Every one of your quotes is a reminder that this country is not made up of only white wealthy Christian men. The pull from the right of denying rights for all but this one group is not hidden.
My ex-classmate in Elkhart has been ranting about immigrants lately. I answered her in a long post and reminded her that unless she is a member of a Native American nation, she is living on stolen land and her ancestors were immigrants. She thinks we should just close the border and I cited the 1924 immigration law which cut the numbers severely from certain areas, a law supported by the KKK who were interesting in having a country consisting only of WASPs and told her that her idea sounded much the same. She is a devout "Christian", so I am trying to figure out why she doesn't understand that immigrants from south of us do not make that long, treacherous, expensive journey just for the hell of it. For her ignorance is bliss. One of her best friends was an Italian guy, so she doesn't understand that at one point Italians were not welcome either...Catholics.
I agree with you. I have observed that people with a conservative political bent (regressives who want to regress society back to some mythological "good old days"), all have a peculiar personality train in common: they are all immune to internal philosophical inconsistencies. They see no problems with hypocricy.
I doubt she understands that Jesus was a Jew who looked and thought like people of that area. Being an Indiana R doesn't help with true understanding of the message of the first three Gospel
How does your Indiana friend feel about the assault rifles sale in that state? As many of them could wind up in Illinois (specifically Chicago), I am horrified.
Given the rants by trump, greene, desantis, et al, I’m against anything supported by those wanting a country of only WASPS. trumps ignorance of the republican party’s history and the immigration policies they supported is disturbing in itself…
They have no idea of any history although you would think Stumpy Boots DeSatan would since he had an Ivy League education. They just like to stir the pot and one way to do that is white supremacy.
Just remember that Ivy League universities have been seriously diluted by Koch brothers endowments, et al, assuring that the "right" subjects be taught. There are a lot of melon-headed conservatives being rubber stamped by schools of law, religion, political science, etc. We should have a line up poster of them so we can see the flock of ignoramuses they are.
Here's the thing; WASPs, of which I am one, are a boring lot. Not particularly ambitious, bright, or wealthy— prone to watching mindless TV and drinking beer, making allusions to sexual prowess without performance, etc, etc. No wonder they (we) are worried. We're about to self-destruct. I am going to see if the possibility of any Native American ancestry, as suggested by my DNA, is true. Then I intend to deny I am a WASP.
Italians and Irish were not even considered white until their numbers reached a level that they were useful. Being white is a wholly arbitrary group and has nothing to do with the color of your skin. It depends on your usefulness to those who have the power to exploit you for their ends and how much trouble the Census Bureau wants to go to when they count population to establish the apportionment of the House. The Anglo-Saxons became a touchstone because of American eugenics and the Anglo-Saxons weren't protestant until they were converted in England. BTW, they weren't Anglo-Saxons really, they were Anglos and Saxons and they originated in the regions of Scandinavia and Germany. We are all wanderers.
I think in the 1920s it was because they were Catholic that made the difference. I am going with the definitions that the KKK had at the time. I read a lot about ancient DNA and as far as I am concerned there is no category that is lily white. I am also an Anglophile and am well acquainted with English history, some eras more than others. I just joined a page that focuses on Anglo-Saxon England and looked at map this week showing movement at that time and who was already in the British Isles. My favorite part of British history is the Tudor era which caused the split from the Catholic Church, not embraced by everyone in Henry VIII's England. By the 1920s in this country and quite specific to the book A Fever in the Heartland, mostly Indiana, which I was citing in my post to my ex-classmate, they were adherents of white supremacy which they defined as WASPs.
Shunning is the practice of preventing someone from taking part in society at the social level. It doesn't work in this case. Declaring someone as an enemy of a nation must be done by law and is considered discrimination in America. In a diverse country that depends on the rule of law to maintain an ordered society, we must endure those whose behavior is beyond the bounds of excepted behavior as long as that behavior does not violate the law. The 1st Amendment goes a long way to prevent legal recourse. We need a new amendment to the constitution that describes the harm you and the rest of us are experiencing which in a balanced and nuanced way prevents the abuse of political, religious, or any other group to abuse any other group of people even those who are not currently citizens of America protecting all of our cultural, religious, and social beliefs. For instance, calling someone or a group lazy because they can not rise out of poverty and influencing a group of people to believe and act on this unsubstantiated claim. Perhaps we could add it to the law using a defamation approach. A new aspect of the class action case could be created to allow say Italians, Chinese, Irish, Indigenous People, or any other ancestral group to claim defamation and recoup changes in legal interpretation or creation of actual law to protect them from future baseless claims. Or for instance, old laws that allow men or women to abuse their immediate family either physically or mentally because some religious belief they hold supports it. Statements in religious texts that imply this abuse is a right and just should be countered with a law that cannot be abridged by the Constitution's protections of religious freedom. That would bring legal penalties and protection for those harmed. Too many abused family members die every year because of the privacy of the family system alone. A commonly heard reason to avoid action is, "You just don't know what is going on inside the home. People lie." Make the whole family come in and in some non-judicial protected way find out what's going on inside that home. Often the extended family knows and backs off for reasons of their own. We need to examine our behaviors and why we allow people to lie when influencing others by distorting the truth or by creating a truth based on their personal beliefs. The common subordination and discrimination based on religious doctrine alone must be recognized and countered in a nuanced way in law. For instance, you can't declare a demonstrable truth from science, such as the world is round because you believe it's not true. You must prove your side. Vaccines do harm a small group of people. That is demonstrable. For instance, my sister was allergic to eggs, eggs products were a common medium for vaccines. She could not take those vaccines. There must be a way to provide protections for that small group, without villainizing vaccines to the majority. Unnecessary dramatization of potential harm prevents those unaffected by that potential harm from participating in a vaccine that may save their life or someone they come in contact with. This brings me to the irresponsible actions of influencers. Whether it is social media or people masquerading as journalists blasting out unsubstantiated information without proper disclaimers or expressing opinions without proper foundation as catastrophic or somewhere in that neighborhood, or interviewees expressing their opinion on the actions of others without separating the known facts from expressions of "I just don't like what they did". Or, interviewing multiple people repeating the same unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing without proper a disclaimer of what is "I just don't like this". Why don't they like it? Is their reason reasonable? I've got to stop. I see all this and we continue to allow it. Where is the legal action against Fox for the damage they did by intentionally lying to the American people and continue to do? They are unregulated influencers and something must be done in law to prevent the bastion of "free speech" from protecting this egregious behavior.
Freedom can be measured by the choices availabel to us. More choices equals more freedom. Fewer choices equals less freedom. The availability of choices operationally defines freedom.
That's a pretty limited idea of freedom in my mind. It sounds too much like consumerism. As FDR described it, we must be free from want and fear as well as free to speak and worship as we choose. As far as I can see, the Republicans are working to shut freedom down on all these fronts.
John is essentially correct. Freedom does equate to more choice in any aspect of life; like the freedom to speak your mind without penalty, practice any or no religion, choose any area of study/career, have a child or not to name only a few. As a young woman in the 1970’s we could not get a credit card in our own name. That is an option/choice we did not have then but do now. However, freedom from want and fear is primarily an inside job but we still have mental health services as an option to help with that. I DO agree that the GOP is working to shut down freedoms from certain groups; women, POC, LGBT and transgendered citizens, and immigrants which by the way, curtails options for them. I could get an abortion in HS and now as a 66 year-old I can not after 6 weeks in many states (silly example I know but you get my drift). To watch women’s options deteriorate in my life time is nothing short of alarming. We must stay diligent and stand up to the rise of fascism in this country. It CAN happen.
Well, you might begin by measuring the negatives—the number of people in this rich nation who cannot reliably afford to feed their families and the number of people who tune in to Fox and other sources of propaganda that promote conspiracies.
It is somewhat limited in the sense that it is simple. B. F. Skinner noted this in his book Beyond Freedon and Dignity. His main point was that freedom not simply about choosing our own behaviors but the consequences (i.e., the results) that those behaviors produce. That actually adds depth to the significance of the terms 'choice' and 'freedom.'
Yes, and what should not be forgotten: with freedom comes responsibility. Otherwise, it ends up as a violent anarchy - although that might be just what TFG and the Freedumb Caucus want…
Those of us who never experienced being an immigrant (NOT because we arent) have no conception of what it takes to leave your own country, home & family to create a new home in an entirely new and strange place. The thoughts of those you posted, Fern just say it all. Boy does this country NEED our children - for that matter, adults - to be educated - really educated in this country's history & the history of its people - ALL of its people.
We need an education system more like Finland's. Ours is a sorry mess, and dependent on property taxes. Education should be financed by the Federal Gov't, with good pay for teachers everywhere.
Hmmmm . . . So true that funding education via property taxes is without any redeeming qualities, but having our education system financed by the Federal Government scares me . . . Imagine T asserting his power over education.
It sounds to me like the future is the Democrats' to lose. Without Federal financing, every low income area in the country is going to have lousy schools and probably lousy teachers. And if the schools are better, the voters they produce will be better.
Just picked up "The Nordic Theory of Everything" from the library - have to finish the Alex Delaware novel I'm reading first. But that sure sounds interesting.
Louis, there may be several sources. Here is one of them:
'FRANKLIN is a virtual research room and digital repository that provides free and open access to the digitized collections of the Roosevelt Library. It hosts over 800,000 pages of archival documents and 2,500 historical photographs, along with many detailed descriptions of archival collections not yet digitized.'
'The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library maintains over 17 million pages of documents in its archives. Among these materials are the personal papers of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as those of various individuals and organizations associated with the Roosevelts.'
'Audio and motion picture holdings of the archives include recordings of or about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, the New Deal, and World War II. These include the famous Fireside Chats, government productions, commercial radio broadcasts, home movie footage, and commercial film and television productions.'
I never fail to be amazed at your ability to provide the right resources at the right time -- as well as a link to a timely Borowitz satire. Thanks, Fern!
Fern, I am growing more from appreciating and respecting your postings to simply loving your place and person in this Community of Strangers. Thanks, kiddo. Such a resource.
Check out FDR’s 1944 State of the Union. Politics is competing visions of the future. And we never got to what FDR envisioned from that 1944 speech. Solving issues of inequality will get us closer.
What I like to say is, “No one invited them here!”
As you well know, the only true natives in the USA are the American Indians; locally here, The Wampanaug. The rest of us including the empty blowhard orange menace are all immigrants.
Those of us who follow the news know that trump is more than guilty of numerous crimes and should have been in prison long ago The problem is he is only symbolic of the cancer that is in the process of metastasizing. That cancer is fascism and too large a portion of this country are all for it. They feel threatened by women, immigrants, and sexual minorities and need to suppress them, taking away their rights. VOTE!!!!
Take heart Harvey. I will reiterate the fervent prayer I made the morning I found out that trump was president--that the GOP self-implodes. Look at what's happening...my prayer can't be answered in better ways....
I had the same feeling that given time trump would destroy the GOP. I also felt the same way about the Evangelical Church. I thought it would take time for both. The Evangelical non-Christian Church as we know it today is dying a slow death because young people are leaving it in large numbers.
Wish it were that simple. As we have seen, not all democrats are progressive. Not all women are progressive. In fact, if more women were progressive, we might not be in our current mess. We need to cultivate, and support progressive democratic candidates before, during, and after their elections. Democracy doesn't just happen at election time.
Indeed, it has always been around. Death star just gave it carte blanche to crawl out of the woodwork and be quite open. I read last night a facebook post from an ex-student which broke my heart. She is a married lesbian living in Las Vegas and just got married this last December. She described what it is like being queer in this country at this time and all the stress that puts on her. She is fortunately a strong woman in a loving relationship with lots of friends who responded with support and love. I have an ex-colleague who is a wonderful person and is beloved by lots of kids, but.... Every now and then we talk about this student and she mentions that she is pretty and implies that for that reason, it's too bad she is a lesbian. This truly bothers me. I do think at one point I did say looks do not matter.
I know a couple of young men living in Florida now who are gay friends of my lesbian daughter, and they have been doing drag for many years, and this is just a horror show for them.
I worry for my daughter and all of her friends. I want all these bigoted monsters to be afraid to show their hatefulness again!
Here's a slogan: Make Bigots Hide Under Rocks Again!!
I have a few other ex-students who are lesbian or gay and I do worry about them. One of them moved to Paris (a former French teacher) as soon as he retired and he has having a great time with many trips, friends, visitors. We watch a lot of series, mostly filmed abroad and we notice a lot of all kinds of relationships and also, thankfully, actors who have disabilities and are still cast as part of the series.
Ah yes, David Holzman, Aesop's famous cautionary, albeit linear tales of "The Tortoise and the Ooze," and "The Snail and the Bigot." So true, but in my exponential fable, the perniciously percolating ooze would spread and deepen implacably over and under everything in its broadening path . . . it's hot toxic fumes killing any life form that hadn't already been trapped and suffocated by the oily syrup of ignorance--a forlorn hand fleetingly poking up through the surface in a macabre gesture of desperation . . . banjo playing in the background along with what sounds like a human--squealing like a pig.
About the threat posed by women—I have read an analysis thar suggests that not only do women compete with men for good jobs, but that they can support themselves means they do not need to marry for economic reasons. They do not have to settle for poor-quality husband material. (Not fair, say the “incels.”)
As it should be. That kind of thinking was common when I was young. I'm lucky to have grown up in a family of self-actualized women who demonstrated how life really can be, and fortunate to see enough changes that I and my daughter's could choose. Why should we have to marry just to have a place to live and food to eat? Sounds to me that the "analyst" who wrote that is afraid that that is the only way he can snare a mate, because having a choice would mean they wouldn't choose him. I sure wouldn't. That kind of marriage is slavery for women.
Your last sentence--right on. My mother's side especially, the women were accomplished. My maternal grandmother got a PhD--in 1915. My mother--a wonderful woman. And was happily married.
You know, I have come to believe that how he gets removed from his pinnacle is very important. He and his followers would love to claim martyrdom, and secure the religion of trump. We don’t need that. We need his own to take him down, to be disillusioned by him, to see the small, cruel man behind the curtain.
I agree on the method. I used to work with a person who so hated him but didn't want him shot for fear he'd be martyred. Her hope was upon exiting Air Force One, when he went for Melania's hand, she'd give him a good swat so he'd trip at the top of the staircase, tumble down head over heels, snapping his neck and thudding dead on the tarmac. Sweet!!
But so many of his own kind are the same as Trump. But they will eat their own when they are finally backed into a corner. And trump is now the one in the corner!
MLRGRMI - I wish I could believe in a takedown by his own. I've interacted with too many of his supporters to think that will ever happen. They're never going to take responsibility for the disaster they've wrought. But I hope Chris Christie can at least pull votes from some of the skeptical.
That's what I'd prefer to see happen. And that the slow awakening taking place continues, so that Trump just becomes an example for future generations of what can go wrong when we don't nurture democracy.
I've been hoping for a Rumpelstiltskin type ending. You know, something where he gets so angry about something that he starts hopping up and down and eventually tears himself in half.
But then I think, nah, he doesn't have the energy to do that.
Trump is a traitor. I have all those same emotions of anger and disgust. He has been dodging justice for much too long. But justice is coming and we will look back on this time as a turning point. When the evil was being squeezed out of the national pimple.
Despite my agnostic views on spirituality, I do believe in karma. I don't think it is healthy to wish torture or death on anyone. Even the dark evil thing under an orange cloud.
I want to enjoy seeing him in a court room as the judge announces his sentence(s).
Lets take the high road. The traffic flows better there. Too much hate is a gift to the enemy.
Thank you, Bill, for your words of wisdom. Being hateful and spewing angry vitriol will reap their own dismal reward. But I am hopeful that whenever and however Donald Trump exits life on this planet, Congress denies him the privilege of lying in state in the US Capitol and that his miserable carcass, sealed in multiple trash bags, is interred without ceremony somewhere at his Deadminster golf course.
He deserves justice, and we deserve to see him get it. But however justice comes -- guilty or not guilty, prison, house arrest or freedom -- every day since January 6 2021 shows that his grip on his red-hatted cult hasn't gone away. To those folks, he will be considered a martyr and a hero, no matter the outcome.
I've seen a few of his followers pulling quietly back. Someone was just telling me about a rabid Trump supporter who lived by her and just recently took down his Gadsden and Trump flags.
I've been predicting for a year he'll run...he'll flee the country. Trump's a bully and a coward. Just watch. Don't be surprised if he starts building a golf course in Turkey.
Turkey gets over 3 million European tourists every year. I cannot imagine Europeans being too excited over a Trump golf course in Turkey. It would be a failure.
More realistically, Trump cannot "flee" while under indictment because his is the most famous face on earth, and Turkey is a member of NATO and would not harbor an American fugitive from justice. And Jack Smith would certainly ask the court to confiscate Trump's passports. Realistically, there is no place for him to go, and he's hardly the type to live in exile.
I really do think he will flee and it will be to the UAE United Arab Emirates. They have no extradition agreement with the US. The passport is no big deal, he will take a smaller jet (and send his 757 elsewhere as a decoy) and will have help from a set of corrupt Secret Service agents. A lot of folks have said Russia but it is too cold there and trump doesn't like snow.
If he's clever enough for the decoy gambit...UAE is highly likely...as the leadership is never going to change. Getting him out of country solves a lot of things. He claims victory because it was a political witch hunt...he can rant and rave...and we are free of him.
There's a possibility. Just buy an island...create a little kingdom...they can all live happily ever after...is Epstein's place available...??? He can play golf and rant
He'll never do it. His plane will have to submit its flight plans to every country he touches down to for refueling, for safety reasons because they cannot clear his plane for takeoff without a flight plan. Interpol or any national security establishment will detain him. You two have been watching too many movies. Name me one convicted felon in America in modern times who was able to get on a plane and make it to a safe place. Besides, the UAE is made up of 70% international foreigners, he'd be spotted in a New York minute.
Do you honestly see a man like Trump serving time in a prison? I don't...he breaks laws all the time. Why should he care about the ones you listed above? I can't name you one convicted felon off of the top of my head, but I bet there are hundreds. I personally know of one who was going to go to court...not convicted yet who faked his death and vanished. No one in law enforcement or insurance believes he died. If Trump is in one of the 86 countries with no extradition to the US who cares if he's recognized. He will claim, persecuted by witch hunt...he loves the leaders in a lot of those countries....not the African ones.
As I believe that it's looking far more certain that T***p WILL be indicted, perhaps 3 times in total, a judge could very easily slap a "flight risk" order on him, which would mean he would lose his passport and not be able to flee. He could try it anyway, but he would thereby ensure he'd be in permanent exile -- not an unappealing prospect, actually.
MaryCat I was being sarcastic about the golf course in Turkey. Trump does not need a passport to flee the country...he owns a jet that can cross the ocean...or yes as Dave says below use a smaller plane. Trump will never go to prison. I'll bet money on that. We can start a pool about where he lands/stays.
I doubt he'll run. He's an old man, older physically and mentally than Biden. His body is breaking down, and likely sooner than later will enter a point that it become more obvious. He is used to being the center of attention. I don't think he wants to leave; here he has his coterie, what's left of his family, and he clings to a fantasy that somehow he can retain power. As unlikely as it might seem, I suspect that much of his display is to retain his self-image as a strong man. Without it I think he might collapse emotionally, and he certainly is not going to be allowed any semblence of that image in some other strong man's hold, and will be without any power. His self-image is already crumbling, as is his physical health. What happens when it reaches the point that they both collapse?
I don't disagree with much of that...but if his choice is prison or leave the country I believe he leaves...I just can't imagine him choosing prison, over freedom.
Oh, I agree with that. But by the time he gets to that point, his choices may be limited- because for some reason he thinks he is always going to win, despite the fact that so far, he has only lost.
Batista fled moments before Castro's forces would have arrested him. They were celebrating New Years Eve in high fashion. He found sanctuary and lived out his life in comfort.
I share your desire for Trump's absence and utter separation from any possible opportunity to gain power. Sadly, his disease has metastasized and we will be fighting the infected, probably for decades.
If anything positive can be said about all this, it is that many of us (certainly me!) have had our awareness of both the importance and the preciousness of our democracy, despite its flaws.
Every generation must work to keep it alive, and strive to perfect it.
That's VERY true. During Obama's terms I got a little Kum-ba-ya. I thought we were better off than we really were. Trump picked at Obama from the beginning...DJT's racism is so deep...and he resonated with folks, many of whom apparently liked his TV persona. "You're fired"...to powerless people that must have felt good. To people who aren't happy with their lives. The ones who liked to listen to Rush rant at "others". Immigrants, gays, strong liberal women...Hilary was a lightning rod...I only listened to him a little bit...sometimes there was an ounce of truth...but the logic was very flawed and the rant was essential. The GOP is a train wreck of it's own making. I don't recognize the elected reps from the folks I worked with in the 80's like Connie Morella, Helen Bentley, Mac Mathias. They were compassionate conservatives, who knew how to compromise. Mitt Romney is about as close as it gets today. Larry Hogan.The folks doing the Lincoln Project. You can talk with them, debate them honestly. What has surfaced as the far right scares me, the ones who believe in Trump as their answer...but we had it right before WWII...a Nazi convention that filled Madison Square Garden....and before that a very powerful and widespread KKK. Freedom isn't free and the biggest battle is here at home. Peace
I am totally with you and I think a lot of us are.I am really thinking that the only way we will ever really be free from him is when he kicks the bucket.I used to pray that we would be rid of him. Now I pray he dies.
I’ll temper my wish with kinder imaginary actions though. They should all be rounded up and re-homed to a new, excellent, & sizeable land, empty of people to take it away from &/or use as slaves. We’ll magic over their homes, farms, animals, religions, businesses, guns & ammunition, musical instruments & sheet music, How To/DIY books & their religious dogma books - we’ll make sure their needs are met and then will lock them there and throw away the key.
I can’t think of anything worse than making them live with themselves - the White Nationalists, Christian Extremists, Libertarians, Misogynists, ‘their’ members of the medical industry (anti-vaxxers, of course), their ‘justice’ system members, ‘their’ police, & military (without the weapons of mass destruction or the means of creating them), the Greedy-Deregulationists who don’t want any pesky rules or laws - such as building, labor, consumer laws - getting in the way of their profits, and their insanely Wealthy people for whom being a citizen of a country has no meaning since they own homes & politicians in multiple countries while barely contributing to any of them.
No immigrants to share of their talents, foods, customs, or widening the pool of DNA.
No libraries.
No education for regular people other than counting, basic reading, and how to spell their names. Education is back to being only for religious leaders and the wealthy.
No social services.
Who will they demonize, abuse, and blame? Themselves!
Who will protect and fight for the underdog? No one!
Lisa, Ah, the Reformation of Ayn Rand as she sees the culmination of her Objectivism Culture hidden in the Colorado Mountains. Let them eat cake, er each other. The Ghosts of Danner
Hmm...I am reminded of an old, old original Star Trek episode whereby, as the story went...about a few hundred years prior on Earth, a group of genetically altered people got a rush of power to their head and attempted a takeover of this planet--they were eventually rounded up and exiled by placing them in "coldsleep suspension" shooting them off into space on a ship that was called Botany Bay, (* the reference there is obvious) presumably to die.
But no...the wannabe master race ended up on the Enterprise, got thawed out and proceeded to take up where they left off. Then they got rounded up again and put on a desolate planet.
Where they DIDN'T stay...if anyone remembers the Star Trek movie that was a sequel to that old episode called "The Wrath of Khan".
The message being it isn't enough to merely isolate and ignore these kooks.
TCinLA, I keep belting out Elvis Costello's lyrics from his song to Maggie Thatcher, Tramp the Dirt Down--"Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live long enough to savor. That's when they finally put you in the ground, I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down."
It's good musical therapy for me. (Here's a fantastic 1989 interview and performance if anyone cares to sing along. https://youtu.be/Oktv--kPwqg )
"And the only thing better than that will be "when" he's stuffed into the 8x10 windowless cell on the third sub-basement level of the Florence SuperMax"
TC, I highly recommend not holding your breath in anticipation of the above outcome. If you do that, I can absolutely guarantee that you will precede Trump into a little box. But, with no windows.
I don't consider myself politically prescient, as my predictions typically fail to materialize. However, I fear I may be right about something I first came up with during the Mueller investigation, well before revelations of his taking of classified docs. Knowing his transactional/criminal nature, I said that he'd retain highly sensitive docs as a bargaining chip to keep him out of jail. Call it his Trump card. I still fear I may be right, and that these were among those he brought to Bedminster, for which no search warrant was sought.
Doug Gagne: My theory--and as always please don't present no steenkin' facts to refute it--is that T, along with several other highly placed, well-known cronies from both parties, as well as international government, monarchy, military, industrial, financial cabals, had permanent guest passes on Jeffery Epstein's pleasure-craft and island. And they know that T has the pix to prove it. And just like Jeffery, might be in more danger from them than from political enemies in the US!
Your hyperbole is understandable, but it also can serve to lessen the support of those who want him gone as badly as you do. We still are a nation of laws. Remember that there are many millions of Americans out there who never gave a hoot about him personally in the first place, but used his malignant popularity to attempt to diminish democracy in the United States. Today, they remain in charge in the House of Representatives and in many State governorships and legislatures. The problem is greater than whatever fate the forty-fifth president meets.
TC could you also wish really really hard for something to "happen" to Putin? I'm having a Peter Pan Panto moment here: the point in the panto when "Peter" urges the audience to save Tinkerbell by chanting "I DO believe in fairies! I Do, I DO, I DO believe in fairies!"
Two more Oath Keepers sentenced for seditious conspiracy. So far each getting 10 to 18 years. If we are to remain a nation of laws, I don’t see how Roger Stone and TFG don’t get at least 20 as ring leaders of J6.
Republicans insist that the law says whatever they want it to say, just by their saying so, if not just by their thinking about it,;and they say it so often that a lot of people believe it. Mr. Smith may not concur.
This is the MOST important point, J L Graham: “..the law is whatever they want it to say”. THIS is the heart of our fight. The Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution were crafted as a rules-based-system. But man finds great sport in creative interpretations to retain power for the powerful. The craziness that this game burdens people with IS the nut of our “mental-health crisis”. Truly: No Justice, No Peace. Know Justice, Know Peace.
That's exactly it. That's the authoritarian mindset. Laws and government are there only to serve the interests of The Party and the Leader. There are no underlying principles, only loyalty to whatever The Party the the Leader decree to be correct.
Reality Winner got 5 years for one classified document. How many classified documents have been found in Trump’s possession since he left office? PBS says about 300. 5x 300 = 1500 years. That should do it. No need to take extreme measures.
"As for TFG discussing at least one classified document with non-authorized people, what penalty should he face for that?"
TFG should be facing an absolute minimum of 20 years in prison for that crime. The prison should be a supermax prison or the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. His crime is a most serious issue. My suggested punishment has nothing to do with my anger or resentment that he's already gotten away with so much. (Check current laws about disclosure of such classified data to other people.)
Many years ago in the Army, I had a TS/SCI clearance. When my fellow high-level clearance soldiers and I were indoctrinated about the seriousness of disclosing classified information, we were told, "If you say one word--ONE WORD--about material you're working with, you can receive 20 years in prison." That's military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, not some Club Fed. Leavenworth is where they sent Chelsea Manning.
If TFG gets away without doing time for this most recent classified material disclosure crime, I will have absolutely no remaining faith in my country's willingness to administer justice. I'm sure I'm not alone in this thinking.
I really think the most fitting place to lock trump up would be Fort Monroe in VA. They could use the same cell Jefferson Davis was locked up in after the Civil War. It is a national historical site but just think how many people would pay big dollars to walk by the cell with trump. Name your price. Might pay off the national debt.
Good idea. Further, videos could be made of trump in his cell for an hour or so. Sell them all over the world. Title it "JUSTICE." Maybe the revenues could pay back the $2,000,000,000 trump and jared kushner received from the Saudi prince for not making a big deal about the killing and dismemberment of journalist Kashogi.
"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into an execrable land whose boundaries are those of nightmares. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the 'GOP's 'Alternative Fact' Zone!"
And the Saudi’s own 7% of Fox/News Corp. known/disclosed stock ownership. Who knows how much more they own on or off the books. But it does help explain the climate denial by Faux “presenters” and the promotion of Authoritarianism.
“Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union. “
I’d like to (unfortunately) comment on Trump’s anti-immigration ideology as a component of your post tonight. I simply do not understand his irrational fears of other peoples (ie not White Supremacists). It is apparent to any rational citizen that this nation was born of immigrants and indigenous peoples who were removed by genocide for the most part; with very few remaining. The histories of so many can be evaluated now with Ancestry.com and their DNA database in addition to family trees, stories, and the like. And we are finally appreciating the contributions of Black slaves whose manual labor was essential to the development of this great nation. History is being revisited as well it should be. Those immigrants coming from our Southern borders are desperately seeking asylum; I am not familiar with the numbers but I remember well Trump’s categorizing them as criminals and drug mules (which in some part is true, again the numbers are unknown to me but the Fentanyl crisis is real and needs to be addressed asap) but turning away vast numbers of desperate people seems cruel and inhumane. Overpopulation and the Climate Crisis have contributed in large measure. Just reading daily about the boats that never reach our shores or the hungry needing to get to family within our country is heartbreaking; I understand a safety net big enough for all would be massive but many of these people work as domestics or in fields gathering crops and do manual labor “above” the status of so many who criticize. I anticipate this issue being the largest in the coming election 2024 as it has hounded administrations for so many years already leading to the disastrous taking of babies from their families. Trump’s last fiasco building a wall that Mexico would pay for has remained clearly in my memory as remnants of it fall in areas & are repaired. It is not a solution. Growing antisemitism is a part of the same issue; we must never forget the Holocaust and deny entry to Jews seeking safety as we did for much too long as WW2 raged and we limited the intake of these people because we did not believe the enormous power of the Nazi regime. This critical issue is paramount to all Democracies and other governments in the world as the population explodes, water covers arable land, food sources are lost. A plan for addressing immigration may differ from state to state but humanity must be preserved. Trump may be indicted and gone; we all wish it to be. Nevertheless, it behooves all citizens to be engaged in solutions to this massive issue as it will only get worse with time. And there is Desantis; please 🙏🏻 give us six more years of Biden to give focus on this issue.
"please 🙏🏻 give us six more years of Biden to give focus on this issue."
Biden can help a lot, but ultimately it is we who have to focus and encourage others to focus too. I think that is probably the core of what a social justice movement is.
"I simply do not understand his irrational fears of other peoples (ie not White Supremacists). It is apparent to any rational citizen that this nation was born of immigrants"
The WSJ has a good article today that will help folks here understand the other side of this issue:
A nice graph showing that birth rates are now below "replacement" rates. So, fuel to the fire of the "Great Replacement Theory" of immigration. Which, is not a theory since we replaced the entire native people of America ourselves.
The immigration challenge today is more complex than "irrational fear", although, Trump is stoking that as much as he can.
Today, on earth, there are 7.8 BILLION human beings. Of those, about 70% are living in dire straights of violence, squalor, poverty and lack of hope.
That is 0.7 * 7.8 Billion = 5.46 BILLION people whose lives are tougher than certainly I can imagine.
So, now, if tomorrow, ALL 5.46 Billion people living in horrible situations elsewhere arrive at any of our borders and claim asylum, then, the problems we see in NY City with migrants will be, well?? Suddenly the US will not be anywhere anyone wants to move to and most of us would leave as fast as we could.
Trump is playing people who have a combination of fear and real concern about immigration. Part of the trouble is, Trump is NOT entirely wrong as Biden has made clear with his own tough immigration policy.
The world's wealthy, mostly white countries have a huge challenge. Over the next 20 years most of the rest of the world, who are not white, will want to immigrate from where they are because, where they are is just a mess of poverty, climate change, starvation and disease.
But, taking in all the folks that are going to be in worse than dire straight elsewhere is simply not feasible. No matter how big our hearts appear to be on this text board today. AND?
Trump knows this as does Biden. Biden has instituted some of the toughest immigration barriers in a long while.
Lastly, in a situation where 5.46 Billion people can show up at the border tomorrow and step across the border to have children in El Paso, does it make sense to have automatic citizenship? I will be honest and say: I do not know.
I am always appalled at HOW Trump represents his actions. Always with hate, always with fear, always dividing.
But, on immigration, Trump is not wrong that we need a policy that is fair to existing US Citizens and, not necessarily fair to those who desire to become citizens.
Because, being fair to 5.46 Billion folks showing up tomorrow will be unfair to all the people who read this post today (probably not many).
Absolutely true we need a policy. But whose responsibility is that? Congress’s. And they won’t do it—takes away its favorite talking point. THAT’S who we should be haranguing.
In a nutshell, they don’t want their culture to change or their (perceived) hierarchy level to be reduced.
Think of America being like a giant tank of water and every immigrant is an added drop of water.
At the very least, they think these drops will eventually take away room from them (the ‘real’ Americans).
Add to that belief the sentiment that every non-White immigrant, every non-Christian immigrant, every Christian immigrant of a branch they don’t accept, and every poor immigrant, are drops of water with food coloring added to it to denote the change (perceived & otherwise) they make to the America they want to see.
They fear their clear water will become murky.
Now expand that water theory to include American citizens who are not White, not Christian, not certain Christians, women who stand up for themselves and other women, non-heterosexual, non-CIS, non-able bodied/minded, etc.
Because they’re so narrow-minded and can’t just see People (only categories), they feel drowned out, ignored, threatened, and even hunted.
Indeed. Having enjoyed privilege for so long, they perceive any lessening of the privilege as an attack on their "rights." The notion that they might have to succeed or fail based on their own merit (or lack of it) is understandably frightening.
"Because you are a great noble, you think you are a great genius! Nobility, a fortune, a rank, appointments to office: all this makes a man so proud! What did you do to earn all this? You took the trouble to get born - nothing more." - Figaro, in Beaumarchais's "Marriage of Figaro"
Diversity and cultural change have been part of human history since there has been human history. It is only the dogged ignorance of history (our own and everyone else's) by many Americans that allows them to blind themselves to this reality.
Well said. I especially love the Figaro quote. Very appropriate.
Regarding privilege, merit, and earning, isn’t it sick that this group calls Black/Brown people lazy when it’s their actual/adopted forefathers who used slave labor?
Mike S., you are correct that immigration is a complex issue. What would it take for you to flee your home on foot to go to a place of hope and refuge for your family's life and safety....to walk through jungles, to face the threats of rape, robbery, murder (not only for yourself, but that of your wife, your children), starvation, disease....to a country that you have heard was "a light on a hill...a refuge for the helpless".....the greatest country in the world?
You are so right! When I was a volunteer translator for an immigration attorney helping asylum seekers, many of the women, especially the younger ones, mentioned that they had started taking birth control pills before their dangerous trek toward Mexico because they were aware that they might be sexually assaulted along the way. But they were determined to make it to the border to seek asylum. They just wanted to be safe and have an opportunity to provide a better life for themselves and their children. Their life struggles broke my heart!
We need to stabilize our population. I was 9 years old when I realized that, and had we done so then, we'd have around 200 million instead of 335 million people in our country. We are the major industrialized nation with the greatest per capita greenhouse emissions. The world would be much better off, with more time, and a greater likelihood of getting to zero emissions in time to stave off disasters if the US had 135 million less people. Propublica has projected that within several decades, MILLIONS of Americans will become climate refugees.
It is important to realize that global warming is REDUCING THE US' CARRYING CAPACITY. We now recognize the importance of supply chains, but between the heat and the reduction in water supply, the amount of food we can produce is falling.
Animal populations are also falling, across the board. There are less than half as many insects, bottom of the food chain, as there were when I was a kid. You couldn't drive on the highway then, without getting a grill full of insects.
Mass immigration is also big biz' way of reducing wages. In 1980, meat packers were Black, and due to organizing their labor over six decades, they made good middle class wages. By that decade's end, meat packers were almost all immigrants, earning barely above minimum wage, toiling under atrocious conditions. This pattern repeated itself throughout the trades and the low/no skilled jobs. See: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck ($14 on Amazon but check your local book store).
David, it is not so much the number of people, it is our capacity to use resources far beyond our need. Falling food production is a result of inefficient corporate farming practices that use 20 calories for each one produces, destroys the natural soils, and uses up vast quantities of water. Entire ecosystems are destroyed, because of the use of chemicals that were not needed, and which produced more pests, and human sickness.
There are better, more efficient ways of farming. We are seeing large farms fail, and small, diversified farms beginning to thrive again. We need more of them. As it is, a large percentage of food goes to waste, beginning on the oversize corporate farms and going all the way down the supply chain to markets and food ending up in landfills. Meanwhile we are unwilling to make some of that food available to hungry people right here in this country.
You mention highways. That's another of our grandiose ideas that has backfired, gutting cities and starving small communities.
Those are the things that are reducing the US "carrying capacity". We are seduced into thinking that quality of life is the same thing as owning a lot of Stuff. We think that freedom to drive vehicles on endless multi-lane roads is freedom. We are a society of mostly good people who do thoughtless things to the world we live in, and to other people in the name of something that we think we want, but do not need..
I totally agree with you about farming, there are much better ways of farming. But most of the people who come here do so because they want to consume like Americans.
And you try to coral the H. sapiens into doing things the way you want them to, and see how far you get. When I was a young adult, I rode my bicycle across the country. I thought everyone should get out of their cars and ride bicycles. I rode 36,000 miles during the 1980s. But I probably didn't convince anyone to change their habits.
I remember in '09 I went to a town hall meeting with my Senator, Ed Markey. I raised my hand, and I told him that his immigration policies were in conflict with his environmental policies. He pulled himself up to his full height, and announced to the assembled constituents, "That man's a pessimist! I'm an optimist!" But the Waxman-Markey climate change bill failed, and here we are 14 years later with things getting scary.
When I was 9, I became concerned about population. At that time, there were only about 200 million Americans. Now there are ~335 million. Imagine how much less global warming there would be if we'd stabilized our population back then. (Nixon actually tried to take us in that direction, but the Catholic Church let him know that if he continued, they'd make sure he wasn't re-elected.) If we'd stopped growing, we'd have more time to solve the problem, and it probably wouldn't get nearly as bad as it will. The first thing I thought when my brother told me he was going to be getting twin grandchildren 4 years ago, was "what sort of world are they going to live in?!!!"
And now there are less than half the numbers of insects that there were when I was 9, and less than half of the birds and other vertebrates. I can tell the difference. I live in the same house I did when I was 9. Every day I saw butterflies, often beautiful ones like swallowtails and monarchs. Now, I'm lucky if I see beautiful butterflies a few times a summer. That's the toll of habitat destruction, which is a function of overpopulation. I hear the drone of Rt. 2, which I didn't hear when I was a kid.
And did you know that humans and our livestock make up about 96% of the animal mass in the world? Again, crazy stuff.
And to have a country with many walkable cities would probably take at least 50 years of zoning, probably more. Human environmental impact is a function of population, affluence, and technology. (I=PAT) You can't take the population out of this equation. (One of my professors, John Holdren, who later became Pres O's Science Advisor, was one of the parties responsible for coming up with this equation.)
So, part of the reason we have so many highways is that the population keeps growing, and so more have to be built to mitigate the increase in traffic.
We are the major industrialized nation with the greatest per capita gh emissions. One of the worst places on the planet to put more people.
David, most of the people who come here are looking for safety. I don't have links to the many articles about immigrants who are actually setting up farms and gardens using the traditional ways of their homelands, but there are many, all over the country. And we are learning from them. It is a fascinating side benefit of having these people among us. We benefit from their traditional knowledge, at a time we are finally understanding what we have done to our environment.
Mike S, while I happily agree with everyone on the planet that the U.S. needs immigration reform, I want to point out that your entire argument as to the dangers of immigration rests on your assertion that "70% [of humans] are living in dire straights (sic) of violence, squalor, poverty and lack of hope."
I want you to source that figure. For one thing, I've read compelling analysis that as the world's average standard of living has continued to rise (yes, it has), the great majority of the world is currently considered to be "middle class," complete with cellphones, electricity, plumbing, and the free time to let them protest against gay people they don't even know.
For another, I note that the "70%" figure must necessarily include the U.S. itself, where our own "violence, squalor, poverty, and lack of hope" could really use some influence from the outside, because since we are rich enough that our squalor is often chosen and fueled by the ignorance and bigotry of the very people who complain about immigration.
Those who hate and fear anyone unlike themselves are deeply invested in portraying the world as full of implacably hateful people who only want to take their lives away. That's false. Anyone who's traveled outside their little town for any real length of time know this, and frankly, we need the people who are organized and well-funded enough to plan a dual-citizenship pregnancy to come here and help us deal with the bigots.
A fair policy can't be "more fair" to some than to others. That, my friend, is an oxymoron.
I am suspicious of anything in WSJ. It does belong to Rupert. I know it has a good rep, but they are “conservative” and subject to the evil megaphone of the propaganda master.
"Today, on earth, there are 7.8 BILLION human beings. Of those, about 70% are living in dire straights of violence, squalor, poverty and lack of hope." Can you give me a citation for that? I'd also like some data on how many of the 70% are "not white," since this seems to be an important issue for you.
You also repeat the popular nativist trope that immigrants are "a problem" and are somehow inherently more likely to be criminals and lowlife generally. This is nonsense. Here's a little data from those notorious lefties at the Cato Institute: https://www.cato.org/blog/new-research-illegal-immigration-crime-0
The specter of our glorious white culture (whatever that may mean) being polluted by hordes of dusky foreigners is a familiar and disreputable one, and I am disappointed to see that sort of racist eyewash being promulgated here. The fears inflated by Trump and others of his contemptible ilk are largely groundless. And in any case, a little knowledge of world history would show you that cultural change resulting from the permeable nature of borders has been a party of human history for thousands of years. Attempts to stop it inevitably fail. Which is just as well, as cultures that have succeeded in temporarily sealing themselves in amber invariably decline and decay. A look at the history of, say, Japan demonstrates this.
Diversity is the way of nature. Cultural and biological inbreeding invariably lead to weakness. Diversity, intellectual and otherwise, is a source of strength. Monocultures are weak and easily broken.
Thank you, Mike S. As a member of Population Connection who heard Paul Ehrlich in the 1970’s
and has since followed his understanding, I have been advocating for adoption, hoping that population, which must be reduced (the science says that two billion is the maximum population the planet can sustain) could be reduced not only by war and famine, but less painfully.
Your comment is a masterpiece of thought and warning.
Immigration policy, a rational policy that secures access to America as a privilege, not a right; in balance with protecting current citizen’s expectation of maintaining their current standard of living is a tall order. Floods cause massive destruction, Rivers give life
I think he and others who think like him are afraid not only cultural change and actual or perceived hierarchical change, but also of being held to account for their forefathers/adopted forefather’s treatment of those they destroyed/abused for their own gain. Worse, they believe their own deeds and their forefathers/adopted forefathers evil deeds will be done to them.
Sorry, this just sounds like another version of American exceptionalism to me. The idea that America is where everybody else in the world want to live. Most of those people do not want to come here, and once here, they just want to work. Drugs are not an issue: they come in other ways or made here: it's an American problem, not an immigrant problem. Immigrants are looking for safety, and sometimes, simple survival. We force them into illegal entry, even though they have the right to ask for asylum. This is not about automatic citizenship, or moving over to make room. There is room for those who come.
Most of all it is about figuring out how to fix the underlying problem so they can stay home if they wish, and it is about not making their lives worse than they already are. And letting them become Americans if that is what they want. We need them. The big issue is that they are largely brown (nobody is panicking about white illegals coming over the northern border- and maybe that's an issue).
Good grief, if we create a rational system of letting immigrants enter without treating them as criminals, and making their transition less onerous, we'd be able to Your post sounds soooo full of compassion, but in reality is pretty much like the Trump "Replacement theory" trope.
Annie D. Stratton -- RE: "Most of all it is about figuring out how to fix the underlying problem so they can stay home if they wish . . . " Yes. Instead of criminalizing them for trying to survive, the US could get real about removing the reason for their exodus. Improving the living conditions in their home countries would make a positive impact--especially since the US had a role in undermining the economies and political systems of so many Latin American countries.
‘Apparent to any rational person…’! No rational person would ever consider one the amoral trump to be ‘a rational person’, nor any magas would be considered rational!
I don’t believe for a second that Trump believes anything other than the imperative to make money at anyone’s and crush all dissent. His brain works on one track only, and it works well on that track - win over the angry in the mass to he can gain power and stomp people in the individual to maintain it. And he has proven to be cunning and charismatic, as formidable a foe of humanity as America has seen.
That said, he is extraordinarily incurious and incautious, so his, uh, errors of judgment are massive. Therefore we are all going through the agony now of a Department of Justice working to render him culpable. They have three massive obstacles to overcome: America’s “justice” system gives extraordinarily generous procedural benefits to those wealthy enough to avail themselves of them. Secondly, it will take an enormously well-crafted case to bring down a former President who has shown stunning resilience in maintaining a huge posse of supporters, armed and dangerous. And finally, they may well fail if some legal, procedural appeal has enough force on both sides of its face to ensure it gets to the Supreme Court. A victory for Trump’s defense in front of this craven, bought and paid for group, would hardly be a surprise.
On reflection, it is no surprise that Trump’s main opponent is an equally vile person (if one is to believe a fraction of his public persona). Here is another man who delights in the scent of power and, in Charles Colson’s colorful metaphor, would run over his grandmother to acquire it.
Given the near comatose condition of the Republican Party, it was inevitable that Trump’s successor would come blackened by Trump residue.
Each of the last three Presidential elections has been far more consequential than the last. This one feels existential.
Quoting Wiki: "Born and raised in Kallstadt, Kingdom of Bavaria, Frederick Trump immigrated to the United States in 1885. In 1891, he began speculating in real estate in Seattle. During the Klondike Gold Rush, he moved to the Yukon and made his fortune by operating a restaurant and a brothel for miners in Whitehorse."
Well, that puts Trump's grandfather behind my immigrant grandfathers, who came to Amerika in the very early 1800s. I love the brothel bit - how like a Trump.
Also, Grandpa Trump, when he became disenchanted with the USA, and begged to be allowed to return to Germany, was permanently banished for shirking his duty to his country. The rotten apple falls directly under the rotten tree.
Some great points made in this newsletter. What stood out for me in all of it is increase in aid to children aging out of foster care. When I have asked what the anti-abortionists do to support the children in foster care - how many have they adopted, put through college, been involved with insuring the safety of these children, been advocates for these children in the courts, their knowledge of the number who turn to drugs and prostitution once they are aged out, I'm told I'm using red herrings. They stick their heads in the sands of denial. It sickens me. Also, today I read that the birth numbers of babies born in the U.S. is 3,000 less than last year. It is on the decline. I gave a silent fist pump.
Joining your fist bump with regards to sinking birthrate!
We seriously need to hurry up and commit to the next stage of human development: where people stop having so many damn kids! Seriously, people, do not become a parent unless you feel truly compelled. Most people are bad at it, and there are simply Too. Many. People. Look, I'm not a misanthrope. I like people! I would like future people to have enough food, water, and clean air.
Absolutely. Several of the truly excellent parents I have encountered were those who adopted. It makes perfect sense to me. They all truly wanted a child, and were prepared enough to provide what the child needed. It always struck me as ludicrous that we make someone hack through miles of red tape tape to adopt, but if the kid just "pops out" the only socially acceptable response is "Yay! Take this home and have total power over it for two decades, no questions asked! I'm sure you'll do great!" Ridonkulous!
Exactly my thoughts! Having a child is an immense, lifelong responsibility. Who is going to aid these women who don’t feel they are in a position to take it on? Who is going to help these children who may slide into delinquency, addiction, etc, if they are not provided with the emotional and financial support that they need to thrive? It’s certainly not the Maga Republicans and I don’t see the religious right coming forward to raise the taxes necessary to provide quality daycare, good education, foster care, etc., for these children. Like Gailee, I am sickened by the two-faced, self righteous attitude of the anti-abortionist right.
The single biggest driver of falling birth rates world wide is girls and young women having access to education. This has been increasing year over year for the past several decades and is beginning to show dividends in many places.
It's hard to separate the education of women from access to birth control because they tend to go hand-in-hand. I suspect that the reverse it true, too -- a society that foolishly reduces access to education, especially among woman, will also restrict access to contraception. It's all part of the theme.
I would like to see the data. The reason here where we live in Spain is the cost of living. I believe in the states also. It costs too much to raise children. Women work whether they want to or need to. They have to in order to afford a home. I don't know if India has a falling birth rate.
Unfortunately, adopting is an expensive and lengthy process that entails multiple personal screenings, home inspections, financial and criminal investigations, and many legalities with the objective of establishing that the adopting person(s) will be a good parent and to ensure the child’s wellbeing. It discourages many from pursuing this avenue. If similar vetting was required of biological parents, birthrates would certainly drop.
A couple of decades ago, we went through a program to look into adoption (we have two biological sons). The vetting process was somewhat convoluted and the "preparatory" classes were not substantial at all. Older children in the foster care system come with many issues (not of their making) that can be way beyond the ability of most people to handle. There is virtually no clinical support for families once a child is "out of the system" and frankly there is a very high risk of severe disruption to an adoptive family. We opted out.
About the same time some "Lost Boys of Sudan" (now South Sudan) came into our lives and we were able to extend our parenting while providing a valuable safety net of family which included starting a non-profit to help with education and finances. It took a village to help them navigate growing up in a foreign environment while healing from profound trauma. Most have maintained a strong and supportive presence in the S. Sudanese communities that are in the U.S (it always takes a generation or two to assimilate a new culture) which has also been an important component to their adaptation.
That's great. You figured out what made sense for your family, and you found a way to help children outside your core family in addition. All honor to you.
We adopted through the Massachusetts foster care program. We did have to take an 8-evenings class and be interviewed several times at home. This state not only does not charge adoptive parents for the privilege, it gives you social worker support and a stipend to help with the responsibilities you take on.
The MA state social workers are devoted to finding homes that will be a good fit for the children, based on getting to know everyone rather than on categories or bias against certain groups of people. It was an arduous process even so - but a walk in the park compared to the efforts of parenting. I don't regret a minute of it.
More and more reasons not to allow the failed ex-president any audience. For certain this old fat fool is totally a waste of good air. Now, about the debt ceiling, every year or so this issue comes up and is used by politicians as a lever to force the government to go in the direction they want. Has happened before, will happen again. Is there not a Constitutional means for solving this uncertainty? The 14th Amend. keeps getting mentioned. Would not the US government and the US citizenry benefit if this fiasco were once and for all taken out of the hands of any self-serving bunch of legislators?
What I would like to know is how does HE get ideas....we keep getting hit and are drowning in his latest way to dismantle the U.S.A. The idea about anti-immigrants makes me sick. I was born on U.S soil but my parents immigrated from a repressive regime that slaughtered close to 2 million in Turkey. What is next? Taking voting rights away from so called “undesirables” and reclassifying women as breeders and therefore non-citizens?
He had Hitler's speeches on his night table and has white supremecist guys like Stephen MIller to feed him the line, and Boris Epshetyn to cheer him on, and Leonard Leo to be the conduit for the big bucks and the legal whitewash. What he is etremely good at is choosing what crap to amplify to get a reaction from his base. He is the personification of greivance.
Linda, I had to respond as I am Greek and have relatives who also had escaped the Turkish ethnic cleansing of 1922. Your answer to your own query of "What is next?" has been fomenting in this country by hardcore home-schooling, non-critical thinking Evangelicals for some time. I posted this link earlier, but am posting it again as it's to your point--scary but offers a bit of hope:
It kinda like the unexploded WW II bombs that are still discovered in Europe. When one is discovered, you can't just leave it lying around. Constitutionally has not the whole "debt ceiling fiasco proved to be an unmoored "WMD"? Only fools (and terrorists) would leave it sitting around, fully armed. Constitutionally there is no "plan B" to legitimately vote for.
Begin now to work to assure Democratic majorities in House and Senate in 2024, so in 2025 (when this agreement expires) the deficit ceiling itself will be eliminated, and the 14th Amendment again reign free of this f*cked political manipulation.
Something has been bugging me about this whole debt deal. We're so focused on the Reckless Repub Ransom that no one is pointing out how even the expectation we inch closer to their Putrid Policy Prefs is so illogical on an elementary level.
Yeah, they eked out a House majority and we have to deal with them. Them's the breaks. We all know they want to cut spending and Democrats don't. That's not a new dynamic. But why do people keep thinking of the compromise position between the two as a *relatively smaller* cut? Treating that as the meeting-halfway point assumes the Dem platform stands for maintenence of the status quo. It very much does not. The Dem platform is INCREASED spending on child care, elder care, a public ACA option, paid family and medical leave, education from pre-K to college, affordable housing, climate resiliency, and more, all MORE THAN FULLY PAID FOR by hiking taxes on the obscenely wealthy and the corporations they dwell in. The opposition party's desire is the mirror image of this. Therefore, it is the status quo that is, in fact, the compromise position between the two sides. If a glass is half full and I want it filled up but you want it emptied, the meeting-halfway point is... a half-full glass. The status quo.
So, yucky as it may be in so many ways, I am happy to see the status quo - or something quite close - selected as the compromise position here. Considering who we are dealing with, the fact a deal that actually passes this kindergarten logic test was reached can be viewed as yet another victory for the Biden admin, and our sanity.
You're welcome, Beth! I do not frequent Vox that often, but when I come across an explanatory piece from them it always strikes me as concise and even-handed. The article I shared made me realize how straightforward explanations of the consequences of this deal related to anything other than political horse-trading have been in short supply.
We must now say ¨liberal democracy¨ as the other side is pounding the ideas of the Hungarian dictator they emulate. Illiberal democracy is their calling card.
I think it is important to note that we understand the influence Orban has provided to the US right wing because we read HCR, and the Professor has repetitively (and helpfully!) chosen to highlight the connection in this very newsletter. Almost no everyday Republican voter knows who Orban is, only that they feel as roused by some rehashed versions of his ideas as much as Hungarian right-wingers were roused by the original item. Unfortunately.
How long will it take to get from indictment to treason and a revocation of Donald's citizenship (and his immediate family, excluding his neice Mary Trump), confiscation of all his properties and business interests and expulsion from all US lands. How long ??? I'm old and the last 7 years of that sabotage of my country have been awful. I want this finished before the 2024 election.
As an expatriate American who gave up my US citizenship for tax reasons, and complete abhorrence of the MAGA right in the US, perhaps many Americans don’t know that Americans or children of Americans living OS, even if not born in the USA, are still required to file income tax returns annually, and often have no access to their social security funds if they didn’t work long enough in the USA. I had to pay capital gains tax to the US when I sold my home in another country!🤬. I notice that neither Trump or Biden are one bit interested in the taxation of foreign dwelling or accidental Americans . So there is a lot of unfairness all around in the US citizenship game.
I just received an email from one of my senators, Jeff Merkley, saying he can’t vote for the bill because it gives Mountain Valley Pipeline unprecedented benefits to bypass environmental regulations and move judicial review to another circuit that presumably will be more receptive. This is the first I’ve heard any of this and what I was able to find indicates this is a maneuver to placate Joe Manchin. I realize this may be outside your area but if you have any knowledge of it, I’d like to know what you think.
A number of Democratic Senators are offering a ridiculous excuse for their sponsoring an amendment to the Debt Ceiling Bill when it comes up for a vote in the Senate. Ridiculous because they know full well that such an amendment, if passed, would require the bill to be reconsidered by the House. There is no time for such foolishness and if actually adopted in the Senate, it would result in DEFAULT! They are arguing that Senate amendments to House enacted legislation occurs all the time--yes, but those pieces of ordinary legislation do not face a time deadline of DEFAULT! So what are these Senate Dems doing? They are simply showing off for voters in their home state that they care about this or that issue when they know full well that their so-called amendments will be rejected by Schumer and McConnell. Shame on these selfish Democratic Senators! The same thing happened today when 46 Democrats in the House selfishly voted against final passage of the Bill itself. These cowards refused to support OUR President and they forced 152 of their collegues to carry the burden of getting the Bill across the finish line. They forgot about Party Loyalty and I am ashamed of each of them! They too were showing off for their most progressive constituents but they obviously knew there was no chance in hell that any of the provisions of the compromise Bill would be removed from it--in other words, showing off for their constituents despite the fact that their NO votes were as meaningless as the rantings of the Chip Roy and other right-wing crazies.
I must disagree with you at least in part here, Ira.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline gift to Manchin and the fossil fuel industry is disgraceful. It should never have been part of this debt ceiling deal. The Senate cannot be forced to limit debate and/or presentation of all pertinent issues based on an arbitrary and subjective "date of default". Further, as it seems certain that the Senate will vote to lift the debt ceiling irrespective of what occurs with the pipeline portion thereof, then interim legislation respecting the instructions to pay the debt could be issued.
The Democratic Senators you speak of are not being selfish, they are doing their job. Their obligation is to the Constitution, their constituents and the conscience, not loyalty to a President--however laudable he certainly is---of the same Party.
Likewise, the Democratic House members who voted against it are not cowards or selfish. They did what they thought was right, holding the line on this or that issue, all while knowing that their vote would not affect the ultimate outcome.
Thanks, Daniel, especially for your final comment. I have commented above about my "interaction" with Senator Kaine over the MVP. I received a very long, detailed email from him about the history of the pipeline and the part he has played in it that goes back to 2014. So this fight is not something that just appeared recently. And, yes, you are correct; he is - and has been - defending his constituents in Craig, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke counties against this pipeline proceeding.
I keep providing this news story because IMO it provides some clarity about the moment we are in:
So you are saying what’s more important just a little default and shock to the economy or the predominance of an amendment which of course could be presented and voted on during any day in the year without causing default? Sorry that just doesn’t fly when they are risking national default!
Clearly i am not saying that. I am saying that the Senate has its constitutional obligations to fulfill, and that those can and must be fulfilled fully and properly. Once the giveaway, get-out-of-liability-free card to Mountain Pipeline is cast into law, it would be significantly harder to revise and/or remove same. Now is the time to strip the debt ceiling bill of that amendment. That can easily be done today, tomorrow, or the weekend.
Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia) has been fighting the MVP since 2014. I received an email from him several days ago explaining the history of this pipeline from his point of view. It mirrors much of what Senator Merkley wrote to you.
Here's a news article that gives the "political" side of why Biden was/is willing to help Manchin:
Whenever I hear "the deal," I can't help but think of Trump's book that he allegedly wrote "The Art of the Deal." It does feel like our nation's and our peoples' well-being are now more at the mercy of card sharks gambling than statesmen governing. The rhetoric in media seems to be more focused on "Who wins?" rather than "What's being gambled away?" After the "New Deal" during a time when the U.S had trusted investigative reporting from diverse sources rather than a few collaborating cartels, citizens were the players getting dealt the cards. Based on your comment of needing knowledge, is this because, under corporate oligarchy, we should just accept that citizens don't get to hold or see the cards?
I got that email as well, and I checked the roll, and noted that my Congressional Representative Val Hoyle also voted "no". My only hope is that there is some reciprocal agreement with some RepubliQans to insure its passage, but I am revolted by their "purity" votes of "no".
The Republican Party, known for contributing to climate change by spewing extraordinary amounts of hot air, faces the looming possibility of nominating a former president for re-election while he faces a range of serious felony charges. It's unlikely he will face trial before the 2024 election. But during the campaign, will the GOP simply remain silent about the indictments? Will GOP voters who aren't MAGA true believers sit out the election? How much more over-the top crazy will Trump become knowing that justice is finally coming? Will a GOP wipeout finally kill the party? Nothing is certain, but justice seems finally headed Trump's way.
McCarthy may be saying that his position as Speaker is secure, but I'd guess that Chip Roy is just one of several HFC folks who are imagining themselves at this very moment taking up the Speaker's gavel.
President Biden delivered a Master Class in the art of political negotiation as he confronted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the debt limitation crisis. It is clear that the president understood implicitly the weak hand that Speaker McCarthy was dealt, and he used McCarthy's weakened position as Speaker to press his administration's advantage to its fullest. He knows that McCarthy is the prisoner of the crazies — the Far Right 'Freedom Caucus', as they like to style themselves; and with the president's initial bargaining position that he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling, the Hard Right leapt at the opportunity to maximize their demands that essentially doubled down on their nihilism. President Biden knows that this extreme contingent actually represents perhaps only a quarter of the 215-member Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, and that the rest of them basically go along because it is the path of least resistance.
On the other hand, the president knew that the threat of leaving the debt ceiling unresolved would mean that the United States Government will go into financial default, with serious consequences for the American economy that would be unsustainable. He also knew that the majority of Republican representatives were terrified that they would be blamed for the default, and rightly so. They were being held hostage is much as the Democrats were by the crazies. Speaker McCarthy was trapped between a rock and a hard place because he owed his job to the crazies; but at the same time the crazies were taking the country over a cliff. Even the crazies understood that this was all for show, and that they would have to give some serious concessions to the president if they expected to be reelected next year.
President Biden also had two other arrows in his quiver, the constitutional commandment embodied in Section 4 of the 14th amendment stating that the public debt of the United States of America "shall not be questioned", plus the maneuverings of House Democrats in crafting what is known as a Discharge Petition that would allow the debt ceiling legislation to be raised, or even eliminated, without the Speaker's approval, and all that would take would be a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, which basically meant that only five Republicans needed to defy their leadership and vote with all of the Democrats in order to put the legislation up for a vote before the entire House. If it looked as if the crisis were to go beyond the Treasury Department's deadline, which could occur any time between June 2 and 15, there were bound to be at least five Republicans who would be willing to jump ship and vote with the Democrats, regardless of whether they were likely to be challenged in their district's primary election in 2024.
Getting five Republicans, perhaps more, to switch their votes might not of been as hard as one might think. No one was asking them to change their party allegiance or their basic political philosophies of a thoughtful conservatism; instead, their Democratic colleagues would ask them to consider the fate of their country first, and to put our country first. This is something our soldiers and sailors routinely do, with no thought of their own safety, or the likelihood that they would not survive. For decades after the end of World War II, we youngsters were told of the self-sacrificing actions of what were known as the Four Chaplains, who gave their lives willingly in the rescue of civilian and military personnel aboard an American troopship, the SS Dorchester, that was torpedoed and sank on February 3, 1943 off the coast of Newfoundland, in the North Atlantic. The four men, all Army 1st lieutenants, included Methodist minister George L Fox; Catholic priest John P Washington; Jewish rabbi Alexander D. Goode; and Reformed Church in America minister Clark V. Poling. They all met together at the Army Chaplains School at Harvard University, where they prepared for their assignments in the European theater of operations. As a group they received orders to sail aboard the Dorchester for passage to England; as a group, they declined to be placed into lifeboats and they gave their inflatable life vests away to others when supplies ran out. As anonymous they were in life, in death they became famous as a group for their heroic self-sacrifice when they could easily have saved themselves. In fact, a commemorative postage stamp memorializing their heroism was issued by the United States government, emphasizing their religious diversity, and their willingness to die on behalf of their countrymen. Standing alongside the story of the Four Chaplains, the craven selfishness and careerism of the Republican Conference makes a mockery of the oaths of office that each of them took "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same." Had a moment of decision come within the House of Representatives for Democrats to urge individual Republican colleagues to reconsider their party's position, it is possible, even likely, that some member of the House would remember the story of the Four Chaplains in the ensuing debate. The fact of the Dorchester's sinking, and the compelling true story of those four men's deaths might just have been enough to overcome the ambivalence that many of the House Republicans were undoubtedly feeling during the course of this political battle. Moral courage is exceedingly rare, but when circumstances require, some will step forward, and I am confident that more than a few would have summoned the courage to stare down the crazies, and thereby save our country from an ignominious default.
President Biden had been talking about a constitutional challenge to the legitimacy of the debt ceiling law for the past several weeks, with prominent law professors stating that in their opinion, the debt ceiling law was unconstitutional, not only because the Constitution contradicted the debt limitation statute both directly and implicitly, but that the logic of passing legislation and incurring obligations in accordance with the laws thereby enacted commanding that money be spent for particular purposes would seem to favor the president's position from the language of the laws themselves, and the Constitution when read together. Of course the matter would be litigated before the courts, but that would take time, and even a conservative court grounded in its present membership would have a hard time saying that the Constitution didn't really mean what the words actually say. Anyone with a brain can understand the logic of following through to complete a task once started, and that trust in social, legal and commercial relationships must be maintained.
That has been the Supreme Court's problem with recent decisions that overturn strong precedents almost wholesale. As a political matter, the prestige of the Supreme Court has declined to a point that the court has not experienced since the 1930s, and the radical positions taken by its present conservative majority are highly unpopular. That unpopularity has been exacerbated by what appeared to be a complete absence of ethical standards on the part of Republican-appointed judges on that court, with the consequence that in the next election, voters who feel aggrieved by the court's decisions would likely be voting for congressional Democrats instead of Republicans. People need and want stability and predictability in their lives, not chaos.
In the meantime, the American economy would be frozen; the government would be unable to pay its bills; and the financial markets would go into chaos, with nobody able to say where things would end up. That worst-case scenario would be laid at the feet of the Republican Party; and many members of the Republican Caucus were viewing this as a suicide pact that they wanted no part of. With a five-member majority, Kevin McCarthy could not afford to roll the dice. The president was using the debt ceiling statute as a weapon against House Republicans, and in the long run he and the Democrats held the winning hand. The president was playing the long game that would maximize his advantage during the next election year when the new president would be chosen, and of the Republicans drove the country into a recession, their potential electoral losses loomed large. From a probabilistic standpoint, the position taken by the House Republicans was highly risky, and it had too many moving parts to make it work for them. For a party that made his bones peddling fear, they themselves found themselves in the grip of absolute terror of what might happen if they fail to cut a deal with President Biden. Only a distinct minority of the Republican contingent was willing to make that bet, and undoubtedly, many of the remainder had only to look back at what occurred during the financial crisis of 2008 during the course of that presidential election, ending up with the accession of Barack Obama to the presidency. As this past evening's vote by the House of Representatives to accept the deal that President Biden negotiated, Democratic members of the House largely held together, with perhaps 35 of them voting to reject the deal. As I recall from the news reports, something like 75 of the Republicans also voted to reject the deal; and of those voting against the measure, the vast majority of them were from the Freedom Caucus crazy house. Once again, the Republican Party managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They simply cannot help themselves.
I enjoyed reading your long comment very much. Like many of Dr Richardson’s “ letters” it addresses many complex issues quite well. I have always believed that the Republicans wouldn’t play their weak hand very well and that their bluster is mostly hot air. My point here is that President Biden and the Dems have done as good a job as any group of professional politicians could do under the current conditions. Yes, there’s plenty more to get done and any steps backward require a “counter offensive” to regain lost ground but Biden built some of that into the bill that the Senate will pass and he will sign. So, like a smart judo master, he used the energy of his opponent to help him get much, if not all, of what the Dems wanted while allowing a weak opponent little and... giving him some “ face”. Very well done!
As we turn our attention to real challenges and real problems, the Dems are positioned to use the Republican right wing fury against them as we all get ready to enter the voting booths about a year from now. A large democratic win will signal that Americans have finally rejected their flirtation with the undemocratic right in favor of seeing the will of the majority of the people put into force. You’ve got to admit “ it’s getting better”... as the Beatles once sang. The crazy right wing lost big time ... and their flag carriers? .... more so. There’s always more good work to get done and the Dems have proven that they’re the ones to lead the effort on behalf of the majority of American voters.
Excellent analysis, Mr. Silen! Yes, Biden managed the "crazies" with great skill, managing to engineer a truly bi-partisan bill that saw the great body of centrists in Congress finally rise up and act, as they are apparently more afraid of impoverished donors than by primary challenges. For all that people like to whitter about Mr. Biden's apparent approval rating, I bet virtually 100% of Dems and Independents, and a big swatch of Repubs, would vote for him over any Republican candidate.
Joyce Vance said tonight that in light of the news today, she's gone from "if" the fat old traitor is indicted to "when" he's indicted. And the only thing better than that will be "when" he's stuffed into the 8x10 windowless cell on the third sub-basement level of the Florence SuperMax.
I just want him gone: a fatal hamberder, a smack on the noggin from a golf ball, or death from old age, ignored and forgotten in his 8X10 cell. Make America Truly Great Again with the fat old traitor six feet under.
You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.
____Arthur Ashe
We are coming down from our pedestal and up from the laundry room.
____Bella Abzug
Negroes must be free in order to be equal, and they must be equal in order to be free. Men cannot win freedom unless they win equality. They cannot win equality unless they win freedom.
_____A. Philip Randolph
Remember, remember always, that the vast majority of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants.
_____Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have never denied my background or my culture. I have taught my child to embrace her Mexican heritage, to love my first language, Spanish, to learn about Mexican history, music, folk art, food, and even the Mexican candy I grew up with.
___Salma Hayek
My dad's from that generation like a lot of immigrants where he feels like if you come to this country, you pay this thing like the American dream tax: like you're going to endure some racism, and if it doesn't cost you your life, well hey, you lucked out. Pay it; there you go, Uncle Sam. I was born here, so I actually had the audacity of equality.
____Hasan Minhaj
Thank you Fern. I would like to add to your quotes with one of my father's, a beautifully quixotic Greek immigrant who arrived in this country, alone at the age of 15 in 1909, who also had to endure:
"Work with your nose to the grindstone but never lose your sense of humor." John Demas
Thank you, Sophia Demas. Your father's quote is true, funny, physical and eloquent. Please add his name to his words. You can do that with the edit function, Press on the three dots to the right in order to open the editing function. Cheers!
Thank you for your urging Fern...I just did.
Thank you Fern McBride. Every one of your quotes is a reminder that this country is not made up of only white wealthy Christian men. The pull from the right of denying rights for all but this one group is not hidden.
My ex-classmate in Elkhart has been ranting about immigrants lately. I answered her in a long post and reminded her that unless she is a member of a Native American nation, she is living on stolen land and her ancestors were immigrants. She thinks we should just close the border and I cited the 1924 immigration law which cut the numbers severely from certain areas, a law supported by the KKK who were interesting in having a country consisting only of WASPs and told her that her idea sounded much the same. She is a devout "Christian", so I am trying to figure out why she doesn't understand that immigrants from south of us do not make that long, treacherous, expensive journey just for the hell of it. For her ignorance is bliss. One of her best friends was an Italian guy, so she doesn't understand that at one point Italians were not welcome either...Catholics.
Intellectual curiosity, logic and consistency is no part of their wheelhouse. Unfortunately.
No, she has none of that. I don't see many political posts from her fortunately. Just pics of her cute new puppy.
I agree with you. I have observed that people with a conservative political bent (regressives who want to regress society back to some mythological "good old days"), all have a peculiar personality train in common: they are all immune to internal philosophical inconsistencies. They see no problems with hypocricy.
If she's a Christian, doesn't she understand Jesus was an immigrant/migrant?
I doubt she understands that Jesus was a Jew who looked and thought like people of that area. Being an Indiana R doesn't help with true understanding of the message of the first three Gospel
How does your Indiana friend feel about the assault rifles sale in that state? As many of them could wind up in Illinois (specifically Chicago), I am horrified.
Given the rants by trump, greene, desantis, et al, I’m against anything supported by those wanting a country of only WASPS. trumps ignorance of the republican party’s history and the immigration policies they supported is disturbing in itself…
They have no idea of any history although you would think Stumpy Boots DeSatan would since he had an Ivy League education. They just like to stir the pot and one way to do that is white supremacy.
Just remember that Ivy League universities have been seriously diluted by Koch brothers endowments, et al, assuring that the "right" subjects be taught. There are a lot of melon-headed conservatives being rubber stamped by schools of law, religion, political science, etc. We should have a line up poster of them so we can see the flock of ignoramuses they are.
Here's the thing; WASPs, of which I am one, are a boring lot. Not particularly ambitious, bright, or wealthy— prone to watching mindless TV and drinking beer, making allusions to sexual prowess without performance, etc, etc. No wonder they (we) are worried. We're about to self-destruct. I am going to see if the possibility of any Native American ancestry, as suggested by my DNA, is true. Then I intend to deny I am a WASP.
Hi Hope, I’m relatively new here… What is a WASP?
Italians and Irish were not even considered white until their numbers reached a level that they were useful. Being white is a wholly arbitrary group and has nothing to do with the color of your skin. It depends on your usefulness to those who have the power to exploit you for their ends and how much trouble the Census Bureau wants to go to when they count population to establish the apportionment of the House. The Anglo-Saxons became a touchstone because of American eugenics and the Anglo-Saxons weren't protestant until they were converted in England. BTW, they weren't Anglo-Saxons really, they were Anglos and Saxons and they originated in the regions of Scandinavia and Germany. We are all wanderers.
I think in the 1920s it was because they were Catholic that made the difference. I am going with the definitions that the KKK had at the time. I read a lot about ancient DNA and as far as I am concerned there is no category that is lily white. I am also an Anglophile and am well acquainted with English history, some eras more than others. I just joined a page that focuses on Anglo-Saxon England and looked at map this week showing movement at that time and who was already in the British Isles. My favorite part of British history is the Tudor era which caused the split from the Catholic Church, not embraced by everyone in Henry VIII's England. By the 1920s in this country and quite specific to the book A Fever in the Heartland, mostly Indiana, which I was citing in my post to my ex-classmate, they were adherents of white supremacy which they defined as WASPs.
Why not deny them? Make them be the enemy of this nation? After all they are
Shunning is the practice of preventing someone from taking part in society at the social level. It doesn't work in this case. Declaring someone as an enemy of a nation must be done by law and is considered discrimination in America. In a diverse country that depends on the rule of law to maintain an ordered society, we must endure those whose behavior is beyond the bounds of excepted behavior as long as that behavior does not violate the law. The 1st Amendment goes a long way to prevent legal recourse. We need a new amendment to the constitution that describes the harm you and the rest of us are experiencing which in a balanced and nuanced way prevents the abuse of political, religious, or any other group to abuse any other group of people even those who are not currently citizens of America protecting all of our cultural, religious, and social beliefs. For instance, calling someone or a group lazy because they can not rise out of poverty and influencing a group of people to believe and act on this unsubstantiated claim. Perhaps we could add it to the law using a defamation approach. A new aspect of the class action case could be created to allow say Italians, Chinese, Irish, Indigenous People, or any other ancestral group to claim defamation and recoup changes in legal interpretation or creation of actual law to protect them from future baseless claims. Or for instance, old laws that allow men or women to abuse their immediate family either physically or mentally because some religious belief they hold supports it. Statements in religious texts that imply this abuse is a right and just should be countered with a law that cannot be abridged by the Constitution's protections of religious freedom. That would bring legal penalties and protection for those harmed. Too many abused family members die every year because of the privacy of the family system alone. A commonly heard reason to avoid action is, "You just don't know what is going on inside the home. People lie." Make the whole family come in and in some non-judicial protected way find out what's going on inside that home. Often the extended family knows and backs off for reasons of their own. We need to examine our behaviors and why we allow people to lie when influencing others by distorting the truth or by creating a truth based on their personal beliefs. The common subordination and discrimination based on religious doctrine alone must be recognized and countered in a nuanced way in law. For instance, you can't declare a demonstrable truth from science, such as the world is round because you believe it's not true. You must prove your side. Vaccines do harm a small group of people. That is demonstrable. For instance, my sister was allergic to eggs, eggs products were a common medium for vaccines. She could not take those vaccines. There must be a way to provide protections for that small group, without villainizing vaccines to the majority. Unnecessary dramatization of potential harm prevents those unaffected by that potential harm from participating in a vaccine that may save their life or someone they come in contact with. This brings me to the irresponsible actions of influencers. Whether it is social media or people masquerading as journalists blasting out unsubstantiated information without proper disclaimers or expressing opinions without proper foundation as catastrophic or somewhere in that neighborhood, or interviewees expressing their opinion on the actions of others without separating the known facts from expressions of "I just don't like what they did". Or, interviewing multiple people repeating the same unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing without proper a disclaimer of what is "I just don't like this". Why don't they like it? Is their reason reasonable? I've got to stop. I see all this and we continue to allow it. Where is the legal action against Fox for the damage they did by intentionally lying to the American people and continue to do? They are unregulated influencers and something must be done in law to prevent the bastion of "free speech" from protecting this egregious behavior.
Freedom can be measured by the choices availabel to us. More choices equals more freedom. Fewer choices equals less freedom. The availability of choices operationally defines freedom.
That's a pretty limited idea of freedom in my mind. It sounds too much like consumerism. As FDR described it, we must be free from want and fear as well as free to speak and worship as we choose. As far as I can see, the Republicans are working to shut freedom down on all these fronts.
John is essentially correct. Freedom does equate to more choice in any aspect of life; like the freedom to speak your mind without penalty, practice any or no religion, choose any area of study/career, have a child or not to name only a few. As a young woman in the 1970’s we could not get a credit card in our own name. That is an option/choice we did not have then but do now. However, freedom from want and fear is primarily an inside job but we still have mental health services as an option to help with that. I DO agree that the GOP is working to shut down freedoms from certain groups; women, POC, LGBT and transgendered citizens, and immigrants which by the way, curtails options for them. I could get an abortion in HS and now as a 66 year-old I can not after 6 weeks in many states (silly example I know but you get my drift). To watch women’s options deteriorate in my life time is nothing short of alarming. We must stay diligent and stand up to the rise of fascism in this country. It CAN happen.
How do you measure freedom from want and fear?
Well, you might begin by measuring the negatives—the number of people in this rich nation who cannot reliably afford to feed their families and the number of people who tune in to Fox and other sources of propaganda that promote conspiracies.
Well Being Surveys like other countries do.
It is somewhat limited in the sense that it is simple. B. F. Skinner noted this in his book Beyond Freedon and Dignity. His main point was that freedom not simply about choosing our own behaviors but the consequences (i.e., the results) that those behaviors produce. That actually adds depth to the significance of the terms 'choice' and 'freedom.'
Yes, and it would seem to separate democrats (with a little d) from libertarians. It's been a long time since I read Skinner, but it rings true.
Yes, and what should not be forgotten: with freedom comes responsibility. Otherwise, it ends up as a violent anarchy - although that might be just what TFG and the Freedumb Caucus want…
Absolutely! Personal responsibly is a higher order response.
Those of us who never experienced being an immigrant (NOT because we arent) have no conception of what it takes to leave your own country, home & family to create a new home in an entirely new and strange place. The thoughts of those you posted, Fern just say it all. Boy does this country NEED our children - for that matter, adults - to be educated - really educated in this country's history & the history of its people - ALL of its people.
We need an education system more like Finland's. Ours is a sorry mess, and dependent on property taxes. Education should be financed by the Federal Gov't, with good pay for teachers everywhere.
Hmmmm . . . So true that funding education via property taxes is without any redeeming qualities, but having our education system financed by the Federal Government scares me . . . Imagine T asserting his power over education.
It sounds to me like the future is the Democrats' to lose. Without Federal financing, every low income area in the country is going to have lousy schools and probably lousy teachers. And if the schools are better, the voters they produce will be better.
Dave Holzman: Yes, exactly. Too bad the Dems are so effective at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Just picked up "The Nordic Theory of Everything" from the library - have to finish the Alex Delaware novel I'm reading first. But that sure sounds interesting.
I've bought at least a dozen copies of that book and have handed them out to anyone willing to read it.
Sounds like I should read it. Thanks!
Someone here or on Civil Discourse recommended it.
Says the blue blood FDR! Are his fireside chats recorded in the National Archives? Are they available to the public?
Louis, there may be several sources. Here is one of them:
'FRANKLIN is a virtual research room and digital repository that provides free and open access to the digitized collections of the Roosevelt Library. It hosts over 800,000 pages of archival documents and 2,500 historical photographs, along with many detailed descriptions of archival collections not yet digitized.'
'The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library maintains over 17 million pages of documents in its archives. Among these materials are the personal papers of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as those of various individuals and organizations associated with the Roosevelts.'
'Audio and motion picture holdings of the archives include recordings of or about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, the New Deal, and World War II. These include the famous Fireside Chats, government productions, commercial radio broadcasts, home movie footage, and commercial film and television productions.'
https://www.fdrlibrary.org/archives
I never fail to be amazed at your ability to provide the right resources at the right time -- as well as a link to a timely Borowitz satire. Thanks, Fern!
The FDR Library and home in Hyde Park, NY is definitely worth visiting in person.
Fern, I am growing more from appreciating and respecting your postings to simply loving your place and person in this Community of Strangers. Thanks, kiddo. Such a resource.
Fred, Thank you for calling me 'kiddo'. A dear friend and great teacher calls her beloved students 'kiddos'! Right back to you friend and 'kiddo'!
Check out FDR’s 1944 State of the Union. Politics is competing visions of the future. And we never got to what FDR envisioned from that 1944 speech. Solving issues of inequality will get us closer.
Thank you Fern.
My ancestors arrived in Plymouth.
What I like to say is, “No one invited them here!”
As you well know, the only true natives in the USA are the American Indians; locally here, The Wampanaug. The rest of us including the empty blowhard orange menace are all immigrants.
Same. I repeat that to people who argue about current immigrants 'diluting' our country. We are most of us immigrants and should be thankful
Empty cranium surely, but otherwise quite full.
Thanks, Fern, for yet another perfect post!
Those of us who follow the news know that trump is more than guilty of numerous crimes and should have been in prison long ago The problem is he is only symbolic of the cancer that is in the process of metastasizing. That cancer is fascism and too large a portion of this country are all for it. They feel threatened by women, immigrants, and sexual minorities and need to suppress them, taking away their rights. VOTE!!!!
Take heart Harvey. I will reiterate the fervent prayer I made the morning I found out that trump was president--that the GOP self-implodes. Look at what's happening...my prayer can't be answered in better ways....
I had the same feeling that given time trump would destroy the GOP. I also felt the same way about the Evangelical Church. I thought it would take time for both. The Evangelical non-Christian Church as we know it today is dying a slow death because young people are leaving it in large numbers.
Years ago a co-worker deemed those bigots "the Christian Wrong". :D
I totally agree with you Sophia. We simply need to encourage everyone to VOTE! Especially women and the eligible young!
Wish it were that simple. As we have seen, not all democrats are progressive. Not all women are progressive. In fact, if more women were progressive, we might not be in our current mess. We need to cultivate, and support progressive democratic candidates before, during, and after their elections. Democracy doesn't just happen at election time.
Indeed, it has always been around. Death star just gave it carte blanche to crawl out of the woodwork and be quite open. I read last night a facebook post from an ex-student which broke my heart. She is a married lesbian living in Las Vegas and just got married this last December. She described what it is like being queer in this country at this time and all the stress that puts on her. She is fortunately a strong woman in a loving relationship with lots of friends who responded with support and love. I have an ex-colleague who is a wonderful person and is beloved by lots of kids, but.... Every now and then we talk about this student and she mentions that she is pretty and implies that for that reason, it's too bad she is a lesbian. This truly bothers me. I do think at one point I did say looks do not matter.
I know a couple of young men living in Florida now who are gay friends of my lesbian daughter, and they have been doing drag for many years, and this is just a horror show for them.
I worry for my daughter and all of her friends. I want all these bigoted monsters to be afraid to show their hatefulness again!
Here's a slogan: Make Bigots Hide Under Rocks Again!!
I have a few other ex-students who are lesbian or gay and I do worry about them. One of them moved to Paris (a former French teacher) as soon as he retired and he has having a great time with many trips, friends, visitors. We watch a lot of series, mostly filmed abroad and we notice a lot of all kinds of relationships and also, thankfully, actors who have disabilities and are still cast as part of the series.
If they're just hiding under rocks again, they'll just fester and ooze out again.
if they just ooze out, they're not going to get very far. Turtles, and even some snails have been known to pass bigots that ooze out.
Ah yes, David Holzman, Aesop's famous cautionary, albeit linear tales of "The Tortoise and the Ooze," and "The Snail and the Bigot." So true, but in my exponential fable, the perniciously percolating ooze would spread and deepen implacably over and under everything in its broadening path . . . it's hot toxic fumes killing any life form that hadn't already been trapped and suffocated by the oily syrup of ignorance--a forlorn hand fleetingly poking up through the surface in a macabre gesture of desperation . . . banjo playing in the background along with what sounds like a human--squealing like a pig.
I hate bigots.
Harvey, you out it in a nutshell that needs cracking open and dispensed with
About the threat posed by women—I have read an analysis thar suggests that not only do women compete with men for good jobs, but that they can support themselves means they do not need to marry for economic reasons. They do not have to settle for poor-quality husband material. (Not fair, say the “incels.”)
As it should be. That kind of thinking was common when I was young. I'm lucky to have grown up in a family of self-actualized women who demonstrated how life really can be, and fortunate to see enough changes that I and my daughter's could choose. Why should we have to marry just to have a place to live and food to eat? Sounds to me that the "analyst" who wrote that is afraid that that is the only way he can snare a mate, because having a choice would mean they wouldn't choose him. I sure wouldn't. That kind of marriage is slavery for women.
Your last sentence--right on. My mother's side especially, the women were accomplished. My maternal grandmother got a PhD--in 1915. My mother--a wonderful woman. And was happily married.
TCinLA, agreed, I don't care how - I just want him GONE. I dream of spontaneous combustion.
You know, I have come to believe that how he gets removed from his pinnacle is very important. He and his followers would love to claim martyrdom, and secure the religion of trump. We don’t need that. We need his own to take him down, to be disillusioned by him, to see the small, cruel man behind the curtain.
I agree on the method. I used to work with a person who so hated him but didn't want him shot for fear he'd be martyred. Her hope was upon exiting Air Force One, when he went for Melania's hand, she'd give him a good swat so he'd trip at the top of the staircase, tumble down head over heels, snapping his neck and thudding dead on the tarmac. Sweet!!
But so many of his own kind are the same as Trump. But they will eat their own when they are finally backed into a corner. And trump is now the one in the corner!
Yes. Exactly. He must be taken down by Republicans, otherwise there will be dire consequences--the Reichstag Fire effect.
That works too.
MLRGRMI - I wish I could believe in a takedown by his own. I've interacted with too many of his supporters to think that will ever happen. They're never going to take responsibility for the disaster they've wrought. But I hope Chris Christie can at least pull votes from some of the skeptical.
Alexandra, that's an image that would make me smile in my sleep.
You'd think that anyone with that much rage....
that much rage, grievance and hate makes him a walking stroke or heart attack in waiting
Sounds like Clarence Thomas too
You would think! Still waiting....
That's what I'd prefer to see happen. And that the slow awakening taking place continues, so that Trump just becomes an example for future generations of what can go wrong when we don't nurture democracy.
It made me smile, but I'm awake.
May your dream not come true: such an conflagration would only lead to more global warming.
I suggest we throw water on him; he seems frightened of getting wet. That would explain his constant reference to a "witch hunt".
But then you've gotta watch out for his flying monkeys.
But with the witch destroyed, their spell is broken and everyone lives happily ever after. THE END!
"I'm melllltttttiiiinnngggg!"
Fair point, Doug!
I'm gonna have to start dreaming of spontaneous combustion! ;')
I've been hoping for a Rumpelstiltskin type ending. You know, something where he gets so angry about something that he starts hopping up and down and eventually tears himself in half.
But then I think, nah, he doesn't have the energy to do that.
I can't imagine he could achieve multiple hops.
That’s a good one.
covid had ONE JOB, and it failed. the turd survived.
https://youtu.be/pESAyJr66QE
Go to 2:45 mark of video link.
He’s still alive! ❤️ 😂
Trump is a traitor. I have all those same emotions of anger and disgust. He has been dodging justice for much too long. But justice is coming and we will look back on this time as a turning point. When the evil was being squeezed out of the national pimple.
Despite my agnostic views on spirituality, I do believe in karma. I don't think it is healthy to wish torture or death on anyone. Even the dark evil thing under an orange cloud.
I want to enjoy seeing him in a court room as the judge announces his sentence(s).
Lets take the high road. The traffic flows better there. Too much hate is a gift to the enemy.
Thank you, Bill, for your words of wisdom. Being hateful and spewing angry vitriol will reap their own dismal reward. But I am hopeful that whenever and however Donald Trump exits life on this planet, Congress denies him the privilege of lying in state in the US Capitol and that his miserable carcass, sealed in multiple trash bags, is interred without ceremony somewhere at his Deadminster golf course.
He deserves justice, and we deserve to see him get it. But however justice comes -- guilty or not guilty, prison, house arrest or freedom -- every day since January 6 2021 shows that his grip on his red-hatted cult hasn't gone away. To those folks, he will be considered a martyr and a hero, no matter the outcome.
I've seen a few of his followers pulling quietly back. Someone was just telling me about a rabid Trump supporter who lived by her and just recently took down his Gadsden and Trump flags.
Fingers crossed!
I don't give them that much credit. They might be pulling back because they're getting nervous about becoming targets.
Doug Gagne: Yes. Exactly. Justice only works when it's available to all.
I've been predicting for a year he'll run...he'll flee the country. Trump's a bully and a coward. Just watch. Don't be surprised if he starts building a golf course in Turkey.
Turkey gets over 3 million European tourists every year. I cannot imagine Europeans being too excited over a Trump golf course in Turkey. It would be a failure.
More realistically, Trump cannot "flee" while under indictment because his is the most famous face on earth, and Turkey is a member of NATO and would not harbor an American fugitive from justice. And Jack Smith would certainly ask the court to confiscate Trump's passports. Realistically, there is no place for him to go, and he's hardly the type to live in exile.
I really do think he will flee and it will be to the UAE United Arab Emirates. They have no extradition agreement with the US. The passport is no big deal, he will take a smaller jet (and send his 757 elsewhere as a decoy) and will have help from a set of corrupt Secret Service agents. A lot of folks have said Russia but it is too cold there and trump doesn't like snow.
If he's clever enough for the decoy gambit...UAE is highly likely...as the leadership is never going to change. Getting him out of country solves a lot of things. He claims victory because it was a political witch hunt...he can rant and rave...and we are free of him.
Wonder how many of his followers would follow him. They could contribute their families' processed food money to buy their own small country . . .
There's a possibility. Just buy an island...create a little kingdom...they can all live happily ever after...is Epstein's place available...??? He can play golf and rant
He'll never do it. His plane will have to submit its flight plans to every country he touches down to for refueling, for safety reasons because they cannot clear his plane for takeoff without a flight plan. Interpol or any national security establishment will detain him. You two have been watching too many movies. Name me one convicted felon in America in modern times who was able to get on a plane and make it to a safe place. Besides, the UAE is made up of 70% international foreigners, he'd be spotted in a New York minute.
Do you honestly see a man like Trump serving time in a prison? I don't...he breaks laws all the time. Why should he care about the ones you listed above? I can't name you one convicted felon off of the top of my head, but I bet there are hundreds. I personally know of one who was going to go to court...not convicted yet who faked his death and vanished. No one in law enforcement or insurance believes he died. If Trump is in one of the 86 countries with no extradition to the US who cares if he's recognized. He will claim, persecuted by witch hunt...he loves the leaders in a lot of those countries....not the African ones.
As I believe that it's looking far more certain that T***p WILL be indicted, perhaps 3 times in total, a judge could very easily slap a "flight risk" order on him, which would mean he would lose his passport and not be able to flee. He could try it anyway, but he would thereby ensure he'd be in permanent exile -- not an unappealing prospect, actually.
MaryCat I was being sarcastic about the golf course in Turkey. Trump does not need a passport to flee the country...he owns a jet that can cross the ocean...or yes as Dave says below use a smaller plane. Trump will never go to prison. I'll bet money on that. We can start a pool about where he lands/stays.
Hopefully he'll build the golf course on a fault line . . .
LOL, he's always on a "fault" line....can't help himself...
He creates the fault line!
I doubt he'll run. He's an old man, older physically and mentally than Biden. His body is breaking down, and likely sooner than later will enter a point that it become more obvious. He is used to being the center of attention. I don't think he wants to leave; here he has his coterie, what's left of his family, and he clings to a fantasy that somehow he can retain power. As unlikely as it might seem, I suspect that much of his display is to retain his self-image as a strong man. Without it I think he might collapse emotionally, and he certainly is not going to be allowed any semblence of that image in some other strong man's hold, and will be without any power. His self-image is already crumbling, as is his physical health. What happens when it reaches the point that they both collapse?
I don't disagree with much of that...but if his choice is prison or leave the country I believe he leaves...I just can't imagine him choosing prison, over freedom.
Oh, I agree with that. But by the time he gets to that point, his choices may be limited- because for some reason he thinks he is always going to win, despite the fact that so far, he has only lost.
Batista fled moments before Castro's forces would have arrested him. They were celebrating New Years Eve in high fashion. He found sanctuary and lived out his life in comfort.
I would be delighted if trmp fled, and lived anywhere but here.
I share your desire for Trump's absence and utter separation from any possible opportunity to gain power. Sadly, his disease has metastasized and we will be fighting the infected, probably for decades.
If anything positive can be said about all this, it is that many of us (certainly me!) have had our awareness of both the importance and the preciousness of our democracy, despite its flaws.
Every generation must work to keep it alive, and strive to perfect it.
That's VERY true. During Obama's terms I got a little Kum-ba-ya. I thought we were better off than we really were. Trump picked at Obama from the beginning...DJT's racism is so deep...and he resonated with folks, many of whom apparently liked his TV persona. "You're fired"...to powerless people that must have felt good. To people who aren't happy with their lives. The ones who liked to listen to Rush rant at "others". Immigrants, gays, strong liberal women...Hilary was a lightning rod...I only listened to him a little bit...sometimes there was an ounce of truth...but the logic was very flawed and the rant was essential. The GOP is a train wreck of it's own making. I don't recognize the elected reps from the folks I worked with in the 80's like Connie Morella, Helen Bentley, Mac Mathias. They were compassionate conservatives, who knew how to compromise. Mitt Romney is about as close as it gets today. Larry Hogan.The folks doing the Lincoln Project. You can talk with them, debate them honestly. What has surfaced as the far right scares me, the ones who believe in Trump as their answer...but we had it right before WWII...a Nazi convention that filled Madison Square Garden....and before that a very powerful and widespread KKK. Freedom isn't free and the biggest battle is here at home. Peace
I am totally with you and I think a lot of us are.I am really thinking that the only way we will ever really be free from him is when he kicks the bucket.I used to pray that we would be rid of him. Now I pray he dies.
I simply want him to reap the cumulative effects of his atrocious lifestyle...NOW!
Being free of him will not free us from his followers.
I want ALL of them gone.
I’ll temper my wish with kinder imaginary actions though. They should all be rounded up and re-homed to a new, excellent, & sizeable land, empty of people to take it away from &/or use as slaves. We’ll magic over their homes, farms, animals, religions, businesses, guns & ammunition, musical instruments & sheet music, How To/DIY books & their religious dogma books - we’ll make sure their needs are met and then will lock them there and throw away the key.
I can’t think of anything worse than making them live with themselves - the White Nationalists, Christian Extremists, Libertarians, Misogynists, ‘their’ members of the medical industry (anti-vaxxers, of course), their ‘justice’ system members, ‘their’ police, & military (without the weapons of mass destruction or the means of creating them), the Greedy-Deregulationists who don’t want any pesky rules or laws - such as building, labor, consumer laws - getting in the way of their profits, and their insanely Wealthy people for whom being a citizen of a country has no meaning since they own homes & politicians in multiple countries while barely contributing to any of them.
No immigrants to share of their talents, foods, customs, or widening the pool of DNA.
No libraries.
No education for regular people other than counting, basic reading, and how to spell their names. Education is back to being only for religious leaders and the wealthy.
No social services.
Who will they demonize, abuse, and blame? Themselves!
Who will protect and fight for the underdog? No one!
So long suckers! Good riddance!
Lisa, Ah, the Reformation of Ayn Rand as she sees the culmination of her Objectivism Culture hidden in the Colorado Mountains. Let them eat cake, er each other. The Ghosts of Danner
You can add the Sierras and the Donners too.
Yeah, them Donnors too
Hmm...I am reminded of an old, old original Star Trek episode whereby, as the story went...about a few hundred years prior on Earth, a group of genetically altered people got a rush of power to their head and attempted a takeover of this planet--they were eventually rounded up and exiled by placing them in "coldsleep suspension" shooting them off into space on a ship that was called Botany Bay, (* the reference there is obvious) presumably to die.
But no...the wannabe master race ended up on the Enterprise, got thawed out and proceeded to take up where they left off. Then they got rounded up again and put on a desolate planet.
Where they DIDN'T stay...if anyone remembers the Star Trek movie that was a sequel to that old episode called "The Wrath of Khan".
The message being it isn't enough to merely isolate and ignore these kooks.
If they can't find anyone to demonize, they'll create a "Lottery," as foreshadowed in 1948 by Shirley Jackson.
TCinLA, I keep belting out Elvis Costello's lyrics from his song to Maggie Thatcher, Tramp the Dirt Down--"Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live long enough to savor. That's when they finally put you in the ground, I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down."
It's good musical therapy for me. (Here's a fantastic 1989 interview and performance if anyone cares to sing along. https://youtu.be/Oktv--kPwqg )
"And the only thing better than that will be "when" he's stuffed into the 8x10 windowless cell on the third sub-basement level of the Florence SuperMax"
TC, I highly recommend not holding your breath in anticipation of the above outcome. If you do that, I can absolutely guarantee that you will precede Trump into a little box. But, with no windows.
"Little" box?
Yep, shoe box. Give him an enema, he will fit in shoe box.
I still think he will flee. His mantra, "Do the crime, never spend the time."
Anne-louise, maybe the urn is a bit pricey, but a cardboard box should be free of charge.
The value of the cardboard box depends on its contents.
Could be used for cat litter, possibly?
Not for my cat!
coffin
My prediction is that he will never actually go to jail, they may take his passport but he will not go to a physical jail.
I completely agree.
I don't consider myself politically prescient, as my predictions typically fail to materialize. However, I fear I may be right about something I first came up with during the Mueller investigation, well before revelations of his taking of classified docs. Knowing his transactional/criminal nature, I said that he'd retain highly sensitive docs as a bargaining chip to keep him out of jail. Call it his Trump card. I still fear I may be right, and that these were among those he brought to Bedminster, for which no search warrant was sought.
That's a troubling thought.
Doug Gagne: My theory--and as always please don't present no steenkin' facts to refute it--is that T, along with several other highly placed, well-known cronies from both parties, as well as international government, monarchy, military, industrial, financial cabals, had permanent guest passes on Jeffery Epstein's pleasure-craft and island. And they know that T has the pix to prove it. And just like Jeffery, might be in more danger from them than from political enemies in the US!
Your hyperbole is understandable, but it also can serve to lessen the support of those who want him gone as badly as you do. We still are a nation of laws. Remember that there are many millions of Americans out there who never gave a hoot about him personally in the first place, but used his malignant popularity to attempt to diminish democracy in the United States. Today, they remain in charge in the House of Representatives and in many State governorships and legislatures. The problem is greater than whatever fate the forty-fifth president meets.
TC could you also wish really really hard for something to "happen" to Putin? I'm having a Peter Pan Panto moment here: the point in the panto when "Peter" urges the audience to save Tinkerbell by chanting "I DO believe in fairies! I Do, I DO, I DO believe in fairies!"
Does Putin ever open a window? 😈
Oh Beth, I fantasize a LOT about defenestrating people . . . 🤣
I waiting to see how Sean Hannity and the MAGA Proud demonstrate the level of their patriotism in TFG’s defense
We need to take a page out of the Pelosis playbook. We need to give Trump all the support we can - right ? : )
😵💫
As in, pray for him?
Does TFG insist that both parents be US citizens for the baby to be a US citizen? If so, Baron, Ivanka, Don or Eric would not be US citizens. Karma.
As for TFG discussing at least one classified document with non-authorized people, what penalty should he face for that?
Just asking…..(attempting Carlson questioning face)
Mary, As to the penalty for the classified document....I think it is death, if he is tried and convicted of, wait for it.....TREASON!
He should face a penalty of 20 years in the Florence SuperMax in solitary confinement.
Two more Oath Keepers sentenced for seditious conspiracy. So far each getting 10 to 18 years. If we are to remain a nation of laws, I don’t see how Roger Stone and TFG don’t get at least 20 as ring leaders of J6.
https://apple.news/AygKC2Zi0TFSeyZ65Y73Z4w
Roger Stone has been quite quiet!
Roger Stone needs to be in whatever max prison, key lost or dropped in the Pacific “trench.”
Yes. That would be much better than a quick death...a very slow miserable one. Perfect!
TC, Just twenty years???
That's the actual max for the crime of Espionage. At his age, it's a death sentence, so I'm good with it.
It just... feels like it should be longer?
I've known people who served a longer sentence for marrying the wrong person.
Will, you just gave me night sweats deja vu
That's a gut punch to read.
8x10, no window. Maybe an hour a day in the yard. Certain to accelerate Alzheimer’s.
Republicans insist that the law says whatever they want it to say, just by their saying so, if not just by their thinking about it,;and they say it so often that a lot of people believe it. Mr. Smith may not concur.
This is the MOST important point, J L Graham: “..the law is whatever they want it to say”. THIS is the heart of our fight. The Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution were crafted as a rules-based-system. But man finds great sport in creative interpretations to retain power for the powerful. The craziness that this game burdens people with IS the nut of our “mental-health crisis”. Truly: No Justice, No Peace. Know Justice, Know Peace.
That's exactly it. That's the authoritarian mindset. Laws and government are there only to serve the interests of The Party and the Leader. There are no underlying principles, only loyalty to whatever The Party the the Leader decree to be correct.
There was a belief in justice and the essential goodness fairness of people interpreting the laws... norms. We see now otherwise.
Reality Winner got 5 years for one classified document. How many classified documents have been found in Trump’s possession since he left office? PBS says about 300. 5x 300 = 1500 years. That should do it. No need to take extreme measures.
Please, consecutive sentences
"Wait, if Ivanka isn't a citizen, but I still am, does that mean I can date her now instead?"
Urk.
Urk Indeed!!!
Thanks, Will, from Cal. I love it when people go all normal on here. Brings things back to earth. ☺️
That's how he thinks...
"As for TFG discussing at least one classified document with non-authorized people, what penalty should he face for that?"
TFG should be facing an absolute minimum of 20 years in prison for that crime. The prison should be a supermax prison or the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. His crime is a most serious issue. My suggested punishment has nothing to do with my anger or resentment that he's already gotten away with so much. (Check current laws about disclosure of such classified data to other people.)
Many years ago in the Army, I had a TS/SCI clearance. When my fellow high-level clearance soldiers and I were indoctrinated about the seriousness of disclosing classified information, we were told, "If you say one word--ONE WORD--about material you're working with, you can receive 20 years in prison." That's military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, not some Club Fed. Leavenworth is where they sent Chelsea Manning.
If TFG gets away without doing time for this most recent classified material disclosure crime, I will have absolutely no remaining faith in my country's willingness to administer justice. I'm sure I'm not alone in this thinking.
I really think the most fitting place to lock trump up would be Fort Monroe in VA. They could use the same cell Jefferson Davis was locked up in after the Civil War. It is a national historical site but just think how many people would pay big dollars to walk by the cell with trump. Name your price. Might pay off the national debt.
Good idea. Further, videos could be made of trump in his cell for an hour or so. Sell them all over the world. Title it "JUSTICE." Maybe the revenues could pay back the $2,000,000,000 trump and jared kushner received from the Saudi prince for not making a big deal about the killing and dismemberment of journalist Kashogi.
Ah yes . . . the Traitors' Zoo.
Oh, Mary. Mary, Mary, Mary. Those kids are white. That exception will be part of the EO, don't ya know.
THEY didn't come from sh*thole countries tho! Let's get clear about who's not ok.
The king’s ransom that you mention was paid by the Saudi government to the boy wonder Jared to the tune of 2 billion
Which stinks high heaven.
But Hunter Biden’s laptop is the ‘real’ crime!
"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into an execrable land whose boundaries are those of nightmares. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the 'GOP's 'Alternative Fact' Zone!"
And the Saudi’s own 7% of Fox/News Corp. known/disclosed stock ownership. Who knows how much more they own on or off the books. But it does help explain the climate denial by Faux “presenters” and the promotion of Authoritarianism.
Don't forget Twitter.
...And the Saudi's own 100% of Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin.
From Federalist #68
“Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union. “
Yes!
I’d like to (unfortunately) comment on Trump’s anti-immigration ideology as a component of your post tonight. I simply do not understand his irrational fears of other peoples (ie not White Supremacists). It is apparent to any rational citizen that this nation was born of immigrants and indigenous peoples who were removed by genocide for the most part; with very few remaining. The histories of so many can be evaluated now with Ancestry.com and their DNA database in addition to family trees, stories, and the like. And we are finally appreciating the contributions of Black slaves whose manual labor was essential to the development of this great nation. History is being revisited as well it should be. Those immigrants coming from our Southern borders are desperately seeking asylum; I am not familiar with the numbers but I remember well Trump’s categorizing them as criminals and drug mules (which in some part is true, again the numbers are unknown to me but the Fentanyl crisis is real and needs to be addressed asap) but turning away vast numbers of desperate people seems cruel and inhumane. Overpopulation and the Climate Crisis have contributed in large measure. Just reading daily about the boats that never reach our shores or the hungry needing to get to family within our country is heartbreaking; I understand a safety net big enough for all would be massive but many of these people work as domestics or in fields gathering crops and do manual labor “above” the status of so many who criticize. I anticipate this issue being the largest in the coming election 2024 as it has hounded administrations for so many years already leading to the disastrous taking of babies from their families. Trump’s last fiasco building a wall that Mexico would pay for has remained clearly in my memory as remnants of it fall in areas & are repaired. It is not a solution. Growing antisemitism is a part of the same issue; we must never forget the Holocaust and deny entry to Jews seeking safety as we did for much too long as WW2 raged and we limited the intake of these people because we did not believe the enormous power of the Nazi regime. This critical issue is paramount to all Democracies and other governments in the world as the population explodes, water covers arable land, food sources are lost. A plan for addressing immigration may differ from state to state but humanity must be preserved. Trump may be indicted and gone; we all wish it to be. Nevertheless, it behooves all citizens to be engaged in solutions to this massive issue as it will only get worse with time. And there is Desantis; please 🙏🏻 give us six more years of Biden to give focus on this issue.
"please 🙏🏻 give us six more years of Biden to give focus on this issue."
Biden can help a lot, but ultimately it is we who have to focus and encourage others to focus too. I think that is probably the core of what a social justice movement is.
"I simply do not understand his irrational fears of other peoples (ie not White Supremacists). It is apparent to any rational citizen that this nation was born of immigrants"
The WSJ has a good article today that will help folks here understand the other side of this issue:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-visual-breakdown-of-americas-stagnating-number-of-births-9a2e6e2d?mod=hp_lead_pos5
A nice graph showing that birth rates are now below "replacement" rates. So, fuel to the fire of the "Great Replacement Theory" of immigration. Which, is not a theory since we replaced the entire native people of America ourselves.
The immigration challenge today is more complex than "irrational fear", although, Trump is stoking that as much as he can.
Today, on earth, there are 7.8 BILLION human beings. Of those, about 70% are living in dire straights of violence, squalor, poverty and lack of hope.
That is 0.7 * 7.8 Billion = 5.46 BILLION people whose lives are tougher than certainly I can imagine.
So, now, if tomorrow, ALL 5.46 Billion people living in horrible situations elsewhere arrive at any of our borders and claim asylum, then, the problems we see in NY City with migrants will be, well?? Suddenly the US will not be anywhere anyone wants to move to and most of us would leave as fast as we could.
Trump is playing people who have a combination of fear and real concern about immigration. Part of the trouble is, Trump is NOT entirely wrong as Biden has made clear with his own tough immigration policy.
The world's wealthy, mostly white countries have a huge challenge. Over the next 20 years most of the rest of the world, who are not white, will want to immigrate from where they are because, where they are is just a mess of poverty, climate change, starvation and disease.
But, taking in all the folks that are going to be in worse than dire straight elsewhere is simply not feasible. No matter how big our hearts appear to be on this text board today. AND?
Trump knows this as does Biden. Biden has instituted some of the toughest immigration barriers in a long while.
Lastly, in a situation where 5.46 Billion people can show up at the border tomorrow and step across the border to have children in El Paso, does it make sense to have automatic citizenship? I will be honest and say: I do not know.
I am always appalled at HOW Trump represents his actions. Always with hate, always with fear, always dividing.
But, on immigration, Trump is not wrong that we need a policy that is fair to existing US Citizens and, not necessarily fair to those who desire to become citizens.
Because, being fair to 5.46 Billion folks showing up tomorrow will be unfair to all the people who read this post today (probably not many).
Absolutely true we need a policy. But whose responsibility is that? Congress’s. And they won’t do it—takes away its favorite talking point. THAT’S who we should be haranguing.
Correct
In a nutshell, they don’t want their culture to change or their (perceived) hierarchy level to be reduced.
Think of America being like a giant tank of water and every immigrant is an added drop of water.
At the very least, they think these drops will eventually take away room from them (the ‘real’ Americans).
Add to that belief the sentiment that every non-White immigrant, every non-Christian immigrant, every Christian immigrant of a branch they don’t accept, and every poor immigrant, are drops of water with food coloring added to it to denote the change (perceived & otherwise) they make to the America they want to see.
They fear their clear water will become murky.
Now expand that water theory to include American citizens who are not White, not Christian, not certain Christians, women who stand up for themselves and other women, non-heterosexual, non-CIS, non-able bodied/minded, etc.
Because they’re so narrow-minded and can’t just see People (only categories), they feel drowned out, ignored, threatened, and even hunted.
It’s sad - until they start taking ugly actions.
Indeed. Having enjoyed privilege for so long, they perceive any lessening of the privilege as an attack on their "rights." The notion that they might have to succeed or fail based on their own merit (or lack of it) is understandably frightening.
"Because you are a great noble, you think you are a great genius! Nobility, a fortune, a rank, appointments to office: all this makes a man so proud! What did you do to earn all this? You took the trouble to get born - nothing more." - Figaro, in Beaumarchais's "Marriage of Figaro"
Diversity and cultural change have been part of human history since there has been human history. It is only the dogged ignorance of history (our own and everyone else's) by many Americans that allows them to blind themselves to this reality.
Well said. I especially love the Figaro quote. Very appropriate.
Regarding privilege, merit, and earning, isn’t it sick that this group calls Black/Brown people lazy when it’s their actual/adopted forefathers who used slave labor?
Or underpaid, overworked immigrant labor.
That applies more to greed, I think than being lazy.
Well written!
Mike S., you are correct that immigration is a complex issue. What would it take for you to flee your home on foot to go to a place of hope and refuge for your family's life and safety....to walk through jungles, to face the threats of rape, robbery, murder (not only for yourself, but that of your wife, your children), starvation, disease....to a country that you have heard was "a light on a hill...a refuge for the helpless".....the greatest country in the world?
You are so right! When I was a volunteer translator for an immigration attorney helping asylum seekers, many of the women, especially the younger ones, mentioned that they had started taking birth control pills before their dangerous trek toward Mexico because they were aware that they might be sexually assaulted along the way. But they were determined to make it to the border to seek asylum. They just wanted to be safe and have an opportunity to provide a better life for themselves and their children. Their life struggles broke my heart!
Times are changing. See my comment a handful above yours
We need to stabilize our population. I was 9 years old when I realized that, and had we done so then, we'd have around 200 million instead of 335 million people in our country. We are the major industrialized nation with the greatest per capita greenhouse emissions. The world would be much better off, with more time, and a greater likelihood of getting to zero emissions in time to stave off disasters if the US had 135 million less people. Propublica has projected that within several decades, MILLIONS of Americans will become climate refugees.
https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-change-will-force-a-new-american-migration
It is important to realize that global warming is REDUCING THE US' CARRYING CAPACITY. We now recognize the importance of supply chains, but between the heat and the reduction in water supply, the amount of food we can produce is falling.
Animal populations are also falling, across the board. There are less than half as many insects, bottom of the food chain, as there were when I was a kid. You couldn't drive on the highway then, without getting a grill full of insects.
Mass immigration is also big biz' way of reducing wages. In 1980, meat packers were Black, and due to organizing their labor over six decades, they made good middle class wages. By that decade's end, meat packers were almost all immigrants, earning barely above minimum wage, toiling under atrocious conditions. This pattern repeated itself throughout the trades and the low/no skilled jobs. See: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck ($14 on Amazon but check your local book store).
David, it is not so much the number of people, it is our capacity to use resources far beyond our need. Falling food production is a result of inefficient corporate farming practices that use 20 calories for each one produces, destroys the natural soils, and uses up vast quantities of water. Entire ecosystems are destroyed, because of the use of chemicals that were not needed, and which produced more pests, and human sickness.
There are better, more efficient ways of farming. We are seeing large farms fail, and small, diversified farms beginning to thrive again. We need more of them. As it is, a large percentage of food goes to waste, beginning on the oversize corporate farms and going all the way down the supply chain to markets and food ending up in landfills. Meanwhile we are unwilling to make some of that food available to hungry people right here in this country.
You mention highways. That's another of our grandiose ideas that has backfired, gutting cities and starving small communities.
Those are the things that are reducing the US "carrying capacity". We are seduced into thinking that quality of life is the same thing as owning a lot of Stuff. We think that freedom to drive vehicles on endless multi-lane roads is freedom. We are a society of mostly good people who do thoughtless things to the world we live in, and to other people in the name of something that we think we want, but do not need..
I totally agree with you about farming, there are much better ways of farming. But most of the people who come here do so because they want to consume like Americans.
And you try to coral the H. sapiens into doing things the way you want them to, and see how far you get. When I was a young adult, I rode my bicycle across the country. I thought everyone should get out of their cars and ride bicycles. I rode 36,000 miles during the 1980s. But I probably didn't convince anyone to change their habits.
I remember in '09 I went to a town hall meeting with my Senator, Ed Markey. I raised my hand, and I told him that his immigration policies were in conflict with his environmental policies. He pulled himself up to his full height, and announced to the assembled constituents, "That man's a pessimist! I'm an optimist!" But the Waxman-Markey climate change bill failed, and here we are 14 years later with things getting scary.
When I was 9, I became concerned about population. At that time, there were only about 200 million Americans. Now there are ~335 million. Imagine how much less global warming there would be if we'd stabilized our population back then. (Nixon actually tried to take us in that direction, but the Catholic Church let him know that if he continued, they'd make sure he wasn't re-elected.) If we'd stopped growing, we'd have more time to solve the problem, and it probably wouldn't get nearly as bad as it will. The first thing I thought when my brother told me he was going to be getting twin grandchildren 4 years ago, was "what sort of world are they going to live in?!!!"
And now there are less than half the numbers of insects that there were when I was 9, and less than half of the birds and other vertebrates. I can tell the difference. I live in the same house I did when I was 9. Every day I saw butterflies, often beautiful ones like swallowtails and monarchs. Now, I'm lucky if I see beautiful butterflies a few times a summer. That's the toll of habitat destruction, which is a function of overpopulation. I hear the drone of Rt. 2, which I didn't hear when I was a kid.
And did you know that humans and our livestock make up about 96% of the animal mass in the world? Again, crazy stuff.
And to have a country with many walkable cities would probably take at least 50 years of zoning, probably more. Human environmental impact is a function of population, affluence, and technology. (I=PAT) You can't take the population out of this equation. (One of my professors, John Holdren, who later became Pres O's Science Advisor, was one of the parties responsible for coming up with this equation.)
So, part of the reason we have so many highways is that the population keeps growing, and so more have to be built to mitigate the increase in traffic.
We are the major industrialized nation with the greatest per capita gh emissions. One of the worst places on the planet to put more people.
David, most of the people who come here are looking for safety. I don't have links to the many articles about immigrants who are actually setting up farms and gardens using the traditional ways of their homelands, but there are many, all over the country. And we are learning from them. It is a fascinating side benefit of having these people among us. We benefit from their traditional knowledge, at a time we are finally understanding what we have done to our environment.
And read this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/06/01/phoenix-water-shortage-population-growth
Excellent bit of writing!
Thank you Mike! (I had good teachers, including, on environmental science, John Holdren, who later became Pres O's Science Advisor.)
See my comment which is currently the third comment up from yours.
The question is: What would it take to do intake on 5.5 billion people at El Paso and then mainstream them all I’ve the US.
Beautiful, Emily.
Mike S, while I happily agree with everyone on the planet that the U.S. needs immigration reform, I want to point out that your entire argument as to the dangers of immigration rests on your assertion that "70% [of humans] are living in dire straights (sic) of violence, squalor, poverty and lack of hope."
I want you to source that figure. For one thing, I've read compelling analysis that as the world's average standard of living has continued to rise (yes, it has), the great majority of the world is currently considered to be "middle class," complete with cellphones, electricity, plumbing, and the free time to let them protest against gay people they don't even know.
For another, I note that the "70%" figure must necessarily include the U.S. itself, where our own "violence, squalor, poverty, and lack of hope" could really use some influence from the outside, because since we are rich enough that our squalor is often chosen and fueled by the ignorance and bigotry of the very people who complain about immigration.
Those who hate and fear anyone unlike themselves are deeply invested in portraying the world as full of implacably hateful people who only want to take their lives away. That's false. Anyone who's traveled outside their little town for any real length of time know this, and frankly, we need the people who are organized and well-funded enough to plan a dual-citizenship pregnancy to come here and help us deal with the bigots.
A fair policy can't be "more fair" to some than to others. That, my friend, is an oxymoron.
Also,
https://ourworldindata.org/poverty#:~:text=47%25%20of%20the%20world%20lives,adopted%20in%20high%20income%20countries.
It is not easy to get a good number for "poverty" since every country has their own definition of poverty.
But, based on the US definition of poverty, I think, after a bit of work you will come up with my own number.
Excellent and thoughtful post. Thank you.
I was not suggesting immigration strategy be more fair to existing citizens or incoming citizens.
Both groups, as you note, must be treated with equal fairness.
I am suspicious of anything in WSJ. It does belong to Rupert. I know it has a good rep, but they are “conservative” and subject to the evil megaphone of the propaganda master.
"Today, on earth, there are 7.8 BILLION human beings. Of those, about 70% are living in dire straights of violence, squalor, poverty and lack of hope." Can you give me a citation for that? I'd also like some data on how many of the 70% are "not white," since this seems to be an important issue for you.
You also repeat the popular nativist trope that immigrants are "a problem" and are somehow inherently more likely to be criminals and lowlife generally. This is nonsense. Here's a little data from those notorious lefties at the Cato Institute: https://www.cato.org/blog/new-research-illegal-immigration-crime-0
The specter of our glorious white culture (whatever that may mean) being polluted by hordes of dusky foreigners is a familiar and disreputable one, and I am disappointed to see that sort of racist eyewash being promulgated here. The fears inflated by Trump and others of his contemptible ilk are largely groundless. And in any case, a little knowledge of world history would show you that cultural change resulting from the permeable nature of borders has been a party of human history for thousands of years. Attempts to stop it inevitably fail. Which is just as well, as cultures that have succeeded in temporarily sealing themselves in amber invariably decline and decay. A look at the history of, say, Japan demonstrates this.
Diversity is the way of nature. Cultural and biological inbreeding invariably lead to weakness. Diversity, intellectual and otherwise, is a source of strength. Monocultures are weak and easily broken.
Thank you, Mike S. As a member of Population Connection who heard Paul Ehrlich in the 1970’s
and has since followed his understanding, I have been advocating for adoption, hoping that population, which must be reduced (the science says that two billion is the maximum population the planet can sustain) could be reduced not only by war and famine, but less painfully.
Your comment is a masterpiece of thought and warning.
Virginia. Wow! Thanks for such good feedback.
What I wrote is mostly just looking at the situation without taking sides.
Also. My daughter works in NY City next to one of the migrant hotels. Tough all around.
Immigration policy, a rational policy that secures access to America as a privilege, not a right; in balance with protecting current citizen’s expectation of maintaining their current standard of living is a tall order. Floods cause massive destruction, Rivers give life
Very well said indeed.
I think he and others who think like him are afraid not only cultural change and actual or perceived hierarchical change, but also of being held to account for their forefathers/adopted forefather’s treatment of those they destroyed/abused for their own gain. Worse, they believe their own deeds and their forefathers/adopted forefathers evil deeds will be done to them.
Sorry, this just sounds like another version of American exceptionalism to me. The idea that America is where everybody else in the world want to live. Most of those people do not want to come here, and once here, they just want to work. Drugs are not an issue: they come in other ways or made here: it's an American problem, not an immigrant problem. Immigrants are looking for safety, and sometimes, simple survival. We force them into illegal entry, even though they have the right to ask for asylum. This is not about automatic citizenship, or moving over to make room. There is room for those who come.
Most of all it is about figuring out how to fix the underlying problem so they can stay home if they wish, and it is about not making their lives worse than they already are. And letting them become Americans if that is what they want. We need them. The big issue is that they are largely brown (nobody is panicking about white illegals coming over the northern border- and maybe that's an issue).
Good grief, if we create a rational system of letting immigrants enter without treating them as criminals, and making their transition less onerous, we'd be able to Your post sounds soooo full of compassion, but in reality is pretty much like the Trump "Replacement theory" trope.
Annie D. Stratton -- RE: "Most of all it is about figuring out how to fix the underlying problem so they can stay home if they wish . . . " Yes. Instead of criminalizing them for trying to survive, the US could get real about removing the reason for their exodus. Improving the living conditions in their home countries would make a positive impact--especially since the US had a role in undermining the economies and political systems of so many Latin American countries.
The fentanyl crisis has many facets, and the biggest problem is ... China:
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-008-20%20Fentanyl%20Flow%20in%20the%20United%20States_0.pdf
Derek, we are the ones buying Fentanyl, selling it and dying from it.
And the Sackler family gets off scot-free after paying a few billion in fines for the glut of OxyContin.
"The billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma will be protected from lawsuits linked to the US opioid crisis in exchange for a $6bn (£4.85bn) settlement."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65764307
And the U.S. CITIZENS transporting the fentanyl from across the border!
Beat me to it, Derek.
Judith, Outstanding Commentary!
Agreed, but please consider using paragraphs to break up your comment. One very long comment wearies the eyes and makes it seem more like a diatribe.
I once read a book called “All the Names” by Jose Saramago - the entire book is basically one long sentence. It was absolutely fascinating.
Amen.
Excellent suggestion, thank you!
Thank you!
‘Apparent to any rational person…’! No rational person would ever consider one the amoral trump to be ‘a rational person’, nor any magas would be considered rational!
I don’t believe for a second that Trump believes anything other than the imperative to make money at anyone’s and crush all dissent. His brain works on one track only, and it works well on that track - win over the angry in the mass to he can gain power and stomp people in the individual to maintain it. And he has proven to be cunning and charismatic, as formidable a foe of humanity as America has seen.
That said, he is extraordinarily incurious and incautious, so his, uh, errors of judgment are massive. Therefore we are all going through the agony now of a Department of Justice working to render him culpable. They have three massive obstacles to overcome: America’s “justice” system gives extraordinarily generous procedural benefits to those wealthy enough to avail themselves of them. Secondly, it will take an enormously well-crafted case to bring down a former President who has shown stunning resilience in maintaining a huge posse of supporters, armed and dangerous. And finally, they may well fail if some legal, procedural appeal has enough force on both sides of its face to ensure it gets to the Supreme Court. A victory for Trump’s defense in front of this craven, bought and paid for group, would hardly be a surprise.
On reflection, it is no surprise that Trump’s main opponent is an equally vile person (if one is to believe a fraction of his public persona). Here is another man who delights in the scent of power and, in Charles Colson’s colorful metaphor, would run over his grandmother to acquire it.
Given the near comatose condition of the Republican Party, it was inevitable that Trump’s successor would come blackened by Trump residue.
Each of the last three Presidential elections has been far more consequential than the last. This one feels existential.
Trump has been hijacked by Putin and Putin sympathizers in the US.
Putin helped Trump tremendously by laundering money through him when US banks stopped loaning to Trump
Without Putin Trump would just be another homeless dude in NY City.
Written several years ago...
*
He has divided
his country
He has divided
brother against sister
sister against sister
son against father
husband against wife
*
That's how it is
and no one's safe
as long as he walks free
*
A time bomb
strapped to the back of the nation
I knew that from day 1, his attraction still escapes me. The ultimate con
I had that same revulsion, same day. It shall be our recognition of a national day of…let me think. Oh good Jeri, here it up comes.
Quoting Wiki: "Born and raised in Kallstadt, Kingdom of Bavaria, Frederick Trump immigrated to the United States in 1885. In 1891, he began speculating in real estate in Seattle. During the Klondike Gold Rush, he moved to the Yukon and made his fortune by operating a restaurant and a brothel for miners in Whitehorse."
Well, that puts Trump's grandfather behind my immigrant grandfathers, who came to Amerika in the very early 1800s. I love the brothel bit - how like a Trump.
Trump's father, however, was a member of the NY KKK in the 1920's. I wonder if he took young Trump to meetings?
Probably. I know my Florida KKK grandpa would have.
Before that, he was „bravely“ fighting the Seminole Indian wars. That would of course have been stealing the land to which the land belonged.
Also, Grandpa Trump, when he became disenchanted with the USA, and begged to be allowed to return to Germany, was permanently banished for shirking his duty to his country. The rotten apple falls directly under the rotten tree.
Some great points made in this newsletter. What stood out for me in all of it is increase in aid to children aging out of foster care. When I have asked what the anti-abortionists do to support the children in foster care - how many have they adopted, put through college, been involved with insuring the safety of these children, been advocates for these children in the courts, their knowledge of the number who turn to drugs and prostitution once they are aged out, I'm told I'm using red herrings. They stick their heads in the sands of denial. It sickens me. Also, today I read that the birth numbers of babies born in the U.S. is 3,000 less than last year. It is on the decline. I gave a silent fist pump.
Joining your fist bump with regards to sinking birthrate!
We seriously need to hurry up and commit to the next stage of human development: where people stop having so many damn kids! Seriously, people, do not become a parent unless you feel truly compelled. Most people are bad at it, and there are simply Too. Many. People. Look, I'm not a misanthrope. I like people! I would like future people to have enough food, water, and clean air.
I became a parent by adopting a child from foster care, and glad of it. You seem to mean not to become “a birth parent” casually.
Thank you Joan. My family is a patchwork quilt. Generationally we have been at it since before gunpowder. Think of all that vigor.
Absolutely. Several of the truly excellent parents I have encountered were those who adopted. It makes perfect sense to me. They all truly wanted a child, and were prepared enough to provide what the child needed. It always struck me as ludicrous that we make someone hack through miles of red tape tape to adopt, but if the kid just "pops out" the only socially acceptable response is "Yay! Take this home and have total power over it for two decades, no questions asked! I'm sure you'll do great!" Ridonkulous!
Exactly my thoughts! Having a child is an immense, lifelong responsibility. Who is going to aid these women who don’t feel they are in a position to take it on? Who is going to help these children who may slide into delinquency, addiction, etc, if they are not provided with the emotional and financial support that they need to thrive? It’s certainly not the Maga Republicans and I don’t see the religious right coming forward to raise the taxes necessary to provide quality daycare, good education, foster care, etc., for these children. Like Gailee, I am sickened by the two-faced, self righteous attitude of the anti-abortionist right.
Sign at a recent "reproductive freedom" rally:
"You won't trust me with a CHOICE
but you will trust me with a CHILD?!"
Not everyone is meant to be a parent.
Sadly "the system" is set up to break families apart rather than support them.
Talk about "big government"!
The single biggest driver of falling birth rates world wide is girls and young women having access to education. This has been increasing year over year for the past several decades and is beginning to show dividends in many places.
Gee, I thought it was access to birth control.
It's hard to separate the education of women from access to birth control because they tend to go hand-in-hand. I suspect that the reverse it true, too -- a society that foolishly reduces access to education, especially among woman, will also restrict access to contraception. It's all part of the theme.
I would like to see the data. The reason here where we live in Spain is the cost of living. I believe in the states also. It costs too much to raise children. Women work whether they want to or need to. They have to in order to afford a home. I don't know if India has a falling birth rate.
Unfortunately, adopting is an expensive and lengthy process that entails multiple personal screenings, home inspections, financial and criminal investigations, and many legalities with the objective of establishing that the adopting person(s) will be a good parent and to ensure the child’s wellbeing. It discourages many from pursuing this avenue. If similar vetting was required of biological parents, birthrates would certainly drop.
A couple of decades ago, we went through a program to look into adoption (we have two biological sons). The vetting process was somewhat convoluted and the "preparatory" classes were not substantial at all. Older children in the foster care system come with many issues (not of their making) that can be way beyond the ability of most people to handle. There is virtually no clinical support for families once a child is "out of the system" and frankly there is a very high risk of severe disruption to an adoptive family. We opted out.
About the same time some "Lost Boys of Sudan" (now South Sudan) came into our lives and we were able to extend our parenting while providing a valuable safety net of family which included starting a non-profit to help with education and finances. It took a village to help them navigate growing up in a foreign environment while healing from profound trauma. Most have maintained a strong and supportive presence in the S. Sudanese communities that are in the U.S (it always takes a generation or two to assimilate a new culture) which has also been an important component to their adaptation.
That's great. You figured out what made sense for your family, and you found a way to help children outside your core family in addition. All honor to you.
Bravo, Janet W. Thank you for your service. (No, the complement is not just for military anymore.)
I admire and respect your choices and action.
Excellent point! And the innocent babies suffer....
We adopted through the Massachusetts foster care program. We did have to take an 8-evenings class and be interviewed several times at home. This state not only does not charge adoptive parents for the privilege, it gives you social worker support and a stipend to help with the responsibilities you take on.
The MA state social workers are devoted to finding homes that will be a good fit for the children, based on getting to know everyone rather than on categories or bias against certain groups of people. It was an arduous process even so - but a walk in the park compared to the efforts of parenting. I don't regret a minute of it.
That’s wonderful of you, and of MA!
Absolutely, same with marriages. Mom went the cheapy route. She gave me away for free twice. And they gave me back for free twice.
Ouch. Sounds wrenching for you.
Not at all Joan. Back then I was a red head.
Amen to the fist pump!
More and more reasons not to allow the failed ex-president any audience. For certain this old fat fool is totally a waste of good air. Now, about the debt ceiling, every year or so this issue comes up and is used by politicians as a lever to force the government to go in the direction they want. Has happened before, will happen again. Is there not a Constitutional means for solving this uncertainty? The 14th Amend. keeps getting mentioned. Would not the US government and the US citizenry benefit if this fiasco were once and for all taken out of the hands of any self-serving bunch of legislators?
What I would like to know is how does HE get ideas....we keep getting hit and are drowning in his latest way to dismantle the U.S.A. The idea about anti-immigrants makes me sick. I was born on U.S soil but my parents immigrated from a repressive regime that slaughtered close to 2 million in Turkey. What is next? Taking voting rights away from so called “undesirables” and reclassifying women as breeders and therefore non-citizens?
He had Hitler's speeches on his night table and has white supremecist guys like Stephen MIller to feed him the line, and Boris Epshetyn to cheer him on, and Leonard Leo to be the conduit for the big bucks and the legal whitewash. What he is etremely good at is choosing what crap to amplify to get a reaction from his base. He is the personification of greivance.
Add Steve Bannon to that list.
Whine, whine, whine
Linda, I had to respond as I am Greek and have relatives who also had escaped the Turkish ethnic cleansing of 1922. Your answer to your own query of "What is next?" has been fomenting in this country by hardcore home-schooling, non-critical thinking Evangelicals for some time. I posted this link earlier, but am posting it again as it's to your point--scary but offers a bit of hope:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2023/christian-home-schoolers-revolt/?itid=hp_desktop-dont-miss_p006_f001
THAT is an excellent article, scarily refreshing.
It kinda like the unexploded WW II bombs that are still discovered in Europe. When one is discovered, you can't just leave it lying around. Constitutionally has not the whole "debt ceiling fiasco proved to be an unmoored "WMD"? Only fools (and terrorists) would leave it sitting around, fully armed. Constitutionally there is no "plan B" to legitimately vote for.
Protect Our Credit Act of 2023:
https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/press-releases/merkley-kaine-coons-feinstein-introduce-legislation-to-protect-americans-from-the-threat-of-a-default#:~:text=Washington%2C%20D.C.%20%E2%80%93%20Oregon%E2%80%99s%20U.S.%20Senator%20Jeff%20Merkley,of%20the%20debt%20ceiling%20as%20a%20political%20hostage.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/212/cosponsors?s=1&r=8
much thanks.... here's another link I found interesting: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rhockett/2023/05/11/six-legal-reasons-the-federal-budget-is-its-own-debt-ceilingand-floor/?sh=6cf4f35e32e8
Ahh, Saw this several days ago. It's spot on. Hopefully, when Congress gains back a Dem majority, this debt ceiling debacle will be fixed.
The debt ceiling is not in the constitution. It is the result of a law passed by congress during WWI. That law can be repealed by any future congress. See https://www.forbes.com/sites/rhockett/2023/05/11/six-legal-reasons-the-federal-budget-is-its-own-debt-ceilingand-floor/?sh=8ba804b32e89
Begin now to work to assure Democratic majorities in House and Senate in 2024, so in 2025 (when this agreement expires) the deficit ceiling itself will be eliminated, and the 14th Amendment again reign free of this f*cked political manipulation.
Something has been bugging me about this whole debt deal. We're so focused on the Reckless Repub Ransom that no one is pointing out how even the expectation we inch closer to their Putrid Policy Prefs is so illogical on an elementary level.
Yeah, they eked out a House majority and we have to deal with them. Them's the breaks. We all know they want to cut spending and Democrats don't. That's not a new dynamic. But why do people keep thinking of the compromise position between the two as a *relatively smaller* cut? Treating that as the meeting-halfway point assumes the Dem platform stands for maintenence of the status quo. It very much does not. The Dem platform is INCREASED spending on child care, elder care, a public ACA option, paid family and medical leave, education from pre-K to college, affordable housing, climate resiliency, and more, all MORE THAN FULLY PAID FOR by hiking taxes on the obscenely wealthy and the corporations they dwell in. The opposition party's desire is the mirror image of this. Therefore, it is the status quo that is, in fact, the compromise position between the two sides. If a glass is half full and I want it filled up but you want it emptied, the meeting-halfway point is... a half-full glass. The status quo.
So, yucky as it may be in so many ways, I am happy to see the status quo - or something quite close - selected as the compromise position here. Considering who we are dealing with, the fact a deal that actually passes this kindergarten logic test was reached can be viewed as yet another victory for the Biden admin, and our sanity.
P.S. I appreciated this explainer from Vox today, so passing it along: https://www.vox.com/policy/23742237/debt-ceiling-deal-explained-student-loans-snap-irs
Thank you for the link. It comports with other thoughtful analyses.
You're welcome, Beth! I do not frequent Vox that often, but when I come across an explanatory piece from them it always strikes me as concise and even-handed. The article I shared made me realize how straightforward explanations of the consequences of this deal related to anything other than political horse-trading have been in short supply.
Thanks for the link, Will.
We have to keep fighting for democracy. The GOP knows it can't win elections nor allow the rule of law to persevere.
We must now say ¨liberal democracy¨ as the other side is pounding the ideas of the Hungarian dictator they emulate. Illiberal democracy is their calling card.
I think it is important to note that we understand the influence Orban has provided to the US right wing because we read HCR, and the Professor has repetitively (and helpfully!) chosen to highlight the connection in this very newsletter. Almost no everyday Republican voter knows who Orban is, only that they feel as roused by some rehashed versions of his ideas as much as Hungarian right-wingers were roused by the original item. Unfortunately.
Has Mr Carlson still got a microphone in Budapest?
How long will it take to get from indictment to treason and a revocation of Donald's citizenship (and his immediate family, excluding his neice Mary Trump), confiscation of all his properties and business interests and expulsion from all US lands. How long ??? I'm old and the last 7 years of that sabotage of my country have been awful. I want this finished before the 2024 election.
We can dream
As an expatriate American who gave up my US citizenship for tax reasons, and complete abhorrence of the MAGA right in the US, perhaps many Americans don’t know that Americans or children of Americans living OS, even if not born in the USA, are still required to file income tax returns annually, and often have no access to their social security funds if they didn’t work long enough in the USA. I had to pay capital gains tax to the US when I sold my home in another country!🤬. I notice that neither Trump or Biden are one bit interested in the taxation of foreign dwelling or accidental Americans . So there is a lot of unfairness all around in the US citizenship game.
I just received an email from one of my senators, Jeff Merkley, saying he can’t vote for the bill because it gives Mountain Valley Pipeline unprecedented benefits to bypass environmental regulations and move judicial review to another circuit that presumably will be more receptive. This is the first I’ve heard any of this and what I was able to find indicates this is a maneuver to placate Joe Manchin. I realize this may be outside your area but if you have any knowledge of it, I’d like to know what you think.
A number of Democratic Senators are offering a ridiculous excuse for their sponsoring an amendment to the Debt Ceiling Bill when it comes up for a vote in the Senate. Ridiculous because they know full well that such an amendment, if passed, would require the bill to be reconsidered by the House. There is no time for such foolishness and if actually adopted in the Senate, it would result in DEFAULT! They are arguing that Senate amendments to House enacted legislation occurs all the time--yes, but those pieces of ordinary legislation do not face a time deadline of DEFAULT! So what are these Senate Dems doing? They are simply showing off for voters in their home state that they care about this or that issue when they know full well that their so-called amendments will be rejected by Schumer and McConnell. Shame on these selfish Democratic Senators! The same thing happened today when 46 Democrats in the House selfishly voted against final passage of the Bill itself. These cowards refused to support OUR President and they forced 152 of their collegues to carry the burden of getting the Bill across the finish line. They forgot about Party Loyalty and I am ashamed of each of them! They too were showing off for their most progressive constituents but they obviously knew there was no chance in hell that any of the provisions of the compromise Bill would be removed from it--in other words, showing off for their constituents despite the fact that their NO votes were as meaningless as the rantings of the Chip Roy and other right-wing crazies.
I must disagree with you at least in part here, Ira.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline gift to Manchin and the fossil fuel industry is disgraceful. It should never have been part of this debt ceiling deal. The Senate cannot be forced to limit debate and/or presentation of all pertinent issues based on an arbitrary and subjective "date of default". Further, as it seems certain that the Senate will vote to lift the debt ceiling irrespective of what occurs with the pipeline portion thereof, then interim legislation respecting the instructions to pay the debt could be issued.
The Democratic Senators you speak of are not being selfish, they are doing their job. Their obligation is to the Constitution, their constituents and the conscience, not loyalty to a President--however laudable he certainly is---of the same Party.
Likewise, the Democratic House members who voted against it are not cowards or selfish. They did what they thought was right, holding the line on this or that issue, all while knowing that their vote would not affect the ultimate outcome.
Let's not compare AOC or Tim Kaine to Chip Roy.
Thanks, Daniel, especially for your final comment. I have commented above about my "interaction" with Senator Kaine over the MVP. I received a very long, detailed email from him about the history of the pipeline and the part he has played in it that goes back to 2014. So this fight is not something that just appeared recently. And, yes, you are correct; he is - and has been - defending his constituents in Craig, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke counties against this pipeline proceeding.
I keep providing this news story because IMO it provides some clarity about the moment we are in:
https://cardinalnews.org/2023/05/30/manchin-gets-a-new-deal-on-the-mountain-valley-pipeline-in-the-debt-ceiling-bill-will-this-one-finally-stick/
YW, Lynell, and I thank you for your providing that story and your thoughtfulness
Great article; covers all the bases. Thanks for the link.
Thanks, Beth. I thought so, too.
So you are saying what’s more important just a little default and shock to the economy or the predominance of an amendment which of course could be presented and voted on during any day in the year without causing default? Sorry that just doesn’t fly when they are risking national default!
Clearly i am not saying that. I am saying that the Senate has its constitutional obligations to fulfill, and that those can and must be fulfilled fully and properly. Once the giveaway, get-out-of-liability-free card to Mountain Pipeline is cast into law, it would be significantly harder to revise and/or remove same. Now is the time to strip the debt ceiling bill of that amendment. That can easily be done today, tomorrow, or the weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnVKUIHq84o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cJMKfB63X8
Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia) has been fighting the MVP since 2014. I received an email from him several days ago explaining the history of this pipeline from his point of view. It mirrors much of what Senator Merkley wrote to you.
Here's a news article that gives the "political" side of why Biden was/is willing to help Manchin:
https://cardinalnews.org/2023/05/30/manchin-gets-a-new-deal-on-the-mountain-valley-pipeline-in-the-debt-ceiling-bill-will-this-one-finally-stick/
Whenever I hear "the deal," I can't help but think of Trump's book that he allegedly wrote "The Art of the Deal." It does feel like our nation's and our peoples' well-being are now more at the mercy of card sharks gambling than statesmen governing. The rhetoric in media seems to be more focused on "Who wins?" rather than "What's being gambled away?" After the "New Deal" during a time when the U.S had trusted investigative reporting from diverse sources rather than a few collaborating cartels, citizens were the players getting dealt the cards. Based on your comment of needing knowledge, is this because, under corporate oligarchy, we should just accept that citizens don't get to hold or see the cards?
Alex Wagner had Tim Kaine on last night’s program and he was quite worked up. You can get a good explanation there.
Indeed he was!
I got that email as well, and I checked the roll, and noted that my Congressional Representative Val Hoyle also voted "no". My only hope is that there is some reciprocal agreement with some RepubliQans to insure its passage, but I am revolted by their "purity" votes of "no".
The Republican Party, known for contributing to climate change by spewing extraordinary amounts of hot air, faces the looming possibility of nominating a former president for re-election while he faces a range of serious felony charges. It's unlikely he will face trial before the 2024 election. But during the campaign, will the GOP simply remain silent about the indictments? Will GOP voters who aren't MAGA true believers sit out the election? How much more over-the top crazy will Trump become knowing that justice is finally coming? Will a GOP wipeout finally kill the party? Nothing is certain, but justice seems finally headed Trump's way.
"It's unlikely he will face trial before the 2024 election."
Uh... his trial (hopefully 1st of many) has already been set for the first few months of '24.
I suspect those challenging trump for the R. presidential ticket will bellow out his being unfit. Or, would fellow jackals descend?
McCarthy may be saying that his position as Speaker is secure, but I'd guess that Chip Roy is just one of several HFC folks who are imagining themselves at this very moment taking up the Speaker's gavel.
With a mouth like his, Roy would need to add a compost box to the Speakers stand
Susan, very funny!
Oh! A new Speaker of the House ? Fresh meat for Biden !
Poor Kevin. Speaking on behalf of transparent lies and treachery is not always as glamorous as it seems.
He is less the adult in a room full of toddlers, and more the ten-year-old in a room full of toddlers.
President Biden delivered a Master Class in the art of political negotiation as he confronted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the debt limitation crisis. It is clear that the president understood implicitly the weak hand that Speaker McCarthy was dealt, and he used McCarthy's weakened position as Speaker to press his administration's advantage to its fullest. He knows that McCarthy is the prisoner of the crazies — the Far Right 'Freedom Caucus', as they like to style themselves; and with the president's initial bargaining position that he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling, the Hard Right leapt at the opportunity to maximize their demands that essentially doubled down on their nihilism. President Biden knows that this extreme contingent actually represents perhaps only a quarter of the 215-member Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, and that the rest of them basically go along because it is the path of least resistance.
On the other hand, the president knew that the threat of leaving the debt ceiling unresolved would mean that the United States Government will go into financial default, with serious consequences for the American economy that would be unsustainable. He also knew that the majority of Republican representatives were terrified that they would be blamed for the default, and rightly so. They were being held hostage is much as the Democrats were by the crazies. Speaker McCarthy was trapped between a rock and a hard place because he owed his job to the crazies; but at the same time the crazies were taking the country over a cliff. Even the crazies understood that this was all for show, and that they would have to give some serious concessions to the president if they expected to be reelected next year.
President Biden also had two other arrows in his quiver, the constitutional commandment embodied in Section 4 of the 14th amendment stating that the public debt of the United States of America "shall not be questioned", plus the maneuverings of House Democrats in crafting what is known as a Discharge Petition that would allow the debt ceiling legislation to be raised, or even eliminated, without the Speaker's approval, and all that would take would be a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, which basically meant that only five Republicans needed to defy their leadership and vote with all of the Democrats in order to put the legislation up for a vote before the entire House. If it looked as if the crisis were to go beyond the Treasury Department's deadline, which could occur any time between June 2 and 15, there were bound to be at least five Republicans who would be willing to jump ship and vote with the Democrats, regardless of whether they were likely to be challenged in their district's primary election in 2024.
Getting five Republicans, perhaps more, to switch their votes might not of been as hard as one might think. No one was asking them to change their party allegiance or their basic political philosophies of a thoughtful conservatism; instead, their Democratic colleagues would ask them to consider the fate of their country first, and to put our country first. This is something our soldiers and sailors routinely do, with no thought of their own safety, or the likelihood that they would not survive. For decades after the end of World War II, we youngsters were told of the self-sacrificing actions of what were known as the Four Chaplains, who gave their lives willingly in the rescue of civilian and military personnel aboard an American troopship, the SS Dorchester, that was torpedoed and sank on February 3, 1943 off the coast of Newfoundland, in the North Atlantic. The four men, all Army 1st lieutenants, included Methodist minister George L Fox; Catholic priest John P Washington; Jewish rabbi Alexander D. Goode; and Reformed Church in America minister Clark V. Poling. They all met together at the Army Chaplains School at Harvard University, where they prepared for their assignments in the European theater of operations. As a group they received orders to sail aboard the Dorchester for passage to England; as a group, they declined to be placed into lifeboats and they gave their inflatable life vests away to others when supplies ran out. As anonymous they were in life, in death they became famous as a group for their heroic self-sacrifice when they could easily have saved themselves. In fact, a commemorative postage stamp memorializing their heroism was issued by the United States government, emphasizing their religious diversity, and their willingness to die on behalf of their countrymen. Standing alongside the story of the Four Chaplains, the craven selfishness and careerism of the Republican Conference makes a mockery of the oaths of office that each of them took "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same." Had a moment of decision come within the House of Representatives for Democrats to urge individual Republican colleagues to reconsider their party's position, it is possible, even likely, that some member of the House would remember the story of the Four Chaplains in the ensuing debate. The fact of the Dorchester's sinking, and the compelling true story of those four men's deaths might just have been enough to overcome the ambivalence that many of the House Republicans were undoubtedly feeling during the course of this political battle. Moral courage is exceedingly rare, but when circumstances require, some will step forward, and I am confident that more than a few would have summoned the courage to stare down the crazies, and thereby save our country from an ignominious default.
President Biden had been talking about a constitutional challenge to the legitimacy of the debt ceiling law for the past several weeks, with prominent law professors stating that in their opinion, the debt ceiling law was unconstitutional, not only because the Constitution contradicted the debt limitation statute both directly and implicitly, but that the logic of passing legislation and incurring obligations in accordance with the laws thereby enacted commanding that money be spent for particular purposes would seem to favor the president's position from the language of the laws themselves, and the Constitution when read together. Of course the matter would be litigated before the courts, but that would take time, and even a conservative court grounded in its present membership would have a hard time saying that the Constitution didn't really mean what the words actually say. Anyone with a brain can understand the logic of following through to complete a task once started, and that trust in social, legal and commercial relationships must be maintained.
That has been the Supreme Court's problem with recent decisions that overturn strong precedents almost wholesale. As a political matter, the prestige of the Supreme Court has declined to a point that the court has not experienced since the 1930s, and the radical positions taken by its present conservative majority are highly unpopular. That unpopularity has been exacerbated by what appeared to be a complete absence of ethical standards on the part of Republican-appointed judges on that court, with the consequence that in the next election, voters who feel aggrieved by the court's decisions would likely be voting for congressional Democrats instead of Republicans. People need and want stability and predictability in their lives, not chaos.
In the meantime, the American economy would be frozen; the government would be unable to pay its bills; and the financial markets would go into chaos, with nobody able to say where things would end up. That worst-case scenario would be laid at the feet of the Republican Party; and many members of the Republican Caucus were viewing this as a suicide pact that they wanted no part of. With a five-member majority, Kevin McCarthy could not afford to roll the dice. The president was using the debt ceiling statute as a weapon against House Republicans, and in the long run he and the Democrats held the winning hand. The president was playing the long game that would maximize his advantage during the next election year when the new president would be chosen, and of the Republicans drove the country into a recession, their potential electoral losses loomed large. From a probabilistic standpoint, the position taken by the House Republicans was highly risky, and it had too many moving parts to make it work for them. For a party that made his bones peddling fear, they themselves found themselves in the grip of absolute terror of what might happen if they fail to cut a deal with President Biden. Only a distinct minority of the Republican contingent was willing to make that bet, and undoubtedly, many of the remainder had only to look back at what occurred during the financial crisis of 2008 during the course of that presidential election, ending up with the accession of Barack Obama to the presidency. As this past evening's vote by the House of Representatives to accept the deal that President Biden negotiated, Democratic members of the House largely held together, with perhaps 35 of them voting to reject the deal. As I recall from the news reports, something like 75 of the Republicans also voted to reject the deal; and of those voting against the measure, the vast majority of them were from the Freedom Caucus crazy house. Once again, the Republican Party managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They simply cannot help themselves.
I enjoyed reading your long comment very much. Like many of Dr Richardson’s “ letters” it addresses many complex issues quite well. I have always believed that the Republicans wouldn’t play their weak hand very well and that their bluster is mostly hot air. My point here is that President Biden and the Dems have done as good a job as any group of professional politicians could do under the current conditions. Yes, there’s plenty more to get done and any steps backward require a “counter offensive” to regain lost ground but Biden built some of that into the bill that the Senate will pass and he will sign. So, like a smart judo master, he used the energy of his opponent to help him get much, if not all, of what the Dems wanted while allowing a weak opponent little and... giving him some “ face”. Very well done!
As we turn our attention to real challenges and real problems, the Dems are positioned to use the Republican right wing fury against them as we all get ready to enter the voting booths about a year from now. A large democratic win will signal that Americans have finally rejected their flirtation with the undemocratic right in favor of seeing the will of the majority of the people put into force. You’ve got to admit “ it’s getting better”... as the Beatles once sang. The crazy right wing lost big time ... and their flag carriers? .... more so. There’s always more good work to get done and the Dems have proven that they’re the ones to lead the effort on behalf of the majority of American voters.
Excellent analysis, Mr. Silen! Yes, Biden managed the "crazies" with great skill, managing to engineer a truly bi-partisan bill that saw the great body of centrists in Congress finally rise up and act, as they are apparently more afraid of impoverished donors than by primary challenges. For all that people like to whitter about Mr. Biden's apparent approval rating, I bet virtually 100% of Dems and Independents, and a big swatch of Repubs, would vote for him over any Republican candidate.